Wei Ying could feels his arms weakening, and worse, his wings were getting tired. He thought he had gained enough height to protect Lan Zhan while he transferred himself from Wei Ying's arms to Bichen, and so he used his remaining strength to hover.

Lan Zhan had Bichen ready and waiting and in the end, it was actually quite easy to step onto it.

"Lan Zhan...I think...I...the arrows are poison tipped." Wei Ying said quickly before he lost all his strength.

"What? WHAT?" Lan Zhan shouted, and luckily, his instincts kicked in. He grabbed Wei Ying just as the latter's strength finally gave out.

He cradled Wei Ying to his chest and sped off, using more spiritual energy to travel faster. Whatever the poison was, it was fast acting and already there was a sheen of fine sweat beading on Wei Ying's forehead. His eyes were closed and breathing shallow, and Lan Zhan knew he had to get to Hongse as fast as he could.

She would know what to do.

Wei Ying was burning up, and he fought to stay awake. His nerves were on fire as the poison got to work inside him. His core was activated and it was fighting to expel the intrusion.

Just as they landed, Wei Ying called out to Hui Gai.

The demon appeared in an instance and he had both children with him, plus Oge and Klem. When they saw the situation, Oge grabbed both kids and held them back, while Hui Gai ran to where Lan Zhan had landed.

"What happened?" He asked, looking worried.

"Poisoned arrows." Lan Zhan replied, looking for Hongse, who just exited the temple at the noises outside.

She ran towards them.

Lan Zhan laid Wei Ying on the ground, looking for something to rest his head against, and Hui Gai vanished and returned in seconds, holding their pillow and a blanket from the Jingshi in his hands.

Lan Zhan was too grateful to ask how he fared with the wards at Cloud Recesses, guessing that now, since Hui Gai was the King of the Nether world, not much could keep him out of anywhere he wanted to be.

"What happened?" She asked, as Lan Zhan made Wei Ying more comfortable.

"Poisoned arrows." He repeated.

"Oh good. For a second there, I thought it was something serious." She muttered.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What?" She blushed but sat down next to Wei Ying. "Show me the wound?"

They had to remove Wei Ying's outer robes first and since his inner ones were white, they easily detected the gash caused by a random arrow.

Hongse placed her hands on the wound and began to chant.

Neither Lan Zhan nor Hui Gai disturbed her. Lan Zhan was watching Wei Ying's face, looking for signs of change, while Hui Gai held his tail in his hands, licking his lips. His red eyes gleamed with the need for vengeance, for who had the guts to hurt his Pengyou and think they still had the right to breathe?

"Auntie Oge, may I please go and observe?" Li XiWang asked.

"Alright, but only observe." Oge told her.

"Mn." She replied.

But as she moved away, Rumi tugged on the hand holding him in place. When Oge looked at him, he pointed to his sister.

"I'll look after him, Auntie." Li XiWang held her hand out to him. Then she went yo stand by Hui Gai, slipping her pale hand into his dark, scaley one.

"What do you think we should do to the ones who did this?" He asked her, more to keep his mind off whatever was going on with Wei Ying than anything else.

Li XiWang pondered his question.

"Father won't like it if we kill them...." She mused.

"You're right..." Hui Gai sounded disappointed.

"It depends on whether it was an accident or not." Li XiWang decided.

Next to her, Rumi was growling.

Lan Zhan heard him and looked up. Once he caught Rumi's eye, he held his arms out for the little boy.

Rumi let go of Li XiWang's hand and climbed into Lan Zhan's lap. He grabbed his sleeve, clutching it tightly.

"WingAnLaZhan??" He asked, his big purple eyes staring first at Lan Zhan and then at his other father, Wei Ying.

"Mn. He's going to be alright." Lan Zhan comforted the young one, rubbing circles on his back.

He didn't actually know this, but he believed that if he said it out loud, it would come true. Ever since that first arrow flew, Lan Zhan realised that he wasn't calm at all. He recognised that killing intent in Hui Gai's red eyes, and for once, he wasn't sure if he wanted to stop Hui Gai from doing what he wanted.

They stilled when they saw what Hongse was actually doing. She was drawing out the poison; it was black, tainting Wei Ying's blood, and she was trying her hardest to separate the two. The dark liquid began seeping out from the wound and it took a good hour before Wei Ying's eyes fluttered open.

"Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan kept his voice low but the urgency was there.

"I'm alright, my love..." He whispered to Lan Zhan, patting Hongse's hand.

He sounded significantly weaker though.

"Rest." Lan Zhan told him, immensely relieved.

Whatever Hongse was doing, it was definitely working.

"I'm so sleepy..." His lips turned up into a smile.

"That's a side effect of the poison, I'm afraid." Hongse said.

"Do you know which poison?" Lan Zhan asked. Logic told him that if they could discover which kind it was, it would shed light on who was to blame for hurting his beloved.

"It's a certain type of tree bark...which is strange, because we haven't seen any around here, not this kind, anyway." She replied, her brow furrowed in thought.

"Would you recognise the trees if you saw them now?" He continued.

"Obviously. They are unmistakable. Huge green leaves, bigger than an elephant's ears. And the trunk and the branches, stems, all are a vivid purple colour. That's how we stay away from those."

She stopped doing what she was doing, when only red fluid dripped out of Wei Ying's body.

"It is done, now." She said, wiping her face with her sleeve.

Lan Zhan saw that she had expended a lot of energy in withdrawing the poison. Now, she collected it in a glass vial and stored it away.

"Waste not, want not." She added, grinning.

"WingAnLaZhan?" Rumi demanded, pointing at Wei Ying, but staring at her.

"Yes, my dear. He's going to be just fine...only very sleepy for now."

Rumi nodded, solemnly.

He sat next to his father, picking up his paler hand and holding it with both of his.

Now, they just had to wait.

********

A/N

Dear lovely readers,

I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive my excessive need for cliffhangers, hehe

That's why I quickly updated as soon as I got home from work. May not be able to write tomorrow and I didn't want to keep you all waiting.

Pleasant dreams and good night, folks!