Sacrifice: a broken family (ENG)

Sacrifice: a broken family

I finally came around to posting this fanfic here after I posted it on AO3. It was an idea that played in my head, I just wrote it out and I am quite sattisfied with the result. 

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Wei Ying startles when he heard a loud scream reverberating through the forest. He walked among the trees, lost in thoughts after separating from Lan Zhan. Since his identity as the Yilling Patriarch was known, they were constantly on the run until they could prove his innocence. Lately, many mysterious murders have appeared and due to lack of a cause, he was named as a scapegoat. He had absolutely nothing to do with this, and the only way to convince the rest of the world of this was to find the culprit himself.

At this point Lan Zhan was the only one who was truly 100 percent on his side. They had been searching together fruitlessly for months. But without even a piece of evidence to guide them, they were getting nowhere. And being constantly pursued, they were not getting anywhere either. Now they were separated by a group from the Jin clan, most of which had come after him. They overestimated his ability. Wei Ying praised himself lucky that he had managed to shake them all off without getting seriously injured or worst getting caught.

He lowered himself against a tree to pant out and regain control of his heartbeat. Why had he been given a second chance to become the world's enemy again anyway? He did not regret his actions from his previous life, but he was also not happy with how everyone avoided him and gave him dirty looks. It was a godsend when he was given a second chance in a new body. And after completing the 'revenge contract' with Mo Xuanyu, the previous occupant of his body, he could finally start a new life with Lan Zhan. The gods had not been kind to him and now everything seemed to be returning to the way it was before.

After a while, he got up again and walked on. How was he going to find Lan Zhan again? Would all be well with him? Of course! Lan Zhan could manage a few men from the Jin clan! Lan Zhan was the best! Wei Ying sighs, twirling his flute between his fingers.

A scream followed by several loud voices startles him. His mind tells him to turn around and get as far away from those voices as possible. He has a bad feeling about it, and he is the 'bad guy' for literally everyone except Lan Zhan and maybe the juniors, who always seem to follow him around. Still, his feet bring him closer to the sound until he looks between the bushes at a large group of cultivators.

"He must pay for his actions and those of his family. He deserves it and we must protect ourselves, especially now that the Yilling Patriarch is running loose on this world again." Of course, he gets involved again with some criminal being executed. He almost sneaks back away when the leader speaks again, "Bring the Wen spawn forward so he can receive his punishment." Wen spawn? Wei feels himself getting worried. Did they get hold of Wen Ning? Then why didn't they call him by name? Everyone knows Wen Ning, the Ghost General. How could Wen Ning get caught? He can bend steel and had already fought off armies.

Two men bring a small white figure forward and throw him to the ground. His arms are tied behind his back, his white robe is covered in brown stains, which could be from the dirty ground or dried blood, and his once neat ponytail falls carelessly to one side over his face. This is not Wen Ning. So how did they get a 'Wen spawn'? They had long since exterminated and killed all of the Wen clan, guilty or not.

Another white figure pushes forward panic-stricken among the crowd, followed by a yellow one equally panicked: Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling. "Sizhui!!!" Sizhui? Lan Jingyi falls into the arms of two guards before he can crash to the ground near the white figure. Jin Ling can stop just in time before he is also get grabbed. "Sizhui!!! What's going on?" Sizhui!!! The prisoner slowly gets up and finally Wei Ying sees his face and the light headband hanging crookedly over his head.