The Lonely Bridge (WangXian Fan fiction)✔️

Broken

"A Yao... " A heartbroken voice makes Meng Yao turn on the spot.

"Er ge!" Meng Yao exclaims and returns the misshapen object in his robs. "Er ge, I am alright. Look." Meng Yao informs, wiping the sweat off his brows.

XiChen looks past Meng Yao, "Where are the others?"

Quickly regaining his composure, Meng Yao slumps his shoulders and shakes his head. Tear ducts open as if on command and crocodile tears start rolling down his face, "Er ge, I tried my best, but couldn't save them. They were so loyal that they threw themselves in front of me and sacrificed themselves so that I could make it out alive."

After having sown what he thinks is a perfect web of lies, the chief cultivator looks up at his sworn brother expecting to find a sullen sympathetic look. Thus, he is shocked when he looks up only to find fury and rage on the usually calm and serene face.

"Er ge, what's the matter?" Meng Yao questions, but instead of answering, XiChen turns away from him, "A... Chief cultivator, did you get what you had come here for?" The older Jade of Lan enquires. His voice is cold and emotionless, just like someone else Meng Yao is acquainted with. Just like Lan Wangji.

For the first time after stepping out of the cave, the chief cultivator looks around. He is surprised to find that the screaming, wailing voices are no longer tainting the air. He takes stock of the men surrounding him, "What happened here?" He turns his gaze towards the mouth of the cave which has fallen silent as well. The slimy substance that had looked life-threatening just a few moments ago was nowhere to be seen. "When did it stop attacking?" Meng Yao asks, bewildered.

When no one answers, Meng Yao swiftly walks towards a few guards and a hand full of young cultivators that lay motionless on the floor, "Are they dead?" He asks the people standing nearest to them.

XiChen questions again, "Chief cultivator, do you have it now?"

Looking at the cold and formal way his most beloved person is speaking to him, shivers run down Meng Yao's spine, "Yes, I have it."

"What do you want us to do now?" A more than irritated looking Jiang Cheng asks.

'What a pity that he survived.' Meng Yao thinks remorsefully, "Now we go to burial mounds, and save the future clan leaders."

Everyone gasps. Jiang Cheng speaks again, "How can you be sure that they are there?"

Meng Yao smiles silky, "I sent Su She to search for their whereabouts, and he sent me a message that he has found some evidence that proves that the young disciples are there."

"When did you come to know?" The clan leader from earlier, Ming, asks.

Meng Yao shakes his head disapprovingly, "It doesn't matter. What matters is that now that we have it, " He pats his chest, "We are in a position to get rid of the Yiling patriarch."

"What will you do with it once the Yiling patriarch is dead?" Another clan leader questions. 

Meng Yao quirks his brow, and smiles menacingly, "That is none of your concern now, is it?"

"Chief cultivator, I have heard from a reliable source that Wei Wuxian is dead." An older clan leader speaks in a carefully measured tone.

Meng Yao narrows his eyes at the clan leader who had dared to doubt him, "So you think that I am lying?" The usual mask of fake concern starts slipping from his face, and his expression darkens, "I am the chief cultivator and the head of Jin clan. How dare you doubt me? How dare you question me?"

The old clan leader cowers under the weight of Meng Yao's words and step a few feet away.

"I am doing you all a favor... " Meng Yao starts when Jiang Cheng interrupts, "Clan leader, physician Tao told me that what happened to Zewu Jun was not done by Wei Wuxian. Then there is the point that Wei Wuxian, stupid as he is, was on the run. He was injured. How would he be able to kidnap the heirs of such influential families?"