1. Wen Ruohan - for starting the war and killing thousands of people.
2. Wen Xu - Burning Cloud Recesses.
3. Wen Chao - throwing Wei Ying into the Burial Mounds.
4. Wen Zhuliu - burning Wei Ying's core.
5. Jin GuangShan - starting the hate campaign.
6. Jin GuangYao - Manipulator.

? 7) Madam Yu - hurting Wei Ying.
? 8) Jiang Cheng - always blaming Wei Ying.
? 9) Wang Lingjiao - demanding Wei Ying's hand.
? 10) Su Minshan - betraying those hiding in the cave during the attack on CR.

Wei Ying goes through the list twice more. He's feeling much better after his nap, more level-headed and clear, able to think about this in a useful way.

"The way I see it, everything is connected to Wen Ruohan." Wei Ying's finger lands on his name. "By killing him, not only do we save thousands of lives, but we will definitely change the trajectory of fate, for most of these people."

"I do not wish to take any chances." Lan Zhan unconsciously pouts.

It makes Wei Ying smile ever so sweetly back at him. "I agree. We can't predict what will happen by having us change one thing, and this is a big one. Lan Zhan, I have to thank you." He leans forward and plants a warm kiss on Lan Zhan's cheek, blushing all the while.

Lan Zhan thinks he might die!

That was a kiss! From his Wei Ying! The real one, the one of sound mind if not body yet!

"Wei Ying never has to thank me," he says in a daze, "but what for?"

"Lan Zhan, I don't know how you did it, but you managed to save my parents. That alone puts me in your debt-"

"No debts! Never for Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan shouts, terrified of holding such a thing.

"Okay, okay, no debts," Wei Ying quickly concedes. "But by saving them, by letting me have my parents, you saved me from both Madam Yu and Jiang Cheng. That's huge." He puts his warm pudgy hands on Lan Zhan's chubby cheeks. "Let me thank you. I-I can't put into words how much it means to me. And I'm going to be a big brother! A Da-Ge! To two brothers or sisters! Can you imagine how wonderful that feels?" Wei Ying throws his arms around Lan Zhan's neck and hugs him tight. "By saving two lives, you actually saved four."

"Wei Ying drew the array. Wei Ying thought of it first." Lan Zhan refuses to have all that gratitude poured over him.

"But you activated it. Do you know the amount of spiritual energy that would have been needed to activate such a thing? Only a powerful cultivator could have done it." Wei Ying pouts too, stubbornly hanging onto his argument.

"Then let us agree that we both made it happen equally. Therefore, no need for thanks," Lan Zhan replies smugly. "But I wish to ask a sensitive question. Wei Ying does not have to answer it, if he is not comfortable."

"Fire away," Wei Ying leans back, waving a hand nonchalantly. "I can take it!"

"Now that Wei Ying will not be spending his youth in Lotus Pier, how do you feel about Madam Yu? About Jiang Cheng? And Jiang YanLi? And their father?"

Wei Ying ponders the questions, deep in thought.

"I'm not going to miss Jiang Cheng's dogs, that's for sure," his smile wavers.

"Are you still frightened of them? Dogs, I mean," Lan Zhan clarifies.

"Kind of? It feels like a dream, that last life. But even though I'm not living on the streets, I think the trauma of those beasts will always stay with me, no matter what." Wei Ying laughs awkwardly.

"I will save Wei Ying." Lan Zhan vows vehemently. And he means it.

Wei Ying pats his knee fondly. "Thank you."

Lan Zhan frowns at him. "Wei Ying is overly fond of those two words. Between us, there is no need for thanks or sorrys. I do not do anything out of obligation - I do it because I want to. In a sense, my choice has nothing to do with Wei Ying, and he doesn't need to make it about himself. But on another level, by thanking me, Wei Ying is putting us far apart. We are not strangers, as Wei Ying reminded me more than once in the past. I love you. I want to do things for you. I want to keep you safe and happy, and to that end, all of my actions in this lifetime will reflect my choice."

Lan Zhan is out of breath as his fists curl out of frustration, resting on his knees. He has never talked for so long before, but if it gets his point across, then it's worth it.

"You said that to me before, I think..." he screws up his face, trying to remember. "I don't think I properly understood what you meant, back then. But I do now." Again, he climbs onto Lan Zhan's lap, having slid off it before. "This is already my favourite place. And I get it, what you mean about not sticking to polite mannerisms. When we are with our own people, there shouldn't be a need to thank them because they are ours. Like I am yours and you are mine, ZhanZhan!"

