Everything went wrong when Wen Xu shot flame talismans at Lan Qizheng.
Lan Qiren appeared just in time and leaped in front of Lan Qizheng, taking the brunt of the attack.
Lan Qizheng cried out in shock.
Wen Xu smirked in satisfaction. Sect Leader Lan rarely showed himself as the face of the GusuLan sect. But Grandmaster Qiren was a famous mentor who guided the GusuLan sect and even other sect cultivators. Killing the grandmaster would not only intimidate the GusuLan sect but the rest of the cultivation world as well.
Wen Xu left with his cultivators for the Library Pavilion.
Lan Qizheng rushed over to Lan Qiren and cradled him in his arms. "Hang on, Qiren! I'll get help!"
Lan Qiren coughed. "No! No…it's too late for me."
His burns were quite severe.
Noticing Lan Qiren's pain, Lan Qizheng laid him down and rested his head on his lap.
Lan Qiren clutched Lan Qizheng's hand. "Don't let Xichen and Wangji lose you too."
"I won't!" Lan Qizheng promised.
Lan Qizheng's heart sank as he felt Lan Qiren's grip weaken. "Qiren! Qiren! Please don't! Hold on for the healers!"
Lan Qiren coughed. "I'm sorry…Goodbye…xiongzhang."
Lan Qiren's hand went slack.
"QIREN!"
Lan Qizheng and Lan Wangji swore that if they ever faced Wen Xu again, they would kill him...
His uncle will reappear in the Orchid Room. He had to. Instruction time was starting soon and he was never late.
Lan Wangji sat alone in the Orchid Room. Sometimes, he would have morning lessons with Lan Qiren. Today was one of those days.
A GusuLan sect cultivator appeared. "Pardon me, Lan-er-gongzi. Sect Leader Lan says that it's time for the funeral."
Lan Wangji's heart clenched. The news of the funeral broke the illusion that his uncle was still alive.
Knowing that Lan Wangji was grieving, the cultivator was apologetic and helped lead him to Sect Leader Lan.
Lan Qizheng and Lan Wangji both changed into mourning robes.
Lan Wangji always heard remarks from people that the GusuLan sect robes resembled mourning robes sometimes, both being white.
But the GusuLan sect robes conveyed elegance and purity while the mourning robes were somber instead.
Lan Qizheng was usually a stoic man. So his face was set in stone as always. But now a heavy air of grief surrounded him.
Lan Wangji had not seen his father in such a state since his mother passed away.
What would become of their family now?
First, his mother departed this world. Now his uncle followed.
Would Lan Xichen be next?
Lan Qizheng sat at a desk in his room, poring over documents of the QishanWen sect's attack.
Lan Qiren informed him about the anonymous warning notes.
Jiang Fengmian had to focus on keeping YunmengJiang cultivators in Lotus Pier to prepare for the Wen sect's attack in the future.
Nie Fangjian, enraged by Wen Ruohan's attempt on his life, sent a part of the QingheNie sect's army to be stationed nearby with permission on GusuLan sect territory for when the Wen cultivators attacked. The rest of the QingheNie sect, including Nie Fangjian and his sons, remained in Qinghe to be ready should Wen Ruohan decide to retaliate.
The sect leaders knew that the attack was going to happen after the QishanWen sect started closing off night-hunt territories. But they still didn't know the exact day and time. Neither did the mysterious informant.
Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen were also told about the QishanWen sect's upcoming attack.
The GusuLan sect secretly mobilized in preparation.
On the day of the attack, GusuLan sentries had spotted the Wen army approaching and notified the QingheNie sect cultivators stationed nearby.
With the QingheNie sect's assistance, only half of the Cloud Recesses had burnt down and the GusuLan sect minimized casualties.
Lan Qiren had faithfully fulfilled his duty of protecting the GusuLan sect leader with his life.
Yet Lan Qizheng couldn't help but feel that he failed in protecting Lan Qiren as his older brother.
Lan Xichen had managed to flee the Cloud Recesses but the GusuLan sect had not received word back from him yet.
