Wei Qing regretted not saying anything about her concerns regarding Jin Guangyao. At the time it had made sense. Disparaging Jin Guangyao had seemed like a dangerous prospect. He was a war hero. Jin Guangshan would defend his actions in Nightless City, because it was only through the honours Jin Guangyao earned in war that the LanlingJin Sect were able to claim honour and a larger share of the QishanWen sect's wealth.

More importantly, Jin Guangyao had saved Lan Xichen's life. Lan Xichen trusted him. Lan Xichen was already stressed and defensive because of the conflict between Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue. Wei Qing could not imagine her opinion doing anything other than damage her relationship with Lan Xichen. Wei Qing had learned a long time ago that in a choice between her and anyone else, the only people who would take her side was her family.

So, holding her peace and focusing on building positive relationships with allies had seemed like the better strategy. Certainly more useful than fanning the flames of animosity between herself and Jin Guangyao. Wei Qing had even believed that it was working in her favour.

She had been readily defended by Lan Xichen. Even Nie Mingjue had come to the defence of her family, and had often escorted her in Nightless City for her own safety. Jin Guangyao had been clearly frustrated, and his relationship with Lan Xichen had become strained due to Jin Guangyao repeatedly besmirching Wei Qing under the guise of his 'concerns'.

Wei Qing knew the sorts of things Jin Guangyao was capable of. She should have said something sooner. She knew that the LanlingJin sect had imprisoned civilians, including her own family, in her last life. Similarly she knew Jin Guangshan had hounded Wei Wuxian for the Yin Hufu tirelessly in their last life. Something that had already begun in this one.

Lan Xichen's support had gone a long way in reducing the traction of Jin Guangshan's 'concerns', more accurately his fear mongering. They had already planned ahead for this issue. So while Jiang Wanyin had wavered uncomfortably, Lan Xichen had noted that Wei Wuxian was working on developing a safe way to destroy the Yin Hufu with the help of Lan Wangji. Lan Xichen asserted that Wei Wuxian would have the full support of the GusuLan sect both in terms of destroying the Yin Hufu, and in keeping it safely contained until it could be destroyed.

The arguments died out and Jiang Wanyin spent the rest of the evening looking vaguely constipated. Wei Qing wasn't certain exactly what had bothered him. Maybe Jiang Wanyin disliked the GusuLan sect stepping in when Wei Wuxian was technically still a YunmengJiang disciple. Not that it seemed like Jiang Wanyin had had any idea how to deal with Jin Guangshan's veiled accusations.

Wei Qing thought as a whole that it had gone quite well. Especially once Lan Wangji was able to get Wei Wuxian to calm down enough to return to Cloud Recesses. They had been able to shut down talk of the Yin Hufu being 'too much for one boy,' since Wei Wuxian was not in fact alone. They had been able to prevent the LanlingJin sect from taking custody of the surviving Wens. Wei Qing's family had even been accepted into the GusuLan sect with the status of a branch family. Which was far beyond what Wei Qing had expected.

Everything had seemed to be going well, including the planning for Wei Wuxian's wedding. The date was set. Invitations had been sent out. Decorations and wedding robes were ordered. Gifts and letters had been exchanged between the GusuLan sect and YunmengJiang sect. Jiang Yanli had enthusiastically taken charge of the YunmengJiang side of the arrangement. There had even been plans for a formal adoption ceremony for A-Yuan and Nuan-er to take place the following month.

Then, with less than a month to go before the wedding, Wei Wuxian disappeared. In retrospect it made sense. Wei Wuxian was currently in an awkward position. He was a member of the YunmengJiang sect, but everyone knew Wei Wuxian had hardly spent any time in Lotus Pier since he studied in Cloud Recesses.

Jiang Wanyin still had a bad habit of making disparaging remarks about Wei Wuxian. He had gotten slightly better about paying attention to his audience. So it was a decrease in frequency, but it still highlighted the fragility of the bond between Wei Wuxian and the YunmengJiang sect.

Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen had done a good job of making it clear that they held Wei Wuxian in high regard. They presented a united front that should have been unquestionably secure. However, Wei Wuxian was technically not a member of the GusuLan sect.

Wei Wuxian was betrothed to Lan Wangji, but he was not yet married. That meant he was not yet part of the inner family. If something were to happen to Wei Wuxian, a good enough talker could undercut any demands made by the GusuLan sect. They could point out that Wei Wuxian was not a member of the Lan clan and it was therefore none of GusuLan's concern.

They had already run into the groundwork for such an argument when they petitioned the other sects to allow GusuLan sect cultivators to search their territories. That was a gentler term than what actually happened. Wei Qing reviewed the missives before they were finalized. She altered the wording to make the missives more firm and decisive.

Lan Xichen had done better than he usually did, but he knew Wei Qing would be able to remove any hesitance or vulnerabilities in his word choice. Lan Xichen softened his language instinctively. Never wanting to be too forceful or too demanding. It created a lot of space for others to refuse him. He had worked on this, but he still had a long way to go. So Wei Qing reviewed the missive and changed the wording with his approval.

