Well.
This certainly was a pickle.
Not that Lan Sizhui ever said that out loud.
He was not appreciating the situation at the moment. When he had been following the trail of dead cats with the others, he did not expect to be stuck in an abandoned city full of dense fog they can't see through. At least they had the Ouyang disciples and Jin Ling, and the twins.
Actually, reconsidering… maybe Jiang Hui, Jiang Rui, Jin Ling and Jingyi wasn't the best combination of people. Especially since they were bickering over why Jiang Rui's war fans weren't clearing the fog like they're supposed to.
Mo Xuanyu, it turns out, wasn't a lunatic. He was quite lucid as he told Hanguang-jun about his suspicions of the Stygian Tiger Seal. He also seemed to know what he was doing.
… at least, Sizhui hoped. If not, they were all in very big trouble.
Then, the smell hit their nostrils. Even Qingxue couldn't resist waving a sleeve in front of her, let alone the others.
Mo Xuanyu quickly turned around. "What's wrong?"
Jingyi wrinkled his nose before replying. "The smell is bitter yet sweet, and fishy. It's disgusting."
The supposed lunatic quickly seemed to deduce that something was wrong, and he led them out of the fog. Sizhui was grateful, as were the others.
"But we can't see anything." Wushan complained.
He didn't have very long to complain. Suddenly, Mo Xuanyu spun his head around, and a man wearing a ghost mask came face to face with him. In his shock, Mo Xuanyu nearly let the man take his Spirit-Trapping pouch, but his flute blocked his arm, sending the man flying back several zhang.
Immediately, the juniors drew their swords, but a good number of them started to cough and double over. Thankfully, they weren't needed.
After a few taunts from Mo Xuanyu, Hanguang-jun sent Bichen in the man's way, who ducked and barely managed to avoid getting decapitated. Bichen returned to its master's hand, and Hanguang-jun started a duel which brought him away from the juniors, who sheathed their swords.
"Lan Zhan, you're hurt!" Mo Xuanyu yelled after him, to no avail. He sighed and shook his head, then turned back to the rest of his company.
Half of them were curling up, the worst cases being Jingyi and Wenxin.
Mo Xuanyu's brow furrowed in worry, and he pointed to a direction. "This way."
They followed him through an alleyway into another street, which seemed to be devoid of the horrible smell. Those that seemingly weren't affected uncovered their faces, but the coughing ones bent over, unable to straighten.
Sizhui was suddenly very worried. Because even his Qingxue-jie was coughing, and Qingxue-jie was never one to show weakness, unless she really couldn't take it.
No, worried wasn't the word. Hanguang-jun would be disappointed if he heard this, but Sizhui was positively terrified.
"How are the people who inhaled the powder?" Mo Xuanyu asked urgently.
"They can't even stand straight." Sizhui said, concern lacing his tone.
"Show me your tongues."
Every one of them had a green streak at the center of their tongue.
Mo Xuanyu sighed. It was that type of sigh that communicated this just made things a whole lot harder rather than OH MY GOD THEY ARE POISONED AND MIGHT DIE SOON, which irritated Sizhui a bit.
As if he wasn't nonchalant about the situation already, he proceeded to say "Congratulations, you got poisoned!"
At least Jin Ling shared his sentiment. "What is there to congratulate?"
Mo Xuanyu waved it off. "Think of it as something you can boast about in the future."
Do not praise yourself. Qingxue signed, but she broke down into another fit of coughing.
Sizhui fully supported Qingxue's weight. "Mo-gongzi, will they be alright?"
Mo Xuanyu turned away from them, idly pacing. "They're fine for now. But once the poison flows into the bloodstream and all over the body, then there's no saving them."
Jingyi leaned even more heavily on Wushan, who grumbled a bit at having to support two people, but didn't throw him off.
Murmurs of "What do we do?" rippled through the group, and Mo Xuanyu caught on.
"Want to get treatment?"
Fervent nods were seen.
"Good, then listen to me. You will have to follow my instructions very carefully."
"Yes!" All of the chorused.
