Chapter Text
It was a foolish notion from the start.
The combined efforts of the GusuLan Sect and the YunmengJiang Sect proved futile against the terrible, overwhelming might of the Wen.
They had put up an impressive offense, but it was still useless in the end.
What were they thinking - trying to defeat the sun?
Even on his knees, Lan Wangji refused to look cowed. Beside him, Jiang Wanyin radiated pure hatred and anger at their current predicament.
They would fight till the last drop of their blood. They would not be captured alive.
In a split moment of despair, Lan Wangji closed his eyes.
I am sorry, Wei Ying.
He had failed to avenge Wei Ying, but at least, he would die trying.
A single, shrill note pierced through the night.
Lan Wangji's head snapped up in shock.
Flute?
So much power in that single note and yet...
Lan Wangji could not suppress a shiver.
So much malice.
So much darkness.
So sinister.
The raging fires around them flickered green orange green orange, before they finally settled on an eerie green.
Murders of crows erupted into the sky, adding to the ghastly scene unfolding before their very eyes.
As they watched in petrified horror, slain Wen cultivators rose from the ground like puppets on strings, heeding the call of the flute song.
Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin staggered to their feet.
Whatever it was, they would not meet their deaths kneeling down.
But it wasn't what they had expected at all. The freshly awakened feral Wen corpses rushed for their living counterparts, blithely cutting them down like farmers to wheat, curiously ignoring the befuddled cultivators from other clans.
"These feral zombies only kill the damned Wen dogs," Jiang Wanyin remarked, echoing exactly what Lan Wangji was thinking.
He glanced up at the figure who stood backlit against the moon and raging green inferno, a dark silhouette with fluttering robes and trailing hair.
Lan Wangji followed his gaze.
"One flute controlling all corpses. All ghosts heeding his commands. Just where does this person come from?"
Lan Wangji frowned. "This person practices the dark arts. His techniques are sinister but..."
His brows narrowed with confusion. "He seems to be a friend instead of a foe."
But what was this feeling that somehow, their unknown saviour, was someone familiar?
Jiang Wanyin laughed. It was a sound as dark and as sinister as the song from the flute. "No matter what means he employs, as long as he kills the damned Wen dogs, he's our ally!"
When Wen Zhuliu stood protectively in front of Wen Chao, it was only then the figure stopped playing the flute.
All the zombies stood still, as if showing respect for their master, or because of the stopped music, no one could really tell.
The ever present dark miasma enshrouding their mysterious ally gently lifted him off the roof and descended him safely to the ground.
The zombies seemed to be lowering their heads in respect as he walked amongst them, towards the two surviving Wen members.
Something about the young man still seemed familiar, even though there was nothing familiar about him.
Not his robes adorned in grey, black and red, or his flowing black hair, or the dark flute with blood red tassels and a jade ring as green as the green fire around them.
Lan Wangji couldn't ascertain the man's identity, not with his hair obscuring his face from his view.
The man stopped a few feet in front of Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao.
"Wen Chao," he said softly lifting his hand to toy with the dark aura fleeting around his fingers, "We meet again. I told you, that I will come back for you."
Jiang Wanyin let out a startled gasp, his eyes widening. "His voice..."
Lan Wangji still could not recognise that man. He had never heard such a voice before. A voice filled with contempt and darkness.
Lan Wangji glanced at Jiang Wanyin, but the other man stood staring at the stranger, speechless with shock.
Wen Chao blubbered his fear, but the demonic arts practitioner paid him no need. Instead he coldly addressed Wen Zhuliu.
"Core-Melting Hand... Do really you think... You can save his pathetic life... from me?"
"Better die trying!"
Hand flaring with tendrils of red, the bodyguard dashed towards the enemy, and Lan Wangji caught hints of glowing coal red eyes and a sadistic smirk before Wen Zhuliu was effortlessly batted away by a rush of fearsome power.
Raising his flute, he held Wen Zhuliu suspended in the air, aura of resentful energy coiling and tightening around him with unseen bone-cracking strength.
"What a loyal dog."
Through breathless gasps of pain, Wen Zhuliu choked out his reply, "The debt of gratitude I owed to the Clan Leader for his recognition... must be repaid!"
"Your debt?"
Tendrils of black miasma erupted and flared from the ground beneath him, and the man was enshrouded in even more resentful energy as his fury and hatred intensified.
"Why is that your debt has to be repaid at expense of others?!"
As Lan Wangji watched grimly, the man seemed to be summoning dark energy from the surrounding feral zombies, swirling around him like a maelstrom before gathering on his palm.
"Core-Melting Hand!" the man hissed, closing his fist.
Wen Zhuliu screamed as his arm bent and twisted in impossible angles again and again, like how a piece of wet towel was wrung out to dry.
He fell to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth, but the man wasn't done.
He stepped forward, right in front of the kneeling, wounded man, regarding Wen Zhuliu with eyes smouldering with burning hatred.
