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Lan Zhan stepped out of his car, shutting the door behind him before stretching out his aching limbs. The drive had been long and for the better part of the last hour almost unbearably bumpy.
Given the his current location, he supposed it was to be expected that there were no clearly paved roads. After all most people would not travel so far off the beaten path to hike up a mountain. Especially not one that was believed to be haunted.
Common folk in these parts had plenty of urban legends about this place, passed down through the centuries. Stories of mountains made of the dead, discarded and rejected by the living. Stories of a man, a cultivator, the only living soul to have been left for dead in this place who had not only managed to survive in there but make it out alive. Scarred perhaps but otherwise seemingly wholly intact. And then there were others. The ones who had followed that man back into this cursed land and had never been seen nor heard from again.
A fierce battle had taken place here afterwards as well. One in which armies of wide-eyed boys had marched in fearlessly but those who had managed to make it out? Well they had a haunted look in their eyes, one that never quite left them. Unsurprising really, given that even the townsfolk living nearby at the time, had felt the aftershocks of that battle. Spine-chilling shrieks and unnerving howls, as though the dead had risen in mourning, plagued the town for so long afterwards that most of the people living there had fled elsewhere in fear.
Since that battle, cultivators had tried once again to cleanse the mountain of its resentment but to no avail. There were some reports stating that the mountain became even more hostile than before the battle. After so many failed, and many more died for their efforts, the entire area was sealed off and cultivators were warned to stay away or face the consequences alone. If the mountain itself did not wish to be cleansed, what could any of them do about it?
Nowadays, the mountain has become something of a magnet for ghost hunters and young cultivators alike. But Lan Zhan was neither of those things. He didn’t come here looking to prove the existence of ghosts/demons (things the cultivation world tried exceedingly hard to keep hidden from the outside world but things inevitably slipped through). Nor was he one of the newly minted cultivators, looking to flaunt their meagre skills and prove themselves.
No, what led Lan Zhan here was a dream. He had of course learned of this place in his studies but had never felt any particular desire to ‘conquer’ it, as many of his classmates had. In the centuries following that battle, the restrictions surrounding the area had slowly faded away. Especially since the mountain had seemingly grown less murderous over time, allowing those who entered, safe passage back to the world outside.
Most people who entered the mountain now, reported simply wandering around in circles for hours before giving up and going home. A rare few would report that the mountain had made them face their worst fears, chasing them back the way they had come in. An even rarer few had memories of entering the mountain but no recollection of how they found themselves next to their vehicles, hours later or what had happened in the meantime.
When Lan Zhan turned 21, he’d begun to have startlingly vivid dreams that lingered well after he’d woken. Maybe he’s always had these dreams and it’s only now that he can remember them. But what he remembers seeing is this place, a pair of sparkling silver eyes shaped into crescents, and a playful voice calling out his name.
He was 23 now and still had the same dreams. If anything, the dreams seemed even more persistent than they had in the past. Lan Zhan thought perhaps there was something here in need of his aide and given that it had caught his attention, had decided to dig in until Lan Zhan came to release it. He would’ve liked to come sooner but Uncle and Brother had been hard pressed to allow him to make this trip alone. But seeing how increasingly troubled he became by the dreams, they had ultimately relented, hoping that once he visited, he would be able to have a peaceful night’s sleep.
Since he had no idea what to expect, he’d brought a little bit of everything with him: his trusted sword, his guqin, and a handful of talismans. Lan Zhan doubted he’d even be able to find anything though. No one else ever had and Lan Zhan may be a skilled cultivator but he was not so arrogant. Squaring his shoulders, Lan Zhan stepped forward on the path leading into the mountain.
Cultivating had made his senses sharper than the average person’s so Lan Zhan was relying on them to help him locate anything out of the ordinary. He continued on the path for almost an hour with nothing extraordinary happening and then he’d seen the strangest glimmer. It happened very quickly, any non-cultivator would likely have missed it, but when Lan Zhan tried to look closer, there was nothing to be found.
Not one for taking chances, Lan Zhan carefully surveyed the entire area. Hidden under some overgrown shrubs off the path, Lan Zhan found a curious marking etched into the ground. He knelt to have a closer look and found it to be one of the sigils used in a maze array.
That would explain all those people who reported wandering aimlessly around. But people trapped in maze arrays tended to be stuck there until someone came to rescue them, so how had those people walked themselves out?
Perhaps in more recent times a cultivator had made this place their home and simply put up harmless arrays to keep people away? But that didn’t explain Lan Zhan’s dreams and he’d already come this far.
While he navigated through the array, Lan Zhan kept his eyes peeled for signs of another. Something that induced people’s worst fears to manifest in front of them. It would most likely be an illusion of some sort but it could be dangerous, so he treaded carefully.
Though Lan Zhan couldn’t see it, he felt himself moving from one array into the next. He braced himself to face his fears, though he doubted his fears could be any worse the second time around.
Once he passed through the second array, Lan Zhan paused to take a break and survey his surroundings. Just up ahead was a clear path, one that didn’t appear to be hindered by any other arrays.
But for some reason Lan Zhan felt that the path before him would not take him to where he needed to be, the reason he had come here in the first place. He walked back and forth on the path, from the edge of the array to the trailhead, surveying the land to either side. When he didn’t find anything, Lan Zhan decided to step off the path to the left and walk some distance in that direction. If he didn’t find anything he would try the other side.