Mo Xuanyu then told them to carry the poisoned, so that their lack of movement slows their blood flow. They then walked down the street, and once they found a house (with a person living in it, Mo Xuanyu insisted) all of them filed in. Although they were all a bit scared by the Paper Mannequins that revealed themselves once Sizhui lit a candle with a fire talisman, they got to work quickly. The poisoned were immediately set down, and they sat as still as possible while Mo Xuanyu, Lan Sizhui and Jin Rulan went to prepare a cure for them.
Surprisingly, Mo-gongzi led them into the kitchen, where he immediately began going through the ingredients laid out on the table. A bit of banter was heard between uncle and nephew, before Mo Xuanyu ordered Sizhui to get some water and Jin Ling to remove the other trash from the table, while going through the glutinous rice to make sure it doesn't have any unwelcome additions.
Sizhui lit the hearth and fanned it to keep the fire going while Mo Xuanyu filled the pot with glutinous rice and spices, as well as water.
"Congee?" Jin Ling inquired. "Why are you making congee? It's so watery and tasteless."
Sizhui was a bit offended at that; he was a Lan, and Lans had congee as their meal every day.
Mo Xuanyu scoffed. "It's not like it's for you."
"What?! I'm helping you and I can't even have any?"
Sizhui saw his opportunity to get back at Jin Ling for insulting the Lans' meals.
"Mo-qianbei, is it congee that can cure poisoning?"
The senior in question nodded. "Sizhui is smart. But it's not the congee that can cure poisoning, it's the glutinous rice. A folk method."
Sizhui then made a big show of his deductive reasoning, not necessarily to piss off Jin Ling... Maybe.
He made no comment when he saw the congee turn bright red. Maybe that was a part of the antidote.
She saw Song Zichen break through the roof, and swore (in her head) because if she wasn't wrong, that was the hut where Wei Wuxian and the juniors were currently recuperating in.
Sure enough, the juniors were already struggling with the fierce corpse. Wei Wuxian was playing his flute, but not quite fast enough.
Xuemi took over, and dueled with the corpse until Wei Wuxian got Song Lan under control, and bound him.
The juniors, save for the Lans, pointed their swords at the new figure in their midst.
Of course, the rest of them reacted differently.
Jingyi squeaked out "Bai-guniang!" with a tone that suggested worship.
Sizhui and Qingxue bowed, ever dignified.
The other Lans just stood there, gaping for a good five seconds before they came to their senses and bowed as well.
Wei Wuxian's (Mo Xuanyu's?) face slowly split into a grin. "A-Yi!"
Xuemi glared at him. A whole other lifetime, and he still ignores my protests. "Do not call me A-Yi." She intoned severely.
The other juniors slowly lowered their swords, confusion evident.
"Wait, who did you say she was?" Wenxin asked.
"They said 'Bai-guniang'. But that's impossible, she died sixteen years ago-" Wushan cut off.
Xuemi took off her veil and stuffed it into her robes. Jin Ling nodded. "That's absolutely her. She looks exactly like the portrait in the ancestral hall."
She spun around. "Jiang Wanyin," she deadpanned, "has a portrait of me in the Jiang ancestral hall."
Jin Ling nodded, completely unaware of what he was implying. "There's also a red comb under it. He gets really mad if anyone touches it."
Xuemi and Wuxian stared blankly at each other. Since when did he declare Xuemi a part of the Jiang Sect?
Since when was she a part of three sects?
(Two, if you took into account that the Qishan Wen sect was now all but eliminated, but that didn't matter at the moment.)
Trying to steer the conversation to a new topic, Xuemi cleared her throat. "Inquiry." She prompted.
"Right!" Wuxian exclaimed. "Have any of you learned inquiry?"
"I have." Sizhui immediately answered.
"How is it?"
Jingyi answered for him. "Hanguang-jun said it's fine."
Wuxian nodded, satisfied. Beside him, Song Lan continued to thrash, albeit not as violently.
"Let's start."
Sizhui closed his eyes, feeling for the questions Mo-qianbei wanted him to ask.
He plucked the chords.
