Chp 3. The Seal

THE SEAL

Back in the main hall. Sizhui and Jin Ling had made quick work with the seals for the room and made short work binding the hands of the now prone Huang Jin.

They had been sitting for quite some time, both of them lost in thought. Neither said a word to each other as they both tried to process what had happened. Sizhui was sitting in meditation behind a small desk in the corner of the room.

He was trying to calm his brain but failing miserably at it. His mind raced.The events from the past two hours were incredible. What they would mean for the world of cultivation if what he thought had happened had actually happened.

Jin Ling sat just steps away. His hands crossed over his chest, his eyes closed and his hand clutching his sword tightly, his brows furrowed. His mind raced as well but his anger was almost palpable in the room. His attention tuned distinctly to the form laying in the middle of the room.

The room was still frigid in temperature. Their breaths came off in small puffs of visible smoke each time they breathed out.

"Unnatural…" Jin Ling muttered under his breath, his eyes brows continuing to scrunch together as he made sideways glances at the prone figure on the ground/

Wei Wuxian suddenly burst into the room, Lan Zhan in tow. "Did you guys miss me?"He grinned widely quickly looking between the lying figure on the ground, to the two sitting in the corner of the room.

"I didn't die!" he exclaimed loudly, and he could hear Jin Ling tut under his breath, even from the doorway.

Wei Wuxian let go of Lan Zhan's hand and continued to walk forward stopping just short of the figure lying on the floor. He breathed in a calming breath and his eyes fixed on the woman lying on the floor.

Alright you can do this. That shouldn't be too hard. Wei Wuxian thought to himself.

His eyes closed and he held his hand out seeming to feel something in the air.

The air began to swirl around his palm, reacting to it. Just what he had suspected. The amount of resentful energy in the room was thick. It was like a dark fog in the room. It was also the aura he had felt earlier but now having broken through the barrier she had accidentally placed on herself it had released into the room. He could feel it pulling at his new core like it was calling to an old friend.

Wei Wuxian opened his eyes looking at Lan Zhan, who was only a few inches from his side.

"May I?" Wei Wuxian asked, holding his hand out towards Bichen, a smile adorning his face. "I need to use it for just a second."

Lan Zhan nudged his sword free of the hilt slightly, and held it out.

Wei Wuxian quickly slid the tip of his index finger and his middle finger along the blade. Dark crimson blood flowed from the small cuts immediately. He began to draw intricate symbols in mid air. The symbols lit up in a brilliant red and disappeared.

Everyone in the room's eyes were drawn to Wei Wuxian as he drew symbol after symbol in mid air. One by one disappearing, as they fizzled out as soon as one was completed. He needed a lot of protection spells for this one….

He could feel the amount of power radiating off her and it was honestly a little frightening.

Sizhui and Jin Ling starred in concentration. Sizhui had stopped counting the number of protection spells that had been completed after the 5th one.

Lan Zhan stood by his side the whole time, eyes fixed on Wei Wuxian.

"Alrighty…" Wei Wuxian exclaimed, huffing out a large breath of air, a large cloud of steam mixing in the cold air. "Lan Zhan, I need you to play your xichen while I use empathy. I need to figure out what combination of symbols she used and in what order."

Lan Zhan's eyes held a hint of worry, but he finally nodded his head once and backed up a few paces and sat down. summoning his beautifully crafted white guqin herested his palms over the delicate strings watching Wei Wuxian intently.

Wei Wuxian grinned and turned back to the still form lying on the ground, still wrapped in the Gusu Lan robe. He walked over and immediately noticed the bubble feeling seeming to soak into his skin. It was waves of resentful energy. The closer he got the thicker it felt. It seemed to cling to his skin like walking through a thick fog.

His eyes picked up the faint trace of the seal that she had cast and he crouched slowly over the woman.

Lan Zhan's hands began to strum the chords on the guqin, sending the beautiful sounds of the zither through the room, the Song of Clarity filled the room.

Wei Wuxian lowered his hands and began to kneel down, his knees hitting the floor at the head of the still form. He was lulled into listening to the comforting and relaxing tones of Lan Zhan's zither, weaving through the complicated mixture of notes. He really was a master with that instrument of his, Wei Wuxian thought and he smiled softly.

As his hands met Huang Jun's body he sighed in visible relief as he didn't feel the jolt of raging fire that he had the first time. She didn't move an inch. The rigid form of her body barely moved, save only the rhythm of her breathing.

