Way too untamed, way too wild

Successful musical cultivation

Everyone looked up upon hearing the eerie and mocking laughter. Most of the cultivators gasped as they recognized the man flying on the sword above their heads, it was Xue Yang, the villain who had fled after the battle of the Nightless City. Then man who everyone suspected was in possession of the last Yin iron piece, making him on par with Wen Ruohan as he was an even stronger demonic cultivator.

Murmurs and shouts echoed over the grassy field and the cultivators' swords stopped immediately pointing towards Lan Wangji and Wei Ying and found another common target. Before anyone could do anything like start fighting or defending themselves, there was another wave of the maniacal laughter and then everything went to hell.

Swirls of resentful energy were emerging everywhere, both from the ground and from the direction of the Burial Mounds, seeping directly through the barrier. Not even a second later, the whole field got dark as the resentment would not let the sunlight come through anymore. The black, ice cold tendrils were all around them and the cultivators were desperately fighting them in order to not end up encircled by them and lifted into the air as it had already happened to some of their comrades. The situation looked truly dire.

Lan Wangji was deciding between joining the battle, although knowing fully well that he would not make much difference, it was clear that their side was quickly loosing, and going back inside the Burial Mounds to check on the children. He dreaded the worst; not only had he taken Wei Ying away from them and had no idea if the protective barrier the boy had created was still in place, but Xue Yang had emerged from exactly the same spot and he was afraid that he had hurt the children on his way to confront the cultivators.

His panic was suddenly stopped by a completely unexpected sound. He turned around and saw Wei Ying with his flute at his lips, playing an unknown eerie melody. It was clear he was concentrating on something very much.

When Lan Wangji heard shocked gasps and shouts from behind him, he turned back to look at the cultivators. At once, he understood what was going on. The tendrils of the resentful energy stopped attacking and were now slowly retreating back to the Burial Mounds. Wei Ying must have been controlling them using musical cultivation. Lan Wangji marvelled for a split second at the fact that the boy had apparently learned from the Burial Mounds not even an hour ago and he was already excelling in it.

Everyone seemed ecstatic that the flow of the battle had turned. Some of the cultivators had even gotten onto their swords and were now flying to attack Xue Yang. The demonic cultivator however quickly understood the danger he was running and spotted who had ruined his perfect plan. He darted onto the ground, took his sword in his hand and was already sprinting to where Wei Ying was standing, his murderous intent clearly showing on his face.

Since he was approaching from behind, Wei Ying was standing between him and Lan Wangji. The Second Jade could see the attacking sword and he could only yell in utter horror, trying to warn the boy against the danger: "Wei Ying!"

Luckily, the boy understood and turned around, facing Xue Yang. The melody he was playing changed and the black swirls of resentful energy came back and surrounded Xue Yang from all sides, making him resemble a cocooned caterpillar. Only his face remained free and Lan Wangji could see his unbelieving and furious grimace as he tried to struggle from the resentment imprisoning him. He was shouting something but Lan Wangji could not find it in himself to care.

He was so amazed by what was happening in front of him that he only remembered just how exhausted Wei Ying had already been before intervening in the battle which he had nothing in common with, the battle he should not have known nor cared about. He only took part in it because Lan Wangji had brought him out of his home, and also probably because he had said his family was the one being attacked. He could clearly picture how horrified the boy would have been if Xue Yang had attacked the children instead of a group of cultivators.

Wei Ying swayed in place, visibly running out of his last reserves. Lan Wangji made a move to go catch him if he fell but the boy only shook his head and pointed at the restrained Xue Yang with his chin. The Second Jade immediately understood. If Wei Ying was to stop playing now, Xue Yang would get free and all the boy's efforts would have been for naught.

So, instead of running to help Wei Ying himself, Lan Wangji darted towards the captured demonic cultivator and took away his sword. The he started restraining him further with some spiritual energy ropes. Once again, he was left marvelling at the level of control Wei Ying had over the resentful energy. It did not hurt him once, only effectively stopping all Xue Yang's attempts at attacking or breaking himself free.

Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen joined him in a matter of seconds and took over his self-appointed task. He let them finish taking the demonic cultivator prisoner and he quickly went back to Wei Ying.

It was a high time too. The boy was clearly hanging to his consciousness by sheer willpower. He was now swaying so dangerously that Lan Wangji was surprised he did not yet drop to the ground. His face was deathly pale and his whole body was shivering with the efforts to keep going. When Lan Wangji finally arrived to his side, the boy just let himself sag to the ground, the Second Jade barely catching him in time to ease his landing.

He kissed his forehead to let him know he was safe and whispered into his ear: "Wei Ying it is fine, we have won. You can rest now. Thank you for saving everyone."

Wei Ying however shook his head and stubbornly refused to stop playing. Lan Wangji could not understand why. The battle was won and there was no more resentful energy here to control. Yet he could feel the power emanating from the boy's music, he still wanted to accomplish something, what, Lan Wangji did not know.

He felt ashamed of himself the next second as he was following the boy's eyes and saw that the barrier around the Burial Mounds started to part open in one place. He could have sworn he saw a more prominent dark figure just next to the place but he could not have been sure if it truly was the manifestation of the Burial Mounds or not.

It was just a small opening but the children Lan Wangji had all but forgotten about until now were immediately running outside. Wei Ying continued to play until Wen Ning and Wen Qing stepped outside of the barrier as well.

As soon as everyone was outside, the music stopped abruptly and to Lan Wangji's horror, Wei Ying's head fell limply onto his chest. The boy lost consciousness. Only the erratic breaths were proof that he was still alive with how pale and still he suddenly was.