Extras

The story is getting too dark again. Let me try to cheer you guys up with an extra and not give you what's happening next *wink*.

... Or at least that's what I would've liked to write. This Extra chapter was supposed to be placed before the Chapter 13th, but does it matter? Wattpad is messing with the order of the chapters, either way no one would notice *sigh*. Anyways, I made another Extra chapter so there could be more funny moments in the book, plus add a few more chapters in this book since it's short on chapters. Lastly, the reason why I didn't update it first and leave Chapter 13 for next Monday, was because I had too much work and studies to do. The only thing I had written in this Extra chapter was the plot, so I decided to publish Chapter 13 yesterday and publish this Chapter next Monday (which means today). I hope you enjoy the Extra!❤️

LAN ZHĒN'S POV

Today was the day! I excitedly tied my hair into a ponytail and took my favorite ribbon. I looked at myself in the mirror and twirled around in my adventure outfit...

(Imagine it with the colors of the Clan)

Content with my choice of clothing, I ran out of my room and ran straight towards the Cold Room where Father and Grandpapa are located. Once at the door, I calmed myself down, swiped any dirt that might've reached my skirt, fix my hair a little and calmly entered the room after calming myself a little more.

Lan Zhēn: "Father?"

I smiled and bowed towards my Father and Grandpapa, they smiled from my actions and nodded, approving my well mannered actions.

Lan Zhēn: "Father, I'm ready to go out night hunting."

I say this with a smile, trying my hardest to not smile any wider or sound excited... But my smile disappeared when my Father's features turned into a more disapproving expression rather than smile.

Lan Zhēn: "Father?"

Lan Xichen: "Zhēn. I think it's best if you stayed, and leave the night hunting for the disciples."

Lan Zhēn (disappointed): "What?"

Lan Qiren: "Recently, there's been rumors of a beast somewhere around Gusu. We don't know where the monster lies, which is why me and Xichen decided to cancel your participation in today's night hunt."

Lan Zhēn: "But I'm strong. I can handle it! Besides, I'll be with other disciples and the Childes. I'm more than safe!"

Lan Xichen (warning): "Lan Zhēn."

Lan Zhēn: "Please Father! I've been waiting weeks for this day! I have all the materials I need in case anything happens. Medicine, daggers, bandages, and other necessary things. Please Father! At least let me go this time! I promise I won't beg to join the other ones in the future. At least let me join just this once!"

I was on my knees at this point in front of him. I REALLY wanted to go night hunting with everyone, I really really did. My Father looked at Grandpapa as Grandpapa only turned away seeping his tea, clearly letting Father know that it was his decision to make, not his. My Father sighed and looked at me as I remain on my begging pose, he sighed again.

Lan Xichen: "Fine."

Lan Zhēn: "Yes-!"

Lan Xichen: "But!"

I stayed still as he remained in a serious tone.

Lan Xichen: "On two conditions. One, you will take Wen Ning with you, and two, you will come before 9:00. Deal?"

Lan Zhēn (smiling): "Deal!"

I excitedly hugged my Father, making him chuckle, I let go and kissed my Grandpapa on his cheek which made him chuckle as well, before I ran out though...

Lan Zhēn: "Father?"

Lan Xichen: "Yes?"

Lan Zhēn: "Can you put the bow on me?"

Lan Xichen laughed a little while shaking his head, but he nodded either way and urged her to come closer. Lan Zhēn smiled and sat by his side, her back facing him as he did her bow on her hair. Once done, she immediately kissed his cheek again which obviously made him chuckle and I ran out to find my dark friend.

Lan Zhēn: "Wen Ning!"

Wen Ning turns around and both smiled and waved at Lan Zhēn who was running towards him and the juniors.

Lan Zhēn (happy): "Wen Ning! Father allowed me to go night hunting if you're around!"

Wen Ning (happy): "T-those are good news! A-are you all ready?"

Lan Zhēn: "Yes! Who is going night hunting tonight?"

Before Wen Ning could speak, someone familiar answered her question instead.

Jin Ling: "I will!"

Lan Zhēn turns around as she sees Jin Ling with bow around his chest and his sword on his waist. The same thing for Lan Shizui, Lan Jingyi, and other Lan disciples.

