*Lotus Cove*
*Outside Jiang Cheng's room *

"Yes, you heard me correctly. Clan leader Lan, is indeed cursed." Tao, the physician informs.

Immediately, Meng Yao's eyes fall on Jiang Cheng who is looking at Tao with a bewildered look on his face.

Meng Yao begins to contemplate, 'Jiang Cheng is the only one who hates Er ge...but he is neither smart enough nor qualified enough to curse him... Moreover, he hates demonic cultivation techniques, so even if he wants to hurt Er ge, he will not use this method. That leaves Wei Wuxian, Su She and myself. Even if Wei Wuxian is alive, there is no way Hanguang Jun will let him curse his brother...That leaves me and Su She. And I wouldn't even think of harming Er ge.... Then... that just leaves one person....Su She!'

Meng Yao shakes his head subconsciously. He tries to recall Su She's every move and he begins to notice how Su She was always sour whenever he mentioned XiChen. This only adds fuel to spark of doubt in Meng Yao's heart and the doubt turns to confirmation in Meng Yao's mind, it fills the chief cultivator's heart with anger...anger towards his most loyal follower.

Meng Yao closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and asks the physician, "What kind of curse is it?"

"A death sleep curse." Tao informs.

And both the clan leaders gasp.

"No!" Meng Yao exclaims.

Tao puts a comforting hand on Meng Yao's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze, "But fortunately for us, the one who cast it must either have exhausted his spiritual power, or must be an amature, thus the curse did not turn out to be as potent.... Clan leader Jin, congratulations, Clan leader Lan has had a lucky escape. He should hopefully regain conciseness by morning....that is if my diagnosis is correct, and the culprit doesn't return to fix his error."

Meng Yao first smiles at the good news and then frowns, "What do you mean?"

Tao shrugs, "Well... even though Clan leader Lan is stable at the moment, if the one who cast the spell does it again... he might not be so lucky."

"Damn it, Wei Wuxian!" Jiang Cheng bites out and hits the door. "When will you stop hurting people!?" he adds and then looks at Meng Yao, "Clan leader, I don't know how Wei Wuxian could have entered here undetected... But I will fix it. I will make sure that Clan leader Lan is well looked after. I... I think we should immediately go and rescue our children." Jiang Cheng pleads.

'Does he even care about anyone else except his nephew!' Meng Yao thinks irritably and is about to voice his thoughts, when Tao speaks again, "Clan leader, I can't be sure, but I don't think it was the Yiling patriarch this time... and even if he was, this kind of curse takes time to work, this curse was put on Clan leader Lan, much before he set foot in Lotus cove."

"What!?" Once again, both clan leaders exclaim.

*Burial mounds*
*Main Hall*

Wei Ying takes out a blank paper from his robes and draws a few symbols on it. He chants a spell and it transforms into another paper man and walks towards the tunnel.

"What are you planning to do Wei Ying?" Lan Zhan asks, when the younger man takes off his outter robes and starts drawing symbols on his inner robes.

"Lan Zhan, I will go out once the paper man returns." He says,  taking out another blank paper and drawing musical notes on it before handing them over to his husband.

"Once I step out, I want you to play these notes... Don't worry these are Gusu notes. They are... "

Lan Zhan interrupts, "They are for calming the soul... Wei Ying, what are you planning to do?"

Lan Zhan reads the notes and his brows knit together, "Wei Ying... "

"Lan Zhan... Lan Zhan... you know that even if you refuse, I will still do it... Lan Zhan, it's the only way." Wei Ying explains.

Lan Zhan nods and pulls his husband into his arms, "Wei Ying, remember what I told you. I will always put you first... I... won....amm."

Lan Zhan's protests get drowned in Wei Ying's mouth as the younger brings their lips together and pries the light bearer's lips open.

Lan Zhan gives in willingly and soon the kiss becomes heated and desperate.

Reluctantly, Wei Ying breaks the kiss, "I am not planning to get killed or left behind, you Fuddy Duddy. I now have A Yuan to think about too. God knows how boring his life must have been with such a boring fath....Ah!" Wei Ying's sentence ends with a moan when Lan Zhan bites his husband's lips hard drawing blood.

