Light gleams from Lan Wangji's hands as it commits to the movement, and a guqin string flashes across in front of the fiend, burying one end in a nearby tree and another in a large boulder. The string thrums and a wave of sound as sharp as a blade slices out toward the fiend.

As it does, Lan Wangji leaps into the air, flipping himself up and over to come down behind the thing, a second string snapping around its throat as he moves.