Gold Blood Eyes ||Mo Dao Zu Shi||

Chapter 14: Curse Trail

Lan WangJi glided in and out of the shadows casted by the trees surrounding him, his footsteps silent other than the occasional crunching of early autumn leaves getting in his way. The white hood was down, revealing the cold face and piercing gold eyes which scanned the area.

Lan WangJi reached his destination, entering into a clearing he had been in three months prior. This was where he had been on that nighthunt that had led him to this situation.

'That had caused him to almost kill his beloved,'

For that reason alone, Lan WangJi's determination grew to a level unmatched. No one could deter him. Whatever- whoever, was behind this, Lan WangJi swore to destroy them. He says whoever as he had thought back to the nighthunt in his journey here.

Back then, the night hunt was simple beyond reason. An easy thing for someone of his strength and skill. Lan WangJi remembers that while he delt with the yao, he had not been alone. He had thought nothing of it then, too focused on keeping the yao away from the slightly inexperienced group of cultivators in all black. Lan WangJi had assumed they were rouge or those of a minor sect looking for some hunt. Lan WangJi had been meaning to talk to them, but they had only watched him finish the yao off from the sideline, occasionally trying a move, before backing off and letting the Second Jade handle it.

By the time he had finished it off and set the corpse to peace, the cultivators had gone. And Lan WangJi, did not care for it. They had only prolonged his work and had helped in no way. Lan WangJi does recall the assumed time when the resentment had entered him, because he recalls faltering and the sudden burning flare of his meridians, causing him to pause. The yao had launched at him, Lan WangJi dodging just in time, but had cost the hem of his sleeve to rip.

It was then Lan WangJi realized, that the cultivators had snuck back into the shadows of that night, Lan WangJi distracted by the offset of his meridians and the yao. With a frustrated sigh, Lan WangJi sat down in lotus pose, summoning his zither in front of him. He began to strum, calling out for spirits for their help.

The answers were few and mostly unhelpful, just spirits who wished to move on. Of course, Lan WangJi helped them, but it was not what he wanted to do at the moment. He took a break, thinking of how to get aid. It hit him with another stir of resentment the skills he now possessed.

Quickly, his gold irises melted away to ruby ones. Resentment leaked out from Lan WangJi's body, the light-bearer strumming carefully and calling out once more, but this time, he called with the idea of demonic cultivation. What he had learned is that unlike spirtual energy which required control and structure, resentment was more like water. It flowed and was more on empathy and the acceptance of darkness, the acceptance of just how much yin was around each person.

The effect was immediate, the light translucent figure appeared in front of him. It was a low leveled spirit, one that responded to the commands hidden in Lan WangJi's notes. The spirit was that of a young male, a commoner from the clothes. Lan WangJi spoke up, "Were you here three months ago when I was fighting a yao?"

The spirit nodded firmly, reaching out and strumming a few notes of Inquiry. Lan WangJi could not figure out how to freely discuss with spirits, but he does remember his beloved telling him that free speech and movement might be a factor dependent on what level spirit. Hence, Lan WangJi wasn't too deferred by the lack of verbality.

'It killed me. Before. Took me from my family,'

Ah. So it was a slightly resentful ghost killed by the very creature. He must've stayed around to watch over his family. Lan WangJi asked again, "Do you know who cursed me?"

The spirit looked confused for a moment and Lan WangJi explained, "I am cursed. I have been harboring unusual resentment since my nighthunt..." he then reaches for the empathic bond, "It almost caused me to kill the person I love the most,"