Chapter 12 - Refinement

The sear took away all of Wei WuXian's attention, making him believe that he had mislooked. He couldn't even pay attention to the person's face, and his breaths also stuttered for a few times.

Everyone looked at the sear some more and many suddenly recognised the swirling pattern - it was a sun! It was the sear of the long-gone, but still widely reviled Qishan Wen sect! A shudder of disgust rippled through the audience. Lan Sizhui had frozen in his seat. He hadn't actually told anyone about his real heritage, not even his best friends Jingyi, Zizhen and Jin Ling - he trusted that they wouldn't hate him for it, but it was still a big thing to admit. It would definitely be in his best interest to lie low taking into consideration the murderous looks on many people's faces at the mere symbol of the Qishan Wen sect.

Suddenly, a flash of white appeared before his eyes, as if snow had fallen before him. Quickly afterward, the blue glare of a sword penetrated through the snow, slashing toward him with an arctic blast of wind. Who didn't know that it was HanGuang-Jun's famous sword— "Bichen"? Crap, it's Lan WangJi!

"And now he realises how screwed he is." snorted Jin Ling.

"You don't hear that phrase often." Jingyi remarked.

"Which phrase?" asked Wei Wuxian.

" 'Crap it's Lan Wangji' " Jingyi replied. "Usually it's along the lines of 'Thank the heavens! It's Lan Wangji!' or 'Hooray! Lan Wangji is here to save us!' "

"Well, when you've known Lan Zhan for as long as I have, you'd know that he can be very scary-" Wei Wuxian cut off with an innocent giggle when he saw Lan Zhan narrowing his eyes at him.

Wei WuXian was quite adept at running away and dodging swords. With a roll on the ground, he closely avoided the sword. He even had the time to pull off a leaf that stuck to his hair when he rushed out of the cold spring.

"I wonder why you're so good at running away and dodging swords?" Jiang Cheng wondered sarcastically. "Perhaps you have a lot of people wanting to stab you?"

"Ah, you know. Comes with being the fearsome 'Yiling Laozu'. Never a shortage of people wanting to slice me to bits." Wei Wuxian said cheerfully.

The unfortunately very literal truth shut Jiang Cheng up. Jin Ling felt a wave of guilt swoop through his gut as he remembered the feeling of plunging his sword into Wei Wuxian's abdomen. Luckily he was soon distracted by the always entertaining Wei Wuxian in the pictures being the drama queen he was.

He ran like a headless fly, right into a few people who were passing by from nightwatching. They grabbed him and scolded, "What are you running around for? Running is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses!"

Jingyi covered his face. "Oh no, it's me. And this would be the part where..."

Wei Wuxian cackled with glee. "Yes! Where you witness my amazing skills at being shameless!"

Lan Wangji felt a feeling of foreboding at Wei Wuxian's gleeful tone. Knowing his husband, he was probably about to do something unideal.

Wei WuXian, seeing that it was Lan JingYi and the others, was ecstatic, thinking that he could finally be chased down the mountain. He presented himself at once, "I didn't see! I didn't see anything! I'm definitely not here to peep at HanGuang-Jun bathing!"

There were outraged gasps throughout the rooms.

"Wei Wuxian-"

"That's just disgusting- how could you say such a thing-"

Wei Wuxian absorbed the insults easily, seemingly taking them as compliments towards his skill for making people disgusted. He scrutinised Lan Zhan's face to see his reaction but could only detect faint amusement.

The juniors were shocked speechless by his impudence. No matter where he was, HanGuang-Jun was a high, holy mountain to behold in awe, especially respected among the junior disciples in the sect. He was near the cold spring to watch HanGuang-Jun bathe! Just thinking about such a thing would be the greatest crime, never to be forgiven.

Wei Wuxian made a thoughtful noise. "I can think of worse crimes than watching Hanguang Jun bathe. I do that everyday."

Jingyi wrinkled his face. He didn't need to know that."Okay, but what if it was someone else watching... Hanguang Jun... you know.."

