They have not come here for the alcohol. Why did Wei Ying even insist on coming if she wasn't going to prioritize their mission? (It is because Wei Ying exists to make Lan Zhan's life as hard as possible, of course.)

"I am going to look for gentry families. Some must reside here."

"Why would you look for them, though?"

"They will be knowledgeable."

"Ah, Lan Zhan, you're so lucky you have me along. That's not how you find out what's been going on someplace!"

"We should go there!" 

She is absolutely pointing at a wine shop.

"You just want to drink." 

"What, psht, no, would I do that? It's totally the best plan! Think of how many people will be there, gossiping. And if anything weird has happened, you can bet people will be talking about it. It might not reach a cultivator family's attention until something has been confirmed to be happening, but even if it's just a little weird or suspicious, you can bet the common people will be talking about it." 

Hm.

Before this can be further deliberated, Nie Huaisang hurries over from that direction. "Heyyy, hey!" he calls, panting and waving his fan as though they might miss him. "Jiang-xiong, Wei-guniang..."

He shakes his head, still out of breath. "Meng Yao hasn't arrived yet. Can we sit down somewhere, please?"

"Yes we can!" she says brightly, and grabs Lan Zhan and her brother by the wrists and drags them into the wine shop. 

Once they have a table, she slaps a string of coins down on it. 

"Three jars of wine!" she says brightly. 

"Shijie!"

"Aw, c'mon, A-Cheng, money loosens lips, you know that." 

"Ah, our Dichroa Red is really excellent, you won't regret your generosity!" the server promises. "I'll be right back!" 

"Don't ask me for more money if you run out." 

"Okay, I won't ask you," she tells him, and then winks at Lan Zhan.

Reproachful glance. If Wei Ying thinks Lan Zhan is ever going to sponsor her absurd alcohol indulgence, she is sorely mistaken.

She pours herself tea from the little kettle set on the table and sips it quietly.

The server comes back with the jars of wine. One for Wei Ying and one for Jiang Cheng and one for Nie Huaisang. It's not only her own alcohol indulgence!!!

She tilts her head and bats her eyelashes at the waiter. "So, this is my first time in Yueyang...is there anything interesting around?" 

"Ah--what kind of interesting?" 

"Oh, I'm really into things that are weird or spooky. The creepier the better! Mutilations, soul snatchings, grave robbings..." 

"Ah, you're a really intense young lady, aren't you?" 

"Mm, I suppose I am." 

"Well...there's what happened to the Chang clan..." 

"Mmmm?" she prompts. 

The waiter doesn't know anything about how intense Wei Ying is and he has no right to comment on it.

The combined emotional toll of both Wei Ying batting her eyelashes and Wei Ying batting her eyelashes at someone else is too much. Lan Zhan glares at her tea.

"A few miles outside the city to the southeast, you can find the manor of the Chang clan. They were the local cultivation sect, but for some reason, just recently, they all disappeared! They never come into town anymore, but...at night, you can hear something pounding on the doors trying to get out," the waiter says earnestly. 

Wei Ying's flirtatious demeanor drops as she exchanges serious looks with the other occupants of the table. 

She gives a serious look back.

"Has no one looked inside?"

"Of course! But there isn't anybody there during the daytime. And at night..." he shivers, perhaps partially picking up on the weight of the cultivators' gazes. His eyes dart to the southeast. "...It's almost evening now," he murmurs, and hurries off. 

We should go now, she thinks to say, but before she can even open her lips -

The Yin Iron flares to life, resentful energy spilling out from its pouch and burning cold against Lan Zhan's breast.

She gasps in pain and shock, clutching at the Yin Iron against her chest as images of blood - and screams and fear and death - begin to flash across her eyes.

Something very bad is happening, right at this moment - it hurts -

"Lan Zhan? Are you okay? Your chest really is magnificent, but this isn't exactly the time..."

"The Chang clan -- we must - go now," she pants, still gripping the Yin Iron over her heart. The screams flare louder and she squeezes her eyes shut.

Well crap that is definitely worse than anything else that could be happening involving Lan Zhan's magnificent breasts. She didn't even have the spare attention to be flustered or anything. 

All of them except Nie Huaisang get up and leave immediately. 

The Chang house is dark and still and silent.

"...There's no knocking. Was that waiter fucking with us?"

She holds up the Yin Iron in its bag. The bag glows blue, and stings her hand with cold.

"Yin Iron has been used here."

They approach the doors, only to stop when an ominous knocking sound echoes from the doorway. She and Jiang Cheng exchange looks. 

When the knocking subsides, she uses a talisman to push the doors open. 

They swing inward to reveal a pair of hanged corpses, and a gust of wind blows out of the courtyard, carrying the stench of death. 

Beyond the swinging corpses, the courtyard is littered with dozens of bodies. 

They walk inward, slowly, and Wei Ying kneels to examine one, the marks on it, the fresh, wet, red blood. 

"They died recently. But not quickly," she says, mouth set in a hard line. "Maybe if we had gotten here sooner..."

Those marks are familiar. The Yin Iron was used on these people before they died.

Lan Zhan holds the Yin Iron aloft, turning slowly with it in hand. The other shard has to be close by, if hers is responding like this...

Instead of any Yin Iron, here's some smirking asshole sprawled on one of the roofs.

"Welcome!" he drawls once they look in his direction, rising to his feet and drawing his sword.

"Did you do this? 'Cause if so, man, you suck."

"I might've! You don't like my redecorating?" He grins. "That's fine."

FWOOSH. 

Hello here is this other guy. 

"Xue Yang." 

Oh good! His night just got so much better!

"Xiao Xingchen... you're so persistent. You finally caught me, I was starting to get bored!"

