Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Wei Yingyue! Wei Yingyue!" Wei Wuxian shook his sister, looking around as he saw that Jiang Cheng had disappeared. "Yingying, please get up." He tapped her cheek and she blinked, looking around as she shot up.

"Where are we?" She asked, grabbing Wei Ying's arm.

"Yingying, did Jiang Cheng say anything about leaving?" She looked around before remembering, looking up at her brother before shaking her head.

"No, he never woke me. Why? Where is he?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled her up.

"I asked a cobbler but he said that Jiang Cheng had left." He said, holding out the food in his hand. Wei Yue shook her head, looking in the direction of Lotus Pier.

"We need to go get him."

"I was thinking the same thing, that he went back to get the bodies." Wei Ying followed his sister, both of them trying to go as fast as they could. Wei Yue put the food that was slowing Wei Ying down into her Qiankun sleeve before they moved faster, running as fast as they could until Wei Wuxian started feeling faint. Wei Yue looked over as Wei Ying fell, his face landing in the dirt. She hurried over as he slammed his fist into the ground, lifting him up as she ignored the pain shooting through her body. Her hand fished around in her sleeve, pulling out a steamed bun before forcing her brother to take it. He began to eat it aggressively as the twins moved forwards, his eyes set straight ahead as they tried to make it to Lotus Pier as soon as they could.

By the time they reached the pier exhaustion wasn't even the word to describe the twins. They seemed to be more like ghost puppets than people, the metallic taste of blood from the strain that their body had been put through running through both of the twin's mouths as they set their eyes on the brightly-lit structure of Lotus Pier. Despite running as fast as they could, Jiang Cheng had not come into their path. Seeing as he was more exhausted and in shock than they were, he shouldn't have reached Lotus Pier before them. This made Wei Yue wonder if he had actually come back, or if he had gone to get his Jie without the company of her and Wei Ying.

"Come on." Wei Yue urged, rubbing Wei Wuxian's shoulder as she braced herself for what they might see inside. She held her brother's hand, leading him forwards as he returned the hold when a figure dressed in Wen clothes walked towards them. Wei Ying jumped ahead of his sister, grabbing the Wen disciple before pinning him down.

"Don't make any noise! Or else I'll break your neck at once!" He growled, his voice in a more ruthless tone than Wei Yingyue had ever heard before.

"Young Master Wei! Young Mistress, i-it's me!" Wei Yue looked at the boy, looking down at him as her brows furrowed.

"Don't play any tricks." She warned, her eyes narrowed as she stood next to Wei Ying.

"I-I don't play any tricks. Young Master Wei, you can look at my face." Wei Ying hesitated before turning the boy around, letting him see his face.

"Who are you?" Wei Wuxian asked, glancing at his sister as she frowned.

"Wen Ning." She whispered, crossing her arms as she looked around them.

"Who is Wen Ning?" Wei Wuxian snapped, growing as he looked between his sister and the boy.

"He's the archer from The Discussion Conference that was at Qishan two years ago Wei Ying." She put a hand on her brother's arm, making him let Wen Ning go.

"T-that's me! Yesterday I saw you, Young Master Wei, and Young Master Jiang!" He stuttered, looking at Wei Yue. "I thought you might be back again." He finished, looking at Wei Wuxian as he stared at him.

"You saw us yesterday?" Wei Ying asked.

"I did."

"You saw us but you didn't tell anyone?"

"I won't! I won't tell anyone!" Wei Yue frowned as he exclaimed this, shocking Wei Wuxian as he stared at the Wen boy. "Young Master Wei, Young Mistress. Are you here to find Young Master Jiang?" He asked, making the twins straighten.

"Is Jiang Cheng inside?" Wei Yue asked, stepping forward.

"He is. He was caught by Wen Chao not that long ago." With this Wei Yue's mind began to race, her fists clenching as she tried to think of a way to get inside. "Young Master Wei, are you and Young Mistress here to save Young Master Jiang?" Wei Ying's eyes snapped to the boy, frowning as he thought about his stupid question.