Lan Zhēn: "Childe Jin? I thought you were with Clan Leader Jiang?"

Jin Ling: "I asked Uncle and Zewu Jun if I could hunt here since I've explored must of the land around Junmeng and Lanling. Plus, Uncle is busy with Predecesor Wei in remodeling Lotus Pier a little, since it's getting a bit old. But as you can see, I'm here to hunt with our superior's permission."

Lan Jingyi: "Hopefully, you won't cheat this time."

Jin Ling: "You call it cheating, I call it advantage. Besides! I helped the economy by giving away my money for their businesses, so I don't see what's wrong with it."

Lan Jingyi: "What?! You're just trying to find a reasonable excuse to cheat! Without those expensive traps, you would only end up with a chicken!"

Jin Ling: "You! How dare you?!"

Jingy's words made the Lan disciples huff a laugh and snicker around Jin Ling, which made the said Jin teen mad.

Lan Zhēn: "What? Are you saying that all of the night hunts you've told me about were you cheating?"

Jin Ling: "N-no! Of course not! I'll prove I can hunt without the traps!"

Lan Jingyi (whisper/smirk): "Too easy."

The Lan disciples chuckled lowly as to not get caught, but obviously failed.

Jin Ling: "What?! Is there something you want to tell me?!"

Lan Shizui (gentle smile): "No, don't worry."

Lan Zhēn (excited): "A-Yuan! I thought you were practicing with Uncle Wangji?"

Lan Shizui (happy): "Yes, but Hanguang Jun let me go night hunting and told me we could continue tomorrow."

Lan Zhēn giggled. The conversation was about to continue, until it was interrupted by someone.

???: "Hey!"

Everyone turns around and sees the male in surprise as he approaches them.

Jin Ling (a bit annoyed): "What are you doing here?"

Ouyang Zizhen (offended/pained): "Why are you asking in such an annoyed tone? What did I do to you that made my presence so annoying to you?"

Lan Shizui: "Now you guys."

Lan Shizui sends a stern look towards Jin Ling in which he only rolled his eyes and huffed with arms crossed. Shizui then turns to Zizhen and smiles.

Lan Shizui (smiling): "I'm sure Childe Jin is just surprised from your visit just like all of us are."

Lan Zhēn (smiling): "What brings you here to the Lan Clan?"

Ouyang Zizhen (smiling): "Can't I visit my friends once in a while? I asked Zewu Jun if I could visit and train here for a few days. Even though the rules here are... Umm... I-intense. It's still a good place to train! The place is calmer and more spacious than in my Clan; to me, training is better when one has a calm mind and body. What better place than in the clouds?"

Lan Zhēn (fluff): "Aww, that's so nice Childe Ouyang! It's good to know how my home affects people positively."

Childe Ouyang blushed while nodding. Jin Ling looked at them both and quickly stepped between them, completely covering Zizhen from Zhēn.

Jin Ling: "Miss Lan! So you managed to get Zewu Jun's permission?"

Lan Zhēn: "Yes! After all, if I'm going to be the Clan Leader of the Lan Clan one day, I must go through these sorts of experiences at least once in my life. Is there a problem?"

Jin Ling: "No. It's just that... Aren't you too valuable to loose?"

Lan Zhēn: "Childe Jin. I may be the Lan Clan Princess, but that doesn't mean my Father trained me to be one. Besides, not that I can't defend myself of course, but for my dear Father's sake, I'll be accompanied by Wen Ning and all of you as well. I'm more than just 'safe', so there's nothing to worry about."

Lan Jingyi: "That's right! Our Lady is a strong woman. In fact! Don't be surprised if she gets to be the one saving you."

Jin Ling's eyes widened and started chasing Lan Jingyi who ran off laughing and continuously making fun of the furious boy. While they ran around, Lan Shizui and Ouyang Zizhen neared Lan Zhēn and the three of them smiled at each other while watching the two boys running around. About 15 minutes later, Jin Ling caught Jingyi by grabbing his arm.

Lan Jingyi (sarcastic): "Oh no you caught me. Now what are you going to do?"