"Since leaving Qishan, you've murdered dozens of cultivators, but always escaped me. That ends tonight." 

"Aww, Xiao Xingchen, are you going to punish me? You'll have to catch me first!"

He grins and nyooms away off of the roof.

Thwip. 

Thank you, Past Wei Ying, for creating the spell that will let her spider-man up in this bitch (is what she would be thinking if she had ever heard of spider-man). 

He can nyoom on back now. 

Well now they have to have their sexy duel in front of these twerp kids, which is pretty lame, but on the other hand something very unexpected happened! Unexpected things are great.

Xue Yang lands hard on his back. This is also pretty great.

He looks at the spider-man spell looped around his wrist and laughs. What a fun idea. Is Xiao Xingchen jealous that he didn't think of this? He should be. "That's funny," he calls to the kid holding the spell.

Xingchen would certainly disagree about the sexiness content of their duel if he knew about it. The only sexy dueling is when he's sparring with Song Lan. 

Anyway time for evil bitches to get stabbed. 

Nooooo don't stab me you're so sexy aha

No but actually he will block the strike and flip away. Xiao Xinchen is wrong; this sword fight is hot as hell and Xue Yang feels alive. Flip flip strike strike stab - 

Yoink. 

It was pretty annoying when Wei Ying yanked her around by the bonding spell, but on second thought it is even more annoying when Wei Ying yanks someone else around by the bonding spell. 

He goes flying off course a little ways and has to take some time to straighten himself out, scoffing. Dumb kids.

STAB. 

He spins away, but Xiao Xingchen's blade slices his cheek. He flips over his opponent's head; now he has a good angle to jab at his back - 

Yo~ink

Bitch.

And so he ends up held at sword point, infuriatingly. Xiao Xingchen looks pretty fucking smug for someone who didn't even beat him in a fair fight.

Because all the corpses on the floor totally got a fair fight, definitely. 

"There we go. You might want to reconsider your 'interior decorating' habits, they don't seem entirely healthy." 

"I think it suits the foul place," he sneers, yanking his hand against the spell. "This is a funny trick. It's a pretty powerful talisman, where'd you get it?"

"Made it up. What've you got against this place, I don't see anything obviously wrong with it that isn't your fault." 

"There are fewer problems to see with all the suckers dead. You're welcome!"

Xingchen moves the tip of his sword to just under Xue Yang's chin. 

"Xingchennnn, don't tell me you think your city was so perfect? Surely even you aren't that blind..."

Without any warning he swirls his sword hilt, and a cloud of dust rises from the ground to fly at their eyes.

--Okay yoinking him without being able to see that this wouldn't involve yoinking his blade right into her--or Jiang Cheng, or Lan Zhan--would be a REAL bad idea she will not do that--

FWOOSH.

Another guy appears, without any dust in his eyes, and counters Xue Yang's next strike at Xingchen. Xue Yang is going to be held at sword point Again.

Aww, damnit. He laughs, a little sourly.

"Xingchen."

"Zichen." <3

Okay time to tie up Xue Yang. No more dust clouds and escapes. 

"Do you confess?"

"Of course," he singsongs. 

Song Lan jerks his head at the nearest building; the doors are wide open and splattered in blood. "Can we get him away from his victims. Let's question him somewhere else."

"Mm. Yeah." 

They can help the two men with that.

Xue Yang gets tied up ankles and wrists like a mermaid, which he finds hilarious, and then he gets to watch all the cultivators kiss each other's asses about how """decent""" they all are, which is even more hilarious. He giggles.

"And what are you laughing at, hm?"

"Oh, nothing. Just, if you all insist on sucking each other's dicks right in front of me, at least take my robes off first! I don't want to feel left out."

"What an idiot, can't even notice that almost half of us don't have dicks."

"You haven't made up a talisman for that as well? Aww, I'm disappointed. Well, Xiao Xingchen, you're so very charitable, won't you give her one?"

"Why would I want one? I like what I've got well enough. Having a dick is just inviting someone to think they can measure theirs against it." 

"Cultivators measure their dicks against anything that moves, doesn't matter if you have one! Besides, only being able to take cock, don't you find that boring? No variety... I think I'd fall asleep."

"Enough."

"Even though we have him captive now, he's a cunning scoundrel who's massacred countless small clans. If we give him the slightest chance, he'll definitely escape. Don't let him get in your head." 

"Oh, he isn't getting in my anything." 

He winks.

That's enough of THAT.

She holds up the Yin Iron (which is the ONLY THING that anyone here should be talking about!!!) and glares at Xue Yang. "Hand it over."

"Whaat?"

"The Yin Iron."

His lips twitch and his eyes widen comically. "I have no idea what you mean! I'm not a petty thief, Lan-guniang. Iron or gold, I didn't touch any of it!

"Somehow, I don't expect him to start cooperating now. Might as well just search him and have done with it." She starts patting him down. 

He smirks. 

She is Looking Away.

"Aw, Wei-guniang, don't throw away your marriageability on my account. Xiao Xingchen, you must cover your eyes!"

"Joke's on you, I don't wanna get married anyway," she says, still searching. 

Well, it's not like that ever would have happened anyway. There's nothing to be bothered about, here.

At all.

Wei Ying won't find anything on him.

She huffs, annoyed. "He doesn't have it on him. Lan Zhan, can you use your piece to figure out where his is?"

"No need. It hasn't reacted since we arrived."

"Ugh. Hmm...he must be pretty confident we won't find it, he isn't acting concerned at all. So, it's probably somewhere someone respectable wouldn't think to look...let's look around to see if it's on any of the bodies or in a privy or something." 

They look. They don't find it anywhere, despite the abundance of upsetting corpses to search through. Lan Zhan's shard of the Yin Iron continues to remain silent.

