The Mesmerized Lan Zhan

Wei Wuxian

As soon as they landed over the huge wide border of the floating island, Wei Wuxian and the Wen siblings watched at the unmistakable Twin Jades of the Gusu Lan Clan, stood at the foot of the long stairs, to welcome them to their Clan. The rumors had proven to be completely true, because he had never seen a pair of men as beautiful as the two brothers in front of them. One, had a very gentle and charming smile, which he assumed was the elder brother and the other, with an unreadable expression yet a penetrating gaze should be the younger.

He could understand why women fantasize about the brothers so much, they were extraordinary fine men, with straight posture, graceful movements and proper manners. They were the Prince Charming of any women fairy tale, but that was for them. For Wei Wuxian the impact about the brothers was different, as his eyes fixated over the younger Lan, almost in a staring contest with the serious young man. There was something about him that picked his curiosity and make his heart beat faster with anticipation.

He could tell, the young man was strong, very strong, which was a kind of challenge he wanted to test when given the time and opportunity. He had always wanted to test his abilities, his inventions and mastery of the sword, because back home he was unbeaten, except for the woman who was coming closer to him after dismounting her eagle, which was frightening when mad and capable to put him on his knees.

"And you said I was going to melt? Look at you, Oh great Wei Wuxian, you are drooling at the sight of the younger Jade. Is it love at first sight?" Wen Qing whisper to him, as the brothers approached them and Wei smirked.

"You wish... he is my new challenge." Wuxian whispered back.

"Oh, so it's called like that these days? Good luck, love bird." Qing insisted, smiling.

"Hey, it's not like that..." Wei Wuxian begin to retort, but at that moment the two brothers reached them and bowed formerly to greet them, thus they bowed back in return, ending their bicker.

"Welcome to our Gusu Lan Clan, we are glad you made it in time. It most have been a long trip from all the way to the east, you can have some rest and refreshment now, before the initiation ceremony." Xichen said first, with a gentle voice that make Wen Ning smile.

"Thank you, Lord Lan Xichen. We have the invitation you sent us. I am Clan Leader Wen Siyu's daughter, Wen Qing and the one by my left side is my brother Wen Ning. We are most grateful for your kindness." Wen Qing said, while presenting the Wen's invitation to the gathering, although it wasn't necessary, because only those with the invitation could cross the Lan Clan's shield, yet Xichen took it gracefully.

"I am Wei Ying, also known as Wuxian, son of Clan Leader Wei Lao. I present you with my invitation, I'm grateful, for giving us a chance to study under the guidance of the immortals." Ying said offering his invitation that Xichen also took with a smile.

"We welcome all those who are willing to learn no matter from where they may be and the people from the east certainly had it hard with the dark energy concentration, stronger in the area. Perhaps we too can learn some things from your Clans." Xichen said, making Wei smile wide. He liked the elder one already, quite righteous and kind, yet his gaze turned to the younger one, who still have that unchanging expression pasted on his beautiful face.

Xichen notice Wei's gaze and looked back to glance at his brother. The new comers may think his brother was arrogant, because of his lack of expression, but he could tell that Wangji was actually pleased, because his body was relaxed, as if only he was there, which was a good sign that Wangji will actually open up with someone other than him.

"Ah, this is my brother Lan Wangji, Second Master of the Lan Clan. He will escort you to your resting rooms, please follow him. When it's time for the initiation ceremony, one of our Clan members will notify you, so you can attend it.... But before that, please indulge my curiosity... those eagles are magnificent. We don't see them often in the north..." Xichen said.

"Of course my Lord, you can come and touch them if you wish. They will not harm you if you try it. We use eagles often in the east, we keep their nest protected with barriers and they help us to patrol all over the east lands in return." Wen Qing said and Xichen did as she offered, gently passing his hand over the soft feathers.

"Truly magnificent, I will like for you to tell me how your Clans manage such beautiful companionship with the great eagles." Xichen said and Wen Ning promise to tell him all about them later. After they sent back all three eagles, they followed Lan Wangji around the beautiful grounds of the Gusu Lan Clan toward the resting rooms.

The Cloud Recesses was a place of beauty, with gardens that promoted harmony and peace, colorful koi ponds, elegant structures as far as the eye could see and a light white mist that make you remember you were floating among clouds. Even when the night came, the place was a magical paradise illuminated by the full moon.

Coincidently, their rooms were the closet to Wangji's own, so a few hours later, when it was time to begin the initiation ceremony, he was the one who escort them to his Clan training ground in the second island after crossing a long and beautiful bridge to the next floating island. Wei Wuxian had no idea of what this initiation ceremony was, but as he stared at the broad back of the Second Master Lan, he was exited to find out.

