THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 11 : Time Immemorial - Part 4 : Something in the water

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After a surprise attack by water ghouls in the town even though the creatures were supposedly confined to Emerald Lake, it was apparent the situation was more dire than they had originally thought, and decided it would be best to go to the source of their problems... and what a mistake that had turned out to be. Traveling onto Emerald Lake with half a dozen gondolas, the disciples of Gusu Lan were met with high cliffs on either side of them that rose into the sky as they followed the path of thin, black tendrils that muddled the water's clean surface until they came to a net put there by the Wen Clan in order to keep any unfriendly spirits from moving downstream.

Dipping her hand into the water, Meifeng's hand came back tangled with the same strands she had seen in the water after the ghouls had attacked them, leaving a strange sensation of anticipation bury itself in Meifeng's stomach as she looked over the lake for any signs of the ghouls. However, it was not her find nor anything else that caught her attention at that very moment. Based on earlier decisions as they had rented the six boats from a merchant who could no longer sell them to fishermen on Emerald lake, Lan Wangji was the only one to stand in his boat, yet the boat was drifting heavier in the water as if carrying more people.

Deciding to investigate without drawing attention to the problem, Meifeng playfully splashed some water at Wangji, forcing the man onto his brother's boat. "Wei Meifeng, can't you be serious for once!?" Jiang Cheng cried out at her, his voice echoing off the steep hillside around them.

However, as other cries of indignation called out for Meifeng to explain herself, she pooled her strength into the bamboo-pole to flip it upside down, causing those around to gasp in shock at the black sight of three water ghouls hanging onto Wangji's boat before they were destroyed by a quick spell. Lan Xichen, who had been quietly watching the whole ordeal, was somewhat impressed at the girl's actions, however unnecessary they might have been. It proved to him that Wei Meifeng of Yunmeng Jiang was far more observant than she appeared.

Deciding to further confirm this thought of Wei Meifeng, he spoke up. "Ms. Wei, how could you have possibly noticed that those ghouls were there on Wangji's boat?" Meifeng answered with a cocky grin, targeted towards his brother, but also in his direction in a polite sense... Wei Meifeng was a strange girl.

Slightly bowing her head now, Meifeng stood straight again as she explained to him. "That is easy to say... even though Lan Wangji was the only one in his boat, it sat lower than that of a boat with two people. I figured that either something was wrong with the boat itself, or something was hanging underneath it." Lan Xichen nodded, impressed even more with her deduction that he had not noticed himself as he looked casually over at his younger brother, who dared not even look at Wei Meifeng.

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Not a few minutes passed after the discovery of the three water ghouls that Meifeng's odd feeling finally came to pass in the form of a fleet of ghouls, flying at them not unlike fish jumping upstream into a running waterfall, and a black presence alerting them to take to the skies on their swords. Meifeng, however, stopped short when she saw a disciple of Lan unable to take off after sending his sword to fight whatever was within the water's murky depths, struggling not to capsize into the white water. The raging current of water twisting itself around the panicking individual did not help either as the Lan lost his composure.

Foregoing her own safety, Meifeng plunged head first into the pool after the boy when she saw his craft had been weakened by the ferocious beasts below, and just as she would return out of reach with the others... something had grabbed ahold of her ankle, refusing to let go of its prey like a demented evil that had taken shape in the dark. Deeper and deeper she went, holding her breath even when it felt as if her chest would break at the pressure on top of her, and whether it was the pain bubbling inside her or something else entirely, she saw a strange red light that was beckoning her to come towards it...

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Just for a moment, her vision had gone black. She could neither see nor hear anything but the racing of her heart. Had she perhaps died in the hands of that evolved water ghoul that had dragged her away from the frightened eyes of her peers and Jiang Cheng? Away from Lan Wangji, whose face she could have sworn broke into a very un-Lan like expression of fear when she had been brought back under.

Suddenly there was light around her like a warm blanket that had laid in the afternoon sun, cradling her gently as her eyes fluttered to open themselves to see what had happened, but her body's sluggishness made this more of a struggle than waking up for Gusu's morning curfew on a weekend. Fighting back at the feeling, her bright silver eyes had seen the clear blue sky before she had noticed what was holding her... or rather, who.

The rustling of a white shoulder had clued her in that it was one of the Lan disciples who had rescued her from a very unflattering death by drowning, but no one else other than Lan Wangji had those piercing golden eyes like the watchful gaze of a hawk that saw all of her flaws as they were with a reluctant acceptance, knowing it was what made Meifeng who she was... and was holding her freaking princess-style!? "Lan.... Zhan? Why ... are you holding me like this?"

The man said nothing in reply to her accusing question, avoiding her gaze as they drifted out of reach from the swirling whirlpool accumulating under their feet as the brightening sky surrounded their figures, yet his grip on her body under her legs and shoulders only tightened somewhat. This action caused Meifeng to questionably look up at Wangji, and in the breaking sunlight that blinded her sight, she could see a trace of red dusting a pale ear that peeked from under a dark curtain of hair for the briefest of moments as their group gathered on the lake's shore.

Returning to the water-side town as a sky was lit in a brilliant sunset, while not all voiced their opinion, their concern for the villagers themselves did not decrease as what they had witnessed was not natural for a location that had not suffered such tragedy to birth a monster like what they had just faced.

Sorry for not updating like I do every 5 days! Take this chapter as an apology and enjoy! Still working btw on ch31, but you will have it by the time this story gets that far!