This is frustrating.

Xue Yang is incredibly frustrating. 

"Any other ideas for where it might be?"

She looks around unhappily. It has to be here somewhere. The Yin Iron was clearly used on these people before they died, and it had not yet been very long since Xue Yang slaughtered them...

Before they can finish contemplating this, some new arrivals appear at the gates.

"Wei-guniang! Jiang-xiong!" A small delegation of sect members follow Nie Huaisang into the Chang house, gazing around at the bodies in horror. 

"Ah! Nie-xiong!"

"Wei-guniang, I came as fast as I could..." He winces at all the bodies. "You... what happened here?"

She turns around to look behind them at Xue Yang still tied up in the main house. 

Nie Huaisang's companion bows to all of them. "Clan Leader Nie was worried after your safety. He sent me to meet you."

He turns and bows again to Lan Zhan specifically. "Clan Leader Nie received Clan Leader Lan's letter. Please come to Qinghe to discuss it with him."

"My brother's letter? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing significant. Please come with me, Lan-guniang; Clan Leader Nie is waiting to discuss with you."

She looks at Wei Ying.

"...Xiao-xiong, we really have to keep pursuing the matter of the Yin Iron. If we bring Xue Yang to Sect Leader Nie to seek justice, would that satisfy you? Uh, this fellow here is Nie Huaisang, the Sect Leader's little brother." 

Xiao Xingchen considers this, then bows. 

"Sect Leader Nie is known for his righteousness and strong sense of justice. That would be acceptable." 

- oh shit Meng Yao's waiting for him to say something, right - Huaisang clears his throat. "Ahem. Yes. Of course."

"We should leave soon, if it is acceptable." He turns to Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan and bows again. "Friends, since you have also worked hard catching Xue Yang, will you come with us? We should discuss how to handle Xue Yang and the Wen Sect of Qishan."

"With all due respect, we don't especially want to become involved in the affairs of major sects. If Sect Leader Nie is taking care of Xue Yang, that's good enough for us."

He nods. "If you need us for the sake of the larger world one day, we will be of assistance to you then." They bow.

"Where do you cultivate, and how can we find you?"

"Oh, I cultivate at the Snow White Pavilion, though just as often Xingchen and I travel together."

"And my master was Baoshan Sanren." 

"Baoshan Sanren!?"

"...Yes?"

"My mother was a student of Baoshan Sanren--her name was Cangse Sanren--" 

"--I see. I've heard of her from those who were around when she left, but I never met her personally." 

"...I see. Well, thank you anyway." 

"I hadn't realized I would meet my shijie's child out here--even if I never met her, it's still something I didn't expect." 

"...Yeah. Even if we're the same age, you're my uncle. That's so weird." 

This is very sweet, all this accepting-your-family and everything, but they really should start heading to Qinghe now.

Meng Yao sends the Nie disciples into the building to retrieve Xue Yang and begins shepherding everyone else towards the road.

Fine, fine. 

That was really cool!!! Apart from all the horrible murder. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan were really cool, anyway, and she will happily chatter at mostly Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng but really anyone who will hold still long enough about it. 

Nie Huaisang is happy to chatter about how cool Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are!!!

Yeah sooooooo cool. Wow. So wonderful. What paragons of decency and justice, if only their assholes were still available so that these twats could shove their noses in a little deeper!

Xue Yang does not say this but he does think it loudly while smirking.

Lan Zhan spends the walk to Qinghe quietly, worrying about the Cloud Recesses and whatever cause Brother must have had to write to Nie Mingjue.

Thinking about Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan going off and exploring the world together. Just the two of them. No sects, no restrictions...

But restrictions are important.

Are they as important as Wei Ying grinning at her and talking about how cool it is for Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan to form their partnership based on bonds of trust and philosophy and not blood and run around night-hunting with no politics involved?

hhhhhnn. Objectively yes, precisely because of hazards like this.

But also.

Lan Zhan is very relieved when they get to the Unclean Realm and this can be over. Now there is no need to consider the temptation of a life of freedom with Wei Ying in the wilderness ever again.

Here they are. The fortress of the Unclean Realm is massive, built all from heavy wood and stone. Meng Yao flicks his fingers and the enormous wooden gate grinds slowly open so that their party can enter.

Whoah this place is definitely impressive. Everything Nie Huaisang isn't and has implied his older brother is. 

The gate lowers again as soon as they walk through it, heavy wooden spikes digging back into the dusty ground.

Within, they walk down a long stone passage between the outer gate and the inner fortress. The loom overhead, and fierce steel braziers are lit along the sides.

They hear the palace compound before they can reach it; dozens of armed soldiers are shouting as they run drills in the main courtyard.

"These are newly deployed guards," Meng Yao tells Nie Huaisang. "Your brother set them up. He strengthened the guard after receiving Wen Chao's message."

"...message?"

He nods. "The Wen Clan has recently sent messages to many clans. All the major sects have been instructed to choose an inner heir disciple to accept indoctrination in Qishan without delay. Or..."

"Or what?"

"Or the Wen Clan will send people to take them."

"All the major sects...that's us, too." 

"The Lan hold lectures that people flock to, whereas the Wen hold an indoctrination they have to take people to by force. What a pathetic imitation. Of course, it's really just a thin veil over hostage taking." 

"W...ait, but - inner heir disciple - I'm the only inner heir disciple!"

Wow that must be really hard for you

"Aaahhh, no, no way - I'll have to ask my brother..."

"Ask what?" he asks, descending the steps in an unconsciously cinematic-sexy way. 

"......nnothing, Da-ge." He looks down and scuffs his feet in the dirt.

"So that's Chifeng-zun," Jiang Cheng murmurs to Wei Ying. 

