Wei Wuxian gave up his golden core to save is martial brother's life. Now that he no longer can cultivate like everyone else, he felt he had no place in the war to come or in the cultivation world, period, so he disappears.
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian...
I went through my treatment again before Lan Zhan and I were to leave. I'd bring my mask along but for the most part, he and I were only to be in the burial mounds and a mountain. I spent three days recovering this time after my treatment to make sure I was okay to travel. Lan Zhan had asked Wen Qing for emergency medical supplies for the trip. As much as we would consider having more people come along, I needed Wen Ning and my disciples at San Bao to keep everyone safe.
After my rest, we gathered a little bit more supplies like non-perishable foods and some water, and also clean robes, and headed on our way. I wore my mask until we reached the boundaries of the Burial Mounds. Like before, the burial Mounds had an enchanted barrier not only to keep people out, but to keep the evil within from leaving.
"I can use one of my talismans to create a small breach. It will be open long enough for us to get through. We will need to be careful from here," I told him.
Lan Zhan nodded and took out his guqin, "I can use this to create a protective shield around us. It won't be big but it's enough to keep the resentful energy from touching us."
"What else can that instrument of yours do?" I asked as I took out my flute. I knew tunes to play to keep resentment away.
"You will just have to wait and see for yourself," Lan Zhan said.
I chuckled and pulled out a black sheet of talisman paper. To make it stronger, I used a small bit of my blood to write the incantation and threw it at the barrier. We quickly got inside before the barrier sealed up once more. We could immediately feel the energy inside and it was very cold. Lan Zhan didn't have to worry as he had a golden core to keep himself warm and protected. As for me, I had no such luxury and had to deal with the cold. Lan Zhan seemed to have noticed and removed his outer most robe and had me wear it.
"Lan Zhan?" I questioned taking a step away from him.
"All of my robes have protection charms. In inner robes and my outer robes. They also help keep you warm. You need the extra protection," he said as he tried to help me put it on.
I sighed and let him do what he wanted. I had to admit, I was immediately warmer when I wore it. I could also feel the enchantments embedded into it. It explains why the Lan Sect's robes were always so clean and durable, "thank you," I told him.
"Mnn," he nodded, "let's get moving. The longer we are here the more dangerous things will get."
Two of the three ingredients for the elixir were here. The Ganoderma, a mushroom, that grew in wood. There were a lot of trees but they were dead and I didn't see any mushroom that I was needing specifically.
We entered further and we reached more open area. There was a rock cliff but a cave was visible. Beside the cave there were trees. I spotted the mushroom right away. I took out my Qiankun pouch used to hold ingredients for elixirs and medicine, and grabbed the amount I needed.
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"One ingredient down, two to go," I said, looking at Lan Zhan.
He nodded, "there might be other caves to look at but since there is this one, do you wish to look inside?" He asked.
"We might as well," I said and we slowly entered the cave. I picked up a branch off the ground and wrapped an old cloth around the top. I then used a fire talisman to light it to use as a torch. The cave was dark inside so we needed light.
"I could have just taken out my sword," Lan Zhan said, "it gives off light."
"I already went through the trouble of making it. I can also use it as a weapon if need be," I told him.
"Stay close to me," he demanded as we walked through the cave.
I didn't say anything. I just did as he wanted. He was here to help me and he was the stronger of the two of us. I also promised that I would only fight if it was an emergency and he needed help. The cave seemed to go on for a long time but we spotted no signs of the black lotus flower. So we exited the cave and started to look for more caves. The only clue we have is that the flower was found deep with a cave, there was no specifics on which cave it was. We found two other caves and they had nothing in them.
We soon came across a larger cave than the ones we have seen. It also looked like it was once habitable, "the stories of Xue Chonghai? Is this his old cave?" I asked.
"It looks like the one many described," Lan Zhan said.
Xue Chonghai was the inventor of the infamous Yin Iron. He sacrificed people to grow resentful energy inside a special type of metal that could absorb spiritual energy, creating Yin Metal. In order to increase the power of his Yin Metal, Xue Chonghai controlled the Xuanwu of Slaughter to eat souls of many people, including cultivators. With the heavy resentful energy he obtained, he learned to snatch spirits to making living corpse puppets.
"Do you think the flower is within this one?" I asked.
"It's a possibility," Lan Zhan said, "let's have a look."
I nodded and followed him inside. It was dark upon first entry, but after a few steps, torches lit up on their own. It was as if they were enchanted to light whenever someone stepped inside. There was old furniture here and even some old books and scrolls lying about. I couldn't help but be curious and looked through a couple.
"These are instructions for some sort of array," I said.
Lan Zhan came to my side and looked, "what for?"
"I am not sure, but if it's here, it can't be good. If there is an array, it's possible that it can bring something bad. Especially if it used to belong to Xue Chonghai," I said.
"The writing on most of these pages look like they were of the old texts," Lan Zhan pointed out, "not many people know how to read it these days...unless you have access in your sect."
I smiled, "I don't know how I learned...maybe when I was younger and still with my parents," I told him, "but I can read it. Though it is old, it is similar to the common texts we use today. It isn't too hard to understand if you look closely," he explained.
Lan Zhan nodded, "you are always smart," he added.
"Many people think that I am not. I read but not the boring things that most cultivators have to read. I read so much of those as a kid that I read too far ahead of my peers. I can now only read something that I find interesting. Otherwise I knew most of the things being taught in classes," I explained.
"It explains your behavior back at Gusu back then," Lan Zhan said, "but it also makes sense."
I nodded, "though I am sure no one other than us would ever come here, I do not think these things should be laying out in the open. I think we should take them and look further into them before deciding on whether or not to destroy them."
"Mnn," Lan Zhan agreed.
We collected every page, scroll, and book we came across. It was something we could look more into back at my workshop. For the time being it was safer in our hands than to leave them for someone to be brave enough to enter like we did and take them for other purposes.