"Mn." Lan Zhan hugs him back, his little heart flowing with uncontrollable love. He belongs to Wei Ying! Wei Ying belongs to him!

"As for the Jiangs...I don't think my parents like them much. They haven't said anything outright, but I get the feeling that when they left Lotus Pier, it wasn't amicable. Knowing what I know about Madam Yu, that's perfectly understandable. But Uncle Fengmian was always nice to me. So I'm not sure how I feel about him. And it's not like I can ask my parents, because I'm not even supposed to know who the Jiangs are!" Wei Ying giggles.

"Where was Jiang Fengmian when Madam Yu was punishing you? Where was he when Madam Yu was training the Jiang Sect disciples, and she chose to pick on you? Wei Ying, he found you after years! Years of you living on the streets! Every Sect has their spies, so do not tell me that he did not know your parents had passed, back then. It is inexcusable!" Lan Zhan is very angry about this.

Will this never change about Wei Ying? His sweet nature didn't allow him to hold a grudge against anyone whom he thought of as part of his family, and yet he took it as a terrible slight if anyone even looked at them wrong. Even if this so-called family hurt him in unimaginable ways, Wei Ying was constantly ready to forgive and defend them.

But Lan Zhan has no such hang-ups. He's not at all attached to the Jiangs, and in fact, he hates them. A new realisation dawns...

"It doesn't matter," Wei Ying is saying. "That particular reality hasn't happened, and probably won't ever, not in this lifetime." He quickly moves on. "As for Jiang Cheng and Jiang YanLi...we three were very close back then. I can't explain it, regarding ShiJie. Similar to what I felt on seeing you for the first time...I knew she was special to me. We had this weird brother-sister connection that felt so profound. It wasn't just that she was the first person to show me any kindness, it was so much more than that. We had each other's backs, if you know what I mean. She knew exactly what to say to make me feel better, no matter what my worries were."

"Mn. Like Xiongzhang and I used to be."

"Why used to be? Are you not close with your older brother in this lifetime? He seems like a good person. I like him," Wei Ying says, meaning it.

"He's a good person at the moment ...but I think something changed after Cloud Recesses burned." Lan Zhan thinks back. "He hadn't wanted to leave, but Shufu had made him. I wasn't here, back then. You and I were both out looking for the other pieces of the Yin Iron. I began noticing it more and more, during the war when he came back. He was distracted, even Nie MingJue noticed that but upon asking him, Xiongzhang would always brush off our concerns."

"I think it was really cool of him to have planted Meng Yao in Nightless City as the spy for the Allied Sects," Wei Ying says enthusiastically. "But I bet he must have seen and done many horrific things, just to keep his identity a secret. It's not easy playing for both sides."

"That's it," Lan Zhan whispers. "Wei Ying, you are brilliant!" He kisses Wei Ying's temple. "That's the missing link. I always wondered why the Venerated Three Sworn Brothers were Nie MingJue, Xiongzhang, and Jin GuanYao. MingJue-Ge hated Meng Yao, that was no secret, and I knew he must have known something sinister about the man. But he was fair and prided himself on being just, and he did not like spreading gossip. So the only link between MingJue-Ge and Meng Yao was my brother. Given how much slander Meng Yao directed your way after you embarrassed the Jins in Koi tower, at their own banquet no less, it makes me think that he was responsible for poisoning Xiongzhang's mind against you. That must be the reason why my own brother stood against me when it mattered the most."

This is an important revelation.

"But ZhanZhan, we don't have any proof. And what is his crime? Lying about me? Then the whole Cultivation world is at fault, and we can't punish all of them." Wei Ying sighs, leaning against Lan Zhan.

"No...we can't punish them. But we can keep Meng Yao away from Xiongzhang. They met at the guest lectures. It should be easy to change things. But that is another problem for another day. You still haven't answered how you feel about Jiang Cheng. Wei Ying, it is important to know ourselves, because the time is coming when we will have to face these people. I must be honest with you: I hate the Jiang family, with the exception of Jiang YanLi. But I find it hard to forgive her silence during the times you were punished unjustly."

"Ah, ZhanZhan...don't be too harsh on her. You have no idea how horrible Madam Yu can be. If my ShiJie said anything to contest her opinion, I even think her own mother would not have stopped herself from using her whip. It's better, really, that she kept quiet. As for Jiang Cheng..." Wei Ying trails off, losing himself in his thoughts.

Lan Zhan waits a good ten minutes before speaking.

