21 Strengthening Body And Soul

Lan Wangji

The next day, Lan Wangji leaved the bed earlier than usual, to prepare Wei Ying a big breakfast, as he didn't eat anything at all last night. The training was tiring, as they used quite a lot of spiritual power, more than physical strength so far and the dark tunes Wei played were dangerous to the balance of his two energies.

He had asked his brother for permission to keep using the Crystal Lake after training, so Wei could benefit for the higher level of white magic and be less tired and Xichen had agree, right after he leaved his room last night. So he planned to take care of his Wei Ying and also spend some time to know him better, while they occasionally make out.

When back to his room, he wake up Ying, not accepting a 'just bit more' excuse and have him sit behind the table in where a hot meal was waiting for him. He purred tea on his cup and urge him to drink it, so he could begin his day with the proper energy to hold on for the coming long hours of training. They eat in silence, but their gaze over one another, spokes volumes.

Once the breakfast was over and they clean themselves, Wei came to finally hug his Lan Zhan, then kiss him good morning until he could no longer hold his breath. Then he changed his clothes for the white ones and they headed out, almost holding hands to go to the training island.

This time they were not the first ones to arrive. Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli were there already, as well as Jin Zixuan, who was talking with his fiancé, quite closely. Wei Ying was glad to see her smile, while attentively listening to her fiancé. She obviously cared for the jerk and at least he was not been rude so far. Jiang Cheng was talking with his sword spirit Sandu.

"Good morning." Wei offer and the others turned to greet him back.

"Oh, I thought you were already in training." Jiang Cheng said.

"Not today." Wei simply said.

"Are you still training in the Burial Mounds set? No one had got it, since you first have it." Jiang told him.

"Don't be too eager, Jiang Cheng, it's not a walk in the park. By the way, how are you doing with Wen Qing? She is quite strong and bossy, be careful not to enrage her of you will be sorry." Wei warned him, but Jiang Cheng smiled.

"She is strong alright, but she is not bossy. She is quite cute actually." Wei smiled wide.

"Oh, you became a love bird already? That was fast..." Yeah, like he was one to talk, just minutes before he was trying to devour Lan Zhan. What right id he had to criticize? Wei thought, while Wangji smirked behind him, because his troublemaker was quite wicked, telling Cheng about been fast, when he had gone beyond that himself.

"It's not like that!" Jiang said while blushing and Wei Ying laughed.

"Yeah, right..." Wei joked and turned to wink at his partner. Lan Zhan looked away, while his heart pounded like crazy inside his chest, forcing himself to restrain, in order not to grab Wei Ying and kiss him senseless right in front of the others.

"You two certainly look close." Jiang said back, probably wanting to provoke Ying, but been who he was, Wei Ying simply put an arm over Wangji's wide shoulders and looked at Cheng.

"That we are, the best partner I could ever had." Wei said without any shame, making Wangji's ear went red. Yanli laughed, coming closer to them with Zixuan right after her.

"You two are cute." Yanli told him as she smiled.

"Ah, thank you!" Wei said smiling back, but then some others showed up and Wei let go of Wangji, most to his heart relief and when they were all present, Lord Zheng showed up.

"Alright, time to train both the body and soul. This time I want all partners to face each other in two lines. Now move one line to my right and the other to my left." Lord Zheng said and they moved as he wanted. To his right were Wangji, Wen Qing, Song Lan, Mianmian, Zixuan and Su She. To the left, Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng, Xiao Xingchen, Wen Ning, Jiang Yanli and Nie Huaisang.

"Good, good... now each of you take a blank talisman and infuse it with your spiritual energy." The group did as they were told.

"Next, exchange talismans with your partners." Lord Zheng said and they offer the talismans to the ones in front of them.

"Right... now tell me if you can sense the energy in your hands." For both Wangji and Wei Ying, there was not even the need for talismans, as they could sense each other's energy just fine, but some of others had a bit of difficulty to grasp the energy in their hands, as it was not their own.

"Hum, I can't sense it." Huaisang said dreadfully.

"I'm not surprise. You got not talent." Su She said.

"You are wrong, he is here for a reason, don't turn against your own partner, it could cost you your life in a future." Lord Zheng warned him.

"Song Lan, can you sense it?" Zheng started his check up with the most experienced pair.

"Yes." Well, not too surprising, those two had been partners for long. Lord Zheng thought.

"Xiao, can you?" He continue.

"Yes." Of course, it will be the same with the partner.

"Jiang Cheng?" He asked next, wondering how much he could sense her energy.

"I can, but not fully. Just a grasp." Well, you met just recently.

"Wen Qing?" He asked her next.

"I can feel enough to distinguish his energy from the rest." Lord Zheng smiled, she was a very talented healer, after all.

"Wen Ning?" He asked, wondering what he could sense, when just like Wei Ying, he was a special case.

"Hum, I feel something, but not too strongly." Not too surprising, his core is sealed, after all.

"Mianmian?" You must be overloaded instead, I presume.

