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Chapter Twenty
A youth in white strummed the seven strings of his zither with a solemn expression. His robes fluttered in the wind, with his distress and worries accompanying it.
The cultivators in Chongyang base exchanged glances as the melody of zither sounded from faraway, reaching their ears, and evoking solemnity within their hearts. This was already a normal occurrence ever since Hanguang-Jun had joined the Jiang Sect camp. However, up until now, no one could still explain the reason why this prestigious young hero of the war would everyday play this same lonely melody.
The Lan cultivators could only shake their heads. Gossip is forbidden, but they couldn’t impose their rules to others. Actually, they could understand the Jiang Sect cultivators for finding their Second Young Master’s actions odd. It was already five months since they first heard the same sound of zither coming from Jingshi. Even they found it odd that this habit never stopped. Who was the person Hanguang-Jun was playing this song for? They had also once tried to guess in their hearts.
Hanguang-Jun was not bothered by the increasing weird stares that his Inquiry was earning. With a temperament that he had cultivated through the long years of being a teacher in Cloud Recesses, he filtered out the noises that these young cultivators were creating and only focused on listening for the answer to his inquiry.
Suddenly, his eyes flashed a glint of surprise and suppressed happiness. Hanguang-Jun had received an answer that he wasn’t expecting. But it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t hoping for this.
Still maintaining his calm front, Hanguang-Jun swiftly stood up and dispersed the spirits along with his Guqin. He hastily ran towards the foot of the mountain as fast as he could.
He endured thirteen years waiting and searching for that person only to lose him again. The four months that had passed was the most agonizing moments of Hanguang-Jun’s life, knowing that his Wei Ying was somewhere in there but he could only wait for the right moment to meet him again.
Hanguang-Jun had always wanted an explanation from the man but circumstances wouldn’t let him to ask for it. When he failed to stop Wei Wuxian from escaping back in Gusu, all the chances were decreased to zero. Because soon after, the Wen Clan had started their tyrannical actions against Gusu Lan Sect. Hanguang-Jun could only assist his sect until their territory was stabilized.
After the four months of long parting had calmed his heart, the yearning had weakened his desire for an answer. Hanguang-Jun could only hope to be with Wei Ying again. Hence, he helped Jiang Cheng just like before, hoping that he would meet Wei Ying along the way. Fate had not failed him indeed. Similar to their previous timeline, they once again reunited here in Chongyang.
Seeing the person before him playing the familiar song that he didn’t expect him to remember, Hanguang-Jun was reminded of their past life. His and Wei Wuxian’s reunion here in Chongyang had further the misunderstanding and mistaken hate between them, brought about by their different views and his failure in expressing his concern. Howbeit, contrary to that undesirable encounter, this meeting gave him a sliver of hope, a sprouting seed within his heart, expecting to be nourished, and waiting for its first bloom to come.
Even though, to Hanguang-Jun, whether or not the flowers would bloom didn’t really matter. He vowed to use this entire timeline to look over Wei Wuxian no matter what the other person’s feelings was.
“I will be responsible for her,” he said and he meant it despite how others would have perceived it.
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Simple and concise words were typically expected from the mouth of the Second Young Master of the Gusu Lan Clan. However, the words that he had just uttered, though simple, was not something that one would expect the great Hanguang-Jun to say.
Why did he have to be responsible for this demonic cultivator? It was no different from taking responsibility for whatever action the heretic would be taking, no different from agreeing and fully supporting her unorthodoxy!
In a situation like war, every help that’s available is important. With Wen Rouhan as their opponent, accepting the help of a demonic cultivator was nothing to fret about. But the righteous Hanguang-Jun directly showing his full support for the said practitioner of dark arts was a worrying matter.
The Gusu Lan cultivators who accompanied Lan Wangji here in Chongyang to aid the Jiang Sect were put in a tight spot. They carefully studied the look on their Second Young Master’s face, only to see that he was really being serious. He wasn’t even looking at them, but instead staring at the beautiful maiden beside him like she’s the only person in his eyes.
This, it’s not what their thinking, right? Hanguang-Jun couldn’t be in that kind of relationship with that maiden, right?
The two Lan cultivators who managed to recognize Wei Wuxian as the mischievous maiden on the foot of Mt. Yiling felt a shiver ran down their spines as they exchanged knowing glances. They had a sudden frightening feeling that the person in Hanguang-Jun’s inquiry and this female demonic cultivator are one and the same. They didn’t want to imagine how the clan elders would take this alarming news. Realizing this, the two literally started sweating. They hoped that this would not send Teacher Lan into early Qi deviation.
