Chapter 11 - Refinement

At dawn, the first rays of the morning sun shone through the hazy billows of mist that drifted far and wide, perfectly complementing its name—the " Cloud Recesses."

There was a sudden scene change from the previous pictures of Dafan Mountain, but the audience was quick to quiet down by themselves, awed into silence and reverence by the beautiful landscape pictures and gentle music playing. So, this was the famed "Cloud Recesses"!

However, the ambience was suddenly shattered by a long wail, giving a few shudders down the backs of the disciples who were training or doing their morning readings . They couldn't help but to glance at the direction of the main entrance, where the sound came from. Wei WuXian was crying in front of the entrance, clinging onto his donkey.

Sizhui's mouth twitched. It was all very funny in hindsight, seeing Senior Wei make a fool of himself, although he remembered being panicked and terrified at the time, not knowing what to do. Wei Wuxian was certainly the grandmaster of shamelessly dramatic entrances.

Lan JingYi spoke, "Stop crying! You said that you liked HanGuang-Jun yourself, so what are you wailing for, now that he has taken you back?" Wei WuXian pulled a long face. He never had the chance to summon Wen Ning again, after the night at Dafan Mountain. Neither did he have any opportunities to find out why Wen Ning was unconscious or why he had appeared in this world again, before he was carried back by Lan WangJi.

It was strange that Wei Wuxian was able to childishly wail with those impressively realistic fake tears while his thoughts were turned towards dark subjects. Perhaps Wei Wuxian had missed his true calling as a stage performer.

When he was in his early youth, he had came to study at the Lan Sect for three months, along with the disciples of other clans, so he had experienced the GusuLan Sect's dull, boring atmosphere in person. In fact, he still shuddered at the thought of the three-thousand-or-so sect rules which crammed onto the Wall of Discipline. As he was tugged up the mountain, he passed by the rock wall again, and saw that a thousand more were carved on. Now, there were more than four thousand. Four thousand!

Now, there was outright laughter. Wei Wuxian seemed to be genuinely wailing now, about those 4000 rules.

Lan JingYi spoke, "There, there! Stop making a ruckus. Noise is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses."

He was making loud noises exactly because he didn't want to enter the Cloud Recesses!

Wei Wuxian's logic made even more people laugh. The voiceover for Wei Wuxian's thoughts conveyed quite realistically the tone of his thoughts - you could practically hear the eye-roll in his response to Jingyi.

If he was dragged inside, it would be extremely difficult for him to come outside again.Back then, when he came to study, all of the disciples were given a jade token for passage. Only with the token, would a person be able to enter and leave freely, or else they couldn't pass through the protective barrier of the Cloud Recesses. After ten years had passed, the security could only have gotten stricter, instead of looser.

Lan Qiren ground his teeth as the secrets of the Cloud Recesses were slowly leaked to the public. Damn Wei Wuxian and his compulsive need to explain everything in his head!

Lan WangJi stood still in front of the entrance, turning a deaf ear to him, and watched the scene with an indifferent look. When Wei WuXian's voice had somewhat quieted, he spoke, "Let him cry. When he becomes tired, drag him inside." Wei WuXian hugged the donkey and cried even harder, bumping his head against it.

"Ah Lan Zhan, you were so mean to me." Wei Wuxian wiped a fake tear from his eye.

Jin Ling snorted. "Okay, that wailing noise is really getting annoying, will you shut up soon??"

"Uh...don't remember." Wei Wuxian thoughtfully cast his mind back and found that he had forgotten a lot of the details of what happened. It was good he got a re-telling of everything!

How misfortunate! He thought that with a whip from Zidian, all of his doubts would be cleared. At the moment, he felt satisfied with himself and, along with his mouthful of teasing words, he offhandedly gave Lan WangJi a few repulsive comments. Yet, who knew that Lan WangJi didn't follow the routine he had followed before? What was this all about? Was it possible that, after so many years, his level of cultivation had increased, but he became more tolerant?

Wei Wuxian coughed, feeling a bit stupid for ignoring the obvious. It was strange that he never but  that.

Jingyi laughed. "He has so not become more tolerant, that's only for you, of course. I've been made to copy Conduct so many times, I can write it all from memory!"

Lan Zhan replied with, "Mn. Next time, you can write it with your left hand and eyes closed."

Jingyi choked.

Wei WuXian spoke, "I'm attracted to men, so with so many beautiful young men in your sect, I'm afraid that I won't be able to control myself."

Lan SiZhui tried to reason with him, "Young Master Mo, it was for your sake that HanGuang-Jun brought you here. If you do not follow us, Sect Leader Jiang will not be willing to let the matter go. During these years, there were countless people whom he caught and took back to Lotus Pier, and none of those people were ever let out."

