𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐚 ⚣︎ mo dao zu shi x male reader

thirty-nine.

come morning, wei wuxian destroyed the array with ease.

meanwhile, lan y/n remained with his older brother, the both of them were sitting a few feet away so wei wuxian could perform his ritual in peace.

lan wangji asked, "how are you feeling?"

y/n lifts his head to look at his older brother, but he ends up looking away. "i'm okay, er-ge. just... a little tired."

y/n sighs deeply. lan wangji gently rubs his brother's back, his brows creased slightly as a sign of worry.

"i'll be fine, er-ge, i promise." y/n looks up at his older brother and tries to show him a smile.

lan wangji gently pats him on the back, just as a few junior disciples from the gusu lan clan, arrived. the previous night, after jiang cheng left with his nephew, lan wangji set off a signal fire to alert junior disciples to come to his location. they arrived sooner than expected, and with lan sizhui in the lead, there were at least five disciples with him.

"hanguang-jun." lan sizhui bows to the senior as soon as he lands, then he turns to lan y/n, who was behind lan wangji. he bows to him as well and greets, "r/n-shixiong."

lan jingyi lands after him and does the same, but with a bigger, more excited grin on his lips. "hanguang-jun, shixiong." he bows to them respectively.

lan wangji nods his head at the two in acknowledgement before waving them off. the two disciples immediately understood and went to work. the juniors scurried around the area, checking all of the scattered bodies for clues before fixing their positions and paying respect.

y/n shook his head. "er-ge, i'm going to go look for nearby clues."

lan wangji places a hand on his little brother's shoulder. "take a junior." he says, visibly worried for his little brother.

y/n smiled, patting his older brother on the arm. "i'll be fine. besides, i won't be going too far." y/n chuckled, releasing his hold on his older brother's hand.

lan wangji releases his hold as well, but the worried look on his face doesn't go away.

"send a signal flare if you're in trouble." he tells his little brother just as the younger of the two walks away.

chuckling, y/n raises his hand and waves goodbye to his older brother. he disappeared behind the shadows of the trees as he began looking around for any clues that might help in the investigation. y/n looked around, his nose sniffing the air for anything out of place.

there was only the stench of decay. the scent was faint at first, but y/n decides to investigate it anyways. he follows the scent trail, walking further and further away from the group as the smell grows stronger and stronger. soon enough, the smell overwhelmed y/n's senses. he covered his nose with his sleeves as he approaches the source of the smell.

the horrible stench was coming from a dirt mound guarded by an old lady. she was the same one from the village, the crazy lady who screamed at them before crawling away on all fours. she was playing with a small and terribly worn-down rattle drum, and she seemed to be enjoying herself. she notices y/n standing there and she smiles widely. y/n bows slightly as a greeting to the lady. she crawls towards him, her tattered clothes getting dirty as she dragged herself across the floor towards y/n.

smiling, she pushes the rattle drum in his hands.

"this is...?" y/n raises a brow as he looks down at the woman.

he gives her a confused look, but she only smiles up at him, gesturing to the toy drum with a wide smile. she grunts at him, as if she were communicating. she motions to the rattle drum with her crooked fingers then makes a shaking motion to y/n. he was still confused, but he took that gesture as a sign to use the small toy.