Lan Xichen felt disoriented. As his eyes focused he saw a group of people huddled together, all weeping. Lan Xichen didn't know where he was. Their air was cold and horribly dry, the sky a permanent haze of grey. The few buildings he could see seemed to barely be standing. Nothing in the place looked healthy.  Even the living plants looked frail and somewhat sickly. The group of equally frail looking villagers were dressed in rough clothing, most of which seemed to have been mended repeatedly.

"A-Yuan. You need to take good care of your Xian-gege." Lan Xichen recognized Wen Qing's voice and he finally spotted her in the centre of the crowd. She was dressed in the bold red's of the QishanWen sect, but she didn't look quite the same. The Wen Qing he was seeing seemed thinner.  Her frame looked weaker, frail like everything else in this place. Although she was smiling gently, Lan Xichen felt a deep soul crushing sorrow.  There was a deep exhaustion radiating from her eyes that felt it had little to do with sleep.  That exhaustion was so palpable that he could feel it.  It was like something inside had been depleted, and now everything about the world felt like it was too much.  At the same time a deep sadness was filling Lan Xichen's eyes with tears.

'That's right. I'm in empathy. This must be Wen-guniang's emotions then.' Lan Xichen thought to himself. He looked around at the group of people and realized Wen Qing was not the only one who seemed underweight. Among the group there was not a single person who looked like they were in good health. The small plots of land around him were clearly growing something, but none of the plants seemed to be particularly thriving. Now that Lan Xichen was paying attention he also felt something else mixed with the horrendous chill in the air.

'Resentment.' Lan Xichen thought to himself. The area was polluted with resentful energy that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Lan Xichen did not doubt that even the earth they were standing on was probably contaminated by it.  They were living in this place?  This was not a place people should live.  The resentful energy was so pervasive it was surely contaminating their food and water.  There was no way they were not contaminated with it themselves.  Their were even elderly people in the group.  How could the possibly maintain their health in such an environment.

"When will Xian-gege wake up? Is Xian-gege sick?" A small child's voice seemed to echo in the tiny decrepit village. There was a child living here.  This was not a healthy environment for a child to grow up in.  Lan Xichen felt a horrible sorrow consuming him. Wen Qing was clearly devastated, but somehow she wasn't crying. Wen Qing smiled sadly at the small child.

"Xian-gege is very sad right now. So he is going to sleep for a few days." Wen Qing's voice trembled very slightly.  Lan Xichen felt tears stinging his eyes.  He had not experienced such grief since losing his mother, and honestly Lan Xichen wasn't sure if that sorrow had been as raw and painful as this.

"Won't Qing-jiejie be back by then?" The heartbreak Lan Xichen felt when the child asked that question, told Lan Xichen that something was definitely wrong. Wen Qing did not expect to be coming back.

"Qing-jiejie has to go far away, and I don't know if I'll be able to come back." Wen Qing said, holding back her tears.

"Qing-jiejie has to come back. Xian-gege was sad his Shijie was far away. Qing-jiejie can't be far away too." The child whined earnestly.

'A-Yuan. This is the only way. If A-Ning and I don't leave they will kill A-Ying and everyone else. They gave the ultimatum, maybe this way they'll leave you alone for a bit longer.' Wen Qing's thoughts echoed in Lan Xichen's head.

"A-Yuan, it will be very important for you to take care of your Xian-gege. He'll be very sad, but I know you are very good at helping him smile." Wen Qing said with a smile even as her eyes began to get red. Wen Qing looked at the faces around her. Her aunts and uncles, all trying to hold back their tears. They understood. They had all understood the fate that probably awaited them.

'We were civilians and healers, but with the surname 'Wen' they would never let us go. A-Ying took us to a place no one wanted, and they still couldn't let us go. We abandoned our surname. We became Wei's, like our A-Ying. Just like our A-Ying, it has never really been about justice. It has always been about greed and power. The power they feel when they can abuse us in their camps. The power they see in A-Ying and A-Ning that they hunger for.' Wen Qing walked down the mountain holding Wen Qionglin's hand tightly. They didn't speak. The questions they had, they both knew the answers to.

Would this be enough? Offering themselves as requested? Would their deaths satisfy the clans the way they said it would? Wen Qing didn't know, but what else could they do? They had nowhere else to go and no one who would help them. If they refused the clans would come for sure and all of them, including Wei Wuxian.  Wei Wuxian, who had already given and lost so much.  All of them would die.  All they could do was comply, and hope the clans would keep their word. Pray this would satisfy them enough to let the rest of their family live.

Immediately upon entering Wen Qing and Wen Qionglin were restrained. Wen Qing was not surprised. She was expecting an execution after all. A voice she recognized spoke out amidst the cries that asked for her death. Wen Qing hadn't been paying attention to what was said around her. She didn't expect to be given a chance to argue against anything, but the crowd was momentarily silent.

"Hanguang-Jun. What do you mean by this? There were many witnesses to Yiling Laozu's brutality. It is already well known that he is guilty of not only the death of Jin Zixuan, but many other cultivators who were present on the Qionqi path." One of the sect leaders demanded. Wen Qing glanced at Lan Wangji.

'Did he actually speak up for us?' Wen Qing almost wanted to smile. 'Everyone says you and A-Ying hate each other. A-Ying of course always said it isn't true, but I know those rumours bother him. I'm glad you haven't just bought into what everyone says about A-Ying. If you did, I don't think he'd be able to take it.' Wen Qing could hear the raised voices arguing around her, but she was only catching a few words of what they said. She didn't want to listen to their poisonous words.

