THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 8 : Time Immemorial - Part 1 : First Glance

If Wei Meifeng could read the minds of individuals like how some portrations of her character suggested in the horribly written legends of herself, she would use that ability to read Lan Wangji's thoughts and find what had possessed the logically strict man to offer up his home to her in exchange for Jiang Cheng's plans to force out the truth how she had learned the Demonic arts that had become the identifying moniker of her name sake as the Yiling Matriarch.

Honestly, of all who had known her Diabolism method intimately when she had been alive, Lan Wangji would have recognized it even if he were unable to hear anymore, so this begged a very valuable question in her mind: what was to happen to her now? None of the ideas she could come up with all ended horribly in some way.

Surrounding her on all sides like four giants were the familiar, gentle rolling hills that blocked her view of the outside world. The Blue Cloud Mountains stood as a reminder that she was unwillingly travelling with the returning party to their home in Gusu. Lan Wangji had told his disciples to keep an eye on her like this after she had attempted to flee on her donkey several times, only to be brought back every time by the ever patient Lan Wangji himself.

As they approached the sturdy archway that stood as the entrance into the Cultivation sect, Meifeng could hear the relaxing trickling of water down the steps belonging to a large waterfall that fell down the mountain's steadfast angle. As expected of the Lan clan, nothing had changed since she had last been here, but the familiar environment found Meifeng only wanting to be anywhere but here. There were too many memories made of this place that threatened to take her back in time to another place during her first life.

In her last efforts before she was taken into the heart of her prison, there was no way she would make it easy for them as she threw into the mix a wailing that was an absolute crazy fit. It was similar to a hissy fit, but with more yelling than crying.

"No! Xiemei doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to go inside!" She exclaimed, clinging to the donkey's neck as thin rivers of tears flew down her face, internally snickering at the exhausted expressions of the junior disciples behind her. "What if Xiemei's poor Apple gets lonely? Then Xiemei will be sad that her friend is all by his lonesome!" Lan Yuan, who was stuck acting as her babysitter as his peers walked through the gates, was coming to the end of himself as Mo Xiemei was refusing to take another step forward from the donkey. She had not acted like this when the statue of the Goddess had come alive and had even clung to Master Wangji when he had arrived, volunteering to bring her to the Lan Clan's home.

While the young man was warning her that it was best that she settle down, Meifeng could only wilt as she counted the number of rules she would be forced to obey upon the Rock of Disciplines that overlooked the Gusu Lan Sect... there had surely been only 300 etched into the stone's face before.

And if there was one thing Wei Meifeng disliked more than pompous people or perverts, it was being confined to the many, stifling rules that governed the Lan Clan.

Ahead of them, Lan Wangji had not yet left into the sanctuary, remaining just outside its entrance as if waiting on them with the same look of intense consideration he had when Meifeng had been caught by him as she played her flute for Wen Ning. For the briefest of moments, their eyes had simply stared at each other in thought and in shock, yet Meifeng had been forced to turn away and ignore the man's presence when her control on Wen Ning had been slipping. Bringing the flute to her lips once more, she had commanded Wen Ning to flee until she called on him again as his figure had vanished from sight. Her eyes had returned to its normal color from the red it had been previously.

The short time in between the confusion and Meifeng being the center of attention had been minimal, yet her placement in the situation had earned Jiang Cheng's ire as he attacked her with Zidian. The weapon itself was something Meifeng had thoroughly known of since she was a child, yet had not expected the stinging whip to attack her in an attempt to rip her soul out of the body the Sect leader had assumed she had taken by force. While she suspected Lan Wangji was of a similar mind, he had opened his home to her as to keep an eye on her, thus leaving her wishing to get away.