The Wen clan left to bury their matriarch in their Dafan village. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi returned to Cloud Recesses.
Immediately upon their return, they were invited to a trial for two senior disciples who had been caught breaking through the wards. Wei WuXian was one of a few who pleaded for leniency. While the others were focused on this being the first offense, he took a more pragmatic route. "It's your own fault they were able to breach the wards," he stated.
"What?" came from most of the elders' mouths.
"I showed you they were useless when I was fifteen. The only reason I got caught was because Lan WangJi happened to be right where I crossed over. If I had picked a better spot, you'd never have known. Then Wen Xu's cultivators showed you I was right. And yet in the years since, you have done nothing to update them. Is it any wonder that some of your disciples take advantage of your poor security?"
Lan XiChen immediately demanded a demonstration of how the young Wei WuXian had crossed the wards. Wei WuXian led the group to the nearest barrier and tossed a handful of dirt. "See how the particles pass through?" He next threw a minuscule pebble which bounced off. "That the dirt and dust goes through but the pebble doesn't shows there are holes in the wards and they are bigger than dust but smaller than the pebble, right? So... you just..." He reached out with a bit of energy and poked at the barrier. "You just find one of the holes and carefully make it bigger. The alarms are set to go off if the wards are torn. But just enlarging one of the spaces, like so," he made a series of complicated hand motions, and stepped through the ward, "you haven't actually broken anything." He let the hole shrink back down. "No alarms go off. And anyone walking the perimeter looking for evidence of a breach won't find anything."
Lan XiChen examined the ward. "You figured this out at fifteen?"
"Before then," Wei WuXian corrected. "It's not like Cloud Recesses' was the first ward I occasionally needed to get through. Although, I don't think that's how those seniors did it." He gave them a wink. "I suppose they did it the easy way?" He jumped up into a tree and rapidly climbed to the top of the study branches. He used qinggong to then jump lightly onto the higher branches and leaves and then leaped as high as he could over the barrier to land on his feet. "The barrier is tall, but a good cultivator can easily get over it."
"How do you know that's how they did it?"
"Well, they both have leaves from a similar tree in their hair. And that one's sleeve," he pointed at the taller of the two disciples on trial, "has burn marks similar to ones I expect to see when it touches the ward."
The natural result of having proven that the Cloud Recesses' wards were easy to breach was to be assigned to find a way to make them more secure. Later that afternoon, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi searched the library for every book and scroll on wards. "I'm surprised you're not more of an expert," the older one mused.
"Why would I be?" Wei WuXian huffed his bangs away from his face and opened the book on the top of his pile. "The Jiangs wouldn't let me near the arrays that control their wards. What little I know came from the introduction class I took at... twelve, I think, and the half day lecture your uncle gave here."
"You had wards at the Burial Mounds." Lan WangJi had yet to open any of his books.
"I improvised," the younger muttered. "I took what little I knew and... played until something worked."
"You improvised," Lan WangJi lowered his head to focus on his own research. "You never cease to amaze me with what you can do when you want to do something."
Researching and putting theories into practice occupied most of their time to the point where the ache from missing their son was dulled. Every child walking really fast (also known as running) past the library had Wei WuXian looking up, hoping to see Wen Yuan. Every child speaking more loudly than what Lan rules dictated was appropriate (also known as yelling) had Lan WangJi searching for their son.
Fifteen days after Wen Popo's death, Wei WuXian couldn't concentrate on his scroll. He alternated between fidgeting in his seat and staring mindlessly towards the front gate.
"Wei Ying..." Lan WangJi disrupted his husband's meandering thoughts. "Do you want to go to DafanShan? We should pay our respects."
"Yes." Wei WuXian scrambled to his feet, looking more like his fifteen year old coltish self than a man in his twenties. "Let's go pray and offer some paper money?"
They decided to leave the donkey in his stall in the Cloud Recesses' stables; they could fly and be with their son that much faster.
The village nestled at the base of DafanShan was... lifeless. But not empty. Wei WuXian knelt next to one of the bodies and checked for a pulse. Wordlessly he closed the body's eyes, as he had done with the previous five bodies. "Lan Zhan..." he called loudly, "Where... is? Have you?" He can't complete his question. All the bodies so far are adults, all women except for one elderly man.
Lan WangJi emerged from the last decrepit building on the street. "No children. I count seventeen."
