Searching for Perfection

2. Wei WuXian Moves to the Unclean Realm

Life in the Unclean Realm was actually much easier than living in the Lotus Pier. There was no need for Wei WuXian to walk on eggshells around the Sect Leaders. As long as he did as he was asked, they left him alone. Of course, he missed Lotus Pier with all of his being, but not being held accountable for other people or being whipped for minor infractions was a decent trade-off. And someday they'd be back at Lotus Pier....

Wei WuXian, as head disciple of Lotus Pier, was put to work almost immediately. His skills in sneaking around (as Jiang Cheng put it) and hiding were almost more important than his skills in swordplay and cultivation. He, like most of the young cultivators, was put on a schedule: three days on patrol, two days in the fortress training physically or mentally. Wei WuXian finagled a way to be put on patrol with sects other than just the remnants of the YunMengJiang claiming he wanted to see how other sects did things. And on physical training days, he spent just as much time with other sects as he did the YunMengJiang. Sparring against other sects kept his skills fresh and helped him to become better. Especially when he sparred against the Nie; he'd never had a chance to fight with or against a saber and both required a new set of fighting skills. A saber was less elegant than a sword, required more brute strength, and did not permit him to be as quick on his feet as he was with Suibian. (Jiang Cheng watched his ShiXiong's saber practice with an equal mix of loathing and envy.) On mental training days, Wei WuXian found himself sitting (squirming from boredom) while the Sect leaders discussed strategy and tactics and then forced to regurgitate this information back when requested. At no time was he permitted to interject with his own ideas about strategy or to disagree with them on any points. Having to sit still and listen for hours on end was torture; he much preferred to be on patrol.

On the whole, living in the Unclean Realm was a positive place to be.

And it was made a whole lot better with the arrival of Lan WangJi.

The younger jade showed up with a group of Lan cultivators a couple of weeks after Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng. Wei WuXian was in the practice yard showing a Yan sect child how to properly hold his sword when Lan WangJi passed by on his way into the fortress proper. "Lan Zhan!" Wei WuXian shouted. "You're here!" He ran over arms stretched like he was going to give a hug only to skid to a stop right in front of the older boy. He abruptly dropped his hands, suddenly remembering that the younger jade did not appreciate hugs the way the Nie heir did. "How have you been?" he babbled to make up for the awkward arm thing. "Did you hear? The Wens attacked Lotus Pier, too."

Lan WangJi only looked at the menace in front of him. "Mm," he hummed when it became apparent the other boy required a response.

"Jiang Cheng is here, too. Did you know? The Core Melting Hand has that nickname because he really does melt people's Cores... ShiDi found that out the hard way. The idiot thought he was protecting me. Weird, right? I'm the disciple; I'm supposed to be the one protecting him. I didn't even notice the Wen were in that town, so I definitely would have been captured if he didn't step in. So anyways, Jiang Cheng doesn't have a Core anymore, but Wen Qing. Do you remember Wen Qing? She's an awesome doctor. So she and I did a lot of research after Wen Ning and I rescued Jiang Cheng. I'll bet you can't picture me doing research, can you? I did, though. I read through what felt like hundreds of books and scrolls trying to find a way to get ShiDi a Core again. There is a way, and I was going to just do it, but she decided that I had to tell him the truth. So I wasn't able to give ShiDi my Core, so he's still Coreless. But we're going to capture a whole bunch of Wen once the war starts in earnest. Especially Wen Xu and Wen Chao and Wen ZhuLiu. We can practice the surgery on the brothers because their Cores aren't as strong as Wen ZhuLiu's. Then we'll take his and give it to Jiang Cheng. We left ShiJie with her grandparents. It's better that she not be here with tons of soldiers, right? I miss her, though. I'm glad she's safe for now. Although Madame Yu, not Jiang Cheng's mother Madame Yu, her mother Madame Yu, wrote that the Wens have been sniffing around Meishan, too, so they're probably going to head over here shortly. And then you'll get to, oh I forgot, you've already met ShiJie. I'll ask her to make us her famous pork rib and lotus soup for you. I'll even tell her to make it a bit bland so you can eat it. Oh, are you completely vegetarian? Or just in the Cloud Recesses? Because I've been on patrol with some Lan that will eat meat and others who won't. I suppose she can make the recipe with tofu, but it won't taste as good. No spices and no meat?" Wei WuXian shivered in disgust. "Maybe I shouldn't ask her to make you that soup. She's good at making other dishes, though! She'll definitely make you something you can eat."