CH 44 – When Gods battle….
Inside the former Sect Leaders office and now the war room, Lan QiRen stood watching the number of red dots steadily increasing around the area of the front entrance, it was this group of people that would head towards XiChen and the men he controlled. Lan QiRen didn't worry about his eldest nephew's ability to control the situation, he was an able commander and knew his surroundings. However there were another group of red dots appearing the opposite edge of the map aiming towards Wanji. This group seemed larger and to be moving quicker than the group headed in the main gate. QiRen wasn't quite sure how the second group had entered but he was sure that they thought that at the moment they had the element of surprise on their side. A wry grin appeared on the Elder Lan's face as he once again thanked the gods that Wei Ying was his nephew-in-law and not some one else's. What the two youngsters had managed, not only to invent but create, was beyond the imagination of his generation. With a wave of his hand he sent a message butterfly on its way to his nephew's with the required information before turning his gaze back to the map.
Lan XiChen had just received the message by the time the first man appeared from the safety of the darkness of a gate tower. Once the first man appeared it seemed the flood gates had opened, more and more men seemed to crowd in behind him until the whole horizon between XiChen and his men and the two towers seemed covered with enemy combatants. XiChen took a deep breath and drew his sword, taking a small step that positioned himself just in font of the disciples he commanded. The invaders seemed to pause for a moment when they saw who was standing against them until one cultivator, one XiChen didn't recognise, stepped forwards to the front of the group and raised his own sword in a mirror image of XiChen's own.
The two groups stood staring at each other for a long moment, the leaders not taking their eyes off of each other. Then with one swift movement the enemy cultivator commander lowered his sword, for a second nothing happened and then as if triggered the men surged forwards towards the defenders. XiChen however kept his own sword raised, patiently waiting as the wave of invaders came towards him. The Lan disciples began looking a little uncertain, some started fidgeting and fiddling with their still sheathed weapons. Looking towards their leader they were not sure what was running through his mind yet each man stood firm, the belief in XiChen unwavering was the enemy got closer and closer.
Eventually when the invading wave was almost upon them XiChen lowered his own sword and the Lan's moved forwards to attack.
On the other side of the Cloud Recess Lan Zhan meanwhile had also received his own messenger butterfly and was organising those men he was responsible for into strategic groups. The message he had received from his uncle had mentioned that it seemed the invading group seemed they were currently undetected, therefore Lan Zhan aimed to let them think exactly that. Within a few moments of him giving his orders he noticed the first of the invading army sneaking around in the one of the bushes. He had placed himself in one of the grassier parts of the Cloud Recess, a place full of bushes and tress. Full of rivers and streams. It was beautiful to look at and although normally off limits to the males of the Sect, many female disciples came here to relax after a long day of training or lessons. It seemed to Lan Zhan to be the female version of the cold pool always used by the male disciples in their own areas.
The spying member of the invading army was not aware that the man who was sat on the grass so relaxed and, seemingly sleepy, was actually perfectly aware of both that he was watching but exactly what he was doing. Lan Zhan had positioned himself at the side of the bush so he could clearly see the man observing him. The man seemed happy to just watch and not move but that didn't mesh with Lan Zhan's own plans. He wanted the little spy sent to observe him to go back to his group with the information he wanted him to see. Lan Zhan smiled, a large smile designed to be seen, as he set his qingin down on the soft grass and began playing a soft, relaxing tune. He sensed rather than saw the spy tense as his fingers ran over the instrument at first, after all Lan Zhan's ability to fight with music was probably second only to Wei Ying. Once no cultivation energy came from the Qin though the spy seemed to have all the information he needed and disappeared once again into the outskirts of the Recess.
As soon as the man disappeared Lan Zhan locked eyes with each of the small groups he had instructed to remain hidden. Each group nodded silently to him as if giving a salute before once again vanishing into the greenery. Once instructions had been given Lan Zhan turned his attention back to the qin and played a few notes with a trickle of power through them to amplify the sound. By the time he had settled his hands on the strings to still the music he could sense the rustling begin in the bushes. This time the invading group didn't even try to hide their arrival. The whole of the group closed in on him until they circled around him. One man in pure white surrounded by possibly hundreds of cultivators in a mix of various Sect uniforms. Normally those cultivators would have used their element of surprise to attack straight away and overwhelm their isolated their opponent, however whoever was commanding the group seemed to have at least a basic idea of who he was up against and kept everyone a few paces back.
