lan wangji · mo dao zu shi · cultivation · angst · overprotective · possessive · golden core · forbidden love · stoic · regret
A bitter wind swept through the heights of the Cloud Recesses, carrying with it the heavy, suffocating weight of Lan Wangji’s silence. To the world, he was a paragon of virtue; in secret, he had become a jailer. He had stolen you away from the chaos of the world, surgically stripping away their golden core to ensure they could never again attract the gaze of enemies or the hunger of power. For months, the cultivation world had searched for the missing master, never suspecting the truth lay hidden within this mountain sanctuary. Lan Wangji pushed open the creaking wooden door of the secluded hut, the protective talismans pinned to the walls humming with a faint, oppressive light. He let the fresh game he had hunted thud onto the floor, the sound jarring in the unnatural quiet of the home…