XiChen and Cheng raced over and fell to their knees to check Wei Ying and Lan Zhan but found them both dead.

'No ... this can not be Cheng ... I can not loose him like this ... and Wei Ying ....' He stopped babbling in his grief as he felt Cheng's arms around him and hot tears landing on his neck as Cheng silently wept with him.

'I can't believe Master Lan would .... Do such a thing ....'

'As sect leader, I should have known .... I should have seen that he was lying when he told me he was fine with them together ...... it's not right .....'

They both stopped when hurried footsteps came towards the entrance.

'Father Zhan, Mother Wei ... are you here .....'

The pair looked at each other in horror as SiZhui came running into the cave only to stop and fall to his knees with a cry the moment he laid eyes on the two people he thought of as his parents ... and Master Lan ... his head far from his body. 'What happened?' he all but crawled over and took a hand of each of his parents with uncontrolled tears rolling from his eyes.

'Master Lan ... apparently he has been against this union all along and when I was away ... he kidnapped Wei Ying and imprisoned him in here ... he tried to have my brother marry some woman ....'

SiZhui's head shot up and he looked at XiChen. 'Wait, are you talking about that old woman and the sect leader who are here at the moment? He tried to get father Zhan to marry her?'

'They are still here?'

'Yes. Apparently Father Zhan was not very polite and the woman fainted so she was taken to the healers where I was. The sect leader was rambling that Master Lan threatened to kill Mother Wei if Father Lan didn't marry his daughter and ... apparently Father Lan permanently blocked Master Lan's Spiritual powers .... It doesn't matter any more. He killed them both ...' he allowed the tears to run free even as he heard other people arriving. As the three of them were blocking anyone from seeing Lan Zhan and Wei Ying, they didn't know anything other than Master Lan was dead.

'Who would dare to kill him?' a soft voice came from the crowd that was growing.

'We will have to find ....'

Before the gossip and false rumours spread, XiChen spoke up. 'No!' He rose to his feet as he wiped the tears from his cheeks, still blocking the members at the entrance from the horrific sight behind him. 'I am the one who killed Lan QiRen ... after he killed my brother and his partner by marriage. Behind my back, Lan QiRen tried to force my brother into a marriage with a woman ..... However, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying married the first night they moved here and I agreed with this act, Master Lan also apparently threatened to kill Lan SiZhui as he is their son. And as SiZhui is my nephew, if anyone wants to harm him, they will have to go through me first.' He finally stepped aside for them to see QiRen's sword in the pair. 'Do not allow the wrong things to spread, only the truth.' XiChen looked at the front two members. 'I want you two to go and watch that the visiting sect member and his daughter do not leave Cloud Recesses ... if they try to escape, lock them up. If you wish to understand why I am doing this .... Just one month ago, I rejected his attempt to arrange a marriage between his daughter and my brother. Believe me when I say, a simple binding talisman will be enough to contain them. Their cultivation is rather weak compared to any of you. Do not allow him to escape.'

'We will Zewu-Jun.' The pair raced off, even though it meant breaking a rule. They would not allow this man and his daughter to leave before their Leader had his chance to face him.

The ever growing crowd were in shock at the loss of these three people and the reason for it. They all knew that Master Lan was of a single mind and unbending but ......... they had been so sure he accepted Lan Zhan and Wei Ying being together. However, the dead before them spoke of how he had been hiding the truth.

XiChen made arraingements for Lan Zhan and Wei Ying to be taken and placed in care (Their form of a mortuary) however when one of the men reached over and tried to remove the sword so the couple were easier to carry ......... the sword did not budge even an inch.

'Zuwe-Jun ... I can not remove this sword?'

'What?'

'I have tried ... even with the help of cultivation but it will not ..... come out.'

'Let me try.' Cheng stepped over and carefully placed his hand on the hilt then with his cultivation, he pulled ............ it did not move. 'I don't understand?'

'It's alright .......... Let them be carried as they are ......... I will not have them laying in this cave any longer than they all ready have.'

XiChen, Cheng and SiZhui watched as ten men came with a canvas to carry their loved ones away.

'I need to speak with the leader and his daughter .......... Cheng ..... will you stay with SiZhui until I have finished ..........'

'Hello?'

they all turned to the soft sad voice that came from the entrance.

'Jin Ling? What are you doing here? I thought you were on a night hunt?' Cheng asked as he honestly thought he would have much longer to work out a way to tell his nephew of Wei Ying's death.

'I was passing Cloud Recesses and a Lan junior was out there crying, when he calmed down, he told me what happened .......... It's true ......... Uncle Wei and Lan WangJi have been killed ......... by Master Lan?' he walked over only to stop dead at the sight of all the blood soaked into the white sheets ............ he spun around, clenched his fists and closed his eyes. 'Where is Master Lan right now?' he wanted to kill him himself.

