A/N: I have a few dramas to deal with at the moment so I need to take a few weeks hiatus. I will be back with rest of the story as soon as life allows.

CH 42

Lan Zhan's breathing was still steady but definitely getting heavier. He had been fending of a seemingly never-ending tide of people for the best part of an hour. Wherever the rest of the clan where he didn't know but if no-one had gotten to him by now there was obviously trouble in the whole of the Cloud Reccess. Part of him had to be amazed at the sheer number on people coming against him alone, if there where this many here just to be sent against him there must be many more in other parts of his home. He also hadn't seen Wei Ying since loosing sight of him round the corner a while ago, and this was starting to become concerning, however no matter how hard he tried he couldn't fight his way through the wall of humans intent on taking his life.

Another group advanced towards him and once again Bichen flared with the ice white light as it fed off his internal energy. The first two men of the group fell almost at once but that still left three men advancing on him, all holding swords and ready to attack. As a group they began circling, each waiting for an opening like hounds waiting for a wounded deer. One of the men moved as if to attack and Lan Zhan instinctively moved to defend, only to realise it was in-fact a detraction, one he would never have fallen for if he was not so tired. A sharp pain shot through his body as he realised one of the other two men had sliced into his thigh, causing his blood to stain his white robes. The tiredness was replaced with a rush of adrenaline as the third man approached and took his swing as Lan Zhan's other leg.

Bichen swung again, the power and fury behind it was something most men would run from, yet the third men not only stood his ground but held Lan Zhan's eyes unblinkingly behind his mask. A few movements later and both men had come into close contact with each other, both breathing heavily and both staring into the others eyes as if trying to see into the other soul. The only sounds that were made where from the group around the two, cheering on their comrade to kill the unbelievable HanGuang Jun. After a particularly swift exchange, the two men found themselves entangled in both arms and weapons, neither willing to take a step back. Lan Zhan took this moment to test a theory that had been forming in his mind over the last few minutes, he spoke in a whisper that could only be heard by the two combatants.

'Wei Ying?'

The eyes on the other man seemed to smile as he spoke in that voice that could only come from one man…...that voice that seemed designed by the heavens to make his body respond and his mind wander in the most shameless ways possible.

'Lan Er'ge, I'm here'

Lan Zhan raised his eyebrows in the only outward response of hearing the endearment before the two were once again battling each other as if nothing had transpired between them. The others where still cheering Wei Ying on, completely oblivious to pause in the fight and the fact that the comrade who they thought was their best chance at winning was actually not actually on their side. With a slight nod from Wei Ying Lan Zhan swung Bichen, catching Wei Ying on the non sword arm. Wei Ying grunted and reeled back towards the group, blending in with the others under the pretence of being injured. Even knowing the injury was slight and wouldn't affect his ability to fight, Lan Zhan's heart hurt at the fact that he had physically injured his beloved husband in such a way.

There was no time to think about such things though because almost as soon as Wei Ying disappeared into the crowd, the circle surrounding him began to open up. The familiar, but still chilling, sound of that cackling laugh he had heard before rang through the square. Behind it appeared the manically smiling face of the same man he had seen in the cave that day. Lan Zhan sighed inwardly…...this is the person behind all of this…...he thought to himself. Wei Ying was still hiding in the crowd of fighters, waiting for the appropriate time to back him up. Lan Zhan stepped forwards staring straight into the eyes of the madman before him.

'Well the great HanGuang Jun we meet again.' The man spoke with his trademark smirk.

'You seem to have me at a disadvantage….' Lan Zhan spoke pleasantly, despite what he felt. 'You know me yet we have not been introduced.'

'I am Xue Yang' The man cackled as he gave a mocking bow, as if giving his name suddenly explained everything.

Lan Zhan glanced over at where Wei Ying had disappeared but saw no sign. Either he had relocated to somewhere else or he hiding and waiting for his turn. As Xue Yang straightened he resumed speaking and drew Lan Zhan's attention back to himself.

'You managed to escape from me the last time with the help of Master Wei. Although why such a man would be helping you I can't think. However Master Wei isn't here now, so there is no one stopping me from killing you now.' As the speech went on it was delivered with more and more self confidence.