Wei Wuxian's eyes flashed like cold, hard amethyst. His face and tone instantly changed to something dangerous. "They wouldn't get within one square mile of Lan Zhan before I rip them to-"

Lan Xichen gave a polite cough and Wei Wuxian decided not to detail his violent plans out loud in the presence of children, and to instead plot darkly in his head.

The message to the rest of the cultivation world was loud and clear: stay away from Hanguang Jun bathing or the Yiling Laozu would personally rip them and their family to shreds with his army of corpses.

Lan SiZhui was frightened to the point that his voice even changed, "What? HanGuang-Jun? HanGuang-Jun is inside?!" Lan JingYi seized him furiously, "You damn cut-sleeve! I-i-is he someone you could peek at?!"

Lan Wangji considered whether he should add 'cursing' to the list of misdeeds Jingyi would be punished for, but in the end decided that he shouldn't be blamed for falling victim to Wei Wuxian's notoriously shameless traps.

Wei WuXian struck the iron when it was still hot and confirmed his conviction, "I didn't see a single peek of how HanGuang-Jun looks like without his clothes!" Lan JingYi fumed, "You are saying that three-hundred taels are not buried here! Well, if you did not, why are you sneaking around here? Look at you—you have no face to see anyone!" Wei WuXian covered his face with his hands, "Don't be so loud... Noise is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses."

Most of the audience was gaping open-mouthed at the completely chaotic scene shown. Surely Wei Wuxian couldn't be that insane?? Was he that desperate to be kicked out of the Cloud Recesses?

Amid the ruckus, Lan WangJi walked out from behind the layers of eupatorium grasses with his hair down, wearing a white robe. The conversation hadn't even finished yet, and he was already dressed in an orderly fashion, Bichen still unsheathed.

Wei Wuxian looked admiringly at the picture. "You look nice with your hair down. You should do that more often."

Other cultivators were thinking similar things, but didn't dare to say them out loud in case Wei Wuxian came after them.

Lan Wangji gave him a small, but very soft smile that made Wei Wuxian's heart flutter with delight. Wei Wuxian made a mental note to casually fling compliments at Lan Wangji all day to earn more smiles like that.

The juniors hurried to greet him. Lan JingYi rushed to speak, "HanGuang-Jun, Mo XuanYu really is awful. You only brought him back seeing that he assisted us at Mo Village, yet he... he..." Wei WuXian thought that, this time, it would be beyond his endurance and kicked out of the sect.

Most of the spectators agreed - this was definitely going too far! If the Lan sect didn't boot Wei Wuxian after such a scandal-

However, Lan WangJi only lightly glimpsed at him. After a moment of silence, he sheathed Bichen with a shing and spoke,"You are dismissed." It was only three toneless words, but it was powerful enough for no second option to be allowed. The crowd dispersed immediately, while Lan WangJi calmly held Wei WuXian by the back of his collar and dragged him toward the jingshi.

For the hundredth time in an hour, the whole room went silent with shock.

Zizhen broke the silence with a laugh, "Of course Hanguang Jun won't get mad at Senior Wei! And he can't throw Senior Wei out because then Sect Leader Jiang would come and-"

Zizhen wisely decided to stop there before he angered Jiang Cheng.

Wei Wuxian answered Zizhen nonchalantly. "Oh, I don't know. See right now, Lan Zhan's dragging me quite roughly by my collar. He seems pretty mad there."

In his past life, the two were of similar height, both somewhat slender and tall. Wei WuXian was only shorter than Lan WangJi by a tiny bit. When they stood together, the difference of less than one cun between them were almost unnoticeable. However, after waking up in another body, he was more than two cun shorter than Lan WangJi.

Sizhui, previously quiet through the whole bathing dilemma because he'd felt the urge to laugh the whole time, finally spoke up. "That's quite a difference! Do you miss your old body, Senior Wei?"

Wei Wuxian seemed a bit startled by the question and gazed into space, apparently thinking seriously about the question.