The ring opened slightly and through the gap walked an unknown cultivator in the same uniform as the Sect Leader who had lead the last attack on his home. Lan Zhan slowly stood up his sitting position on the floor, completely unconcerned about the ring of steel surrounding him. The man at the front of the group however looked at him with unmoving eyes before demanding in a loud voice.
'Where is Wei WuXian?'
Lan Zhan kept his normal impassive expression on his face as he responded.
'You will find out when it is time.'
'We have you. With you we can make him come out.' The man sneered.
Lan Zhan didn't respond but rather turned his back on the man and slowly turned his attention to putting his qin away. As expected the leader of the group took this movement as a slight and the circle closed in a little more around him until it was barley a swords length away from his body. Lan Zhan stood up once again having put away the instrument and secured it safely, however the look on his face was now one of simple determination and his hand rested on the hilt of Bichen. At that simple action some of the group of cultivators fell back a step while others simply went grey in the face. Lan Zhan however didn't unsheathe his sword but rather just looked the leader of the group right in the eye, not even deigning to bother asking the man's name.
'You will find out when it is time'
Lan Zhan repeated with almost the sound of almost over patient tone in his voice. As the leader was about to respond Lan Zhan simply shifted his body, releasing Bichen, which flew in the air above the tight encirclement of its Master. Everyone looked up, not understanding the idea behind such a move when it was clear Lan Zhan was alone and had already put away one weapon he could have used to defend himself. The confusion was clear on the faces of the attackers and before they could even think enough to come to a conclusion Bichen had descended straight back into its Masters waiting palm. It was then the Lan defenders that had done everything they could up until that point emerged from their hideouts and battle commenced.
While battle was raging on both sides of the Cloud Recess and Lan QiRen was busy trying to coordinate things from the new war room. Wei Ying stood twiddling his thumbs, or to me more precise twiddling his flute, in the central square. None of the fighting had arrived to his area yet, it seemed the invading cultivators were set on wiping out the Lan's before coming for him. He had expected Jin GuanYao to make such a choice, wipe out any backup he may have before attacking him directly. After all the man had got to where he was by being a coward so why expect him to change now. A few minutes ago he had heard Lan Zhan's signal that he was about to begin fighting, a few minutes before that he had received a message from Lan QiRen to say that Lan XiChen had been engaged near the front entrance and was also fighting. All the Lan Sect where either away from their homes or fighting because they believed in himself and Lan Zhan. They believed that the two of them could win this fight against the invasion at their door.
Wei Ying didn't know when he had earned such trust, or what he had done to deserve it, but he did know one thing. He was going to protect his home with everything he had in him and if anyone who entered the Cloud Recess today through force thought they would be leaving in tact he had other news for them. Stretching out his fingers he lifted Chenqing slowly to his lips and began to play a soft tune, almost a lullaby. Like Lan Zhan earlier he threaded some of his power through it to magnify the sound enough that it spread through the whole of the Cloud Recess, bouncing off buildings and echoing in open spaces until the soft tune permeated the whole area.
In the war room Lan QiRen was noticing the dots on the map where slowly changing and couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his spine. He knew what was happening outside, had hoped that they could win without resorting to such measures but knew as soon Wei Ying felt Wanji was in danger he would immediately begin playing. Such a powerful young man, no wonder people feared him.
Outside the battle between Lan Zhan's defenders and the unknown leaders attackers was at a stalemate. The attackers where definitely more in numbers but the discipline of the Lan's and the sheer power of Lan Zhan and Bichen served to level the field. A few times the attackers had aimed to push forwards but a mix of Lan Zhan's defence and being unable to find anywhere solid sneak up from in the bushy area had led to them being beaten back again. Both sides where currently stood away from each other, the leader of the attackers cursing his men for not having more ability and courage when fighting the useless Lan.
Because of the shouting no one noticed the subtle tune that appeared almost on the wind, that snaked around people's minds and conciseness. The Lan defenders stood there almost in disbelief as one by one the attackers seemed go from fixating on killing them, to absent minded, then to fixating on something in the distance. Something that appeared to be in the centre of the Cloud Recess itself. One by one the attackers would wander off from the battlefield despite the calls and threats of the leader for them to come back. Some even got stabbed by their own side as cowards and yet still tried to crawl towards the unseen thing in the centre. When enough people had exhibited the odd behaviour that the leader could no longer scream at them for lunacy or cowardice he turned his head back towards Lan Zhan. His look of 'What did you do?' clear on his face.
Lan Zhan just lowered Bichen and looked the man straight in the eye as he responded to the unasked question.
'I said you would know where my husband was when it was time' Lan Zhan's gaze seemed to explain, and the leader had the sense to not only understand the message but let his face go white.