The Demonic Clan of Yiling (MDZS Fanfic)

Hanging Tree Night Hunt (Pt.3)

"Stop fighting!" A-Yuan yelled again, only to be ignored.

"Listen to that boy!" Jin Zixuan exclaimed angrily. "The lack of respect he has is surely your doing!" He spat at Wei Wuxian.

"You keep my son out of your mouth! Don't you dare speak of him after everything you've done!" Wei Ying yelled back.

As they shouted A-Yuan noticed Jin Ling back away and towards his uncles. It was like he was afraid of his father in that moment and A-Yuan understood why. He had never seen his father like this. He had never seen him so angry. So out of control.

To make things worse. The more they argued, the higher up the walls the cracks got. Crawling up the ceiling in tantalising patterns and yet no one noticed and no one stopped arguing...

"Everything I've done!?" Zixuan bellowed. "What about you!? The murders you've committed! The path you've chosen! Yanli would be disgusted!"

"Don't you fucking dare tell me what Yanli would think, when you were the one who let her fucking die!" Everything went silent as those words left Wei Ying's mouth. 

It was like no one dared to say anything or even to breathe. Jin Zixuan's eyes were wide, his mouth open slightly. Wei Ying was breathing heavily, but he seemed just as shocked that he had said that as everyone else did. Jiang Cheng had gone pale and he looked from between the two men. The twin jades of Gusu just seemed shocked and poor Jin Ling was shaking as he clutched Jin Guangyao's sleeve. Nobody moved... Nobody spoke...

Crack...

All heads turned in the direction of a pebble that had just fallen from the ceiling and A-Yuan felt his stomach sink. It was like everyone had the same thought, at the same time. Every single pair of eyes looked from the pebble and up at the dark ceiling of the cave. Every single pair of eyes saw as the deep, red cracks wrapped around a massive stone spike. And everyone of them saw as the spike shook dangerously above them.

Nie Huaisang took a few steps backwards, a hand over his mouth as he looked up. Jin Guangyao followed slowly, trying to drag Jin Ling along with him. As they moved, more and more pebbles and chunks of stone fell and the spike slipped down a few inches, making the whole cave shake.

It was going to fall... It was going to fall, right where they were standing...

Wei Ying's eyes met A-Yuan's and filled with terror as he realised they were too far apart for him to make it there in time. The world seemed to spin as the low rumbled finally erupted and the spike finally began to fall. 

A-Yuan tried to run forward to get to his father and uncle. To get to the rest of the group, but hands held him back. The boy flailed desperately in their grip, trying to reach out for his family. Trying to get to them before they were crushed. But he couldn't. He was too slow.

"Baba!" He screamed just before the spike collided with the ground.

There was a scull ringing bang. Then A-Yuan felt himself flying through the air. His feet off the ground and ponytail covering his eyes. After what felt like an eternity. His head and back connected with something solid and the wind left his lungs painfully.

A-Yuan sunk to his knees. Heaving in air, despite his blurred vision and the insane amounts of dust that were choking him. There was a ringing in his ears, but even through that he could still hear the groans from Zizhen. The older boy sounded pained.

Once he had managed to get his breathing under control. A-Yuan looked around for his friend and saw him clutching his head and panting. He was covered in dirt and part of his robes were torn, but other than that he seemed alright.

"Zizhen!" A-Yuan choked, making his way over to him through the cloud of dust. "Are you okay!?"

"I think so... I just hit my head..." He mumbled, still with his hand pressed to his temple.

"Are you bleeding?" A-Yuan asked. Zizhen pulled his hand away carefully and examined it.

"No. Are you?"

"No."

"Then why can I smell blood?"

"A-Yuan!?" A hoarse voice screamed in the distance. "A-Yuan!?"

"Baba!?" A-Yuan called back recognising Wei Ying's shouts. There was a small sob and a sigh before Wei Ying spoke again.

"I thought you fell in!"

Fell in what!? A-Yuan frowned and got to his feet. Zizhen followed sluggishly and together the two walked closer to where they could hear Wei Ying's voice. However their journey was cut short when they reach the edge of a hole in the ground.

A-Yuan stood frozen as he looked at it and Zizhen let out a gasp of fear. Through the now clearing cloud of dust, they could see that the spike had opened up the floor. Separating them from the rest of the group, with what seemed to be a 15 foot hole. However that wasn't what had them surprised and it wasn't what had the others, on the opposite side, gagging and shaking. With their faces pale and hands clenched. No. They were acting like this because of what was inside the hole.

They were acting like this because of the blood. 

What lay under the floor of the cave. What made the cracks appear red. What fed the great tree at the centre of the cave. Was a blood pool twice the size of the one at Yiling...

"What the fuck..." A-Yuan breathed. His heartrate picking up awfully and making him feel nauseous. "What the fuck!?"

"Don't panic!" Wei Ying called over to the boy. "It's nothing we haven't seen! Just wait there and we'll come get you two!" He reassured them, but just as he said that Nie Huaisang let out a scream.

Everyone's heads whipped in that direction, just in time to see the Nie sect leader get dragged to the floor by a corpse. Jiang Cheng immediately drew his sword and sliced at it hands to free the other man. But then another shout rang out, coming from Jingyi.

A-Yuan and Zizhen both looked over in their friends direction helplessly as they watched a corpse... melt off of the stone wall of the cave and into a being. It attacked Jingyi, baring it's sharp teeth. Zewu-jun drew his sword to help. However more and more corpses materialised off of the stone walls and lunged after him and the others and all the two boys could do was watch...

"What the hell is this place..." A-Yuan mumbled. "What the hell have we found!?" 

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I really hope I got what I wanted across. It's supposed to be really chaotic and confusing, but I think I tried to scatter it across the characters too much.