Enjoy the chapter! It's kinda long, like 2k+ words
***
"MianMian, your perfume sachet is wonderful. After i used it, bugs really stop coming and it makes me more relaxed too." One beautiful young maiden praised this 'MianMian'.
"Thank you, Hui Long. It contains of minced medicinal plants and is useful when your troubled. I’ve still got a couple left here. Do any of you want one?" MianMian stated in jubilant.
"I would like some!" This young maiden called Zhen Ying bawled.
"Zhen Ying? Didn't I give you one sachet already?" MianMian inquired with her head tilted a bit to the right.
"You did! I just wanted to give it to that handsome young master!" Zhen ying covered her red face with her left hand while she pointed at Wei Wuxian with her other hand.
"Oh my, Zhen Ying has a crush!" Her friends teased her. Some were smiling while some were giggling.
"Shut up! Just give me the sachet!" She ordered with her still red face. MianMian passed one of her pink pouches to her which she immediately ran towards the direction of Wei Wuxian.
"E-excuse me!" She stammered. Wei Wuxian turned around to be met with a pretty young maiden. "Yes?"
"I got this for you! It's a pouch with medicinal herbs! Sinec you're a cultivator, you may need it sometimes!" She exclaimed without skipping a beat. She felt better when the words were finally out but the thought of this cultivator who looked like he descended from heaven declining her offer was torture!
"Thank you and your hospitality." He took the pouch and bowed down to her which made her blush even more.
"A-ah, no problem!" She said before running away. "A'Xian, why do you always get gifts and flowers from others? It's making me jealous." Jiang Yanli whined and pouted at the same time which made Wei Wuxian's heart soften a bit, but still no emotions.
"Jie, he's just so good-looking that most maidens fall inlove with him at first sight!" Jiang Cheng praised with a big smirk. Jiang Yanli nodded her head agreeing to his statement.
Wei Wuxian couldn't bare the loud noises that his siblings were producing. Even though they were praising him, he hated loud noises.
He just started walking ahead while they conversed until the two Jiang siblings ran to chase after him.
***
"Young master and second young master wen is here!" A disciple announced.
Well and don't forget wen chao's spouse, Wang Lingjiao. She was one of the servants that Wen Chao kept by his side.
Since her spiritual power was weak, she couldn’t use those upper-level swords, which was the reason why she had a long branding iron stuffed in her waist.
"Oh god, not this pain." Jin Zixuan sighed and looked forward once again.
"You all should consider it your lucky day, as I, Wen Chao am feeling rather happy today." He made a smirk so wide that practically anyone could tell that something bad was bound to happen.
Wen Chao snapped his fingers and a wen disciple came infront of everyone with a big bag in his hands.
"One by one, hand over your swords, now" Wen Chao demanded.
"Our swords?! A cultivator needs their swords around with them everywhere they go!" A random disciple who had enough guts to talk back to Second Young Master Wen spoke.
"Hmph! Zhuliu! Get him!" Wen Chao looked at his servant who was standing next to him rush forward with his right hand glowing red.
The moment Wen Zhuliu's right hand touched the man's chest, the man fell down to his knees and was then immediately supported by Wei Wuxian.
"My core!" The man trembled wildly in wei wuxian's arms. A series of gasps were heard when they realised it was Wen Zhuliu!
"Shixiong!" Jiang Cheng pulled him back to their line by the back of his robes. "Don't do something so reckless like that! You could've gotten hurt!"
"My apologies." He spoke.
"Who was that?" Jiang Yanli questioned. "His name is Wen Zhuliu, otherwise known as 'core melting hand' his job is to protect Wen Chao, don't provoke him." Wei Wuxian revealed.
When the disciple approached them, wei wuxian unstrapped his sword and placed it in the box followed by two hesitant Jiangs.
***
While walking, Wei Wuxian could see that Lan Wangji's right leg contacted the ground lighter than his left, as though he couldn’t put any pressure on it.
But he chose not to say anything. The two just walked in a comfortable silence.
Suddenly, somebody shouted from the front, "Found it!"
It was a small hole in the ground, hidden quite well beneath an old tree and a bunch of leaves. The first reason as to why they couldn’t find it was that entrance was rather small, the second was that the thick, tangled roots and vines weaved a firm web, blocking the entrance.
Pushing aside the rotten leaves, the dark, eerie hole had been revealed.
The entrance led to an underground. The cold air plunged into everyone’s face, sending shivers down their spine. No sound was heard about the stone that had been tossed inside. It was as though it had vanish and wasn't planning on returning.
Wen Chao was ecstatic, “This must be it! Everyone, get down there!"
Jin Zixuan couldn’t hold it any longer. He spoke,"You brought us here, saying that we'll be hunting a beast. Then what sort of a beast is it? Informing us beforehand would allow us to cooperate with better service.
"Inform you? Let me remind you that you serve for me. Not the other way around. Now go get in there!" he spat while he pointed at Jin Zixuan threateningly.
But before he could retort back, a hand on his shoulder made him snap out of his anger, it was wuxian who shook his head."Don't Zixuan."
"Shixiong! Peacock! Come here!" Jiang Cheng called them over, turns out, he made a rope long and sade enough to get down there. Jiang Yanli already tried it, so it was secure. "After you, Zixuan-"
"No! Shixiong, you go first." the latter just nodded and they all arrived down here safely.
Wen Chao, "Find somebody, and let out some blood to lure the beast out."
Wang Lingjiao, pointing at a girl "How about her?"
