Author's Note: Sorry for not updating as soon as promised, things have been a bit hectic and wattpad doesn't seem to want to work for me. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's less of a filler chapter than the last. Please vote and comment any opinions, suggestions or corrections. Have a nice day!
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The group was slow and fatigued by the journey, disheartened by the morose news and without a leader to motivate them. Stress and worry radiated from their features as they stumbled on, continuing their cumbersome journey.
In relation to injury and losses, they were very minorly affected; in total there were only two fatalities, both of which were a result of the snakes. In addition, the only visible injuries were cuts and scratches from the thorny undergrowth, bruises from poor technique when scaling the wall and other miscellaneous issues of a similar type.
In contrast however, Jiang Cheng looked as though he had just been through a war zone. He was deathly pale and shaking violently- completely powerless to conceal his harrowing pain. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot and a constant stream of tears ran down his face. He looked completely exhausted - any pretence of strength dissolved by the preceding events and staggered along supported occasionally by his disciples.
The group could see the camp in the distance and persevered the enticing thought of their beds bringing their spirits up. At the entrance, they could see a gathering crowd waiting for them, concerned looks plastered across their faces. A certain figure in lilac caught their attention.
"Sect Leader Jiang, your sister is here!" they yelled towards him but as opposed to the happy reaction they had anticipated, he only began to cry harder.
"Shijie! A-li!" he mumbled between broken sobs. He couldn't clearly see her through the floods of tears but picked up the pace, stumbling around towards her, desperate for her comfort and consolation.
"Shijie!" he practically screamed but it came out all warped and strangled by his raw throat.
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Jiang Yanli's POV
"Shijie!"
I heard my brother yell for me. I wanted to go towards him but Xichen held me back.
"Don't," he said quietly, "he'll be here in a minute, wait until their safe inside to question him."
I noticed Xichen looked pensive and worried too, a profound agitation building up. He was mumbling under his breath and he looked desperate.
"Damn it Wangji, what have you done? Where are you?" I heard him whisper.
I too began to scan the crowd more meticulously. Hadn't Hanguang-jun been with them when they departed? What had happened to the almost unrivalled Lan Wangji? Jiang Cheng was there, I could see he was alive and relatively unharmed but what about Xichen; his brother, his dear Shidi was nowhere to be seen.
The group crossed the threshold and immediately I rushed over to A-Cheng, immersing him in my concerned embrace.
"Shhh! It's okay A-Cheng, I'm here now. It'll be okay. I've got you. You're safe, nothing can hurt you!" I said to him.
For a moment, it seemed as though he had calmed down so I released him. I took in the pain on his face, a face I had missed and longed to see all those months. I combed down through his knotted, dishevelled locks, wiped away his tears with my thumbs, held his face close to mine.
"It'll be okay," I repeated as much to him as to myself. "It's over now, everything's fine," I lied.
At some point during that sentence I looked down and saw Suibian tucked into his waistband. 'What? How did he acquire A-Xian's sword? Was there news of A-Xian?' As much as these thoughts perturbed and worried me, I couldn't let them spill over into my expression - what was important for now was pacifying A-Cheng, the rest could wait.
"It won't be okay Shijie," he replied, "A-Xian's dead!"
Instantly, my heart dropped. A gasp resounded across the gathered audience, united in a unanimous sense of loss and injustice. We all knew somewhere deep within us that he probably wasn't coming back, but to have it spelled out so unquestionably in front of us hurt. 'How did he know? What had they seen?' I thought. Tears began to fall down and trying to combat them was useless.
Behind me Xichen stood unwavered.
"I assumed as much." He said very finally. "Otherwise Wangji would have come back too..."
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