Cheng turns the small box in his hand. He wasn't particularly fond of Lan Wangji but he wasn't doing this for Lan Wangji.
"What are you thinking?" Master Jiang did not realise that Wei Wuxian was in his room.
"Nothing, You hang out here. I have something to do."
"I'll come along." Wei Wuxian tries to follow but he turns and scowls. Wei Wuxian rubs his nose grumpily and goes to flop on his bed.
Once outside, Master Cheng realises, he doesn't really know where to look. Sighing and gritting his teeth, he turns to Wangji's place and pauses after turning the corner. He almost sighs in relief. He really didn't want to face Lan Wangji.
"Sect Leader Lan." he announces his arrival. He sees a genuine smile that is enough to relax him and continue.
He presents the box, "This is a special healing balm. It works in closing up injuries quicker than normal. Thank you for helping out Wei Wuxian. I hope this help your brother."
Sect Leader Lan smiled wider and looked at the box again. He seems surprised but delighted. Master Jiang found it odd that Sect Leader Lan was surprised at his returned favour. He must be used to receiving all kinds of gifts, why does he seem too emotional?
Unable to answer his own question and finding the silence awkward, he bows again to retreat.
"Thank you." Master Jiang can't help but smile at the sincerity in the other's tone. He removes the smile before standing straight, nods and leaves.
-------
Sect Leader Lan stared at the small box for a while until Wangji came back to his room. He places it in his brother's hand.
"How are the injuries?"
"They are fine." Sect Leader Lan sighs, knowing the standard answer.
"Apply this overnight and reply if the wounds haven't closed up till morning." He hands the box to his brother and the two-part after a goodnight greeting. He can still feel the warmth of the person, even though both the box and the person were gone.
Sect Leader Lan knew that Master Jiang was only returning a favour to him for being thoughtful to his brother by being thoughtful to Wangji but very few people were actually able to achieve it. With Wangji, you never know what was thoughtful. Sect Leader Lan had been worried ever since yesterday over those injuries, sleeping had been tough on his back and Lan was trained to sleep in a strict posture, his brother more so than others.
He slept peacefully that night.
------
Jiang Cheng knocks an arrow on his bow and lets it fly to where Master Nie threw the sandstone. It split and rained everywhere. Since there is no teacher on the ground today and it is the day of the midterm examination, everyone was busy showing their skills. It gives Master Jiang a feel of being back home on the training grounds every day.
As he looks for what to do next, his ear catches the group of other sect boys discussing archery and competing for a night hunt spot for which someone will be selected from the grounds. His eyes, however, catch Sect Leader Lan at the far end of the arena, just entering. He hops over to the boys and they welcome them with open arms.
Master Jin is among them. After Wei Wuxian, he feels excited to show that peacock up; he is not worthy of shijie. He suggests that all of them have two or three rounds. Eager to show him up too, Master Jin takes the bait. Now Jiang Cheng just can't wait.
"Good move," he hears the whisper from behind him and realises Master Nie is behind him.
"Why don't you join in?" Jiang Cheng scowls at being caught but Master Nie only laughs and shakes his head, "You know I have no interest and no talent."
He would have continued the conversation had he not go to focus on the archery range. The ground is cleared as the eagar Master Jin walks up to the line, knocks an arrow and shoots easily, with an easy gait, feigning as if he did not even need to do focus, yet his arrow was dead centre. Master Jin smiled at him proudly and he gave back a courteous smile. He wanted to slow clap or something like Wei Wuxian but held himself back. For one, it wasn't his thing and another, Sect Leader Lan was drawing close from the corner of his eyes and he didn't want to seem childish.
He let the other boys go first and thought of all the ways he could do better and what he could do upon his turn, he had an idea. Even though had never tried it before, he was confident. Some of the other competitors stood straight all of a sudden and looked sideways with a bow. One after another, many people turned and bowed, Jiang Cheng too turned to look at Sect Leader Lan who gave everyone a small smile. This smile was real too, like a polite acceptance of greeting. When he turned away, he thought so much smiling could hurt his face, how can Sect Leader Lan do it all the time?
Well, he didn't have time to ponder uselessly, it was his turn. He carefully pulled three arrows, gripped them each between his fingers, so as not to let any of them slip. Adjusted his stance in front of the target. Filled his lungs with air. Knocked the first arrow on his bow. Pressed his thumb for stability. Pulled the string. Fixed his eyes on the target. Release. Quick. The next arrow on the bow, pull, release. The last arrow, knock, pull, release.
He released the breath he had been holding as all three arrows flew chasing the tail of the first. TUCK.TUCK.TUCK.
In the dead centre, tails swinging like with force as they gathered in the centre, their tails in a straight line. He turned around, caught Master Jin's eyes and gave a small courtesy. He did not look at Seact Leader Lan. For some unfathomable reason, he dare not.