Lan Wangji

He guided the east Clans cultivators to the round training ground adorned with a huge glowing symbol of the Yin and Yang, just like the white uniform they were provided with the same symbol on their backs. During their internship they were to use it inside the Cloud Recesses, but when they have a free period or to visit the town bellow, the members of the gathering could use their usual robes with the colors of their respective Clans.

There were quite a few young cultivators, probably close to a hundred, already waiting for the ceremony to start and Lan Xichen was standing in the center of the Yin/Yang circle. Wangji begin crossing the symbol, to greet his brother, but he stopped midway when he felt something strange. He looked back, seen that Wei Wuxian had also stop, while he stared at the symbol at his feet. He could tell that not only Wuxian, but all three of them could sense the power bellow and to his immense surprise, the power reacted back, with the white part of the symbol, turning deep indigo.

Xichen was visible stunned, been the first time outsiders make the symbol react before been released. The last time it had happen was when Wangji's core was tested, many years ago and that had almost destroyed the floating island with the release of his core's power. To the other young cultivators that didn't knew the meaning of the change of color, the occurrence went by as odd, but to all the Lan Clan members, it meant the cultivators of the east were more advanced than they had first thought.

They had already reached the spiritual level of the insight, the six out of the seven levels in the spiritual path, which meant their core test will need to be made separately from the rest to avoid others to be harmed by accident. Seen how things had turn out, Lan Wangji nodded to his brother already knowing what needed to be done and turned to the three he was escorting.

"Follow me." Wangji said, turning back.

"Wait, why? The others are here. Why are we going back?" Wei Wuxian asked, yet Wangji ignore him.

"Follow me." He simply repeated.

"But..." Wei protested, but Wen Qing elbow him in the ribs to stop his complaining. Behind them, the crowd of youths from the other Clans begin to murmur and mock about the way the east Clans had been turned around, a few even laughed. Some joked that they were too weak to attend the ceremony and were going to be sent back home, other joked that they were a bunch of rough cultivators that could not keep a rigorous training. Wei heard some as he pass close to one of the seats, a guy with a red dot in his forehead and he stop, feeling his anger rise.

"Wei Wuxian, ignore it." Wangji said, looking at Wei with seriousness and then giving Jin Zixuan a cold stare. They just had no idea of whom they were making fun off, but the time will come when the others will learn to respect the people from the east.

"Please, Wei Ying... let's follow the Second Young Master Lan." Wen Ning intervened and Wei reluctantly did follow Lan Wangji's lead, out the second island to the main buildings.

"Hey, Lan Wangji, where are you taking us? Don't tell me you guys are really sending us back? I thought you were a righteous Clan..." Wangji stopped his advance in the act and looked back at Wei Wuxian. He could understand Wei Wuxian's doubts, because of what Jin Zixuan had said and he was from another part of the country, but no one was allowed to say his Clan was unfair.

"Wei Wuxian, we don't care about rumors, our Clan is fair to all. I told you to ignore it." Wangji said a bit colder.

"Then why did you take us back?" Wei asked in defiance.

"Because the symbol reacted to you, meaning your spiritual level is already high. You can't be tested in that island, otherwise you may had destroy it." Wangji said, turning to walk again, expecting them to follow him. At that Wei Wuxian felt guilty for biting Wangji's head off just because he was angry, so he stick to him getting ahead of the other two to try to apologize.

"Ah... Lan Wangji... hey, Second Master Lan... Young Twin Jade..." But the cold guy didn't stop his graceful walking.

"You don't hold grudges, right? Oh come on... Lan Zhan..." Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan... Hearing his name been called in such a casual way, make Wangji stop his advance yet again. He looked back at Wuxian to correct him, but instead of getting angry, he was mesmerized by the sight. They were now in the middle of the plum garden, with pink, red and white threes in full bloom. Some petals had become lose with the night wind, falling over everything under them, including Wuxian.

His heart skipped a beat, as he watched him under a vivid pink one, with a few petals over his long raven hair and under the moon rays, the young man looked stunning. However, Wei may have think he was actually mad at him as he was staring at Wuxian with a blank expression, when in reality he was too caught up in the beautiful sight, because he frowned, coming even closer.

"Hey, don't get that angry. I swear I was just trying to apologize." Wuxian said, but he care not about that. To recover from his momentary loss of reality, Wangji turned back to resume his walk, while Wuxian keep calling him by his given name instead of his courtesy one. He guessed perhaps his name has reached that far east. Despite himself, Wangji half smiled as he walked, if he was going to keep calling him Lan Zhan, then he would call him Wei Ying.

Behind both men, Wen Qing almost laughed. Wuxian had accused her to melting under the beauty of the north cultivators, but instead, he had fell under the spell of the younger Jade, the same way Lan Wangji had fell for the mischievous troublemaker at first sight. It seemed that their internship was going to be an interesting one, from the very start.

AN: Next will be the core challenge because this part take too long to include it here. Take care, until next time. 😁😄❤❤