In class instructors had spoken of important battles. They sometimes recounted the number of lives lost, or noted the strategies that had been employed by the victors. It was such a dry and abstract way to talk about battle. It did nothing to instill Jiang Yanli with the sense of what it would have actually been like to stand amidst those scenes. Large impressive numbers of soldiers and death counts were senseless and empty. Jiang Yanli could look at those numbers and feel a vague sadness. It was a large number of lives, and that warranted a trace of regret over their loss.

Stories perhaps would offer something closer to reality, but as a soft spoken young lady such stories were generally not shared with Jiang Yanli. Of course Jiang Yanli could have sought out such stories. Truthfully Jiang Yanli had never considered looking for stories of battle. The closest she had ever been to a battle was one or two competitive hunts she had attended. She had not particularly enjoyed watching these hunts and politely declined future invitations to attend them. Most cultivators should have at least engaged in genuine fights during night hunts. Jiang Yanli would be one of the exceptions to this rule. Her cultivation was so poor that Jiang Yanli never participated in any night hunts herself.

For these reasons Jiang Yanli found herself wholly unprepared for what unfolded after the barrier was breached. Arrows rained from the sky. Jiang Yanli vaguely felt she had heard that description somewhere, but her mind had never before comprehended what that meant. It was almost like a thunderstorm had erupted. Arrows as numerous as rain drops made up a terrifying deluge. They embedded themselves in the ground, the buildings, and blindly pierced the people of Lotus Pier. No rainstorm had ever been so terrifying as seeing the sky filled with a descending swarm of arrows.

Jiang Yanli had seen most of this unfolding from a distance. She was standing far back from the main fighting. Their evacuation route could not have been in a better location. Obscured from passing glances, unless you got close enough to peak between buildings you'd never see the people lined up in clusters waiting to run across the water on their enchanted path. You could not get further away from the invading forces. It was as though the evacuation route was designed with perfect awareness of where the enemy would enter.

Jiang Yanli hoped to help guide retreating disciples to the evacuation route. She hoped to see her family move towards the evacuation route. Jiang Yanli knew they would be among the last to evacuate. It made her proud and terrified. Those who evacuated last would be the most likely to die. Jiang Yanli wasn't a fool. From the distance the flood of cultivators engaged in battle was like an ocean. The red and white robes of the QishanWen sect were far more numerous than the regal purples of the YunmengJiang sect.

The sound of metal striking metal punctuated a noisy haze of shouting voices. The air was filled with a sharp metallic odour mixed with the acrid scent of smoke. The air was thick with the combined stench and Jiang Yanli felt like she might choke. Nothing in Jiang Yanli's memory could compare to the scene of chaos before her. Certainly nothing she had ever seen compared to the horror she felt when her eyes briefly managed to untangle the chaotic images into something she could comprehend. Jiang Yanli could only focus on small pieces at a time.

Her eyes focused on a building, with flaming arrows still embedded in its pillars. It should have erupted into flames, but the building was only lightly scorched. There was a fizzling sound, like rain on a dying fire. Strange, there was no rain falling from the sky. Even more strange, the building had yet to be engulfed in a spreading fire. There was a small flicker of warmth in Jiang Yanli's heart.

'A-Xian? Who but A-Xian would add protections to their home without telling anyone?' Jiang Yanli almost smiled.

Almost against her will, Jiang Yanli's eyes were drawn back to the chaos of the fighting that had been creeping ever closer. Her eyes would focus in on the crossing swords of two cultivators. Then her eyes would be drawn to the swift movement of a QishanWen cultivator decapitating a YunmengJiang disciple. Almost against her will, Jiang Yanli's eyes followed the decapitated head as it hit the ground and rolled to a stop next to the bodies of two other cultivators. One corpse dressed in purple, the other in white and red, both of them young enough that they might not even be considered adults yet. If they were twenty years old they were barely so. They would never be a day older now. Their blood had spread in a tacky pool around their corpses.

Between one blink and another the chaos of distant fighting was suddenly around her. It was like a flood. At first the water only rose a little, then from one second to another it had become an unstoppable force of nature sweeping away everything in its path. A group of Yunmeng Jiang disciples nearby had been surrounded. Jiang Yanli found herself moving before she even thought it through.

Jiang Yanli was shocked how quickly her body responded. Granted she had caught the first cultivator by surprise. Her sword sliced into flesh with a disturbing ease. When the QishanWen cultivators turned to her and attacked, Jiang Yanli's body moved. She had expected it to take more thought. Yet she found her arms and legs moving before her mind even processed what she was trying to do.

"Shijie!" Jiang Yanli heard one of the junior disciples call her. Their eyes were wide in shock. Jiang Yanli hardly blamed them. They had never seen her wield a sword, let alone on a battlefield.

