Wen Ning pointed them in the direction of the Burial Mounds where the Wen heirs had cornered his entire village. Even from the distance they were, Lan Qiren could hear beasts going on a rampage. He glanced at Wen Ruohan, his expression dark and angry.
He had never seen so much fury radiating from the Wen sect leader before. They were never close as children, but he had seen Wen Ruohan growing up through the years, and the man always had some coy or aloof expression, cold, irreverent, as if nothing could move him.
They descended nearby, on a higher hill to look down and observe what was going on. It appeared that an entire group of ghosts had mobbed around Wen Ning's village, the only thing keeping them from being attacked was a talisman barrier of sorts, looking to be designed by Wen Qing.
She looked worse for the wear, several cuts and slashes across her arms and torso, scratches on her face. Lan Qiren could tell that she had been keeping the barrier up for too long, the aura glowing from the talismans fading with her stamina.
"Jiejie--" Wen Ning tried to move forward, but his uncle pulled him back.
"You're in no shape to help A-Qing," Wen Ruohan stated sternly. "Wait here and tend to your injuries, A-Ning. Qiren," he looked at the head of Lan, "could you soothe the ghosts?"
"Of course," Lan Qiren huffed, and with a sweep of his sleeves, his guqin appeared.
With a flick of his fingers, Lan Qiren filled the air with the calming melody of Rest, the groaning and moaning of the ghosts quickly quieting. Wen Ruohan pressed a brief, thankful kiss against the crown of his head as he flew down to where the villagers were, easily incapacitating a good chunk of the ghosts.
The soft and soothing notes of Rest also helped circulate Wen Ning's qi, so the boy was slowly healing beside him. Lan Qiren continued to play, watching from afar as Wen Ruohan helped clear a line of ghosts, checking to see if the villagers were all right. The head of Lan looked to his side to see that Wen Ning had fallen asleep, whether out of exhaustion or from Rest, he couldn't quite tell.
Lan Qiren could see Wen Qing's shoulders relax ever so slightly at the sight of her uncle, but she suddenly asked something, looking worried. Wen Ruohan nodded, and his niece suddenly shouted something, her wide eyes darting back and forth in alarm.
Suddenly, the earth began to rumble and Lan Qiren turned to see a horde of what looked to be fierce corpses rampaging down the hills, towards the village all huddled at the base of the mountains. His eyes met Wen Ruohan's in alarm, and Lan Qiren changed his song to that of Sound of Vanquish.
A more powerful musical technique of Gusu, the Sound of Vanquish was one of the hardest ones to master properly. Xichen had mastered it at sixteen, Wangji had mastered it at fourteen, and Lan Qiren had mastered it at twelve.
His fingers splayed against the seven strings of his guqin, a wave of his qi blazing over the heads of all the fierce corpses. Some fell immediately, others slowed, but they were all at least affected. Several stumbled, several stalled, and several straight-up froze in their spots. Wen Ruohan immediately rushed out to cut them down in his graceful manner of fighting, a dance of severed limbs and spurting blood.
Lan Qiren kept playing, changing his notes to blades of qi that cut down any fierce corpses that approached Wen Ruohan's blind spots. It had been a long time since he'd had to do battle, but Lan Qiren was glad to see that he hadn't grown rusty in his lack of practice.
He had gotten so distracted from fighting off what looked to be hordes and hordes of fierce corpses that kept coming out of the thick forests, that he hadn't noticed anyone sneaking up behind him.
A sharp piercing pain struck straight through him, and Lan Qiren cried out in surprise, his fingers stopping, all music halting other than the discordant thrash of his hands suddenly splaying against the strings. Lan Qiren looked to see a bloodied blade cutting straight through his abdomen, then vanishing as it was pulled right back through his body, a second sensation of blazing agony wracking through his body.