What went out was more along the lines of a notice that there would be GusuLan sect cultivators searching the territories of other sects. It was polite and firm. In another life Lan Xichen would have balked before sending such missives. So soon after a war, sending parties of cultivators to search another sects territory could easily be seen as an act of war or a violation of territory agreements.

Most of the sects had allowed the search parties into their territory without complaint. Jiang Yanli had taken the initiative to organize search parties of YunmengJiang disciples and coordinated their efforts with those of the GusuLan sect. LanlingJin sect had commended the GusuLan sect for their generosity in devoting so many resources to search for the disciple of another sect.

Wei Qing nearly set the letter on fire when she read it. While framed as a commendation, the message within the words was very clear. 'The GusuLan sect is stepping outside their boundaries.' 'They are invading neighbouring territories with the excuse of searching for someone else's disciple?' 'Wei Wuxian is not GusuLan's concern.'

Wei Qing slammed the letter down on the table with enough force to make her hands sting. She wanted to give the LanlingJin sect a thorough lashing, but by then it was already half useless. Wei Qing and Lan Wangji's combined knowledge of the future agreed on one thing. The LanlingJin sect was consistently the driving force attacking Wei Wuxian.

The rumours were a major problem and riled up many of the minor sects. But the LanlingJin sect had been at the forefront of every conflict. Jin Guangshan was always the first to bring up the Yin Hufu. Wei Wuxian was ambushed by members of the LanlingJin sect, while he was travelling to an event he was invited to by that same sect. Everything afterwards might have been justified under the guise of seeking justice for their losses, but it could not be dismissed that none of it would have happened if Wei Wuxian had not been targeted in the first place.

Wei Qing acknowledged that they could not completely rule out that someone else had taken Wei Wuxian. It was good sense to cover their basis. However, even Lan Xichen accepted Wei Qing and Lan Wangji's reasoning for naming the LanlingJin sect as the prime suspect. The problem was now that they were not going to be allowed to search the LanlingJin sect without a war. No one wanted another war right now.

Lan Xichen was not certain they could win a war with the LanlingJin sect right now. YunmengJiang should, in theory, stand with them in such a conflict. But Jiang Wanyin was fickle in matters related to Wei Wuxian. It was difficult to predict if he would insist on a stance of neutrality, or come to Wei Wuxian's aid.

Nie Mingjue would side with GusuLan, but the minor sects added up to large numbers. With only two major sects in agreement, it would be difficult to say who the minor sects would follow. Most importantly, a war would not be quick. LanlingJin was not about to hand Wei Wuxian over nicely, not if they put this much effort into taking him. In the time it might take to force LanlingJin's hand, Wei Wuxian could be moved or killed.

By the time Wei Qing had concluded that she needed to disclose what she knew about Jin Guangyao's capabilities, she had also come to a second realization. She couldn't do it in front of Lan Wangji. If it was only Wei Wuxian missing, Wei Qing would have done it. It would hurt Lan Wangji, but Wei Qing felt he would be able to take it. Wei Qing could offer the fact that the Jin would want to keep Wei Wuxian alive if possible.

Alive they could get more information out of Wei Wuxian. Dead, they could only scavenge his notes, and they had not even acquired any of the notes that they had really wanted. Not that there wasn't valuable and dangerous information in what they took, but there was a big difference between a lure flag and the Yin Hufu.

The problem was that they also had Nuan-er, and Wei Qing had no illusions about what Jin Guangyao might do in order to coerce cooperation. Nuan-er would most certainly be threatened, and there was a very real chance she would be hurt. Wei Qing desperately wished Wei Wuxian had made a second one of those compasses and a jinbu of his own.

Wei Wuxian hadn't wanted to publicize the design. He was afraid people would be able to use the design to create a method to track the people Wei Wuxian wished to be able to locate for emergencies. He wanted to use the information to protect, but it could easily be used to harm by someone else. Wei Qing wished Wei Wuxian had considered that some people might wish to be able to find Wei Wuxian if he were in an emergency.

Wei Qing and Lan Wangji had made a few attempts to reconstruct a way to track Wei Wuxian. They studied her jinbu, and wrote down what they could recall about Wei Wuxian's process in making the compass. The two of them were the most likely to be able to recreate Wei Wuxian's work, but the task was far from easy.

Wei Qing's specialty had always been in medical treatment and innovation. Lan Wangji was intelligent, but he lacked the creativity that allowed Wei Wuxian to find connections and create. They spent a frustrating week attempting to find a way to track Wei Wuxian.

Wei Qing had a new respect for Wei Wuxian. She had never considered him a patient person, but she knew how long he spent working on theories and inventions. It took a lot of time to make something that actually worked. It was infinitely more frustrating when every hour spent was another hour that Wei Wuxian was still missing.