Peerless Bravery

He reckoned they had run far enough and this place should be safe, so he hurriedly turned and laid Lan Wangji gently on the ground.

His leg wound had never properly healed, and now bitten by the beast's twin rows of sharp teeth and soaked in water, beneath Lan Wangji's white robes the blood had stained vast crimson blooms; at a glance one could see rows of black holes pierced by fangs. He could not even stand, and the moment Wei Wuxian let go he crumpled to the ground.

Wei Wuxian bent over him a moment to inspect, then straightened up and wandered around the cave. Some scrubby bushes grew down in the earth; with difficulty he found a few fairly thick and straight branches, wiped the grit from their surfaces with the edge of his robe, and crouched before Lan Wangji. 'Do you have a cord or something? Ah, that forehead ribbon of yours is perfect — come, take it off.'

Without waiting for Lan Wangji to speak, he suddenly reached out, plucked the forehead ribbon right off, and with a flick used it as a bandage, straightening Lan Wangji's much-afflicted leg and binding it firmly to the branch.

Lan Wangji, ambushed by the sudden removal of his forehead ribbon, widened his eyes: 'You…!'

Wei Wuxian, who had already knotted it with lightning speed, patted him on the shoulder and consoled him: 'What “me” this and that? At a time like this, don't fuss. You may be fond of this ribbon, but it isn't as important as your leg, is it?'

Lan Wangji slumped backward — whether from lack of strength to sit or from sheer outrage at his words, it was unclear. Wei Wuxian suddenly caught a faint herbal fragrance; he reached into his robes and fished out a small sachet.

The sachet was soaking wet, its tassel drooping, looking delicate and pitiful. He remembered Mianmian saying that it held medicinal herbs, immediately tore it open, and found indeed a collection of half-dry, half-crushed herbs, along with a few tiny blossoms. He said hurriedly, 'Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, don't sleep. Sit up for a while. Here is a sachet — take a look, see if there are any usable herbs in it.'

With stubborn persistence, hauling and pulling, he laboriously coaxed Lan Wangji into sitting up again. Lan Wangji glanced over it, and indeed recognized several herbs with blood-stanching and toxin-cleansing properties. Wei Wuxian picked them out, saying, 'To think that little girl's sachet would prove so useful. We must thank her properly when we get back.'

Lan Wangji said coolly, 'You mean, not harass her properly?'

'What sort of talk is that? When I do it, it isn't harassment. It's only when someone has that greasy, oily look like Wen Chao that it's called harassment. Now, strip.'

Lan Wangji's brow furrowed slightly: 'What?'

'What else? Take off your clothes!'

Suiting action to words, he did it himself. With both hands he grabbed Lan Wangji's collar and pulled it apart left and right, stripping bare a stretch of snow-white chest and shoulders.

Lan Wangji, suddenly pinned to the ground and forcibly stripped, turned green in the face: 'Wei Ying! What do you think you're doing!'

Wei Wuxian stripped off all of his clothes and tore them, ripping sounds and all, into several strips. 'What am I doing? Now there's only the two of us, and here I am doing this — what do you think I'm trying to do?'

Having spoken, he stood up, untied his own sash, and, as if reciprocating the courtesy, bared his own chest.

His collarbones were deeply set, his lines flowing and smooth, still distinctly youthful, yet full of the vitality and sinew of a young man.

Lan Wangji watched his motions, his face cycling through shades of pale, green, purple, and red, as if he were about to vomit blood. Wei Wuxian gave a faint smile, stepped a pace closer, and right before his eyes, pulled off his own soaking wet outer robe, raised it with one hand, then let go, allowing the garment to fall to the ground.

Wei Wuxian spread his hands: 'Clothes are off. Now it's the trousers' turn.'

Lan Wangji tried to stand, but his leg was injured, he had just fought, and on top of that, fury surged in his heart; the more desperate he grew, the less he succeeded, his whole body sapped of strength. His heart churned so violently that he actually coughed out a mouthful of blood.

At the sight, Wei Wuxian immediately crouched down and tapped several acupoints on his chest, saying, 'There, the stagnant blood has been coughed out. No need to thank me!'

After that mouthful of purple-black blood was expelled, Lan Wangji felt the oppressive nausea and tight pain in his chest greatly diminish. Looking again at Wei Wuxian's actions, he finally understood.

Ever since they had ascended Muxi Mountain, Wei Wuxian had noticed that Lan Wangji's complexion was extremely poor today — there must be pent-up frustration blocking his chest. That was why he had deliberately frightened and provoked him, to make him cough out the blood that had been stuck.

Though he understood it was well-intentioned, Lan Wangji still showed a trace of irritation, saying, '…Could you stop making jokes like this!'

