Lan Xichen scanned their surroundings quickly to assess the danger. There were no more corpses he could see or hear. That didn't mean there might not be more, but the area seemed safe for the moment. He turned his gaze to the nearby cultivators. Lan Xichen had seen many leaving the area earlier, taking the opportunity to escape that was provided to them. He wasn't certain what exactly Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had done, but Lan Xichen had no illusions that the way the fierce corpses focused only on targeting them was a coincidence.

Lan Xichen looked briefly to see Lan Wangji holding a bloody and unconscious Wei Wuxian in his arms. Correction, Wei Wuxian had done something to draw the corpses to him so that everyone else could flee. Lan Wangji would never risk Wei Wuxian like this, especially not now. Lan Xichen quickly sent for Wei Qing. He had left her in a sheltered section of woods with half a dozen disciples to protect her and Nuan-er. Lan Xichen did not regret this decision, all too aware that fierce corpses were not the only danger.

Lan Xichen looked over the cultivators again, relieved that he did not see the flash of gold and yellow robes among them. In fact, he realized that aside from the GusuLan disciples, most of the cultivators were QingheNie. Nie Mingjue stood tall, speaking with a cultivator Lan Xichen recognized as Nie Zonghui. Nie Zonghui nodded and began speaking to the other Qinghe Nie cultivators before turning to the other disciples. The few disciples who were not part of either sect appeared to be almost exclusively juniors of a variety of minor sects.

Wei Qing arrived in the company of the full escort Lan Xichen had left with her. It seemed they had also acquired two more disciples that had not been with them before. Lan Xichen remembered that the two disciples had gone off as a pair to participate in the hunt. Lan Xichen was glad to see they were alright, and grateful for the extra hands. Lan Hanqi was holding Nuan-er carefully in his arms, keeping his eyes trained on their surroundings. Lan Xichen assumed she must be asleep. The last he had seen Wei Qing had been examining her.

Wei Qing wasted no time getting to work. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had been in the very centre of the fight. Their robes were so soaked in blood that Lan Xichen could not tell how injured they were. Wei Qing was scowling, an expression that told him to step towards her immediately to see what he could do. By the time Lan Xichen reached her side she had ripped open Wei Wuxian's robes and placed needles.

"We need to get him somewhere where I can treat him properly." Wei Qing said once Lan Xichen was at her side. Lan Xichen's brow furrowed. Koi Tower would be closest. They would have a fully stocked infirmary at the ready. They also were the ones who had been holding Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er for months. Lan Xichen would do his utmost to protect them, but he would feel much better about that further away from the Jins.

"Is he stable enough that we can take him into Lanling and treat him at an inn, or do we need the facilities at Koi Tower?" Lan Xichen asked quietly. Wei Qing shot him a look.

"An inn will suffice." She said, rising to her feet.

"Wangji, do you need assistance?" Lan Xichen inquired. Lan Wangji did not even wait for Lan Xichen to finish his question before he lifted Wei Wuxian in his arms and stepped onto Bichen. Lan Xichen immediately turned to divide his cultivators. He did not want to, but some of their disciples were still unaccounted for. Lan Xichen needed someone here who could rendezvous with them. He also needed someone who could maintain a strong front before any accusations that might be directed towards the GusuLan sect in the meantime.

"Xichen, what's going on?" Nie Mingjue inquired. No doubt he had been alarmed to see Lan Wangji flying away, soaked in blood. Lan Xichen turned to the most senior disciple.

"Take Wei Qing, follow Wangji. Rent out the entire inn if possible. The rest of you follow. I want a guard rotation on the inn and in the room." Lan Xichen said quickly before turning to Nie Mingjue. "Wangji found Nuan-er and Wuxian. I don't have the full details yet, but he found Nuan-er in Koi Tower during the hunt. Wuxian was badly injured. I don't know how much of it is from fighting the fierce corpses and how much might be from whatever happened to him before we found him. We are taking him into Lanling to treat him.