She heard enough to know that they were not saying anything new. Slandering Wei Wuxian, and blaming him for heinous acts he never committed. This had been standard practice for the cultivation world ever since the war ended, as far as Wen Qing could tell. How blind could they be? Yes, her didi was practising demonic cultivation. He refused to let them know why, and honestly if he did that would probably only get him killed faster. Only a handful of people present might care about the reason Wei Wuxian used demonic cultivation. The rest would just take the reason and concoct how to use it to their advantage.

Her didi won the war for them, and the only thing they had to say is: you should give us the weapons you made? They wanted the items he created. Greed and power. Wen Qing watched the faces in the room even though she was not listening to their words. She looked at the faces and watched the expressions. Everywhere she looked she saw a deep disgusting hunger. It was a look she had seen before. It was greed. Greed for power. Greed for being superior and stronger. The number of faces in that crowd that were not filled with greed or scorn was disturbingly few.

Lan Xichen froze when he heard Jin Guangshan announce that Wen Qing would be burned alive. He felt her horror and fear gripping him painfully and watched how Wen Qing continued to hold her head high even as he could feel her terror. This couldn't be. He had just watched the efforts to call for an investigation be crushed. So many people were angry and he saw his suggestions being vehemently rejected by enraged and offended allies. To his surprise he saw Meng Yao in Jin robes. Meng Yao was looking at him with sympathy and speaking to him softly. Wen Qing couldn't hear what was said, and so Lan Xichen could not hear what Meng Yao was saying to that version of him.

Everything seemed to move too quickly for Lan Xichen to follow, but at the same time it seemed painfully slow. Wen Qing was bound and they were lighting the fire. Lan Xichen had never felt such pure terror before. He had been frightened before, but never like this. Lan Xichen was unable to hold back his tears under the crushing sorrow he felt radiating through him.

'A-Ning. They're going to make A-Ning watch. Please no. Please don't make my didi watch this.' Wen Qing begged silently. Lan Xichen felt horrified as he saw himself watch Wen Qing burn. Lan Xichen could feel the pain and terror. Wen Qing's thoughts were not even a protest to her own death, but rather anguish that they were making her didi witness it. He listened to her thoughts as she judged the cultivators before her.

The small smile that briefly flickered in her eyes when she saw Lan Wangji being restrained. Lan Xichen could feel her relief that he was being held back. Relief, because she didn't want him to suffer. She believed she couldn't be saved, so she was glad that he would not be exiled and vilified the way Wei Wuxian was. Lan Xichen didn't know how to feel about the mixture of judgment and respect she bestowed upon him. She judged him a coward. Maybe it was because he was an observer, and not the one sitting in the situation with all the politics involved. Lan Xichen couldn't be sure, but at this moment he didn't feel like he could argue with her. From here, he certainly looked like a coward, but he was not certain the action of solemnly witnessing her gruesome death was worthy of respect.

The pain was intensifying now. It was no longer just hazy smoke stinging the eyes and choking the lungs. The heat and burning were intensifying and Lan Xichen had never experienced such excruciating pain. The world grew dark and fuzzy and nothing existed except for horrible burning agony. Amidst horrible burning of his body he felt something tug him forcefully. He could hear the sound of a guqin.

"Xiongzhang." Lan Xichen heard his didi calling him. The burning sensation began to lessen and grow distant. Lan Xichen almost sighed in relief, until a new pain tore a scream from his throat. Lan Xichen didn't know what was happening exactly, but it felt like he was being ripped apart.

"Xiongzhang." Lan Xichen tried to focus on Lan Wangji's voice. He did everything in his power to focus on his didi while it felt like something vital was being ripped out of him.

Wen Qing awoke gasping in pain. She coughed up blood and soon found her body not wanting to cooperate with her. Everything felt strange. It was like her entire body was buzzing slightly preventing her from feeling anything against her skin other than pressure. She coughed up blood again and her eyes finally focused to see she was in the Jingshi once more.

"A-Ning." Wen Qing's voice was slightly hoarse, but she paid it no mind. "How's Zewu-Jun?" Wen Qing asked. Based on what Wei Wuxian told her, he was at greater risk than her. Although she certainly hoped she was able to reduce the damage because she pulled out one of her worst memories for it.

"He's unconscious." Wen Qiong replied, no stutter in his voice. Once the emergency was in a state he could act on he suddenly became calm and swift.

"Help me check him." Wen Qing asked.

"Jiejie." She heard Wei Wuxian's protest and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do not even start. I am not trying to run around like some people. My condition is not great, but I'm stable. I want to make sure he is also stable." Wen Qing's voice was firm even if it was tinted with pain. Wen Qionglin assisted his sister in moving closer to Lan Xichen so she could assess him. It took her a bit longer than it normally would. At least her sense of touch was back to normal now.

"Good job A-Ying. We're both in decent shape given the circumstances." Wen Qing said as she leaned back tiredly.

"Should we take you to the infirmary?" Wei Wuxian asked nervously.

"Do you want to explain how and why we got injured?" Wen Qing asked. Wei Wuxian bit his lip before looking down at the ground. Wen Qing saw the guilt beginning to spread across his features and she frowned. "A-Ning. What would the treatment be?" Wen Qing turned the conversation and made it sound as though she were quizzing her didi.