Jin Ling huffed, and not really knowing what to, he let go of Jingyi and immediately punched the arm he grabbed. The punch wasn't that hard, but it was still a painful one, which means that Jingyi obviously winced and rubbed his arm while Jin Ling still huffed in anger. After that amusing moment, everyone left the Clan and went into the woods of Gusu where everyone separated, except for the juniors of course who decided to stay by Lan Zhēn's side. After an hour looking and walking around with a happy and excited Lan Princess...

*SNAP*

*SCREAMS*

The floor broke and everyone fell underground! They were sliding down on a slide-like root, the roots would be bumpy and then smooth again. Unfortunately, since the roots were so old, with every young one who slides down, the root breaks... until it finally snapped. Wen Ning tried to jump to the other side, but was unable to reach and fell, separating himself from the young teens. As everyone saw the end of the ride get near, they embraced for impact and were swung off by the roots and rolled on the ground or bumped into each other on the floor from the speed.

Lan Zhēn (pained): "O-owww... It hurts..."

...

Lan Zhēn (surprised): "A-Yuan! I'm so sorry are you okay?!"

Lan Zhēn was on top of a pained Lan Shizui, despite the pain though, he smiled at her.

Lan Shizui: "Don't apologize Miss Lan. I was the one that held you. After all *they start sitting up*, it's my duty to protect you, even if the injury were to be a small scratch or bruise."

Lan Zhēn smiled from his sweet words.

Jin Ling (annoyed/angry): "Get OFF me!"

Lan Jingyi (annoyed): "What?! You think I enjoyed being tangled with you out of everyone in the group?! I'm off I'm off!"

The argument made Zhēn laugh a little, but her smile disappeared as she realized something.

Lan Zhēn (worried): W-where's Childe Ouyang?"

Ouyang Zizhen: "HEEEEELP!"

His scream alarmed everyone. They quickly stood up and followed where his screams were heard. He must've continued rolling from the speed when they found him holding on to a single root a bit down in a cliff.

Ouyang Zizhen (scared): "Help me!

Lan Shizui: "Hold on!"

Zizhen screamed "Hurry!" as Shizui ready his rope that was supposed to be used for the killer string technic, and threw one of the ends into the cliff towards Ouyang Zizhen.

Lan Jingyi: "Did you grab it?!"

Lan Zhēn (worried): "Yes! Now hurry and pull!"

After the said order from the Lan Princess, the three boys pulled up Ouyang Zizhen while Lan Zhēn remained close to the edge. When Zizhen was reachable, Lan Zhēn quickly helped him up while the other boys continued to pull. Once up, all of them carefully walked to safer ground so they wouldn't end up slipping and falling over the cliff.

Lan Jingyi: "You okay?"

Ouyang Zizhen: "It's too much adrenaline for my still young body. I thought I was gonna die!"

Jin Ling: "Man up already! Is this how you'll be when turning into the Ouyang Clan Leader?"

Ouyang Zizhen: "I would like to hear you say that when you get to experience what I went through."

Lan Zhēn: That's enough you two... Childe Ouyang? Where's your sword?"

Ouyang Zizhen stayed silent and looked down, but he answered either way.

Ouyang Zizhen (sadly): "I didn't have a choice... Either I held on to my sword and fall or sacrifice my sword so I could save myself."

Lan Shizui: "M-maybe we'll find it?"

Jin Ling: "I'd rather buy you a new sword rather than stay down here any longer. It gives me bad vibes."

Lan Jingyi: "That's true. I mean, I've been through many creepy places... but I feel as if this one was literally screaming at me to get out."

Lan Zhēn: "Your instincts aren't wrong. *Alarms everyone* There's something down here, and I can feel that it's something powerful. We need to find an exit and quickly."

Jin Ling: "Wait a minute. Didn't you get to be one with nature? Can't you sense the exit?"

Lan Zhēn: "Unfortunately, we are very deep underground. I can try, but it's a big place, and it may or may not take hours trying to search for an exit. Not only that, but it also takes away my energy; the bigger the place, the more energy I loose. I can't risk loosing any precious spiritual energy at the moment, especially when we're in the territory of a powerful creature."

They nodded in agreement, but everyone saw how Shizui was looking everywhere suddenly.

Jin Ling: "What's wrong?"

Lan Shizui (worried): "Where's Ning-xiong?"

Everyone looked around and panicked a little when they didn't see a sign of Wen Ning.

