WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 54 Shower

Everyone watched as the arc of water lifted into the air.

Li XiWang had closed her eyes and in her mind, she was watching the way the water rose up above the infected plants. When the water was high enough, she made a slicing motion with her palms, and it was like slicing a cloud.

Tiny drops, finer than a mist, landed over a large area of red crops. They waited for a few minutes and then they ventured closer.

For a few minutes, it seemed as if the solution they had showered the area with hadn't done much.

And then suddenly, in a puff of red smoke, the fungus began to evaporate in the air.

Right before their eyes, the red fungus looked as if it was imploding on itself, disappearing wherever the mist landed.

Wei Ying glanced at his grandmother, pointedly, with a grin.

"Alright, alright, we're going." She said, vanishing immediately. "We'll be back soon." Her voice lingered in the air, even after she had gone.

"I guess there's nothing else we can do until she gets more of that medicine." Wei Ying says.

"Why don't we wait in Swords Hall…until she comes back?" Jiang Cheng suggests.

Since there are no objections, everyone slowly makes their way there.

Jiang Cheng holds back, letting everyone else go on ahead. XiChen, having been separated from his human form for far too long, is right by his side, and the children are walking in between their parents, when Jiang Cheng places a hand on Wei Ying’s shoulder.

"Before we join the others…I would like to say something…to you." He says, ignoring Wei Ying’s surprised look.

And then he bows.

That's all it takes for tears to start falling down Wei Ying’s face, as he struggles to make Jiang Cheng stop.

Lan Zhan is already annoyed at Jiang Cheng, but even he isn't sure why Wei Ying is so upset, and he catches XiChen's eye to ask, but his brother just shrugs.

Lan Zhan whips out a white handkerchief and wipes Wei Ying’s face, as Jiang Cheng rights himself.

"It was out of respect…for my older brother." Jiang Cheng ponders over which words he should use…because what he has to say is going to be painful for both of them.

But after the fight with EmoHua…Jiang Cheng realised what he still had to do.

XiChen gazes at him, with nothing but love in his honey-coloured eyes. Just that alone gives him the courage to continue.

"After the war…when we were rebuilding Lotus Pier. We performed many ceremonies to give peace to those who died…but there must be those we were not aware of. But you…you brought them back. You gave them a chance to find peace. They were obviously hanging on to a sense of debt…to the clan."

Wei Ying nodded.

"We never talk about that time." Jiang Cheng says, hugging him again.

Wei Ying doesn't want to say anything.

This topic has come out of the blue and Wei Ying isn't prepared. Not for all the things he's feeling, and not for all the memories it brings back. Just Jiang Cheng bowing like that, for a few seconds, it really scared him.

He tries not to think about those thoughts.

If anything, Wei Ying has become a master at burying things he does not wish to face.

But tonight, it seems Jiang Cheng is focusing on that past, the one that Wei Ying wishes to forget.

"I was rebuilding Lotus Pier. And then you died." He says.

"You joined that siege. In fact, you led it. Brother was also there." Lan Zhan doesn't know what compelled his lips to move, but the time has gone, where he endured all sorts of comments and insults pertaining to Wei Ying and his different cultivation path.

He doesn't mean to sound accusing…but it happens anyway.

That was a dark time.

For everyone.

Wei Ying is the one to wrap an arm around his waist now.

That particular siege, because there has been more than one, was even more painful for them. Jiang Cheng lost a sister, Wei Ying also lost that sister, but he lost everyone and everything in that fight.

And Lan Zhan lost him.

Wei Ying forces himself to ask the question.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks cautiously. He's desperately hoping it's a no.

"Not really." Jiang Cheng admits.

"Then, as far as I'm concerned, it's all in the past. It belongs there…let's look to the future now. It's far brighter." Wei Ying pats his back and turns around.

Li XiWang takes his hand.

Lan Zhan picks up Rumi and takes his other hand.

And in that silent move, it is the action which speaks the loudest.

Wei Ying is no longer all alone.

He has a husband, someone who loves him unconditionally.

He has children who love him as a good father.

And Wei Ying himself has changed.

The Wei Ying of the past, when all those terrible things happened to him, he was a different man then.

That Wei Ying had the pressures of growing up in a place that was never his own, a place that didn't really welcome his presence. And after that, burden after burden was placed on his shoulders…and still he plodded on towards the sun. His courage was never going to be enough to survive that world.

As they walk back to the Swords Hall, suddenly, Wei Ying doesn't want to be here.

He wants the safety of the Jingshi, he wants to sleep in their bed, and he already knows that tonight is going to be bad.

If he must endure, then he would rather not be in the place that was where his nightmares began.

So he turns to his husband.

"Can we go home? Please?"

That's all he has to say, for Lan Zhan to nod.

"Xiongzhang, we'll be back later." Lan Zhan calls out to his brother.

Even before XiChen has the chance to process what his baby brother is saying, the four of them vanish into thin air.

"I'm still here, though." Zago whispers, right in Jiang Cheng's ear.