"When you decided to give up your core, what were the chances of the surgery being a success?"

"Fifty-fifty. But Wen Qing was the best doctor. I trusted her with my life and she didn't disappoint."

There's a variety of emotions in what he just said, but Lan Zhan only hears that first set of words again and again, resounding in his head like a never-ending echo. Only fifty percent? How could Wei Ying have been so reckless? And for what? To give the most ungrateful man alive a chance to cultivate again?

If Lan Zhan hated the Jiangs before, he positively loathes them now.

"How long did it take? The operation."

"Two days and a night. It's okay though, because I was used to pulling all-nighters. Our night hunts are famous in Yunmeng...or, they were."

"Wei Ying was AWAKE?" Lan Zhan wants to get up right now and go and kill something. Preferably a Jiang.

Every time he thinks he's coming to terms with Wei Ying's terrible sacrifice, there's something else, another horrific factor that makes itself known, and because Wei Ying is so reticent about his own suffering, it's like pulling teeth getting him to talk about it. Lan Zhan understands it now. It's such a painful part of his history, an awful, awful truth that luckily they have managed to avoid now.

But the last part doesn't make the first part any better. It happened once, and that was one time too many. The memory of that horrific situation still haunts Wei Ying; Lan Zhan can see it in his eyes.

"Er...well, Wen Qing tried to make an anaesthetic to dull the pain, but she said that in order for the spiritual cognition to recognise the new host, the golden core had to be as sentient as possible. Any painkillers would have rendered the whole operation null and void."

Lan Zhan desperately wished for Bichen to be in his hands. He couldn't get his sword fast enough! He briefly toys with the idea of killing Wen Qing - if there's no one qualified to perform such a complex operation, then that's another positive factor for enabling Wei Ying to keep his brilliant golden core.

But then, as the red killing haze leaves his mind, Lan Zhan knows the truth. Wei Ying can be very persuasive when he wants to be. He's sure that in spite of Wei Ying's arguments for doing the operation, Wen Qing as a conscientious doctor would have disputed him at every turn. Especially if the chances of success were only fifty-fifty.

Then that means Jiang Cheng's state must have truly been bad at the time.

"In my mind, Jiang Cheng was just like my little brother in that lifetime. You know what it's like, when you hold an angry kitten in your hands and all it wants is to get away from any affection you want to give it? It scratches and bites because it doesn't know any better. That's Jiang Cheng. So I don't know how I'll feel in this life, regarding him. I know he hated me by the time we parted, and he had just cause. ShiJie only came to that battlefield because she wanted to talk to me. I know he blamed me." Wei Ying looks terribly sad now.

"Wei Ying, we are not responsible for the actions of others. She was a grown adult with no cultivation to speak of. She must have known how foolish it was to do what she did." Lan Zhan hates that Wei Ying is still willing to blame himself for indirectly causing her death.

"Anyway, all of that...it doesn't matter. It hasn't happened in this life." Wei Ying's stomach rumbles.

Lan Zhan immediately stands up and starts walking back.

"Lan Zhan?!! You can carry me?" Wei Ying is shocked and astonished but incredibly pleased.

"Mn. Handstands," comes back the smug reply.

"Wow..." Wei Ying grins at him.

"There's something else I have to tell Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says, using the same hidden path to return to the Jingshi. "There's going to be a Cultivation Conference held in Nightless City, a few days from now. Uncle Qiren wants to attend, and he is going to take Xiongzhang. But I think I should go along as well."

"I want to come with you!" Wei Ying says immediately, smiling down at him eagerly. "We can scope out the targets and see what needs to be done. Out of your kill list, four certain targets are right there. In fact, it would be stupid not to take this opportunity!" he declares.

"Wei Ying should stay here," Lan Zhan starts to say, and Wei Ying covers his mouth so he cannot add anything to that silly statement.

"I'm going with you!" Wei Ying insists.

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Wei Ying, I do not want you to be in danger!"

"And you think I'm alright with you walking into the lion's den by yourself?"

"I wouldn't be alone! Xiongzhang and Shufu would be with me."

"They don't count. Lan Zhan...don't make me stay here alone." Then, Wei Ying has another thought. "Shit, how am I going to pretend to be five years old? Lan Zhan! My mother will know!" He wails quietly.

"My mother will know what?" Says the lady in question, staring at them from the doors of the Jingshi.

Cangse Sanren frowns, searching them both with her gaze. She's five months along and her baby bump is prominent, making her lean back to compensate, and she doesn't look happy as her hands massage her back.