7 The Chosen Twelve

Lan Zhan

The next day, Wangji wake up at the usual hour for his morning meditation, however, this time there was a big difference from other mornings, because he was not alone. As he looked at the other side of his room, he saw Wei Ying resting peacefully in his bed. Just by impulse, he got out of it and walked toward Wei Ying, sitting by his side to check his pulse.

Relieved, he found it stronger than the night before, actually it was quite stable and steady as it should normally. The night rest, along with his transferring of energy had greatly help him to recover faster. Closing his eyes, Wangji try to had a feel on Wei Ying's core, which felt odd, but his spiritual energy didn't had traces of dark one, as he thought he it would, giving the fact that Wei Ying had a great amount of it contained inside of a body named Xuanyu.

He was now sure that the seal was keeping the dark energy completely repressed, meaning, he was no threat to anyone as long as the seal was in place and as he saw it, he could tell that such complicate seal with its many layers, will not be broken anytime soon and he was glad for it. Last night, when he had talked with his brother he had also assured Xichen that Wuxian's dark energy was not dangerous and if he had not been accidentally pulled in, he would had never been aware that it presence inside of him.

He thought for a moment about to wake him up, but the Clans were scheduled to gather a bit later, so he let him rest for a bit more. The new training with the immortals was going to be an intense one, especially for the chosen twelve of this gathering, who will train together in a more advanced class.

The remaining invited young Masters will be teach sparely by his brother and uncle and when ready for a more advance training, with the immortals, but that will take a few months at the very least. Wangji moved from Wuxian's bed and sat behind his zither table to mediate and when it was time to leave, he wake up Wei Ying who still complained it was too early (even when it was past seven) and a bit more to having to dress in white.

"Ah, Lan Zhan... why the mourning clothes? White is so hard to keep it clean." Wei Ying nagged as they go out to reunite with the others.

"Nonsense, don't stay behind." Wangji said, as he guided Wuxian around the Cloud Recesses to the main building. When they were close, both of them could hear the unmistakable sound of a lot of loud gossips.

"Did you saw the rankings? Those from the east were taken away last night, but Wei Wuxian is in a tie with Lan Wangji in first place, with both of them reaching level nine. And the Wen's... the first time in here and they are ranked two and three with an eight level each!" Said one cultivator from a Clan Wei Ying didn't recognize.

"That shouldn't be right. Aren't those from the east wild things? Were they even tested? Lan Xichen said there was another test in a second island, but I think they are making it up... even Nie Huaisang had been selected to the advance group and we all know he is a weakling, that barely reached level seven." Another one said, making Wuxian's blood boil, but before he could said something to defend himself and Lan Xichen as well, Lan Zhan stop him midway.

"I told you to ignore it." Wangji calmly said, walking straight and reaching the gathered crowd with an air of dignity hard to miss. His white energy was almost overflowing, making Wei Ying smile behind his back. He may said to ignore the unjust words, but apparently he was mad, as the other cultivators open a path for him, feeling the cold air right to their bones.

It goes without saying than the gossip die instantly in the moment they saw him. Wei Wuxian was an unknown loser to others, but Lan Wangji reputation was flawless. He was the strongest of that generation and earning his ire was nothing anyone wanted and even less from day one.

"Ah, he is quite something, even when his so calmly mad." Wei Ying thought, as he follow Lan Zhan.

"He is not the only one, she is mad too." Suibian responded back inside his Master mind.

"You mean Bichen? How do you know, she is in her sword form." Wei Ying asked.

"Her sword is brighter than it should and I don't blame her. Those idiots are tainting the Lan name." Suibian told him.

"Which remains me, why aren't you mad? They said we are wild things." Wei Ying complained.

"But you are a wild thing..." Suibian added and Wei Ying repressed the desire to throw his sword to the nearby koi pound, which make Suibian laugh.

"Enjoy your little joke, I will see who will clean you up after I find a good mud spot. I wonder what Bichen will think of you when seen you in such filth." Suibian stopped laughing.

"You wouldn't dare..." He said going paler inside his blade, but Xuanyu's laugh came next.

"My handsome Suibian, you know he would. He had done it before, remember?" Wei Ying smiled, remembering that particular time he was mad with Suibian and throw him in the mud for hours.

"Ah, that was fun..." Wei Ying said in a more cheerful mood.

