Deeper Cultivation

Wei Ying

In the next following hour, the whole team make sure to have everything they needed for the possible long journey that was not going to be easy in any way. They already knew that a lot of fierce corpses were waiting for them at the seal and as they will have to wait for two more days, their numbers will probably triple by the time they actually go inside.

Wei Lao came along with Madam Sanren and Zilin. The spirit was going to travel with them, although neither Wei Lao nor his wife will go beyond the place in which they will send them away to fulfil their destinies. The threat was still present and if the seal breaks after the kids are in, then the Clans needed their Leaders to act and hold the corpses for as long as they could to keep the barrier unreached and their people safe.

For that very same reason, they were not going to be teleported alone, as a big group of elite cultivators from the east Clans would also make their way there, for when the chosen group goes in and they were to be left on their own to hold any threat that could come after. So they gather in the teleporting circle, already active for them and teleported in small groups to the Burial Mound camp.

"My sons, please take care while in there. I will keep your son safe here until your return." Sanren said as she hugged both her son and son-in law.

"We will come back soon... just hang in there until then." Wei Ying said to his mother.

"We will. Yinse will be at the camp soon to help Wangji with his hard task, wait for him or so Master Baoshan said." Sanren added and Lan Zhan nodded in understanding. He was new to the manipulation of white energy, thus he needed an anchor that will pull him back in case he get lost or to guide him as he gets consumed by the power.

"Where is she anyways?" Wei Ying asked as he failed to see the seer anywhere close.

"She went away half an hour ago." His mother reply.

"You should know that the seer comes and go as she pleases. Her duty here is done, but yours is just begun, be careful, my son. Your spiritual sensitivity will make it hard for you to be in such place. Lan Wangji, take care of my troublemaker son for me, I entrust him to you from here on." Lord Wei said and Wangji bowed to him respectfully.

"I will protect Wei Ying with my life." Wangji assured and Lord Wei smiled, slightly tapping one of Wangji's wide shoulders.

"Good, then, go. Time is pressing for you. The first group should be yours, then the other will follow right after. If the seal breaks you will use the red signal and I will personally go there to help you deal with them." Lord Wei said to the other cultivators.

"Yes, Lord Wei!" They responded in unison and so the group walked toward the teleporting circle.

Lan Zhan held Wei Ying close, before teleporting to the Burial Mounds, because the dark energy in the place was way too strong and he was the most sensitive to it by far and keep him close when they go the other side. Wei Ying felt dizzy right away, but he was in such good hands, that he didn't even needed to said anything, as his Lan Zhan asked the ones who welcome them for a place to rest.

Then a cultivator waiting for them, guide them to one of the tents, erected for the new group to spend the coming two days and Wangji help him sit over a wood bed, then sat by him.

"Rest for a few minutes." Wangi told him.

"Lan Zhan... I'm fine..." Wei Ying said, knowing he was already worry.

"Rest." Lan Zhan insisted, but Wei Ying simply smile at him.

"There is no need for that right now. This place is hellish, but I will overcome this feeling soon. You, by the other hand need to start your deep meditation soon. Our time is limited and is already hard enough that you had to rush it." Wei Ying said as he caressed his lover face.

"I will not fail you." He told him back quite seriously.

"I know, my Lan Zhan... just don't hurt yourself while you assimilate the seed. I need you as much as you need me, remember that." Wangji smirked, just before Wei Ying kiss him and as they lose themselves in the heated kiss, outside, there was a commotion as the watching tower spotted something white flying at high speed in the sky towards their camp.

"It's the white dragon! The white dragon! Make space!" The guard yelled and immediately, the other cultivators make space for the long serpentine dragon to land at the foot of the mountain, into their camp and hearing the exited yells, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan break their kiss and go out in a rush, as well as for the others.

Yinse is in fact the last dragon alive in their world, so no one in that generation had seen it neither from afar, nor for close. Thus Yinse's coming was in fact a huge novelty among the cultivators of the east, with no one wanting to miss the sight, as the beautiful white dragon landed right in the middle of their camp.