'He is already dead Jin Ling.' XiChen walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. 'Your Uncle Cheng and I entered the cave just moments too late and ......... I removed his head ..... I'm sorry for being too late to save them.'

Jin Ling spun around at the pain filled voice of XiChen. 'This is not your fault and I do not blame you so do not apologise ............ I was thinking at the beginning of the night hunt, I was going to drop it and visit them ...... but I was talked out of it. I should have been here.'

'Lan QiRen did not just kill the pair, he also threatened SiZhui as he is their son ......... if you had been here, I have no doubt you also would have been threatened.'

After XiChen had gone and changed his blood stained robes, he walked slowly over to the meeting hall where he had been told the Sect Leader and his daughter were waiting. Before entering the room, he took a single calming breath and placed a calm look in place of his grief stricken features.

'Sect Leader Qi, Lady Qi.' He walked over and sat at the same table as them as if not hating them with every fibre of his being and wanting to run the pair through. 'What brings you here again. I am sure I already rejected your offer.'

'Um ......... Sect Leader XiChen. We thought you would be away on your night hunt for at least another two weeks.'

'Plans changed. I returned early, but why are you here?'

'I ..... Master Lan ................'

'Oh let me guess. After I rejected your offer to bind our two sects with my brother and your daughter, you decided to try to work on my uncle to set things up?'

'Well, we have some things he has been after for years and he ...........'

'What did he want of yours?'

'Our library of rare scrolls and books from all over the cultivation world. In fact he agreed and is talking to WangJi even as we speak. He is sure the young man will agree.'

'Really? Now that is interesting to know because, my dear brother is married to Wei Ying who I now call brother also. If he was forced into a marriage with your daughter, it would be a fake marriage and not valid ......... right Sect Leader Qi?'

'Don't you think this is best left to the two parties involved?'

'I would normally agree but ......... between you and Master Lan, you kidnapped Wei Ying and imprisoned him in a cave, you tried to force my dear brother to marry your daughter for fear Wei Ying would be killed and that their son SiZhui would also be killed. Is this not the truth Sect Leader Qi?'

'Oh I do not care about the small details as that is between your uncle and his nephew. However, saying that those two men were married is rather dis .....' he stopped at the look in XiChen's eyes. Those normally calm eyes now held his death and he was it plain as the sun in the sky. 'Is something wrong, you as sect leader know how marriages are made, for the betterment of the sect?'

'I am only ever going to say this once, and if you refuse to accept it or try to counter it......... both of you will be killed .......... By my own sword.'

'Wait, why are the daring to threaten our lives as if we are mere normal people?' Madam Qi asked as she scooted a little away from the seething hatred of a man she had only ever heard described as calm in the face of all.

'Because, the pair of you are all I have left that I can reach out and take out my grief on. Because of your desire for power and position, Master Lan killed My brother and Wei Ying ... and I killed him. All I have left to do is punish two greedy conniving people. So if you wish to live, you will remove yourself from this land, and never again are the Qi Sect allowed onto GusuLan Sect land on fear of death. I here by decree that the Qi Sect are banned from all other than their own lands and I will be sending messages to all other sects so they also know that as Cultivation Chief .......... I am decreeing your sects isolation from all.'

'How dare you ....... Do you have any idea how your dear brother described my presious daughter ................'

'Father, no. I do not want anyone else to know and if the pair of them are really dead ..... no one need ever know.'

'Really.' XiChen gave the pair a cold smile. 'Now this sounds interesting and I wish to see it with my own eyes.' His hand shot out and grabbed Sect Leader Qi's wrist and used Empathy to watch his brother's interaction then he decided to scan everything to do with his uncle ....... And was horrified to see the true face of the man who had raised them. Lan QiRen had not raised them with the loving heart he had assumed, instead it turned out he had been using the pair of them for his own need to position and power. He released the sect leaders hand in disgust. 'I give you five minutes to leave the Cloud Recesses or you will be dealt with as collaborators in my brothers, and his marriage partner's deaths.' He looked down at the table even as he heard the pair almost running from the room.

'Guard.'

'Yes Sect Leader?'

'Keep people on them their whole way our of GusuLan territories. Make sure they do not delay their departure for any reason.'

'It will be done.'

XiChen sat there for a few minutes just taking deep breaths until three people entered and sat around the same table. He knew who they were so was not angry. 'I have verbally isolated the Qi Sect from all lands and in a short time, I will write a full explination as to the reason for my actions .... But first ........ you all remember that Wei Ying did an empathy on my sworn brothers head long after he died, right?'

'Yes.' They all said as one.

