Ch17

It had been a few months since Lan Zhan had gone back to Gusu to speak to his Uncle and brother. A few of the things that had happened since then were both strange and confusing, but he wasn't thinking to much about them, the main thing was that he was finally headed towards his ultimate goal. It turned out that he had worried about nothing. He had worried about Lan Zhan and Wei Ying teaming up, but as it turned out Lan Zhan's loyalty to his family was stronger than his loyalty to his bed mate. Laughing quietly and fanning himself he rose against the heat he rose and walked out the door to confidently complete the final stage of his plan.

Without Lan Zhan's presence and the unspoken support of the Gusu Sect behind him Wei Ying had known this day would come sooner or later, after all both he and the Wen survivors had long since lost the trust of the cultivation community. Of course it didn't help that since Lan Zhan left a few months ago the rumours about him had just gotten worse and more outrageous, apparently now he was killing husbands to serve him as slaves and mind controlling their wives to serve him in bed, he was letting the Wen survivors punish and torture anyone they wanted to and generally cause more chaos than the Wen Sect had at their peak. Of course very few people knew that since Lan Zhan left YiLing no one at all had been sharing his bed let alone women who didn't want to be there, but then people seemed to want to make him into some monster so the more horrible things they could dump at his feet the better.

He had known that once the support of the major sect of the Gusu was withdrawn from him it would only be a matter of time before the other Sects ganged up on him. It still hurt though to know his once brother would be among the number although he would never let it show on his face. He had already sent the Wen survivors away to various isolated areas where he hoped they could live out the rest of there lives under assumed names. They had just been establishing themselves in YiLing, creating a home and feeling safe, and he had had to force them to move yet again. Take away the little safety they were beginning to have. All that was left in YiLing was himself, Wen Ning and Wen Qing who had refused to leave with the others.

With the loss of Lan Zhan the shield around the village had gotten weaker as well. He had weakened it further, slowly over a few days so to be undetectable, over the last few days. If the other Sects wanted to persecute him for saving innocent women and children, if they wanted to smudge his name and isolate him even from his family, he would not allow them to do it without fighting back. Anyone who knew Wei Ying knew he was a troublemaker but didn't look for dangerous circumstances, he was a troublemaker not a fool. They also knew that he had a personality that refused to be convicted of something he never did and absolutely refused to retreat from any battle.

Wei Ying stood in the cave that had been his home staring at the bed thinking about the last time he had seen Lan Zhan. He had returned from Gusu as promised and Wei Ying had almost jumped into his arms with pleasure at seeing him return. Both men hadn't bothered with 'hellos' or 'how are yous' but rather taken each other in their arms, pressing their lips together and kissing passionately until neither could breathe. As soon as Lan Zhan had tried to open his mouth to speak Wei Ying had covered it with his own. He could see Lan Zhan wanted to speak to him about something but right then he wasn't in the mood to hear the dry nonsense that he was sure would have been spoken about between Lan Zhan, his elder brother and the Lan QiRen (or the Chief Bore as he called him in his head).

Eventually Lan Zhan's small amount of resistance had been worn down and the two had spent the entire night reacquainting themselves with each other until they were both exhausted and fell asleep in each others arms. A gentle tear ran down Wei Ying's cheek remembering that that evening was the last they spent together. The next morning Lan Zhan had informed him he was returning to Gusu permanently

'You did the right thing Lan Zhan' Wei Ying whispered gently to the empty space. 'My reputation is it tatters now and they will be here any day now to try and make me pay for doing a good thing. I'm glad you aren't involved in this any more...please keep yourself safe Lan Zhan'

He half smiled, half sighed before raising his head, turning and walking out the cave with a positive gate.

As expected two days later a large number of cultivators from the various sects appeared out of the forests surrounding the little village. Wei Ying didn't know if he should be amazed or feel complimented at the amount of people facing himself and the Wen siblings. Obviously most of them believed all the stories carried around about him. However any amusement he might have been feeling vanished as soon as he noticed both Jiang Cheng and Jin ZiXuan among the mass of bodies. His eyes lowered slightly and he took a deep breath before facing the group once again.

One cultivator stood forward and glared at him.

'Wei WuXian' Came the authoritative tone 'You disobeyed the clans and removed the Wens from where they were being held. You forced your own Sect to disown you with your behaviour and show no repentance for not following the established rule of your elders and your betters'

Wei Ying had listened to the speech with a blank face but once the man finished he smiled, a playful smile that should have warned anyone he was up to no good.