Wei Ying's eyes fall on Lan Zhan's blood stained lips, "Hanguang Jun... that was hot...I am looking forward to to this... and much more when we are back in Gusu." Wei Ying smiles and Lan Zhan smirks in return. He cups Wei Ying's face and licks his lips, "Wei.. Ya... Don't tempt me now... This is neither the place nor the time to think about such things.

"Hanguang Jun...the day I fail to tempt you, is the day you can say that I am no more." With that, Wei Ying stands up. He looks at the tunnel and sees the paper man return.

The paper man lands on Wei Ying's palm and nods.

"Lan Zhan, play the music when I play Chenqing...The resentful energy that is controlling the corpses will enter me. And Su She will realize that something is wrong. He will come to check on it. I have informed Wen Ning to follow Su She discreetly. When Su She see that the corpses are no more under his control he will try to use his power to fix the problem. When he is doing that, his energy will be diverted to the corpses and the barrier will weaken. Wen Ning will then enter and incapacitate Su She."

Lan Zhan hears the whole plan before asking, "Why do you need to pull the resentful energy in you? Can't you just set it free?"

Wei Ying smiles, "Lan Zhan, you truly do put me above all else, don't you?" Wei Ying asks,  looking lovingly at his husband.

"Mn."

"Lan Zhan, these people are innocent. I can feel that their consciousness is being manipulated by the resentful energy. If I just call the resentful energy and disperse it, I won't be able to control them and it may hurt their consciousness." Wei Ying explains.

"So the resentful energy has tied itself to their consciousness!?" Lan Zhan asks.

"Yes. But once I call the resentful energy into myself, I can manipulate it and make then break away from the people's consciousness.... Lan Zhan, to protect the weak and innocent, was the promise we made together in Cloud reassess." Wei Ying reminds his husband.

Lan Zhan nods, remembering the moment and smiles.

It was afterall this moment when the light bearer had realized that he had fallen for the boy who had bugged him relentlessly. It was this very moment when Lan Zhan had understood what loving someone with their whole heart meant.

Lan Zhan sighs and closes his eyes, "I remember." He says, and adds resolutely, "Let's do this."

*Lotus Cove*

Meng Yao's frown deepens when he sees all evidence point to his most loyal subordinate. He turns to Jiang Cheng, "Clan leader, I told you already, we can't go forward with our plan without Er ge. I have already spoken to the others and they are in agreement. And as far as Zewu Jun is concerned, I will make sure, no further harm comes to him."

Jiang Cheng shakes his head disapprovingly, and walks away without giving Meng Yao a curtsy bow.

"Yenay," He calls, and the old lady follows him and he walks to the main hall.

Tao confronts Meng Yao once again, "Clan leader, if you don't trust me, you can call your physcian. Till that time I will take the utmost care of Clan leader Lan....But I won't be much help, if the culprit attacks again."

Meng Yao smiles, "That won't be necessary. I trust you. And as I said earlier, I will make sure that the culprit doesn't have access to Zewu Jun." He pauses and looks into the room where Lan XiChen's body is lying motionless. "Er ge, don't worry, your A Yao will not let anyone hurt you." With that said, Meng Yao walks away, with only one thing on his mind, that is to protect his Er ge from Su She at any cost.

{Note :- That's it for today's update. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

I could use your help my dear readers.

thefictionawards is asking for nomination of your favorite books. In 'The Fiction Awards.'

I would really appreciate it if you could nominate

1. The Lonely bridge in the chapter 'Best Romantic Arc' like so ->

Lan Zhan and Wei Ying, The Lonely Bridge by @GandalfofspaceAnli

2. Dusk and Dawn in the chapter 'Best Plot' and 'Best Plot twist' like so ->

Dusk and Dawn, by @GandalfofspaceAnli

3. Mine 'To protect and to serve' in the chapter 'Emerging Talent' like so ->

Mine 'To protect and to serve' , by @GandalfofspaceAnli

Of course, you don't have to nominate if you have not read my other two books or have not like them.

As always Vote to show your support for this update if you have enjoyed it.

Thank you for reading.
Have a nice day.}