Some of his kin, patted his back or jumped in joy but he missed his brother. In the next round, all those who did not reach close to the centre were removed. Only 5 of them remained. Jiang Cheng took the last turn again. This time, he did the same, knocked three arrows, one after another and sent them tail to tail.
TUCK. TUCK. TUCK. Dead centre, this time, arrows grazed each other and their tails formed a circle. Master Jin was not far behind and kicked three arrows in three boards from the same position one after another.
He had something better for the finale. He was excited and nervous at the same time. If he failed, there would be too much shame and he knew Wei Wuxian would come to his rescue which was even more unbearable. He looked around hoping to see Wei Wuxian, of course, he was in the library, writing away his punishment but he could hope. He didn't see Wei Wuxian but his eyes caught Sect Leader Lan who was looking at another part of the arena, the sword fight.
Jiang Cheng knew he was good with a sword, though he was better with a bow. He looked back at Sect Leader Lan. He wasn't smiling anymore, there was a concentrated look on his face. Let those muscles rest, he thought mockingly. He might as well have been loud enough because the man turned and locked eyes with him. Jiang Cheng had the urge to look away but he paused, neck taut and bowed respectfully before turning around.
There were only him and Master Jin for the last round now. Jiang Cheng noticed the aggressive step and eagerness with which the peacock emptied his quiver in any and every board around the arena. Everyone clapped. Now he was nervous because his finale wasn't enough, he'd have to step it up.
As the disqualified students started to run to empty the board, Jiang Cheng called, "Let them be."
Unsure, the student let them be. Everyone in the arena had turned quiet at the show Master Jin had created. He positioned himself in the centre of the arena instead of the line and looked at the three archery ranges on three sides while the back was for the seating area. He was further away from the lines but in the dead centre to have all three accessible quite easily.
"Master Nie. Can you please refill my quiver?" He asked his friend with courtesy who rushed away and came back with two more quivers full of arrows. He picked two arrows at first from his own, emptied his brain, focused his eyes at the tail of Master Jin's arrow and let his arrows fly one after another. He didn't have time to wait for the result, he picked up two moves, shifted, did the same. Shifted, knocked two more, sent them chasing the tale. Deep breath, two more. Shift. Two more. Turn to the side. Empty the brain. Focus on the tail of the arrow on the board. Two more, knock and release. Shift, another board, another tail, knock and release, knock and release. Deep breath, two more. Release. Reach back. Empty quiver.
He turned to his friend, pulled two from the quiver in his hands, knocked, focus on tail, release.
A thundering clap. Jiang Cheng paused, surprised and distracted. He looked over but his body reached for more arrows and thankfully Master Nie had refilled it. His eyes locked with a pair of beautiful ones at the head of the arena. He didn't have time to be distracted. Other followed clapping, he turned around, knocked, took longer to focus, sweat trickled his back, looked at the tail, release.
A hand on his shoulder. He paused. For some reason, the hand made him nervous. He turned to see his teacher and sighed in relief. Why did he expect it to be Sect Leader Lan, he didn't know. He was just relieved, that it wasn't.
"That is enough." Jiang Cheng was glad to be stopped. His fingers were throbbing, his heart was pounding and his head wanted him to close his eyes. He gave a small courtesy to his teacher who replied proudly, "you did well. Maybe too much."
But since he was smiling, Jiang Cheng only smiled back, lightly. Only when the teacher turned away did he notice people surrounding him, there was whopping and shouts of joy and too much hugging. Too many hands.
He snapped, "get away from me. Get away. Congratulate me from a distance. Do you want me to put one in your head?"
Everyone backed away but there were still huge grins. Jiang Cheng looked through the small crowd at the other end to see Master Jin stomping away and his posse following in a hurry. He could finally smile but didn't.
He wasn't scowling anymore though.
------
Sect Leader Lan walked around the arena now, making his way between students. It was hard to see some people's faces because they gave a courtesy too quickly while remaining like that for too long. It was not like he could go around saying to everyone to be a little more upright and do a little less of courtesy-ing. He was grateful for the respect, it just set him away from others, that's all. He looked through the side of sword fights and walked to them, to see a couple of students who chose to focus on their sparring rather than pause, turn and pay respect. He looked to them and found a couple quite well matched. He walked closer to see the emblem of lotus on both their shoulders. The Jiang sect was famously skilled in weaponry. Sect Leader smiled wider thinking of the impressive archery a moment ago. There was no doubt that he would have to take Master Jiang along on the next night's hunt. He just wanted to choose a different sect member for the other two or three disciples. But at swordsmanship, the Jiang sect was standing out so he'd have to choose one. He waited patiently with two elders and the master of the arena by his side. He noted the difference in the Jiang sword style in comparison to Lan and thought of the sparring match between Master Wei and Wangji.
