Her eyes snap open. That's -- neither the answer nor the form of answer she was expecting to receive; she isn't sure what's happening.

The moment her fingers leave the guqin unattended, it lashes out at Wen Ying to smack her back off her feet.

She is REAL DISTRACTED. Bloosh. She doesn't audibly sputter when she comes up for air this time though. 

"Gusu Lan sect!" the voice booms. "Yunmeng Jiang sect! Lanling Jin sect! Qinghe Nie sect! Kill all of the cultivators, and destroy the Yin Iron!" 

"Wait, what," she gapes, sitting up enough to be able to like talk without actually standing into a position where the guqin could Get her again. 

The refrain of "Kill the cultivators and destroy the Yin Iron" is repeated several times, as though by a great host, before the original voice says, calmer but still commanding, "Xue Chonghai. Hand over the Yin Iron." 

Voices continue to echo less distinctly. 

"Hey, Lan Zhan, do you have any idea what that was about!?!?"

"No. I have never heard of a Yin Iron before." She has risen to her feet with her sword brandished, clearly unnerved.

"Good," says another voice, this one female and not coming from nowhere. From around a corner in the stone of the cave, a female figure emerges. 

"The Yin Iron is a cursed thing. It is better not to speak of it." 

"So if, hypothetically, an evil and megalomaniacal sect leader sent some distant relatives of his here under false pretenses in order to steal it, that would be super bad." 

"--Very much so, yes." 

She flops backwards splashily, as much as she can from her current position. "Welp, time to start coming up with excuses for why we 'failed,' I guess." 

A lot is happening!!!

Firstly, one mystery has been at least partially solved. Lan Zhan is still very confused about what the Yin Iron is, and what it has to do with this unexpected cave, and why it has anything to do with Cloud Recess, and why, given that it does have anything to do with Cloud Recesses, Lan Zhan knew nothing about it but Wen Ying — Wen Ruohan — did.

Secondly, Lan Yi is just here, this is — this is all a lot to take in.

Lan Zhan pushes aside the revelations about Wen Ying for now and kneels, bows. “Great Master Lan Yi,” she murmurs reverently. “This one would benefit from your explanation.”

"The Yin Iron was a horrible artifact, created hundreds of years ago by Xue Chonghai, the most powerful cultivator of his time. Why he chose to pursue such a dark path when he already had so much power from benign sources is unknown, but he killed many to infuse a piece of powerful metal with their resentful energy. So much blood was spilled that what was once a highly spiritual place became the Yiling Burial Mounds. It took all the great sects banding together to defeat him, and when they did, they divided the Yin Iron into pieces, each one hidden away separately." 

"Then a piece is hidden here. That Wen Ruohan desires."

"It would seem so. Tell me, who are you?" 

"I apologize for not standing up and introducing myself properly, but your guqin hits me back down every time I stand up. My name is Wen Ying, of the Qishan Wen sect." 

"And yet you intend to defy your sect leader in this matter?"

"Being part of his sect doesn't make me blind. Him having more power, especially that kind of power, is bad news. Besides, I'm a distant cousin; I don't owe him any filial piety or anything."

"I see." 

"Do Wen-guniang and Wen-gongzi agree?"

"My brother and sister know my ultimate goals and they're on board with it. Jiejie is more cautious about not taking risks in the meantime than I am, because she has two little siblings to look after instead of one. A-Ning will do what Jiejie says but he's very good. Jiejie won't be happy that I've decided to abort the mission but she won't tell or sabotage me or anything." 

Those are certainly convenient expectations.

"Qianbei, is the Yin Iron protected?"

She frowns. 

"Yes, but...the protection is weakening. I have been guarding it with my own power for a long time, but my power is weakening. For the two of you to be brought here at this time...I suspect that if your companion were untrustworthy, she would not be here." 

"Do you have, like, evidence for that? Because, like, most of my sect is pretty untrustworthy, right now, and it sounds like Wen Ruohan getting this thing would be real bad news."