Way too untamed, way too wild

Cultivators in red

Lan Wangji was sitting on the hard ground of the Burial Mounds, completely stunned. He could not believe that Wei Ying was the one apologizing to him when he himself had been the one in the wrong. In all right, he should be the one to say sorry for letting the misunderstanding happen, he should have explained himself better. Wei Ying was only protecting the other children, his family, Lan Wangji realized only then.

It was understandable that he had overreacted like that. The other inhabitants of that small settlement deep in the Burial Mounds must have been the closest thing to a family the boy had, especially if what Wen Qing had suggested was true. If Wei Ying had lived in this hostile and abandoned place for such a long time, almost all his life, then it was clear the company he found were the only people he knew in this world.

Or perhaps not, thought Lan Wangji the next second because after Wei Ying apologized to him, he actually continued after a short pause: "I have thought that you were like those other cultivators who came and offered to help us in exchange for me telling them how I have survived here. But then they wanted to hurt the children when I refused to talk to them."

Suddenly, Lan Wangji had a very bad feeling. Of course he was happy that the boy had apparently decided to share a piece of his past with him and he was very curious about it. But at the same time, the way Wei Ying had put it made chills run up and down his spine. He had little doubts about who could have wanted to know about demonic cultivation and how to succeed in it. However, it did not quite match. The boy spoke about cultivators, in plural, as if there had been more of them. And Xue Yang, the only other demonic cultivator who had escaped the massacre at the Nightless City was only one person. He must have acquired some accomplices.

Xue Yang escaping after three out of the four pieces of the Yin iron were destroyed had been the main reason why the cultivation world was so alarmed even at the most improbable of rumours about demonic cultivators being sighted. Had he really come to the Burial Mounds after fleeing the battle?

It could have been possible. And he had probably met Wei Ying here. A person who could manipulate resentful energy at their will even without a piece of the Yin iron. Lan Wangji knew how sweet Xue Yang could be when he wanted. However, something was not sitting right with him. How come Wei Ying and the children were still alive after refusing to cooperate with him? Or did the boy agree to share the secret of controlling resentful energy after all?

Lan Wangji had to know, and immediately. If Xue Yang was running loose with the knowledge about demonic cultivation even greater than before, it would be a literal disaster. And if the cultivation world did not find him even almost a year and a half after the war had ended, that could have only meant that he was hiding somewhere, probably building an army and preparing to strike.

Doing his best to stay calm, he inquired: "When did they come? Was it recently? Or perhaps a long time ago?"

Wei Ying seemed confused by his sudden question but looked like he was considering answering it at least.

"I do not know; it was before you came here."

Lan Wangji wanted to berate himself for not realizing that since the boy lived away from anyone, his understanding of time must be different from his own. He probably did not even know what Lan Wangji had meant by long time ago, it could be that a long time ago was a week or a year for him, the Second Jade had no idea. Well, if he could not get a straight answer, he would just have to go around.

"Was it a boy, probably the same age as me, in black robes and with a broken little finger?" He did not know how to better describe Xue Yang so Wei Ying would understand and remember if he had ever seen him.

The boy was now looking at him even more surprised: "No, I do not think there was anyone in black robes with them."

"What colour were their robes then?" asked Lan Wangji, grasping at straws now.

It really seemed like Wei Ying did not have the same education as his so his perception of the world was vastly different from Lan Wangji's. He wondered why he had not realized this before. It was clear as day now that he was thinking about it; he had trouble to hold a conversation under normal circumstances, not even talking about a situation like this. He was getting frustrated and apparently Wei Ying could tell.

"Their robes were red. Why are you asking Lan Zhan? Does it matter? They do not come here anymore."

Luckily, Wei Ying was getting more curious than anything now, and he seemed helpful and talkative enough. He was watching him with worried eyes, visibly getting agitated himself.

Lan Wangji took a deep breath and calmed down. He would not get anywhere if he allowed the boy to misunderstand and doubt his intentions again. He tried to explain better.

"Wei Ying, could you please tell me? It is important. They may want to hurt you or the children."

The mention of harm befalling the children had done the trick and Wei Ying scowled. Lan Wangji decided to press on some more: "I want to help you all, but I need to know who those people were."

Wei Ying scowled a bit and he looked pensive now. The silence between them was getting longer and Lan Wangji thought that he would not be able to get the answers after all.

However then, Wei Ying spoke at last: "Alright, perhaps you know them. They had red robes and there was a bunch of them. They were asking me if I could tell them how I have survived here and they were asking how I can control resentful energy. I could not have told them even if I wanted to - which I did not! – I did not know at that time what resentful energy even was. It was Wen Qing who explained after she came to live here..."

The boy's words trailed into a short silence when his eyebrows were scowling even more. Then his expression cleared and he exclaimed, visibly happy: "Right! It was before Wen Qing, Wen Ning and A-Yuan came!"

Lan Wangji felt extreme relief wash over him. So it was not Xue Yang, and certainly not recently. It seemed more like when Wen Ruohan had been gaining his powers, he had searched far and wide for any possibilities of controlling the Yin iron. And since the war was already over and the said Chief cultivator dead, the knowledge had not done Wen Ruohan any good.

Wei Ying was now looking at Lan Wangji with a doubtful expression: "But I do not think they will bother us anymore; they have become walking corpses already."

Lan Wangji shrugged a bit when the boy was talking this casually about death. But it was probably only just another example of how his beliefs and experience had been distorted by living in the Burial Mounds. He had to get Wei Ying away from here and show him that the world had also something else to offer than a pile of black dust and cold wind, only one hostile place crawling with fierce corpses and resentful spirits and suffocating the unfortunate visitors with resentful energy.

To reassure Wei Ying who was still looking at him slightly alarmed, he nodded and agreed: "No, they will not cause any trouble anymore. You have protected the children well."

Upon hearing this praise, Wei Ying beamed at him and Lan Wangji knew that he no longer would have to worry about the boy not trusting him. Perhaps now that Wei Ying had already shared one piece of information about his past with him, he would be more open to tell him even more.

But not right at this moment, Lan Wangji realized when he felt his stomach growling. He was sure Wei Ying was extremely hungry, just as the other children. First things first, he had to get the food to them immediately. Only then would he be able to think about something else.