A palpable tension released from the room from the occupants inside, when nothing seemed to happen.

Wei Wuxian shifted slightly and he closed his eyes, placing both hands on either side of Huang Jin's temples and began to merge his own consciousness with hers. The technique was called Empathy and it allows a cultivator to channel a person's spirit to see their past memories.

However, the use of Empathy could be highly dangerous as it could lead to the person becoming insane or becoming possessed if that person's consciousness was too strong or the memories were too resentful.

Wei Wuxian concentrated as his consciousness slipped into hers.

He felt an icy chill in his veins as shadows danced along his vision and he focused on the strings of the zither like a fog in his mind,the sound barely audible as if coming from a distant meadow. Slowly like a kaleidoscope coming into focus his mind dropped into an unknown past. It was cold. He felt so cold.

It looked as if he was in a field; the obviously younger form of the woman beneath his fingertips was standing there, her eyes tear stricken. The young girl was only maybe 12 or 13 Wei Wuxian guessed. Her clothes were torn and covered in holes.

She held a small pole clutched in both hands and was facing several young boys. They were dressed in nice looking cultivation robes. Obviously part of a clan,their silk robes were in stark contrast to the torn and dirty clothes the girl wore.

"Leave me alone…" She choked out, gripping the makeshift staff tightly, and waving it around in front of her. The boys stopped in their tracks. They all looked at her with an air of disgust and contempt.

"You are disgusting, look at you.You have those tattoos on you, and you come from nothing. You have nothing! You don't deserve to be anywhere even near our clan. You are a disgrace!" The boy in the center of the group called out.

He was around the girls age but was at least two times bigger than the girl, and his eyes held the most malice of all the boys crowded around her.

"Yeah and you're a girl. You won't even amount to anything anyway. So just leave this town and go away!" The boy next to him yelled out.

All the rest of the boys started to crowd around her.

The girl started to wildly swing the pole trying to keep the boys from surrounding her. Tears streaming down her face.

Wei Wuxian tried to start moving forward but the vision began to dissipate and his mind blurred again. Wei Wuxian tried to focus the empathy again. Her mind pushed against his invasion.

She is fighting me…

The tones of the zither seemed to grow louder and this time when his vision came back the image still seemed to be pulsing back and forth from focused to not.

God her mind is strong.

Wei Wuxian tried to focus his mind to clear the image before him. Please, please, I am just trying to help, his mind urged her. The picture seemed to instantly respond to his plea and it came into a clear view.

They were now in what looked like a small run down shack. It was only a single room with a small bed, table, and pot stuffed into the corner. The walls looked like they were barely standing and were full of holes that he could see straight through to the outside.

Her clothes were different and she seemed to have aged at least 10 years. Her delicate features were now more pronounced. Her body looked bruised and covered in dirt.

She had had a hard life. Wei Wuxian thought to himself as he observed the thin waistline through her clothes, her hair slightly uncombed and her eyes sunken in with the sign of malnutrition.

She was sitting behind a small makeshift table, legs folded, her eyes shut in a quiet meditation. The table in front of her was splayed with an assortment of talismans.

There must be over a hundred there. Wei Wuxian thought to himself.

Her high cheekbones were now more defined though, and her hair considerably longer. The tight ponytail at the top of her head held the bulk of hair with a small blue ribbon holding it together in a delicate braid. The clothes she was wearing were similar to the ones she wore now in the present. A jet black cotton robe tied with a bright red sash.

He eyed the girl cautiously as he daringly tried to move his hand closer. Testing to see if the image would shift again.The vision seemed to focus even further.

This must be it. It's got to be here somewhere.

Wei Wuxian began to move forward trying to get a better look at contents cluttering the table in front of her. But, he stopped short as her eyes opened and she suddenly moved her hand and summoned a guqin. The stringed instrument looked on its last legs. Nothing like Lan Zhan's, Wei Wuxian thought.

Her body seemed to radiate a glow around her as she sat there, and she gently placed her hand on the delicate strings.

She began to caress the strings below her and started to play a delightfully pleasant melody, one Wei Wuxian had never heard before.

Wei Wuxian was stunned into place.

Barely daring to breathe as he stood there in complete awe as the beautiful melody seemed to fill his chest with a pleasant warmth, and the aura around her seemed to pulse with each pluck of the strings under her finger tips.

She is actually very talented. I wonder who taught her….he thought to himself again.

