The Untamed Heart (The Untamed fanfic)

Lan XiChen's regret

A group of eager disciples hurried across the courtyard at Cloud Recesses, heading to dinner after their training. Suddenly one of them stopped, struck by a sight of a man in blue robes, walking unhurriedly across the other side.

"Who's that?" Xie XiYue asked, nudging another disciple's sleeve to stop him.

"ZeWu-Jun," Lan JingYi said, and slapped Xie XiYue's head. "Don't you know anything? He's the leader of my clan, and the highest cultivator in the land, even higher than his brother, HanGuang-Jun. They're called the Two Jades of Lan." Lan JingYi looked proud.

"He looks... sad," Xie XiYue said, his eyes on the figure. It was true. Lan XiChen was immaculately dressed in sky blue robes, adorned with white and pale blue cloud shapes, and a pale blue ribbon crossed his high forehead, keeping the long black silky hair from getting into his eyes. He walked with measured pace, quite clearly expecting, if not quite welcoming the frequency by which he was addressed by the disciples he passed by. Yet, despite his pleasant greetings, there was an air of grief and regret in his bearing.

"Don't you know anything," Lan JingYi scoffed him again. "His long time sworn brother, Jin GuangYao, was recently revealed to be one of the worst villains of all time." He looked after the retreating back of his clan leader. "It wasn't ZeWu-Jun's fault," he said softly, almost to himself. "Everyone was deceived."

"Jin GuangYao? You mean he was even worse than the Yiling Patriarch—." Xie XiYue was unceremoniously slapped again.

"We do not say that name here in Cloud Recesses!"

"Why not?" 

"Call him Senior Wei if you speak about him. Wei WuXian is close with HanGuang-Jun, ZeWu-Jun brother, and a frequent visitor here. One of the most devious things Jin GuangYao did was to frame Senior Wei for unspeakable things. Senior Wei's name was recently cleared, but I imagine that news hasn't reached your part of the country yet."

Xie XiYue blushed at Lan JinYi's condescending tone. He was from a small impoverished family to the far south, in the Guanxi province, and it was really a major stroke of luck that he was even noticed for his cultivation skills and invited to continue his training here. His training until then had been at the hands of a grand uncle, already old, who had trained in Cloud Recesses in his youth.

Xie XiYue's eyes still followed the slim, upright form as he greeted someone new.

"He looks so thin," Xie XiYue whispered.

"He doesn't have a good appetite these days. But don't let the appearances fool you, CeWu-Jun is still the best cultivator in the land. You'll see tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? You're coming with us?"

"Someone has to help ZeWu-Jun herd you untrained disciples, and that thankless task fell to me, as a senior disciple," Lan JingYi said pompously and winked.

"You're the same age as me!" Xie XiYue protested.

"But much more experienced than you."

Xie XiYue couldn't argue with that. He was seventeen, almost eighteen, and the same age as Lan JingYi, but Xie XiYue had had little formal training so far. He nodded thoughtfully. "Doesn't ZeWu-Jun have a cultivation partner to help him?"

"ZeWu-Jun is unmarried. There were rumours..." Lan JingYi glanced at Xie XiYue. "Come on. We don't want to be late for dinner."

Xie XiYue grimaced, but immediately schooled his face into a polite mask.

Lan JingYi laughed. "The food here takes a little getting used to, I admit. Come on."

Lost in his own thoughts, Lan XiChen walked on, letting the gentle half smile he kept on his face while in public lapse as he neared the house where his mother had lived all her life, in seclusion. He bowed his head. Tomorrow he would have to venture out from Cloud Recesses. He didn't look forward to it.

The next day, Xie XiYue woke up even earlier than the five o'clock wake up time, enforced for the young disciples by loud clanging of brass bells. He lay in bed for a moment, excited about the day. They had heard there was a crop of fierce ghosts plaguing a nearby town and the young disciples had been told they would go along for exercise. Xie XiYue shivered with excitement. Fierce ghosts! At last! And CeWu-Jun would be there...

Several hours later, the battle was joined. Xie XiYue kept close to CeWu-Jun, his eyes shining as he watched the clan leader twirl and use his sword to fend off the fierce ghost who attacked them without warning, then sheath it and bring out his flute instead. 

Xie XiYue eyes grew wide. The melody Lan XiChen played was calming, and had an immediate effect on the walking dead. For a moment, it seemed that they would lay down their weapons, but then the hold the melody had on them broke and they charged again.

Xie XiYue had been watching CeWu-Jun, not the fierce ghosts, and was almost ran through by the first one, but CeWu-Jun blocked the attack easily with his sword.

"Pay attention," Lan XiChen said, not unkindly, and Xie XiYue unsheathed his own sword red-faced and joined the battle.

They outnumbered the fierce ghosts, and soon enough Lan XiChen struck down the last of them, and the young disciples cheered.

XiChen frowned. "They were people once, raised from the dead by someone for evil purposes. A cultivator never takes pleasure in putting them back in their graves again. We will try to subdue them through other means first, and only use our swords when all other means fail. Remember that."

"Yes, ZeWu-Jun," the disciples chorused, chastened.

"He's so cool..." Xie XiYue murmured. He trembled with adrenaline from his first battle, and wiped his face with his sleeve.

"Told you," Lan JingYi said and clapped him on the back. "Not bad for a country bumpkin from the south. Come on, time to get back to Cloud Recesses."

Xie XiYue looked down at his robes and groaned. They would need washing again. He glanced at Lan XiChen, still immaculate in his blue robes, as if he hadn't been in the thick of the battle, dispatching fierce ghosts right and left.

"How does he do that?" Xie XiYue muttered, half in admiration, half in exasperation, and followed their leader back to Cloud Recesses, a happy bounce in his step. But his happiness drained away as he watched Lan XiChen walk ahead, suddenly looking almost despondent, despite the group of disciples following him like little ducklings. 

Xie XiYue looked around at the other student, whispering excitedly and flicked his eyes back to their leader, now walking a fair distance ahead. Didn't they see it? 

He followed the group, deep in thought. 

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A/N:

Lan XiChen is such a gentle, kind person, and his tragic situation in the drama made me sad. So I get to imagine a brighter future for him in this fanfic .

Lan JingYi is a young, rude disciple at Cloud Recesses, distant relation of Lan XiChen and Lan Zhan, who appears in the drama.

Xie XiYue is an original character. Xie XiYue is his birth name, as he is still too young to have received the courtesy name. His surname means 'thankful' and his given name, XiYue, 'joy' (unless Google lied to me).

Note: I changed the home town of Xie XiYue from the Yunnan province to Guanxi for later plot reasons.