Lan Zhan stands up and centres himself, checking on his own golden core. It is doing as best as it can, but it is nowhere near being back to its full strength. But, at least he has one.

Again, he is hit by a spear of sharp pain thinking about the lack of Wei Ying's core, how he will never wield Suibian again. He pauses by Wei Ying's side and bends down to kiss his hot forehead, and as he rises, Wei Ying's red ribbon tangles in his fingers. There's no time to return it. It's almost as if he wishes to stay with Lan Zhan as he goes outside to face their enemies.

As the shouting increases outside, he has no choice but to go out and meet them.

However, he is stunned to find only the GusuLan cultivators standing in front of him.

Thirty three elders, dressed in white with not a spot of dirt or grime on them, these are the people he has grown up with. Older men who should have been the first to properly investigate how Wei Ying was using resentment energy instead of condemning him as a heretic.

Their faces are anxious and angry, but there's a little relief in their eyes, especially with Uncle Qiren and XiChen, standing at the forefront of the group.

"WangJi, it is good to see you alive and well," Uncle Qiren says. His sharp eyes drift over to Lan Zhan's arm, noting the blood dripping down onto the ground slowly under his clothes. But he frowns when he sees Wei Ying's red ribbon in his hand.

"Didi, what are you wearing?" XiChen jumps in with the question as if he can't believe what he's seeing.

Lan Zhan's dark blue robes are a huge shock to them, but he doesn't care anymore. It is what it is.

"Why have you come here?" Lan Zhan asks them. He can see the violence in their eyes now, replacing the thoughts that Lan Zhan might still be on their side.

That he has brought Wei Ying here to kill him.

He's never ignored his brother before, but a part of Lan Zhan fears that if he takes his eyes off the elders for even just a second, they will attack. However, he's finished with standing aside now.

Lan Zhan is done with anyone who does not fully support his beloved, especially since the only other person to do so is his dead sister. He's not going to get compassion from these people. He's not going to receive any understanding from them, not when they have not observed Wei Ying or seen the way he cultivates. They have taken the words of those who were jealous of this rising star and defamed him, calling him every bad name under the sun.

Members of his own clan who have lost their way.

"To take you back and bring justice to the Yiling Laozu. Where is he?" Lan Feng, a strict but staunch supporter of XiChen, comes to stand next to Lan Qiren.

"What justice?" Lan Zhan asks them coolly. He doesn't want to fight them; that's why Bichen remains sheathed in his left hand. It doesn't bother him that the wound in his right arm is still bleeding slowly, sluggishly dripping on the ground. He's ambidextrous and has trained himself to fight expertly just for this kind of situation, no matter which arm he has to use.

"He is injured. He is in no state to receive you." It's too much to hope that they will leave peacefully. Lan Zhan knows this but he has to try. These are his clansmen after all, but if the choice is between them and Wei Ying, Lan Zhan will always pick his beloved's side from now on.

Unbidden, Wei Ying's words spoken in that rain soaked night come back to haunt him: "Lan Zhan, if I am to be killed, then I wish it would be by your hand."

No. Nothing is going to happen to Wei Ying. Lan Zhan is going to make sure of it.

"You dare to oppose us? Stand down." Lan Yuping comes to stand on XiChen's other side. Out of everyone here, he's the least flexible.

"If you are here to kill Wei Ying, then yes, I am opposing you. Do our rules not say that we should be gentle in adversity?"

"WANGJI! DO NOT DISRESPECT YOUR ELDERS!" Uncle Qiren thunders, his face red from embarrassment and anger. "You are willfully going against all our Precepts!"

"Which rules have I broken, Shufu?" Lan Zhan does not bow.

"Such insolence! Is this how I have raised you? To stand with the wicked and support heresy?" Uncle Qiren shouts back, spitting with anger.

"How is Wei Ying practising Heresy? He has clearly demonstrated that his path is that of Guidao, the Ghost path. It was Wen Ruohan who committed heresy by using Modao, Demonic Cultivation. Simply put, Modao uses living humans, making them into puppets. Here, we are in agreement. It is evil and should never be used. But Wei Ying only uses those who have died already, and he has helped countless dead to move on after fulfilling their last wishes, entering the reincarnation cycle once more. That is the difference, and you should understand it before taking any action against Wei Ying. Wei Ying's Cultivation might be different from ours, but it is still the path of righteousness. He has done nothing wrong." This is the most Lan Zhan has ever spoken and with such passion.

He has no regrets.

"You-!"

"You dare to refute us?"