"Ah, yes... I feel a very strong energy coming from the talisman." Like I thought so. Is she blushing?

"What about you Su She, can you?" He asked to the troublemaker.

"Barely." Su she said mockingly.

"Zixuan?" The couple, let's see...

"Yes, most of it." Well, it will be a surprise if he couldn't sense his fiancé energy.

"Yanli?" Ah, in her smile he already knew the answer.

"Yes, just fine." She blushed too, girls sure were cute.

"Alright, since some of you had some troubles..."

"Wait, what about Wuxian and Lan Wangji?" Su She asked, interrupting the white spirit. That one was definitely getting on his nerves.

"I don't need to ask them." Lord Zheng said.

"Why not?" Su She insisted.

"Because they already can sense each other from miles away without the need of talismans. Their special training makes them aware of their energy more closely. Can you sense Wangji's energy Wei Wuxian?" He asked just for fun, he liked Sanren kid.

"Almost all the way to the east." Wei Ying said, with a mischievous smile on his face, Lord Zheng laughed. Damn kid, he was an overconfident one and he was sure those two had something, they definitely like each other and Wangji was in, way too deep, that much was obvious.

"Wangji?" Your turn. Let's see how far you take it.

"Further still, no matter where." Seriously Wangji, that sounded like a confession. I knew it.

"See, now satisfy?" Su She ignore the question and looked the other way. What a nasty brat, maybe I should expel him already.

"Alright, as I was saying, since your awareness of one another needs some work, let's get that done." As he said that, a white cloud seems to go out of the ground and move up, right were the right line of them was standing, to cover their feet's.

"Find your partners, you can help each other in many ways, but not go out with someone else. To go out, just burn the talisman you infused with your own energy (which is now in the hands of your partner) and that will bring you out. Swords are permitted, as there will be a good amounts of corpses. This is a special night hunting, to train the body and soul. Good luck!" And so, the white cloud that covered their feet's went up and the right line disappeared from the view of the left, then the left was gone too.

They find out that the two group had been separated from one another and even their own line were scattered on a dark forest, with the ground cover with a gray fog. Unlike the outside world, in there, night had already fall. Wei closed his eyes to feel the energy of that place, just like before, as ribbons. He saw several ones floating in different directions, each with a variety of colors and his Lan Zhan's platinum one, was quite far from where he was, yet it was moving his way.

"Ah, Lan Zhan, you are already coming for me... how can I not fall for you?" Wei smiled, as he gave a few steps in his direction as well, to meet with him halfway, but he felt Wen Ning's energy a short distance away, to his right, which make him turn to the right and ran that way, just to make sure Wen Ning didn't got into troubles, as he wasn't as good with sensing energy. Lan Zhan was already heading his way anyways, so he will not had troubles finding both of them. However as he ran, out of nowhere a fierce corpse came to attack him.

His reflexes were good, which was the only reason his head was still in place. He used Suibian in a swift move that deeply cut the corps across his chest, then as the dead body went down, he ran with Suibian in hand to find Wen Ning. However, even if his friend from the east was close, getting to him was quite hard as corpses after corpses came his way, slowing him down, but eventually he was able to reach his friend.

"Wen Ning! Come this way!" Wei Ying yelled and Wen Ning assented, running his way, as he fight with his fists.

"Seriously Wen Ning, you do have Huanying, remember? Your sword?" Wei said and Wen Ning looked at his waist, were he had his sword, held by his belt.

"Ah... yes. Sorry, come out Huanying." Wen said and Wei sighed.

"You are strong Wen Ning, but not immortal, rely on your sword spirit a bit more. Now, let's meet with Lan Zhan first, then we will help you find Mianmian." Wei said, as he ran toward his Jade, getting rid of any obstacle between them, but they were many... lots of lots of them that even between the two it was hard to run a few yards without encountering more.

"Damn it!" Wei Ying cursed. He sensed that his Lan Zhan had changed direction, probably just like him, to help someone from their group nearby.

"Wei Ying, how far from Lan Wangji?" Wen Ning asked, as he got rid of another corps.

"Still far... okay, let's try something else. Suibian..." Wei called his spirit and Suibian was out instantly.

"A messy one, huh?" Suibian said, looking at the coming corpses.

"The old man went all out on us this time. Can you communicate with Bichen?" Wei asked, already designing a plan in his head.

"Yes, we had our ways." Subian confirmed.

"What about the others?" Wei Ying asked to further plan.

"Yes. I will not be able to contact Su She's, Nanping, but the others will be a piece of cake." Suibian confirmed again.

"Good. Ask Bichen for the situation around Lan Zhan. Then talk with the others." Wei tasked him and Suibian went inside his blade, to reach Bichen first. Wen Ning and Wei Ying keep up their pace, with Ying sometimes using his spiritual energy instead of his sword.

"Wei Ying, Lan Zhan is heading this way along with Wen Qing. He said for you to be careful, don't go overboard and don't use Chenqing." Wei smiled.

"Ah, my Lan Zhan is the best. Tell him that I will be meeting with him soon and that I will kiss him senseless in the spot, once I can put my hands on him." Wei inwardly told his sword.

