The force of the kick sends her flying another few meters down the path before she drags herself to an upright halt.

"...Wen Zhuliu."

A handful of Wen soldiers, plus Wen Chao, stream out of the trees to either side. 

"Lan Zhan," he says, "you're always so arrogant," he somehow fails to physically aphyxiate on the sheer magnitude of the hypocrisy that passes through his throat, "but now I've got you in my grasp. I'll make you an offer: kneel to me and hand over the Yin Iron, and I'll spare your life." 

Like hell.

"Tch. Who the hell do you think you are? Compared to Qishan Wen, you other sects are no more than ants on our boot." 

When Lan Zhan still doesn't outwardly respond, he snarls and orders the others to "Get her. But don't kill her--not yet. That would be a waste." 

He moves forward.

Instead of that, she flicks out a talisman that Wei Ying made and whips it at them. A spray of bright sparks fizzle through the air at her attackers' faces.

He tries to bat the sparks away before they can blind him. He succeeds. 

But when the sparks are gone, so is Lan Zhan.

He curses about the escape and the talisman created by Wei Ying!

"Should I go after her."

"No...Wen Xu should be there already. He can take care of her once she's seen with her own eyes the consequences of defiance." 

That entire interaction was a very bad sign. Lan Zhan is not far from Cloud Recesses now - she runs.

The Cloud Recesses are burning. 

Most of the disciples who are still alive are gathered outside Cold Pond Cave, where a mass of Wen soldiers are preparing to attack them. 

Fuck. The Cloud Recesses really need to stop burning but she doesn't have time to put out any fires - some of the many, many bloody bodies she passes might still be alive, but she doesn't have time to check or help them either - 

She descends from the sky between the Wen soldiers and her clan, qugin floating at her fingertips. (She sees her uncle, she sees many familiar disciples - she doesn't see Brother, but there isn't time to think about what that might mean - )

With a single chord, Lan Zhan sends Wen Xu flying back before he has a chance to strike Lan Qiren. 

He goes flying, recovers, gapes at her for a moment, then charges at her sword-first. 

He won't even get close. She doesn't wait for him to recover this time before she sends another chord-strike.

He dispels the chord-strike with his sword, then jumps over the next one. 

His soldiers catch up with him. 

As they charge she spins up into the air, rising with the wind kicked up around her, and with all that energy gathered in her fingertips she strikes - 

And the ground at the soldiers' feet explodes, throwing them to the ground and filling the air with dirt and debris.

Lan Zhan lands. "Uncle, go," she urges, and everyone takes this as their cue to run. All the disciples dash for the Cold Pond Cave at once, vanishing through the shimmering barrier as they reach it.

Many of the disciples make it through the barrier. 

Many don't. 

Wen Xu, who has ever heard of a hostage, takes most of those left outside captive. 

When they fail to provide him the answer to how to get into the cave, he demands that Lan Zhan come out with the Yin Iron. And then, because he was apparently not paying that much attention when he heard of hostages, starts killing them before Lan Zhan even has a chance to comply. 

- IT'S THE HEADBANDS.

THE HEADBANDS GET YOU INTO THE CAVE ALL THE INNER DISCIPLES HAVE THEM DON'T KILL HIM.

Excellent, keep talking, where's the sect leader?

He doesn't want to die he doesn't want to die he doesn't want to die - 

"He - left - escaped with the ancient books -" please please he doesn't want to die -

Wen Xu, being slightly less blindingly stupid than his brother, does not immediately kill the rest of the hostages as he yells again for Lan Zhan to come out. 

She's there before anyone else can die, Bichen held tightly at her side. Lan Zhan glances coldly down at Su She and then away.