As usual, Sizhui had the most reasonable points, and this was why he would be a good sect leader in the future.

Jiang Cheng tried to look haughty, like he didn't care what they were saying about him. They didn't understand the full story though...those people who imitated Wei Wuxian were mostly really awful people. If he lost his temper when questioning them...well, it was mostly justifiable.

Lan JingYi spoke, "That is right. You have seen Sect Leader Jiang's methods, have you not? They are quite cruel..." He paused here, remembering the rule that stated "talking behind other people's backs" was prohibited, and secretly glanced at Lan WangJi. Seeing that HanGuang-Jun didn't show any means to chastise him, he was bold enough as to mumble on, "It is all because of the unhealthy trend that the YiLing Patriarch started. There are so many people who copy him and cultivate that foolish method. With Sect Leader Jiang being so suspicious of everyone, is it even possible for him to catch all of them? Just look at you and your flute skills... Heh."

Wei WuXian felt like he really needed to defend himself, "Well, actually, you might not believe me, but I usually play the flute quite well..."

"Look at you, you didn't believe me then, but what about now, huh, Jingyi? Try criticise my flute skills now you know who I am, hahahaha!" Wei Wuxian mocked jokingly.

Jingyi flushed pink. First of all, he wasn't sure whether to be pleased or embarrassed when the audience chuckled at every sentence that came out of his mouth. He guessed that having value as comedic entertainment was better than being ignored completely.

Before he finished his defense, a few white-clothed cultivators walked through the door.  The man standing in front was tall and slender. Hanging on his waist was a xiao made of white jade, aside from his sword. As Lan WangJi saw them, he slightly bowed his head to show respect, and the person did the same. He looked at Wei WuXian and smiled, "WangJi never brings guests home. This is?" As the person stood in front of Lan WangJi, it was as if they were mirror images. However, the color of Lan WangJi's eyes was extremely light, as if they were tinted crystals, while his eyes were of a gentler, darker shade. This was Lan Huan, the leader of the GusuLan Sect—ZeWu-Jun, Lan XiChen.

Lan Xichen regarded his picture self thoughtfully. It was quite accurate, though his eye colour really wasn't that brown, and his features weren't that glassy smooth and perfect.

Each place brought up the same kind of people. The GusuLan Sect had always been known for nurturing a lot of handsome men, especially the two jades of the clan's current generation. Even though the two were not twins, they looked extremely similar to each other, which made it difficult to tell who was the superior one. Yet, although their appearances were similar, their personalities were not. Lan XiChen was gentle and benevolent, while Lan WangJi was overly aloof and stern, keeping everyone at an arm's length and being the opposite of amiable. This was why, in the list of the best-looking young masters in the cultivation world, the former ranked first, and the latter ranked second. Lan XiChen proved himself worthy of being the leader of a sect. Even as he saw Wei WuXian embracing a donkey, he did not appear to be affected at all.

Lan Xichen smiled at Wei Wuxian, saying politely, "Thank you, Wei-gongzi. I am glad you think that way of me, though I am hardly worthy of that level of praise." Inside though, he was glowing, secretly delighted. Not many people praised him to his face in a sincere, spontaneous way, so he could never be sure if he was doing a good job as the Lan sect leader.

Wei Wuxian waved his hand dismissively, "I'm just saying the facts as they are, Zewu-Jun!"

Xichen looked over at his younger brother and could tell he was a little bit sad (he couldn't tell how he knew, it was just his older brother radar). He assumed it was because of the overall seemingly negative impression Wei Wuxian seemed to have of him so far. Xichen intentionally caught Wei Wuxian's eye and then blinked towards Lan Zhan. Wei Wuxian immediately caught on (thank god for that quick brain of his) and looped his arms around Lan Zhan's shoulders.

"Lan Zhan Lan Zhannn!" he whispered. "You aren't feeling hurt at what I used to think about you, are you? I'm sorry, my thoughts are a bit mean. I really didn't understand anything then! You're really great, you know. You look angry and stern on the outside, but on the inside you're my Lan Zhan, that's why I like you!"

Lan Zhan exhaled, resting his chin softly on the top of Wei Wuxian's head. "Mn. I know. I do not mind."

Wei WuXian let go of the donkey with a beaming smile on his face and approached him. The GusuLan Sect placed a lot of regard on the order of seniority. If he talked nonsense to Lan XiChen, he would most definitely be chased off the Cloud Recesses. However, when he just got ready to show his capabilities, Lan WangJi looked at him. Immediately, his lips were sealed closed.