"Head back behind the infirmary. There's an evacuation route." Jiang Yanli called firmly. The disciples stared at her wide eyed. Jiang Yanli focused back on fighting. Maybe because Jiang Yanli only now joined the fight, she seemed to be faring better than these juniors currently were. They had likely long since exhausted their spiritual energy in battle. Jiang Yanli's stomach flipped uncomfortably as her sword sliced through a cultivator's throat. The warm splash of blood hitting her skin was accompanied by its strong metallic odour.

Jiang Yanli Saw a cultivator in red and white robes charging towards someone to her right. Jiang Yanli glanced to see the junior disciples still staring blankly at her. Jiang Yanli jumped to intercept. The cultivator's sword swung down with force. The impact as their blades crashed together vibrated through Jiang Yanli's arm. Jiang Yanli pushed spiritual energy into her muscles, trying to push the cultivator off.

Jiang Yanli took a moment to remember the drills she had done with Wei Wuxian. She adjusted her footing and abruptly changed the direction on her force. Stepping behind the enemy cultivator, her sword suddenly let them go forward without resistance, throwing them off balance. Jiang Yanli followed through with the movement swiftly and her sword sliced open another throat.

"What are you waiting for? We need as many of you to get out of here as possible. Behind the infirmary. There will be others there to show you where to go." Jiang Yanli said insistently. Nervously the disciples glanced at her once more before she successfully shooed them away.

Jiang Yanli found herself surrounded in the chaos of battle. The time to think seemed precious and fleeting. Most of the time she was only jumping from one movement to the next, her body deciding on her actions more than her mind. Jiang Yanli found her movements growing sluggish as she kept trying to push further. She would have to retreat soon. Her strength was beginning to dwindle, and Jiang Yanli did not want her siblings to suffer through her death.

The only hesitance was Jiang Yanli had not seen any of them yet. She had not seen her parents. She had not seen Jiang Wanyin or Wei Wuxian. She had not even spotted Lan Wangji. His robes should stand out on this battlefield more than anyone else's. Jiang Yanli felt her heart squeeze painfully. She did not want to mourn their deaths any more than she wanted them to have to mourn her. Jiang Yanli found herself falling back, QishanWen cultivators were closing in swiftly behind her when she turned to face them just before the shoreline.

"Jiang-guniang!" Jiang Yanli recognized the voice as the young servant who had been guiding people down the route.

"Go across now. I will join you." Jiang Yanli urged. Jiang Yanli could feel the woman hesitate. Jiang Yanli's heart warmed at the care and loyalty of everyone in Lotus Pier. The worry was endearing, but Jiang Yanli was as afraid for their lives as she was for her own.

A sharp sting brought Jiang Yanli's focus back. Red poured down her sleeve from the cut of a blade she had failed to dodge properly. Ten cultivators were closing in on her and Jiang Yanli found herself wondering how she could possibly defeat them on her dwindling strength. The fear lasted only a moment longer before something else rose in response.

'I promised A-Xian I would take care of myself. I need to survive this. I still have a lot to teach A-Cheng. I need to make sure A-Xian knows he doesn't have to hurt himself for us.' Jiang Yanli found tears stinging her eyes as a sudden warmth burst in her chest. Jiang Yanli felt energy flowing through her body with renewed force as she moved faster than she could think. Something hot and determined seemed to course through her. She barely felt the sting of the blades that managed to cut her skin. Every time she felt it she pushed herself harder.

A sword suddenly came towards her chest faster than she could dodge it. She had just enough time to realize what was about to happen. Jiang Yanli pushed out almost automatically with the spiritual energy she knew she had depleted long ago. Jiang Yanli found herself thrown back. As she found herself flying backwards Jiang Yanli was met by the confusing sight of a lavender half bubble of spiritual energy stopping the sword from hitting her.

Jiang Yanli fell on the surface of the water, surprisingly soft given that Wei Wuxian's talisman made it feel like solid ground beneath her feet. Jiang Yanli looked up to find three of her opponents still standing. They seemed to be trying to get to her. Striking against some wall of force they couldn't see. Jiang Yanli felt a small smile spread on her face. Another barrier, blocking those who did not have a clarity bell. Another unexpected blessing that was most certainly Wei Wuxian's doing. Jiang Yanli took the moment to get to her feet. Feet that were much more steady than she expected them to be.

That lavender shield that blocked the sword. That was a technique Jiang Yanli had practised many times. However, it was a technique that required much more spiritual energy than Jiang Yanli could have possibly had left. Jiang Yanli looked down at her hands. She could feel spiritual energy flowing through her now that she stopped to focus. Lots of spiritual energy. There was a warmth in her, stronger than she had ever felt it, but the sensation was not completely unfamiliar. Her hand went down over her dantian. Bright and warm, spinning rapidly with power. Jiang Yanli's golden core had just formed.