A Ghost of Snow

40. Regrets Of an Elder

"Oh come on! It's been forever! Why did you come if you couldn't even get in.", Wei Wuxian said with exasperation.

It had been thirty seconds.

Lan Qiren knew it was impossible for someone like Jin Guangshan and his men to break the wards after they had been renewed, however, he also couldn't be more careful after the incident with the Wens.

He refrained from giving any input ever since Wei Wuxian had stomped his foot in order to break Baixue's ice. He wanted to observe and figure out the actual abilities the boy had. He wondered why his now nephew-in-law had resorted to using resentful energy if there was so much he could do without it, even without a golden core.

Although he knew that Wei Wuxian didn't have a golden core anymore, it did not mean that he approved of him using demonic cultivation, not after knowing that even without it, Wei Wuxian was fully capable of defending himself, even causing a reasonable amount of damage.

"This is taking too long. How about I help you out a little.", Wei Wuxian threw a talisman in their direction, it passed through their impenetrable wards and transformed into hundreds of golden butterflies in the Jins' faces. Lan Qiren's eyes widened in surprise, the talisman in itself wasn't harmful, what would hurt Jin Guangshan's pride was that Wei Wuxian could let a harmless talisman pass through while he couldn't even manage to create a small opening in order to enter.

Lan Qiren no longer got agitated by the sound of Wei Wuxian's mischievous laughter, he wondered when he had gotten used to it.

"See, I told you, it was easy.", Wei Wuxian announced again. "Sect Leader Jin, how about we skip all this tearing open the ward and stuff and I can just kill you like this. If their leader is dead, all your people will have to retreat anyways."

As soon as he was done talking, Wei Wuxian looked at Baixue and spoke to her, "Watch and learn. Your brother is going to actually teach you something useful for once.", he whistled and both Suibian and Chenqing came flying to him. Lan Qiren remembered meticulously locking the ghost flute in a layered box with several protection spells, he was sure that it should be impossible for anyone to steal or summon it and yet it had come whirring past everything at its Master's command. As soon as his weapons landed in his hands, a flash of lightning struck and the sky was painted a gloomy grey, as if it would rain anytime soon. Wei Wuxian held his weapons, one in each hand, his smile never leaving his face. To some people, he would have looked normal,but Lan Qiren saw the burning rage in his irises and yet they didn't glow red, there was no sign of resentful energy either. As if reading his mind, Wei Wuxian addressed him, "Don't worry, Grandmaster Lan, since I've promised that I won't use resentful energy, I definitely won't. But if Sect Leader Jin wants to leave here alive, I want him to apologise to my brother, to the Wens and most importantly to you. I also want him to step down from the position of Sect Leader."

"How dare you?", Jin Guangshan snarled.

"How dare I?", thunder rumbled from the sky as soon as Wei Wuxian spoke, "How dare I? Jin Guangshan, you marched into the Lan Sect's territory with an army. You! You wanted to tear down the protective wards and attack. You threatened to kill people and disrespected my elder after barging into MY home. And you ask me how dare I? How dare YOU? Agree on my conditions and I might consider letting you go."

"Impossible, I, Jin Guangshan will never apologize to anybody in this life."

The words had just left his mouth when lightning struck a few inches away from where he stood, "If I were you, I would think again.", Wei Wuxian said and pointing the flute in his hand at him, Jin Guangshan scratched the side of his neck when he felt a sting and blood oozed from his new mysterious wound.