Between the Lines: Mo Dao Zu Shi Story Collections

Hurting (pt. 2)

Summary: After the incident in the caves, more fierce corpses begin to appear and attack villages all around the land. They finally corner the culprit who had been raising the dead, but they are met with misfortune as a resentful spirit infects Wei Ying with the Devil's Mark. Jin Ling attempts to save his uncle, and put to rest the unspoken hurt between them.

Warning: angst, based off of the Donghua (episode 19)

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The group scatters, with Wei Ying leading the enemy away.

"Using demonic cultivation against its own founder is kind of ironic, don't you think?" he says as the person continues to play the Pai Xiao. "I think it would be poetic justice to be killed by your own evil," comes the reply from their enemy, Hui Bao.

Wei Ying is knocked to the ground by a dark wisp of smoke, which begins to choke him. His vision blurs and he begins to cough up blood. He is out of Talismans and he has no way of playing his flute, as it was knocked to the ground, lost in the bushes.

"These are the victims of your acts of cruelty from the past. The clans don't want to punish you, then fine. I'll do it for them!"

"Senior Wei!" the juniors cry as they try to fend of their own opponents—other wisps of smoke or puppets. "Uncle!" Jin Ling knocks the remaining puppets around him onto the ground, savagely stabbing one in the chest. He rushes to Wei Ying, who has gone unconscious at this point. Jin Ling throws a fire talisman at the cloud of smoke, which wails as it dissipates into the air.

Wei Wuxian falls to the ground with a thud. Jin Ling scrambles to his uncle, lifting his head and shaking his shoulders. "Uncle! Uncle Wei, wake up!" he looks up to his companions who were busy fighting, and instantly calls out to the one that first crosses his mind. "Sizhui! Help me!"

Sizhui turns to look and finishes his own opponents quickly. He rushes to his foster parent, hurriedly checking his pulse as Jin Ling starts to tear up. The young Lan sighs in relief, nodding at Jin Ling in affirmation. "He's alive. He'll be okay."

"You pesky little brats! Stay out of my way!"

Hui Bao screeches, summoning a resentful spirit to attack the three. The puppet raises its sword and strikes, but is blocked by dark blade with a blue and gold hilt. Zizhen angrily holds his sword, before turning to look behind him. "Take Senior Wei out of here! Jingyi, Ghost General and I can handle the rest."

Wen Ning appears from the trees, having been occupied by a pile of walking bodies before they were cornered by the madman.

Sizhui lifts Wei Ying onto his back while Jin Ling fends off anyone that tries to approach them. They run off into the forest, coming to a stop by a steep hill. They prop Wei Ying up against a boulder, squatting down to take a good look at his condition, and Sizhui sighs. "Jin Ling, stay with Xian-ge. I have to go help Zizhen and the rest."

"But—!"

"It will be alright. Just stay with him," Sizhui says, smiling reassuringly at the younger male and patting his shoulder. He places a cylinder on Jin Ling's lap before getting up. He rushes back to where the came from, his sword already drawn.

Jin Ling sighs and looks at his uncle. He recalls Lan Sect's second head doing something at times like these. He takes a deep breath and focuses his qi, and passing it to Wei Ying. It takes a few minutes until the man stirs, but is still unconscious—his brows knitted together as if he was in pain. Jin Ling frowns before looking at the thing on his lap, realizing it was a signal firework.

He stops transferring his energy for a moment and opens the cylinder, sending a signal of purple mixed with blue and a hint of red. The colors give away exactly who the flare belongs to—someone who is of the Jiang clan and the Lan clan, and with an association to the Wens. It does not take a genius to figure out who is in distress. It was firework designed by Wei Ying.