Way too untamed, way too wild

Discussion conference

Lan Wangji was sitting in the sect hall of the Yunmeng Jiang sect and he was having trouble to keep his attention. This was the first discussion conference after the Sunshot campaign and there was so much all the sects wanted to talk about, especially how they were the ones to contribute the most so they should get the biggest share of the war spoils. Everyone wanted to get their hands on the treasures of the obliterated Qishan Wen sect.

Lan Wangji was not interested in any of this, he was just glad that they had been able to win. He was sure that his brother, the current sect leader of the Gusu Lan sect would be able to handle this discussion just fine, he was here only to make up the numbers. He had stopped listening to the arguing sect leaders as soon as they started enumerating all their triumphs and not agreeing between themselves about this pointless division of treasures.

Suddenly, his interest was picked again when the topic finally changed. It was Jiang Wanyin, the host of this conference and the current leader of the Yunmeng Jiang sect, who was speaking now: "... and it can apparently control resentful energy. I am not sure it is just any normal fierce corpse or resentful spirit. As I said, we send there a party of disciples to investigate but they came back empty handed, only saying that they were able to only get close to the intruder for a second before had run away in the direction of the Burial Mounds. Those were some of my best and they are still in the infirmary even after a week."

There was a sudden silence in the room. They had all heard about the Burial Mounds. The place was crawling with walking corpses and resentful spirits for almost a century now. Even the most powerful sect, the Qishan Wen, could not do anything else but to seal the place, no one was able to clear up the lingering resentment in the ancient battlefield, the air all around was saturated by it and it was even hard to breathe the closer one got. And now, as Lan Wangji understood from what he had just heard, something, or someone, was controlling this resentment.

Jiang Wanyin continued after he had made sure that the information had settled in the minds of all present cultivators: "We need to look closer into this, the town of Yiling is flooded by resentful energy nearly every night. If there is such a strong fierce corpse that it can manipulate resentment, we need to exterminate it as soon as possible."

Everyone's faces were now serious and somewhat shocked as they were trying to digest the information. Lan Wangji knew that ever since Wen Ruohan started creating his puppets, even other monsters and ghosts were acting strange. It could also be that one of his creations had had more power than the others and it had managed to escape the massacre at the Nightless City.

It would really be bad if that was the case. They had had their hands full with just normal puppets during the Sunshot Campaign. If they were now talking about a new type of enemy, they really had to act as soon as possible, before the situation would possibly get out of hand, just as it did with Wen Ruohan and the Yin iron.

Then Lan Xichen spoke and all the faces around became horrified: "If resentful energy is being manipulated and controlled, it could also be a new demonic cultivator."

Lan Wangji knew that his brother was only saying what they were all thinking about. The war had just ended, they did not need any new threat right now, most of the sects were still rebuilding and recuperating after their losses of lives and infrastructure. They did not need this, they really did not. That was most probably why no one wanted to put this point on the table, they were afraid of the implications so they tried to pretend this option did not exist at all.

At once, all the cultivators in the room started talking between themselves, discussing the issue. It was hard to tell who exactly was saying what, all their voices, be it whispers or shouting, were mingling together into a chaotic cacophony.

"If it is true, we really need to stop that demonic cultivator as soon as possible, we do not need another Wen Ruohan."

"The best men of the Yunmeng Jiang sect were seriously injured, we need someone strong to deal with this."

"We need to investigate and exterminate this threat!"

"Who should go? It happened on the Yunmeng Jiang sect's territory, Jiang Wanyin should send someone. Or he should go himself if his disciples were not powerful enough to take care of this."

"But what if he fails? What then? We should put together a party of strong cultivators for this."

"Our sect is weakened after the war; we cannot spend any forces. Who can?"

"We cannot either."

"Do not look at me. The major sects should; the war had less impact on them."

"Now you are talking! If we still have some disciples left and we took back our land, it does not mean we were not affected! Take that back!"

"Why should we listen to you? I know you only admit to being strong when it is convenient for you. Even during the Sunshot campaign, you were just hiding in your fortress and only came to celebrate the victory you had no merit on!"

Lan Wangji could not listen to this any longer. It was getting out of hand and no one would be able to make peace again if the sects started fighting between themselves right now. If none of them was willing to send anyone, then he would go. The injuries he had suffered during the war were already healed, he supposed he was strong enough to go investigate this threat.

It was not only the matter of inter-sect handling and politics, there were innocent lives at stake here! He could barely believe that the others were unaware of this. Or if they realized it, they chose to turn a blind eye to it. Every cultivator should first and foremost protect innocent lives; it was making him feel ashamed of being a cultivator if the others were acting like this.

Yes, he will volunteer to go. And if he would not be able to deal with it on his own, he could at least determine whether it is some kind of resentful creature running havoc or if there is really an unknown demonic cultivator residing in the Burial Mounds. With this knowledge, hopefully the sects would be able to come together like they did during the Sunshot campaign and then they would be able to resolve the situation.

Lan Wangji grabbed his sword and stood up. No one beside Lan Xichen seemed to have noticed this. His brother turned towards him, his expression surprised and asked worriedly: "Wangji, what is wrong?"

Lan Wangji looked back at his brother and announced, more to the whole room then only as a reply to his question: "I will go."

All the present cultivators stopped arguing at once, another silence fell upon the room. Then, Jiang Wanyin spoke: "Hanguang-Jun, are you sure about this? It can be really dangerous, ten of my best disciples were almost killed in a matter of minutes."

Lan Wangji nodded resolutely. "I will go," he repeated.

One of the sect leaders of a minor sect Lan Wangji barely remembered the name of cheered: "Yes, yes, Hanguang-Jun should go! He is the best choice."

Everyone else started also cheering and wishing him best of luck. Lan Wangji could no longer stand all this hypocrisy, he was disgusted by all of this theatre, they only wanted someone to deal with the problem so they would not have to lift a finger. Pathetic.

He bowed to his brother and to Jiang Wanyin and left the room without another word.