The meaning of protecting you with my life

We cannot win just yet

Jiang Cheng was observing as his father came to join him and Nie Huisang at the table. It was clear to him that Jiang Fengmian had been surprised by the Qinghe Nie disciple's presence in the tent, but his father was doing a job hiding his emotions. The only one which stayed visible on his face was a polite curiosity, perhaps mixed with some amusement as well. Jiang Cheng did not know what to make of it.

However, as his father sat down, Nie Huisang did not wait for anything anymore and he started explaining right off the bat, shocking Jiang Cheng in places: "Brother Jiang, Former Sect Leader Jiang, I came to you today to tell you how we could proceed with the plan my brother and Sect Leader Lan came up with. Before you will ask, yes, I knew about their plan of overthrowing Jin Guangshan from the very beginning. It was me who had convinced my brother to appoint Wen Qing, one of the best doctors and someone who would not yield to the Lanling Jin sect's propositions or threats, as one of Brother Wei's supervisors.

It cannot be helped that Brother Wei needs to be watched right now. It is even essential to the plan. The whole cultivation world needs to know that it is not Brother Wei who is dangerous and plotting to take over Wen Ruohan's position.

Former Sect Leader Jiang, although Sect Leader Lan's plan is solid enough, you are lacking in power to execute it. You need more support from minor sects so Jin Guangshan would think twice about going against you and starting another war. His sect on their own could stand up to the rest of the cultivation world; it had been very smart from his part to not participate in the Sunshot campaign and only to watch form the side-lines. Now the Lanling Jin sect still stands strong while the other three great sects had suffered substantial loses.

I suspect he had even planned all of this from the very beginning. After all, it had been him who had repeatedly tried to convince everyone that they should listen to Wen Ruohan and not oppose the Qishan Wen sect. I think he had had ties with them, perhaps some kind of agreement even, way before the war had started. However, I have yet to prove it.

And that is why I am here, this is the part where I need your assistance. I have already started investigating but I will need more time to dug up all of Jin Guangshan's and Jin Guangyao's dirty secrets. It means that in the meantime, they absolutely cannot get hold of Brother Wei, there would be no stopping to them if they did. I fear that they would try to break Brother Wei's spirit and make him cooperate with them..."

"Wei Wuxian would never help Jin Guangshan with anything," Jiang Cheng interrupted the Qinghe Nie sect heir mid-sentence. He knew that he should listen to Nie Huisang and his plan but just could not help himself. It sounded too much as if the other was underestimating Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng did not like it. Even without aa golden core, his brother was still one of the strongest people he knew.

"Of course he would not," tried to calm him down Nie Huisang, "at least not willingly that is. But what if Jin Guangshan or Jin Guangyao threatened him with doing something to the Yunmeng Jiang sect? What if they would use you against him and coerce him into agreeing to do their bidding in order to protect you? Can you still say that Brother Wei would be able to resist?"

Both Jiang Cheng and Jiang Fengmian stayed silent. The answer to that was more than clear no matter how much Jiang Cheng wanted to deny it. He knew fully well that Wei Wuxian would do anything to protect their family and the Yunmeng Jiang sect in general, he would even cooperate with a tyrant to protect them. And most probably plot against him at the same time without any regards for his own life, just like he had tried with Wen Ruohan.

The memory was still upsetting Jiang Cheng greatly till this day. He could not shake off the helplessness he had felt when he had seen his brother kneel in front of the Qishan Wen sect just to protect them. He still shivered when he remembered his brother's smile as he had hung in the air with Wen Ruohan's hand around his neck and they had been leaving the Nightless City palace without him. It haunted Jiang Cheng and the memories would not let him sleep peacefully at night.

Just like before, he had a strong desire to finally leave this war camp behind him and go back to Lotus Pier and see his brother again. He needed to make sure that Wei Wuxian was safe and sound, recovering from all of his ordeals. And so he did not argue with Nie Huisang anymore, wanting to have all this over with quickly.

The silence seemed to have been answer enough for the Qinghe Nie sect heir and he continued, more gently and with a lot of sympathy this time: "Brother Jiang, I know how you feel. I also worry about my older brother at times and want to protect him to the best of my abilities. This is why I came to talk to you first so you could leave for Lotus Pier this evening. There is no time to lose.

I will explain the whole plan to Sect Leader Lan and my brother, I promise we will take care of most of it. The only thing I ask is that you keep Brother Wei safe and well behaved. Although I believe that Jin Zixuan, Lan Wangji nor Wen Qing would be willing to report anything bad to Jin Guangshan, I do not doubt that he will also send some spies of his own. You need to be careful and look after Brother Wei. There could not be any incidents of him using demonic cultivation or all the minor sects would turn to the Chief cultivator for support. If that came to pass, the Yunmeng Jiang sect would have no other option but to surrender Brother Wei to the Lanling Jin sect or wage a war against it.

Leave everything to us, I promise that it would be fast. We will definitely discover something which would convince the minor sects to come to our side. And if there would be nothing, we can still set up a trap. We will see. For now, just do not worry about this, we will keep in touch. Do not linger here anymore, you need to be by Brother Wei's side when he awakens."

Jiang Cheng understood at last, there was no way they would be able to win this fight right now, Nie Huisang had said it himself. They needed more allies and that would take time. The only thing they could do was make sure that Wei Wuxian would recover in peace and not be threatened by the Lanling Jin sect.

The simple mention of having more spies in Lotus Pier was making him uneasy. What if they had already been there? What if danger was already lurking around his brother, just to snatch him away in his helpless state? Of course, Wei Wuxian could defend himself but that was not the case when he was still unconscious.

Jiang Cheng and his father needed to go back immediately, just as Nie Huisang had suggested.