"It's not surprising why someone like Nie Huaisang is afraid of him, huh," she whispers back. 

He slowly walks over to the two of them. 

"Jiang-gongxi. Wei-guniang. Xichen spoke highly of you two. If the capture of Xue Yang is anything to go by, his praise seems to be deserved." He turns to Lan Zhan. "Lan-guniang. Is your brother well?"

"Thank you for your concern. He was well when I left."

He nods, then turns his attention to Xue Yang. 

"This is him?"

"This is him."

"Take him inside."

He bows and then gestures for the Nie guards to haul Xue Yang up the steps, leading them inside.

He gestures for everyone else to follow. 

"Xue Yang," he says, once they're all settled. "Your maliciousness knows no bounds. Frankly, we should just execute you right now!" 

"Wait!" 

"Are you going to speak on this villain's behalf?" 

"On his behalf? No, absolutely not. But he does have useful information, still, about the whereabouts of the Yin Iron and probably about the Wens. It's probably easier to extract it if he's still alive, and you can always kill him later." 

"Hmmm..."

"Sect Leader Nie, Wei-guniang speaks cleverly. Xue Yang is not currently a threat to us, and we can easily contain him here. If from him we discover the location of the Yin Iron, that would be not only of great use to us but also a great loss for Wen Ruohan. The benefit we stand to gain from questioning him alive outweighs the cost of leaving him alive a little longer."

"Meng Yao is really smart and well-spoken, isn't he?" Jiang Cheng whispers.

"He really is! My brother relies on him a lot, he's good at many different things."

"Jin Guangshan is such a moron. Someone that talented throws himself at your feet and you kick him? So stupid. Meng Yao must get his smarts from his mom." 

"Meng Yao, take Xue Yang to the dungeon. Strengthen the guard on the dungeon and make sure someone is watching him at all times."

"Understood." He bows sharply and leads Xue Yang briskly from the room.

Xue Yang keeps his obnoxious little smirk as he's led off. Wei Ying's only regret is that she didn't manage to kick him in the balls. 

Hmm. She edges out of the room, peering after Meng Yao. Maybe Xue Yang will try to escape and she'll get an opportunity. 

Xue Yang is not escaping. Xue Yang is not doing... anything, really, other than apparently chilling in the courtyard while Meng Yao talks to the captain of the guard.

He appears to be having some sort of Difficulty.

"Da-ge, of course you are in charge of all the force's dispatches and I am not. But guarding the dungeon is important, and this is Sect Leader Nie's order. Please don't make trouble with me."

The captain looks unconvinced. Meng Yao ducks his head and widens his eyes. "If Chifeng-zun were to punish me... I wouldn't be able to take it."

The captain snorts and steps forward, crowding him. "Sure. Then go ahead, go be at your master's feet." He pats Meng Yao's shoulder. "His lap is probably getting cold."

A-huh. 

She slips back inside and whispers to Nie Huaisang: "Hey, how formal are things in the Unclean Realm supposed to be, usually?"

"Wh... well, what do you mean, Wei-guniang?"

"Ah, just saw the guard captain saying some stuff that was pretty disrespectful to Meng Yao and also your brother, and I was trying to figure out if that's normal." 

Ugh. "Uhh, well - I think it's a little bit normal, Wei-guniang, for people to sometimes be rude to Meng Yao. And to... ah. But it's definitely not supposed to be that way, Da-ge gets really really mad if they do that in front of him."

"So if he said your brother promoted Meng Yao in exchange for sexual favors that's no big deal?"

Yikes. "Uhh, yeah, that's not - mm, maybe we should - uh, Da-ge?"

"Hmm?"

"Ah, Wei-guniang just heard - Wei-guniang..."

"Oh, um, I overheard--" 

And then she repeats the entire conversation verbatim. 

Nie Mingjue turns an interesting color and storms out. 

- where the captain is currently calling Meng Yao the son of a whore.

Nie Mingjue punches him in the side of the head. Not a light, chastising cuff on the ear; he is PUNCHING this guy and the side of his head happened to be the best target. 

OW. The captain stumbles over and yells in pain and confusion, clutching his head. The swordfighting drills behind him come to a confused halt, most of the disciples openly staring.

Nie Mingjue proceeds to yell at him for at least ten minutes straight about respect, appropriate behavior, and other things his actions in the past five minutes did not demonstrate. 

Meng Yao is having several emotions right now. The loudest is vindictive, vengeful glee.

The second loudest is Oh Fuck That's Hot.

He finally ends with "--and when Meng Yao says I said to do something, fucking do it!" 

Xue Yang can clap pretty well with his hands tied.

Aw, yessss, excuse to kick him in the balls!

"OWW. I was being POLITE -- ahhaa, hhahaha, ow. Bitch."

Lan Zhan wasn't looking for an excuse to kick him but she absolutely will.

Wow, fucking white knight over here. That's - pretty funny actually - Xue Yang starts giggling again, even as he's bent double in pain.

"Meng Yao can finish taking Xue Yang to the dungeons, now, Sect Leader. By your leave."

He nods firmly and respectfully to Meng Yao. 

He bows deeply back, appreciative and sincere.

Then he escorts Xue Yang away, feeling warm all over in a way that, shockingly, isn't rage.

"Wow," he whispers to Wei Ying.

"Is that impressive? Madam Yu would've slapped him instead of punching him but it's not that different..."

"Oh, it's not unusually impressive. It just always impresses me to see Da-ge yell at people who misbehave like that and make everyone fall in line so quickly... I really don't think I ever could! No, I know I couldn't."

"Ah, well, everyone's different! Can you imagine me yelling at someone like that without once slipping in a smart remark? Or Lan Zhan saying that many words in a row? Or...hm, Jiang Cheng could probably do it."