Who are you?
Two notes sounded, clear and concise.
Song Lan.
Sizhui's eyes opened, and he said out loud, "Song Lan."
Mo-qianbei nodded, still looking at the fierce corpse. "That is correct. It seems that your Inquiry is quite proficient. Second question: Who killed him?"
Sizhui shut his eyes again, mouthing the question, even though he has played this one for a long time.
Who killed you?
Three notes sounded. They could not be a lie, yet they were the last ones expected.
Xiao Xingchen.
Sizhui's eyes snapped open this time. "That's impossible!"
Mo-qianbei inclined his head slightly towards him. "What did he say?"
"He said… Xiao Xingchen!"
Heads swiveled around to look at the unconscious cultivator rescued by Mo-qianbei.
Jin Ling turned back to Sizhui. "You… you played it wrong, didn't you?"
"There's no way." Sizhui started. "'Who are you' and 'Who killed you' are the most common and easiest questions in association with spirits. They are the first and second questions we learn. I've practiced them no less than thousands of times, and I even checked them before playing; there's no way I've played it wrong!"
"Then you interpreted it wrong." Jin Ling offered, but Sizhui shook his head.
"If playing it wrong is impossible, then interpreting it wrong is even more so. The characters 'Xiao Xingchen' are not at all common as spirits' answers. Besides, if he said a different name, I couldn't have just so happened to have mistaken his answer for those three characters!"
"He's right." Xuemi spoke up. "Song Lan indeed answered with 'Xiao Xingchen.'"
"They say that Song Lan went to find the missing Xiao Xingchen, but he just said that Xiao Xingchen killed him. Why would he? He doesn't seem like that kind of person." Jingyi muttered, and the rest voiced similar agreements.
Mo-qianbei's eyes shifted in thought, then said it. "Sizhui, ask the third question. Who is he being controlled by?"
Sizhui closed his eyes one final time, mouthing the question one last time, making sure he didn't get this one wrong.
He plucked.
Who is controlling you?
The six notes gave him the answer, and he slammed his palms onto his strings, stopping the vibrations.
His eyes shot open as he interpreted the words one at a time, dreading the answer.
"The… one… that… sits… behind… you!"
At the last word, everyone turned around to face the "unconscious" cultivator, who then smiled and snapped his fingers. Song Lan then broke free of his bindings, summoned Fuxue and its sheath to his hands, swinging the blade up to Mo-qianbei's neck.
The juniors unsheathed their swords, but they were too late.
Xuemi had Lengyue right at "Xiao Xingchen"'s neck. "Let him go." She growled.
"Xiao Xingchen" laughed. "Why, Bai-guniang, I suggest you put down your sword. After all, your dear brother would be devastated should anything happen to this gongzi here."
Reluctantly, Lengyue was lowered.
"Xiao Xingchen" made shooing motions at the rest of them. "All of you, get out."
Most of them complied, seeing that Mo-qianbei was at "Xiao Xingchen"'s mercy, but Sizhui hesitated, and approached Mo-qianbei.
Song Lan pointed the sword at Sizhui, but then Mo-qianbei pushed him back.
He half smiled, despite the circumstances. "Sizhui, you're most sensible. Keep the juniors under control on behalf of her, because A-Yi won't talk."
Sizhui nodded.
"Don't be scared."
"I'm not."
"Really?"
Sizhui grinned. "Mo-qianbei, you're so much like Bai-guniang and Hanguang-jun."
Mo Xuanyu raised an eyebrow. "Alike? How are we alike? A-Yi and Lan Zhan are so cold and icy, and I'm so outgoing."
Sizhui didn't quite respond and drifted away, still looking back at Mo Xuanyu.
I'm not sure, either. It's just that whenever one of the three seniors are present, I don't feel like I have to be scared of anything.
Hanguang-jun raised me, so I suppose it is warranted. But Bai-guniang… I think I've seen another side of her. A motherly side. And I don't know… something about Mo-qianbei's smile is so familiar, it makes me feel safe.
With that, Lan Sizhui stepped out into the fog.