'Exactly what makes their version of right and wrong better than mine?' he replied in a deceptively mild tone. 'Just because they are my elders does that mean I have to blindly obey without thinking for myself?'

'You….'The unknown man began before a known voice spoke up.

'Wei WuXian!' It was Jin ZiXuan, trying to push himself forwards from his place within the group. 'Wei WuXian, think about what your doing, YanLi would hate it if she saw this today. If she knew you were going against everyone once again.' He paused as if he was taking in Wei Ying's response and thinking about if to share any more information. When Wei Ying didn't speak he continued. 'She cried for days when you were removed from the Jiang Sect, when she knew you couldn't go home…..she….'

'Enough!' Wei Ying half shouted. If Jin ZiXuan carried on as he was there was the possibility he would loose his determination to see this through. He could never hurt his sister and the very idea idea that he was the reason for her crying made his heart contract painfully…...he couldn't listen any more. Instead he spoke with forcefulness he didn't feel, as if he was speaking for Jin ZiXuan alone.

'I don't know what will happen today, but I trust you with my elder sister. If something goes wrong, please tell her I was honoured to be her brother.'

With that Wei Ying hardened his gaze and turned it away from both Jin ZiXuan and Jiang Cheng and onto the others gathered. Not looking at the two men who could shake his focus he managed to calm his breath and present an outward façade of the man who didn't care about anything. Collectively they seemed to try not to take a step back from him. Smiling he spoke in the same toneless voice he had heard Lan Zhan use so often.

'I am still waiting for an answer'

No one had an answer for him so everyone seemed to just look around them or to the man next to them. Eventually though they focused their attention back on Wei Ying and the two people behind him. The smile on Wei Ying's face got even wider and colder, these people had just decided to hate him with no reason whatsoever.

'You dare to argue right and wrong while you have those people behind you? One of them isn't even alive! And you dare say we are the ones in the wrong?' someone almost screamed from somewhere in the group.

The voices rose in agreement until the whole group was rising in chorus. Suddenly a blade flew through the air towards his throat. At the last second it was deflected by Wen Ning who looked ready to kill. Wei Ying raised his hand and waved him back before unhooking Chenqing from his belt. However he didn't raise it to his lips, rather he twirled the flute lazily in his fingers as he spoke.

'This is my home, you are here uninvited. As you have nothing nice to say please leave, or else don't blame me for being impolite'

"The chorus of voices became louder exclaiming about his bad behaviour and over confidence. Another blade flew out from the group, then a second in quick succession. Wen Ning quickly deflected both blades as Wei Ying, seemingly not in a rush, lifted the flute to his lips and began playing. Even though the Wen survivors had left there were still plenty of people to follow his orders. One by one the dead emerged from the ground, spirits appeared as puffs of black smoke. As each one focused on the cultivators attacking him Wei Ying himself fought against the urge to vomit. It had been a long time since he had pulled this much power through himself and the waves of darkness seemed like a tempest in his head making it almost impossible to focus on what he was doing let alone controlling it.

Wei Ying wished for the hundredth time that Lan Zhan was here by his side, helping him through this, helping him control wave after wave of both internal and external battles. No matter how hard Wen Ning fought he was still one man, and Wen Qing was not a fighter. There were many cultivators surrounding him and he could be no help to Wei Ying who was slowly being pushed back into the cave. Everyone not attacking Wen Ning was concentrating on him. Wei Ying kept playing the flute controlling the corpses and spirits however he was not aiming to kill so he was at a distinct disadvantage.

The three were slowly but surely being overwhelmed by the pure numbers of cultivators attacking. Wei Ying nodded to Wen Ning who jumped in front of him and pushed all the attackers back, some collapsing to the ground, before he grabbed his sister and leapt away. The attackers seemed confused for a moment as Wei Ying himself had vanished also but after a few seconds of furious conversation some followed Wen Ning while others approached the cave, determined not to let either man escape.

It was the only place Wei Ying could have gone to escape.

Wei Ying was now alone, at their mercy.

They had him cornered, he couldn't escape.

All of a sudden both the spirits and corpses stopped attacking and faded back into nothing.

Everyone glanced at each other in confusion and before looking in apprehension at the cave.

It was then the cave erupted in flame and Wei Ying's screams could be heard inside before slowly disappearing.