"...Thanks???"

He laughs. "Ah, Wei-guniang, you are so clever about these things! I think I'd like seeing you yell at someone like that someday, smart remarks and all."

"We should return to discussing the matter of Qishan Wen."

"Yeah...they're really being a pain right now, and no doubt. There are four pieces of Yin Iron in total, right, there's the one Lan Yi had, there's the one the Flower Lady had, and...hm. Do we know if the one Xue Yang had and the one Wen Chao had are the same?"

"I doubt Wen Chao trusted Xue Yang with his piece."

"Hmm, you're probably right. So all four have surfaced but one is still unaccounted for...by anyone but Xue Yang. And even if we manage to get that one's location out of him we'll still only have half of them..." sigh. "Wen Chao is such an assbucket. We're going to have to fight the Wens for their pieces at some point. That's not going to be fun. Maybe if we turned our piece into a weapon..."

"Wei Ying."

"What? It's not like they won't use theirs against us."

"Have you forgotten Grand Master Lan Yi's story already? You cannot master these tricks. You must not try."

"Uhh so what do we do with the shard we have, Da-ge? And does - does Wen Chao know that they're here?" He gestures at his friends with his fan. "He had been following us for so long..."

"Xichen wrote in his letter that he was able to find reference to the Yin Iron in forbidden books. You should take it back to Gusu to see if he's found anything that will let you seal it away." 

"As for Wen Chao, he was using that horrible owl-thing to follow us, and we stopped it, so...who knows? I wouldn't put money on his not knowing but I also wouldn't rely on his following us here to assume he isn't somewhere else getting up to other mischief." 

(She bows to Nie Mingjue. "Understood.")

"It's a good thing Da-ge doubled the guard, I guess," he mumbles. "Just in case."

"I just hope that's enough. Wily bastard."

That night she leaves her and Jiang Cheng's rooms, acquires booze, and (possibly in part due to the booze's influence) decides that the roof over Lan Zhan's room is a good place to hang out. And recite poetry. 

Man, the roof tiles in Gusu were way more comfy.

She is interrupted from her meditating by Wei Ying's drunken poetry recitation.

Wei Ying has good taste in poetry. Lan Zhan smiles privately to herself. She would not mind spending the whole night like this: underneath Wei Ying, listening to her poetry. Her voice.

But. Lan Zhan must leave promptly to return to Gusu. If she put her responsibilities on hold every time Wei Ying did something endearing ridiculous in her vicinity, Lan Zhan would never get anything done.

She steps out from her room into the cool night air, Bichen in one hand and the other behind her back. She looks up at Wei Ying. There's a moon in the sky behind her.

Ah! There's Lan Zhan! Suddenly the discomfort of the roof tiles seems much more distant and insignificant. 

"Laaaan Zhaaaaan! I'm sleeping on your roof tonight!" she announces. 

She doesn't want to go.

"Wei Ying," she whispers. "I have to leave."

"...Oh. You have to?"

"I am needed in the Cloud Recesses."

"Ahh." 

She gazes mournfully at the sky. 

"There's a full moon," she sighs. "Lan Zhan is prettier than the moon." 

“Wei Ying.” 

Stop messing around is what she should say next, probably, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t want to.

Wei Ying is prettier is what she wants to say next, but she doesn’t.

Lan Zhan looks up at Wei Ying on her rooftop, glowing in moonlight, and the moon shining out large and luminous from the velvet dark of the sky behinds her. Lan Zhan loves the moon. Few things are more beautiful.

”Farewell.”

"Farewell. Have a safe trip. Tell the bunnies I said hello." 

She leaves. She will do her best to have a safe trip.

She pillows her head on her arms and goes to sleep right there. 

The next morning when Wen soldiers arrive, Jiang Cheng searches for Wei Ying with increasing frustration. 

"Eh? I'm here," she says, walking in.

"Where were you?"

"You know, out." 

She gestures with the empty alcohol jar from last night. 

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. "Well, it turns out that Wen Chao was following us. C'mon!" 

"Shit!" she says, and follows him. 

"Wen-er-gongxi. Just what do you think you're doing here?"

"Sect Leader Nie...the Chief Cultivator was quite angry when he found out about the massacre of the Chang clan and the matter of the Yin Iron. Does a minor sect like you really think you can handle such matters? Hand them both over and I can let you off with a warning." 

With visibly-restrained anger: "I'm afraid I won't be able to do that." 

"Nie Mingjue...I'll be incredibly generous and give you one more chance." 

Nie Mingjue's temper snaps, and he casts Baxia into the ground between himself and Wen Chao in clear warning. 

Wen Chao's eyes widen, and he steps back. 

"Well. I see you're going to follow in the wicked footsteps of the Lan Sect! If you won't obey, I'll just have to clean you out!" 

In response, he calls Baxia back to his hand and lunges forwards without hesitating. 

He is parried very calmly by Wen Chao's expressionless bodyguard. They are well matched, as they begin to duel.

Nie Huaisang cheers his brother on enthusiastically from the sidelines! This is about the extent of his battle technique. 

Wen Chao watches the duel and sneers. 

"Kill them," he orders the rest of the soldiers. 

The soldiers charge at the Nie disciples. 

Time for battle technique #2, which consists of grabbing Meng Yao's arm and whimpering.

Meng Yao still does not have his own spiritual sword (even though he would be good at wielding it) because he is still not an actual cultivator (even though he would be good at it), so he cannot play as active a role in fighting off the Wen soldiers as he would like.

At least babysitting Nie Huaisang gives him something to do. "Come, Young Master, let's find your friends and see that they are alright -" The two of them can run back into the Unclean Realm compound in search of Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng.