Wei Wuxian was not any calmer than any of them either. With his understanding of Lan Wangji, he didn’t expect this reaction from him. He was even expecting the man to ask him to come back to Gusu with him if not force him to listen to his newly composed cleansing and calming music. But contrary to his expectation, Lan Wangji did not follow the common logic. No questions about the means he used to control his corpse puppets. No talks about how demonic path could damage the heart and affect his temperament. Lan Wangji just declared that he was going to take responsibility for him. What caused this change to happen? Wei Wuxian wanted to question if demonic cultivation was not so much of a big deal nowadays. Or was the rule of not associating yourself with the evil not that important anymore?
“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian stared at the figure standing beside him with complex emotion. He knew that he should be happy with how lightly Lan Wangji was taking his new path, but his confusion was much more overwhelming. He had this feeling that he could no longer understand this Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji unwaveringly met his eyes as he answered everyone’s doubting thoughts, “I will watch over her.”
Wei Wuxian was still puzzled why Lan Wangji was not commenting how sinister his cultivation was, but he could understand what Lan Wangji meant by watching over her. That’s what he wanted to do by wanting to bring him to Gusu before, no? To watch over him, to protect him from others, and to protect him from his own cultivation.
However, the crowd perceived Lan Wangji’s words differently, making Wei Wuxian doubt their eyesight and hearing.
“So Hanguang-Jun was volunteering to take responsibility in making sure that Immortal Maiden Zhengye would not do us any trouble. Ahahaha, Hanguang-Jun is really considerate,” a Lan disciple didn’t know if this was considered lying, but he could only fool himself along with others.
“Hanguang-Jun is indeed considerate. Only a cultivator as strong as him could keep a demonic cultivator in check,” an oblivious Jiang Sect cultivator remarked, earning a glare from Jiang Cheng.
Wei Wuxian would have laughed if the situation wasn’t serious, knowing that Jiang Cheng’s ego had been scratched by this innocent remark. How petty!
Seeing his Sect leader’s sour face, the Jiang Sect cultivator hastily added, “You Lans have that cleansing and calming music, right?”
Lan disciple, “Yes yes, Hanguang-Jun could play that for her.”
“So it is like that?”
…
Wei Wuxian amusedly watched these young cultivators make absurd reasons just to pacify their shaky terrified hearts. He thought that they were quite reasonable for not confronting the current issue head on. Perhaps he could also do the same. Take one step at a time. Don’t look for the answer that will just destroy the current equilibrium and harmony. Eventually, the answer would one day come on its own.
Wei Wuxian glanced at the silent Lan Wangji. Why he was different, why he couldn’t understand him, Wei Wuxian chose to just wait for the answer and not seek for it. And wasn’t it nice that the Lan Wangji was not pestering him about his path for once? Although Wei Wuxian felt that this situation was too surreal, his heart always trusted Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji might be different, but his heart told him that he was his Lan Wangji.
Wei Wuxian suddenly smiled. Lan Wangji who seemed somewhat surprised, slightly raised the corner of his eyebrows. Maybe Lan Wangji was not completely unreadable after all, Wei Wuxian just needed to try harder to understand him. With this in thought, Wei Wuxian had a sudden urge to get a reaction from the man just like how he used to tease him when they were younger.
“Lan Zhan, you heard them. Keep me in check and play me a song, will you?” Wei Wuxian said mischievously.
However, as Lan Wangji heard this, he took a single step to cut the remaining distance between them. His face was emotionless as he declared, “Mark your words.”
“Huh?” Wei Wuxian raised his head full of bewilderment.
Lan Wangji answered his question by picking the black flute from the ground before swiftly grabbing its owner by the waist. He glanced at Jiang Cheng, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, “I will take this person back to the base.”
Wei Wuxian, “!!!”
With that, Lan Wangji leaped on his sturdy Bichen with a beauty in his arms.
“Lan Zhan wait! Let go let go! What are you doing?!” Wei Wuxian finally came back to his senses and struggled. He was feeling scandalized for the first time in his two lives.
Lan Wangji continued to advance, turning a deaf ear, and looking at the faraway distance with an unreadable emotion. Was it only him or Wei Wuxian had really seen that although appearing frigid as always, there’s a light curl on the corner of Lan Wangji’s lips?
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