Wei Zian's eyes abruptly shot open as sharp pain erupted from his stomach. His whole body convulsed, buckling against the object that fell on him, and suddenly he was wide awake, not a trace of drowsiness in his mind.
"Good morning, brother!" an annoyingly cheerful voice sounded right on top of him. "Morning, morning, MORNING!"
Wei Zian stared at Qin Ling in shock, trying to understand what happened. The last thing he remembered was the jiangshi lord casting that technique at him and Zhao Hong, and then darkness. His eyes darted left and right, taking in his surroundings and confirming his suspicions , he was in his room, back in Wei Village. That didn't make any sense, though. He was pleased that he survived the whole experience, but at the very least he expected to wake up in a sect's healing pavilion or something. And Qin Ling shouldn't be this casual with him after he went through such a harrowing experience , not even she was this inconsiderate. Besides, this entire scene was... eerily familiar.
"Qin Ling?"
"Um, yes?"
"What day is it?" Wei Zian asked, already dreading the answer.
"Thursday."
He scowled. "I meant date, Qin Ling."
"First day of the Seventh Month. You're going to the sect today. Don't tell me you forgot," Qin Ling prodded. Literally , she accompanied her words with a well-placed jab at his flank, sticking her bony little index finger in between his ribs.
Wei Zian slapped her hand away, hissing in pain.
"I did not forget!" Wei Zian snapped. "I just..."
He stopped there. What was he supposed to tell her? Frankly, he had no idea what was going on himself!
"You know what?" he said after a moment of silence. "I think it's high time you got off of me."
Before Qin Ling could answer, Wei Zian unceremoniously flipped her over the edge of the bed before jumping up himself.
He reached for his glasses from the set of drawers next to his bed and his eyes swept through his room with more attention to detail this time, seeking anything out of place, anything that might unmask this as a giant (if rather tasteless) prank. While his memory wasn't flawless, he had a habit of arranging his belongings in very specific ways to detect nosy family members rummaging through his things. He found nothing massively out of place, so unless his mysterious re-enactor knew his system inside and out (unlikely) or Qin Ling finally decided she'd respect the sanctity of his room while he was away (the Nine Hells would sooner freeze over), this really was his room like he left it when he went to Celestial Peak Sect.
Was it all a dream, then? It seemed altogether too real for a dream. His dreams had always been vague, nonsensical, and prone to evaporate out of his memory soon after he woke up. These felt exactly like his normal memories , no flying immortals, jade palaces in the clouds, three-eyed spirit tigers and other surreal scenes his dreams usually contained. And there was so much of it, too , surely a whole month worth of experiences is too much for a mere dream?
"Mother wants to talk to you," Qin Ling told him from the floor, apparently not in any great hurry to get up. "But hey, can you show me some cultivation technique before you go down? Please? Pretty please?"
Wei Zian frowned. Cultivation techniques, huh? Come to think of it, he learned quite a few techniques. Surely if this was all a particularly elaborate dream all the techniques he learned there would be completely bogus, right?
He made a couple of hand seals and whispered a short incantation before cupping his hands in front of him. A floating orb of spirit light promptly materialized above his palms. Huh. Not just an elaborate dream, then.
"That's amazing!" Qin Ling gushed, poking the orb with her finger only to have it pass straight through it. Not surprising, really, since it was just condensed qi. She withdrew her finger and curiously stared at it, as if expecting to find it changed somehow. Wei Zian mentally directed the orb to fly around the room and circle Qin Ling a few times. Yes, he definitely knew the technique , he retained not just the memory of the casting method, but also the fine control he developed with repeated practice with it. You don't get things like that from a mere vision, even a prophetic one.
"More! More!" demanded Qin Ling.
"Oh come on, Qin Ling," sighed Wei Zian. He really wasn't in the mood for her antics at the moment. "I indulged you, didn't I? Go find something else to amuse yourself now."
She pouted at him, but he was thoroughly immune to such things by now. Then she frowned for a moment and suddenly straightened as if remembering something.
Wait...
"No!" Wei Zian shouted, but he was already too late. Qin Ling had already run into the washroom and slammed the door behind her. "Damn it, Qin Ling, why now? Why not before I woke up?"
"Sucks to be you," she answered.
Wei Zian leaned forward until his forehead collided with the door. "I had forewarning and I still fell for it."
He frowned. Forewarning, indeed. Whatever his 'future memories' were, they seemed to be fairly reliable. Was Celestial Peak Sect really going to get invaded during the Phoenix Renewal Festival, then? What should he do about that? What could he do about that? He shook his head and marched back to his room. He would not even contemplate that sort of question until he found out more about what had happened to him. He locked the door so he would have some privacy and sat on his bed. He needed to think.