"Master Kou. What are your assessments of a sword sparring between the Lan sect and Jiang sect?" He asked out of curiosity.
"It really depends on the user wielding," he replied smoothly without any partiality, he could only smile.
Eventually, the older boy was exhausted and his jabs were slower, the other made swift use of sword and spiritual energy to overpower and win. Then, they proceeded to bow to the four assessing views and they moved on to another part. As he turned. Sect Leader Jiang was looking around the crowd for something. At the other end of the field, he found what he was looking for and easily slipped away from still ongoing praises and discussion. Sect Leader Lan watched him sling an arm over someone and turn them around.
Master Nie had a guilty expression on his face while Master Jiang dragged him back in the arena. Without warning, Master Nie slipped a shorthand knife from somewhere and gave a full swing jab, Master Jiang laughed and flipped back and Master Nie made a run for it in the opposite direction. Master Jiang followed with a scowl. Sect Leader Lan had not realised he had paused in surprise observation. Only when the two were out of sight did he realise it. He sighed at the fact that none spoke up to him for his cause of pause. It did give him a good idea.
The rest of his time was spent going around looking for any other disciple but none other than Master Jin caught his eye who was adept at multiple weapons. His decision was made and he proceeded to the music cultivation class.
-------
"Really?" Jiang Cheng and Master Nie looked at each other with a surprise from Wei Wuxian's voice reelected in their eyes.
A slow, very slow smile spread across Master Jiang's face and a deep worry itched in Master Nie's face. Master Wei's surprise turned to a face of pride for a moment before he started to laugh, mostly directed at Master Nie.
"You.. You are screwed...You.. are so... screwed." He laughed harder and harder until he had to lean against the wall.
Sect Leader Lan as a distant observer decided to let Master Wei be with his language but before he could turn away he saw Wangji descend from the cloud with sternness.
"No foul language." He spoke quite and sharp. Sect Leader Lan watched interestedly. Wangji met his eye but continued to proceed to Master Wei.
"Against Sect rules?" Master Wei asked dryly and Wangji nodded.
"What are you going to make me do Lan Zhan? Write the sect rules more?" Wangji nodded and started leaving and Master Wei groaned and followed. Sect Leader much like other viewers held his laughter.
"He's so screwed." Sect Leader Jiang barked with a laugh as the other left and Sect Leader let laughter slip between his lips too.
----
Jiang Cheng waited at the big entrance of Cloud Recess at early dawn with a grumbling Master Nie, waiting to see who was going to lead them on the night hunt. He wasn't anticipating other disciples as much until he realized he should have. Master Jin strutted over, suspiciously and came to stand by the, confirming Jiang Cheng suspicions. They didn't both with any courtesy and Master Nie shifted from foot to foot. When two other lotus emblems joined them, Jiang Cheng's mood lifted immediately.
As if all that weren't enough, Sect Leader Lan walked to them and greeted them about the night hunt along with another Master of theirs who did music cultivation, a class he was poor at. Jiang Cheng knew it was going to be a difficult hunt ahead.
------
"This guy is trying to show you up." Master Nie commented from the side, not having moved a single finger of his own, trembling and hiding behind his fan. Jiang Cheng didn't pay him mind as he slashed through the corpse that had dropped from the tree. Master Nie could clearly protect himself but was such a coward that he couldn't lift a finger. Master Jin was trying to take all the corpses coming at them with double triple arrows as if they were still in the arena and he had had to prove himself. Not even a single arrow was through the head or the heart and Jiang Cheng was getting frustrated at double the work. Why can't the guy just do one proper arrow, he is clearly good and quick at it.
He didn't even have time to sigh as his fellow Jiang disciple got caught at the ankle by his momentary distraction.
"Put him near Master Nie." Sect Leader ordered the Master of Musical cultivation and the man leapt over the oncoming corpses with the disciple securely in his arms.
"Watch you back." Sect Leader Lan ordered them next. Jiang Cheng only had time to nod when he saw Master Jin being caught by his quiver and dragged back as he was distracted with balancing multiple arrows in his fingers.
Suddenly, Sect Leader Lan's back was exposed and Master Jin was being dragged, he didn't have time to call for attention as Sect Leader Jiang sliced through multiple corpses, his flute ready to use in other hand. Jiang Cheng knocked an arrow straight at the guy behind Master Jin. Since his hands were busy, he could only use his body to shield Sect Leader Lan.
As soon as the arrow left his hands, he felt two hands, one knocking into his temple, and sharp nails, slicing through his neck, burning it. His eyes instantly dropped and he heard the melodious sound before he went blank.