Wei WuXian swore under his breath. Almost the entire GusuWen clan had traveled to Dafan to bury their matriarch. Someone had attacked the funeral goers, killed these people, and kidnapped the rest. "Who would do this?" He stood up, wiping the crusted blood from his hands onto his skirts. "We've been at peace almost since Wen RuoHan died. The only ones who attacked Wen Ning's family were the Jins...." He raised frightened eyes to his husband's. "He's dead, right? That asshole is really dead?"
"Jin ZiXun was killed. As was Su MingShan," Lan WangJi affirmed. "Jin GuangShan should still be locked up in Koi Tower. Jin GuangYao...."
"Is only fake dead." Wei WuXian swore a few more times. He sent a spiritual bunny off. "Did you teach A'Yuan how to make a spiritual messenger? I didn't."
"No."
Wei WuXian's swears became more inventive the longer it took for a reply to his bunny to return. "Wen Ning isn't answering." I'll contact Jiang Cheng. Can you tell your brother?" He was already crafting his messages, first to his 'father', and then a second to Nie HuaiSang. He was debating what to send to Jin ZiXuan via Jiang YanLi when a message returned to Lan WangJi.
"XiongZhang is gathering a group of disciples. He'll meet us later tonight. He wants to know if you're going to tell Koi Tower."
"We at least need to confirm Jin GuangShan is locked up." A messenger fan came wafting towards his face. "Nie HuaiSang is collecting all his intel on Jin GuangYao. He'll meet us wherever we decide is a good...." Wei WuXian looked at his husband. "We need a meeting spot."
"Here is as good as any place." Lan WangJi looked around at the bodies strewn on the street. "We can get a start on burying these while our allies make arrangements. Whoever did this kidnapped over a hundred people. It's going to be hard to hide them. The more people we have with us...."
"The better the advantage when we finally find the assholes. I will relish taking them apart bone by bone," Wei WuXian promised. More messenger bunnies hopped off to tell the other sects to meet at the village at the base of DafanShan.
Jiang YanLi's return lotus flower message stated Jin GuangShan was still locked up; she had verified it herself. They would investigate his jailers to see if he was in contact with Meng Yao somehow. Jin ZiXuan was going to send disciples under the command of Luo QingYang.
By nightfall, there were more than five hundred cultivators stationed in the village awaiting directions. In what was assumed to have been the village chief's house, Nie HuaiSang spread out the maps he'd brought. "My best sources say he's here," he pointed to a town less than half a day's flight from the Nightless City. "After Xue ChengMei's death, activity reduced to almost nothing. Just the regular comings and goings of normal townsfolk."
"Have you verified that Jin GuangYao is there?" Lan XiChen looked like he was trying to memorize the map.
Nie HuaiSang nodded. "As of three days ago, he was in his house. I have confirmation from five spies. I have sent them a request for an update, but have not heard back from them."
"Three days?" Wei WuXian was trying to keep his emotions in check. "Three days matches the time of death, more or less, for the GusuWen here." Three days! If only I hadn't waited. If only I had gone with them. If only.... Lan WangJi's arms wrapped around his waist; he imagined he could feel similar emotions and thoughts coming from his spouse. We did nothing wrong, he told himself. It was proper to send A'Yuan to the funeral. It was proper to trust Wen Ning would protect him. We had no way of knowing Meng Yao would strike the GusuWen.
Jin ZiXuan stepped forward. "I will be returning to Koi Tower tonight. I need to re-examine my people, to make sure there are none of my half-brother's sympathizers left. Unfortunately, every time we make a sweep, we find more spies. I trust Luo QingYang. She trusts the cultivators she brought. Jiang YanLi will be coordinating supplies and provisions through Luo Guniang.
Lan and Jiang scouts left early the next morning following the trail left behind. Kidnapping approximately a hundred people could not be done stealthily. Wagons left deep ruts in the road and deeper ones in the grass when they left the roads behind. Horses left their tracks and droppings. And the kidnapees left... stuff. A few seemed to be ripping their robes and casually dropping the pieces as they walked. Or they walked alongside bushes and brambles, leaving broken branches and patches of threads behind. For cultivators used to looking at subtle clues to find yao, the signs left behind by Meng Yao's people and the GusuWen were easily read.

Dear readers.
Vacation wasn't as calming as I expected it to be. And it is punctuated by me getting sick. Blech. I need to drink copious amounts of fluid so I can swallow without a huge amount of pain and my ears itch. So... between that and jet lag, I've been sleeping through any writing/posting time.
Just as a warning, the next while in the book is not going to be pretty.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
- Aitch.