The vision from before flashed across his mind. She was a traveling cultivator.By her obvious appearance she had been living on the road for quite some time. Any known cultivator would not dare to let their appearance look as disheveled as hers.

An ache seemed to start at the middle of Wei Wuxian's chest as he took pity on the girl sitting before him.

He stood there for what seemed like hours, transfixed by the talent and skill she was displaying. He watched as she was completely lost in her own playing and he could feel the spiritual energy radiating off her. She was incredibly powerful. Raw, natural, powerful energy.

Cultivating one's core and creating a golden core was an incredibly difficult thing to do. It took years to master even under direct tutelage of one of the major clans. It was unheard of for a young cultivator to be able to harness the ability to create a golden core on their own let alone refine it enough to be able to use spiritual tools like a sword or guqin, without being in a clan or having been taught by a renowned master.

Yet here this girl was. Playing a beautiful melody that radiated with her spiritual energy. Her golden core had been clearly refined for years.

The spiritual tool in front of her almost glowed with an invisible aura as she channeled her power into each note.

Who is this girl? Wei Wuxian thought for the third time that day.

The girl suddenly placed her hand lovingly on the strings of the guqin in front of her, stopping the notes, opening her eyes and looking back down at the talismans splayed across the table.

One in particular had begun to emanate an evil aura. A mist of resentful energy circling the piece of parchment.

Her hand reached out and touched it a small black mist beginning to emit from the symbols and paper below.

A small curious smile began at the corner of her mouth and as her fingers touched the edge of the paper. The black mist began to emanate from the paper and curl around her finger tips.The smile on her face only continued to grow. She looked almost pleased as the black mist curled around her wrist.

It was then that Wei Wuxian noticed the small dizi laying on the table peeking from beneath the pile of talismans laid across the table. His eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the small flute.

No…way... he quickly thought and looked back at the girls hand.

The smoke was curling in a fine mist, swirling contentedly.

It was resentful energy, he had no doubt. This was definitely demonic cultivation, and yet Wei Wuxian could feel no ill intent coming from the talisman or the swirl of smoke gracing her small hand.

He was fully perplexed. In all his lifetimes he had never seen such an act.

He was sure that the talisman that she had activated was imbued with resentful energy and was dangerous, yet. She had poured some of her spiritual energy into calling forth the resentment and calming it enough to control it.

The small swirl of smoke reminded him of a cat, rubbing and churning along an owner's hand begging for attention, and just as suddenly as it appeared it began to dissipate into nothingness.

The girl frooze looking suddenly upwards and directly at Wei Wuxian. Her eyes a bright hazel piercing through the vision.

It was all he could see. The bright green flecks mixed in with a light brown golden glow, seeming to swirl as she stared directly at Wei Wuxian. That's impossible.

The vision swirled again and his mind swam with white. He tried to focus and clear the vision, but he could feel her mind pushing back. He could feel his physical body back in the Mingshi begin to shiver with the energy that was coursing through him and the small frame below his finger tips. Wei Wuxian's body was shaking in a constant vibration as if his entire body had been dipped in ice.

Lan Zhan channeled even more of his spiritual energy into the notes he was playing.

Wei Wuxian could hear the zither sounds even louder this time and the vision began to clear again. The sound seemed to die down to a dull roar in the back of his mind.

He was back in the same rundown shack he had seen before, yet there seemed to be a light coat of dust covering everything in the room. The table was lying broken in front of him. This must be some time later, he thought to himself.

He glanced around trying to find the girl from before and turned. He stopped, frozen to the spot.

She was standing there, her clothes the same as she was wearing now. She was just feet from him standing in the center of the room. The multitude of talismans from before were splayed literally everywhere Wei Wuxian could see.

Her hand was clutching a small piece of paper and in her right a small writing stick, the tip wet with crimson ink, in her right. The shack's walls were covered in talismans, the symbols a stark crimson red. Blood, that ink is blood. Oh my…what have you done…

Her face was contorted into an odd thinking face and she tapped the end of the ink pen on the tip of her nose. They both inhaled at the same time as she stopped tapping, and both of them at once made a realization.

She began to write onto the paper in her left hand and the tip seemed to glow a deep crimson. She was obviously channeling spiritual energy into the symbols as she was writing and as soon as the tip of the pen finished the last brush of the final symbol, the symbols flashed a brilliant red and just as quickly turned back to the bright crimson on the paper.