However Cheng spoke up. 'XiChen ... are you thinking of preforming it on your brother?'

'No, I don't think I could contain my anger if I watched everything through his eyes ...... I am thinking of doing empathy on my ...... on Lan QiRen. I saw something in Leader Qi's mind and now I want to do a full reading.'

'We will be here for you.'

'Just ... no matter what I see ....... Don't let me run them down and kill them.'

'We promise.'

So the four returned to the cave where they had left Lan QiRen's body and XiChen did the empathy for about fifteen minutes and in that time, he had finally banished the man from his heart. Lan QiRen had thought more of the books and scrolls than he ever did of his own nephew. The fact that WangJi had fallen for a man, especially Wei Ying, had hit him hard as if he had failed.

XiChen all but threw the head away from him and sat there trembling in fury. 'We trusted that man ........ to love and protect us as family. But all he ever saw was a way to use us for his own selfish gains. Be it power over people, position in the cultivation world or gathering all the precious items he lusted after. All those rules he make, that we lived by was only made because he wanted people to look upon him after his life ended with awe and pride.

That same day XiChen wrote a decree with his authority of Cultivator Chief to isolate the Qi Sect into their own lands for three generations. He also wrote a full description of what happened that caused the deaths of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying.

That started off a long period of confusion even to the day of the burial of the pair. With some effort, both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying were cleansed and dressed in GusuLan Sect robes, both Lan Zhan's white forehead ribbon and Wei Ying's red hair tie was wrapped around their wrists to bind them in death as they were in life. However, no matter what they tried, they were not able to draw the sword from the pair, so they had to be buried on their sides, and their arms wrapped around each other. It would have looked so lovely if it was not for the sword in Lan Zhan's back and the tip that had actually come out the back of Wei Ying.

'Lan XiChen, I would like to ask a favour.'

'SiZhui, we are family, you can ask me anything ... but please don't think of leaving yet.'

'Oh no, I was not thinking of that ... I wanted to place my mothers swords in ... with him when you place your brothers.'

'Of course you can.' He put his hand on SiZhui's back and tried to smile but at the moment it was not really a possibility. He and SiZhui placed the two swords on their owners only to have them shoot from the grave as one and move away.

They all followed the pair of swords and became confused when the swords lay beside each other at the far end of the hidden cave where their owners had died, as if waiting to be picked up again.

The fact the pair of sword came to rest in the middle of oddly placed stones was lost on everyone other than XiChen, he had not had the heart to tell them every single rabbit had been killed and thrown to the back of the cave by Lan QiRen.

'I will take them back.' SiZhui said then walked over took a step only to stop at XiChen's pain filled voice.

'SiZhui .... Don't step on the little mounds with a stone on them.'

After looking at the ground he frowned. 'What are they for?'

'Lan QiRen ... after he delivered Wei Ying here, he realised there was one more thing that would have people, WangJi think of Wei Ying, he went off and ... hunted every single rabbit they had here. He then ... tossed them from a bag and left them for Wei Ying to find when he woke. Wei Ying buried each one in their own little graves.'

'But ... they were their pets ...... how could anyone kill them just because ..... sorry.' Jin Ling bowed his head after loosing his temper at the thought of his uncle having to do that alone.

'It's alright Jin Ling. Lan QiRen was .... Not who we all thought him to be.'

SiZhui took careful steps so as not to step on a single grave then bent to pick up the swords. Only, no matter what he did, he was not able to lift either of the swords. He couldn't even budge them a little.

'SiZhui, I think the swords want to stay here so lets let them stay. From this day on, this cave is to be closed to all other than the five of us.'

'Five?' Cheng asked with a frown.

'You, me, SiZhui, Jin Ling and Wen Ning. I think it should be just us.'

'Okay.' Cheng reached over and took his hand hesitantly, unsure if XiChen would permit even SiZhui to see them together in any way, but to his surprise XiChen held on tight as they walked back to the grave site and never let go through out the whole ceremony, until it was time to give the prostrations then again took his hand. Not one of the visiting sect leaders said a single word about this and as they didn't, the members of all sects just accepted it.

Life soon returned to normal, or as close to normal is without Lan Zhan and Wei Ying around. Many of the rules that Lan QiRen made were slowly removed from the wall and this made life even more pleasant in the Cloud Recesses ......

Until about fifty years later when Cheng and XiChen had both died during a night hunt with an over whelming number of fierce corpses. They were buried beside Lan Zhan and Wei Ying, their hands clasped together, and their swords, as per their request, were placed beside the other two in the hidden cave.

Sorry for such a long chapter but I really wanted to end this part so we can all move on to the next.

Here are a few pictures to make up for all the deaths that have happened ................ and those still to come..........................

Yes there is more death on the horizon...................