Early morning on the next day, Nightless City is a flurry of anxious activity as each Sect leaves, some more glad than others about their journey away from this place and the many unfortunate deaths that happened in such a short time.
The Lans are the first to go, rising at Mao Shi before anyone else.
Xiao XingChen isn't around when they are ready to leave, so Lan Qiren leaves a message with the new Wen Sect Leader, telling him that he is welcome in the Cloud Recesses whenever he would like to visit.
Wen Tang Changpu is ready to see them off with a few hand-picked disciples waiting behind her, including her head Disciple, Wen Zhang. Lan Qiren likes him; over the past week, he has proven helpful and informative when the need struck, and he's content that his friend has someone she can rely upon.
No one knows better than himself how awful and overwhelming it can be to have the weight of your Sect thrust upon young shoulders never meant to take such a burden, and he sincerely hopes she will acclimatise to the post as soon as possible. She has found a gem of a husband and her children seem like a vast improvement over those of Wen Ruohan, so Lan Qiren isn't overly worried.
"If you need anything, anything at all, A-Pu, please send a message and I will do my best to come as soon as possible," he urges, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
"Thank you," she replies. "This gathering of the sects had an inauspicious result, but your presence definitely made it easier to bear."
The Lan contingent bows and then they are off, walking back the way they had come.
**************
The stopover in Yiling proves uneventful. This time, they make camp outside the town in the same clearing as before, but Uncle Qiren refuses to leave them in favour of going night hunting. He feels on edge, ever since they had first arrived in Nightless City and that feeling, instead of subsiding, has only gotten worse. He's not sure if this is because he's taking a volatile and catastrophically dangerous weapon back to Cloud Recesses, and this is the toll of carrying it on his person, or whether this unsettling feeling is a result of the spate of deaths he'd had to endure while being somewhat on a holiday.
He does know that he can't wait to reach the Cloud Recesses, and he really wants to just sleep in his own bed after such a long absence from the familiarity, but he also knows that it won't be possible straight away.
First, he will make sure to drop his wards off with his friends, who no doubt, must be anxious to see their son as soon as possible, and then he must go and report about the whole messy conference and the outcome to the Elders.
But rather than telling them, he finds that he would prefer to talk to his friends about Nightless City instead. He wants to know what they will think about it, not just the many deaths, but this new mystery about the Yin Iron, and who could be looking for it.
Certainly, the person is persistent, not only targeting him but also Wen Tang Changpu as well. She had confided in him that morning, using her rose garden as an excuse again to take him away from prying ears. Lan Qiren had to leave her with the inadequate advice of remaining vigilant in the face of such adverse circumstances, and she had only smiled back sadly.
It is precisely because Lan Qiren cannot stop thinking about the potential culprit that he wants to hear the verdict and the thoughts of people who are entirely withdrawn from Sect politics, who might have a fresh eye on the sensitive topics weighing heavily on his mind. And, he admits reluctantly to himself, it is comforting to talk to his friends.
He's been Acting Sect Leader Lan for such a long time now, that he's gotten used to doing everything alone and with little outside help. It's only now he's realising how lonely he's been, and not in a romantic way, but having like-minded, same-aged peers to talk to instead of those too old to comprehend his struggles, because in their day, yada, yada, yada, - those lectures could go on forever, and disciples who were too young with no experience in the same struggles, who had no way of understanding what he meant. Those were his two options regarding baring his heart and mind, and both were unsatisfactory.