Jiang Cheng shuddered. "I have to congratulate you, Hanguang Jun, for narrowly avoiding that disaster. It would have been terrible."

Wei Wuxian, still cuddled up against Lan Zhan's chest, didn't reply.

Lan WangJi turned around and continued his polite conversation with Lan XiChen, "Brother, are you going to visit LianFang-Zun again?"  Wei WuXian was unable to open his mouth, so he sourly walked back to the donkey.

The juniors giggled at his sulking expression. How anyone believed that Senior Wei was a mass murdering, blood-thirsty, children-eating maniac, they didn't know.

Lan XiChen spoke, "Uncle has taken and examined what you brought back from Mo Village." Hearing the words "Mo Village", Wei WuXian automatically started to pay attention. Unexpectedly, he felt his lips part. Lan XiChen had released his silence and spoke to Lan WangJi, "It is not often that you bring somebody home, being in such good spirits. You need to treat your guest with courtesy, unlike this."

Murmurs filled the room. Lan WangJi clearly had a blank, stiff face on, the corners of his lips tilted slightly down. His expression had barely varied for the past hour. How on earth could he be in good spirits?? What had Lan Xichen seen that they hadn't? Was there a secret tell?

Good spirits? Wei WuXian carefully looked at Lan WangJi's face. How could he tell that he was in good spirits?!

The audience half sighed, half laughed. It was disappointing that Wei Wuxian didn't know the answer to this mystery either, but his obvious frustration and incredulity was amusing to see as well.

The current Wei Wuxian pouted. He still didn't totally understand how Lan Xichen knew, he'd have to extract the secret from him one day...

After watching Lan XiChen leave, Lan WangJi spoke, "Drag him inside." Then, Wei WuXian was, indeed, dragged into a place which he swore not to step inside again.

He swore not to step in here again?? How much had he hated the Cloud Recesses? Lan Qiren lamented the fact that Wei Wuxian still got dragged inside. It's good that he doesn't want to come inside, in fact, the further away he is, the better!

In the past, only distinguished cultivators had came to visit the Lan Sect, and never had anyone seen a guest like him before. The juniors all crowded around him, interested by this new turn of events. If not for the sect rules being so strict, there would definitely be bouts of laughter along the journey. Lan JingYi asked, "HanGuang-Jun, where should we drag him to?"

Lan WangJi replied, "The jingshi."

"... The jingshi?!" Wei WuXian didn't know what was going on. The rest stared among themselves, afraid to make any sound. It was HanGuang-Jun's bedroom and study, which he had never invited anyone inside...

A similar hush fell over the audience. It was clear where this was going... scattered giggles started emerging.

Sect Leader Yao scowled. "Disgusting cut-sleeves! How can two men-"

He suddenly became aware he was the target of many pointed, angry glares. Seeing the Yiling Patriarch looking thoughtfully in his direction, spinning Chenqing ominously between his fingers, he wisely shut his mouth.

Jingyi gave a hoot of laughter. "What would you know about matters of love? No one's clearly ever loved you!"

His words were echoed with loud snorts of laughter.

Lan Xichen would reprimand Jingyi for giving into impulses of anger (Rule 49 on the Wall of Conduct), except he was too busy stifling his own laughter at the junior disciple's words.

Lan WangJi went to see his uncle to discuss serious matters, while Wei WuXian was pushed into the room. Right after Lan WangJi left, Wei WuXian also went outside. He strolled around the Cloud Recesses, and found that, as he had expected, without the jade token for passage, even if he climbed up the white walls of a few zhangs' height, he would be immediately flung off by the barrier.

The scene cut to a zoomed out timelapse of Wei Wuxian wriggling lizard-like up a tall, white wall, then flying backwards as if he was kicked to fall with a 'fwump'  in a heap on the ground (where he sulkily lay unmoving for a few seconds before slouching away).

Lan Zhan winced and patted his husband's hand sympathetically, but most people were doubled over in laughter at how ridiculous he looked.

Wei WuXian could only go back to the jingshi. He never really worried about anything, no matter what he came across. He walked around the jingshi with his arms behind his back, firmly believing that, sooner or later, there would be a solution.

The juniors blinked. An interesting philosophy! You would think it was naive, but considering it was Wei Wuxian, he would probably be able to find a solution to anything.

The refreshing scent of the sandalwood was cold and clear. Although it wasn't sentimental, it had its own way of tugging one's heartstrings. With nothing to do, he started to think random thoughts, Lan Zhan happened to smell like this scent. His clothes were probably tinged with the fragrance when he was practicing his guqin or meditating here . After these thoughts, he couldn't help but to shift closer to the incense stand at the corner.

