The Untamed Oneshots / CQL / WangXian

Immortal Patriarch (Vol. 2)

The name echoed throughout the Ancestral Hall. A name of a soul once so bright and now all but forgotten to the world aside from his sacrifices that would forever be remembered. A name that fell from lips trained to recite 3 000 clan rules as monks would relay scriptures and sutras. It was wrapped in layer upon layer of sorrow and regret, gently cradling a tiny kindle of hope at its core.

Wei Ying.

Wei Ying.

Wei Ying.

The Yiling Laozu raised his gaze from the hand gripping his wrist - it was so gentle, a comfort he had sought many a time before and only recently began receiving without expectation - and met the eyes of the jaded grace before him. "Hanguang Jun?" he questioned, tilting his head slightly.

Said man held him a little tighter, his expression turning a bit more pleading. "Wei Ying...is it really you?"

The Laozu had hoped for many things in his life. As his former persona, he himself had been responsible for the hope of others - hope of survival, hope of a future. During the war, he became all-too aware that he was the only hope they had to emerge victoriously. Yet that one question, that one question was asked with so much raw emotion festering in an angry sea of red around a wound that cut deep into a heart, that it rendered the patriarch speechless.

Someone was pleading with him. Not for a favour or for aid or salvation, but for him to be the missing piece, the balance they so desperately sought.

It was that name again.

Wei Ying.

Wei Ying.

Wei Ying.

Words died on the Yiling Laozu's tongue, a lump of emotion sitting heavy in his throat. He swallowed thickly around the restriction, mulling over how to choose his next words. Eventually he instead placed one of his own hands over the one grasping his wrist. "You are hurting," he said at last.

A sob left the Second Jade, so quiet and masked that it sounded more like a punched out gasp.

"I am sorry. It is not within my power to grant you the wish deepest in your heart." He could feel the fight leave the cultivator, see his heart shatter in the kaleidoscope of his eyes before he shut them to take a steadying breath.

Most people would relish in the glory of knowing that they had brought down the almighty Hanguang Jun, would stroke their ego knowing that an act of heartache had more power over him than a sword. That was not the case for the patriarch. If anything, he felt sick to his stomach at the sight.

'Oh, Lan Zhan...'

An olive branch. It was the least he could do.

"During the next full moon I shall grant you a reprieve of your sorrow." He noticed the scabbed over fingers and felt a sudden pang go through him. The patriarch lifted the Jade's hand and ghosted his lips over each fingertip, a healing kiss of renewal that left smooth skin in its wake. Once finished, he glanced at the brown eyes staring at him in confused awe. "I owe you this much."

Stepping back, the Yiling Laozu inclined his head once before letting the shadows embrace him and vanished in a pulse of darkness.

***

Three days, as it turned out, had the ability to feel like those three torturous months Lan Wangji had spent draped in uncertainty as he had searched for his Wei Ying. Three days of being restless and completing his clan duties mindlessly, waiting for the full moon.

And as his luck would have it, he was supposed to stand guard on the very same evening. How bitterly nostalgic he felt, stationed at the post where it all had started, the love story between him and the sun-kissed boy of Yunmeng. He could almost see a figure clambering over that very same wall, a mocking remembrance of his reminiscent memories of the playful youth.