Lan Wangji wondered what Wen Zhuliu had done, to be the subject of such malicious intent.
As Lan Wangji watched, Wen Zhuliu was lifted into the air once more, and, faster than his eyes could blink, the man suddenly vanished and then reappeared behind Wen Zhuliu in a flash of crimson lightning.
The man turned slightly to reveal something held in his hand - a golden core.
It's impossible. Lan Wangji had never heard or seen golden cores being forcibly ripped out in such a way.
Coughing out blood, Wen Zhuliu fell to his knees once more, glancing at his smoking chest in horrified disbelief.
"My... golden... core..."
He collapsed bonelessly to the ground.
Vast amount of resentful energy was absorbed into the golden core, before the man holding it captive shattered it effortlessly with his thumb and forefinger.
Wen Chao's eyes went wide. "You... Who on Earth are you?!"
The man calmly walked past the fallen Wen Zhuliu towards Wen Chao.
He raised his head, and for a moment, the dark miasma surrounded him receded just enough to reveal a face Lan Wangji thought he would never see again, despite the glowing crimson eyes and a sharp smirk on his features.
"Wei... Ying..."
- After Wen Chao met his tragic end -
Lan Wangji carefully approached Wei Ying, still unable to overcome the nightmarish scene that had transpired minutes ago.
"Wei... Ying."
It showed in his voice.
Wei Ying turned to glance at him. "Hmm, Lan Zhan?"
There was no warmth in his eyes. No smiles or laughter in his voice. Not a hint of the Wei Ying that he once knew.
It was unnerving.
But he was still Wei Ying, and Wei Ying was here and whole and alive.
"It was you who killed the Wens along the way?"
Wei Ying looked away. "Of course."
"The evil-summoning talismans?"
Another disinterested hmph. "I did that."
Lan Wangji could not suppress the sorrow in his voice. "Wei Ying, there is a price to pay for cultivating the heretic path. There has been no exceptions."
From where Lan Wangji was standing, he could see an arrogant smirk on Wei Ying's obscured face. "Whatever the price, I can afford it."
Lan Wangji clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "The path harms the physical body, and it is even more damaging to one's heart."
Wei Ying's smirk sharpened into an annoyed scowl. "I know what I am doing."
At that Lan Wangji finally snapped. It was unbecoming of him, but he didn't care anymore. "There are things that you cannot control!"
Wei Ying turned towards him again. "I certainly can control. As for my heart... What does it have to do with others? Why do you care?!"
What does it have to do with others?
Why did he care?
Didn't Wei Ying know how much others had been worrying about him?
Jiang Wanyin.
Jiang Yanli.
Him.
Of course Wei Ying didn't know.
"Wei Wuxian!"
"Lan Wangji!"
Wei Ying clenched the flute tighter in his hand, summoning the resentful energy again. "Do you have to get in my way? As for sinister," he raised his flute, wisps of darkness emitting from it, "What could be more sinister than the damned Wens? Didn't they deserve a fate worse than death?!"
As if responding to his hatred, miasma of resentful energy flared up once more, swirling around him.
Shaken by this new Wei Ying, Lan Wangji felt grief rising within him. "Wei Ying... Return to Gusu with me..."
Wei Ying paused in his rage. "Return to Gusu?"
For a moment the crimson coals in his eyes faded away to their natural grey at the confusion of Lan Wangji's request, and then they returned, glowing fiercer than ever.
The aura of resentful energy intensified around them as Wei Ying realized the implications of Lan Wangji's request.
"I see. Afterall, your GusuLan Clan detests demonic cultivators like me."
It was only logical that Wei Ying would come to such conclusion. Lan Wangji should have known better.
"It is not for denouncing you." Lan Wangji tried to explain.
"Then what for?!" Wei Ying roared, "Make me cultivate my mind? Or destroy my cultivation base?! Who do you think you are?! What do you think your Gusu Lan Clan is?!"
With a swing of his flute, Wei Ying dispelled the resentful energy, and with it, the control he had over the waiting feral corpses.
One by one, they fell to the ground like sacks of wet sand. When the last of them hit the ground, the flames around them kept flickering from green to orange.
Lan Wangji didn't want to lose Wei Ying again. He didn't want to experience such emptiness, loneliness and despair all over again. It was horrible when he did not know where Wei Ying had disappeared to, whether he was still alive or not, but it was even worse when Wei Ying was right here and yet he was going to slip from his grasp again.
"I like you, Wei Ying," Lan Wangji confessed softly.
He would do whatever it takes, even if it meant laying his soul bare, for Wei Ying to come back with him.
"What?" It was as if Wei Ying hadn't heard properly.
He probably wasn't. Like Wei Ying, Lan Wangji had changed too, and it was because of Wei Ying.
The flames flickered green one last time, then it finally reverted to orange, and this time, it stayed orange.
Lan Wangji raised his eyes, to lock with Wei Ying's. His voice was firm and strong.
"I like you, Wei Ying, so please return to Gusu with me!"
- to be continued -