Baby Lans in action!
When night fell, Sizhui had to put the thought of the duo aside and focus on the situation at hand.
Fear made his stomach do acrobatics, his heart climb up his throat, and everything seemed too far and too close at the same time. Their first night hunt alone was turning into something that they could not control, and all he could think of while attempting to subdue the hand was ‘Please let there be a senior nearby – please let them make it in time.’
Too many lives had been lost on this hunt already.
Three dead bodies, dropping one after the other, another – literally – armed with some type of spirit arm, Second Young Master Mo flailing all around them, all three dead bodies becoming fierce corpses at once, Second Young Master Mo flailing all around them, and the people of the manor not escaping quickly enough, resulting in more casualties.
Young Master Mo was alone, not quite getting in the way but flailing around them and certainly complicating things as they tried to protect him and themselves and where was the other half of the duo?
Sizhui looked around in a panic only to catch sight of him running from one of the side rooms, a large black travelling pack of such strange make it could have only belonged to him. It was unlike any design he could have even imagined in his wildest dreams, and from within the many pockets and pouches seemingly sewn into it, the short haired boy drew glass phials with brightly colored mixtures within.
“CLEAR THE WAY!!” he yelled and threw two of them at the arm, giving them just enough time to clear the radius as the glass shattered and fluids erupted, frost and ice spearing through the night air, successfully encasing the spirit arm and the fierce corpses in pale blue icicle.
“Waaaahahaha!” the lunatic cheered in excitement, leaping at the short haired boy who had just committed an act of alchemy unheard of within the cultivation world. Most of the Gusu-Lan group couldn’t help but gape at him.
“Hey!” the boy called, attempting to wrangle his way free from the octopus hug from his charge, “The ice won't hold for long! It wasn't made for malevolent spirits, so it has no purification properties! Do what you came here to do and do it quick!” he commanded as he readied yet more phials of different colors. “A-Yu, please, go back into the house where it's safe!”
Second Master Mo refused, “No! No, no, no! Next to A-Hari is the safest!!”
The ice creaked ominously, a grating, twisting noise that set all the hair on the back of their necks on end.
“Jingyi!” Lan Yuan called, quickly moving to position, his fellow disciple mirroring him on the other side, their swords drawn.
“Here she comes...” A-Hari warned with grim certainty. Sizhui wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that out of all of them... A-Hari was by far the most 'defenseless' and yet still managed to be the most composed. Sizhui felt as though his heart was about to jump out of his mouth and he knew his eyes were just a hair too wide to hide his fear. His hands were sweating, and it was only the decade of diligent practice that prevented them from his blade shaking out of his hand.
The ice groaned – a breath-stealing moment where time seemed to slot to a standstill – and it shattered.
The pressure from the explosion threatened to lift him from his feet, and he had to crouch low to the ground as chunks of ice sprayed across the garden, tearing through the wood and paper screens around them, almost bludgeoning both A-Hari and Second Young Master Mo if the two hadn't ducked behind the decorative rocks.
Madam Mo wordlessly shrieked her fury to the heavens, swollen cursed arm lashing out as she fixed her eyes on the highest concentration of Yang energy nearby, namely himself and Jingyi behind him.
“No!” A-Hari's voice snapped out and from the corner of his eye he could see the boy step out with a potion phial –
Only for the air itself to burst with the thunderous twang of a familiar instrument, crushing the spirit and filling him with immediate relief, as Hanguang-Jun stood above them. They were saved!
It was such a relief that he had completely missed Second Master Mo grabbing up A-Hari and his strange bag and fleeing the premises, only realizing they had fled when organizing the aftermath of the incident.