Lan WangJi didn’t acknowledge him. Wei WuXian continued, “Speaking of eating, have you practiced inedia? Those like us can probably last three to four days without eating or drinking. But if after a few days, nobody comes to save us, our energy, strength, and spiritual power will probably start to drop.”
It wouldn’t be so bad if Wen Chao and his people chose to stand by and ignore them after they had fled. If they waited for three to four days, the assistance of other sects could potentially arrive in time. What they were afraid of was that not only would the Wen Sect’s people not provide them with assistance, but instead add to the fire. The YunmengJiang Sect and the GusuLan Sect would be the only ‘other sects’. If the Wen Sect hindered them, the time of ‘three to four days’ might have to double.
Wei WuXian took back the branch and sketched out a map on the ground, linking a few places together, “From Dusk-Creek Mountain to Gusu is a bit shorter than from Dusk-Creek Mountain to Yunmeng. It’s probably your sect’s people who will come first. Let’s just be patient. Even if they don’t come, the most that we’ll have to wait is one or two days before Jiang Cheng arrives at Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng is quite clever. The Wen Sect’s people won’t stop him. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Lan WangJi’s eyes were downcast. He seemed worn out as he whispered, “They will not come.”
Wei WuXian, “Hm?”
Lan WangJi, “The Cloud Recesses has been burnt down already.”
Wei WuXian probed, “… Is everyone still there? Your father, your brother?”
He had thought that even if the leader of the Lan Sect, Lan WangJi’s father, was heavily injured, Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen would probably still be there to take control of the situation. Yet, Lan WangJi’s voice was monotone, “Father is almost gone. Brother is missing.”
The branch that Wei WuXian was scribbling on the ground with froze.
When they were going up the mountain, the disciple said that the Lan Sect’s leader was heavily injured, but he never thought that the injuries were so heavy that the leader was ‘almost gone’. Maybe Lan WangJi himself just found out about it in the past few days, receiving news that his father was dying.
Although the Lan Sect’s leader was practicing secluded meditation most of the time, minding nothing out of his own world, he was still Lan WangJi’s father. And, combined with the fact that Lan XiChen had gone missing, it was only natural that today Lan WangJi was especially gloomy and easily-angered. Wei WuXian immediately felt a sense of awkwardness and didn’t know what to say.
Yet, as he turned around amid the muddle, Wei WuXian felt his entire body become paralyzed.
The glow of the firelight reflected against Lan WangJi’s face as though he was made of warm jade. It illuminated, with utmost clarity, the tearstreaks that ran down his cheek, as well.
Wei WuXian was shocked speechless, thinking to himself, Oh no!
With people like Lan WangJi, throughout their entire lives, there would probably only be a handful of instances when they’d cry. And, this time, he just so happened to have come upon one of those instances. He was someone who just couldn’t look at other people cry. He couldn’t stand the tears of women. Whenever he saw them cry, he’d want to go over and joke around so that he could make them laugh. The tears of men, though, were what he really couldn’t stand. He had always felt that coming upon an instance when a man who was usually strong happen to cry was even scarier than accidentally seeing a chaste girl bathe. The thing was that he couldn’t even comfort him.
Under the blows of his residence being burned down, his sect being persecuted, his father dying, his brother going missing and he, himself, being injured, any sort of comfort would be pale and powerless.
Wei WuXian didn’t know what to do, so he turned his head the other way. A while later, he spoke, “Um, Lan Zhan.”
Lan WangJi responded with coldness, “Shut up.”
Wei WuXian shut up.
The fire cracked.
Lan WangJi spoke quietly, “Wei Ying, you really are an awful person.”
Wei WuXian, “Oh…”
He thought to himself, With so many things that have happened to him, Lan Zhan’s mood is at its worst right now, but there’s still me flashing around his sight. So that’s why he’s so angry. He didn’t have the energy to hit me because his leg is hurt, so he could only bite me… I guess I should leave him some peace and quiet.
He held it in for a while, then added, “It’s not that I want to annoy you… I just wanted to ask if you’re cold or not. The clothes have dried. You can have the undergarments. I’ll keep the robe.”
The undergarments were what he wore next to his body. It never would’ve been suitable for Lan WangJi to wear. However, his robe was already hideously dirty. All of the GusuLan Sect’s people loved to be clean. Giving such an item of clothing to Lan WangJi seemed to be a bit offensive. Lan WangJi didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at him either, so Wei WuXian tossed the white, dried-out undergarment toward him. He donned the robe himself and left in silence.
The two waited for an entire three days.
There was no sun or moon within the cave. They only knew that it had been three days because of the creepy sleep pattern of the Lan Sect’s people—sleeping and waking involuntarily when the times came. Thus, it was be possible to calculate the time from how many times Lan WangJi had slept.
With the past three days of conserving energy, the injury on Lan WangJi’s leg didn’t worsen and was slowly healing. He was able to sit in the lotus position to meditate soon afterward.
Within these days, Wei WuXian hadn’t been flashing before his sight. After Lan WangJi returned to a calm state of mind and adjusted his mood, he was the poker-faced Lan Zhan once more, and so Wei WuXian finally returned as though nothing had happened, pretending with a thick face that he had seen and heard nothing on that night. With much discretion, he didn’t tease him anymore either. The two’s interaction were lukewarm, though peaceful.
During the time, the two had scouted around the pool a couple of times. The Xuanwu of Slaughter had already dragged all of the corpses into its shell. The large, black shell floated in the water like a huge, impenetrable warship. In the beginning, heavy chewing noises often came from within. Later on, though, the noises ceased, replaced by what sounded like it was asleep and snoring. The snores were like roars of thunder.
The two had thought about sneaking underwater while the beast was asleep to find the hole where they could escape. However, they could only roam underwater for thirty minutes before their movements were noticed by the beast. And, although they had searched a few times, they couldn’t find the hole that Jiang Cheng had mentioned. Wei WuXian suspected that it might be covered up by a part of the beast’s body. Though he wanted to lure it out of the water again, the beast seemed as though it became tired after the big ruckus and didn’t want to move anymore.
They gathered all of the arrows, bows, and iron rods that lay scattered on the shore and took them back to count. There were over a hundred arrows, around thirty bows, and a little over ten iron rods.
This was already the fourth day.
Lan WangJi picked up a bow with his left hand, attentively examining the material. His right hand strummed across the bowstring. It somehow managed to create the sonorous clang of metal.