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Today I get to spend time with Jingyi… at Qishan border. I thought Zewu-jun calling me that day to talk about my future relationship with Jingyi. Apparently I am wrong. Dead wrong. It is all just about business, nothing personal. None at all. Sigh…
“Do you… know where to look for? You know… clues?” Jingyi ask me. He might think I know more about Qishan just because I came here with Uncle Ning before.
“I… don’t know. To be honest I only know a few areas in Qishan and even those are the one uncle Ning show me to.” I still barely know my way around here.
Jingyi looks surprised for a second before quickly hid it. “You are right. You grow up in Cloud Recluses after all. *sigh* If only we bring along the Ghost General as well.”
I nod along solemnly. We are both clueless about the places here in Qishan for it was widely known as a dark sect since I was a kid and all Cloud Recluses student are forbid to get any closer to this place. I understand they want us to investigate the mysterious attack all over the areas which clearly had dark undertone in it and obviously they will suspect Qishan Wen first. However I have no idea why we are the one being sent here instead of stronger seniors like Hanguang-jun and Yiling-Laozhu.
“Somebody call me?” A rather flat and male voice some out of nowhere.
“Ghost General?” Jingyi sounds excited to meet uncle Ning here. Why? Didn’t he afraid of anything ‘Ghost’?
“Mn”
“Did… senior Wei tell you to come here?”
Uncle Ning looks rather panicked and doesn’t say anything. He just waves his hand shake his head "No"
“Oh Yiling-laozhu knows we need help? That’s great!” Jingyi said. “I am Lan Jingyi.”
This is the second time he talk about something dark and ghastly yet sound so happy about it.
“Mn. You are Sizhui’s best friend, right? He talk about you a lot.”
“Really?” Jingyi cringing immediately, “What did he tell about me?” He looks back and forth between me and uncle Ning.
Damn! I hope my face is not burning horribly.
“Let me warn you, maybe some of them are not a complete truth, ‘kay?” Jingyi said again.
“I am not badmouthing you, A-Yi.”
“Oh really? What did you say about me then? You know exaggerate something is also forbidden in our sect.”
“He said a lot of things, like your childhood and earlier years in the academy.”
“Oh? Really? I used to be very clumsy and rather useless at that time.”
“No! Jingyi is very nice and always defend me and very warm…” Jingyi look at me with an expression that I cannot describe here. Uncle Ning just supporting me in smile. “Um… warm hearted.”
“Warm heart? Is that even a words?” Jingyi grins. “Is he really saying all that, ghost general?”
“Mn. He also say young master Lan had grown taller and he want young master Lan to-
“Help me fight the monster, right uncle?” I cut in before Uncle Ning can reveal anything else. I look at Uncle Ning with an urgency that he ought to see in case he is not so…. Naïve? Innocent? Thick?
“Umm… yes?”
“You doesn’t sound so sure.” Jingyi and uncle Ning just look at each other for a few seconds before Jingyi finally say, “Anyway, do you still remember the paths and roads in Qishan, Ghost General?”
“No need to call me Ghost General. It sounds too formal. Just call me uncle Ning, like Sizhui did.”
“Really? Is it okay?” Jingyi look at me again.
“It’s okay,” I nod “Uncle said so himself, right?”
ROAAARRRR!!!
Right after the initial roar, there are bunch of barks and howls following one after another. We look at each other.
“Oh no, it must be the wolf. Again.”
When we arrive at the scene, a whole pack of wolves (there are probably a dozen of them) are in the middle of attacking very familiar looking teenagers. Two very familiar looking teenagers…. In yellow robe and red robe.
“Damn it, how can Jin Ling and Zizhen here?” Jingyi sounds so worried.
Yeah, I know… this is not the right time to get over jealous. Ugh!
I set out my guqin as Uncle Ning and Jingyi rush over to fight those monsters.
Wait, Jingyi rushes forward to fight? What about his liuqin? Did he forget to bring it? Or… did he just want to fight alongside A-Ling? (sadface)
“Sizhui, watchout!!” Jingyi scream is the only last thing I heard as my instinct to fight or flight activated and I got less than a second to save my head from being ripped to shreds.