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng come running from the other direction, taking one look at the fighting and wincing. 

"Should the guards from the dungeon be released as reinforcements? I could go watch Xue Yang." 

"Are you sure you won't be in need of reinforcements yourself, Wei-guniang? Xue Yang is dangerous, and he thrives on chaos." The fighting is spreading in their direction, scuffles breaking out along the stone corridor.

"I was one of the ones who caught him in he first place, and I have tricks up my sleeve he hasn't seen." 

"You're not going down there with that lunatic alone."

"Then you come with me." 

He glances at the Wen soldiers and grits his teeth. "Fine." 

The Wen soldiers are keeping themselves very busy! Bodies have already begun to fall on both sides.

Xue Yang has not been kept busy at all. He can hear the commotion but not participate in it, which is extremely sad. 

"Wei guniaang," he drawls when they approach. "Have you come to kill me? Or something more creative than that."

"I'm just here to hit you where it hurts again if you get any clever ideas about escaping." 

He pouts. "What if I'm very good and don't have any clever ideas at all, Wei-guniang? How will we pass the time then?"

Getting kicked in the balls sucks but is definitely more exciting than sitting in this dungeon doing literally nothing, he might go for it if nothing else fun decides to happen.

"You could tell me what it was you had against the Chang clan and all the other little sects you picked on." 

"I just can't stand hypocrites, you know. Everyone in the Chang clan acted like they deserved the whole world - everyone in the entire cultivation world acts like that, as though you aren't all dirty wretches like me." He laughs. "Why shouldn't you get stomped on the same as any other wretch? What makes the Chang clan so special that they all deserve to live well? Nothing. Especially anymore, that's for sure!"

"Man, if you hate obnoxious hypocrites, why didn't you go after the Wens? Now those are some arrogant bastards." 

He snorts. "I don't care about the Wens. You can grind them into the dust too, I don't give a shit. But they're a lot more fun to be around! And they kill a lot more people, so. That's pretty entertaining. I hate hypocrites but boring hypocrites most of all."

"It's my experience that people get a lot more boring after they die. They just lie around and smell until someone buries them." 

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.

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.

"Ahh...there you are, Lan-guniang." 

"Let them go. Leave the Cloud Recesses."

He gestures, and his soldiers surround her with swordpoints at her neck. 

"Where is the Yin Iron?" 

"Leave the Cloud Recesses. I will go to Qishan."

He slowly smirks. 

"Alright." 

He circles her, looking at her with a concerning glint in his eye. 

"You know...we were always going to get the Yin Iron from your sect. It would have been much smarter to try to hide the treasure that is Lan-guniang, enh?" he asks, tipping her chin up with the point of his sword. 

She stares straight ahead. "Tell your soldiers to retreat. Now."

"Hm." 

He gives her a considering look. 

"Break her leg." 

One of the soldiers thwacks something extremely heavy against her calf as Wen Xu waves the rest of the soldiers away. 

She gasps through clenched teeth and falls to one knee. Pain shoots up her entire leg like lightning.

Lan Zhan has never broken a bone before. It fucking hurts; agony comes in waves, pulsing stronger with each heartbeat. She bears it silently.

Su She flinches worse than she does.

The soldiers haul her off, supporting much of her weight with their tight grips on her upper arms and shoulders; what this spares her in pain to her broken leg is at least somewhat returned in the digging of gauntleted fingers into her flesh. 

They reach a temporary camp with tents in Wen colors. She is bound hand and foot and thrown into one unceremoniously and warned not to try to escape. 

Well. She hopes Brother made it out alive. 

She still has the Yin Iron. If they search her, they will find it, and she needs to do something about that. She needs to hide it somewhere else, and there are not very many other places available to her. Does the ground under this tent have any convenient holes?

A rabbit, recognizing her, crawls out of its burrow to nuzzle her hand. 

Her eyes fill with tears. At least the bunnies are okay. (There were so many bodies, so much blood...)

Lan Zhan pets the bunny and curls around it. Soft and friendly. A very good bunny.

"You are safe. Good job," she tells the bunny quietly.

The bunny makes contented bunny noises at her. 

So, so good. The bunny is being very sweet; she thanks it seriously.

She needs to take a break from petting the bunny to remove the Yin Iron from her robes, but it can still be cuddled. It takes a few minutes to extricate the pouch from beneath all five layers of her hanfu, but eventually it tumbles to the ground. She nudges it towards the rabbit's burrow.

The bunny prods at the Yin Iron with its soft bunny nose. Maybe it recognizes it; these bunnies were Lan Yi's companions originally, after all. 

She thanks the bunny for its hard work. Eventually the Yin Iron disappears into the burrow with a muted thump.

"You must look after this for a time," she murmurs, petting the bunny.

The bunny nuzzles her again and hops into its burrow. 

It is some amount of time later--less than half an hour, more than a quarter--when Wen Xu strides into the tent where she is held. 

"Search her," he orders the soldiers flanking him on either side. 

They do. They do not take great pains to be professional about it, but when they have confirmed that there is nowhere she could be hiding the Yin Iron on her person, they stop and inform Wen Xu of this. 

"Hmm," he says. "Leave us." 

The soldiers leave. 

He grips her by the chin. 

"Where did you hide it?" 

"You can make your life a lot more pleasant by cooperating, you know." 

She could've also made her life a lot more pleasant by killing Wen Xu the moment she surrendered, but she didn't do that now did she.

She did not, and now she has to live with the situation she's in now. 

"Tell me where it is, and I'll make sure everyone knows you're my...personal prisoner. Refuse, and I'll let my little brother use whatever methods he likes to get the information out of you." 

She is not overly concerned with the interrogation methods of the least competent person she has ever encountered.

