53. Two Birds With A Stone
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That night, Weiyan had fallen into a fitful sleep.
All her previous dreams of an at least decent marriage with Luoyin had flown away, and all she could think was, 'I don't deserve him!'
She stirred in the middle of the night as she sensed Luoyin's aura.
But she instantly stilled her qi and pretended to sleep, unable to face him yet.
Meanwhile, an equally vulnerable Luoyin gently sat on the bed, his cheeks a bit reddened from the numerous congratulations, often accompanied with wedding wine!
It had been a jarring day.
Everything had gone according to plan, but then his dragon pearl suddenly appeared.
Yinying had searched around for a hint of it, and Luoyin himself had been trying to feel for it...
But there wasn't a single trace of the illusive pearl.
Luoyin pushed the thought away and turned to Xu Weiyan, who was sleeping.
She had left her veil on, which was customary, as the groom was supposed to lift the bride's veil, and he sighed and reached for the red and gold weighing rod on the table before them.
He hesitated before touching it, as the memory of his previous marriage weighed on him. But once he lifted the rod, it was as if his hand moved on his own and he used it to lift Weiyan's veil.
'Wah!' His breath hitched at the sight of her, and a warm feeling crawled up his neck. 'It's really a face that can fell geese and sink fish!' He grudgingly admitted.
Unconsciously, his hand reached out to shift a bit of hair off her forehead, but he quickly withdrew his hand and looked away.
'Tch! Luoyin's emotions are here again!'
'Oh? Still lying to yourself?' A small inner voice taunted him. 'Didn't you crave her company on Caoyang? Was that 'Zhang Luoyin' as well? Hmmmm?'
It was a thought Bailong had evaded since his awakening here in Luoyin's body. That feeling he hadn't quite been able to understand on Caoyang...
But accompanying the thought were memories of what happened the last time he let Xu Weiyan close!
He couldn't exactly blame her for his death. He knew that.
Xu Weiyan had stabbed him, but it wouldn't have killed him, and it had been his conscious decision to protect her and receive those hundred lightning bolts...
If he were being honest with himself, blaming Xu Weiyan in the first place had been petty... fueled solely by his hurt and anger over her betrayal.
As if he hadn't always known she had gone to Caoyang to kill him!
Now that he thought about it, the true cause of his death was whatever had made those lightning bolts target Xu Weiyan, instead of him.
If the lightning bolts had come after him, he would have been able to evade them, but they had been directed at Xu Weiyan, and in his weakened state, trying to shield her had him meeting the bolts head-on.
It was almost as if Tianlong knew Bailong would protect her.
But how and why?
He shook his head. There was no finding the answers in the here and now.
Either way, he was ready to admit Xu Weiyan confused him more than a little, and as the inner voice had just reminded him, this had begun right from Caoyang, which left him unsure of where Bailong's emotions ended, and where Luoyin's began.
All he was certain of was that his love for Yan Liwei had not gone away, and though Yinying had advised him to let go of Yan Liwei, the sudden flare of his dragon pearl that afternoon only intensified those feelings.
And so he poured himself a cup of wine and turned to Weiyan's sleeping form.
"Xu Weiyan, I promised you as a child that I would care for you..." He began, recalling Luoyin's childhood promise. "This marriage is a way of fulfilling that promise...
"Here, you will be safe from Zhang Furen or Zhang Cheng's schemes, and as my wife, you can do as you please and live however you want. I will support your dreams and goals. I will be on your side and protect you to the best of my ability." He sighed.
"But I won't love you... Not as long as she's in my heart."
'Easier said than done!' That same taunting voice reminded him, but he firmly banished it to the far reaches of his mind, and then drank the wine and dropped the cup.
"What am I even saying?" He asked on a sigh as he rose to his feet, heading for the doors. "I may never know why you accepted my marriage proposal, but it's not like you really care for this silly young man, right?"
In Luoyin's memories, he had kowtowed to Lord Xu, when turning down the engagement. But after the words had been spoken, 'Zhang Luoyin' had looked up at Xu Weiyan, perhaps searching for some sign... for a final glimmer of hope to make him apologise and take back his words...
But Xu Weiyan's expression had never changed, and she had simply turned around and walked away...
Through Luoyin's eyes, Bailong could only assume Xu Weiyan had no long-standing love for him, and this only reminded him that despite their time together on Mount Caoyang, Xu Weiyan hadn't hesitated to stab him.
"There's no way you cared." Luoyin finished with an air of finality, but as he gently slid the doors open and stepped out, he couldn't help feeling pissed at the two incidents.
'Does Xu Weiyan even have a heart?! Hmph!'