He groaned, quickly channeling his qi there to stop the bleeding before anything could take too much damage. Lan Qiren looked to see Wen Xu standing over him, triumphantly, Wen Chao tying up and gagging Wen Ning who had woken up in a panic.
Lan Qiren moved to fight them off, but Wen Xu had pulled out his own guqin, playing what sounded like a warped version of Sound of Vanquish. How the man had even learned the song enough to bastardize it, Lan Qiren would not understand. He attempted to use his own qi to retaliate, but realized with a cold horror that it had been sealed in his Golden Core, and he couldn't pull it back out no matter how much he tried.
Somehow, Wen Xu had sealed his qi away, and from the feeling in the air, it felt as if Wen Ruohan's qi had been sucked back into his own Golden Core.
"Hey, Father!" Wen Chao called out, holding up a metal piece of iron, the hordes of fierce corpses stopping in their tracks, and Lan Qiren realized with a frigid chill down his spine that it was the Yin Iron.
Wen Ruohan looked up in confusion, then anger overtook his features as he took in the situation. He glared up at his sons, waiting for them to say anything.
The Wen sons gathered them all at the bottom of the hills with the captive villagers, the fierce corpses waiting all around them like statues. Wen Ruohan gazed at his sons with the coldest expression Lan Qiren had seen in a while, but the Wen sect leader's eyes turned back to that soft and warm maroon Lan Qiren was familiar with as he approached.
"Qiren," Wen Ruohan opened his arms to him, the head of Lan not even bothering with propriety anymore as he walked into his senior's embrace, his hand pressed over his wound which had stopped bleeding but had bled through his white robes. "I'm so sorry," Wen Ruohan mumbled softly, pressing a kiss to his temple. "It's my fault you're hurt."
"No, it's your son's fault," Lan Qiren scoffed, stepping back. "Is everyone all right?" he asked Wen Ruohan, his own eyes sweeping over the captive village, noticing a small boy clinging to Wen Qing's robes, looking terrified.
"Alive," Wen Ruohan mumbled quietly, looking frustrated with himself, then turned back to his sons, his eyes blazing ice and vicious fury. "What is the meaning of all this?" he demanded in a quiet voice, the air itself snapping colder.
"What, Father, you're not proud of us for actually taking the initiative for once?" Wen Xu asked with a cruel smirk.
"I've never been proud of you two," Wen Ruohan responded flatly, and --though Lan Qiren had quite the amount of disdain for the Wen heirs-- the head of Lan did think the response was a little harsh. "You both had everything handed to you your entire lives. Your mother doted on you. You grew up selfish and spoiled, neither of you ever listened to what I had to say and you both wreak havoc without ever thinking of how your actions affect others.
"How could I, as a man and as your father, possibly be proud of you?" Wen Ruohan snapped, eyes flashing like cold fire. Lan Qiren understood, a little better, Wen Ruohan's resentment of his children.
"Nothing ever made you happy, Father!" Wen Chao argued. "We spent our whole lives watching you walk around like nothing ever mattered to you, and then we hear that you've been flirting with LAN QIREN, OF ALL PEOPLE?!" he shrieked, gesturing at the head of Lan who had already grown bored of this Wen family drama and moved to check on the injured villagers.
"Lan Qiren is not the first nor only person I care about," Wen Ruohan answered calmly, but Lan Qiren felt that heavy gaze on him, and he turned to see his senior's earnest gaze, "but he is the first and only person I have ever felt like myself around," he said softly, a faint smile on his face, and Lan Qiren shook his head fondly, as he turned back to the little boy next to Wen Qing, Wen Ruohan's conversation with his sons going on as a background noise.
"Are you all right, little one?" he asked softly, kneeling beside them, glancing at Wen Qing and smiling at her as reassuringly as he could. She smiled back, looking tired and anxious, reaching out as Wen Ning sat beside her, still bound and gagged. Her eyes flashed in anger, then worry, then exhaustion.
"Mn... I'm scared," the boy mumbled, big eyes watering.