Wei Wuxian defended himself: 'Holding in this clot of heart's blood is very damaging. Just a scare and it came right out. Don't worry, I'm not into men; I won't take advantage of you or anything.'

'Boring!'

Wei Wuxian had long since noticed that Lan Wangji was especially irritable today; he gave up defending himself and waved a hand, 'Fine, fine, boring it is. I'm boring. I'm the most boring.'

As he spoke, the clammy chill of the underground crawled up his spine, making Wei Wuxian shudder. He hastily got up, gathered a pile of dead branches and fallen leaves, and redrew the fire talisman on his palm.

The dry branches kindled, crackling and popping, occasionally sending up two or three sparks. Wei Wuxian crushed the herbs he had picked out, tore open Lan Wangji's trouser leg, and evenly sprinkled them over the three hideous, barely stanched puncture holes.

Suddenly, Lan Wangji raised a hand to stop him. Wei Wuxian said, 'What's wrong?'

Without a word, Lan Wangji took a portion of the crushed herbs from his palm and pressed them firmly over his heart.

Wei Wuxian shuddered all over at the pressure and yelled, 'Ah!'

He had completely forgotten that he himself had a fresh wound branded by a hot iron, still bleeding, also soaked in water.

Lan Wangji withdrew his hand. Wei Wuxian hissed sharply, then plucked the herbs from his chest bit by bit and tossed them back onto Lan Wangji's leg, saying, 'Don't be polite. I get hurt all the time, and after getting hurt I still go play in Lotus Blossom Lake as usual; I'm long used to it. How many herbs could a little sachet hold? It wasn't enough to begin with. I think your three holes need it more… Ah!'

Lan Wangji's face was grim. After a long moment, he said, 'Since you know pain, don't act so recklessly next time.'

'Did I have a choice? You think I wanted to get branded like that? Who knew that Wang Lingjiao would be so vicious, aiming almost straight for the eye. Mianmian is a girl, and a rather pretty one at that. If she lost an eye or had a thing like this on her face that she could never get rid of, how terrible that would be.'

Lan Wangji said dispassionately, 'This thing you now have on your body — that, too, can never be got rid of.'

'That's different. It's not on my face. And I'm a man, what's there to fear? What man goes through life without getting hurt a few times, without leaving a few scars?'

Bare-chested, he crouched on the ground, picked up a branch, and poked the fire to make it burn brighter, saying, 'Think of it another way: although this mark can't be removed, it stands for the fact that I once protected a girl. And that girl will definitely remember me from now on; she'll never forget me in this lifetime. Come to think of it, it's actually rather…'

Suddenly, Lan Wangji shoved him hard, furious: 'So you know as well — she'll never forget you for the rest of her life!!!'

The shove landed right on the wound on Wei Wuxian's chest. Clutching his chest, he fell to the ground and cried out, '…Lan Zhan!'

He lay sprawled on the ground, breaking out in cold sweat from the pain, and craned his neck to groan, '…Lan Zhan, you… Do I owe you a blood feud?! Even the hatred of a murdered father couldn't be worse than this!'

At those words, Lan Wangji clenched his fist.

A moment later, he loosened his hand, seemingly about to get up and help Wei Wuxian. But Wei Wuxian sat up by himself and scrambled backward repeatedly, saying, 'Fine, fine! I know you hate me, so I'll sit farther away. Don't come over here! Don't push me again; it hurts like death.'

The wound was on his left side, and lifting his left arm tugged at the pain. Wei Wuxian retreated to one side, picked up the white robe strips he had torn, and threw them with his right hand, sending them far off to Lan Wangji's side. 'Bandage yourself. I'm not going over there.' He hung his own discarded outer robe by the fire to dry.

They baked in silence for a long while. No one spoke. Wei Wuxian said, 'Lan Zhan, you are really strange today, so rough. And the things you say don't sound like you.'

Lan Wangji said, 'If you have no such intention, then don't go provoking people. You do whatever you please, but you cause others to be troubled and agitated!'

'The one I'm provoking isn't you. So it shouldn't be your heart that gets troubled and agitated. Unless…'

Lan Wangji demanded, 'Unless what?'

'Unless Lan Zhan likes Mianmian!'

After a pause, Lan Wangji said coldly, 'Please don't spout nonsense.'

'Fine. I'll spout nine-sense.'

'Is it amusing, indulging your sharp tongue?'

'Very amusing. And I'm not only quick with my tongue — my hands are quick, too.'

'…' Lan Wangji murmured to himself, 'Why am I even here having this nonsense conversation with you.'

Before he knew it, Wei Wuxian had sidled back over and sat down beside him, asking with reckless disregard for danger, 'Because there's no alternative. We're the two unlucky ones left in this place. If you don't speak nonsense with me, who else can you speak to?'

