INTERTWINED (WangXian)

8. The Darkness within

Few more days passed, Wei ying tried to stay away from his Lan zhan as much as possible. But as days passed the pain within him grew bigger in amount. The more he tried to run away, the more tormented he felt. Moreover they were in the same class, which means Wei ying had to see Lan zhan with Lan yi everyday. It's not that he hated to see them together, it's just that he could not bring himself to come to terms with reality.

Everytime his pain increases beyond a limit, Wei ying's golden core, which had a protective layer of resentful energy, loses its control. This truth was known only to his uncle Jiang Fengmian. Wei ying realised this change in him a few years back when he heard people slandering his parent's relationship with his uncle. He felt the dark aura emanating from him. When he shared this incident to his uncle, as he did not want to end up hurting anyone, his uncle explained the truth.

Wei ying lost his parents during a night hunt. They were attacked by a deadly monster which had the power of hurting one's core. Badly hurt, having a very weak golden core in the last few minutes, knowing they cannot survive, they looked for a means to protect their only son. While his father was distracting the monster, his mother took Wei ying in her arms to a safe distance. Since her golden core was too weak to support, she looked for an alternative energy which was resentment. Her soul weapon, Chen qing was capable of commanding nearby energy sources. She made a shield of resentful energy surrounding her son and handed him the chen qing. She placed a kiss on his forehead and hugged him tightly before leaving him. Since then, dark energy has been a part of Wei ying. He practiced chen qing to tame his core, when he was alone.

While in Yunshen, he could not use his soul weapon as others might not like what they see. His siblings knew that something was different in Wei ying, yet they did not ask him about it.

And now the resentful energy was taking a toll on him. He needed a place to play chen qing. In the evenings he slipped out of cloud recesses barrier, to go deep into the mountains, where he can play his dizi without anyone noticing.

A whole week passed and Lan zhan could not see Wei ying after their classes. It was one such day when Mianmian approached Wei ying as he came out of the classroom.

"Wei wuxian, can you spare a minute?"

"Ofcourse, anything for you Mianmian" Wei ying said in a flirting tone. Only the people close to him could understand the playfulness behind his actions.

"I ve got something to tell you. I prefer to say that in a private space"

Lan zhan, who was the last one to come out of the room, witnessed this scene. He felt a twinge in his heart. A certain scene flashed through his mind.

"Shijie, what is love?"

"So A'xian is in love"

"Am I?"

"Who is she?"

"I will tell you soon"

End of flashback

'Is it her?' Lan zhan shrugged off his thoughts when Lan yi came to take him to the garden.

While walking in their usual path towards the garden, Lan zhan saw Wei ying and Mianmian going a few meters ahead of them. Their expression showed that they were discussing something serious. After a few minutes, Wei ying leaned closer to Mianmian and whispered something which made her halt her steps and blush. She left the place carrying a huge smile.

"Wangji, are you listening?" Lan yi asked the absent-minded Lan zhan, to whom she was talking all this time.

"I am going back to my room. Excuse me for the day" Lan zhan left before Lan yi could ask him anything.

He walked faster so that he would not see Wei ying.

'I could not stand him being so shameless'

'but why does it hurt?'

Lost in thought, Lan zhan walked past Xichen who was waiting outside Jingshi.

Xichen followed his brother who looked worried.

"Is something bothering you wangji?"

"Wei ying" Lan zhan replied abruptly.

He came back to his senses as he realized that he blurted out his mind loudly.

"Nothing"

"Take care. I will come back later" Xichen started from there to meet Jiang cheng to identify the cause of his brother's worry.

'Is that the reason why I could not spot him anywhere other than during classes?' Lan zhan could not breathe thinking about the possibilities.

Back in Wei ying's room, Xichen visited Jiang cheng and they were talking about the happenings of various sects.

"By the way, how is young master Wei?" Xichen asked,hoping there should not be any trouble.

"He is fine. Looking at how he is flirting around, like how he used to always, he is doing great."

"Haha.. Is he interested in someone?"

"N-no. I mean he has admirers. You know even today Mianmian approached him after class"

Jiang cheng had to lie as he cannot reveal his brother's liking for this gentleman's cold brother.

'My baby brother, you are way too jealous' Xichen smiled as he got to know that Wei ying was not pursuing anyone at the moment.

Night came and Lan zhan was waiting to get a glance of Wei ying during the night watch.

Wei ying came back to the room, right before 9pm, humming a tune, a genuine smile plastered on his face.

Like a reflection, Lan zhan's lips curved looking at his shameless guy's smile. But the next second, the thought of Mianmian, a possible reason for the smile on his face, pained him.

"Where did you go, you idiot?" Jiang cheng asked.

"Where else would I be. I met shijie"

"Thought you were spending time with Mianmian"

Wei ying smiled in response.

Flashback

"Say Mianmian, what is it?"

"I-I.. hope you know that relationship between our young master zixuan and maiden yanli is not good"

"Are you here to support that peacock? How many times has that moron made my shijie cry!!?"

"No.. He likes your shijie. You got to believe this. He is learning and doing everything to earn her love. It is just that he is clumsy in expressing. Past two days he looked too stressed. I could not see him like that. I wanted to tell this before you and your brother end up fighting our young master, without knowing his intentions."

Wei ying felt relieved.

"I will try my best to put up with him"

After talking for a while, Mianmian bid her goodbye.

"Alright. But before you leave, do you want to know my pet name?" Wei ying leaned close to her with a grin and whispered "Yuan dao"

Mianmian who processed the name in her head, realised the meaning, blushed.

"As expected of you, wei wuxian" she left the place waving her head, carrying a smile.

End of flashback.

After the meeting, Wei ying went to see her shijie and assured her, not mentioning the things Mianmian shared.