Chapter Text
Seconds after Lan Xichen’s announcement the crowd really got chaotic. Although Jiang Cheng had wanted to leave he found himself unable to continue to do so when he saw a near riot begin to occur. Lan Xichen having presented as an omega after having successfully run one of the largest sects, particularly the one in charge of the education of children was huge politically. In a world of traditional roles and values it was practically unheard of.
The powerful Wens and Jins, as well as many of the minor sects, were immediately in an uproar. The majority of these elitist or power vacuum hungry cultivators could not believe that a person that they had followed could turn out to be an omega of all things.
Even Nie Mingjue had frozen briefly at the news, warring between different traditional and modern views that he held, before deciding to put his pact as a sworn brother over his reservations of ABO hierarchy. At least to the Nies, who had originated from one of the most disrespected professions of origin, could understand resistance to predetermined roles.
Jiang Cheng, who had been so nervous during his adolescence that such a thing might happen to him, couldn’t just walk away from the scene. He looked around at those suddenly against Xichen who had only recently shared tea with and listened to him looking like the man had deceived them all, when there was little to no way that Xichen could have known himself. Even if he sensed something changing within he couldn't have fully understood until his body was ready and he presented, just like everyone else.
Such pretentious fair weather allies were like dung stuck on ones shoe, best disposed of as soon as possible. Jiang Cheng’s anger crackled as he grabbed Sandu, keeping it sheathed as he had no attention of shedding blood over such a thing. Instead he walked through the crowd flagged by his men using the blunt end to push people away from his personage as he went.
The Lans, Nies, and Jiangs attempted to quell the tension, the latter of the two making their way to the front. Lan Qiren had escorted Xichen back inside before returning to deal with the outside cultivators.
Grandmaster Lan Qiren was probably the most well respected beta of the cultivation world, but in this tense atmosphere most people would feel that there was no substitute for a powerful alpha suppression technique. With this in mind both Nie Mingjue and Jiang Wanyin stood in the front. The two glanced at each other briefly, before unleashing large amounts of androstenone into the atmosphere at nearly the same time.
With their combined dominating pheromones things finally came to order, at least enough for Lan Qiren to send Non Nies and Jiangs away to cool down with the promise of a Sect meeting to follow up within a couple weeks once things were more settled, in order to discuss what was to happen moving forward.
A good portion of the crowd was not happy about it, but except for the Wens the other groups were weaker physically than either the Jiangs or Nies, so they decided not to push their luck. The Wens were torn between two different factions so they were not as united, so although it was tense they agreed to leave for the time being and figure out what to do about it politically at home.
Once Nie Mingjue saw that the trouble makers and the majority of other people had left he excused himself as well. Although he had helped, a part of him was torn, and all in all he didn’t feel that it was quite appropriate for an alpha to stay around and speak with a newly presented omega.
But Jiang Cheng, who had wanted to leave before anyone lingered, worried. The cultivation world had quite a negative reaction to Xichen’s new status. They acted as if he had done something wrong. And although the Lan had gone inside he must have seen or heard some things first, and he certainly knew that the chaos had been about him.
Jiang Cheng would have hated it. He’d have blamed himself and felt disgusting and unworthy. He would have locked himself in his room and quit everything, or at least he would have wanted to. He knew that Xichen was a different person than him but it still could not have been easy. And so he stayed were he was long after many others had gone and thought long and hard what, if anything he could do.
Eventually as the crowd lessened Lan Qiren noticed this and offered a place for Jiang Cheng’s men in gratitude for his help. Once Jiang Cheng had dismissed them to the offered quarters Qiren figured that the young cultivator had other things on his mind and at the time he could honestly use someone to talk to after all the excitement of the day, so after some time of silence he asked,
“Would you care for a cup of tea?”