When I jump back to evade the attack, I can clearly see the line of thread behind one of the wolves’ head. Holy Yaksha’s horn! They are being controlled. Again. Just like that time when Jin Ling lost for days in Lanling forest.
The culprit must be the same guy... or girl, but who? Who would want to hurt the current Jin sect leader or me and Jingyi (though it is kind of clear a sect leader life is much more valuable than two Cloud Recluses juniors)?
I try to communicate to Jingyi about the thread behind the wolves’ head. I guess I have huge amount of luck as he got what I am thinking about within one look.
Jingyi jumps to the wolf’s back and cut off the line in one sharp swish of sword.
The wolf immediately freezes.
Uncle Ning immediately pick up the clue and soon cuts off the rest of the wolves thread. Of course he is helped by young master Jin and Ouyang.
After a while, the first wolf we freed start run away as if it is scared of us. Why? We aren’t hurting it... much. What makes it run as if meteor raining all over here?
Could it be... the mastermind is here?
Just as I start to look around, another sharp howl coming from somewhere around and soon the wolves are prancing towards us. Damn!
“A-Yuan, you bring all of them out. I’ll halt the wolves.”
“But uncle-
“I can handle them. Get out.”
“Sizhui, he is right. He is the Ghost General after all. He should be able to handle them just fine.” Jingyi said as he hold my hand at the same time about to pull me from the scene.
He holds my hands as we jump to our sword and fly.
He hold-
In the midst of our escape, a shrilling tone of dizi with familiar thrill suddenly surround us.
“Uncle Xian?” Jin Ling yelled.
That’s why the tone is familiar. Dad always use his dizi to control those undead. But... there is something different. I can feel the malicious intent of this song.
Another sharp howling comes from the west and soon the four of us are surrounded by wolves. Again. That direction might be where the real culprit hiding.
We have to fight against the wolves first. There is only one little problem though, this time those wolves don’t have threads behind their heads.
I take out the guqin and play the soul cleansing song. They freeze but doesn’t stop and run like the group before.
“A-Ling, you ad Zizhen go back to Lanling now. You only got a few more miles now. Me and Sizhui will halt them all. Call for help.”
“But
“We can’t help much here, we have to get the legion of cultivator we left at the inn earlier this morning and don’t forget you are a sect leader, Jin Rulan. Come on.” Zizhen try to use a logical reasoning to pull sect leader Jin.
“Fine. You two better be alive when we back with help. Or else!”
Jin Rulan and Ouyang Zizhen then fly out on their sword. Jingyi then take out the emergency firework for day time (which means it is deep blue instead of the light blue we usually use at night)
Just as the firework shoots up, there are threads thrusting at our direction. Luckily me and Jingyi can avoid it. Some of it seems to enter those wolves skull. The wolves that recently got threads inside their skull start to resist my song. Holy Yaksha’s horn, whoever did this does not plan to let us out of here alive.
If you tell me one day I have to keep playing guqin and twirling around to avoid crazy threads at the same time I would said you are probably losing your mind. But now I am doing this crazy twirling as I play guqin trying to avoid some evil threads.
Jingyi is...
Err... where is he?
TRAAAANGG!!
There are loud noises of sword sparring one another.
Most curious thing is: those wolves are suddenly fallen down unmoving. Those threads are no different; they lay on the floor uselessly. Did Jingyi found the real culprit?
I fly to the direction of the noise and put my qin back into the pouch.
There it is the petite figure fighting Jingyi must be the real culprit. It wears a devil mask.
This might not be a very gentlemanly thing to do, but if it can stop the culprit, then I am not against gang up the man... Woman? Whatever. We are going to catch the thing.
It notices my arrival though. Damn! It cheats it ways out by throwing sands at Jingyi and retreat.
I try to slash at the devil but it moves so fast. I only barely slashed its hip. Damn!
“A-Yi, are you okay?” I help him clean his eyes. “Here.” I give him the flask with our stock of water for drink. It is okay. We can refill it again later. Jingyi’s eyes are more important.
“Yeah, kind of better now.” He wipes his eyes on his sleeve. Not the best idea, but we don’t really have much choice right now.
I take back the flask to be put back into the spiritual pouch.
“Hey, what’s that?” He pick up something on the ground near the spot where he fight the devil mask person.
