(END)Wei wuxian is back but something is wrong

a old gohst....

Wei Wuxian’s breath caught in her throat.

She stared at the figure before her—herself, but wrong. The red glow in the other Wei Wuxian’s eyes pulsed like embers, flickering with something deep, something ancient.

Lan Wangji stepped forward, placing himself slightly in front of her, Bichen raised. His voice was steady, but his grip was tight.

— What are you?

The other Wei Wuxian’s smile widened.

— What am I? — she echoed, tilting her head. — Wei Ying should know, shouldn’t she?

Wei Wuxian’s fingers twitched against the red ribbon.

— I have no idea what you’re talking about.

The other her let out a quiet laugh.

— Liar.

The chamber shuddered. The walls pulsed, as if they were alive, and the red veins of energy running along the stone flared. The laughter—her laughter—echoed, curling around them like mist.

Wei Wuxian clenched her jaw.

She wasn’t stupid. Whatever this was, it wasn’t just a ghost or a spirit. This was something older. Something tied to the Burial Mounds, to the years she had spent here, to the resentment that had seeped into the earth itself.

— You’re the thing that was watching me back then, aren’t you? — she said slowly.

The other her took a step forward. Her robes barely moved, as if she weren’t entirely bound by the rules of this world.

— Oh, I was always here, — she purred. — I watched. I listened. And when you left, I waited.

A pause.

Then she smiled again.

— But now, you’ve come back. And this time… you won’t leave.

Wei Wuxian felt the shift before she saw it.

The ground cracked. Shadows burst from beneath their feet, twisting upward, grabbing.

Lan Wangji moved in an instant, swinging Bichen, but the darkness surged around them, faster than before.

Wei Wuxian’s instincts screamed—this wasn’t just a battle.

This was a trap.

And she had walked right into it.