The next morning, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after a proper bath, Lan Qiren checks on the disciples next door and is alarmed when he hears what they have to say.

"Sir, I woke in the middle of the night, and I thought I saw a shadow in the room," Lan Ping tells him in a whisper. "But as soon as I got up to investigate, it seemed to disappear. I woke the others and we checked the room, but there was nothing strange."

"Maybe it was a dream?" One of the others asked him.

Lan Qiren looks at him sharply and is pleased to find it a sincere question.

"I don't think so. I'm sure I saw someone, but it was too dark. I left our belongings scattered around the room anyway so that if they came back, they might trip up and wake us."

"I'll be glad to go back home," another says.

This is the fellow who came with them to Muxi Mountain.

"Are you alright?" Lan Qiren asks him, feeling sorry that he hadn't made sure yesterday.

"Yeah...I just can't believe he's gone."

The others comfort him gently.

"We will have a tablet made in his name and erect it in the Ancestral hall," Lan Qiren promises.

When they all go down for breakfast, Wen Tang Changpu is already there and makes them welcome, serving everyone food with her own hands. Nie XiongMeng turns up later and looks as if he spent the night tossing and turning. He's paler than usual and has dark smudges under his eyes. Thankfully, his appetite seems to have returned, and he joins them for breakfast.

When the meal finishes, Wen Tang Changpu grins at Lan Qiren.

"I know you were eager to revisit my rose garden, so maybe you could take Nie-Zhongzhu to see it? It's very relaxing to take a walk in the early morning, and while you do that, I'll get ready so we can leave for Cloud Recesses."

Lan Qiren is taken aback and hopes his eyes convey his confusion even if his mouth agrees. He's been meaning to talk to the Nie Sect Leader anyway, but he wonders how she knew this. Then again, she and her family specialise in healing, so perhaps she already knows that there is something wrong with Nie XiongMeng.

Wen Qing offers to look after the children, including her delightfully cute little brother, Wen Ning, and so that's how Lan Qiren and Nie XiongMeng end up on a walk together.

**************

Nie XiongMeng is distracted, that much Lan Qiren can tell. He doesn't look at the pretty flowers in the height of this season, when the gardens are full of vivid and vibrant colours. Scarlet roses, purple hyacinths, and golden marigolds, life bursting through the mineral rich soil in these parts. Lan Qiren thinks that with such fertile land, there's not much that won't grow here. All the trees are a lush verdant green, thriving with wildlife and all manner of tame creatures.

Squirrels and chipmunks scurry alongside them, darting out onto their path, while overhead, larks sing to their hearts' content. Magpies cackle and a wide variety of butterflies flutter among the sweet perfumed flowers, seducing drunken bees towards their pollen.

The sky is already a deep cobalt blue with not a cloud to be seen.

Yet Nie XiongMeng doesn't seem to appreciate any of this.

"Nie-Xiong...are you alright?" Lan Qiren asks him, after quite some moments of quiet. "You seem...not yourself today. Have you rested enough to travel?"

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine," he says, giving himself a little shake.

"I was wondering if you would let me play something for you," Lan Qiren suggests lightly, hoping they can talk openly about what is affecting him. Even if the Nie Sect Leader isn't aware of what is happening to him, Lan Qiren wants to help him.

"I'm not much of a music person," Nie XiongMeng grumbles.

"I see," Lan Qiren offers, trying to get around his prickliness about a skill he doesn't understand as well as, say, using a weapon, even though it's quite straightforward. But watching his friend over breakfast makes Lan Qiren believe there's something seriously wrong with him, something he might not notice by himself, unless Lan Qiren points it out clearly. So he tries again. "Did something happen to you when you found the sword?"

Nie XiongMeng stops walking. "I heard voices."

"What kind of voices?"

"Screaming mostly, it was - there was....there were half digested remains in there." He makes a face. "But when I touched the sword, it wanted me to kill."

"Kill? Who?"

"I'm not sure. But it was reaching out to me. All night. I couldn't be sure if I was dreaming or if it was real, but it felt real. A dangerous power, mine for the taking." He shakes his head as if trying to dislodge a tic.

Lan Qiren is alarmed by this. Wei Ying had told him what it was like for him, but they had discussed the many times Wei Ying had come into contact with resentment energy and put his affiliation with it down to improper cleansing from his body. Wei Ying had come too close to the waterborne abyss in that past life, dealt with one of Wen Ruohan's dire owls personally using his hands, the dancing fairy in Dafan mountain, and then of course, the black sword.

But why was Nie XiongMeng so affected? Or, is this due to the Yin Sword itself, the bringer of all Yin energy together so it could be harnessed and used as the ultimate weapon? It's hard to say, and they certainly don't have the time to explore the reason why he's this much disturbed by only touching the sword. It will have to wait until they're done with destroying the Yin Iron completely, and then they can deal with the fallout.

Lan Qiren leads him to the bench that Wen Tang Changpu had brought him for clandestine talks, and they both sit down. It's now or never.

"There's no pressure, but why don't we practise some meditation now? It will help us by boosting our golden cores and replenishing any energy we wasted yesterday." He doesn't wait for an answer since half of the battle is getting him to agree. Lan Qiren summons his guqin and begins to play Cleansing.

It is one of the first melodies to be perfected as part of the Lan music Cultivation curriculum, and this is true for any aspiring students. Lan Qiren loves playing his guqin, and there was a time when he dreamed of travelling far and wide, simply to cleanse the world of suffering.

Dreams that felt like notes, rising to crash against the ears of those who might not listen, coaxing them by appealing to their hidden hearts, to fall into the magic of hearing these sounds. Each breath is perfectly timed with every pull of the strings, infused with the brilliance of his personal inner light, chasing away the shadows until the mind is spotless, calm and quiet.

Peace is not the absence of sound but rather, paying attention to the ones that make you feel safe. Finally realising that it's always been there, tucked away in the deepest crooks of your heart until you were ready to experience it.

Like opening your eyes and seeing sunlight flickering through the trees, leaves rustling with a warm breeze and the song of distant birds flying overhead...or watching cool waves as they hurry towards the shore and hurry back to their mother, the sea. The ebb and flow, the ups and downs, coming and going...

Peace is planting a garden of flowers and watching them grow.

When the last note echoes into silence, Lan Qiren places his hands on the silk strings, and the rest of the world comes back to life.

"That was beautiful," Wen Tang Changpu says, joining them there.

Her sharp gaze flies towards Nie XiongMeng, and she must like what she sees, because she turns to smile at Lan Qiren.

"Are we ready to go?"

***************

Dear Beautiful Readers,

I'd just like to point out that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan only found out about the Nie Cultivation technique after they had to investigate the man-eating ridge where the sabres were buried, and because then, Nie Huaisang was forced to tell them about it. That happened AFTER Mo Xuanyu performed the soul-summoning curse and began Wei Ying's second life. When Wei Ying died the first time around, the Nie Clan Cultivation was still very much a huge secret. And they're not big on disclosure, otherwise their leaders might have had longer lives via seeking help from either the Wens or the Lans.

I know it's a short chapter but we lost electricity this morning in the weirdest way: the lights were on and yet none of the appliances were working, meaning no Internet, or hot chocolate or coffee...but look forward to the next one because Lan Qiren is going to find out about his brother.

All my love,

Charlie

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