Painting Red✓ [XiCheng] | Editing

02 Lan Huan

"Stuck? What are you stuck in? Stuck in your place or the past?"

Lan Huan found an obsession: the taste of salvation.

He didn't understand at first. After all, salvation was something he wasn't lacking. All the people around him were offering their hands to him, everyone of them more than willing to haul him up his misery.

He didn't hold any of those extended hands, however. He couldn't. Not from his uncle. Not even from Wangji.

He had thought he was beyond saving because even he refused to be saved. The hands disappeared after a very long time of him not even batting them an eye.

It brought him a certain understanding and acceptance, and he finally surrendered his fate.

Then this particular hand stretched forward to him.

He didn't understand what was so special about that particular help, but something about it lit a portion of his darkness.

He accepted it, held on to it tightly, and it was strong, warm, and sturdy as it held his hand just as tightly.

That particular taste of salvation was what had brought his cold heart back home. It gave him light and breathed him warmth, and he basked in them until he found himself healing.

His nightmares were reduced to just painfully sad memories with his sworn brothers. No blood. No killings. No betrayals.

A-Yao's name became easier to pronounce (although it was still hardly mentioned because of the people around him). His memories were even easier to visit, and even the memories of him both betraying the world and dying didn't send him into panic attacks anymore.

Da-ge's memories were even more easier to face now, and Lan Huan found that he missed his oldest brother. Da-ge was his best friend, and his best friend deserved to be remembered as a proper memory instead of being forgotten just because of Lan Huan's guilt. So he went to talk with Nie Huaisang, who had helped him resolve the excessive guilt he felt for his oldest sworn brother.

Then he went to shufu, the uncle he had neglected, to ask for forgiveness. Shufu quickly helped him to his feet, hugged him, and expressed his happiness that Lan Huan didn't lose himself and didn't turn out like his father.

With his demons resolved, it was easy for him to finally fall back to the peace he had always liked. There were lingering feelings from the past, but he could live with it.

He thanked the salvation he just had a taste of for everything, but by the time he thought he was ready to let go of the hand, he found himself unwilling to disentangle his fingers from it.

And he knew he wasn't going to let go, even if the hand itself was always trying to slip away.

"Xichen."

Lan Huan looked up from his book and smiled at the incoming person.

"Shufu."

Shufu nodded in acknowledgement, his hand subconsciously running over his goatee.

"Have you seen Wangji, lately?"

"I heard he went out with Master Wei."

Lan Huan couldn't say much about his relationship with Wei Wuxian, but they were on speaking terms.

Shufu, however, wasn't as amenable. Although it was regretful that shufu and Wangji's relationship was somewhat strained because of Wei Wuxian, Lan Huan could also understand their uncle.

He respected shufu's boundaries, so he stopped himself from playing the peacemaker.

"If he comes back, tell him to come see me."

"Of course, shufu," Lan Huan replied, his gaze still waiting when his uncle seemed to want to say something else.

He watched as shufu struggled before ending up with a sigh. He fished a letter from his sleeves and handed it to him.

Lan Huan glanced at the letter and noted the seal. It was from a village near Dafan Mountain.

"They are asking for assistance," shufu said.

Lan Huan immediately understood. His uncle still worried for him, but as much as he felt warm, he also felt a bit exasperated.

The people around him treated him like a porcelain despite his assurances that he was genuinely alright now.

Smiling wryly, he reached for the piece of paper, opened it, and read it silently with his eyes.

He said with conviction, "I will take care of it."

Shufu said no more, only wishing for their safety knowing that Lan Huan would lead the disciples personally.

They were welcomed by the village chief, Lord Zhou, and Lan Huan had gotten to know that they were dealing with both ordinary and resentful creatures.

"Wolves, Sect Leader Lan, both ordinary and resentful. Fortunately, we have a few children who at least know how to make talismans, so we were able to fend off the occasional ghosts and corpses. The wolves, however, especially the ordinary ones, were harder to deal with."

It was certainly strange that the creatures from Dafan Mountain would be descending to attack a village so suddenly when it hadn't been a problem before.

"We would like to investigate the matter before coming up with a conclusion," Lan Huan finalized.

He had drawn all possibilities and closed in on two. Either the village had something attracting the creatures or the mountain had something driving them away.

"Please instruct us if there would be anything we can help you with." Lord Zhou stood up and bowed.

Lan Huan followed suit and signalled his disciples, particularly Lan Jingyi, to begin their preparations.

The village would need protection arrays. Lord Zhou said that the attacks wasn't specifically scheduled. They came at random time, although mostly at night.

There wasn't a particular pattern, but they could confidently say that it would only happen once a week.

"Excuse me, ZeWu-jun. May I talk to you?"

Lan Huan excused himself from Lord Zhou and stepped away to a more quiet area, Lan Jingyi following closely.

"Is there anything?" Lan Xichen asked, vaguely confused at the sudden tension in the youth.

"Well, you see..." Lan Jingyi winced. "Something happened before. Back then, Young Mistre—Master Jin, Lan Sizhui and me were night hunting in Dafan Mountain. Young Master Jin suddenly got separated from us. I thought it was intentional so I pulled Lan Sizhui and not bother to search for him. The next day and the following days, we would see Young Master Jin going back the mountain almost everyday. It's likely that he is hunting but ends up driving creatures away and down here instead."

Lan Huan listened with a smile, although his mind had already turned a few times. When Lan Jingyi looked at him expectantly, he merely replied,  "Thank you for not withholding the information. I will talk to Sect Leader Jiang regarding that matter."

Lan Jingyi's eyes lit up, his matured front fading back to mischievousness as soon as he was done with business.

"Well, that's all, ZeWu-jun!"

The youth bowed and bounced away to his fellow disciples, his face contorting to a playful smirk as he pestered his less jolly peers.

Lan Huan watched on, smiling fondly as the youth blabbed words Grandmaster Lan would have coughed blood at.

"Oh shit!"

"Jingyi! Language!"

"Sorry!"

Lan Huan chuckled under his breathe. Lan Jingyi didn't seem apologetic and instead seemed content at the freedom to choose crassness over manners.

His smirk to his unfiltered tongue—Lan Huan was reminded of the person he was looking forward to speaking with.

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Page revised: Oct. 15, 2021