"Sizhui?" Lan Wangji blinked.

"What the hell?" Wei Wuxian gasped, gawking at his oldest son.

While the Qiong Qi was still dazed by Lan Yuan's amber fire, Lan Zhan walked over to Sizhui and placed his hand on his shoulder, eyes still wide in surprise. "Sizhui..."

Lan Yuan gulped and looked down. "F– Father..." he flinched under Lan Zhan's touch, expecting his father to explode in anger.

But Lan Wangji was just... shell shocked. "Sizhui, that fire... you... since when?"

"I don't know, Father... it's actually even after I became Sect Leader. My core improved by a drastic proportion, and then this popped up. I wouldn't have accepted the Lan sect leadership had this appeared before... I'm sorry, Father..."

"No. It's great."

"AH?" Sizhui was mesmerised by the faint smile on Lan Zhan's face. 

"Aish, now's not the time, Lan Wangji," Jiang Cheng patted Lan Zhan's hand with Sandu and shoved it off Sizhui's shoulder. "Well, Sizhui, who cares if you're different? All the better! Now come on, help us out." Jiang Wanyin unleashed Zidian and nodded to him. "Go for it, Wen-Lan Yuan."

Xichen and Xuanji grinned wide, Aria sulking under her sabre. Huaisang wagged his fan approvingly. "Best to never forget your roots, son."

"Mn," Sizhui beamed at them, delighted to see they didn't really mind any of it. Every last one of them had seen the Wen's skill he implemented, the fire he lit up with a mere wave of his hand. A Wen skill. And yet they were this supportive...

Even the black wolf was nuzzling his nose on his arm to reassure him.

Lan Sizhui grinned and scratched behind the wolf's ear before nodding to Jiang Cheng. His Lan sword still in one hand, he swished his left hand in a circle, building up energy. He knew what to do. The same skill Wen Xu had used on their own Lan guards decades ago, on the first day of Sizhui's fathers' classes.

Easy as pie, Wen Yuan grinned to himself and swung his hand in the afflicted beast's direction.

The Qiong Qi had been blinking several times over to get out of the trance of the sudden burst of red fire he had seen. And Wei Wuxian was attacking it relentlessly higher up in the sky. One wing of its glorious yet torn body was damaged quite far, and yet it flapped with all its might to stay afloat mid-air. But somewhere amidst its struggle... all at once, the Qiong Qi felt a surge of heat rushing through his skin.

And then pain. Torment, throbbing soreness dashing across his fur and skin, scorching his flesh.

That's right. That was the word. Scorching. For his body was on fire.

So far, Sizhui had managed to set the monster's neck and the upper half of his torso on fire, but the rest of the body was hard to tackle, what with it being too far away and protected by its wings.

"Wings! Sizhui!" Jiang Cheng pointed. He lashed Zidian at the massive fiend, burning the wings and what little bit of bruised torso he could reach. The beast screamed in agony.

Lan Sizhui nodded and targeted the wings next. Once. Twice. Thrice. Still didn't work. The thing was moving too fast. Fifth try... sixth...

Whoosh!

Crimson and amber flames lit up the tips of the Qiong Qi's right wing on the seventh try.

"Hurray, A-Yuan!" Wei Wuxian shouted and twirled in the air with glee.

The joy came a bit too early. Almost jinxing the triumph.

The Qiong Qi swooped down and rubbed its wings on the forest's many trees, letting them catch the fire from his wings. By the time he rose up to the sky again, all in a matter of seconds, the forest was on fire but his wing was not.

The forest isn't his problem anyway, Aria thought to herself, grinning smugly: a voyeur of the battle of death. 

The Qiong Qi spun around and roared while drifting in a circle, blowing out fire in every direction, sweeping the ground with his recovered wing, attacking the cultivators with resentment-filled flames. Jiang Cheng's Purple Lightning and Lan Sizhui's Wen fire hurled the fire away; Shuoyue, Bichen and Zhiming blocked the flames from reaching them. 

Wei Wuxian kept swiping his sharp fishtail at the beast to hinder its attacks, ignorant of the fire burning his scales.

"A-YING! BE CAREFUL!"

"I'm fine!"

Swish! Slissssss! The sharp ends of his fishtail drew down the mane-like thick hair lining the tiger's back, slicing the flesh apart.

"ROOOAAAAARRRGGGGH!"

"Ha, pains, does it?" Wei Wuxian swished his tail proudly and smirked at the wailing monster. Under the fury of the pain, the Qiong Qi kicked its feet in the air, and hurled its limbs at Wei Wuxian, hitting him hard on his scaled side. "OUCH! The same darned spot?" Wei Wuxian cried out, fins unfurling and rolling over and over as he roared in pain.

SNAP! Crrrrack!

A hind leg of the Qiong Qi's, hanging low and close to the ground, tore off his body and toppled to the ground, rolling away from the battle into the forest. The now three-legged tiger looked down to see a sneering black wolf shaking the leg's blood off his fur.

"Thank you, Rulan," Lan Wangji nodded to him from a few feet away. The same leg that had punched his husband now lay bitten off by his son, miles away into the forest. Relief and pride seemed to be in abundance to him today.

Not to mention, surprises...

"Ying-ge!"

"A-Ning, thank goodness!" Wei Wuxian heaved a sigh. "Sensed my trouble? Sorry if it was a bother."

