Change Of Winds

Chenqing

He left the pagoda in the silence of the night and unnoticed, not even by the other sword spirits that watched the place quite carefully. Sandu and the others were good at surveillance, they hide well, not giving cultivators or other sword spirits a hint of their presence, for which he was proud. However, his own spirit was different, born from the source of darkness itself, so he could detect their presence even from a long distant.

He went to the Pavilion assigned to the Nie's and even before he came close, he knew that there was something wrong. He could tell that inside the big room belonging to Nie Huaisang and his sword spirit was empty, but that was expected as both of them where in the pagoda tower, but he could not feel the presence of the one he was looking for nowhere around that residential area.

Nonetheless, there was a hint of black magic in the next room, but as he carefully inspected it, the one who had been there was no longer present, nor had anything suspicious that could be used against him. Still, there were faint traces of his wicked energy left behind, that could be follow. Thus hunting him down will be rather easy, since he had cultivate in the highest plane along with Mo and Tian (Yang sword spirit) and their Masters, making them special and able to see and detect those traces that no one else could sense.

Obviously, he had leave the island, perhaps with the excuse of the attack in the south, which was in fact his Clan and he was the second in command. However, even if in the surface that was actually expected, in reality, the coincidence of the attack, just hours after his 'casual' encounter with Wuxian was too suspicious for him.

At the end, he went down to the towns bellow the islands and follow the faint traces of this Meng Yao, finding them quite interesting and even odd at the beginning. There were several traces with the same tainted energy, some old and some new. He follow the one that was barely noticeable and found it leaving the town to the forest in were it meet with another wicked one at times.

Why this Meng Yao needed to go down outside towns so many times in the first place? Was he really meeting secretly with a spy or perhaps with the one that had hurt Wuxian? Other than that, there was no other reason for him been all around the skirt of the towns when there wasn't anything special about it to attract attention and there were not hunting's inside the barriers. That was in fact the number one proof that the man was actually involved in something dark.

Second, he keep up one of the traces that had a bit more lingering energy and find out that it lead to a small village, then to a deep lake cover with ice. Bellow it, he could feel the energy of Yang's white dragon Yinse and after he checked with his link with Mo Xuanyu, he learned that was the place in where the kids had been pulled in by Yinse, into his lair full of dark energy, as he had become tainted, which meant he had follow them there.

This was a good sign the Meng Yao was indeed the one they were looking for, otherwise, why would he be there? He doubted that Lan Xichen would want to reveal on of the Lan Clan secrets, even to a sworn brother, as his duty to his Clan will weigh more in that matter. Then, he follow another trace quite far and inside the ruins that had been erected for the puppet corpses, leaving no doubt now that the man was either involved with the group of rogues or the mastermind behind them.

Then he follow the most recent trace of the foul magic, which lead to a dead end in a forest in which he supposed the man used a teleporting circle or talisman to go somewhere else. He may had sense he was going to be discover soon, so it was possible the attack in the south was planned in order to give him an excuse to leave the islands to do who knew what.

However, even so, he needed to tell Lord Zheng and Lord Xichen about his finding, as another sneak attack may follow, pulling Wei Wuxian at a higher risk with each passing second, so he went back to the town. Just remembering that Wuxian's father was in an Inn, he decide to look for him and tell him about the traitor, so he could make the arrangements to protect his son, probably sending him back to the east as they had planned before.

Then, the two of them could talk with Xichen and give him the bad news of been betrayed by a sworn brother he cherish perhaps more than a brother. He wasn't the best at giving bad news, so it was up to Lord Wei to break that damp. Thus, as he found and told him who he was, along with the things he had discover as a Master of dark energy, he pass the information to him, then to Mo, to finally went back to the island to go looking for Lord Zheng first, as Lord Wei went to meet with Xichen.

Wei Ying

Soon after their arrival, there was a big commotion in the islands and the team was wake up by their swords spirits, telling their respective Masters about finding the real traitor. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were no different and were also awoke by Suibian and Bichen, telling them the news. Lan Zhan took the still sleepy Ah Yuan, as they gather back to the first level of their pagoda in wait for the decision of the Elders and Xichen, as well as for that of his father.

Nie Huaisang had been so shocked with the news that he had to be convinced by Yanli to go down with the rest, although he felt betrayed and miserable, crying none stop, asking Wuxian to forgive him for not noticing that Meng Yao was so wicked in the heart, although he was the illegitimate son of Zixuan's father, which had make the young man mad.

Thus, as Zixuan refuted that he was his father son, Meng Yao past had been revealed, as most of the people of the north knew about the Leader of the Jin Clan to be a womanizer and often sleep with prostitutes, from which Meng Yao had born and to be called the son of a prostitute and be mistreated by the uncaring father.

"Father Xian, why is everyone so mad?" Ah Yuan asked and Wei Ying took him in his arms, but before he could explain, the door of the pagoda open and Lord Zheng walked in, closely follow by Lord Wei. There was tension among them, mostly because of Zixuan wanting to leave and Yanli trying to calm him down, but only receiving cold words from him.

However, the jerk had quiet down when Wen Qing offer to use her finger on him again to make him sleep by force, which had make the guy instantly silent, although obviously in a bad mood. Yet, when Lord Zheng and Wei Ying's father came in, he demanded again to be released as his Clan had the right to defend themselves from the accusations and the indirect connection with Meng Yao.

"Calm down brat, no one it's pointing a finger in your way and your father had already sent a message he want you out of the north, until things calm down and the matter its investigate further." Lord Zheng told him. Chenqing words had a lot of weight, as he was under Yang's direct care and as Yin's flute, no one could refute his mastery on residual energy, as he had born from Yin's magic, then cultivate it for who knew how many centuries. Thus there was no doubt that Meng Yao had been indeed the traitor.