"It was not!!" Suibian refuted, but Wei Ying ignore him. Soon, he meet up with Wen Ning and Wen Qing.

"Wuxian, how do you feel?" Wen Qing asked him, although just by seen his smirk, she could tell he was as good as ever.

"Fine. Lan Zhan took good care of me. What's with this ranking thing that had the idiots so scandalized?" Wei Ying asked and Wen Ning pointed at a big paper that everyone was staring at.

"It seems that in every gathering, a group of talented cultivators are selected for a special training. The three of us are in, but no one saw our testing, so most are doubting the score..." Wen Qing explained.

"Which is nothing less than ridiculous, because I was the one who tested all three of you." A voice said from behind them and they turned to see Lord Zheng Xi, also dressed in white, but his aura was that of an immortal, even if he was no longer alive.

"Lord Zheng." All three of them greet him with a respectful bow. Those who were close to them also bowed to the Gusu white spirit, one of those who sacrifice their lives to save the world from the dark times. He had been the strongest of the immortals back when he was alive, so no one will question his words, not even those less cultivated that begin the rumors.

"Good to see you again kids, especially you young Wei Wuxian. I hope Wangji help you recover from your reckless stunt last night." The immortal spirit said.

"Ah, he did. I'm quite ready for the next..." Wei Ying told him but Wen Qing slapped the back of his head and Lord Zheng laughed.

"Like mother, like son... though she ranked second when she was tested and Wei Lao third." The white spirit said, making Wei Ying smile wider.

"I need to see that ranking... make way. Make way..." Wuxian said as he moved through the crowd to have a closer look to the paper. Twelve names were written apart in a separate list that said as follow:

Special Ranked Class

1- Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Level Nine

North Lan Clan, East Wei Clan

2- Wen Ning, Level Eight

East Wen Clan

3- Wen Qing, Level Eight

East Wen Clan

4- Jiang Cheng, Level Eight

North Jiang Clan

5- Jin Zixuan, Level Eight

North Jin Clan

6- Xiao Xingchen, Level Seven

West Baoshan Sect

7- Song Lan, Level Seven

West Baoshan Sect

8- Su She, Level Seven

South Moling Su Clan

9- Luo Qingyang, Level Seven

West Lou Clan

10- Jiang Yanli, Level Seven

North Jiang Clan

11- Nie Huaisang, Level Seven

South Nie Clan

Ah, yes. Those idiots from before had been right about one thing, he was ranked number one along with Lan Zhan, which meant he had somehow surpass both of his parents when they were his age. Although his mother had been missing from a night hunt, for the last seven years, he could tease his father to no end once back home, telling him about ranking higher than him in this gathering, right along with the perpetual number one Lan Clan.

"Don't push him too far Wei Ying, he will definitely got back at you one way or another, you know him. Both of your parents were huge troublemakers in their youth or so the stories said." Suibian advise him, but Wei Ying still smiled mischievously.

Despite growing to be stricter with him after the incident with the wild dogs and the manipulation of the dark energy, his relationship with his father was still good and he knew how much his father cared for him. He may get back at him, forcing him to do something he disliked as punishment from time to time, but still he will feel proud that his son actually did better than him.

"Idiot." Suibian added, knowing his Master was incorrigible.

"Alright, alright... it's time to begin this gathering!" Lord Zhen yelled, taking the attention of all the presents. Xichen had joined the white spirit and right behind him were six more, the other immortals that will take part in the gathering.

"The Special Class will come with me now. Come here my kids." Lord Zheng said and Wei Ying walked back to join with Wen Ning and Wen Qing, as well as Lan Zhan. There were others that also came closer and he was annoyed to find out, that one of them was the guy with the red dot in his forehead that had make fun of them last night. There were also two more beautiful females coming to join them, but he didn't had the time to had a better look at them, as Lan Zhan moved at that exact moment, blocking his view as they walked toward the small group.

"Lan Zhan, look, it seems we had some beauties in our class too."But Wangji didn't responded, ignoring his excitement. Wen Qing, however, was quite temped to laugh out loud, because obviously Lan Wangji was annoyed because Wei Ying was trying to have a better look at his competition.

"Ah, Wuxian... I wonder who will you chose at the end." Wen Qing thought, hiding her smile behind her brother's back.