Lan Jingyi: "He didn't fall with us?"

Ouyang Zizhen: "No, he was behind me when falling."

Jin Ling: "So he fell in the cliff?"

Ouyang Zizhen: "I don't think so, I didn't hear him fall. Besides, if he really was with me, wouldn't he grab me and him being the one grabbing on to the root?"

Lan Shizui: "Then we lost him on the way here."

Lan Zhēn: "I worry for Wen Ning, I truly do, but she should go and try to find an exit, if we do, we'll go find my Father and start a search mission for Wen Ning. Let's all keep in mind that Wen Ning isn't entirely human, he can survive on his own and his instincts are better than ours. Now let's go and find a way out."

The boys nodded and decided to walk around instead. Much for their dismay, the only way they could go is down since the root was too slippery and steep; they could try to ride their swords upwards, but there were too many roots, which made them feel uneasy with the fact that they could've been hurt on the way down. Either way, with no way up, they went down, and the deeper they went, the more it stank a little.

Ouyang Zizhen: "Why does it stink so much?"

Lan Jingyi: "You're right. But this stink isn't something I'm familiar with. It smell rotten *sniff* metalic *sniff* old maybe?"

Lan Zhēn: "Stop."

Lan Zhēn extended her arms as to prevent them from getting closer. She search through her pouch and took out a metal hair stick (I forgot what those accessories were called) and lightly inserted the tip in the liquid on the floor. Taking it out...

Lan Zhēn: "Black."

Jin Ling: "What's that for?"

Lan Zhēn turns to them with the metal object with a worried look.

Lan Zhēn: "This can tell us when something is poisoned, the darker the shade, the more poisonous it is. As you can see, the tip turned completely black, which means that not only are we surrounded by poison, we're surrounded by an extremely potent and dangerous type of poison, higher leveled I've seen at least."

Lan Shizui: "You're right. The darkest shade I've seen was purple or a purplish blue... I've never seen it black."

Lan Zhēn: "We need to be careful and not touch anything around here. Let's watch our step and not fall or lean on anything, alright?"

The boys nodded and continued walking with the necessary precautions. As they went deeper, they discovered something astonishing.

Ouyang Zizhen (bewildered): "Is this?... A gate?"

Everyone sees the old gate with wonder since it looked like a relique. The step closer to inspect the old architecture and it was indeed an old relique, seeing patterns and designs that aren't used anymore and only seen in books. They went through the old gate and entered an old abandoned village. The houses were made of stone, from bricks to naturally made by nature, it was as if they were going back in time when walking around; if it weren't for the stink (A/N: by the way, the stink isn't toxic) the walk would've been very enjoyable.

Lan Jingyi: "Woooow. Everything is so antique, it's remarkable."

Ouyang Zizhen: "I agree! If only it didn't stink down here, maybe people would enjoy seeing how our ancestors lived back then. It would've been such a great learning experience for the younger ones."

Lan Zhēn (smiling): "I also agree! Just imagine the young, happily running around and discovering their inner adventurer. Just the thought makes my heart burst into rainbows!"

Lan Zhēn walked off with a smile and a small skip of excitement from her wholesome thought. This made Zizhen smile and huff a laugh, a dreamy look on her face, but was snapped back to reality when hearing Jingyi snickering, which made him blush a little and look away. Everyone stopped dead on their track when sensing something...

.

.

.

Something was close.

They all quickly hid inside the buildings and waited for whatever the thing was to pass them.

*huff* *huff* *small growl/hiss*

The creature must be huge, the steps it made sounded heavy, and it's huffs were deeper and deeper as it got close. The ground even started to vibrate as it got close. Ouyang Zizhen covered his mouth as to prevent any noise from coming out when everyone as well as him saw the shadow of said creature... It had nine snake-like heads, two in which were on floor level sniffing around. Since they were scattered, two members of the group are on one side while three were at the other, 4 on ground level and Jin Ling was on the second floor of the same building as Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi. The two heads were sniffing, but one of them perked and took a big and long sniff while it moved towards where Lan Zhēn and Lan Shizui were hiding in. Jin Ling panicked and thought fast as he silently drew an arrow and shot it somewhere far; once shot, the arrow hit a weak looking stalactite which made it fall and made a loud enough noise to attract the monster's attention, in which he succeeded. The monster hissed and quietly went towards the placed where the rock was destroyed, they took advantage of this moment and ran away from the location as fast as possible. Once they were in a small cave where they were sure the beast wouldn't catch them, they started whispering their conversation.

