THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 5 : New Old Faces

The seven pairs of eyes that had been wary of the demonic form- narrow and tense- were now wide in a mixture of surprise and shock when the previously thought lifeless forms of Mo Ziyuan and the servant jumped into action. With their teeth and claw-like fingers, they fought against Madame Mo with everything they seemed to have in the way of biting uncovered skin and clawing at her face.

There were so many questions Lan Sizhui wanted to ask at that moment, yet he knew none of them were questions he could ask in their current predicament or in a proper manner towards a certain individual, and decided instead to watch the fight closely.

Even with the current two-to-one odds of the undead Mo Ziyuan and the servant boy versus Madame Mo, the spirit possessing the Madame now was somehow stronger than it had previously been in either of the two. With quick and powerful movements, the woman quickly threw the two undead puppets aside and was preparing to attack the team of Lan disciples watching the fight.

While Wei Meifeng had initially resigned herself to sit on the sidelines, she began to summon up enough energy to step in and break her cover to help them. There would be in no way she could walk away from the estate without worrying for these simple disciples that were up against a ferocious spirit like this one. However, that bit of energy she was summoning was not needed as a musical chime from a seven stringed Guqin suddenly echoed through the air, sending a wave of pure spirit repressing power down at its target with such precision and force that the skillful act was enviable by many who knew who had played the tune.

Wei Meifeng did not have to see this person's face to know that Lan Wangji, the famous Second Jade of the Gusu Lan Sect and younger brother of its Sect leader who answered anyone's cry for help, had shown up just in time.

Dressed in the Lan clan's signature flowing white cloud robes with a long white headband neatly tied around his forehead, Wei Meifeng could see the thirteen years she had been gone from this world had been kind to him. Comparing his current presence to the last time she saw him, he had a tempered aura of controlled power that he hadn't possessed before. Even during the last time she had seen him, Lan Wangji still had a residual tendency to lose his composure whenever flustered, though that had mostly been caused by her antics back then.

Seeing Lan Wangji before her like this stirred something deep in Meifeng's heart that she couldn't help but struggle to swallow in her chest.

How would Lan Wangji react to finding out Wei Meifeng was back after thirteen years? They had been close before her death, being engaged before they had drifted apart, but had he moved on? Would he notify the greatest of the cultivation families of her return? Would he turn his back on her, hating her for the stupid decisions she made in her previous life? Or would Lan Wangji kill her himself out of belief that their previous relationship landed him the responsibility?

She couldn't take any more of her insides twisting at the sight of him or these thoughts of a confrontation with Lan Wangji, so Wei Meifeng turned on her heel to flee from the estate. It was too risky regardless of 'what if's' to see what would happen, even if Mo Xiemei wasn't considered a suspect of her family's sudden deaths. Sooner or later, something would happen, and Wei Meifeng didn't feel like dying twice.

Finding her donkey eating outside the front gates, she took off as fast as she could; now that Lan Wangji was there, he would take care of the situation she had ultimately caused. At least she could leave with a lightened heart knowing that Mo Xiemei's last desire for revenge would be fulfilled, no matter how it turned out. As the night grew longer, Meifeng left Mo Village without looking back even once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without the use of a candle to tell the time, Meifeng could only guess the time was around five in the morning as she and Apple ventured through a forest that they had come to several minutes after leaving Mo Village. It was a small forest, but it seemed to stretch on and on as the thick amounts of trees seemed to surround her on all sides. Thankfully, she had the company of the donkey she had named Little Apple, who faithfully followed a ripe orb that bounced in front of its eyes, Meifeng holding the branch that the fruit dangled from. The creature had become stubborn to leave into the forest at first, but with the sweet food dangled in his path, there wasn't anywhere he wouldn't go to have it as Meifeng complimented him. "Good boy, Little Apple! They say that dogs are man's best friend, but you are the apple of my eye, my friend." Wiggling the fruit in a circle in front of the steed caused their pace to pick up for a short time as they continued their nightly traveling.