There are two ways that Lan Wangji could take this discussion. He could explain that he is, he believes, a fine cultivator to the best of his abilities. He knows every rule inscribed into the Cloud Recesses Wall of Discipline, and he understands the purpose of that wall. The rules are not to govern every breath, every movement. They are an invocation to the understanding that asceticism and dedication can shape a junior disciple into an instrument of justice.

He could also explain that he is married to the Yiling Patriarch and that if a demon is kind and causing no harm, Lan Wangji has no inclination to harm him in turn.

Rather than saying any of that, he lifts his own cup of tea in answer to Claudius' toast and takes a tidy sip. He has at least one more story to share. "Recently," Lan Wangji says, "Crowley believed Wei Ying and I had divorced. He offered condolences." The minute twitch to his mouth betrays how funny he finds this, but also how improbably endeared he is by a demon who bothers to offer words of sympathy for the dissolution of a human marriage.