"YES!" She exclaimed, her face lighting up in pleasure, pleased with herself. She turned as if to leave out of the shack when she immediately stopped, turned around again and looked directly into the eyes of Wei Wuxian.

Her face instantly dropped, a flash of confusion and anger crossing the delicate features of the woman. She dropped the talisman and reached to grab the hilt of the white sword tied to her waist.

Wei Wuxian's mind snapped to attention, and quickly began to take a few steps backwards. His eyes still locked with the woman in front of him. There is no way she can actually see me.

His back hit the crusty shack wall. There was no mistaking that her eyes followed him as he had stepped backwards and stilled. She had just unsheathed the blade with a ringing shink and started to move towards him when the vision swirled again. Her eyes etched into his brain, the glowing green and brown was the only thing he could focus on. His mind began to panic. He had never had this happen before in any of the times he had used Empathy in the past.

A warning in his skull told him that it would not be good if she touched him. The link between them was so thin now and it took everything in him to try and control it.

Back in the Mingshi, Lan Zhan's hand slipped on a note and he looked at Sizhui. They could all see the shift in resentful energy around the two cultivators locked in an intense battle of the minds. Wei Wuxian had goosebumps all over his body, and he had been trembling for what felt like ages now. His eyes were darting back and forth while closed, his brows furrowed in deep concentration.

Sizhui looked over at Lan Zhan's heavy gaze on him, and summoned his guqin. He immediately joined in right on cue for what section Lan Zhan was playing and took over.

Lan Zhan put away his guqin and strode over to Wei Wuxian. Concern written in the corner of his eyes, his gate not much faster than normal but with obvious concern.

Wei Wuxian was fighting….he could tell. It was dangerous to forcibly pull someone away from Empathy. They needed to come back to their mind on their own or else risk never being sane again.

Wei Wuxian felt trapped as he fought to keep the vision clear and his own consciousness in charge. He willed his mind to calm, trying to coax the memories to flow into his mind again and establish the connection back with hers. He was so close. He just needed one more look and he could help her.

The vision came crashing back into focus, and he was right behind her as she was writing out the last few symbols on the strange looking talisman. Suddenly, her hand stilled in the middle of writing and she turned around her eyes staring directly into Wei Wuxian's.

There is no way she can see me, he thought to himself…she let out a string of curses and swiped out towards Wei Wuxian again.

Both their minds almost splintered.

Wei Wuxian's mind was suddenly thrown back into his own body and the force of it nearly knocked him backwards. Bright red blood began dripping from the corner of his mouth and he coughed a little.

Lan Zhan caught him as he fell backward.

Huang Jin's body turned to the side, curling in on itself, and she balled up into a fetal position similar to how they had first brought her in.

Wei Wuxian immediately noticed that she was bleeding. The flow of blood weeping from her mouth was concerning. Far too much for his concern. "Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian looked backwards as the hands that caught him earlier clutched the side of his arms in response.

"I'm fine I promise," he smiled weakly looking into the concerned eyes of his partner.

Man if I didn't have this new golden core I would be toast. Wei Wuxian quietly thought to himself, smiling meekly at Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan's face showed that he knew exactly how close it had been.

Uhg he knows that it was close…

Huang Jin's body began to tremble and the aura in the room seemed to get thicker and colder.

Lan Zhan looked over, his eyes locked on her face."Wei Ying, she is injured."

Concern flashed across his features.

Wei Wuxian turned and looked closely trying to feel for her lifelines. Empathy was dangerous yes but she shouldn't have been bleeding this much. She is very weak.

Wei Wuxian moved to stand and Lan Zhan helped him rise. They both stood up together, Lan Zhan helping him to stand, both continued to stare down at the small curled frame of the woman in front of them.

The aura in the room was absolutely stifling.

"Lan Zhan, she is a cultivator just like us, around the same age too."

Lan Zhan's gaze was dragged away from the woman and he stared deeply at Wei Wuxian, a mixture of emotions swirling in his eyes.

"She is an orphan, I think…but she has no memories that I could see during her early childhood. It was blank...I think she is self-taught." Wei Wuxian hurriedly explained.

"She is actually quite skilled…" Wei Wuxian mutters to himself. "She can wield a spiritual sword, the guqin, and I believe a dizi as well. It looks like she was using a form of demonic cultivation and spiritual weapons to create a talisman. I'm pretty sure I also figured out what seal she used."

