Lan Zhan stands up and centres himself, checking on his own golden core. It is doing as best as it can, but it is nowhere near being back to its full strength. But, at least he has one.
Again, he is hit by a spear of sharp pain thinking about the lack of Wei Ying's core, how he will never wield Suibian again. He pauses by Wei Ying's side and bends down to kiss his hot forehead, and as he rises, Wei Ying's red ribbon tangles in his fingers. There's no time to return it. It's almost as if he wishes to stay with Lan Zhan as he goes outside to face their enemies.
As the shouting increases outside, he has no choice but to go out and meet them.
However, he is stunned to find only the GusuLan cultivators standing in front of him.
Thirty three elders, dressed in white with not a spot of dirt or grime on them, these are the people he has grown up with. Older men who should have been the first to properly investigate how Wei Ying was using resentment energy instead of condemning him as a heretic.
Their faces are anxious and angry, but there's a little relief in their eyes, especially with Uncle Qiren and XiChen, standing at the forefront of the group.
"WangJi, it is good to see you alive and well," Uncle Qiren says. His sharp eyes drift over to Lan Zhan's arm, noting the blood dripping down onto the ground slowly under his clothes. But he frowns when he sees Wei Ying's red ribbon in his hand.
"Didi, what are you wearing?" XiChen jumps in with the question as if he can't believe what he's seeing.
Lan Zhan's dark blue robes are a huge shock to them, but he doesn't care anymore. It is what it is.
"Why have you come here?" Lan Zhan asks them. He can see the violence in their eyes now, replacing the thoughts that Lan Zhan might still be on their side.
That he has brought Wei Ying here to kill him.
He's never ignored his brother before, but a part of Lan Zhan fears that if he takes his eyes off the elders for even just a second, they will attack. However, he's finished with standing aside now.
Lan Zhan is done with anyone who does not fully support his beloved, especially since the only other person to do so is his dead sister. He's not going to get compassion from these people. He's not going to receive any understanding from them, not when they have not observed Wei Ying or seen the way he cultivates. They have taken the words of those who were jealous of this rising star and defamed him, calling him every bad name under the sun.
Members of his own clan who have lost their way.
"To take you back and bring justice to the Yiling Laozu. Where is he?" Lan Feng, a strict but staunch supporter of XiChen, comes to stand next to Lan Qiren.
"What justice?" Lan Zhan asks them coolly. He doesn't want to fight them; that's why Bichen remains sheathed in his left hand. It doesn't bother him that the wound in his right arm is still bleeding slowly, sluggishly dripping on the ground. He's ambidextrous and has trained himself to fight expertly just for this kind of situation, no matter which arm he has to use.
"He is injured. He is in no state to receive you." It's too much to hope that they will leave peacefully. Lan Zhan knows this but he has to try. These are his clansmen after all, but if the choice is between them and Wei Ying, Lan Zhan will always pick his beloved's side from now on.
Unbidden, Wei Ying's words spoken in that rain soaked night come back to haunt him: "Lan Zhan, if I am to be killed, then I wish it would be by your hand."
No. Nothing is going to happen to Wei Ying. Lan Zhan is going to make sure of it.
"You dare to oppose us? Stand down." Lan Yuping comes to stand on XiChen's other side. Out of everyone here, he's the least flexible.