"Is anyone else hurt? Is everyone able to get down the mountain?" Lan Xichen inquired, as he turned to look at the collection of cultivators that remained on the blood soaked stretch of mountain. Some of the Nies were checking on the juniors that were collapsed on the ground, but no one looked to be seriously injured at a glance.

"Xichen, go with your people." Nie Mingjue said gesturing in the direction that the GusuLan disciples had departed in.

Lan Xichen shook his head.

"I can't. Three of my disciples and five medical cultivators are still unaccounted for. I need to locate them and ensure none of them are injured. Further, I do not trust what accusations may be levelled at either Wuxian or GusuLan sect as a whole in my absence. Wuxian and Nuan-er have been missing for months. We had reason to suspect the LanlingJin sect may be responsible, and now they have been found in the seat of their power." Lan Xichen said not pausing for a breath until he had gotten everything out. Lan Xichen closed his eyes and paused a moment to recenter himself. He slowed his breathing, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. A large hand gripped Lan Xichen's shoulder.

"Xichen, I'll take care of this. Go after your brother. Come back once Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er are stable. I'll look after your people." Nie Mingjue said, giving Lan Xichen's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Lan Xichen felt a huge weight lift from his chest. His family was flying to Lanling, and Lan Xichen had wanted nothing more than to go with them. He had resisted, because he knew he needed to look after all of his disciples as well as try to keep the situation among the sects from getting out of control. If the LanlingJin sect turned against Wei Wuxian, the GusuLan sect would protect him. Lan Xichen would make certain of that. They might not be able to stand against all the sects on their own, depending on the condition Wei Wuxian was in, but Lan Xichen did not wish to make his brother in law fight in another war. Lan Xichen didn't think Nie Mingjue would leave them to fight alone. Before today he would have been more confident that YunmengJiang would stand with them as well, but there were no YunmengJiang cultivators that had stayed behind to fight the fierce corpses. He was more than a little concerned, but if thing could be kept from getting out of hand until Lan Xichen could gather all the information to present to the sects, that would be ideal.

"Thank you." Lan Xichen said with an audible sigh of relief.

Nie Mingjue nodded and Lan Xichen wasted no more time. His spiritual energy was getting low from the fight, but he had enough for this. There was no sign of the other GusuLan sect disciples in the sky. Lan Xichen continued towards Lanling, looking for familiar white and pale blue robes. Lan Xichen had to do a few sweeps over the crowded streets before he finally spotted two GusuLan disciples outside of an inn.

Lan Xichen did not immediately run inside, even though he wanted to. He first confirmed that a guard rotation was set up. It was, including patrols around the exterior of the inn. They were able to rent out the entire inn after paying a few travellers for the inconvenience of relocating to another inn. Only then did Lan Xichen allow himself to continue upstairs to the room that had a disciple stationed outside of it.

Lan Xichen can hear the familiar notes of cleansing before he even opens the door. Lan Wangji is not the one playing, which Lan Xichen finds mildly surprising. Lan Ling sits at the table with her guqin in front of her. She is one of the most accomplished players here, so she is not a bad choice.

Wei Qing was quiet as she worked. Her eyes focused on Wei Wuxian's still form. Lan Xichen knew better than to interrupt her. He took out Liebing and began to accompany Lan Ling. Lan Xichen loses count of how many times they cycle back to the beginning of cleansing. At least nine, but the ache in Lan Xichen's arms tells him it must have been many more than that.

"That's enough, you can stop playing," Wei Qing announces clearly without ever turning to look at them.

Lan Xichen took Liebing away from his lips, feeling the ache in his arms sharpen now that he has moved them to a different position. Lan Ling cleared her guqin from the table while another disciple brought hot water and a tea set to the table. Lan Xichen does not need to look to know that they are not really preparing tea, but rather herbal medicine. Once it is prepared a cup is placed in Lan Xichen and Lan Ling's hands. The liquid is an opaque yellowish brown, but Lan Xichen drinks it without complaint. It does not taste any better than it looks, bitter and earthy.

