Solstice Souls Book 2: Black Fire, White Flame

The Eye of the Storm

Lan Zhan POV

Chaos.

Raw power erupted from his Wei Ying and Lan Zhan was now looking into the face of a stranger...and that voice...it did not belong to his Wei Ying.

Cold, hard, full of vengeance, it held none of the warmth and joviality that Lan Zhan had come to associate with his beloved.

And he couldn't stand the difference.

When the Elders held him back and Lan Zhan was separated from his lover, just before that...he sensed a disturbance....there was something foreign here, something that did not belong. He had been so close to following its thread, a fragile link to something powerful...but not as powerful as Wei Ying.

It hurt to see his Wei Ying on the ground, to have swords pointed at him, to hear his own Uncle Qiren say those venomous words, his poison a living, breathing thing...but even for Lan Qiren, those words were a step too far.

Lan Zhan was torn between his family and wanting to save Wei Ying because that was the most important here and now...but a part of him recognised that something bigger was going on here. Wei Ying had never lost control like this and up till now, Lan Zhan had somehow managed to calm him down...and he had the feeling that, had they been alone right now, things would not have escalated to this extent.

But his instincts were making him scan the room, looking...looking...looking for something...what? What was increasing his agitation?

His relief at Wei Ying being able to break free from his captives was extremely short-lived; this was not Wei Ying. At least, not the Wei Ying he had come to love...no, this was a stranger.

And even then, Lan Zhan could not help but admire him, the way his robes fluttered upon the clouds of resentful energy, lifting him up like a God, while his red eyes, his beautiful red eyes glittered like rubies. Even his hair...there were flecks of red accents in between the deep ebony of his natural colour, and all the while, he shone with life and vitality, as if by just breathing, he was thwarting those that wished him harm.

Wei Ying would never hurt anyone...not unless he felt attacked. And in this volatile room, full of anger, jealousy and hatred, it was making it so difficult for everyone to calm down...and Lan Zhan had an idea, just a suspicion right now, but he needed help.

The resentful energy here was gaining momentum and power, and Lan Zhan knew he had to do something before it raged out of control. His heart hurt seeing everyone he knew, had known from childhood, wearing faces twisted in anger and hate. This was not the Lan Clan.

Where were their grounding skills? Where was their innate desire for peace and calm? Their meditations on self control? To look at them now, no one would believe that these were practising cultivators in their prime, able to practise the path of immortality.

They were like dogs, hounds starved before a hunting party, bloodthirsty and vicious.

And this factor alone had Lan Zhan searching for an explanation.

In his experience of night hunting in general, if something looked off, then the chances were, there was something fishy going on, and right now his instincts were going into overdrive.

Something else was here, feeding off their emotions.

There was no time to explain to his Xiongzhang what he had to do.

"Zhen Jing! ZHEN JING!" One final time, and this time, his voice was desperate. "ZHEN JING!"

Blue fire erupted suddenly, hot and cold and everything in between. Waves of calming energy, opposite to the black tendrils of resentment energy, so strong and seemingly too powerful, were beaten back slowly but surely.