Lan Zhan simply stood, neither his gaze or body moving as he spoke in a tone that would have coated Xue Yang with ice if he was any closer.

'It is to be seen if you have such a capability.'

Xue Yang laughed and leapt forwards, sword drawn. Lan Zhan had already been fighting a while and his tiredness began to show when he barely parried the blow. Growling like a tiger sensing a weakness in its prey Xue Yang pressed his advantage, forcing Lan Zhan on the defensive. Everyone knew how skilled Lan Zhan was with his sword, what surprised Wei Ying, who was still hidden at the side, was how skilled Xue Yang was also. Especially when fighting a half exhausted foe.

With their leader gone the men surrounding the two elder Lan's seemed at a loss at how to keep the two men contained in the office. It was obvious that all the men surrounding them knew the reputations of both Lan's and where quite weary of who they were trying to contain. Lan XiChen was taking advantage of this fact and moving around the room with the graceful prowl that seemed innate to all the Lan's. It didn't matter where he walked, the guards would either lower their eyes or take half a step back involuntarily before catching themselves and returning to their original postures. Lan QiRen on the other hand was stood in the centre of the room, still as a statue. The guards didn't know which of the two to concentrate on most.

Then Lan QiRen moved with a speed no one expected a man of his age to be capable of, before they realised what was happening the two guard nearest him had fallen to the floor in a heap. The others glanced over quickly, beginning to shout out a warning, however this just took their focus off of Lan XiChen who swiftly knocked out two more. Chaos soon reigned in the office, which resulted in all of the guards landing on the floor in undignified heaps in record time. Leaving the mess for someone else to clean up later, both men turned and walked out the door heading for the section of the Cloud Reccess where the juniors and children lived. They knew the children would most likely be surrounded by armed assailants by now, but if they could get them out and away from the area that would leave no one that could be used against Wanji or Wei Ying.

The fight between Lan Zhan and Xue Yang had been going on for a while by now, however due to his long fight beforehand and fatigue Lan Zhan was constantly being forced onto the defensive. It was a place he wasn't used to being and his aggressive sword technique faltered slightly because of it. Xue Yang had been just as aggressively pressing every attack, with the circle of men surrounding both of them cheering him on. The sound of pebbles crunching and moving under each man's feet as he moved and shifted between attacks was a sound like no other. Xue Yang's wild grin had never slipped the whole time they were fighting, neither had his taunts.

'I knew without Master Wei you were nothing'

'I thought the great HanGuang Jun could fight better than this…..'

'I'm not even trying my best….this is getting boring…'

Of course these taunts didn't seem to bother Lan Zhan one bit as the fighting continued, but a long battle definitely had him at a disadvantage due to being a lot more tired than his opponent. Having seen, and heard, enough Wei Ying moved to the front of the group. His face still covered by the same black mask as the others, so still obscuring his identity. This obscurity was shattered the next moment though the next moment when a voice as equally sarcastic as Xue Yang's was pleased, echoed across the square.

'Now now…...is that anyway to fight…...you know Lan Zhan doesn't do well with words so you are obviously cheating.'

The speed of the blades didn't diminish but but Xue Yang glanced a slashing glare over his way before responding.

'And who do you think you are to dare speak to me that way?'

'You said HanGuang Jun is nothing without Master Wei….he seems to be holding you off quite well despite being twice as tired'

Wei Ying could see the twitch of Lan Zhan's lips and the complete fury on Xue Yang's, but still it appeared he hadn't distracted the later enough for the former to turn the tide. Walking another step into the circle and now completely distancing himself from the circle of onlookers, Wei Ying pulled the black wrap down from around his face and beamed the cheeky, sarcastic grin over at Xue Yang.

'You seem very obsessed with my husband…..should I be jealous? Or maybe its me your obsessed with….in which case should Lan Zhan be jealous?'