"Everything will be okay, do not fret," Lan Qiren smiled at him, ruffling the boy's hair. "I promise. What is your name, young man?"
"Mn, Wen Yuan," he said proudly, his small chest puffing up in pride.
"Well then, A-Yuan, will you say with me that we're going to be okay?" Lan Qiren asked, smiling.
"Mn," he nodded, his expression bright and serious. "Everything will be okay," they both said in unison.
"Good," Lan Qiren said kindly.
"Master Lan, let me check your wound," Wen Qing moved to help him, but he stopped her.
"I am fine, Lady Wen, do not worry," he said. "Rest, regain your energy. Or focus it on Young Master Wen," he gestured to Wen Ning, Wen Qing nodding once and quickly unbinding her little brother and removing the gag from his mouth.
"Sorry, Jiejie, I couldn't do anything," he apologized immediately, and she hugged him.
"You brought Uncle and Master Lan back with you, don't be foolish," Wen Qing said softly.
"We threatened A-Qing and A-Ning because of you, Father!" Wen Chao's incessant screaming brought Lan Qiren's attention back to them. "You always favored them over us!"
"What do you intend to gain after all this?" Wen Ruohan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Simple, Father," Wen Xu clapped his hands together. "We will kill you and everyone else here, and A-Chao and I will use the Yin Iron to take over all the other sects."
Lan Qiren blinked, staring at them in thought. Where did their confidence come from? As large as the Wen sect was, against the might and number of all the other sects, they wouldn't make it through unscathed. There would be plenty of issues in challenging all four other sects in taking power. Lan Qiren wasn't sure if their certainty came from ignorance or simple confidence.
"And you two think that you can pull that off on your own?" Wen Ruohan arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. "And, pray tell, if you do manage to do all that, how do you intend to handle the financial systems of all five sects? Managing land disputes and trading routes and marketing prices and cultivation practices, as well as addressing the needs of all the people and the agricultural demands that different crops need to produce properly during these times of droughts and overflooding?" he asked, eyes narrowed and annoyed.
Lan Qiren almost rolled his eyes at the faint look of panic on the Wen heirs' faces. Of course they hadn't thought about all the components of leading a sect, much less taking over all of them.
"We'll worry about that when we get there, Father, how hard could it possibly be?" Wen Xu sneered, and Lan Qiren was very close to slapping the boy across the face. "Besides, it's not like you can do anything right now anyway. Until I lift the spell, everyone here except me and A-Chao has lost use of their qi. A-Qing can't even heal anyone anymore," he cooed, his cousin's eyes brimming in sheer anger. "And what good is a doctor who can't heal anyone?"
"Coward," she hissed.
"Brave final words," Wen Chao snickered. "But useless! Nobody can save you now," he turned to his father, lashing his sword against Wen Ruohan, slashing the front of his chest, cutting through his robes and into his torso, blood spurting forth from the wound. He fell to his knees in surprise.
"Wen Ruohan!" Lan Qiren cried out, rushing over, trying to stem the bleeding.
Wen Qing quickly moved as well after placing A-Yuan in Wen Ning's lap, darting over to her uncle, using the tattered parts of his clothes to bind the deep gash.
"It's worse than it looks, don't worry," Wen Ruohan said as Lan Qiren helped him sit up. "Sorry for dragging you into this, Qiren," he added softly, his hand cupping Lan Qiren's cheek, then falling back down to his chest. "And you, A-Qing," he turned to his niece who was quickly and efficiently tending to his wound. "I had hoped not to get your side of the family caught up in all this."
"You've only ever taken care of us, Uncle, you have nothing to apologize for," she said bluntly, her eyes rimmed red, still tending to his wounds.
"You should've gone to help your nephews, Qiren, I'm sorry," Wen Ruohan mumbled, turning those beautiful eyes back to him.
