Restart | Xue Yang

Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Mo Dao Zu Shi and The Untamed do not belong to me. The settings, characters, and plot belong, respectively, to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu and the screenwriters of The Untamed. Here, only the plot of this fanfiction and my four OCs, Huang Minghui / Lan Minghui, Lan Biyun, Li Xingsi / Wei Xingsi, and Bai Yilian / Nie Yilian, are my creations. And an important reminder that this ISN'T REAL; please value your lives and do not try to get hit by a car to get this sort of adventure.

Breakfast had just finished when a disciple of the Qinghe Nie Sect ran up to Nie Mingjue, alerting him that the Qishan Wen Sect had launched an attack. Everyone immediately grabbed their weapons, dashing outside to fight back against the Wens.

Gradually, Lan Minghui slipped back until she was close enough to the dungeons, searching for Xue Yang. When he came running out, Lan Minghui, pretending that she didn't know what happened, asked, "A-Yang! What are you doing out here?"

"Meng Yao let me out," he answered, unsheathing Jiangzai.

"Hide!" Lan Minghui ordered. "Please be careful! I don't want you to be dragged back to Qishan!"

It was at that moment when a Wen disciple ran over, shouting, "I found Xue--!"

With a swing of Huari, the Wen disciple was sliced across the throat, killed.

Lan Minghui swallowed, trying not to flinch. This, she believed, was the first time she actually killed someone. Malicious spirits, yaos, ghosts, and monsters of all types she'd killed and exorcised, but this was the first, actual human. Trying to shake the queasiness away, she reminded herself that this would be the first person out of possibly hundreds of people that she would have to kill.

Once she was reassured that Xue Yang was hidden away, Lan Minghui ran back to the battle, finding Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Wei Xingsi, fighting alongside them.

***************

Lan Minghui and Xue Yang mounted their swords, flying back to the Cloud Recesses. As she took a glance at the younger boy, Lan Minghui asked, "Are you nervous about seeing Grandmaster Lan?"

"Could be worse," Xue Yang answered, smiling bravely.

When they landed in Caiyi Town, they walked the rest of the distance back to the Cloud Recesses. Despite Xue Yang's strong front, Lan Minghui could feel the slight anxiety he was radiating.

"Welcome back, Lan-er-xiaojie," one of the disciples on guard at the gate greeted her. "...Xue-shidi?"

Xue Yang nodded.

"We'll be on our way to see Lan-xiansheng now. Be careful and be extra vigilant; the Qishan Wen Sect just attacked the Unclean Realm," Lan Minghui explained.

As they walked up the steps, Lan Minghui mused over who was more jittery right now; was it Xue Yang, busy thinking about how to face Lan Qiren, or was it her, stressing over the Qishan Wen Sect's soon-coming attack?

Several heads turned curiously in their direction as the two of them walked through the Cloud Recesses, while others greeted them politely. Lan Minghui and Xue Yang knocked on the door of Lan Qiren's study, waiting to be let in.

"Come in," Lan Qiren called.

Shooting Xue Yang a look that told him to let her go in first, Lan Minghui stepped over the threshold and into the study, saluting her uncle. "Shufu."

"Lan-xiansheng."

Lan Qiren was so surprised by the presence of Xue Yang that he almost forgot to return the greetings.

"While we were out hunting for the Yin Iron, we ran into him," Lan Minghui started. "Let's start from the beginning, when A-Yang left the sect."

"When I left the Gusu Lan Sect two years ago, I told Lan-er-guniang that I left because I felt like there were too many rules restraining me here," Xue Yang said. "The real reason, however, was because of coercion and threatening from Wen Ruohan, delivered to me through his disciples."