Ouyang Zizhen (scared): "What was that thing?! I never seen such a monster in my life!"

Jin Ling (annoyed): "Shut up! It'll hear us."

Ouyang Zizhen: "Okay I'm sorry... But for reals though. What was that thing?"

Lan Zhēn: "I've read about mythical creatures, and we came across one of the worst ones to ever exist."

Ouyang Zizhen (worried): "W-which one?"

Lan Zhēn: "Xiang Liu. A merciless nine headed snake-like monster who feeds on human flesh. It sprays bitter, spicy, fatal water that turns places both poisonous and disgusting. It's been written that a lot of people died and large amounts of land were destroyed by it's poisonous water. Even if the creature were dead, it's body and blood would still be poisonous, if we actually were to kill this thing, we would need to find the exit as fast as possible. Otherwise, we'll die intoxicated by the deadly odor that will emit from it."

(The link as to where I found the information is down bellow, all rights of the information belong to the maker of the site)

This made the boys worry and panic in such an alarming way, it almost gave Zizhen a panic attack, but thankfully, they were able to calm him down. After a while of calming the boy down, Jingy cautiously peaked out from the cave as to see if the monster was there, but it was nowhere in sight nor did he sense it's presence. So he gave an "All clear" to the rest and they immediately continued to search for an exit, the sooner they left the better.

Lan Zhēn (whispered): "Now that I think about it. Is this monster the one Father warned me about?"

The boys pondered.

Jin Ling: "I heard Predecesor Wei and Uncle talking about it in Lotus Pier before I left to Gusu, but they referred it as a 'dangerous monster' or a 'dangerous mythological creature', they never said the name. Now, I do remember Predecesor Wei telling Uncle about the things you said such as being highly toxic and that it eats human flesh... Another reason as to why he let me go to Gusu... *Tense* Was so I wouldn't end up being face to face with the said monster."

Lan Jingyi (smirk): "Pfft! Boy what a surprise Clan Leader Jiang will end up having when he hears about this."

Lan Zhēn (annoyed): "So you're saying that you want Clan Leader Jiang to think and call my Father is irresponsible?"

Lan Jingyi flinched upon hearing Lan Zhēn's  menacing voice and panicked.

Lan Jingyi (panicked): "No no! I would never insult Master Lan! Y-you know I didn't mean it that way Miss Lan."

Lan Zhēn: "Too late. Now if something were to happen to A-Ling, you'll be responsible for it."

Lan Jingyi: "What?!"

Lan Zhēn glared and Jingyi immediately regretted his response as he paled. Her soft aura turned into a menacing one as her usual calm eyes pierced through his soul, striking sudden fear in him. He quickly bowed respectfully, trying his hardest not to stutter, he went too far in his jokes without noticing.

Lan Jingyi: "As you wish Miss Lan."

Lan Zhēn: "Good. As for you Childe Jin, don't test my patience and start blaming Jingyi for dumb things, otherwise, you will also pay the consequences."

Jin Ling: "*bows respectfully* Yes Miss Lan."

The other two boys stayed silent during the situation as to not anger her. Throughout the years, they noticed that getting her angry is quite dangerous, although she doesn't attack, her glares are enough to put you through a coma from how serious the emotional trauma is.

The creature was close again.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a place to hide, so they started running at full speed. This caused them to make a lot of noise as they stepped of the small contaminated waters on the floor, making the beast sense them and chase them as it roared fearlessly, causing them to sprint faster... But the monster was faster than them, as it was in full view almost immediately after hearing their running. Some of the heads hissed, others roared, but one sprayed at them. They looked behind and scattered as to avoid the poisonous water... Lan Zhēn continued alone up ahead. Lan Shizui with Ouyang Zizhen to the right while Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling to the left. The monster (A/N: I don't wanna write it's name again *sweat drop*) knocked Jin Ling's and Lan Jingyi's way out, so they were forced to climb while Lan Shizui and Ouyang Zizhen stopped dead on their tracks, retreated and chased after the beast which chased after Lan Zhēn. Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling ran on higher ground as they saw how the monster was so close to her, so Jin Ling ready his bow again and shot at the beast's eyes, but was caught by one of it's other heads, which made another head spray at the following road up ahead, which made the ground melt down. Jingyi reacted fast and ready killer string and used it to swing over with Jin Ling thanks to a root that was on the ceiling and continued running. They gasped when seeing what was up ahead...