Lan Qizheng had to permanently remove himself from seclusion and take on his responsibility as sect leader, no matter how broken his family was. His younger brother was dead and his oldest son's status was unknown.
If Lan Xichen was dead, that would make Lan Wangji his only surviving son and sect heir. He couldn't let Lan Wangji go anywhere near that Wen spy, Pan Wukun. He couldn't afford to take any risks. He couldn't lose more of his family.
Lan Qizheng stood in front of the jingshi. "Wangji?"
"…Come in, Father."
Lan Qizheng entered.
Lan Wangji silently stared at Lan Qizheng, unsure of what to do next. His father rarely visited, if ever, stepped foot into the jingshi. To have him leave seclusion and suddenly be prominent in the sect and his life again was jarring.
"How are you faring, Wangji?"
"…Well enough."
Lan Qizheng knew that Lan Wangji was actually in great distress and was putting up a calm front. Befitting of a Lan and the second son of the sect leader.
But Lan Qizheng was still a father. He wrapped his arms around Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji stiffened.
Lan Qizheng smiled sadly. "It has been a long time since I've held you like this, hasn't it?"
Lan Wangji didn't say anything. He simply rested quietly in his father's arms and breathed softly.
Lan Qizheng made no comment about the tear stains on his robes.
Lan Wangji looked up at him, with a clear face as if he never cried. "Father. Where is Pan Chun?"
Lan Qizheng frowned. "It is not safe for you to stay close to that boy, Wangji. You remember what Wen Xu said."
Lan Wangji nodded hesitantly. Pan Wukun knew Wen sect techniques. But he shouldn't since he was a rogue cultivator. Was he responsible for his uncle's death and the attack on the Cloud Recesses? Had Pan Wukun cruelly escorted him back to the Cloud Recesses so he could directly witness its destruction and suffer?
Was it all an act? Was their friendship even real?
Lan Wangji didn't know what to think.
He just wanted his uncle, brother, and mother back…
Pan Wukun lay on the ground groaning in pain. Her hands and ankles were bound. Her back ached.
Earlier, the GusuLan cultivators treated Pan Wukun's sword wound before striking her back with rods. Some even kicked her!
"Traitor!" they spat. "Wen spy! How dare you betray Grandmaster Lan after all he did for you? Disgraceful!"
Pan Wukun heard the GusuLan cultivators talk badly of her as they passed by her cell.
"Those Wens just abandoned Pan Wukun here! They're not even loyal to their own kind!"
"Pan Wukun must've also known about the Waterborne Abyss because he was a Wen spy!"
"He must've tricked us into having Grandmaster Lan killed instead of the Sect Leader! Have our mentor killed to destroy morale!"
It hurt to see faces that were once warm and respectful turn twisted with disgust and contempt.
Earlier, Pan Wukun had heard funeral bells and gongs ringing outside.
Many people perished during the attack.
Some of the GusuLan sect disciples Pan Wukun once studied with were gone. Some of the healers she once worked with were gone.
Lan Qiren was really gone.
Pan Wukun sobbed uncontrollably.
Why couldn't her warning save those GusuLan sect disciples?
Lan Qiren wasn't supposed to die!
At least in canon, even if Qingheng-jun perished, Lan Wangji ended up okay with Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui.
Lan Qiren had been alive too.
Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, and Lan Qiren eventually moved on after Qingheng-jun's death.
But what about now since Lan Qiren was the one who died instead?
Now Pan Wukun didn't know how the Lan family was going to end up.
"Protect Lan Wangji with your life."
That was the last thing Lan Qiren said to Pan Wukun.
She had fulfilled her promise this time. But who knew how long that was going to last?
How would Lan Wangji be now, losing his uncle instead of his father?
Pan Wukun feared she might've just made Lan Wangji suffer worse than in canon.
Her interference caused Lan Qiren to have his life stolen away from him. That was not supposed to happen. He could have spent so much more time with his nephews and watched them grow into adults if only fate had taken its course.