Wen Ning, clad in black-and-white robes and his numerous chains at his side, shook his head. He looked up and down the Qiong Qi that had fallen to the ground, spitting fire everywhere as it moaned in excruciation. "I didn't sense Ying-ge. Maybe you felt secure enough." 

"Oh?" 

"But I sensed our Wens' fire..."

"Ah, that would be me," Sizhui pursed his lips.

"A-Yuan? You..." Wen Ning wished his dead eyes would just break all boundaries and tear up; well up with the joyous emotion frothing and bubbling in him.

Sizhui smiled a wide, tight-lipped smile.

"Good job," Wen Ning beamed back at him. "Jin Ling did that?" Wen Ning pointed to the three-legged monster.

"Wrrrroof!"

Wen Ning chuckled at the wolf's childishness and nodded to him. He raised his hand and, in a moment of sudden bonding, awkwardly patted Jin Ling's head twice before shooting up onto a branch.

"I feel at ease now that you're here, A-Ning."

"Mn," Wen Ning nodded to Wei Ying.

"Qiang-Er?" 

"At home. The Mint Melody attacked her once, I won't allow it again." 

"My didi's smart now, eh? Let's kill this thing." 

"Mn." 

All at once, Wei Wuxian heard whooshing sounds overhead. A breeze began to blow fast and with the shifting leaves and the pushing air, the wisps of clouds were shoved away. Villainous green melted into an ominous red of doom as the sky cleared up and the world lit up with a dark and yet bright luminescence of crimson.

Jin Ling inadvertently — purely unintentionally — looked up, flaxen eyes drawn to the blood-red moon shining above his head. As the scarlet light of a beautiful Superblood Wolfmoon filled up his retina, something... changed.

Snapped.

The vessels in his eyes bulged, red and throbbing, bloody and wild. Veins running down his neck and limbs followed suit, albeit hidden by the fur. The only other sign of his body reacting to the red moonlight was the way his fur stood erect. Electrified, entranced. With eyes bloodshot and glowing with red energy, he looked around, searching... 

searching... 

searching...

A purely savage wolf in ravenous hunger.

Wei Wuxian shouted, his voice ringing with anxiety and dread, "The moon's coming out... GEGE!"

"Sure!" Xichen nodded and nudged Sizhui. Because Lan Zhan was busy tackling the flames of the Qiong Qi with Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen's flute collaborated with Lan Sizhui's zither and played the same melody from earlier, but this time to soothe the beast on their own side.

The savage wolf looked around, confused, muddled. The melody flowed into him, teasing the black hair coating the tips of his ears, filling him up, tearing away the sudden surge of savagery in him.

"Thank heavens," Wei Wuxian sighed.

"Jin Ling! You alright?" Jiang Cheng shouted above the fire. "LAN WANGJI YOU'RE SHOVING THAT BLOODY SWORD IN MY FACE!"

"Then step away!" Lan Wangji glared at him before swiping at the fire again.

Yes, Jiujiu, I'm alright, Jin Ling half-snickered, shaking his head to let loose the tension in his fur. Quibbling at a time like this, they really are perfect brothers-in-law. Jin Ling looked up and nodded to his father.

"Thanks guys," Wei Wuxian nodded to Xichen and Sizhui. "Now... let's end this!"

Crash-

Clatter-

Rattle-

Clash!

Gigantic metal chains wrapped around the tiger's body, firmly tying themselves around one of its legs, pulling it down onto the ground.

The black fur of the wolf gleamed with blood as it pounced. Onto the back of the beast, claws digging sharply into its flesh, teeth tearing the skin and fur apart. The Qiong Qi writhed to free itself, making Jin Ling slide down its back, claws dragging down as he slipped back onto the ground safely.

The beast shrieked, the sickle-sharp nails and fangs having given it all the torment they could. It desperately flailed its legs, kicking, hurling, leaping to fly up into the air.

Certainly the Heavenly Realm had never tortured it like this in any of its battles there!

Grabbing the opportunity, Wei Wuxian swiped again to reach underneath the exposed chest. Exactly the same time as he rammed his own fangs into the beast, a golden fan followed suit in no time.

SLIT!

The Qiong Qi's chest was ripped. Cut like paper by Nie Huaisang's exceptionally heroic paper fan.

"Ptoo!" Wei Wuxian flew backwards away from the thunderously roaring beast and spat out the meat and blood in his mouth. "Excellent, Nie-xiong!"

"Thank you, thank you," Huaisang winked as his snatched back his fan and flapped it against his smugly grinning face.

But just then...

"GRRROOOAAAR!"

Crack-

The Winged Tiger pushed itself upwards for one last try, and under his might, the chains cracked. Wen Ning stared in shock at his invisible chains having been broken apart just like that by this so-called legendary beast...

Delighted to have freed itself from their wrath, the Qiong Qi soared two foot higher, unable to go too high due to the damaged wings and aching body.

Wei Wuxian growled. Low, deep and exhausted. "Why you brat, stay put, will you?" Curling himself up, he slammed his right wing at the Qiong Qi, smacking it with a sharp and forceful pummelling punch.

The tiger roared in response. He kicked his legs and swung his tail in anger.

And that's when the Herculean long and thick tail hit the man fighting the flames right behind it.

Slap!

Smash!

"A-ZHAN!"