"Stop apologizing, you're scaring me, Wen Ruohan," Lan Qiren cleared his throat, trying his best not to show the fear trickling into his chest, to inject his tone with humor, but Wen Ruohan's hands felt cold on his and it was scaring him.
"Sorry, Qiren," Wen Ruohan chuckled, wincing slightly. "I mean it though. You should be with the people you love, not stuck here with me and my ridiculous progeny," he said.
"I am," Lan Qiren said before he could change his mind, swallowing, forcing his pride and his anxiety away. Wen Ruohan looked up at him with a confused expression, so Lan Qiren cleared his throat and spoke again. "I am here with the people I love," he clarified, biting his lip.
"You love my niece and nephew? I'm happy to hear it, Qiren, I didn't know you were all so close," Wen Ruohan said, sounding completely serious, and the head of Lan saw Wen Qing roll her eyes so hard, they almost rolled off her face. Lan Qiren supposed it was his fault. It wasn't as if he were ever affectionate with the man.
So, rather than say it again and hope his senior understood it this time, Lan Qiren leaned down and kissed him. His lips tingled at the touch, an electric shock sparking through the entirety of his body, from his fingers down to his toes, and a feeling washed over him: the feeling of returning home after a long journey abroad.
It was a brief kiss, what with the situation at hand, but it was sweet and soft and warm and full of promise, and --when Lan Qiren pulled away-- Wen Ruohan looked up at him with a starstruck smile that made butterflies flutter all through the head of Lan's chest.
"I am here with the people I love, Wen Ruohan," Lan Qiren repeated quietly.
"I sincerely hope that wasn't our last kiss, Qiren," his senior whispered softly, reaching up, his thumb tracing Lan Qiren's lower lip tenderly.
" I hope it was !" the Wen sons both declared in disgust at the same time.
"Our next kiss better not have so many spectators," Lan Qiren sighed, looking back at Wen Ruohan.
"Our next one?" the Wen sect leader asked hopefully.
"Not the time, Uncle," Wen Qing groaned, finishing tending to her lovesick uncle's wounds. "We need to get out of here first."
"As much as I would love to, A-Qing," Wen Ruohan gingerly sat up, Lan Qiren helping him, "all our qi seems to be locked away, and there's an army of fierce corpses ready at my sons' beck and call. I don't quite know how we're going to get out of here," he said ruefully.
"You're very calm about this, Uncle," Wen Qing frowned, Wen Ning looking back and forth between them, anxiously playing with A-Yuan's hair.
"Well, Zhuliu should be here any moment," Wen Ruohan sighed, leaning his weight against Lan Qiren, nuzzling against his chin, sighing in comfort. "Though, even he won't be able to handle all this on his own."
"So, why the confidence, Wen Ruohan?" Lan Qiren asked, and his senior smiled.
"I'm not the only one with someone who cares about him, Qiren," Wen Ruohan chuckled, and a thick static suddenly filled the air as a flash of purple lightning shattered across the sky.
They all looked up to see their very own army of saviors flying over the hill, swords gleaming, weapons flashing. The Wen boys screamed in surprise, using the Yin Iron to bring the fierce corpses back into action, their ugly groans echoing around the valley.
Madame Yu ripped through a line of fierce corpses with Zidian sparking and shrieking through the air. Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Wanyin fought at her side, purple robes fluttering around them as they did so, father and son moving in tandem grace while the lady of Yunmeng ripped viciously through the corpses advancing on them.
The familiar broad shape of Baxia whirred down into the crowd of ghosts, spinning through bodies and limbs and heads, as Nie Mingjue flew down, punching his massive fists through the heads of some of the corpses, Lan Qiren's heart soaring at the sight of his nephew-in-law-to-be.
As if on cue, two harmonious Sounds of Vanquish sang through the valley at once, and the head of Lan recognized the airy notes of Liebing and the aloof song of Wangji. He looked up to see his nephews floating on their swords, playing their songs side by side, the resentful energy in the fierce corpses dimming down.