"What do you think?" He asked, his voice cold.

"I knew it. I-I can help you get him out of here." Wen Ning stuttered, his face holding a nervous smile.

"You? You'll help us get him out?" The shock was evident in Wei Yingyue's voice, making Wen Ning nod as he looked at her.

"Yes. Right now, I can take him out really quickly. When Chao and the others happened to have gone out." He said, trying to shove he was serious.

"You really can?" Wei Ying was staring at Wen Ning, his fists clenched.

"I can! I am a clan disciple of the Wen Sect. There's a group of disciples who follow my orders." This made Wei Wuxian stiffen, his eyes narrowing as he scoffed.

"Follow your orders?" He snapped, glancing around the ruins that had been their home less than twenty-four hours ago. "Follow your orders and kill people?"

"No! My disciples never kill people at random! The Jiang Sect's people, I didn't kill any of them. I only hurried here after I heard that something happened to Lotus Pier! It's true!" Wei Yingyue watched Wei Ying as he watched the younger boy, her hand on his shoulder squeezing him lightly.

"Then can you bring out Jiang Cheng?" She asked, smiling as he nodded before she let her hand fall off Wei Ying's shoulder. "Wen Ning, can you-" She frowned as she felt an ache in her chest, looking towards the ground before Wei Ying spoke up.

"Can you help us take the bodies of Sect Leader Jiang and Madam Yu?" Wen Ning nodded, standing tall before nodding.

"I will try my best." He bowed to them before he went to leave, though Wen Ning stopped when Wei Yue grabbed his arm lightly.

"We will be at the pier on a boat, bring him there." She instructed, giving a small nod before she grabbed her brother's arm. He followed behind her as they made their way down to the dock, their bodies low as they tried to avoid the eyes of the left over Wen guards. "How stupid of him to leave so many guards here right after he took Lotus Pier. Arrogant." Wei Yingyue murmured, shaking her head as she let Wei Ying help her into the boat before they sat down low, waiting for Wen Ning to bring their dede.

Wei Yingyue frowned as she looked over Jiang Cheng. His wounds from the discipline whip were bad, though the cleaning that Wei Yue had given them had gotten the dirty scabs off before she started binding his wounds with the fabric of her linen inner robe, seeing as it was clean in some areas. Relief ran through the girl when they arrived in Yiling, her hands already looking for money to buy medicine for the boy leaning against her.

"Young Mistress Wei, there is no need! I am bringing you somewhere that has a lot of medicine, you can use all you need for Young Master Jiang." She looked at Wen Ning as he stopped her, hesitating before giving a nod as he jumped off the boat. The twins waited for him to come back with a carriage before the girl got into the back, allowing Wei Wuxian to pass their unconscious dede to her before she settled him on her lap as Wei Ying climbed in beside his sister. Wen Ning walked to the front and soon the carriage began to move, not stopping for quite some time before they reached their destination.

Wen Ning had brought the twins and their injured brother to the Yiling Supervisory Office, causing Wei Wuxian anger as he had passed Jiang Cheng to his sister before he grabbed Wen Ning by his robes, threatening him until Wei Yue intervened.

"Wei Ying, Young Master Wen is helping us. He has no reason to turn us in and I trust him, can we please go inside so I can treat Jiang Cheng?" She had pleaded, causing both of the boys to look at her. She was tired, though her hold on Jiang Cheng never waivered. Wei Ying nodded before backing away, apologizing as he took Jiang Cheng in his hold before they walked into a room, following Wen Ning. Right as they laid him down the doors opened, revealing a girl as she called out to Wen Ning.

"I was just searching for you! Explain to me properly-" Her words were cut off as she looked at Wei Wuxian as he shoved his sister behind him, blocking her and Jiang Cheng. The girl and Wei Ying stared at each other as footsteps approached, soon a loud banging on the door after she had slammed it shut.