(...She is trying not to be concerned with his interrogation methods. But it's not like being Wen Xu's personal prisoner is a more acceptable outcome.)

"Fine. So be it," he says eventually. He stands up and leaves. 

(Wen Chao visits before too terribly long. He is profoundly incompetent at extracting information; unfortunately, his one proficient skill is making things very, very unpleasant for the people around him.) 

Some time later, the Jiang contingent shows up to Wen Indoctrination. 

Wei Ying, having had it thoroughly drilled into her that she needs to behave by approximately everyone, is on her best behavior, which still involves loudly thinking that this is idiotic, but fortunately you can only pick up on that if you have the social graces God gave a goat, and therefore she is completely safe from detection of contempt by any relevant Wens. 

"Jin-gongxi," she greets the peacock politely, mostly just to attract his attention, and then she turns to Nie Huaisang and says, "Hi, Nie-xiong. How are you? How's Meng Yao?" 

"Oh, I'm fine, Wei-guniang," says Nie Huaisang. He doesn't sound very enthusiastic. "It's... I mean, kind of terrible having to come here, isn't it? But I'm fine, really, fine... and Meng Yao's doing well! He and Da-ge have been working very hard to - " he glances around at the Wen guards and lowers his voice dramatically. "Keep Qinghe safe, and everything. Meng Yao offered to come, actually, but since he's not technically a disciple - and Da-ge wanted him to stay. So. He's probably fine."

"Good." 

She leans over to Jiang Cheng. "Do you notice how there aren't any Lan disciples? Does that worry you?" 

"Considering what she's carrying, it's for the best if she isn't anywhere near Qishan." 

"No doubt," she says, although she sounds a little disappointed. "But there could've been someone else." 

"Maybe after what Wen Chao said about what Wen Xu was doing the Wen aren't counting Gusu Lan as a major sect anymore." 

"We can hope, but...I have a bad feeling." 

"There's nothing we can do about it, so save your worry for yourself, alright? I don't like what you said about how Wen Chao looked at you." 

"I knew telling you about that was a mistake..." 

"You're my sister, I'm allowed to want to protect you." 

Sigh. "Yeah, okay. I'll try not to worry about it for now." 

Wen Chao descends the extensive number of stairs on the ziggurat in a display probably intended to look almost as impressive as it actually looks stupid. He stands on the last rank of stairs, above their heads, and insults them for a bit, before demanding that "she" be brought over. 

It looks like Lan Zhan has joined them after all. Wen guards escort her across the plaza, one on either side, and there are no other Lan disciples in sight.

She looks at her and her blood freezes. 

Something is wrong, something is very wrong, she's never seen that exact expression on Lan Zhan's face but it's not good. 

She freaks out about this in whispers at Jiang Cheng, but while he agrees that Lan Zhan being here is A Bad Sign he never really learned to read her face and doesn't see what Wei Ying is making a fuss about there. 

"Lan Zhan," she hisses when the other woman draws abreast. "Hey. Lan Zhan!" 

Lan Zhan ignores her. Stop it, stop drawing attention to yourself, stop it.

She fails to pick up on Lan Zhan's would-be telepathic admonitions and continues trying to get Lan Zhan's attention until Wen Chao orders them all to stop talking, and also turn over their swords, because the Wen aren't even pretending to be reasonable anymore. 

After a few brief protests in which absolutely everyone backs down when Wen Chao gets up in their business and Mianmian lowkey confirms that Jin Guangshan is also a terrible father to his legitimate son, it's the Jiang contingent's turn, and she turns over Suibian with gritted teeth. 

She hands Bichen to the guard without protest. It's a joke that they even gave the sword back to her just for this.

It's still very unpleasant to watch Wen guards handle her sword; that has not become any less unpleasant. It's terrible watching Wei Ying go through the same ordeal right beside her. She hates that Wei Ying is here so much, Wei Ying should be as far away from here as possible.

Wen Chao explains how they're all going to be expected to learn the sacred tenets and glorious history of the Wen Sect. They'll be tested on it three times a day and punished if they don't learn it all immediately. 

They have to listen to him drone on with all the eloquence of a mosquito for more than an hour more and then they're dismissed to their quarters. 

Wei Ying can't stop thinking about what's going on with Lan Zhan. 

She gives the scroll they're supposed to be learning a cursory look while Jiang Cheng unpacks his stuff, but she can't even muster the will to find it hilarious just how hypocritical the Wen sect is right now; they didn't even bother to edit out their own rules against using the sect's power to bully other people. 

She tries to leave out the front door but the front door is, apparently, guarded by soldiers with orders not to let them leave. 

So, naturally, due to who she is as a person, she finds a window that opens enough that she thinks she can probably squeeze through, waits until there are no guards in sight, makes her egress, and starts sneaking around the other sect houses to see if she can find Lan Zhan. 

There is a Lan House at the end of the row, but there is no light inside and no guards posted at the door.

This does not decrease her level of concern!!!

She sneaks as far away from the prisoners' housing as possible, then hides until she spots a lone Wen soldier, at which point she knocks him out from behind, strips off his uniform, ties him and gags him with his own underclothes, then shoves him in a bush. 

She dons the Wen uniform and strolls into the palace. 

It takes a few false starts and some more observation to imitate the relevant yes-I-am-a-legit-Wen-lackey-with-somewhere-I-am-supposed-to-be walk, but she doesn't get caught, which is the important thing. 

Now, can she overhear anyone talking about Lan Zhan... 

...Yes. In conjunction with the words "stubborn," "dungeon," and some words she wouldn't hesitate to say but she wants to claw these men's tongues out for applying to the dignified Second Jade. 

She will refrain. She is on her best behavior. 