Lan Qiren also saw Wei Wuxian flying by on Suibian, launching talismans all over the place, exploding on impact, leaving bits and pieces of corpses flying about, the young man's laughter filling the air. Jin Zixuan sat beside him on the sword, batting away any corpses that approached them. Lan Qiren could see that both young men were injured, but the injuries didn't seem life-threatening.
He could also see the broad and strong figure of Wen Zhuliu darting in and out of the crowd of corpses, thrusting his hands through their chests, his hand glowing hot red as he did so. Lan Qiren had heard rumors of him being able to melt Golden Cores with his bare hands, but he had no idea if those rumors had held any weight.
"I told you, Qiren," Wen Ruohan's voice caught his attention again, and he looked to see the Wen sect leader gazing fondly at him.
"Yes, yes, you did," he chuckled.
"This is all your fault, Lan Qiren!" Wen Xu roared, turning to them, raising his sword.
Wen Ruohan and Wen Qing moved to defend the head of Lan, but someone else moved faster than they did.
A swift blow from the hilt of a sword knocked straight into Wen Xu's head sent him tumbling over, unconscious, Meng Yao appearing behind him. He smiled at them, bowing in greeting. Wen Chao lunged up behind him in anger, but a pair of slender arms wrapped around his neck, squeezing until the younger Wen heir fell unconscious beside his brother.
"That's enough out of you two!" Huaisang declared, removing his arms from Wen Chao's person, grimacing at the man.
"A-Sang?" Lan Qiren blinked at him in bewilderment. "When did you learn how to do something like that?"
"A-Yao taught me!" he answered brightly, Meng Yao flushing in faint embarrassment. "If you would, A-Yao," he gestured to the masses of fierce corpses still fighting the cultivators.
"It would be my honor," Meng Yao answered, taking the Yin Iron out of Wen Xu's hand and moving to a small clearing, creating a handful of talismans, all different in design.
"How did you all find us?" Lan Qiren asked as Huaisang sat beside them, looking at Lan Qiren's injury.
"It's a bit of a long story, Uncle Lan," Huaisang sighed, as if talking about a story in an opera he had attended. "I would love to explain it all to you the second we get out of here.
"But! Everyone is accounted for and safe," he smiled cheerfully. "With Wen Zhuliu's help, we got Wuxian and Wangji out of that cave. They even made a friend in there, some kid named Mo Xuanyu? That's also a long story, the shortened version being, he's yet another son of Jin Guangshan whose mother died a little while ago and whose extended family kicked him out of the house for 'being a disappointment' , whatever that's supposed to mean.
"Anyway, Wuxian and Wangji found him in the cave, poor little thing almost starving to death. Turns out he had been trapped in there by the Wens by request of the Mo family, which is a whole entirely different story I will also tell you about later," he rambled off, re-wrapping Lan Qiren's wound efficiently.
"Mo Xuanyu is with Jiang Yanli right now who is nursing him back to health as we speak," he continued. "By the time we all got in the cave, Wuxian and Wangji had already fought off the giant monster inside and were trying to help Mo Xuanyu.
"Da-ge and Xichen-ge met us at the cave with the Jiang family and Zixuan, and that's where we ran into Wen Zhuliu who led us all here," Huaisang finished explaining. "Any questions?"
"Uh..?" Wen Ruohan held up a hand, looking back and forth between Huaisang and Lan Qiren in confusion.
"I'll explain it all later, I assure you, Uncle Wen," the Nie heir waved his hands airily, "but for now, we've got to get all these corpses cleaned up and all these lovely people somewhere safe and attend to any and all injuries," he stood, helping Wen Qing and Wen Ning to their feet, greeting A-Yuan breezily, and moving the other villagers, making his rounds and helping them all get ready to leave.
"Is... Is he always like this, Qiren?" Wen Ruohan inquired faintly, watching as his niece and nephew followed Huaisang to help move everyone, and Lan Qiren chuckled.