Wang Lingjiao has been jealous of MianMian. Most people that the clans sent here were boys. Thatway, with very few girls, Wen Chao couldn’t help but pay more attention to MianMian. She was beautiful and had been harrassed by Wen Chao a few times.
MianMian became blank. She really was chosen by her. After processing what happened, she rushed to hid behind a few people who were Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji.
"This one? Choose someone else, perhaps?" But she protested against his words. "But, I want to see her blood~" she said in a seductive voice that made wen chao fall head over heels for her and said, "Anything for you. Get her!"
"Move! Or do you want to save the damsel in distress?"
Wen Chao, "Are you rebelling against me? Let me warn you, right now, hang that brat up with your own hands, or else you will never see your family ever again!"
One Lan, took his words seriously and grabbed MianMian by her hair.
Lan Wangji who was alarmed at this struck the disciple to the side. His face was angry, it definitely read 'its a shame that you are a Gusu Lan disciple'
The disciple took two steps back in fear.
Wen Chao was furious, "How dare you disobey me! Kill them!" Let's just hope no blood would shed so that the beast wouldn't eat them all.
As most of them had no swords, they had to use their martial combat. Though, the Jiang were better with the spiritual tool,they could manage.
A shrill scream pierced towards Wei Wuxian's ear, it was MianMian's voice.
Infront of her stood three servants and Wang Lingjiao. Wang Lingjiao had made the servants hold MianMian by her arms to keep her in place while she was going to brand her!
The iron brand was so hot that it sizzled and shone with a bright red light.
Wei Wuxian just so happened to look at her direction.
He rushed forward and push her out of the way successfully but instead the iron branded his chest. He hissed as blood gushed out of the wound but stopped when he saw his sister rushing towards him and not notice the Wen soldier who was aiming his sword at her.
At that moment, it was like Wei Wuxian's life was being shattered.
His sister... was about to get stabbed. His brother was fatally injured. Jin Zixuan could barely maintain balance. Lan Wangji had his leg injured quite badly but still had to fight.
His eyes started shaking and before you know it, it's glowing bright red.
He focused most of his spiritual power into this one bright black orb and threw it into the air.
The orb produced a bright white light blinding everyone and stopping them in their tracks. When the lights dimmed back to normal, it revealed atleast five dozen swords levitating in the air.
"Strike." He coldly commanded. The moment the swords flew to the opponents, he passed out due to overuse of spiritual energy.
"AH!", The swords were aimed towards the Wen's and pierced almost every single one of them. With the amount of blood coming out, it attracted the beast who rose from the lake.
It roared loudly, "Everyone hide!" Lan Xichen shouted.
And if you think that Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao is alive, think again. Want Lingjiao tripped on a rock and got eaten by the xuanwu. Wen Chao tried to pull Wang Lingjiao away from the creature only to get eaten along with her.
Lan Xichen found a hole big enough for everyone to hide from the xuanwu. While everyone got in, he picked up Wei Wuxian's unconscious body and ran inside.
"We need to find an exit!" One disciple said. "The entrance is blocked by rocks! We can't escape!" Another one retorted back.
"Actually, I found a way to escape. There's maple leaves in the lake which probably means there's a hole leading outside since there is no maple trees here." lan wangji said.
"How do we know if the hole can fit all of us?"
"A'Cheng is a talented swimmer, he can check it out for us." jiang yanli remarked with some smug heard in it.
While jiang cheng swam to look for an exit, jiang yanli cradled her brother in her arms sobbing.
"Don't worry young lady jiang, he will be alright soon." Lan xichen tried to console her along with his brother.
He saw the look in his brothers eyes, the flash of pain, that was present when wei wuxian collapsed.
"I found a hole! It's big enough to fit 6 people a time!" Everyone rushed out to the lake and jiang cheng lead them to the hole.
"Ah!" Jiang yanli hissed as she scrapped her foot on a sharp rock which started bleeding rapidly. "Come on!" Jin zixuan picked her up into his arms and ran into the pool where they both started swimming fast as the blood drew the attention of the giant snake-looking-tortoise.
As lan wangji was carrying wei wuxian on his back. He then noticed that a lan disciple fired an arrow at the beast. "You fool! Just get to the exit already!"
The disciple ran towards the lake and his face was shown, it was Su She. The same disciple who copied him in throwing his sword into the lake. As he ran, lan wangji thought 'What is he? A damsel in distress?'
He then saw that one man was stuck, his feet was trapped in a pile of vines. "Help!"
He rushed towards the man and set him free. He man thanked him and immediately sprinted.
The xuanwu caught his leg which made him drop wei wuxian and get lifted in the air.
The rest were already gone, so there's no one to help him. Except.. wei wuxian was awake!
He threw a couple of talismans at the beats to paralyze it for a few seconds which made it drop lan wangji and he caught him.
He carried him towards a place big enough for them to hide but too small for the xuanwu to enter.
"Thank you!" Lan wangji chirped. "No problem. The others left already?"
"Yeah. We're stuck here unless they send help."
"Mn."
***
"A'Xian! /Shixiong! /Wuxian! /Wangji!" Multiple people shouted for their loved ones or friends.
"It's hopeless, they are stuck there, we need to get some help!" Jiang yanli said.
"Split up, you two go to gusu and we will go to yunmeng." Jiang cheng said, they all nodded and ran the opposite directions.
***
A/N,
oh my gosh, my fingers hurt so much. I wrote this for two days.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay safe!