Lan Wangji looked at this person who forgot pain the moment his wound healed. Wei Wuxian was just about to flash him a cheeky grin when he suddenly saw him lower his head.

Wei Wuxian screamed miserably, 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh stop!!! Stop stop stop!!!!!!'

Lan Wangji's face was buried deep in the crook of his arm, his teeth clamped down relentlessly. Hearing this, not only did he not release, he bit down even harder.

Wei Wuxian cried, 'Are you going to let go or not?!?! If you don't let go, I'll kick you! Don't think I won't kick you just because you're injured!!!!!!'

Wei Wuxian cried, 'Stop biting! Stop biting! I'll scram! I'll scram!!! I'll scram scram scram the moment you let go I'll scram!!!!!!'

Wei Wuxian: 'Lan Zhan, you've gone crazy today!!!!!! You're a dog!!! You're a dog!!!!!!!! Stop biting!!!!'

By the time Lan Wangji had finally finished going crazy and biting, Wei Wuxian scrambled up in one motion and scurried and crawled to the other side of the cave, shouting, 'Don't you come over here!'

Lan Wangji slowly straightened his upper body, adjusted his clothes and hair, lowered his gaze, and said nothing, utterly composed, as if the person who had just cursed and shoved and bitten had nothing whatsoever to do with him. Wei Wuxian eyed the tooth marks on his arm, crouched down in lingering panic, huddled in the corner, and kept poking the fire, utterly baffled in his heart: 'What's with Lan Zhan? Although he saved me, I can count myself as having saved him too, right? It's not that I want him to thank me or anything, but after all this, how can we still not be friends? Could it be… that I'm really as annoying as Jiang Cheng says?!'

Just as he was beset by doubts, suddenly Lan Wangji said, 'Thank you.'

Wei Wuxian thought he had heard wrong. He looked at Lan Wangji, who was also looking at him, and repeated with solemnity, 'Thank you.'

Seeing him bow his head slightly, Wei Wuxian feared he was about to bow to him, so he quickly dodged aside: 'No need, no need. I have a quirk — I can't stand hearing people say thank you to me, especially when it's said as earnestly as you just did. It gives me the creeps, makes my skin crawl. Bowing to me is even more unnecessary.'

Lan Wangji said coolly, 'You flatter yourself. Even if I wanted to bow to you, I couldn't move to do so.'

Seeing that he seemed to have finally returned to normal and even said thank you twice, Wei Wuxian was so pleased he unconsciously wanted to inch back over. He was by nature fond of snuggling close, but the ache in his arm from the tooth marks reminded him that Lan Zhan had just had a fit; he might launch into another at any moment. He hastily restrained himself, looked up at the black, cavernous ceiling, and said gravely, 'Jiang Cheng and the others ran out. It'll take them a day or two to get down the mountain, and once they do, they'll definitely each go back to their own homes; they won't return to report to the Wen sect. But our swords have been confiscated, and who knows how long it will take to find help. I'm afraid we'll have to stay down here for a while. We need to figure out how to solve a few problems.'

He paused, then added, 'The good news is, that monster has stayed squatting in the Black Pond and hasn't chased us out. But the bad news is just that — it won't come out, so it's blocking the hole at the bottom of the pond, which means we can't get out either.'

Lan Wangji said, 'Perhaps it is not a monster. What does it look like to you?'

Wei Wuxian said, 'A big tortoise!'

Lan Wangji: 'There is a divine creature that takes just such a form.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Xuanwu the Divine Beast?'

Xuanwu, also called Xuanming, is a fusion of tortoise and serpent, the god of water, dwelling in the Northern Sea. The underworld also lies in the north, hence it is the deity of the north.

Lan Wangji nodded. Wei Wuxian bared his own teeth and said, 'A divine beast that looks like this — a mouthful of fangs, and it eats human flesh — that's a bit far from the legends, isn't it.'

Lan Wangji said, 'Of course it is not a proper Xuanwu. It is a failed half-product that lost the divine contest and became twisted by evil. Or, one might say, a deformed Xuanwu the Divine Beast.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Deformed?'

'I once read in an ancient record. Four hundred years ago, a “false Xuanwu” rampaged near Qishan. It was massive in size and devoured the living. Cultivators named it Xuanwu of Slaughter.'

'So what Wen Chao brought us to hunt was this four-hundred-plus-year-old Xuanwu of Slaughter beast?'

'Its body is even larger than recorded in the ancient text, but it is likely the same one.'

'After four hundred years, of course it grew bigger. Was this Xuanwu of Slaughter not slain back then?'

'No. Cultivators once formed an alliance to slay it, but that winter, an exceptional heavy snow fell, the cold was extreme, and the Xuanwu of Slaughter disappeared, never to reappear until now.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'It went into hibernation.'