Your dreams

Chapter 5

Lan Wangji was standing in the middle of a huge field. It was noisy, so noisy he wanted to cover his ears. His head was hurting, as was his body, he was feeling cold, so very cold and tired, deep to his bones. All around him cultivators were fighting. All colours of clothing were mixed in together, the white of the Gusu Lan sect, the olive green of the Qinghe Nie, the fiery red of the Qishan Wen, as well as smaller groups of cultivators in purple, gold and those from other minor sects. All the noise was caused by a battle, the cultivators were fighting with their swords, all sects against the Qishan Wen it seemed. Lan Wangji lifted his hands to his shoulders. He was not holding a sword, but a flute.

Lan Wangji was greatly startled. Both by the set of images which had just flashed in front of his eyes and by a loud bang of the door being opened with force. Everyone in the room immediately turned around to have a look and Lan Wangji followed suit. Although he was still confused by seeing the new vision just now, his heart was tight for another reason entirely.

For it was Wen Chao and several other Qishan Wen sect disciples who were marching into the lecture hall as if it belonged to them. This scene was so familiar that there could not be any doubt, it was the same one from his previous daydream.

The whole lecture hall was silent for several seconds. Lan Qiren and the guest disciples were still processing the intrusion, and Wen Chao was grinning victoriously and very visibly enjoying the situation. It seemed that he had planned this unsavoury demonstration of power all along and now he was all smug when he succeeded in attracting all attention towards himself.

Everyone was frozen. That was why Lan Wangji's eyes immediately spotted a subtle movement to his right. Wei Wuxian was sitting hunched into himself and he was holding his head in his hands. What happened? Was his head hurting? Between his fingers, Lan Wangji could see how pained and aggrieved the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple's expression was. He was taken aback. This looked quite serious.

In the next second though, Wei Wuxian suddenly lifted his head and straightened his back. Instead of pain and devastation, he was now burning with fire of anger. Lan Wangji could only wonder why. The shift was way too sudden.

At that exact moment, Lan Qiren finally got over his surprise and asked the intruders sternly: "What are you doing here?"

Wen Chao was still enjoying himself and he did not seem to pay any mind to the cold tone. He looked around lazily, his eyes taking in all the gathered guest disciples. He finished his round and finally acknowledged Lan Qiren's presence. He smirked again.

Two things happened at the same after that. A female cultivator with small and lithe figure came up from behind Wen Chao and bowed to the elder, and Wei Wuxian jumped up to his feet. Only to be kept down by Nie Huisang who extended his hand from behind and stopped him just in time.

"Great Master Lan," the female cultivator said, "our cousin, Second Young Master Wen, is here to escort me and my brother. Our uncle sends us to attend the lectures that the esteemed Gusu Lan sect is hosting. He believes it can help strengthening ties between our sects and promote good relationship. We kindly request you to grant us entry and treat us as the other guest disciples."

After this introduction, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have gotten even heavier. For who else could this confident and sharp female cultivator be than Wen Ruohan's niece, the one aspiring fort the title of the best doctor among her generation, Wen Qing. What was not clear to Lan Wangji was why she and Wen Chao would come here now.

Lan Qiren must have been thinking along the same lines as he asked: "Why is Qishan Wen sect sending disciples to attend the Gusu Lan sect lectures? Our invitations have been overlooked for years now."

Wen Qing smiled, bowed to Lan Qiren and explained with prowess: "Great Master Lan, in recent years, we have been holding many selection exams to dispatch disciples for your lectures as we believe that only the best of the best can fully benefit from your teachings. Embarrassingly enough, we have not thought that any of our outstanding youths could be up to your standards. Now that a new generation of young masters from all the sects are here, me and my brother wish to participate in person to represent our sect and promote harmonious relationships in the future."

There was a strange feeling in Lan Wangji's stomach, like a premonition, a very bad one. What harmonious relationships? It must have been clear to everyone what this was supposed to mean. Wen Ruohan thought that the next generation of sect heirs and the best of their followers could be easily influenced if he sent someone to monitor the situation on site.

Suddenly, Lan Wangji could not ignore the hidden possible meaning behind his vision only minutes before. He had been watching a battle, a battle between all cultivation sects, and everyone had seemed to fight against the Qishan Wen sect. If he had already had one vision which had come true – as Wen Chao had in fact barged uninvited into the lecture – it would not be impossible to have seen another one. As absurd as it sounded, Lan Wangji now had a serious concern.

He was not the only one though. Hearing Wen Qing's words, several of the guest disciples jumped to their feet, enraged by Wen Ruohan's arrogance. Although the message was delivered masterfully, the hidden meaning could not have been overlooked.

"Bullshit!" exclaimed Jiang Wanyin, by far the most explosive among the guest disciples. "There must be a plot behind this..."

He never got to finish his sentence because Wen Chao turned his head towards him. As if that was enough of an order, the disciples behind him drew out their swords and pointed them at the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir. Wei Wuxian retaliated in kind, stepping in front of Jiang Wanyin who also drew out his sword a fraction of a second later. In the time of a single heartbeat, they were all ready to attack.

Lan Wangji looked at his uncle. They could not let the situation escalate anymore. If what he had seen in the vision was true, could this be the start of the war? Of course, he could not be sure that his visions were indeed premonitions of future events. For that, he did not have enough evidence yet. However, if it was even a possibility that he knew what would happen, he had to prevent it. It would be a disaster for the whole cultivation world if the great sects started fighting among themselves and dragged everyone else into it.

Suddenly, there came a sound of a flute and all the swords flew up to the ceiling. Lan Wangji recognized the music and also the one who played it. He would never mistake his brother's gentle notes for anyone else's. He gave a sigh of relief. If Lan Xichen was here, surely he and Lan Qiren together would be able to calm the tense situation. There was no reason to truly believe that there would be a war because of this childish disagreement.