Lotus Flower

Withered lotus flower

Lan Qiren was leading a group of cultivators together with his older nephew and the Yunmeng Jiang sect leader to siege the Burial Mounds. After the massacre at the Nightless City, there were many who had lost someone dear to them and wished to righteously punish the evil Yiling Patriarch. It did not take long to put together a considerable force which would surely be able to stand up to Wei Wuxian's army of demonic cultivators and fierce corpses.

All the major cultivations sects were present; no one could miss taking part in such a righteous deed. And Lan Qiren, as an outstanding elder and previous acting leader of the Gusu Lan sect clan was one of the first ones to enter the Burial Mounds.

As one would expect from this god dammed place, everything was oozing resentful energy, the air stung in the lungs and few of the weaker cultivators could hardly push on, being completely overwhelmed. Truly a great place for a sinister army to take refuge in and grow in numbers. They had ignored the situation long enough, they could not go on any longer and let the evil thrive.

Wei Wuxian must be killed at all cost; that is what Jiang Wanyin had said before taking a lead of the allied forces as well. After the death of his sister, the man had all right to blame his former martial brother and sect member. They have grown up together as the rumours would say and Wei Wuxian had taken advantage of him and robbed him of what had been dearest to him in this life. Jiang Wanyin's anger was known to all and completely understandable, there was no question who should be the one to deal the final blow.

Lan Qiren looked around, actually quite curious to discover the nature of this place which had been inaccessible for centuries, until the Yiling Patriarch took refuge in it and somehow survived, free to go in and out at will. What miracle did he work? Then again, it was a devious demonic cultivator, Lan Qiren did not need an answer to his questions from him, especially not from him.

They had managed to breach the barriers surrounding the place easily enough, as if they had already been awaited and invited inside; or as if it had been weakened in the first place. It was not the same as during the first siege. It was nothing like then, nothing.

The group of cultivators was slowly making their way up the mountain to where they knew the demon's den laid. Their progress was slow because of their numbers, they did not want to separate, they had to stick together to make up the numbers. Otherwise, they would not be strong enough to stand against the Yiling Patriarch.

They have come in front of the cave entrance, like last time, the only difference was that the place was not being guarded by Lan Wangji but by Wei Wuxian himself. Everyone stopped in their tracks, a bit unsure of what to do now that they came face to face with the fierce Yiling Patriarch in person, as if they had not expected to actually find him here at all.

Lan Qiren watched as Jiang Wanyin took a step forward and pointed the tip of his sword onto his former brother. He also was holding a grudge against Wei Wuxian, a personal one despite this being forbidden by several Gusu Lan sect rules. He could not help it, Lan Wangji had been punished harshly because of this man and the feelings he was holding for him. Lan Qiren could not forgive Wei Wuxian for breaking his nephew's heart by rejecting his love, and for walking the crooked path of course.

The Yiling Patriarch laughed madly and raised one of his hands. And there it was, the infamous Strygian Tiger Seal! The artefact which was just as feared and desired by the cultivation world as the Yin iron itself had been. Lan Qiren wanted to run to the man, take the seal from his hands and go back to the Cloud Recesses as quickly as he could to seal it there. Then, he would be able to think and hopefully come up with a solution to destroy the evil artefact. In bad hands, the Strygian Tiger Seal could be a cause of another war.

Wei Wuxian finally stopped laughing. Lan Qiren's ears stopped being assaulted at once. A flashing thought flew through his mind. He remembered the old, peaceful days when the now evil demonic cultivator had been young. The boy's laughter back then had been bright and full of happiness, just like Cangse Sanren's had been years before. It had nothing to do with this broken and painful one.