In the name of love || ONC2023

Chapter 12: Lan Zhan

[A/N: Potentially triggering content (mild violence and abuse). Reader discretion advised.]

Lan Zhan's POV

Location: Earth, 108th Dimension.

I was already having a bad day- not like that was something new; for unless my brother invited me for a cup of tea which was rare (he was a busy man training to take over the reins of our clan in his capable hands) my days were usually bad- when Wei WuXian, a man who was a stranger but in a short time we had come to spend together had made me feel more than I had felt in… forever, had jested with me, pretending to be in pain. He had pushed it further by acting like he was possessed. It was all to seduce me, I realized all too late.   

It had occurred to me then: I could take Bichen's assistance to pull myself out of the situation. I had hoped he would have come to his senses when I saw him next. 

Little did I know that the evil, which had snatched me from my home and my time, could dare to go further and try to incriminate me like this.

I had woken up to men dressed in a similar way to which I had found Wei WuXian a few hours ago, pulling me away from on top a man struggling to free himself from my grasp. 

I was never fond of contact with another, physical or otherwise, except when Bichen was slicing through demon flesh or when Wangji was banishing evil creatures to the demonic realm, so I severed our contact immediately only to come face to face with someone who looked like Wei WuXian.

 I was a cultivator. I knew how to recognize souls. This person, the one heaving and trying to cover himself up with my undergarments and looking at me with contempt and fear in his eyes, was not Wei WuXian. Someone had gone to great lengths to mimic the man whose mere existence had made me question my years of training, sanity, and sanctity. 

I felt nothing as the imposter bared his front to another and pointed at me accusingly, proving that my suspicions were correct; whoever or whatever this creature was, it was not my Wei WuXian… Ah-Xian. 

No sooner had I thought of the name than an intense pain, like someone was trying to rip out my core, shot through my chest, and a moment later, I lost consciousness again. 

This time when I woke up, I was in a dark, windowless chamber. Vertical rods made of metal acted as one of the three walls of the space I was sharing with a few others dressed in similarly colored attires. A glance down my body was enough to confirm my suspicions. I was in a holding area. I put two and two together and concluded that I was being accused of causing bodily harm to Wei WuXian's lookalike. 

Strangely, Even at this moment, I was worried about what had happened to my Wei WuXian. Ah-Xian. Unlike before, a warm buzz of energy circulated through my primordial form before embracing my heart. It felt like home….like I did when my mother still wanted me…loved me. 

Needing to get to Ah-Xian, I had commanded Bichen and Wangji to present themselves, but none heeded. I tried to draw power from my core next, but it refused to assist me. At last, I used the strength in my arms. Alas, it was not enough to help me escape. 

While I tried everything I could to leave the holding area, others watched me with curious eyes until they had had enough. They pushed a red circular item placed on one of the walls. A bell went off somewhere to my east, and shortly after, a man named Meng Yao appeared before me. 

Introducing himself as Wei WuXian's husband, the man had shown me incredibly lifelike moving paintings of me attacking Wei WuXian's lookalike with the intention of stealing his virtue until I had passed out. The book that held these paintings fascinated me as much as the paintings. If only it wasn't dark demonic magic, which it undoubtedly was, I would have been interested in understanding it.