A third cup was filled and brought across the room to Lan Wangji who was sitting beside the bed Wei Wuxian was laid out on. Lan Wangji drank the cup without even a twitch in his expression, Lan Xichen was not certain Lan Wangji even tasted it. He held Nuan-er close in his lap, while his gaze remained unwavering on Wei Wuxian. It was a long while later before Wei Qing finally stepped away from Wei Wuxian.

"You can lay next to him if you want." Wei Qing said to Lan Wangji, her tone noticeably gentler than usual.

She moved over to a basin of water to cleanse her hands. Lan Xichen caught the first glimpse of a tray that had been on her other side. It held used needles that needed to be cleaned. Blood soaked clothes and containers that Lan Xichen presumed had previously held clean water or medications.

Lan Wangji apparently needed no more encouragement. He carefully climbed onto the bed beside Wei Wuxian. He did not lay down immediately. He carefully arranged Nuan-er beside Wei Wuxian and, after checking with Wei Qing, gently moved Wei Wuxian so that his head was pillowed in Lan Wangji's lap. Once Wei Qing stepped away from the basin and dried her hands, she caught Lan Xichen's eye then looked pointedly at the several disciples in the room.

"You should all rest in the other rooms while you can. Some of you will remain on guard here, but I will need most of you to return to Koi tower with me. I'll collect you when it is time to leave." Lan Xichen stated calmly. The disciples all nodded and filed out of the room without further comment.

Once they had left, Lan Xichen placed a silencing talisman on the door. Wei Qing lowered herself to sit at the table. Her posture was nearly perfect, but Lan Xichen could see the exhaustion in her face and along the slump of the shoulders. Lan Xichen found there was still enough hot water left unused to prepare tea. He moved smoothly through the process, finding the familiar motions soothing.

Wei Qing had her gloves on once more. She hadn't been wearing them while working on Wei Wuxian, but she had pulled them back on while Lan Xichen sent the disciples out of the room. Lan Xichen filled the cup for her properly, instead of stopping at less than half full like Wei Qing had preferred when she needed the tea to cool significantly before she could lift it. Despite her obvious fatigue she still thanked him properly when he poured the tea for her. He hadn't been certain she even realized he was preparing tea, but she had clearly noticed.

"They're both stable. Neither of their lives are in danger, but I'll want to keep a close eye on both of them. There's damage to A-Ying's meridians and his golden core from resentful energy. It's reversible. Whatever they were doing to him, it looks like they did it repeatedly. The resentful energy was circulating with his spiritual energy and attacking it. I think we've cleansed it all, but I believe it would be a good idea to repeat Cleansing daily until the damage is healed.

"It looks like they have been sealing his core repeatedly. He has several injuries that have healed poorly, now added to the wounds he sustained today. Most of the injuries are from the fierce corpses, but there are several wounds that he received today that came from a sword. Ill want to watch for infection. His core is strong enough to fight off most infections, but depending on how long it takes to deal with the internal damage it could leave him more susceptible to infections in the interim.

"I believe that he should recover fully. He's lost weight that will need to be restored, and he'll need to be careful with his arm for a while. Aside from the dislocation he suffered a lot of damage to the muscle that will take time to recover from." Wei Qing took a slow breath after getting through all of that.

Lan Xichen refilled her tea for her. He wasn't certain she had even noticed that she had emptied the cup. Fatigue and anxiety written into every line of her face and curve of her shoulder. Despite her distraction, Wei Qing still tapped the table lightly with two fingers to express her gratitude. Lan Xichen felt a fond smile tug at his lips. He should have known that even exhausted and distracted, Wei Qing's manners were engraved in her bones.

It had taken almost four months to convince Wei Qing to switch to tapping the table with her fingers instead of rapping against it with her knuckles. Wei Qing had insisted he was a Sect Leader and needed to be shown proper respect. He had insisted that they were friends and that level of formality was unnecessary. Lan Xichen was still rather pleased that he had won that argument.