Thank goodness because that was a little too close. "It really shouldn't have hurt her like this though…Unless she seriously screwed up the symbols. Which it looked like she did," Wei Wuxian said quietly, rubbing his arms absentmindedly again, reaching for the flute at his waist unconsciously.

With that comment everyone in the room's eyes became wide.

It was unheard of in the cultivation world for any cultivator to be able to wield more than two types of spiritual weapons. Wei Wuxian could use three different types, but he had spent years training with different sects to be able to do it, and he was the infamous Yiling Patriarch.

No one had ever done what he had done before.

Yet here was this woman. Who had not only been successful with using multiple types of spiritual weapons, but could also combine them with the use of demonic cultivation.

And she did it well too. He thought to himself. She definitely did it well, but he also could tell that she did not know the basics.

The many talismans that were splayed around the room, from what he could remember, were half finished and looked like she never had training as to how to put them together and in what natural order to make them work well together without backfiring or doing the reverse. God knows how many times he screwed up when first trying to create new talismans.

For a few moments, everyone in the room seemed to just stare at the woman on the ground. Her body, vibrating now with shivers.

"She needs my help Lan Zhan." Wei Wuxian finally said as he turned back to look at Lan Wanji again.

He looked down at the balled up form of the beautiful woman, and his chest ached. He absentmindedly began rubbing with the ball of his hand at the center. She is quite… Wei Wuxian thought.

"Exceptional…" he heard ever so quietly come out of Lan Zhan's mouth.

It was just a faint whisper but it was undeniable as to what he had said.

Wei Wuxian turned his head slowly, mouth agape to stare at Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan's eyes were glued to the woman, his face an unreadable mask.

"Yes…she is indeed," Wei Ying smiled looking back at Huang Jin.

_____________________________________________________________

Sizhui and Jin Ling continued to watch from the corner of the room, having been told not to move earlier.

Sizhui's hands rested at the ready for any signal to begin playing again.

No one had noticed when the tall slender man walked into the doorway of the Mingshi.

Lan Huan, courtesy name Lan Xichen is the current leader of the Gusu Lan Sect and also known for his title Zewu-Jun, stood in the doorway, his eyes open wide in shock as he stared at the scene before him.

Lan Xichen was a man with a gentle personality. He was wearing a beautifully white set of Gusu Lan robes with the same forehead ribbon as Lan Wanji.

They often were compared to each other as they were brothers and had similar bone and face structure, however Lan Xichen's eyes were gentler and darker than the latters. His face, usually adorning a gentle smile, but his features held a state of shock as he watched the scene before him.

The minute Wei Wuxian had finished speaking and heard the tone of endearment in his voice Zewu-Jun seemed to come too and shook his head as if clearing the fog from his mind. "Did you say that this woman is a traveling cultivator who can use multiple spiritual tools, and demonic cultivation?" Zewu-Jun said over the stony silence.

All of the eyes in the room turned to the figure in the doorway. "This is no way to treat a fellow cultivator. Why is she bound?" Zewu-Jun said calmly.

Jin Ling and Sizhui began to stutter trying to explain.

They all gathered around the small table in the side room of the Mingshi just 20 feet from the still shivering form of the bound woman.

Zewu-Jun sat and listened as Sizhui, Jin Ling, Wei Wuxian filled him in on the events that took place up until when Zewu-Jun had entered the room. All the while Lan Zhan nodded his head in affirmation at certain parts.

"I see." Zewu-Jun finally said after several moments.

The aura in the room was as palpable as ever. The thick feeling seemed to seep into the pores of all the men sitting at the table.

"She must be helped. I do not think she is a demon either and she deserves to be treated with the respect any young cultivator deserves."

"Mn," Lan Zhan nodded and began to move immediately.

Everyone at the table's eyes fixed on the back of Lan Zhan's retreating form as he moved to pick up the bound woman lying on the floor.

A small pool of blood could be seen where she had been laying and her eyes were visibly scrunched together in pain as she was picked up like a leaf by Lan Zhan.

Wei Wuxian immediately followed Lan Zhan.

"What are you going to do, Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying asked following closely as they wound their way through the complex once again, eyes of confused inner disciples following the two.

Their eyes wide in astonishment, whispers of "is that a girl" and "wasn't that the demon they just brought in?" following them as they hurry past.

"We will help her," Lan Zhan replied as he continued to walk quickly towards their home.

"We… Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian asked nervously and hopefully.