Xichen had asked for a bit of time to recover from the deep and very painful blow, so Lord Zheng and the Elders had taken control of the current situation, until he prepare himself to hunt down the one he had treated as his own brother for years.

The Elders along with Lan Qiren had decided that the north was no longer safe, as it had been compromise already once, thus Lord Wei suggested for all the kids, heirs to the Clans to be sent to the east, as it was going to be suggested in the gatherings of the Leaders that never took place. With Lord Zheng, no longer bonded to the islands, they still will had a teacher, along with Lord Wei himself, who was a Master in many arts.

At the end, the teleporting was going to be done immediately, so they were escorted to the wide gardens, in which Wei Lao and Ying created a teleporting array, all the way to the east. That kind of teleportation required an enormous amount of white energy, but as Yang himself had offer to give it, they were ready to go in about an hour, in which Lan Zhan had a quick visit to his brother, that had urge him to go with Wuxian and keep an eye on him.

Yang energy was still far from be fully restored, but he still had far more than what was necessary to the thousands of miles that needed to be covered to reach the already created teleporting array back in the east. Once all that were going were present, Yang manifested in the garden and infused the array with the needed white energy.

Once back at home, Lord Wei sent many of the disciples of the Clan to guide the new guest to their resting rooms and Wei Ying personally escorted his two boys to his room and let Ah Yuan over his bed, to had another nap, as he was the most tired from the teleporting time, which was around two full hours, then he went out with his Lan Zhan, to show him a bit of his personal Pavilion and home.

"The air is heavier here." Lan Zhan notice as they walked toward the back garden.

"We don't have as much white energy here as in the north, but you will get used to it in a day or two. Actually our Clan is not as grand as the Lan's islands, but it's home." Wei said and Wangji smiled.

"Wei Ying..." He came closer.

"Sorry Lan Zhan, there is no magic lake in our Clan, but we have a beautiful lotus pound that my mother loved very much." Wei smiled widely.

"You like it too." Lan Zhan was sure of it.

"Ah, yes, I sure do... but to be honest, right now I like you far more." Lan Zhan smirked, as Wei Ying came to kiss him.

"Lan Zhan... Welcome home..." Wei whisper, making Wangji's heart lose a few beats.

"I will protect you no matter where." Wangji assure him.

"So will I, my Lan Zhan." Wei Ying said, passing his arms around Wangji's neck to kiss him again, but someone else cleared his throat just behind them. Wangji gently push Wei away, who turned to find a red faced Suibian behind them.

"Suibian, it's rude to interrupt lovers as they kiss... it better be good, or else..." Subian sighed.

"It's not like I wanted to interrupt, but grandmaster Lao has pass the word, you are going to be confined to your room at night, not strolling out to sightseen until you are no longer in danger. Also, he said that if you refuse, the previous punishment will take effect immediately and will double in the coming days." Wei shiver at the warning and sighed.

"Give it to father to kill the mood. Ah, hell... let's go back, Lan Zhan." Wei said, taking his lover hand and pull him back to his room, to share the bed with Ah Yuan once again. Suibian sighed and look to the right, were Sandu was standing, like a shadow.

"Are we taking turns?" Subian asked.

"Unless you want to stay watching all night. Master Cheng is feeling a bit nervous with the unfamiliar place, so he wants to make sure his 'brother' is secure. Lady Yanly was quite insistent." Sandu whisper.

"Ah, she really thinks of him as a brother. How sweet." Subian said as he begin to walk back.

"You shouldn't be saying that. Bichen have a very good hearing, as her Master is a music specialist." Subian smiled.

"I don't have any other interest, she knows that and... well..." Suibian blushed like a kid.

"Well what?" Sandu ask curiously.

"She ki... she kiss me already." He beamed and Sandu laughed.

"You lucky bastard. Congratulations, you got your white queen's heart." Sandu told him, tapping his back.

"Ah, yeah... it was just a touch of the lips, but eventually there will be more." Suibian said a bit embarrassed.

"Idiot, don't be too shy, otherwise she will lose interest. Be more like your Master and take your chances. We live in such troublesome times, so every second counts." Suibian smiled.

"You are right. I will be going back now." Suibian said just before he disappeared and Sandu sighed. He also wished to grasp the heart of his elusive green queen, Senlin, but his Master was still taking baby steps with Wen Qing and Senlin looked a bit... uninterested. He sighed again as he landed over the roof of the lovers room.

This was Wei Wuxian home, so it was probably safe, so there was no real need to hide for now and just when he thought it was going to be a boring night, another figure join him, offering him a bottle of some kind of cold tea.

"Senlin..." Sandu smiled handsomely to the woman with the hat that sat by his side and smiled back.

"This tea will help you restore your energy, as we don't had that much white energy here and you had work hard these past few days." She said, as she surprisingly took off her big hat and look up to the shining moon. Her beautiful face making Sandu hold his breath for a second before he find his voice once again.

"Thanks, so have you." He said softly as he drink from the bottle. It had a sweet taste, despite the herbal one as well and he felt the effect almost immediately. Maybe he had been wrong before, when he thought that Senlin was uninterested. She obviously cared enough to give him a precious elixir that was hard to make.

"Will you keep me company tonight?" He asked hopefully.

"If you don't mind." She softly said.

"Not at all." He smiled yet again, as he drank again, hoping that the changing winds in the east will bring him more than hard work, but also a hint of happiness for all.

AN: Thanks for reading, a change of scenery as well as some swords spirits development. I know there isn't too much Wangxian here, but the story also need to develop into a new arc. Now that Meng Yao had been declared a traitor, how will he retaliate? With all my love, please take care and be safe. 😁💖⚘😄