"Ah well." he said at last with a small grin. "My old body was quite awesome. But there are benefits with being shorter! Like, it's easier for me to hide behind Lan Zhan!"

Jin Ling gave a hoot of laughter when Wei Wuxian said 'My old body was quite awesome.'

"No, it was!" Wei Wuxian said defensively. "I was super handsome! Right, Lan Zhan?"

"Mn. Very handsome. Still handsome now, but the soul inside matters most."

Wei Wuxian gave a happy squeal and wrapped his arms around Lan Zhan. His husband could say the most sweet things with the straightest of faces.

While being held in his hand, he couldn't even struggle against him. Wei WuXian staggered, wanting to shout, but Lan WangJi spoke coldly, "Those who make noise will be silenced." He would love to be thrown off the mountain, but wouldn't want to be silenced.

"Being able to talk and annoy people is very important to you, of course." Jin Ling said, still sour about just having been ridiculed by Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

"Yes, they are my most important talents. Followed by playing the flute and my amazingly good looks, of course."

Wei WuXian couldn't understand it at all—since when did the Lan Sect tolerate something as shameless as peeking at one of the Lan Clan's most distinguished cultivators bathing?!

Lan Qiren swelled like a bullfrog. "We do not tolerate it." He shot an evil glare at Lan Wangji. Except for that one of course.

Lan WangJi carried him to the jingshi, walked straight toward the inner room, and threw him down onto the bed with a thump. Wei WuXian yelped from the pain. He couldn't get up at the moment, wriggling upright after a while. He originally wanted to whine a few times in a flirtatious manner, so that he would detest him.

Jiang Cheng covered his face with his hand. "Please don't."

However, as he raised his head, he saw that Lan WangJi was holding Bichen with one hand, looking down at him commandingly. He was used to seeing Lan WangJi with his forehead ribbon, neat, long hair, scrupulous to every detail, but had never seen him like this, with his hair a bit loose and wearing thin clothing. Wei WuXian couldn't help to glance a few more times.

Many members of the audience flushed and averted their eyes. What did Wei Wuxian say about him not being attracted to men? What did he call this then??

After the effort of carrying and throwing him on the bed, Lan WangJi's collars, which were closed in the beginning, came slightly apart, showing his distinct collarbones and the deep red sear under them.

At this point, all the Lan disciples were covering their faces and most of the audience was looking uncomfortable again. They hoped most of the time they'd be in here they wouldn't be stuck watching the painfully obvious sexual tension between these two men circling each other. Considering Wei Wuxian's apparent complete obliviousness and Lan Wangji's unwillingness to express anything out loud, they'd been circling each other for a while.

As he saw the sear, Wei WuXian's attention was captured again. When he hadn't become the YiLing Patriarch yet, he also had a sear like this on his body. And, the sear on Lan WangJi's body was exactly the same as the one on his body in his past life, no matter the position or the shape, so it was only natural for him to recognize it and become surprised.

"Really?" Jingyi said, surprised. That seemed like too much of a coincidence then, that they'd both have the same sear in the same place. He got the feeling he was missing some information. Hopefully the pictures would explain everything eventually.

Speaking of it, aside from this sear, the thirty-or-so scars of the discipline whip on his back were also surprising. Lan WangJi became famous at a young age. With his high appraisal, he was one of the most acknowledged cultivators in the cultivation world, and also part of the Two Jades of which the GusuLan Sect was so proud of. Just what unforgivable mistake did he make for him to be punished like this? Seeing from the thirty-or-so scars of the discipline whip, the executor might as well have killed him.

Lan Qiren pressed his lips together, not letting his expression betray the guilt at the memories rushing through his mind. Crimson blood splattered on the snow, his nephew taking the punishment silently, unflinchingly, all for that scoundrel of a demonic cultivator. Yes, the whips could have killed him. He felt a surge of anger again towards Wei Wuxian for ruining his perfect student.

Following his gaze, Lan WangJi lowered his eyes. He pulled his collar so that it covered his collarbones and sear, becoming the indifferent HanGuang-Jun once again. At the moment, the deep toll of the bell came from far away. The Lan Sect had strict sect rules, including a precise schedule of sleeping at nine in the evening and rising at five in the morning.