"Yep, totally random. No reason at all why you were thinking about that." Jiang Cheng mocked. Wei Wuxian in denial was painful and hilarious at the same time.

With this shift, he became aware that, beneath his foot, one piece of wood was significantly different from the other places.

Lan Zhan's eye twitched. He'd totally forgotten about his stash of Emperor's Smile, which he'd hidden years ago in the midst of his post-WWX death depression. He'd told himself over and over that Wei WuXian would come back to him, and when he did, he would give him all the Emperor's Smile he wanted so that he would stay in Gusu with him.

But of course, Wei WuXian didn't know that, and Lan Zhan wasn't planning on telling him. Of course, that would mean that everyone in the cultivation world would assume Lan Zhan secretly drank alcohol. Lan Zhan couldn't care less.

Wei WuXian bent down and started to knock here and there, due to curiosity. After a few moments, he turned a piece of board up. Finding a secretive space in Lan WangJi's room was already more than enough to surprise Wei WuXian. However, after he saw what was hidden inside, he was even more surprised.  Seven or eight black jars were packed into a small, square cellar. Sure enough, Lan WangJi had changed—he even started to hide liquor!

Lan Zhan kept his face impassive as loud gasps resounded around him. Lan Qiren's face had completely drained of blood, his mouth gaping open in horror, like a fish, but on the other hand, Lan Xichen looked resigned, but a small smile with hidden. The rest of the Lan disciples were frozen in shock, with the exception of Sizhui. He was surprised, yes, but he trusted that Hanguang Jun had a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The rumours and gossip flying wildly around at present meant little to Lan Zhan. The only thing he was concerned about was what Wei Ying thought. Wei Ying had never asked him about this, or even given any indication he'd found the stash of alcohol! Did he not know Wei WuXian as well as he thought? Surely the first thing Wei WuXian would do upon finding alcohol hidden in his bedroom was come gloating to Lan Zhan and tease him?

After he returned from Gusu to Yunmeng, Wei WuXian never had the chance to drink the "Emperor's Smile" made exclusively by Gusu's experts ever again. He had thought about this for his entire life, always telling himself to come back to taste it if he ever received the opportunity. But, the opportunity never came. Hidden in here was no other than the liquor—he didn't even need to open and taste it, and knew that it was an "Emperor's Smile" just by the smell of it.

Jiang Cheng, was ridiculously starting to feel stirrings of soft feelings inside him. Memories of days when they were teenagers, and Wei WuXian would go on dramatically making up poetry on the spot praising Gusu's Emperor's Smile. Did Wei WuXian really never have the chance to taste the Emperor's Smile after leaving Gusu all those years ago, back when they didn't have a clue of the disaster about to crash into their lives?

He would never have thought that he would find a liquor-hiding vault in the room of a person as scrupulous and abstinent as Lan WangJi's. Karma really outdid itself with this reincarnation. As Wei WuXian exclaimed upon the matter, he finished one jar already. After he came to the conclusion that Lan WangJi still owed him a jar of Emperor's Smile and it was time to collect his interests, he drank another jar.

Most parents and educated adult cultivators watched in horror as Wei WuXian guzzled the alcohol like water, pouring it ceaselessly straight down his throat. How was that physically possible? Was he human?? Oh, right of course, he wasn't. The grandmaster of demonic cultivation probably deals with much stronger stuff than alcohol in his daily routine. But, surely there was going to be permanent damage from that level of drinking...

Other adult cultivators were reluctantly impressed.

When he was just starting to get tipsy, a thought suddenly passed his mind. How hard was it to get the jade token? In the Cloud Recesses, there was a cold spring with a lot of miraculous effects, for the male cultivators to use.

Jiang Cheng, already reminiscing about his and Wei Wuxian's childhood, felt his senses tingling. He knew precisely what Wei WuXian was thinking, and he also knew that Wei WuXian was about to do something very, very stupid.

When he went into the cold spring, he was bound to take off his clothing. Then, with his clothing already off, there would be no where to put it aside from holding it in his mouth, which was definitely out of question. Wei WuXian clapped his hands and finished the last gulp in the jar. After searching, he found that there were no places to throw it away, so he filled the empty jars with clear water and sealed the lids again, stuffing them back inside and closing the wooden board. With this done, he ventured out to find the jade token.

Pretty much everyone had some sort of idea of what Wei WuXian was planning to do at this point. Jingyi and Sizhui were exclaiming 'ohhh!', after  they realised what Wei WuXian had actually been doing that day when they'd caught him running out of the Cold Springs.