"When will they wake up?" Lan Wangji asked, a storm of emotions swirling behind his words, too large and complicated for Lan Xichen to fully pick apart.

Lan Xichen felt a sudden stab of guilt. This was no time for him to become distracted. They had found Nuan-er and Wei Wuxian, but both of them were injured. The situation was not yet fully resolved. The Jin needed to be brought to account for their actions. They needed to make sure no one would attempt this again, and Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er needed time to heal.

"I am hoping they will sleep through until tomorrow. I don't think either of them have had proper rest in the last two months. The medicine I gave Nuan-er has a strong sedative effect, so I think it is likely she will sleep through the night. A-Ying might wake sooner since he passed out before I started treating him. I'll prepare medicine ahead of time. If he wakes tonight it would be best if he could take it with food and go right back to sleep." Wei Qing said, staring into the teacup in front of her.

Lan Xichen frowned carefully. It would perhaps be better to be able to talk to Wei Wuxian before confronting the Jins. Wei Wuxian would hopefully be able to confirm who specifically he saw and might be able to reveal information that could be used to confront them. On the other hand, Lan Xichen did not think it was wise to give the Jins and entire night to get their bearings. If they did not already know that Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er were free from their custody, then they would discover it soon. Lan Xichen did not want to have time to cover their tracks or shift blame.

Lan Xichen had nearly resolved to return to Koi Tower immediately. Until he saw the tension in Wei Qing's arms as she lifted her cup to take a quiet sip of her tea. There was a fine tremble in her hands that made the cup clatter softly against the table as she tried to put it down. Her dark eyes swirled with pain, but there was anger in the trembling lines of her body. Rage, too strong to be contained by Wei Qing's formidable composure.

"I would say that A-Ying got off lighter than expected for someone held by Jin Guangyao, but I'm pretty sure I know what Jin Guangyao was using to motivate him to cooperate." Wei Qing's hands were tense around her tea cup. All of that trembling anger held in the stiff lines of her body and the too tight grip. "When I examined Nuan-er I found evidence that her ear infection was improperly treated. Not in the sense of a less competent doctor tending to her. Rather, for her ear infection to cause the damage I found, they would have had to actively withhold medical care from her. She was not given the medicine to clear the infection, causing it to linger. If they did give her treatment I would guess it was infrequent. Either to make sure the infection did not threaten her life or as a reward for A-Ying's compliance.

"I believe the infection is cleared, but I am giving her medication to make sure of that. There is damage to her eardrums. I was not able to check carefully, but I think it is likely she is suffering from some level of hearing impairment. The eardrums are still healing, so it will be something to monitor. There are some things I can do to try and reverse the damage, but there is a possibility that some of the damage might be permanent. We won't know to what extent that might be until she is fully healed." Wei Qing's voice was level as she spoke, but he could feel the breath of anger behind the otherwise even words.

Lan Xichen's hands tightened into fists. Lan Xichen believed in forgiving mistakes and making amends. This was not a mistake. This was wilful and heartless. Lan Xichen had fought a war against the tyranny of the QishanWen sect. He was not someone prone to violence, and he was weary of the long years of bloodshed. He still found the anger in his heart burning bright enough to reinforce his commitment to how this would all end. He did not fight a war against one tyrant only to let another take his place. He did not stand against the cruelty and violence of one sect against innocents, only to look away when another sect did the same. He hoped to achieve justice through diplomacy. Failing that, he would lead the GusuLan sect to war if that is what it would take to protect their people.

Note: This has actually been done for a few days.  I was sitting on it because I was thinking about waiting and posting it once we were further into the confrontation in the Jins.  But I got too impatient, so we're sticking to the same kind of chapter lengths as I have had in the past.  In other news I successfully completed NaNoWriMo with 50,404 words of a different Wangxian fanfic that might be my next project once we actually finish Backlash.