A cliff.

Lan Zhēn didn't notice this in time and jumped, a head of the monster almost eating her alive before falling on the ground in which thankfully, it wasn't too far down... But the beast jumped as well. Lan Zhēn fell in a small piece of land (picture where the flower is, Lan Zhēn was half size smaller than the flower) and there was no place for her to escape as she was surrounded by contaminated waters. The boys panicked, the monster salivated and roared, she screamed in fear, and the sound of chains were then heard followed by a splash.

Lan Zhēn: "WEN NING!"

Wen Ning began to choke the monster as one of his chains stayed holding a boulder under the poisonous waterfall.

Wen Ning: "HURRY! RIDE YOUR SWORDS!"

Wen Ning threw a sword to Ouyang Zizhen's direction in which the boys caught it and saw that it was his lost sword. Without hesitation, the ride their sword and Shizui quickly swinged Lan Zhēn into his arms (bridal style). They all flew into the made hole by Wen Ning and, Jingyi used his killer string to grab Wen Ning by the waist, thus taking him along. Once far away from the waterfall, Wen Ning let go of the boulder, but it sank down, allowing the monster to go through it's poisoned waters with a roar, angry that they makes took away it's prey.

Ouyang Zizhen: "There's the exit! Hurry!"

Zizhen yelled as the beast started spraying water towards the ceiling above them, making rocks fall down, almost knocking Jin Ling off his sword if it weren't for Jingy's fast reaction in using his EXTRA string, which Jin Ling was surprised of.

Lan Jingyi: "What?! You gotta be prepared if anything happens!"

They then noticed how Wen Ning started hitting with his chains the ceiling, rocks, and walls from around then as they started flying upwards. The monster roared one last time as rocks started falling on it little by little as the cave became more unstable. They zoomed out of the cave in fast speed right when it collapsed. They were now in the skies, face to face with a beautiful and relieving sunset, they breathed and laughed out of adrenaline and joy from being able to escape alive.

They were now sitting at the ____ (I couldn't find the name of the place, but they were sitting where Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huisang were punished for drinking in the Clan), a bit scared of what will happen. They tensed when hearing footsteps, countless of them as those people stopped infront of them.

Lan Qiren (ordered): "Look up!"

The boys looked up and Jin Ling paled as he saw his Uncle there by Wei Wuxian's side, both of them with angry features.

Lan Zhēn (softly): "Father-"

Lan Xichen (calm/stern): "Silence."

Lan Zhēn bowed her head in respect towards her Father as she took a step back, Lan Xichen didn't even look at him as he kept a disappointed face towards the boys.

Wei Wuxian: "Do you boys have any idea as to what you were against with? If it weren't for Wen Ning, you all of you would've gotten yourselves killed."

Jin Ling: "B-but we didn't have a choice! We fell down and we were only trying to find an exit."

Lan Shizui: "Childe Jin is right. At first, we thought we fell into some sort of trap, but it turns out to be an old entrance towards an abandoned village."

Ouyang Zizhen: "We promise we didn't go that far, we were still in the grounds of Gusu-"

Lan Xichen (shocked): "What?!"

Jiang Cheng: "So anyone would've fell inside and die."

Wei Wuxian: "If that's the case, we need to look for the entrance and seal it. I prefer it to be sealed with a big boulder or just something solid."

They boys were spared as long as this moment never happened again, not that they promised it since it was an accident anyone get into. The Superiors went and sealed the entrance by ordering builders to build a monument of the monster with information incrested on it as to warn people from around to be careful. That even though the beast was dead, it was still dangerous. Years have passed... and the statue of said monster was still there.

A/N: THAT'S A LIE! I made that up okay?! Don't even try to Google it!

Link to where I found the mythological creature's information:

https://www.chinafetching.com/mythical-animal-in-chinese-culture