"Come on Wei Ying, it's not time to be shameless, the siblings are here too." Suibian said.

"I don't care, pass my message to him." Suibian sighed, yet he did told Bichen about his Master message.

"I swear the two of you will kill both me and Bichen with embarrassment. Your Lan Zhan responded that he will be eagerly waiting to meet with you and that it is a promise, you can't back down." Wei laughed, his handsome Jade was learning fast.

"Tell him, to be ready to catch me when I jump over him." Subian's face was in fire inside his blade and so was Bichen, but he did as Wei asked.

"Alright, what about the others?" Wei asked as he took down a few more corpses.

"Scattered all around." Suibian answer.

"Okay, tell the other swords to guide their Masters to their partners by your internal link. There is no time to use talismans if the whole place is this infested with corpses. Choose the closet point to each other and help those in need if you find them." Wei told him.

"Right..." Suibian agree.

"Wei Ying, I will go looking for Mianmian." Wen Ning said, as he moved to his left.

"Wait, Wen Ning! I will help you with..." Wei yelled.

"No need, she is not that far from here! Huanying will guide me there! Thanks for the help with the swords, that was smart!" Ning said as he ran in search for his partner.

"I hope he will be alright." Wei said a bit worriedly.

"He is the hell strong, don't need to worry about him now that he had a way to find her." Subian reassure him.

"Well, good luck then, Wen Ning... now, straight to my Lan Zhan..." Wei said and he ran with even more determination to find his partner as soon as possible.

The whole ordeal took a lot of time, all of them bumped into someone else at some point and help each other. Wei found Yanli after Ning, but after helping her with some corpses, she went away to find Zixuan, after that it was Xiao, then he bumped into Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang that was following Jiang like a lost puppy, but they too went away soon after.

For Lan Zhan was the same, finding Wen Qing first, then Zixuan, Mianmian and Song Lan. He help them as much as he could with the endless wave of corpses, but then he focus in finding his beloved, slaughtering anything that try to keep him from reaching Ying, always making sure Wei was doing well, as Bichen kept him informed of Wei's every move.

Even with their net of communication by their swords, it took Wei Ying three hours of constant fight to reach Lan Zhan in that hellish place and unnatural darkness, but when he finally spotted a trace of pure white, his heart raced like if it wanted to burst out of his chest.

He was exhausted to dead, but just like he promise, as soon as he had Lan Zhan near enough, he jumped on him, who have no problem holding him and kiss him, as if his life depend on it. The kiss was hot and with urge, but giving the circumstances, they kiss ended sooner than they wished.

"Wei Ying... you are not hurt, right?" Lan Zhan asked as he put him down.

"Not really, just some scratches. You?" Wei asked as he had a better look at Lan Zhan. There was no trace of dirt or blood on his white clothes.

"No, let me see..." Wangji reached for his arm, in which he had a small cut.

"Does it hurts?" Wangji asked, as he carefully inspected it.

"No. It's okay Lan Zhan, it's only a shallow one and..." But Wangji simply shut up his protest with a soft kiss, then keep his forehead pressed over Wei's, while he gently touched Wei Ying's neck.

"Just stay safe..." Wangji said and Wei sighed.

"You too..." Another soft kiss that lasted a bit longer.

"Ah, Lan Wangji... how did I manage to get you? You are hot, caring and strong, just my perfect type." Wei smiled, kissing him gently again.

"So are you, Wei Ying..." By then, Suibian got out of his blade and looked around, to be on the look for more corpses, giving the fact his Master was too busy kissing with his lover and after a few more kisses, Wei look back to Suibian.

"All of the others are out, right?" Wei Ying asked him.

"Yeah... as usual, you are the last ones." Suibian answer.

"Even Huaisang? You didn't tell me anything about him after he went away from Jiang Cheng." Wei asked.

"It seems that Su She is most of a coward than we thought. He was scare to death with that many corpses around, so he was desperate to find Huaisang. Nanping does had the same way to sense us, even if he is a jerk, so he guided Su to Huaisang sooner than later. The bastard She, even make Huaisang leave Jiang Cheng on his own, but he went out not so long ago and you two should go out as well. It's still dangerous in here and both of you are tired." Suibian said.

"Alright, let's go back." Wei said and Wangji took out his talisman, giving to Wei, who offer his in return and soon, they went back.

Most of the group was laying on their backs in the training grounds, exhausted when they went back and Wei Ying, certainly throw himself to the ground as well by Jiang Cheng, while Lan Zhan sat at his side.

"Everyone is okay, right?" Wei asked in general.

"Yeah, mostly thanks to your help, but one thing is sure... let's not have that hellish training again." Jiang said and they laughed, all agreeing with him wholeheartedly.

AN: Thank you my darlings. Happy Birthday to Lan Zhan! 🎉🎊🎂 I may give him a surprise next time to celebrate the occasion, big time. Until next time, take care my dears, love you lots!! 😄😘❤❤❤