As he walked forward, he kept looking over his shoulder, ensuring that he wouldn’t lose sight of the trail he'd bee following.
Just then, Lan Zhan caught a small movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to see a small rabbit scurrying out from under its hiding place. When it sensed another presence, the rabbit froze mid action.
Lan Zhan had always had a soft spot in his heart for the creatures, so he crept carefully forward, thinking perhaps he could give it a few leaves to munch on while he pet it. He was so close but at the last moment the furry creature scampered out of reach before freezing again. Almost as if it were waiting for him to follow. How curious.
Normally, Lan Zhan would not chase a rabbit through an uncharted forest with unknown dangers and even more so when the creature was behaving so strangely. But for some reason, Lan Zhan could not help but to follow it deeper into the woods.
He blindly followed after it until his foot caught on a small rock jutting out from the ground, bringing him out of his trance. As he inspected more carefully, Lan Zhan found that there were many of these rocks jutting out in a strange pattern, almost like a...staircase? Time had eroded most of it away but a few broken bits remained here and there.
Lan Zhan didn’t have to turn to see that he’d come much further off the path than anticipated but his gut was telling him that this was where he was meant to be and so he followed the broken path up the mountain.
What he found at the end of the path, Lan Zhan hadn’t been expecting. Not that he knew what to expect but it certainly wasn’t this. The path he was on led straight into a cavern and surrounding the cavern...remnants of homes that seemed to have been carefully preserved and a lotus pond, of all things.
Lan Zhan pressed forward into the cavern and once inside, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been here before. Everything seemed so familiar and yet he couldn’t have said why.
He was wandering around, observing the obviously lived in cave, trying to find its dweller when a voice called out to him from behind.
“You shouldn’t be here. Go back the way you came and no harm will come to you.”
Lan Zhan turned to face the person but the man stood near the strange lotus pond, fluttering about as he carefully tended to it. He hadn’t bothered to spare even a single glance towards Lan Zhan.
“Do you live here?” Lan Zhan asked the man, ignoring the words he’d said. Lan Zhan had come here for answers and he couldn’t leave until he found them.
But just as he had dodged the man’s question, the man in turn ignored his. “There are plenty of other demons in this world, go hunt one of them. The ones living here have long been subdued.”
“I didn’t come here to hunt. I came here to get answers.”
The man gave an empty laugh. “What kind of answers could you possibly get from a place where everything comes to die?”
He wished he knew but honestly he had nothing else to go on. “Maybe you can help me? How long have you been living here? Do you know anything about who lived here before you? Wh-?”
Lan Zhan paused mid question, just as he was about to ask about the arrays, as the man had spun around, no doubt to tell him off, seeing as he kept insisting that Lan Zhan leave.
But when the man turned to face him, all the color seemed to drain from his already pale face. The basket in his arms fell to the floor, forgotten, its contents spilling on the ground around him as his arms fell limply to his sides.
Lan Zhan grew concerned at the harshness of the man’s breaths but before he could say anything, he heard his name fall from the man’s lips in a shaky, “ L-lan Zha-an?”
His eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Do you know me? I’m sorry but I don’t remember you.”
The man let out a laugh, more like a puff of air really, at that. Lan Zhan wasn’t sure why that would be funny but then this man couldn’t be all that normal given...well everything so far.
After he’d seemingly collected himself, the man responded, “I know everyone that comes through here. I won’t tell you again, leave, this place isn’t for you.”
What a strange choice of words.
Lan Zhan stepped closer to the man, who seemed to be doing his utmost to not back away from him. No doubt he didn't want any more questions from him. But Lan Zhan had so many questions and the longer he stood there, the more questions he had.
“How? How do you know everyone who comes through here? Who put those arrays up? And why is it okay for you to be here but not me?”
“Lan Zhan!” The man exploded, though Lan Zhan couldn’t find it in himself to be afraid of him, “Go back to Gu-go back home. Now!”
“You were about to say Gusu, weren’t you? But how could you know that’s where I’m from?”
“You’re a Lan.” That...was a fair point. The bulk of the Lan Clan had resided in or near Gusu for centuries. But still, it was strange for this man to know that. Especially considering the fact that it didn't seem as though this man had left the mountain in a long time. “If you want me to leave, then help me. Help me find what I came here looking for and then I’ll leave you alone.”
The man stepped forward, closing the space between them, until he was standing almost uncomfortably close to Lan Zhan. This time he was the one who stood his ground.
“And what is it,” the man leered towards him, trying to intimidate him probably, “ exactly , that you’re looking for?”
“I-” Lan Zhan started to answer but before he could, he was distracted by the man’s eyes. Drawn into them, in an intoxicating way, so much so that Lan Zhan found he couldn’t look away.
The man’s eyes held a wealth of pain and grief but that wasn’t what kept Lan Zhan fixated on them. These eyes, they’re so familiar....
Without realizing what he was saying, and unable to look away from this strange but familiar man, Lan Zhan found himself saying, “I-I think...it was you...the one who called me here...the one I’ve been looking for...it’s you. W-wei Yi-ing? ”