A few minutes later, when all twelve were around their new teacher, Lord Zheng Xi teleported them to a different island. This one was quite smaller than the others he had seen so far and completely made of stone, with the form of a circle. In the middle, another Yin/Yang symbol was marvelously engraved with the form of two dragons, one white and one black.

Wei Ying touched his chest as he felt a strange pull toward it and Wangji looked at him with a hint of worry, but the sensation soon passed and they all focus back in the white spirit of the Gusu islands who was standing in the middle of the symbol, apparently unperturbed by Wei Ying's reaction to the energy stored there.

"Since this is the first day, I will take it easy on you. Why don't we start by you telling me and your new companions who you are? Let's make the introductions by the listed ranking. You go first, our Lan host." Lord Zheng said and Wangji moved inside the symbol, then turned to meet the others.

"Lan Wangji, Lan Clan." He simply said, giving a bow that the others returned by courtesy.

"Wei Wuxian, Wei Clan from the east, my Clan specialized in talismans of all kinds." Wei Ying said, adding some more info into the introduction than his partner.

"Wen Ning, Wen Clan from the east, my Clan specialize in healing." Wen Ning shyly said next.

"Wen Qing, Wen Clan, Master Healer of the east." At that, a guy who was looking at her a bit mesmerized by her strong presence smiled slightly. She certainly looked like a strong lady.

"Jiang Cheng, Jiang Clan from the north. We specialize in swordsmanship." Said the young man previously eyeing Wen Qing. He actually looked at her when introducing himself to the group. This fact didn't went unnoticed by Wen Ying, who frowned.

"In your dreams, lover boy, she can beat the hell out of you with a single finger." Wei Ying inwardly thought and Suibian wholeheartedly agree with him.

"Jin Zixuan, Jin Clan form the north. My Clan specialize in..."

"Arrogance for the way you look down on us, you jerk." Xuanyu finish for him, taking Wei's attention back to his inner world.

"Agree. He is a fancy peacock, but I bet he is all bark no bite." Wei Ying though back as the next person introduce himself, Xiao Xingchen.

"He ranked five, he is not all appearance." Suibian warned him.

"We will see about that. He disgust me to no end, just look at the way he stand, like he is not on ground but in a cloud of his own. I like more that Jiang Cheng, he may have an interest in Wen Qing, but at least he doesn't look down on her."

"Ah, that guy will have it hard..." Xuanyu laughed.

"That he will..." Suibian agree.

"Shut up you guys, there is a young lady next." Wei Ying stopped the inner discussion as a beautiful girl dressed in green and white presented herself.

"Luo Qingyang, better known as Mianmian, Lou Clan from the west. My family specialize in the making of medicines." She said and Wei Ying bowed deeper to her. At that, Wangji arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Jiang Yanli, Jiang Clan from the north. As my brother said, we specialize in swordsmanship." Oh, so they had two pair of siblings in their group? She was quite beautiful, but what attract Wei the most about her, was her gentle character. She had such a soft voice and delicate manner, it was hard to believe she was a sword specialist. Wei Ying smiled widely at her, which earned a deep frown from the peacock.

"Nie Huaisang, Nie Clan from the south. My Clan specialize in sabres and other swords making." The last guy said softly and Wei Ying hear Zixuan scoff. Apparently not many Clan members were on pair with his stupid status.

"Alright, good, good... now, let me pair you. We are going to night hunt soon enough and I rather make you work in pairs than alone. Sometimes egos get in the way and someone innocent gets hurt." Most people looked at the fancy peacock, who ignored the stares.

"Lan Wangji with WEi Wuxian... Jiang Cheng with... Wen Qing. Mianmian with... Wen Ning. Jin Zixuan with... Jiang Yanli. Xiao Xingchen with Song Lan and Nie Huaisang with Su She. Yes... I think that will do. Ah, by the way, this pairing cannot be changed even if the two hates each other with due passion." At those words, Wei Ying looked at his side to Lan Zhan and smiled at him. At least he was pared with someone he could trust and entrust his life to.

Perhaps it was fate, but it was now quite obvious that they were really going to become full-time partners. However, odd enough he didn't minded one bit.

AN: Thanks for reading, now the group had been set. For those who are wandering about Guangyao and Xue Yang, they will appear later. We will have some glimpse on that later. In this AU story, females are in pair with men, meaning that despite looking fragile, Wen Qing, Mianmian and Jiang Yanli are a match for their partners. Take care, until next time. 😙😄😁❤❤❤