In his dragon form, Yinse was stunningly beautiful, with a long slender body that curled in the space cleared for it. The white scales shined in the sun, as a line of white hair all along its back, moved softly with the mountain breeze. The legs were short but had sharp claws, while some horns came out of the small reptilian head with beautiful golden eyes.

"Wow! That's definitely Lord Yang's dragon... so majestic..." A female cultivator said.

"So true!" another agree, but Yinse focus his sight in a particular pair that was coming his way. He could definitely sense the same power Yang had, although in a smaller degree, which meant that the Lan boy was indeed the chosen one.

Having less space as a dragon, as well as to attracting too much attention, Yinse decided to change form to that of his human one. It had been so many centuries since he had transform himself that he was curious of what will feel to have a smaller body once again. However, as he turned into a gorgeous human, he found out that the disciples of the east Clans were even more fascinated with his human form than with his dragon one.

"Ah, so handsome!!" A woman exclaimed.

"And looks so young!!" A man keep it up. Then, they came to him like a tide wave, asking him several questions at the same time, making him want to transform back once again.

"Hey! Make way, make way! We are short of time!" Wei Ying yelled, but under the excitement, no one really pay attention.

"As if that will work in a mass of exited people." Jiang Cheng said, coming closer. "Just let me handle this one. I have been itching to try this since mother send it to me, after we save Lord Mingjue and were punished." He proclaimed, touching the ring on his hand, from which a beautiful woman dressed in deep purple and lavender came out.

"Are you seriously going to use Zidian with this crowd? She is quite deadly." Song Lan said, knowing that like Madam Yu, she was quite temperamental.

"Just let her have a bit of fun." Jiang Cheng reassure them and after Zidian smiled mischiviously, she disappeared in a flash of purple and reappeared by Yinse's side, taking a hold on his slender waist, that amused the dragon as he look at her mischievous eyes, then she look back at the disciples that had gather to be close to him.

"This handsome one is mine, get lost or else, get fried!" She shouted, extending her hand, as a ball of purple lighting formed in her open hand, that obviously scared the cultivators away, as her reputation as fearsome spirit preside her. Thus the multitude scattered away, making Yinse, laugh in more amusement.

"Such a strong beautiful lady." Yinse whisper to her and smiled charmingly.

"You are welcome, handsome." Zidian said, as she winked at Yinse, disappearing in flash of purple lighting that resonate with force, high above in the sky, making a few cultivators shiver in fear.

"Such a woman..." Yinse repeated.

"She is scary..." Huaisang whisper and Jiang Cheng turned to look at him, then sighed. He was such a scardy cat, yet Sandu inside his blade agree with Huaisang wholeheartedly, because she was indeed the scariest.

"Putting that aside, Lord Yinse, sorry for the last time in the Cold Cave, I hope you don't hold a grudge for what happen in your resting place." Wei Ying came closer and bowed to him slightly and the dragon smiled.

"Not at all, actually you make me a favor to cleanse me from that resentful energy. I should thank you instead." The dragon bowed back.

"No need to thank us, it was a fateful encounter, I'm sure." Wei Ying said back and Yinse agree.

"Indeed. Now, young Master Lan, you must prepare yourself for what is coming, because it will hurt every fiber of your body, as in a way you will reborn anew, as the young Master Wei did when he was a child. However, once you are one with your seed, you will become a full sage, half way to immortality and powerful enough to cleanse the land along with your parter." Yinse said.

"I accept the challenge." Lan Zhan agree, as he too respectfully bowed to the dragon.

"Then come with me. No one should interrupt us for any reason, not even if the seal breaks. Lan Wangji's very soul will suffer is the process is interrupted half way. Also, you should cultivate as well, as you have your own issues and get a better use your seed as well, young Master Wei. Use this time wisely to also become one with it. However, be careful as you do so, as Yin will sense you close. Use Chenqing to dispel the corpses at the seal from time to time. That will also extend the resistant of the seal for a bit longer." Yinse told him and Wei Ying assented.