'9 in the evening? Every night? And then rise before sunrise?', some cultivators thought to themselves, aghast. No wonder Wei Wuxian wanted to get out of there so badly!

Lan WangJi listened attentively to the tolls, and spoke to Wei WuXian, "You will be sleeping here." Without giving Wei WuXian a chance to reply, he turned to another compartment of the jingshi, leaving Wei WuXian alone, sprawled on the bed alone and feeling confused. He did doubt that Lan WangJi might have guessed who he was.

Wei Wuxian sighed. "Well, now I know that you knew all along who I was. And I thought I was doing all my shameless acts anonymously."

However, the doubt was lacking in both sense and reason. As sacrificing one's body was a prohibited practice, there were probably not a lot of people who knew about it. The scrolls passed down the generations were most likely partial pieces of the entire work, unable to reach their full potential. Things continued like this, and so there were less and less people who believed in it.

Lan Xichen winced. Now that this 'secret' method had been revealed to the whole of the cultivation world, there would be more and more cases of sacrifice summonings. As Chief Cultivator, he would have to find a way to track these summonings, make sure no one horrible was going to come back - he suddenly thought of Jin Guangyao. Goosebumps pricked his skin. Did the thought of Jin Guangyao coming back horrify him? Or did some small, sick part of him want it to happen?

Mo XuanYu only summoned Wei WuXian by looking at a secret scroll, wherever he found it in the first place. Anyhow, Lan WangJi couldn't have recognized him just from the awful flute melodies that he played.

Wei Wuxian really needed to invent a way to travel into the past to smack himself on the head. Why hadn't he remembered the flute melody that had drifted naturally to his mind had been the special one Lan Zhan had once sung to him??

He asked himself whether or not he had a heartfelt relationship with Lan WangJi in his past life. Although they had studied with each other, went on adventures, and fought together, all of these experiences were like falling petals and flowing water—coming and going. Lan WangJi was a disciple of the GusuLan Sect, which meant that he had to be "righteous," quite incompatible with Wei WuXian's personality.

Lan Wangji frowned. "You are righteous too. Just show it in a different way."

Everyone who heard him gave him strange looks. Did he just say the Yiling Laozu was 'righteous'?

Wei Wuxian beamed. "I think we are actually quite compatible with each other after all!"

Wei WuXian thought that their relationship wasn't exactly bad, but it wasn't that good either. The chances were that Lan WangJi's opinion of him was the same as everyone else's—being overly wanton and not virtuous enough.

Wei Wuxian winced again. "I'm sorry, I sound stupid."

But Lan Wangji didn't blame him at all. Really, it should be his own fault for never actually showing his support for him, and for never having the courage to tell Wei Wuxian outright how much he liked him.

After Wei WuXian betrayed the YunmengJiang Sect and became the YiLing Patriarch, he had a few significant disputes with the Lan Sect, especially during the few months before his death. If Lan WangJi was sure that he was Wei WuXian, they should have already been engaged in a large-scale fight.

The juniors were surprised. So Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun really had fought seriously in the past? They shuddered to think of what that fight would look like - knowing Wei Wuxian, mass destruction was guaranteed.

Yet, he wasn't sure what to make of the current situation—in the past, no matter what he did, Lan WangJi didn't tolerate anything, but now, even though he used whatever methods he had up his sleeve, Lan WangJi could still tolerate him. Should he be congratulated because of his progress?!

Wei Wuxian seemed genuinely distressed at Lan Wangji one-upping him, and the audience laughed at that last question.

After a while of staring at nothing, Wei WuXian turned around and got off the bed. He lightly moved to the other chamber.

The laughter immediately cut off. Two words resounded in everyone's heads: Oh no.

Lan WangJi lay sideways on the bed, appearing to be already asleep. Without making a sound, Wei WuXian approached him. He was still not giving up, hoping to fish the jade token for passage out of him.

