Way too untamed, way too wild

Second encounter

Lan Wangji was sitting back in the spot where he had been waiting for the resentful creature the day before. He had resumed his search in the morning but until now, he had no luck finding any clues at all. It almost seemed like whatever, or whoever, had been in town yesterday did not make it back to the Burial Mounds at all.

It was getting close to dusk again and he was preparing for another encounter. He was telling himself that he was better prepared this time around. But deep inside, he doubted, there was no way he could even be prepared enough for something like this. He was no longer surprised that the Yunmeng Jiang sect cultivators were caught off guard. This threat was something completely new and they had nothing to go about while figuring the best way to dispose of it.

He was not meditating now, instead, he was paying close attention to the barrier around the Burial Mounds, he did not want the intruder to pass by him again. It had been bad enough the first time around, he did not need a repeat of that.

Despite his vigilance however, the dark cloud of resentment started once again forming behind his back. He did not allow himself even a moment of hesitation and he was already on his sword, flying towards the enemy at full speed. He could not let the resentment enter the town. He flew by the swirling pitch black mass and positioned himself between it and the first houses.

He was surprised to see that the advancement of the cloud had stopped. It was now only spinning around in one place, almost as if it was hesitant to come near him; or it was simply planning its next move, Lan Wangji could not be sure if this creature was actually intelligent or if it was acting solely on instinct or someone's orders.

The most important thing however was that it was not entering the town, not when he was standing his ground in its way. Or at least he hoped so. He had no proof that the resentful energy would not attack him this time around despite being pretty placid during their last encounter. He still had yet to figure out a way to attack it. Since it seemed like there was no physical body for him to aim at, he would have to think about another way to disperse the resentment.

The swirling mass still stood in one place and Lan Wangji was starting to get nervous. He was prepared for anything but for this. Why was the creature not attacking?

Was it perhaps waiting for someone's orders? If there was a new demonic cultivator somewhere near, he would surely not have hesitated this much. Lan Wangji was getting more and more confused as seconds passed.

He never left the swirling mass out of his sight. His head was aching a bit looking at the hypnotizing movements of the resentful energy. But that was not what he was looking for.

There! Just as yesterday, he could see and hear movement inside the black smoke. It was no wonder he did not notice right away during their first encounter since it was just a different shade of darkness on the black background. Now however, he was waiting for it and expecting it to happen. He focused his eyes even more and he was not too surprised when he could finally distinguish a silhouette of a person scrunched down among the swirling resentment.

When he looked closer, he could even see a slightly lighter spot inside all the darkness, probably the person's face. It was still not clear to him whether it was a fierce corpse shrouded in resentment or if it indeed was a demonic cultivator. He did not care however, whichever would be the case, he had to act now, before the person would understand that he had seen them and would attack him.

He let go of his sword and directed its tip to aim on the scrunched down figure, then he let it fly as quickly as he could manage in order to not give his enemy any time to react. His weapon entered the black mass of the resentful energy and only a fraction of a second later, he could feel that it had found its target. He focused even more, navigating his sword without actually seeing it, only based on his other senses and on reading the resentful energy.

It was hard but finally, he felt his sword had reached its intended target. He did not want to outright kill the person, they still deserved the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they were just a normal commoner, a victim of the resentful energy. He had to first get them out of the smoky mass and check.

If he determined that they were indeed a fierce corpse or a demonic cultivator, he would exterminate them on the spot. On the other hand, if the person was just a poor victim, dragged into this situation unwillingly while being possessed or controlled by the resentment, he would do his best to help them. He was not sure that this was the correct method, most of other cultivators would have probably just killed the intruder right away without confirming anything. He could not help himself however, he did not want to harm any innocent lives, too many were already lost during the war and in its aftermath.

So he directed his sword to try and push the person out of the cloud of resentment. He felt and heard how the hilt hit something solid at last and the silhouette of the person swayed in place. But they did not come out, only the resentment around them started swirling more frantically. Lan Wangji tried again, this time with a little more force.

He startled when the person fell down and gave out a short pained shout. Lan Wangji immediately recalled his weapon and run towards the swirling mass, not thinking about what it would do to him if he tried to touch it barehanded. He did not want to hurt the person, not until he would confirm who they were with certainty.

The cloud of resentment was now only a few steps away from him but he could see that it started dissipating already. Did he injure the person controlling it after all? Before he was able to reach the outer edge of the cloud, it was already gone completely, disappearing into thin air just like yesterday. When he looked at the place where the person should have been, there was nothing there, he could just see that the long grass was slightly flattened to the ground, the only proof that someone had been there at all.

Lan Wangji coursed internally, he had let the intruder run away again. Now he would have to wait another day to confront them again. Not too convinced that he would find any clues, he still mounted his sword and headed towards the barrier to check, just in case there was something left there this time around.