The disciple on duty for watching over the cold spring was quite a distance away. Nobody in the Lan Sect did an impudent thing such as coming to the cold spring to watch others bathe, anyway. Therefore, the security wasn't strict at all and it was extremely easy to overcome, making it easy for Wei WuXian to go and shame himself.

Jin Ling snickered. "No one in the Lan sect would do that, but Wei WuXian is really a whole new level of shameless."

Lan Qiren made a mental note to increase the security near the Cold Spring. Perhaps he would introduce a new section in training the disciples: how to recognise Wei WuXian and subdue him.

And, coincidentally, there was a set of white clothes on top of the white rocks behind the crisscrossed eupatorium grasses, meaning that someone had already came. The set of white clothes was folded extremely neatly, almost making one's hair rise. It looked like a snow-white piece of tofu—even the forehead ribbon was folded without any creases. As Wei WuXian put his hand in and searched for the jade token of passage, he was almost reluctant to mess it up.

Lan Zhan froze. Of course, that day, he'd heard someone hiding behind the bushes while he'd bathed. And of course, it was Wei WuXian! He hoped that Wei WuXian hadn't seen too much (only because what he saw was now going to be shown to everyone, and it would be awkward avoiding the questions about the whip scars on his back). Obviously though, no such luck.

Afterward, stepping over the bushes of eupatorium grasses, his gaze passed over the spring, and suddenly halted.

The water in the cold spring was freezing. Unlike a hot spring, there wasn't any vapour to shroud one's eyes, so it was possible to take a clear look at the upper half of the person in the spring who stood with his back to him. The person in the spring was quite tall. His skin was fair and his hair was black, wet and gathered to one side. The lines which outlined his waist and back were smooth, graceful yet holding strength. In simpler terms, he was a beauty. However, Wei WuXian was definitely not stunned and unable to avert his gaze because he was looking at a bathing beauty. No matter how beautiful he was, he wouldn't actually be attracted to men.

"You're crouching behind a bush, watching a man bathe and thinking about how tall and graceful and strong he looks, and then you claim you won't actually be attracted to men." Jin Ling deadpanned.

"Hmm. That was a bit of a lie, wasn't it?" Wei WuXian pondered. "To be fair though, I genuinely never considered that I could be a cut-sleeve."

Meanwhile, the Lan disciples had all averted their gaze to respect whoever was bathing's dignity. However, they could still hear Wei Wuxian's voice narrating everything.

Really, it was the things on the person's back that made him unable to avert his gaze. There were dozens of intersecting scars. They were the scars from a discipline whip.

In the different sects, there was a type of discipline whip to punish disciples of that sect who made significant mistakes. After the torture, the scars would never disappear. Although Wei WuXian had never been hit by a discipline whip before, Jiang Cheng had been. Even after desperately trying, he couldn't make the disgracing imprint fade one bit.  Usually, with only one or two strikes of the discipline whip, it would already be enough of a punishment for the bearer to remember it for their whole life, never to make the same mistake ever again. The amount of scars on this person's back accumulated thirty at the least. Just what sort of monstrous crime did he commit for him to be whipped so many times? If it really was a monstrous crime, why didn't they kill him?

There weren't gasps this time, just a queasy, horrified silence. Jiang Cheng did indeed still have the disciple whip across his right shoulder and back, and vividly remembered the blinding pain that single whip had inflicted on him. To be whipped more than thirty times... this really did have more endurance and strength than he could ever dream of having. Jiang Cheng looked over to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren - one of must have inflicted this insane punishment. Strangely,  Lan Xichen looked on the verge of tears while Lan Qiren stared at the ground, as if the sight on the board was physically painful for them.

Wei WuXian was feeling extremely guilty for violating his husband's privacy. Of course, it wasn't him who decided to display everything to the whole cultivation world, but it was his thoughts and his perspective that everyone was seeing, so he couldn't help but feel slightly responsible.

At the moment, the person in the spring turned around. Beneath his collarbone and near his heart, there was a clear sear. Seeing the sear, Wei WuXian's shock instantly reached its highest peak.

The sear was only shown for a few seconds before it cut to black again. However, the pattern seemed to be familiar...

Of rather more importance, was the face of the person in the spring - it was revealed to everyone that it was Lan WangJi!

Jiang Cheng physically reeled backwards, trying to comprehend this new information. The rest of the cultivators in the audience were shocked beyond belief by this revelation. Hanguang Jun was known for being a perfect role model, always upholding the rules and morals of the Lan sect, helping anyone regardless of any benefit he receives. How could such a horrible thing have happened to him?