...But had she also spared Lan Qiren from seeing Lan Xichen in seclusion and Lan Wangji marry Wei Wuxian?
…Still. That didn't justify Lan Qiren dying when he was never meant to.
Should Pan Wukun ever meet him again in the afterlife, Lan Qiren would never forgive her.
Pan Wukun sniffled. "Bô..Mẹ…A-ge…I don't want to be here. I want to go home…"
Pan Wukun cried so much that she eventually got too exhausted to continue.
Some time after Pan Wukun stopped crying, a GusuLan sect cultivator approached her cell. "Sect Leader Lan is here to see you."
Lan Qizheng entered the prison cell and he was left alone to question Pan Wukun.
Pan Wukun looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I'm not with the Wens. I swear I'm not!"
Lan Qizheng looked skeptical. "Prove it."
"I helped you! I'm the one who left those anonymous notes!"
Lan Qizheng scowled. "How convenient for you to reveal this now! You could only have known all of that if you were a part of the QishanWen sect!"
"I'm not!"
"Then explain how else you could've known they planned to attack the Cloud Recesses!"
Pan Wukun paused. "…I have prophetic dreams."
Lan Qizheng was unimpressed. "Do you take me for a fool?" He pulled out a book from his robe sleeve. "And what is this?!" he hissed.
Pan Wukun's mouth hung open in surprise. Lan Qizheng was holding her MDZS plot book!
Shit. Of course, the GusuLan sect searched through her belongings.
"Erm...uh..." Before Pan Wukun could find the words, Lan Qizheng spoke once more.
"What do you mean the QishanWen sect will fall? What do you mean Lan Wangji marries Wei Wuxian?!" Lan Qizheng asked with a red face. "Why are you writing such disrespectful stories about my son and Wei Wuxian? Have you no shame?"
Pan Wukun continued to stammer.
Lan Qizheng sighed in frustration. "Just answer me, Pan Wukun."
Pan Wukun shut her mouth. She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Yes. All of those are stories I made up in my free time to stave off boredom. I meant no offense. Did anyone else read the notebook?"
"No! I wouldn't dare torment my sect with reading all this!" Lan Qizheng shook his head. "Wei Wuxian using ghostly cultivation to command the dead to do his bidding. I die while Lan Qiren lives. All of these lies are written in a strange language. Some dialect from Nanyue, perhaps? I had to use a translation talisman to read it. Just who exactly are you, Pan Wukun?"
Pan Wukun smiled bitterly. "Just a cultivator stranded very, very far away from home."
It was obvious that Lan Qizheng wasn't going to believe Pan Wukun no matter what she said.
What was she supposed to say now? That she knew the future from a fictional novel in another world? Lan Qizheng already dismissed the notion of prophetic dreams. The truth would only be dismissed as utter nonsense.
"Sect Leader Lan, I swear I have no ill intentions towards the GusuLan sect."
"I don't believe you, you could have been doing deliberate sabotage as a Wen spy. You knew that Lan Qiren would stay close to me if he found out that the Wens planned to kill me! Perhaps your true goal was to kill Lan Qiren, not me! You even had the cruelty to bring Wangji here to witness the destruction of the Cloud Recesses himself!"
"I was escorting Lan Wangji back here so that he wouldn't get taken hostage by the Wens! If I wanted to hurt him, I would've done so by now!" Pan Wukun shouted furiously.
Pan Wukun and Lan Qizheng glared at each other.
Though Pan Wukun revealed herself to be the note sender, Lan Qizheng did not drop his guard. He couldn't risk any kind of danger to Lan Wangji. He would not hand Pan Wukun over to the QingheNie sect. He couldn't risk her harming them either. He was going to prevent her from stepping anywhere near the QingheNie sect reinforcements in the Cloud Recesses.
Lan Qizheng unsheathed his sword.
Pan Wukun's eyes widened. Was he going to kill her?
In one swift slash, he cut the ropes binding her ankles.