But as the doors shut behind him, a tear slid out of Weiyan's eye, along her temple and into her hair.
'He has... someone else in his heart...?'
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No one could accuse Zhang Luoyin of being a bad husband...
The day after the wedding, Luoyin had sent Xu Weiyan the household's keys, seal, and even the deed!
This shocked the servants, as it meant Xu Weiyan could do as she pleased with the household's funds, servants, and property!
"Didn't they just marry?!!" A few 'highly esteemed gossips' were wondering!
"It's customary to learn the wife's character first, isn't it?"
"What if she sells everything and runs off?!"
"What honey did she feed him on the wedding night?!!"
This made Luoyin a laughingstock, and they wrote him off as a newly-wedded fool.
But Weiyan was touched...
Setting someone in charge of one's household was a show of immense trust, and she had certainly done nothing to deserve it.
After a night of silent tears, she had calmed herself and analyzed the situation.
Back when she and Luoyin were engaged, he had protected her whenever he could, challenging the other children who called her names or bullied her, and he would often take her hand and drag her off to the Zhang Manor.
"Yanyan, don't worry! Everyone here has to listen to me! No one would dare touch you!!"
It was so comical that the Zhang Servants had referred to her as, 'Our little Wife!'
Luoyin's situation shifted after his mother died and he fell ill.
He was too weak to challenge his peers, and the servants respected him less and less... Yet he would boldly stand up to Haoyuan or Linhua to defend Weiyan, often risking their wrath and a beating.
But the years passed in swift winds and setting suns, and soon Weiyan herself had gotten busy, vanishing from his sight...
It was the year Lord Xu noticed she had been hiding her talent.
Lord Xu had personally supervised her from then, and began dragging her off for one hellish training or the other.
By the time she realized what was happening, she had become the famous 'White Swallow', and Zhang Luoyin had grown distant, going as far as breaking their engagement.
Back then, Weiyan had refused to identify what she felt, but now she easily recognized it as heartbreak and anger, and for the following two years, she accepted as many missions as possible, and only saw Luoyin a handful of times, in which he never even acknowledged her presence.
And then she was sent to Caoyang...
What right did she have to be heartbroken or angry back then?
What had she done for Luoyin through the long years?
From his point of view, he had supported and defended her in her time of trouble, but she had vanished when he needed her.
Yet, Luoyin had now handed her his household.
She had no idea who was in Luoyin's heart, but it was most likely someone who had helped him in troubled times...
But despite having someone he loved, he was still willing to care for her like this to fulfil a childhood promise.
She sighed.
'From start to finish, I don't deserve Zhang Luoyin...'
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Meanwhile, in a secluded part of the household...
Mingguang, the Divine Tiger Cub, had been brought to the Yan house that morning, and Luoyin and Yinying had built a nice den for it in a small courtyard.
The courtyard was filled with a small bamboo grove, surrounded by glowing lanterns, and the den itself was warm and cozy, lined with plush, silken cushions and toys.
Here, Yinying could openly transform and play with his son, and with the growth in Luoyin's cultivation, Yinying's form was now a full-grown black tiger, so he and the cub painted a delightful father-son picture!
Which Luoyin contentedly watched at the moment, as Yinying and the cub ran about.
Now that the two were settled in, Luoyin could turn his mind to other matters, and he held up his wrist, looking at the Spirit-binding seal.
It was time to focus on Luoyin's grievances...
And what better opportunity than the much anticipated Sect tournament?!
The tournament was actually part of a larger one, the *Baishan Central Tournament, which was held once every three years, with the sole aim of 'sharpening each other's blades', and multiple sects looked forward to it, so they could weigh their strengths against other sects.
(*The Kingdom)
Or at least, that is how light-hearted it should have been, but since the tournament was also a large source behind the Sect Ranking, every sect took it too seriously!
Any sect which dared to call itself a 'sect' held an internal 'Sect tournament' to determine winners.
And Yueyan was no different...
Which was why the energy and excitement in the air was thick enough to hold, and the tension among the disciples and Sect Warriors was now mounting high!
There were three main phases of the Sect tournament. One for Sect Warriors, and two for disciples, with the aim of getting fifteen winners.
The fifteen winners would then receive powerful cultivation resources, and would be the ones to represent the Sect before the Wulin, in the Baishan Central Tournament!
"Hmmmm..." Luoyin rubbed at his chin. "I have no desire to participate, but it'll be a good way to deal with Zhang Cheng. And then there's Zhang Furen..."
He grinned. "Huhuhu, I wonder if we can't kill two birds with the same stone?!"
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