The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 53 - Black mist

As the purple lightning crashed down on the outside of the temple, Lan Wangji was still holding Jin Ling in a tight hold. With everything that happened, the golden boy had completely forgotten about his ability to free himself at any time.

Now, he didn't even think about it anymore.

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His whole body was on fire.

Only a second before, he has felt like he was floating. Pulled into a soft blanket, lulled in by the comforting darkness and dreamless sleep. He didn't know what had happened before, nor what happened right now, nor what would happen in the future.

He simply existed within this space, unknown of what was truly happening to him.

Until there was this shock through his whole body, like he was forcibly pulled back like a robber band. And when his whole body felt like it was crashing against a stone wall, he was awake at once.

Gasping and shaking, his whole body convulsed and a sharp stream of bad blood shot up his airway. In the need of air, it broke out between his lips. Some desperate coughs made his throat raw, but there was no thought wasted on that right now.

His whole mind was a mess, no thoughts being able to be truly formed.

"Young master!", he heard from the side and a hand slowly rubbed across his upper back, trying to help the blood leave from his body, nudging it into the right direction. There was no energy filling or helping him, but the motion was enough to let the rest of the bad blood out of his lungs, forcing it to drip down his chin.

Another figure joined the first next to him and as it held his dark brown hair from his bloody mouth, his mind woke enough to let a feeling of shame creep up his spine.

"Let – Let me", he rasped between the breaths he needed to take, not even impressing himself.

Everything was dark around him for a few seconds until his eyes finally registered the candlelight around him, but not only that. An eerie energy was flowing all around them, filling his lung, making it burn and hunting goosebumps over his flesh. It made his body shudder from a whole different reason.

"Young Master Jin, let us care for you here. This is no situation to turn back help", the voice repeated and finally, Jin Ling's mind was clear enough to register the clan leader of the Lan kneeling next to himself, talking in a hushed but strained voice. Right beside Lan Xichen, there were the golden eyes of Hanguang-jun. Not truly on himself, as they were only glimpsing on his form for a second before quickly settling on another thing in the distance.

His whole body was tense and some of his face muscles twitched, as if Lan Wangji needed to hold himself back from moving. Whatever he looked at, it apparently brought him great distress.

Only then did Jin Ling grasp his surroundings, right after he followed the direction and his eyes widened considerably. Like a punch in the gut, he turned his head and was almost blinded by the bright red light of the array in front of him.

What felt like seconds before he was in Lotus Pier. A total difference as now, he laid on the floor of a temple surrounded by his own soldiers, with Lan Minshan and Xue Yang within the bloody array. Where he was fighting beside his uncle Jiang before, now he was in this eerie dark place.

Lan Yuan, the dragon child, right in the middle of the bloody array, his body surrounded by a flame that would be able to burn his body to ashes but didn't and Wei Wuxian at the side, his body slumped and eyes closed.