Water dripped down Lan WangJi’s wet hair. He didn’t answer. The two looked at each other. Both thought of a daunting possibility.
It was likely that… Under the intense pain, when the Xuanwu of Slaughter was madly waving its limbs, it either shook the underwater rocks or kicked into a certain place, coincidentally causing the only hole that they could escape from… to be blocked.
Wei WuXian struggled out of Lan WangJi’s arm. He plunged into the water. Lan WangJi followed. Yet, after searching for a long while, they still couldn’t find any holes. Not even one that could let a single person through.
Wei WuXian, “What do we do now?”
After a while of silence, Lan WangJi replied, “Let us go up first.”
Wei WuXian waved his hands, “… Let’s go up.”
Both were drained of all energy. They swam slowly toward the shore. When they rose out of the water, both were covered in a bloody shade of purple. Wei WuXian took off his clothes. Wringing them dry and flinging them around in the air, he couldn’t help but curse, “Are we being toyed with or what? I was thinking that if nobody came to help us, we wouldn’t be able to kill it even if we wanted to, and that was why I went for it. And now, we finally have it dead, and the son-of-a-bitch made the hole collapse. Fuck!”
Hearing the ‘fuck’, Lan WangJi’s brows twitched. He wanted to say something, but held it in.
Wei WuXian flung his clothes around as he cursed. Suddenly, his legs gave out. Lan WangJi lunged forward in time to catch him. Leaning against his hand, Wei WuXian spoke, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Used up all my energy. Oh, right, Lan Zhan, did you see that I was holding a sword when I was in its mouth? Where did the sword go?”
Lan WangJi, “It sank underwater. Is there anything about it?”
Wei WuXian, “It sank? Nevermind, then.”
When he was clutching onto the sword, he kept on hearing a deluge of screams beside his ears. His body felt cold and his head spun. The iron sword must’ve been something special. The Xuanwu of Slaughter had consumed at least five thousand people. When the people were dragged into its shell, body still intact, there had to be some that were still alive. The sword might have belonged to a cultivator who had been eaten. It had been hidden for at least four hundred years within the corpse mound of the shell. Tainted with the pain and resentment of countless humans, both dead and alive, it had heard their screams.
Wei WuXian had wanted to keep the sword and examine the iron properly. Now that it had sunk, however, and they were stuck here, unable to escape, it seemed appropriate to let the matter drop. If he mentioned it too much and Lan WangJi picked up on what he was getting at, they’d be at odds with each other all over again. Wei WuXian waved his hands, There really isn’t anything good about this, is there?
He continued to drag his legs forward. Lan WangJi followed behind him in silence. A few steps later, Wei WuXian’s legs gave out again.
And Lan WangJi caught him again. This time, he put one hand against his forehead. After contemplating for a few moments, he spoke, “Wei Ying, you… are so warm.”
Wei WuXian put his hand to his forehead as well, “Lan Zhan, you’re also really warm.”
Lan WangJi took his hand away, speaking in a tepid tone, “That is because your hand is cold.”
Wei WuXian, “I think I do feel a bit dizzy.”
About four to five days ago, he put all of the herbs in the perfume sachet onto Lan WangJi’s leg. He only wiped the brand mark on his chest a few times. In the past few days, he hadn’t rested well, and he had just been rummaging through the corpse mound and the pool water. His injury had finally worsened.
Wei WuXian had a fever.
After managing for a while, Wei WuXian felt dizzier and dizzier. He couldn’t walk any longer, so he decided to just sit down where he was, musing, “How could I get a fever so easily? I haven’t gotten a fever in years.”
Lan WangJi didn’t feel like expressing his opinion on the ‘so easily’ part of his words, “Lie down.”
Wei WuXian did as he was told. Lan WangJi took his hand and began to pass him spiritual energy.
Though he had been lying for a while, Wei WuXian soon sat up again. Lan WangJi told him, “Lie down properly.”
Wei WuXian drew his hand back, “You don’t need to give me any. You don’t have much left yourself.”
Lan WangJi grabbed his hand again and repeated, “Lie down properly.”
A few days ago, Lan WangJi was drained of energy and got both scared and teased by him. This time, it was Wei WuXian’s turn to be drained of energy for him to do whatever he wanted.
But, even when lying down, Wei WuXian didn’t like loneliness. Soon afterward, he began to complain, “It’s too hard, it’s too hard.”
Lan WangJi, “What do you want?”
Wei WuXian, “I want to lie somewhere else.”
Lan WangJi, “Where would you want to lie, at such a place?”
Wei WuXian, “Let me borrow your lap for a while, won’t you?”
Lan WangJi spoke with an expressionless face, “Stop fooling around.”
Wei WuXian, “I’m serious. My head is so dizzy. You’re not a girl; why can’t I borrow it for a bit?”
Lan WangJi, “Even if I am not a girl, you cannot just lie on it.”
Seeing that he began to frown, Wei WuXian responded, “I’m not fooling around. You’re the one who should stop fooling around. I refuse to accept this. Lan Zhan, tell me, why?”
Lan WangJi, “What why?”
Wei WuXian managed to flip around and lay stomach down on the ground, “Of all the other people, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t secretly like me despite saying that I’m annoying. Why is it that, whenever it’s you, you never give me any good looks? We count as having lived through death with each other, don’t we? You don’t even want to lend your lap for me to lie on and you’re lecturing me again. Are you an old man or what?”
Lan WangJi replied with a thin voice, “You are delirious.”
Perhaps he was indeed delirious. Not long after, Wei WuXian had fallen asleep.
When he was sleeping, he felt that his lying position wasn’t too bad. It seemed that he really was lying on someone’s lap. A cold hand rested over his forehead. It felt quite comfortable. Happily, he rolled around as much as he wanted to, and there wasn’t anybody who scolded him. When he rolled onto the ground, his head was even gently stroked before he was picked up and put onto the lap again.
But, when he woke up, he was still lying on the ground. What had replaced the lap was a pile of leaves behind his head, which felt somewhat better than before. Lan WangJi was sitting quite a distance away from him. A fire had been started. The firelight reflected against his cheeks as though he was jade, warm and gentle.
Wei WuXian thought to himself, Of course it was a dream.
The path that the two had wanted to escape through was severed. Stuck within the cave, they had to wait for the YunmengJiang Sect to rescue them, and spent two more days. Within the two days, Wei WuXian had always been under a low fever, sleeping before waking before sleeping again. It all depended on Lan WangJi to pass him spiritual energy that he could manage to maintain his current condition and ensure that it didn’t worsen.