Wei then, gave his Lan Zhan a bright smile, as a sent off and watch his back, as he retreated along with Yinse to somewhere else close, yet not close enough to be interrupted by the activity of the camp or his own cultivation. Even so, even with his eyes closed he could sense his Lan Zhan following Yinse until they finally stopped to begin the assimilation of the white seed.

"Young Master Wei... about the seal... will you have a look at it?" A Wen Clan disciple ask him, bringing him back to his reality.

"Ah, yes... Suibian, come out and make a plan for all sword spirits to take turns to watch the seal and when the number of corpses gathered there gets too high, come and get me and I will take care of them." Wei said and he turned to walk up to the narrow path to the seal.

"Wei Ying... about what the seer told you... shouldn't you be telling Lan Zhan about it? He will be devastated if you don't tell him the plan to destroy Rouhan's soul for good." Xuanyu voiced his concern to Wuxian.

"He needs to focus in something else right now. If I tell him what will happen, even for a short while, he will not be able to concentrate, worrying about me." Xuanyu sighed.

"Chenqing, you convince him for me. He is too stubborn for his own good." Xuanyu told his lover.

"But Wei Ying is right. Lan Wangji's love for him is too deep. If he were to know what we will do, he will not allow it no matter what." Xuanyu pouted at Chenqing, as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"My love, will you not take my side? How will you react if I were to..." Chenqing quiet him with a kiss on the mouth.

"Mmm, alright... you win..." Xuanyu whisper over his hot lover lips.

"Come on, no time for kissing, Chenqing, it's time to play an old tune." Wei Ying told the dark spirit.

"Don't go rushing my romantic time, you certainly enjoyed yours with Lan Zhan before Yinse came." Xuanyu protested.

"When this is all over you can kiss Chenqing all you want." Chenqing smiled and he gave his lover a quick one before he could protest more.

"Worry not, once this is over, you will plead me to let you go." Chenqing whisper to Xuanyu's ear, who laughed out load.

"I doubt I will ever plead for less, I may surprise you pleading you for far more." Chenqing winked at his lover.

"Deal." Then headed out.

Wei Ying took Chenqing flute on his hand and approached the seal, witnessing the reason why the guards had use the flare in a rush. There were probably hundreds of corpses trying to get out, banging their fists on the barrier several ones at the same time.

"Young Master Wei! They had been banging on the seal for the last hour." Another disciple of the Wen Clan told him, glad that someone was there to take care of the troublesome things.

"Yeah, get back to camp and have some rest. You all had work hard. Suibian and the other spirits will take turns to watch the seal. Their spiritual connection will be faster to be known that you guys running down the path." He explained and some sighed with visible relief.

"Then we leave the seal to you." Another cultivator said before heading down the path.

"Alright... I can't have you disturbing my lovely husband cultivation with all this noise. Go back to where you belong and don't ever come back again." Wei said to the oblivious corpses and closing his eyes he started playing one of the tunes of control, making the corpses turning around with stiffness moves.

Lan Zhan

"The white seed is a bringer of life, it keeps the world in balance, giving all living things of what they need to grow and prosper, from plants to common people, animals, birds and cultivators. Keeping the land clean of wicked darkness gives life to the earth, so you must become a bringer of life yourself." Yinse said as they sat under an old dry tree.

"To become someone who gives life, you must also understand death. Behind you is a tree that had been killed by dark energy. The trunk had become black, spreading the poisoning energy, absorbing it with the roots, then releasing it as the air flows around it. What you need is to feel the roots, follow the path down and see how the poison of the land taint the life even from the grass. Then try to cleanse it and bring back the stolen energy that now you can produce." Yinse instructed and Lan Zhan closed his eyes, focusing on the earth he was sat, then in the tree roots below him, going deeper into the earth.

Sages had said that life can be portray in a tree and as he send his energy down, he wholeheartedly agree. A three was connected to not only the soil, but also to an entire forest trough their roots. When one three falls, another will give it the nutrients to try keep it alive, even when it was no longer connected to the earth and that was because other trees roots will connect with it, at each part over the land, giving it more life.

