Everyday means everyday: Untamed fanfiction

Chapter 22: Beasts

Jiang Cheng keeps his grip on Fairy's leash to prevent her from jumping up onto the Lan Sect Leader.

"Sorry," Jiang Cheng apologizes. "She's always like this. Sit down," He orders the dog who was sniffing eagerly around Lan Xichen's robes. She whimpers but obeys, panting with her tongue lolling out.

"Don't worry. I do not mind animals, despite having never owned one myself."

"I guess you're used it when you got Wei WuXian's bunnies around and the donkey that never stops making noise," Jiang Cheng had only see Lil'Apple once when Wei WuXian brought him along on a night-hunt and he had not been amused at almost being kicked into a tree. He takes out the name tag Jin Ling had given him earlier and holds it in front of Fairy who sniffs at it in curiosity.

"Track the scent, Fairy. Lead us to him," Jiang Cheng orders.

"I thought she wasn't leading us to him?" Lan Xichen says, puzzled.

"We're not," Jiang Cheng tells him. "Not exactly. First we need to find him in order to get him to follow Fairy. Remember what Wei WuXian said? We should not go all the way to the temple. Only to have Fairy lure them out with her barks."

"If we do capture one of his subordinates, how do we know for sure they will say anything?" As if on cue, Zidian lets out a small crackle of power. Jiang Cheng slaps his hand over it to make it stop.

"A-Cheng," Lan Xichen begins, but Jiang Cheng only shakes his head. As much as he did indeed want to use Zidan to get information out of them,to know who was after his nephew and as responsible for nearly killing his brother, he wanted to hold back. He didn't want Xichen to see that side of him.

"It's okay to want to protect someone you love," Lan Xichen says, his voice gentle. "You've lost so much already, I understand you're...desperate and worried. But..," His voice falters. Jiang Cheng lets out a sigh.

Lan Xichen had always had a kind heart and gentle personality. He would never imagine resorting to violence to getting answers out of someone. Even when speaking with Jin Guangyao, he had been willing to listen to him to find out the reasons for the things he did. Jiang Cheng on the other hand gets worked up in his emotions. When helping Jin Ling to secure his position at Carp Tower, he had Jiang disciples stationed at LanLing, he had threatened any cultivators who dared say anything about Jin Ling not being capable of becoming sect leader. Yet despite all of his efforts, it seemed as if it had come back to bite him. Perhaps the people who left the Jin Sect out of spite of both him and Jin Ling had gathered together with a greater power to strike back, to seek revenge.

"What if it's my fault?" He finally speaks, his voice trembling.

"Your fault for what?"

"My fault they've come back to hurt Jin Lin again. Because of how aggressive I was...they must have been feeling spiteful and wanted revenge."

"A-Cheng," Lan Xichen interrupts gently. "Why would it be your fault? They were already against Jin Ling from the very beginning. Wouldn't it have been better to kick them out?"

"No..it's just," Jiang Cheng pauses and speaks again. "If instead of being violent, we convinced them by showing them what Jin Ling was capable of. If they left the sect...they would have the power to plan whatever they want to plan and come back with more power to strike back!" His voice was rising up in distress and Fairy had started growling, mirroring the stress his master felt.

"A-Cheng, listen to me. You don't know if they would have been trustworthy. They could have easily tricked everyone," Lan Xichen says, his voice soothing. "They could have had more time to strike from the inside. Isn't that worse? We're going to fight the enemy all together now. Isn't that better than having Jin Ling and you struggling to find out who to trust?" Jiang Cheng begins to relax at those words.