Jiang Cheng grabbed him, “What happened to you? Who did this to you?!”
Jin Ling rubbed his eyes roughly, refusing to speak up. Jiang Cheng lifted his head, casting a nasty look at the fishing boat. His cold glare passed by Wen Ning, just about to land on Wei WuXian as Lan WangJi stepped out and blocked Wei WuXian’s silhouette, whether intentional or not.
One of the sect leaders was alarmed, “Wei WuXian, why are you on that boat?”
His doubtful tone, quite uncomfortable to the ear, made it clear that he thought Wei WuXian had ulterior motives.
Ouyang ZiZhen spoke, “Sect Leader Yao, why are you talking in such a tone? If Senior Wei really wanted to do anything, then I’m afraid none of us could be sitting on our boats as safely as we are now.”
As soon as he said this, many of the older cultivators looked a bit awkward. Although it was the truth, nobody wanted to hear it spoken so frankly. Lan SiZhui immediately followed, “ZiZhen is right!” Many of the other boys agreed as well.
Jiang Cheng lowered his chin slightly, “Sect Leader OuYang.”
Having been named, Sect Leader OuYang could feel his eyelids throb the way his heart did. He heard Jiang Cheng icily continue, “If I remember correctly, the one who spoke is your son, isn’t he? He sure has a silver tongue.”
Sect Leader OuYang hurried, “ZiZhen! Come back, come over to Dad!”
OuYang ZiZhen was confused, “Dad, weren’t you the one who told me to get on this boat so that I didn’t annoy you guys?”
Sect Leader OuYang wiped at a few beads of sweat, “Enough! Haven’t you shown off enough times today? Come here right now!” His sect was located at Baling, close to Yunmeng but incomparable in power. Naturally, he didn’t want Jiang Cheng to bear a grudge against his son just because he spoke up a couple of times for Wei WuXian.
Jiang Cheng glared at Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi one last time before he returned to the cabin, arm wrapped around Jin Ling’s shoulders. Sect Leader OuYang sighed in relief. He turned to his son and scolded, “H-H-How dare you! You’re really listening to me less and less! Are you coming over or not?! I’ll go get you if you don’t!”
OuYang ZiZhen seemed concerned, “Dad, you should go in and take a rest too. Your spiritual powers haven’t recovered yet, so you won’t be able to come here. Please don’t mount your sword so rashly.”
Right now, most people’s spiritual powers were recovering slowly. If they forced themselves to mount their swords, they might end up falling flat on the ground. This was why they could only travel by water. On top of this, Sect Leader OuYang’s physically was unusually hulky. He really couldn’t fly over and go grab his son. Enraged, he turned around with a flip of his sleeves and returned to the cabin. On another boat, Nie HuaiSang laughed loudly. All of the other sect leaders looked at him speechlessly, but most of them had already somewhat dispersed. Seeing this, Wei WuXian let out a long sigh of relief. As soon as he relaxed, heavy exhaustion suddenly passed over his face. He fell to one side.
It seemed that he didn’t waver because he couldn’t balance himself on the boat, but rather because he really was so tired that he couldn’t stand steadily.
The boys didn’t care about the blood and grime on him either. In a flurry, they all went up to him, wanting to help him up like they did with Lan SiZhui. However, without requiring their help at all, Lan WangJi bent down slightly. With one hand at his arm and another behind his knees, Lan WangJi picked Wei WuXian up at once.
Carrying Wei WuXian just like this, he walked into the cabin. Inside the cabin, there wasn’t anywhere to lie down, only four long benches. Thus, Lan WangJi held Wei WuXian’s waist with one arm, letting his head lean on his shoulder, and with his other hand he pieced together the four benches into a platform wide enough to lie on. He gently laid Wei WuXian on the benches.
Lan SiZhui suddenly realized that even though HanGuang-Jun was drenched in blood, the bandage that Wei WuXian tore from his sleeve and wrapped around that tiny wound of his was still knotted properly, tied around a finger of his left hand.
Before this, he didn’t have time care about his appearance. Right now, Lan WangJi finally took out his handkerchief, slowly wiping away the blood clots on Wei WuXian’s face. Soon, the snowy handkerchief had been dyed with red and black. Although he’d finished wiping Wei WuXian’s face, he hadn’t wiped his own yet.
Lan SiZhui immediately handed over his unused handkerchief, “HanGuang-Jun.”
Lan WangJi took it over and looked down. With a wipe of the handkerchief, his face was back to white. The boys finally eased up. As expected, HanGuang-Jun only looked normal if his face was so icily clean.
OuYang ZiZhen, “HanGuang-Jun, why did Senior Wei collapse?”
Lan WangJi, “Fatigue.”
Lan JingYi was amazed, “I thought that Senior Wei would never get tired!”
The other boys felt somewhat astonished as well. That the legendary YiLing Patriarch could collapse from fatigue from dealing with walking corpses—they all thought that the YiLing Patriarch should be able to settle them with just a snap of his fingers. However, Lan WangJi shook his head. He only said four words, “We are all human.”
They were all human. How could a human be tireless? How could they stand forever?”
All of the benches had been put together by Lan WangJi, so the boys could only squat in a circle, looking anxious. If Wei WuXian were awake, he’d joke around, teasing this one before he teased the next. Right now, the cabin would be so very lively. Yet, he was lying down right now, and HanGuang-Jun was the one sitting beside him, his back as straight as ever. Usually, someone would say a few things to liven up the atmosphere, but if Lan WangJi didn’t talk, the others didn’t dare speak up either. After they squatted for some time, it was still a dead silence within the cabin.
The boys all commented in silence, “… It’s so boring.”
They were so bored that they began to communicate with their eyes, “Why isn’t HanGuang-Jun saying anything? Why hasn’t Senior Wei woken up yet?”
Hands cupped around his cheeks, OuYang ZiZhen stealthily pointed here and there, “Is HanGuang-Jun always this untalkative? How could Senior Wei stand being around him all the time…”
Lan SiZhui nodded gravely, silently assuring him, “HanGuang-Jun has indeed always been this way!”
Suddenly, Wei WuXian wrinkled his brows, his head tilting to the side. Softly, Lan WangJi moved his head back where it was, so that he wouldn’t end up with a stiff neck. Wei WuXian murmured, “Lan Zhan.”
Everyone thought that he was waking up. They were ecstatic, but Wei WuXian’s eyes were still tightly shut. Lan WangJi, on the other hand, looked just as usual, “Mn. I am here.”
Wei WuXian was quiet again. As though he felt safe, he shifted closer toward Lan WangJi and continued to sleep. The boys stared at the two blankly. For some reason, their cheeks suddenly flushed. Lan SiZhui was the first to stand up, stammering, “H-HanGuang-Jun, we will go out and get some fresh air…”
They almost fled the scene, rushing to the deck. With the night wind, it seemed that their suffocating feelings from before were finally blown away. One of them asked, “What happened? Why did we have to come out?! Why?!”
OuYang ZiZhen covered his face, “I don’t know what happened either, but all of a sudden I just felt that we really shouldn’t be in there!”