Lan Xichen's Pov

We arrived at the door of my brother's room and his husband. We knocked, but nobody answered. The same thing for the other two rooms. No answer!

Where could they be? Would they have given us the slip when they saw our "rigid" behavior? No, it was impossible, with Wangji's condition, they couldn't afford it!

I turned to A-Yao, who was also wondering.

"Let's go to the garden, they can't be far away!

We went out and walked along the gallery. In the small courtyard, Wangji and Wei Wuxian were sitting at a table. Young Master Lan had a Qin in front of him. Wangji seemed to be explaining something to them. Their son played the beginning of a melody... Wangji interrupted him to give him further instructions. Meanwhile, Wuxian was writing. From time to time, he asked a question which Wangji answered, followed by a melody played with application by the young man dressed in white who listened attentively.

Meanwhile, in the center of the courtyard, Jin Ling was facing his uncle with a sword in his hand. His uncle did not have his sword in his hand. What were they doing? Jin Ling made his attack, ... a kind of purple lightning came to strike his weapon, he jumped back to avoid the purple tongue and returned to face his uncle. The latter again slammed what looked like a whip of light from where we were standing! What kind of weapon was that? I had never seen anything like it! The wisp of light seemed to be coming out of the snake-like bracelet that was wrapped around his wrist. A chain connected it to a ring he wore on the middle finger of his right hand.

"You seem surprised? You don't know Zidian?" asked Wen Ning.

I hadn't heard him approach. From A-Yao's startle, I knew that he didn't either.

Wen Ning looked embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." He lowered his head and looked at the ground.

He looked really sorry and ashamed. I looked at him a little closer. He had fine and soft features, if you put aside the black veins that marbled his neck!

I had very little recollection of him and his sister when they came to YunShen Buzhi to study. His elder sister was a doctor and at first sight, he had followed the same path as her. A-Yao had engaged in a conversation with him.

"You didn't scare us, you just surprised us. We didn't hear you coming. You are really quiet!"

The fierce corpse sketched a smile. He looked happy to talk with us.

"Wen Gongzi, what is that weapon Jiang Zhong Zhu is carrying?" asked A-Yao.

"That's Zidian, the purple lightning of the Jiang clan. Master Jiang inherited it from his mother. It has the ability to extract wandering souls from the bodies they possess! And it can kill an evil spirit just by brushing against it, it all depends on the will of the wearer "

"This weapon looks formidable to me, Wen Gongzi"

"All spirit weapons are!"

"Spiritual weapons?" I asked. He nodded.

"Mnnnn, all our weapons are inhabited by spirits. Take Siubian, for example, when Master Wei died, she sealed herself up! No one could take it out of its sheath. It waited for his return. It's the same with Bichen, Master Lan's sword, Suihua, Master Jin's sword, and Bai HuaYong, SiZhui's weapon... their spirits are very powerful!"

"Bai HuaYong, ... was it Lan Yi's sword?"

"That's right, SiZhui inherited it at his coming-of-age exam."

The sound of a flute rose accompanied by the chords of a Qin. The three of us turned to the trio of musicians. Wangji had brought out his Qin and placed it in front of him and played it. Joining his notes to the flautist's. This melody was really beautiful.

"What are they doing?" I asked Wen Ning.

"Master Wei promised to find a cure for the children infected with Iron Yin. He's trying to create a spirit-extracting melody, but since it looks painful for the little ones, he wants to couple a curative tune against the pain. Master Wei is an expert in controlling evil energies. That's what got him into so much trouble in the past!"

"Do you think he will succeed?"

"Master Wei and Master Lan never fail!"

One could very clearly see his absolute confidence in the two cultivators just by looking at his eyes that were shining!

"Wen Ning, we came to bring them a message from the Clan Council, do you think we can disturb them"

"Of course Master Lan, you can join them!" He pointed to the scab table with his armWe went towards them. Seeing us coming, the two musicians stopped.

"Xichen-Xiong, have you come to tell us the ZhongZhu's decision?"

"That's right," I replied with a nod. Wangji put both hands on the strings of the instrument in front of him and looked up at us.

"We have been appointed to accompany you.

"It's strange that they didn't try to stop us from doing what we wanted to do and going to Gusu!" said Jiang Cheng as he came to join us with his nephew.

"They are counting on us to keep an eye on you and keep them informed of what you are doing!"

Meng Yao looked at me surprised. I had told him that I would rather talk to them frankly.

"Good! Iron Yin is too dangerous, it must remain under our control" Wangji said.

"Lan Zhan must rest a little more before considering this trip," intervened Wuxian.

"It will take us at least a week to reach Gusu on horseback, do you think you will be well enough for such a long journey?

I saw a smile appear on the faces of all of them.

"There is a much faster way to get there! ... Xichen-Xiong have you ever... fly?"

Flying??? but what was he talking about? Meng Yao next to me didn't understand anymore!!!

"Die, I would take Uncle Xichen with me!"

"Uncle Wei, I would take Uncle Meng Yao!" hurriedly added Jin Ling after his cousin.

"In other words, I'm the one taking the cor.... Wen Ning!" Jiang Cheng said.

Wei Wuxian looked at his brother with a sigh and shook his head.

"Hey Hey, I'll take Wen Ning with me!"

"That's okay, you'll have plenty to do with Han GuangJun, because I doubt he can balance on his sword until Gusu!"

Balancing on his sword? What were they talking about?

Wei Wuxian laughed. Young Master Lan also laughed. I saw a little crinkle in the corners of Wangji's eyes. If his expressions were the same as my brother's, it meant that he was amused!

"Xichen-Xiong, your expression is really laughable ....".

"Wei Ying! You're not talking to my Brother!".

"Leave it... while you were unconscious, we got to know each other and I must admit that it felt good to meet the spirit of the young Wei Wuxian, whom I had once known in Gusu!".

"Do not hesitate if he is disrespectful!".

"That's his charm... isn't it?".

"Mnnn!!!".

"Xichen-xiong, we can make our swords fly thanks to the union of our spiritual energy with that of the spirits of our weapons.

"All your weapons have a spirit?" asked Meng Yao.

"All of our swords and my flute Chenqing, Wangji the Qin of Lan Zhan and the Zidian of Jiang Cheng.

"The Qin of young master Lan ... ? ".

"Uncle Xichen, you can call me SiZhui! To answer your question, my Qin is an ordinary musical instrument!

"Xi-Xiong, it might be interesting... at the ceremony..."

"A ceremony?" asked SiZhui.

All eyes were on us.

"Well, in three days, the ceremony of the Guardian Spirits will take place. Unlike you, our guardian spirits do not reside in objects but live around us. They are invisible and protect us by pointing out dangers. Some farmers even have the power to make them materialize. But once a year, we can all call them through a special ritual. We can talk to them, but more importantly they can talk to us. I think Meng Yao thought that you might be interested in meeting the spirits of your weapons? What do you think?"

"Interesting," was Wangji's reply.

"If you invite us, we will gladly attend," Wuxian replied.

"So that leaves you three full days to recover Master Lan, we could leave the next day. What do you think?"

"Perfect," Wangji nodded.

"Wei Ying, if you wish to heal the children, we must work!"

"Yes! Professor Lan Zhan!!! I am all ears!".

Wuxian turned to him, raised his right hand, three fingers pointing to the sky... a mischievous smile plastered on his face!

He was nothing like the man who had entered MingJue's quarters a few hours earlier! Right now he was a jovial and funny man, the opposite of the cold and cynical man he had shown us several times in the past few days. He had the ability to take on either of his personalities with ease!

This man was incredible ... and dangerous because you could never know what he was really thinking!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)