“Isn’t that... a chief cultivator plaque? The one they usually hang on their waist band like the charm.”
“Yeah. Yifu has this too since he is being the chief cultivator right now but... I don’t think that person is him. I mean, did you see how small he is? Yifu is at least a centimetre taller than me.”
(义父 yìfù means adoptive father in Chinese. Jingyi always call Lan Xichen yifu in private because he is Jingyi's adoptive father)
“Yup. Notice that. So, that guy can’t be Zewu-jun but who... wait.” I suddenly remember of someone, “Do you remember Lianfang-zun? The past chief cultivator? The one who supposed to die at the Guanyin temple?”
“Die? I won’t be so sure. Remember how they can’t find his dead body after clearing the whole debris at the Guanyin temple. This will not be the first time we found evil in Jin family anyways.”
“You might be right but we need to go. Now. Before he come back with more wolves or something even more dangerous.”
Jingyi jump onto his sword, “Something scarier than those rabid wolves?”
“Yup. Some fierce corpses perhaps?”
“Well, I am not sure there are any fiercer corpse than ex-sect leader Nie, but let’s just fly out of here before more of rabid things come here and kill us.”
Before we fly even higher, suddenly there are something that pulls down both me and Jingyi.
After getting out of the initial shock, I notice that the thing is some kind of vine. The vine is dark and wet as if it grows in a deep dark watery place like...
“Lake!” Jingyi exclaimed.
Well, lake is where he vines pull us to. I pull my sword just at the same time Jingyi pull his. We cut off the vines in one clean cut; surprisingly.
"I thought some peculiar and mysterious thing like the vines are stronger than this."
WHOOOSH!
A few other sets of vines wheezing past the water and zooming in to us.
“Damn, I am talking to fast.”
We try to cut off the vines, but with every sets we cut, comes more vines at us. The lake almost looks like a giant tree now with how much vine branches it shoots up at us.
What is this tree problem really?
Shall I try to use the soul cleansing song at it?
Can I afford it? To let loose my sword for a while to take out my guqin.
“Sizhui, can you use soul cleansing song to this thing?”
“You are voicing my exact thought. If only-
ZRAAASSHHH!
Holy Confucius... we are drowning. GODS!!! OH NO!!
Bigger vines had wrapped amongst my torso. Did they caught Jingyi too? I want to scream if only I didn’t remember there are water all around me. I have to cut the vines-
SLASSHH!
Something else had cuts off the vines before I can do anything to it.
What is that?
Is that some string noise? Why is it so chilling? I can feel goosebumps and it is not even because of the water.
It sounds kind of familiar though. Where have I heard of it? Did I hear it wrong? Can we actually hear in the water?
Eh?
What?! My sword suddenly went afloat all by itself, rattling and shining weirdly. What happens?
Oh no... everything is dark.
Am I drowning? Did someone hit an octopus?
Is this hell?
BOOOOOOOOM!!
“Ouch,” I guess something exploded deep inside that lake and we are thrown out of the lake now with a loud thundering roar.
“Holy Yaksha’s horn! Oh Heavens above... what the abomination is this?” Jingyi loud protest is heard a few metres beside me.
I look around.
Buddha... Guanyin... Ksitigarbha... what happens? What is this huge, tall pillar everywhere?
“Where are we?” Jingyi ask. Is that a rhetorical question?
“All I am sure of is... this is not the forest we were inspecting a few... I don’t know, maybe... minutes ago?” I am well beyond confused as well.
“How... I mean, what happens? The last thing I did was strumming my liuqin.”
“I have no idea but we are pretty much screwed.”
Jingyi raise his eyebrows and look at me with naughty smirk.
“What?”
“Can I take that as invitation?”
“No. We did not even know what happens yet here.”
Jingyi laugh earnestly. I join in the laugh even if it is kind of stressed, irony kind of a laugh.
Yeah, I actually way more relaxed and less required to be perfect when I am with Jingyi. Sometimes I make mistake or make noises as well, just like normal teenager. It was only in front of him though, no one else but Jingyi (safe for father and uncle) had ever saw me acted un-Lan-ly.
.
.
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The end of Cloud Recluses 101 (first part)