Wei Ying's words were delivered with such laid back self confidence that the men stood around could only stare blankly at the shameless words being used. It didn't seem to occur to any of them to actuality attack the man who had just revealed himself as a spy amongst their ranks. Xue Yang on the other hand kept whipping his head around as he shouted over at Wei Ying to shut up, each time he broke eye contact with Bichen though Lan Zhan was able to press home an attack. The tables where slowly turning in Lan Zhan's favour so Wei Ying steeled his spine and prepared to speak some more shameless nonsense that would possibly get him in serious trouble with his husband.

'It was you who sneaked a peak at us that night wasn't it? That's how you knew to capture me to lure Lan Zhan?' He noticed Xue Yang's sword strikes where getting less certain as his focus kept getting pulled off of Lan Zhan and onto Wei Ying. 'Did you enjoy watching us…' Wei Ying mused out loud, before jumping up and down as if he had just realised something '…..oh oh I know you are jealous of me….because you wanted be my husbands play….'

'Enough!' Xue Yang eventually lost his temper completely, swinging his sword in Wei Ying's direction, pure fury on his face. 'Why are you men just standing their listening to him. Stop standing their like paper weights and kill him!'

However in the few seconds it took Xue Yang to scream his commands and the men to begin to move, Bichen appeared at his throat. Lan Zhan stood still, the deadly blade resting gently upon Xue Yang's neck. All the other man had to do was move to fast and he would slit his own throat. The men who had been moving towards Wei Ying suddenly stopped again, there focus on Bichen and their leader. Wei Ying smiled before turning back to the group nearest him.

'It's simple. If you don't want him to chop of your leaders head, a group of no more than eight of you, go and tell anyone who's here to get out of the cloud recess. I want to see both the Lan leaders tell me they have gone before mouthy Yang goes anywhere'

The black masked men looked over to Xue Yang, however he was unable to move his head to either agree or disagree. One of the men nodded to some others and they vanished off in various directions. Lan Zhan remained stationary, while Xue Yang glared at Wei Ying who simply smiled back. The men around stepped back slightly, obviously worried some harm would come to their leader. Wei Ying took this opportunity to glance at Lan Zhan and speak gently.

'Not a bad idea huh Er-gege?'

'humm' Lan Zhan muttered a non-committal response without moving his eyes away from his hostage, perfectly happy to let Wei Ying do the talking with the other black clothed men. After all he didn't like talking much anyway, let alone with people who had broken into his home.

Oooops I'm in trouble. Wei Ying thought silently as he did his part keeping an eye on the circle of men around them. No one said anything for a long time before the first man returned, whispered to the man who seemed to be giving commands in Xue Yang's absence, and ran away once again. The man in charge spun around and faced Wei Ying, his face was still obscured but his eyes were wide.

'Sect Leader Jiang can not be found and neither can Elder Lan. Sect Leader Lan refuses to come as he believes it is a trap set by my Master'

Wei Ying laughed and raised his hand releasing another Lan butterfly, before responding.

'Well my brother-in-law isn't a fool. Go try fetch him again!'

The man sighed, nodded to someone else, who ran off, and stood waiting once again.

A few moments later Lan XiChen walked up with an escort of three masked men. XiChen was fully armed with his sword fully drawn and gripped in his hand. Upon seeing both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying healthy and controlling the horde of men around them, he couldn't help but smile.

"Brother in law' Wei Ying nodded smiling.

'Brother' Lan Zhan spoke the first words he had done in hours, but amazingly didn't bow just kept his steady hand in place.

'Uncle is safe' XiChen began. 'He took the children and juniors to a safe place. All the black clothed men have gone and the boundary protections are back up, the only ones still in the reccess are here with you two. I do not know where Sect Master Jiang is though.'

Wei Ying nodded as if it was unimportant, causing a strange look from both Lan's.

'I know where he is don't worry. He took A-Yuan and some juniors to a safe place'

Both Lan's nodded and Wei Ying turned to face the leader of the gang.

'Get gone!' he instructed.

The man turned his face to Xue Yang as if he wanted to speak but then simply nodded to the group who turned and vanished followed by Lan XiChen. It was then Xue Yang spoke up.

'This time you won, but that doesn't mean you will next time. And unlike you, I won't let my enemies go.'

Wei Ying grinned wide before ambling up to the two men.

'Who said I was letting you go. I said they had to disappear before you went anywhere, but I never said where you going!'