"You'll get used to it, Wen Ruohan," he smiled, and the Wen sect leader smiled up at him.
"I will... won't I?" he said, reaching up, cradling the back of Lan Qiren's head, and pulling him down in another kiss.
This kiss was unhurried, and Lan Qiren had the fortune of savoring it this time. He felt Wen Ruohan's hands tracing his jaw, tenderly caressing his ears, his neck, his long fingers scratching gently along his scalp. His mouth felt warm, slotted perfectly against his own, that sweet tingling sensation slowly blossoming all throughout Lan Qiren's body.
Wen Ruohan's mouth opened slightly, his tongue tracing the seam of Lan Qiren's lips, playful, asking for permission. He shyly opened his mouth, and Wen Ruohan's tongue met his, hot, slick, wet, brushing against all these sensitive spots Lan Qiren had but didn't even know about, delicately running along the roof of his mouth, making his knees weak, his head fuzzy.
Wen Ruohan's hands found purchase on Lan Qiren's waist, pulling him down to sit in his lap, his touch so warm and grounding, Lan Qiren went along with it, wrapping his own arms around his senior's broad shoulders. He had always been a relatively tall man, but Wen Ruohan was taller, broader, stronger, and Lan Qiren felt so safe in his arms. When was the last time he had felt so safe?
Lan Qiren tilted his head slightly, deepening their kiss, wanting so desperately to live in this moment as long as they could, his heart fluttering in his chest, matching that of Wen Ruohan's, thudding against his own. His senior's hands slid lower, gripping his hips, moving him even closer, the entire line of their torsos pressed completely against one another.
"Ruohan..." he murmured softly as he pulled away for a second, tilting his head again and kissing the Wen sect leader again and again, their breaths in sync, his lips swollen and red, matching that of Wen Ruohan's.
"I adore you, Qiren," his senior mumbled, his eyes half-lidded, simmering like low flames, leaning up to capture Lan Qiren in another kiss, a foggy elation curling all through the head of Lan's body at the praise and at his touch. "So much..." he hummed softly, nipping at his lower lip, then kissing the sting away.
He had no idea how long they spent like this, wrapped in each other's arms, making out like a couple of hormonal teenagers, but when they finally fully pulled away from each other, there was a silence hanging in the air. They both looked to see all the fierce corpses had been handled, stacked into a giant pile where Wei Wuxian appeared to be placing a bunch of talismans and Wangji was playing Sound of Vanquish.
Wen Qing and Nie Huaisang were mending people of their injuries, the young woman's qi appearing to have returned. Lan Qiren belatedly realized that the use of his own qi had also returned at some point.
Meng Yao looked to have finished whatever he was working on, an intricate map of talismans surrounding a smoking piece of metal, what Lan Qiren assumed was all that was left of the Yin Iron.
"Uncle," Xichen's light voice spoke up, sounding a bit embarrassed, and both men looked up to see the First Jade of Lan peeking at them from around a nearby tree.
"X-Xichen," Lan Qiren struggled to his feet, Wen Ruohan helping him, both wincing at the wounds they forgot they had.
"Sorry to interrupt, Uncle," he bowed, smiling at him, then at Wen Ruohan. "But, we are ready to return to Qishan. A-Sang said he will explain the entire situation to you both when we return."
"Let's go, Uncle Lan!" Nie Mingjue waved, both unconscious Wen heirs tied up and tucked under his arm, as if he were carrying a massive sack of rice. "Uncle Wen!" he added, easily stepping onto Baxia, Xichen joining his side on top of Shuoyue.
"Shall we go then, Qiren?" Wen Ruohan chuckled breathlessly, looking at Lan Qiren, looking disheveled, but bright and alive, his hand outstretched.
"Yes, can't keep everyone waiting," he agreed, taking that outstretched hand, and they all headed back to Qishan.