As he traces that dead tree roots, he saw them connect with others that were trying to keep it alive despite the bad soil, despite the dark energy also poisoning their roots. Thus he imagine the white seed inside of him, sprouting and growing inside his core, then spreading all over his meridians, then getting out from each pore on his skin to go out in all directions, then send it down.

He coughed blood as his energy collided with that of Yin's. Her was stronger, wild and unrestrained and it threatened to poison him as well if his will was not strong enough, if he hesitate even for a second. Her energy was different from Wei Ying's, because his lover was not possessed by it, thus blocking it for becoming a poison that will consume their world.

Yin was in fact the one with the stronger energy, she released in waves all the time in godly levels, but when she had Yang, he would cleanse her energy and turned into white, spreading it far and wide, giving the world the needed energy to survive. Been lost in her own madness and unable to cleanse the energy on her own, her energy had become tainted, making her something different that the gods had not intended, when they give them birth to protect the human world in Xiao Man's place.

However, after the tragic coming of the demon Taotie, only one thing remained inside of her. Pain... what the dark energy poisoning the lands represented was in fact her pain, the same pain he was now experiencing, as he pushed her energy away, inch by inch. The seed inside of him was trying to be released, as it seek the darkness to turn it back to what it was. He was a bringer of life, so like Yang, he must learn to cleanse her energy then turn it into life, into heal.

However, her darkness resisted, it was unwilling to let go of the soil, of the roots and off the land. Still, he thought of Wei Ying, he thought as if Yin was him, lost and possessed and unable to find his way back and for him, for his love and devotion, he will push himself to his limit. So he concentrate harder in his seed, harder and harder to a point he lose the sense of time, as his body tremble with the huge effort of trying to cleanse that small part of the land.

"Wei Ying... I will not fail you." He thought as he embraced the power bestowed to him to save... yes, it was to save his loved one to follow her same path. If he could not cleanse the dark energy, then he had no power to keep his beloved from stray.

"That's right. If you are to keep him in balance you must become his safety net and embrace him, heal him." Yinse whisper inside his consciousness.

"Heal him..." Lan Zhan repeated. Yes, if Wei Ying were to become that dead tree, then as the forest roots had try to do, he will give him life, he will give him the very essence that will heal not only that lone tree, but everything that is connected to it, trying to keep it alive.

Then, his golden core was covered with white energy, turning also into pure white. Then he released that contained energy that seems to have no end into the ground below his body that had connected with the roots, as a tree would, then spread it inside of them, finally pushing Yin's poison away for miles.

"You did it. Open your eyes, Lan Wangji, and witness the power of your cleanse." Yinse softly said and as tired as he was, Lan Zhan obeyed, first looking up at the tree, to find it no longer dead, but free of poison and blooming with healthy green leaves and small yellow flowers petals falling all around him.

The land there was no longer tainted, nor dead, as his seed of life had bring back the forest to what it was long ago, as far as his eyes could see, from wild flowers of all kinds and green grass, to countless beautiful trees with colorful leafs.

"You were indeed meant to bear the seed of life and it only take you a day and a half to fully integrate it in such a beautiful way. Congratulations, you are now a white sage, a true Light Bearing Lord and here is your dark one, get a deserved rest and then we go rescue Yin from her own darkness." Yinse said, as Wei Ying walked happily toward his even more stunning husband and help him stand, but as Wangji had used a huge amount of energy in the last day and a half, his legs gave in, in exhaustation, making Wei Ying carry him Princess style toward their tent.

"I told you I can carry you to bed as many times as needed, my Lan Zhan." Wei whisper as he put him down over the wooden bed, kissing his forehead, right after.

Wangji gave him a weak smile, before Wei Ying bend down an give him a soft kiss on the lips, just before Lan Zhan closed his eyes, to finally rest covered by his lover warmth and love.

AN: I hope this one was not boring. It just came like that, sorry for the errors, I'm honestly half asleep. 😪 Lan Zhan's part was inspired by the tree of life, I hope you like it. Thanks for reading, is close to midnight here in the Caribbean, so like Wangi, I'm off to sleep. Please take care my darlings, until next time, when the adventure begins. Love you all. 😙💞💞💞🌷