Finding the dungeons isn't difficult. It ought to be more difficult. This is too many dungeons, put some back. Finding the right bit of dungeon is harder, but she manages it. 

She pushes open the door. 

For a moment, she is shocked still, not quite believing what she sees. Then the sheer magnitude of her rage keeps her paralyzed a moment more. Then--

Well. Suibian is currently locked away, somewhere, but Wen Chao's sword is lying discarded on the ground. She snatches it up, and for a moment almost draws it to run him through, but then it occurs to her that doing that without any risk of hurting Lan Zhan would be difficult, so instead she jerks it around his throat and yanks back, pulling him off her and cutting off his air and blood flow to the brain thoroughly enough that he can't cry out for help. He struggles, but he has no leverage. She doesn't bother delivering a coup de grace when he goes limp; that'll keep him unconscious for a while and she can kill him later. 

She kneels down and yanks Lan Zhan's dress closed. 

"Lan Zhan?" she asks softly. 

She flinches when the door opens - it's not the first time anyone else has been around, during, but she hates it, she hates it so much - but Wen Chao doesn't even look up as the footsteps approach.

Until Wen Chao's weight vanishes all at once, and when Lan Zhan looks up she sees - 

- which doesn't make any sense, why would a Wen guard ever - ? 

The guard leaves Wen Chao's unconscious body to approach her. Lan Zhan freezes. He crouches down, and her fist has already aimed for the guard's face when he takes hold of her dress and pulls it closed.

Then -

'Lan Zhan', in Wei Ying's voice, and Lan Zhan is hit with a second wave of shock and relief-horror-anguish. Wei Ying can't be here. Wei Ying came for her, Wei Ying looked for her - Wei Ying can't be here - 

"Leave." Her voice sounds less commanding than usual: hoarse and not entirely steady.

"Not yet, I've got to get you out of here." 

"No."

"I'm not leaving you here, not after what I just saw--even if I kill Wen Chao--"

It is unacceptable and terrible that Wei Ying saw that and it is even worse if Wei Ying is thinking things about it. Lan Zhan's head hurts. (Everything hurts). 

"No. Go away." She's shaking, which is bad, she doesn't want Wei Ying to see that either. She wants Wei Ying to leave and never think about her ever again and she wants the remnants of her sect to not be exterminated.

"Listen, Lan Zhan, you can get away, they took Bichen but we have Wen Chao's sword now, you could go to Qinghe, it's not that far, and they're already fortifying against the Wens, and if you didn't get spotted going in that direction they probably wouldn't figure out where you had gone, at least not right away, I can mug another guard for his uniform and we can sneak out, it'll work!" 

"They will slaughter the survivors of my sect," she whispers. "I cannot leave. Go away, Wei Ying."

"You think they'd hold off on that just because they said they would? They've proven time and time again they have no honor! But--if they don't know where you are--and Wen Chao's body never turns up--and they assume you have him as a hostage--"

"I could stuff his body in a qiankun pouch--or we could actually leave him alive and you could take him to Qinghe as a prisoner, I guess, he might know something useful--I really wanna kill him, though."

Lan Zhan is very tired. She feels violently cold, even with her dress wrapped back around her, and every moment that Wei Ying spends looking at her is more painful than the last. 

She doesn't know what else to say. She doesn't know if escaping will condemn her sect to death, or if they have already been murdered behind her back. Maybe Wei Ying is right, she doesn't know, she's so tired.

Lan Zhan turns her face away and lifts one shackled wrist, indicating the obstacle of her heavy black chains.

She nods, rifles through Wen Chao's sleeves, and produces a key that looks like it would fit her manacles. 

"Mm."

She unlocks Lan Zhan's wrists, gives Wen Chao a considering look, then hands Lan Zhan his sword. 

"I'll let you decide if he should live or die and, if the latter, how slowly. Just make sure to use blunt force trauma, if you decide to kill him or he wakes up and you have to knock him out again; if we leave behind bloodstains there's less chance they'll believe you have him as a hostage. I'm going to go get another guard uniform for you. I'll be right back, I promise." 

She wants Wei Ying to stay, which is ridiculous when she had just been demanding that Wei Ying leave. Lan Zhan's knuckles turn white around Wen Chao's sword.

"Mm."

She kicks Wen Chao on the way out. 

She returns a few minutes later, holding a bundle of garments. "Here," she says. "--Um, I'll just turn around and watch Wen Chao to make sure he doesn't wake up or anything." 

Okay.

Lan Zhan lays the guard uniform out on the floor, and starts undressing. She does a bad job of it; when she exposes her skin to cold air the trembling worsens and her arms tense so badly that they are painful and difficult to maneuver.

She manages. The guard clothes fit her imperfectly, but well enough. She makes a noise to indicate that Wei Ying can turn around now.

Wei Ying turns around and nods. "It'll do. If we're not killing him we'll need some way of transporting him unobtrusively...I wonder if he has any alcohol in here," she muses, going through his sleeves again. She successfully locates a small jar. "Aha!" 

Confusion.

She pours it all over Wen Chao's head. He starts to revive, sputtering, so she grabs his hair and cracks his skull briskly against the floor. 

The she rearranges his collar so the bruises from the sword sheath don't show and stands up, hauling him up with her. 

"We can be totally legitimate guards carrying Wen-er-gongxi back to his rooms after he got super drunk--or, no, I can carry him and you can accompany me, I don't want to make you touch him more than necessary." 

"Mn."

She falls back against the dungeon wall the first time she tries to get to her feet - even her intact leg does a poor job supporting her at the moment. Lan Zhan grits her teeth and tries again.

"Lan Zhan! Are you--" no, of course she's not okay, don't be stupid. "Is there anything I can do to help? ...I can help you get your balance at least, if--if you don't mind me touching you."