Lan Qizheng sighed. "I will not kill you." His eyes hardened. "But I will not let you stay here any longer." He tossed a bag of money down. "This should be enough to help you travel far away from here. You can never enter the Cloud Recesses again. Stay away from Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen."
"But-"
"Just leave."
Lan Wangji stood in front of Pan Wukun's prison cell. He needed answers.
"Pan Chun?"
No response.
Lan Wangji thought that perhaps Pan Wukun was asleep or startled by his presence.
"Pardon me. I wish to speak with you." Lan Wangji opened the cell door.
His eyes widened.
The cell was empty.
Pan Wukun was long gone.
Pan Wukun's legs ached as she trudged through the forest.
Lan Qizheng had called a squad of GusuLan cultivators to escort her out of the Cloud Recesses. So she wasn't able to talk with Lan Wangji at all.
Once outside of the Cloud Recesses, they cut the ropes binding her wrists.
They returned all of her belongings to her. She made sure to burn the MDZS plot book so it didn't fall into the wrong hands. She read it enough times to remember everything important so it was fine.
By now she was far, far away from Gusu and had already traveled several days through multiple towns and villages.
It would be a long way back to Xuhou.
Fuck. Pan Wukun still couldn't believe everything that just happened at the Cloud Recesses.
It was all just a whirlwind of grief and violence.
She felt dazed.
Yuyun was tainted by human blood for the first time.
Pan Wukun's hands shook.
Shit...she actually killed people.
Yes, it was self-defense and a matter of life and death but still...
Pan Wukun clutched her hands together to still them.
What was in the past was already done. There was no changing it.
Pan Wukun wondered if it was the same for Lan Wangji and Bichen.
She remembered Lan Wangji's white robes and Bichen covered in blood.
In every visual adaptation of MDZS, Lan Wangji always looked flawless with no stain on him. Probably a decision made by the creative directors to make him look "pure" and handsome.
So to see Lan Wangji kill and dirty himself with human blood was a bit of a shock to Pan Wukun.
Pan Wukun wiped a hand on her clothes. She was glad that the GusuLan cultivators washed the blood off before kicking her out. But whenever she thought about the Wen cultivators she killed, she could still smell the blood…
And everything that Wen Xu said…
It was now clear why Pan Heng was so secretive about the second sect he once worked with.
Pan Heng had been a part of the QishanWen sect.
Once Pan Wukun reached Xuhou, she was going to have a very long talk with him.
Pan Wukun looked up at the sky. The sun was bright.
Something rushed past Pan Wukun's ear.
An arrow embedded into the ground.
"Don't run! We have you surrounded!"
Pan Wukun whirled around.
All around her in the trees were Wen cultivators pulling their bowstrings and notching their arrows.
Shit! They had snuck up on her and she never noticed!
Pan Wukun had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender.
The Wen cultivators took her to a nearby inn and tied her to a chair.
No inn workers helped her. They were either paid off or too scared to.
Pan Wukun didn't have to wait long to find out why she was kidnapped when her gracious host appeared.
Wen Xu smirked. "Hello again. We didn't get the chance for proper introductions last time. Let's find out who you are, shall we?"
A/N: Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday, Wei Wuxian!
Yet Wei Wuxian didn't even show up in this chapter…😭
I know it's still October 30 in the U.S. but it's October 31 in China right now so my timing is good.😤
WWX: "Yay! What do I get as a birthday gift?"
Me: "Your future husband and wife suffering."
WWX: 😨
Me: *feels bad for him* "...and some drawings of you with Pan Wukun."
WWX: "Yay!"😄
I guess Pan Wukun and Lan Wangji having to face horrifying ordeals also fit the horror of Halloween, haha.
I finally finished Smiling, Proud Wanderer after more than 2 years. It was…ok. Some parts were anticlimactic and plot-convenient. There is some homophobia and transphobia in the story so feminine men and trans women please be careful when reading it.
I'll probably read the Condor Heroes trilogy next.
Anyways, wishing special man Wei Wuxian love and happiness on his special day!