"Already, the Yiling Laozu has corrupted him into using semantics to justify his evil deeds? Truly, his magicks are wicked if he can divert the great Hanguang-Jun from the righteous path!"

"Listen to yourself, WangJi! Why have you let yourself be swayed? There is only the Cultivation Of the Sword. He is evil and you are letting him control you!"

"You are the Second Jade of Gusu! Do you think that standing by the evil necromancer will bring you glory?" The speaker spits on the ground.

All of those facing him are wearing masks of anger and righteous conviction, blind belief that whatever they're saying is the truth.

There must be another way to get through to them, Lan Zhan thinks. He must use the rules because they are willfully not understanding what he's trying to tell them. He only wants to get back inside the cave and draw out that Array.

"Do not bully the weak. Do not harbour doubts and jealousy. Do not criticise other people." Lan Zhan stands taller, hoping they will change their minds and see what he's trying to tell them.

"Follow the righteous path, do not use crooked methods. Do not associate with evil. Do not fall to evil." Uncle Qiren fires back, eyes blazing with anger. "You are a member of the GusuLan! Behave like it!"

Suddenly, Lan Zhan knows what he has to do. His eyes shift towards his brother who has remained silent throughout. In that split second, his Xiongzhang, the man who knows him better than any of these fools, he understands what Lan Zhan is going to do.

"WangJi!" XiChen shouts, full of desperation. "NO!"

The Clan members look at him in confusion, wondering what is happening.

Lan Zhan takes his bloodied hand and lifts it up. He takes hold of his clan ribbon, the Lan Sect headband, pristine white as it was and yanks it off, staining it red. He holds it out in front of their shocked faces and drops it onto the ground.

"I, Lan WangJi, Lan Zhan, secede from the Lan Clan. I defect."

"WANGJI!" Uncle Qiren sways in horror at what Lan Zhan has done. He grabs XiChen's arm, stopping himself from collapsing.

"I have no choice. You will not listen to reason."

This is the strangest feeling for Lan Zhan. It's as if he has disassociated from them and this situation, mentally stepping back from them. He thought once, long ago, that nothing could stop him from belonging to the Lan Clan of Gusu. That his place would always be by his brother's side, that he would always be one half of the Twin Jades of Cloud Recesses.

But today, he must do what is right.

And if that means defying these people, members of his former Clan, then that's what he must do.

Bichen strikes the first sword that dares to attack him. Lan Zhan doesn't even remember unsheathing his trusted sword, and then the attacks are relentless. The thirty-three elders all at once, lunging with their weapons to try and take him out.

But Lan Zhan has always been the best.

He can see their weak points and uses them to his advantage.

Lan Feng is the first to go down with his sword, and since it is unlikely he will be getting up from the injury to his leg, Lan Zhan moves onto the next three. He's so tired, but it is only adrenaline and the wish to protect Wei Ying that powers his sword hand, striking once but effectively to disable his opponents.

Methodically, systematically, he takes them out, one by one. Metal rings in his ears, the clash of swords, the screams of these men nothing but background noise, as peace finally reins in his head. Detached and efficient, none of these elders are a match for him. Like matchsticks in the mud, they fall one after another, injured, incapacitated or dead.

Lan Zhan doesn't care. They brought this upon themselves.

They had come here to murder his Wei Ying. They deserved to die.

"Didi..."

Lan Zhan hears the voice of his brother call out to him, but he doesn't turn around. He knows XiChen must have tried to stop him as well, and injured as he is, it is better if all of these people stay out here.

It's too late to stop him.

He goes back inside the cave to Wei Ying.

************

Drawing out the array happens without him even thinking about it. The design invented by the greatest mind to ever exist in the Cultivation World to date, appears before him on the stony ground. Perhaps it was good after all, that Lan Zhan was injured on his right arm; it is a steady replacement for the ink he would have used otherwise.

All Lan Zhan has to do is take Wei Ying into his arms and let their blood activate the array.

"Get lost!" Wei Ying murmurs, and then shouts it again.

It hurts.

Wei Ying's eyes are closed; he doesn't know what he's saying.

But the words are no less than what Lan Zhan deserves to hear. They are only being repeated back to him, after all.

"I am sorry, Wei Ying," he says, watching the array beneath their feet light up. "And I am thankful to have met you in this life."

The whole cave has lit up from the last of their power, staining the damp and uneven dark walls with a crimson shade, as if it were blood. Lan Zhan bends down and draws the final stroke, and that's it.

A bright white light blinds him and he collapses, as darkness takes over his mind.