The cultivators found themselves holding their breaths, the tense, drawn out silence stretching their nerves. Seriously, was Wei Wuxian really going to attempt to rob a sleeping Lan Wangji just for the jade token??

However, as he just extended his hand, Lan WangJi's long lashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes. Wei WuXian quickly made up his mind. He threw himself onto the bed.

Jiang Cheng groaned and turned his face away. "Out of all the thing you could've said or done, you go with 'jump into his bed'. Typical."

The juniors gaves squeaks of discomfort and also hid their faces. They knew instinctively that this wouldn't end well.

He remembered that Lan WangJi hated physical contact with other people. In the past, just with one touch and the offender would have been hurled out. If, even like this, he endured it, then the person was definitely not Lan WangJi.

Lan Xichen couldn't keep it in any longer. "What you fail to realise, Wei-gongzi, is that none of the things apply to you. You're the only exception for Wangji."

Wei WuXian's entire body was above Lan WangJi's, with legs separated, kneeling with one on each side of his waist. His hands were against the wooden bed, trapping Lan WangJi in between his arms. He gradually lowered his head. The distance between the two faces became closer and closer. Closer and closer.

Strangled cries of horror came, muffled, from the audience, the majority of which had their heads buried in their laps.

Wei Wuxian was watching with great enjoyment, however. "Now...kiss him!" he urged his picture self. But of course, he knew it wouldn't happen.

At the point where it became hard for Wei WuXian to breathe, Lan WangJi finally opened his mouth. He stayed silent for a few moments, "Get off." Wei WuXian thickened his face, "No."

A pair of pale-colored eyes looked at Wei WuXian at a very close distance. Lan WangJi stared fixedly at him, and repeated, "... Get off."

Wei WuXian spoke, "No. If you allowed me to sleep here, you should have known that something like this would happen."

Lan WangJi spoke, "Are you sure that this is what you want?"

"..." For some reason, Wei WuXian felt that he should carefully consider his reply. As he was about to curl his lips into a smile, a numbness suddenly came from his waist, and his legs gave out. With a thump, he fell onto Lan WangJi's body. The curvature of a half-smile was frozen on his lips. His head was at the right side of Lan WangJi chest and he couldn't move at all.

Although the audience wasn't watching, the narration gave them a pretty clear picture of what was happening. Lan Qiren had his eyes closed and the vein throbbing in his temple indicated he was dangerously close to losing his head.

Lan WangJi's voice came from above him. His voice was low and deep. His chest vibrated slightly as he spoke each word. "Then stay like this for the whole night." Wei WuXian didn't expect it to end up like this at all. He shifted around, wanting to get up, but his waist continued to ache and felt limp. He could only be attached to another man in such an awkward situation, feeling a bit befuddled. Just what in the world happened to Lan Zhan in the past few years, turning him into a person like this? Was this the same Lan Zhan as before?! Shouldn't he have been the person whose body was seized?!?!

"Oh my god, Wei Wuxian," Jiang Cheng groaned, hands still over his eyes. "Why are you being such an idiot? This was all your own doing, anyway."

Jingyi have a muffled hmph. "You're just lucky that you're, you know...you. Otherwise Hanguang Jun would probably have stabbed you with Bichen."

Suddenly, as his thoughts were as jumbled as a hurricane, Lan WangJi slightly shifted. Wei WuXian's spirits lifted, assuming that he finally couldn't bear it any more. However, Lan WangJi simply waved his hand.

The lights went out.

The board went black and some people, hearing an absence of voices, peeked up cautiously.

A great babble of noise instantly roared across the room, full of indignant voices and loud exclamations of disbelief.

Jin Ling, his face red as a ripe cherry, still had his hands pressed to his eyes and didn't look like he was moving anytime soon.

Wei Wuxian sighed. People liked to call him dramatic, but look at the state of these cultivators after one little scene of them two in a bed. You'd think by their reaction that Wei Wuxian had just massacred a whole village! Really, they were just as dramatic as him.

Author note: Next chap is ✨✨flashback time!!✨✨

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