He laughs and shakes his head. Some people just don't appreciate Art.

"Anyway, you have a point about you and them being the same, except, you decided to give them what you'd had instead of deciding that you should have what they did. Which is dumb." 

Giggle.

The nearby fighting is suddenly a lot louder - suddenly a cluster of Wen soldiers burst into the dungeon. Their eyes go immediately to Xue Yang, and then to Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng standing in front of him. Some of them hesitate.

Boot to the head. 

Then follow-through with Suibian--honestly these guys aren't really a match for her even without the hesitation, not that she doesn't get a few scratches. She yells at Jiang Cheng to keep an eye on Xue Yang while she heads off any more of these guys. 

Oh hey, there's Sect Leader Nie still dueling Wen Zhuliu. She spares another boot to the head to the latter as she runs past. 

Ow.

He stumbles off course a little and bounces off the stone wall.

Some other Wen soldiers shout and start flinging swords in her direction.

WHOOPS OKAY DODGING TIME. 

For Nie Mingjue, who has perhaps never heard the words "conflict avoidance" in his life, it is not dodging time, it is STABBING time. 

It's been a long time since Wen Zhuliu has been stabbed! Or injured in any way, really. He spins, but was thrown too far off balance to dodge completely - Baxia sinks into his shoulder, forcing Wen Zhuliu to drop his own blade.

It actually does hurt quite a lot. It's strange.

He summons the blade to his left hand and flies away - he knows better than to keep fighting Chifeng-zun with a damaged sword-arm. He looks for Wen Chao to report that he needs to fall back.

Oh shit. With Wen Zhuliu out of commission even Wen Chao isn't, quite, stupid enough not to sound the retreat. 

"Do you think just because you've managed to repel such a small force, that you're really victorious?" he calls back to the Unclean Realm and its defenders. "If you want to stand with the Lan sect in defying the Wen, you should know that my brother, Wen Xu, has brought an army to fell them. Even if your precious Lan-guniang," there is a distasteful note in how his tongue handles the appellation, half sneer, half leer, "makes it back in one piece with the Yin Iron, do you think she'll find safe haven there? No. Only a burning wreck." 

!!!

"You bastards..." Nie Mingjue starts towards Wen Chao, but stops short of allowing the surviving Wen soldiers to surround him. 

"I'll let you off for now, but if this happens again, or Father decrees it so, I cannot promise you won't be a second Cloud Recesses." 

His eyes land on Wei Ying. He smirks. 

"As for you...Wei Ying, I'll be seeing you in Qishan." His eyes sweep up and down her body. "I'll look forward to toying with you then." 

Ewwwwwww, that makes her feel more perved on than all of Xue Yang's crass remarks put together. 

The Wens retreat in short order. 

He and Nie Huaisang can reemerge, now. Meng Yao rushes over to Nie Mingjue; is he alright?

Absolutely fine, worry about the people bleeding on the ground, probably any of them are still alive. 

Meng Yao immediately starts organizing people to worry about the people bleeding on the ground. Medics are summoned and stretchers appear.

He thanks Wei-guniang and Jiang-gongzi for their help.

"Ah, it was no trouble, Meng-gongxi." 

He gives his sister a minor look, but says, "We could hardly allow Xue Yang to escape." 

He bows again. "Of course. The Nie Sect admires and appreciates your nobility." He sweeps off to deal with his other responsibilities, which are approximately endless.

Elsewhere, on a seemingly peaceful dirt road, there is something wrong with the ground. 

Hm.

How about she no longer be standing there, then. Lan Zhan leaps into the air and floats above the suspicious ground.

Fwooooooosh yep that's a pit trap, covered in fabric and dirt and rocks. 

Now for random chains to be thrown at her! 

She spins mid-air, dodging all the chains, and touches delicately back to the ground on the other side of the pit trap.

- just in time to be kicked hard in the chest by an airborn Wen Zhuliu.