Underneath The Moonlit Night

Chapter 56 - A Deal In The Dark

As Lan Xichen and Lan Xinming traversed the tranquil path back to the Cloud Recesses, Lan Xichen couldn't shake off the nagging concern about his nephew's peculiar reaction to the encounter with the enigmatic red-hooded figure. With a furrowed brow, he turned to Lan Xinming, his voice tinged with both curiosity and concern.

"Xinming," Lan Xichen began, "Why didn't you defend yourself? You're a Gusu Lan Clan cultivator. Surely, you could have summoned your spiritual power to protect yourself."

Lan Xinming's gaze faltered, his shoulders tensing slightly as he struggled to find the words. "Uncle... I did try," he confessed softly, his voice tinged with a hint of frustration. "But there was something... something unsettling about that person. It was like an unseen force, suffocating and suffusing the air around him."

Lan Xichen's confusion deepened, his brows knitting together in perplexity. "What do you mean? I perceived no imminent danger emanating from him." His tone was laced with genuine bewilderment, reflecting his inability to comprehend his nephew's apprehension.

Lan Xinming shook his head, his expression clouded with the memory of fear. "When you found me, he wasn't emitting any energy, but when he was threatening me..." He trailed off, his voice tinged with a shiver of remembered dread. "Uncle, I swear, his presence was suffocating. When he was chasing me down, I felt like a small prey, being hunted by a predator in the dark woods. Even though I couldn't see or hear him, I could feel his looming presence pressing down on me. It was... terrifying."

Lan Xichen listened intently, his brows furrowing deeper with each detail Lan Xinming revealed. His nephew's distress was palpable, and it left Lan Xichen grappling with a sense of unease.

"So you were so overcome with fear that you couldn't muster any of your spiritual power to defend yourself?" Lan Xichen inquired, his tone a mixture of concern and disbelief.

Lan Xinming closed his eyes, his steps coming to an abrupt halt. "I tried, Uncle. I really did," he confessed, his voice strained with frustration. "But it was like... his energy was a tidal wave, crashing over me and drowning out my own. It's hard to explain..."

Lan Xichen regarded his nephew with a mixture of concern and bewilderment. "His energy overwhelmed yours?" he echoed, struggling to comprehend the extent of the stranger's power. "That's... unprecedented."

As Lan Xichen mulled over the implications, memories of his encounter with the red-hooded man resurfaced. He had sensed nothing but an aura of foreignness, nothing to suggest the danger that Lan Xinming described. It left him grappling with the unsettling realization that there was more to this mysterious warrior than met the eye.

Lan Xinming resumed his steps, hastening to catch up to his uncle, he sensed the doubt lingering in Lan Xichen's mind like a stubborn shadow. "You might be doubting me," he began, his voice tinged with a hint of desperation, "but I assure you, Uncle, I'm not fabricating any of this. I wish I were. But I never want to experience anything like that again."

Lan Xichen turned to look at his nephew, his gaze meeting Lan Xinming's with a mixture of concern and realization. The terror etched on Lan Xinming's face was too genuine to dismiss, too raw to doubt. In that moment, Lan Xichen made a silent note to himself: to observe the mysterious stranger closely once the twenty-four-hour period had passed, to unravel the truth behind the unsettling encounter that had shaken his nephew to the core.

Lan Xichen and Lan Xinming returned to the solemn atmosphere of the Cloud Recesses, where the air in the Lan Meeting Hall hung heavy with gravity and focus. Lan Xichen's sharp eyes scanned the room, finally resting on Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, who were engaged in a murmured exchange near the entrance.