"Office Leader Wen, what's wrong?" The guard asked, their voices muffled. "Nothing. My brother has returned. He is feeling ill again, don't mind it." She ordered, leading them away as Wei Yue stepped out from behind Wei Wuxian.

"That's your elder sister?" She asked, looking at Wen Ning. He nodded and she crossed her arms, looking around the room as he began to speak.

"She's really powerful." He said lightly, smiling as Wei Yue looked at him.

"I met her while I was in Qishan. She brought me the medicine I needed for healing Young Master Lan." Wei Wuxian looked at his sister as she walked to Jiang Cheng, her hand on his forehead

"You're really the younger brother of Wen Qing?" Wei Ying asked in shock, staring at the boy in front of him.

"Yes. My sister is really good at cultivation and medicine. I am not." Wen Ning admitted, slightly embarrassed with himself.

"No, no. You're really good as well. What I find surprising is that your sister is Wen Qing, the Office Leader, and you dared take us-" As he was talking Jiang Cheng shifted under Wei Yue's hand, making her gasp lightly.

"Jiang Cheng?" She asked, looking at Wei Ying as he stepped towards them.

"He's awake. He needs medicine, I'll go get some." Wen Ning announced before he left, leaving the twins with Jiang Cheng. Wei Yingyue smiled as she sat down, pushing one of his bangs out of his face when she noticed his expression was strange.

"Jiang Cheng?" She asked, looking at him with worried eyes. Wei Ying moved behind his sister, making Jiang Cheng look at them as he was asked questions.

"Jiang Cheng, can you see me? Can you hear me? Do you know who we are?" Wei Wuxian stopped when Ah-Cheng pushed himself up. He noticed the scars of the discipline whip and Wei Ying frowned, watching as Wei Yue grabbed Jiang Cheng's wrist lightly.

"Don't look at it. There has to be a way to get it off." She whispered, only to be shocked when Jiang Cheng slapped her. It didn't hurt but Wei Wuxian stiffened, watching the two before him until he realized how weak the hit was.

"Here, hit me. As long as you'll feel better." Wei Ying held out his arm, placing a hand on his twin's shoulder.

"Did you feel it?" Jiang Cheng asked her, his voice monotone as he looked at her.

"What? Feel what?" Wei Ying asked, confused.

"Did you feel my spiritual power?" Wei Yingyue frowned, thinking about how he hit her.

"What spiritual power? You didn't use any spiritual power at all." She stated, raising an eyebrow.

"I did." He whispered, looking down.

"Just what are you talking about?"

"I said, I did." Jiang Cheng snapped, his eyes were on Wei Ying. "When I hit Jiejie, I used all of my spiritual power. I'm asking you, did you feel it?" He repeated his question to the girl, making her worry as she grabbed his wrist.

"Hit me." Wei Wuxian sat down, leaning forwards for Ah-Cheng. Wei Yue felt her heart sink as she tried to find any presence of his Golden Core inside of Jiang Cheng.

"There's no need. No matter how many times I hit either of you, it will be the same. Wei Wuxian, Wei Yingyue. Do you know why the Core-Melting Hand is called the Core-Melting Hand?" Wei Yue let her head fall as she closed her eyes, a tear landing on her and Jiang Cheng's interlaced hands. "Because his pair of hands can melt away the Golden Core, so that you can't ever form a new core again. Your spiritual power will disperse and you'll become an average person. And an average person who descended from a cultivating sect is no different from a good-for-nothing. Your whole life will be spent doing worldly business. You aren't allowed to dream about being at the top ever again." Wei Yingyue turned as she wrapped her arms around her legs, listening to Jiang Cheng. "Mother and Father had their Golden Cores melted away by Wen Zhuliu first and lost the ability to resist before they were killed by him."

"The Core-Melting Hand." Wei Wuxian muttered, his eyes wide as he realized what had happened. Wen Zhuliu had melted Jiang Cheng's Golden Core, robbing him of his birth rite to cultivation and to ever avenge the murder of his parents.