When We Meet Again (The Untamed Sequel)

Chapter 23 - The Talisman

"Sometimes blessings come in ugly wrapping paper."
― Richie Norton

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Wei Wuxian

I open my eyes to find my surroundings dimly lit by the first rays of the sun, having no idea of how I woke up this early.

How long was I unconscious?

Lan Zhan was lying on my chest, grabbing my robes with one hand. The empathy must have been bad on him. I stroke his head and hug him tightly.

At once he looks up at me with his brown eyes, wearing a surprised expression.

"Oh, you were awake," I say.

Without replying, he crashes his lips against mine and I let him kiss me for all he wants.

"Come on Lan Zhan, I just woke up," I say, teasing him, when he pulls away at last. He was glaring as if he wanted to yell at me but was too happy to do it.

I sit up. "Come here," I pull him for a hug and rub his back. He buries his face in my shoulder. "I missed you too."

"What happened to you?" he asks.

I sigh. "Why don't we discuss it later?"

He nods.

Lan Zhan draws a bath for me and helps me wash up. Then he hands me my clothes and leaves me in my privacy. But I don't think I'd need them now.

I loosely wrap my inner robe and find Lan Zhan sitting on the bed. Without a word, I straddle on his lap and put my arms around his neck giving him a mischievous smile. I raise an eyebrow asking him to initiate, and he does. I deepen the kiss, tasting his tongue, and push him to the bed. Hovering him, my lips find his.

All these kisses we share, I memorize them. Light ones that say his love, rough ones that say how much he craves for me, lingering ones that say that we long for each other, bruising ones that show our passion...

I devour each of them, wanting to taste him in every second that passes. I will never let him go.

And I don't, even when I hear someone come in, reminding me that I didn't close the door

"Hang-" Sizhui's voice stops abruptly, surely because of witnessing the sinful activity happening before him.

I cup Lan Zhan's face to stop him from pulling away, and to my surprise, he doesn't try either.

Then I hear Sizhui's hurried footsteps fade away after a yell of apology and I feel Lan Zhan smile against my lips.

I must close the door before I lose control in his arms.

***

"Hope we didn't traumatize that kid," I say as we snuggle close to each other after our heated morning.

We were fully dressed, after cleaning up again but refusing to part from each other's warmth.

"Hmm," Lan Zhan replies. He was lying next to me, using my arm as a pillow.

"Why was he here?" I ask while playing with his hair

"He took care of you when you were unconscious."

I smile. It always felt good when someone cares. The thought takes me to a question I wanted to ask.

"You tried empathy, didn't you?"

He nods after a while. "How did you know how to stop it?"

I smirk. "I'm the Yiling Patriarch Lan Zhan, It was me who created it. Of course, I know how to stop it. It's just-" I sigh. "It's better if you don't see certain things."

A silence follows.

"Lan Zhan, can you forget what you saw?"

"Can you?"

I don't reply. I can't.

We stay huddled together for some time till Zewu Jun arrives to discuss the attack.

We exchange each of our parts of the situation.

"No, it wasn't the man who attacked. It was something else, which was behind me." I say.

"There was a talisman on your back." Lan Zhan says.

"A talisman?"

"Very unusual one." Zewu Jun adds.

"Can I see it?"

"Of course. I stored it in the Forbidden Section of the library pavilion for safety. You can examine it." He says.

***

The forbidden section smelled old as usual. It always had a sense of secrecy, which gave me the feeling of whatever I find here will play a twist in what I'm doing.

And this time too, it proved itself, when Zewu Jun handed me the talisman.

The first thing I noticed was the color. Black. It was a trick that I was working on a few days before my death. The more I looked into it the more it confirms my suspicions.

I did not like it at all.

"I have to test this," I say.

"Of course. Wangji, provide him with any resource he wants." Zewu Jun says. He settles on the other side of the hall, leaving me with Lan Zhan to work on our own.

I take a seat on one of the tables and start working on the inscriptions of the talisman. I reach out to Lan Zhan who was sitting on the table next to mine, to cut my finger with Bichen. Lan Zhan who probably thought that I was going to touch him glares at me with red ears and I grin, showing my bleeding finger.

I use my blood to make a copy of the writings to a plain sheet of paper. I take a good look at them.

I wasn't sure what I was feeling. This too was an inscription made by me. It is used to sending a large amount of dark energy into someone's spirit. But this one was changed so what it sends is not just dark energy, but spiritual energy too.

This explains it all. The energy that was around my body after I was attacked, why I was feeling weirdly energetic...

If so...

"Lan Zhan, were you able to touch me after I was attacked?"

He stiffens. He shakes his head avoiding my gaze.

Oh... he must have been devastated.

"What did you find?"

Without answering I cross my legs in meditation with my hands forming a ball, feeling excited and anxious. I summon the energy within me forming a red void between my hands. I increase it bit by bit.

Its color brightens and finally reaches white.

Lan Zhan stares at me wide-eyed.

"I never thought I'd get this back," I say.

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Double Update!!! Just wanted to end it in a good mood.

Hope you enjoyed
Till next time...