He sobered. "You must depart quickly. Wanyin and I will follow shortly." 

~WEI YING'S POV~

"What happened?" Lan Zhan asked him as soon as they were out of sight. He wanted to know what the argument with Jiang Cheng was about, and why both brothers were so upset. 

Wei Ying sighed. 'It's Lan Zhan. He can keep a secret, so i can tell him right?' he thought, opening his mouth to explain before thinking better of it.'But Jiang Cheng would never want anyone else to know. He's so prideful, even crying in front of Lan Zhan took so much out of him. If he knew that I told Lan Zhan about the cores, he would never be able to live it down. And besides, Lan Zhan already hates him. I don't want to give him more reasons to scorn him. No. Best if I don't talk about it.' 

"Nothing," Wei Ying muttered, ignoring Lan Zhan's pressing gaze. 

"Wei Ying..." 

"I don't want to talk about it. It's not Jiang Cheng's fault. We both sacrificed a lot," Wei Ying clipped. 

"You were crying," Lan Zhan pointed out. 

"I know. But it's all in the past now." 

"Are you sure you're alright?" 

"Yes. Let's drop it." 

"Wei Ying..." 

"Please?" 

"But-" 

"LAN ZHAN! Just drop it!" Wei Ying snapped, patience wavering. 

Lan Zhan was silent, the hurt clear on his face. Wei Ying saw that, and the irritation that surged through him softened. Lan Zhan was just trying to help, and Wei Ying had pushed him away. Guilt rose inside him, it was all his fault. "I'm sorry," he whispered, laying a gentle hand on Lan Zhan's shoulder. "I didn't mean to yell at you." 

Lan Zhan didn't say anything, but reached up to cover Wei Ying's hand with his own. It was a silent sign that he was forgiven. 

Wei Ying let out a breath of relief, "Lan Zhan! Let's stop for a while by the river! I'm thirsty!" he exclaimed, pointing at the stream before them. His cheerful mood had returned, and the bright smile was back on his face. 

Lan Zhan gave him a complicated look, but nodded his head in agreement. 

Wei Ying pretended he didn't see the judging look in Lan Zhan's eyes, and bounded away towards the babbling brook. 

Lan Zhan joined him, only to get drenched with a wave of water. 

Beside him, his companion was doubling over in a fit of giggles, muttering between breaths, "Ha! Lan Zhan... the great Han-Guang Jun. How undignified! Imagine if your uncle saw! HA! The look on his face would be priceless! He would no doubt spit blood! Imagine the scandal! Han-Guang Jun caused his own uncle to go into qi deviation!"

Wei Ying snorted, his stomach hurting from all the laughter. 

Lan Zhan's brows twitched, as a smirk played across his face. That was all the warning Wei Ying got before a giant wave of water towered over him, effectively drenching him from head to toe. There was a smug expression on Lan Zhan's face, and Wei Ying felt a surge of indignation. "Lan Zhan!" he screeched, splashing water at his lover. "How dare you!" 

"Wei Yi-" Lan Zhan started, but was cut off by a shrill shriek. 

"You youngsters! All of you are so naughty!" an old woman reprimanded, nearing the banks of the river. "Splashing water all over the place huh? How are we supposed to wash our clothes then?" she narrowed her eyes at them. "How childish." 

Lan Zhan's ears blushed a bright red, and even Wei Ying looked down in shame. "We're sorry, we got carried away." 

"Hmph," the old woman harrumphed. "You must be new right?"

Wei Ying shot her a confused look, "How did you know?" 

"Look at you! You're spending your time playing around in the water! Don't you know there's a menace in this area? It's said that the Yiling Patriarch is back from the dead! Rumor is that the Yiling Patriarch came back and he's digging graves- preparing his puppets for the next war!"

"W-What?" Wei Ying stuttered. 'How absurd! He was digging graves, and turning the dead into fierce corpses under his command?' He groaned. 'That was only once! He only did that during the Sunshot Campaign. And back then, it was glorified, used as a way to boost morale.' Wei Ying snorted. How times have changed. 

"Why are you laughing?" the old woman asked haughtily. "The Yiling Patriarch is no small opponent! Why you cultivators! You think you're all on top of the world! Well let me tell you. I was but a young maiden when the first siege of Burial Mounds happened! I heard that the Yiling Patriarch went mad, before finally succumbing to the backlash of demonic cultivation! Hmph. Good riddance. That man was insane, he killed everyone! Why they even said he killed his own sister! Imagine that! Why I-" 

Lan Zhan cut her off with an icy glare. "Thank you. We'll be leaving now," he interrupted stiffly. 

The woman turned her nose up at him, "Why you-!" she was just about to scold Lan Zhan, when a sudden howl tore through the air. She screamed when a bellow sounded behind her. It was a long, drawn out roar, full of menace and threat. The old woman screeched as she scrambled up and ran, her retreating figure fading into the horizon. 

Wei Ying sighed, turning towards the sound. "Wen Ning," he murmured, "You can come out now." 

A sheepish Wen Ning stepped out from behind the tall grass, head hung in shame. "I'm sorry Young Master, I just couldn't bear to hear her talk anymore nonsense." 

"It's not nonsense if it's true." 

Wen Ning shook his head vehemently, "Young Master is kind! You did not kill Young Mistress Jiang! She sacrificed herself for you! Had I not killed Jin Zixuan, then perhaps..." he trailed off, guilt assaulting him. 

Wei Ying sighed. "It's not your fault." 

"Wei Ying..." Lan Zhan whispered, gently entwining their fingers together in reassurance. "Burial Mounds," he reminded. 

"Ah yes! Lan Zhan how could I forget? Silly me," Wei Ying chirped, all his earlier weariness fading. "Wen Ning, you can come along too!" 

--------

"I told you so! The Yiling Patriarch is dangerous! Why didn't you stab him harder?" a voice whispered up ahead. Wei Ying paused. They had been trudging up the mountain for quite some time now, only occasionally stopping for water. There was no way Lan Xichen or any of the other sects had gotten here before them. So why were there voices? 

He hesitated, trying to gauge whom the speaker might be. 

Sure enough, another voice sounded, this time full of irritation, "Shut up! Who asked you?" 

Whoever this was, they were unusually childish, with quite a temper too. It sounded like Jiang Cheng, but younger. Wei Ying frowned, 'Jiang Cheng? Wait... mini Jiang Cheng? Jin Ling?!' he gasped, fear flooding him. 'What was Jin Ling doing here?' 

"Calm down, arguing won't get us anywhere," a honeyed voice interrupted.

Beside him, Lan Zhan paled, face a ghastly white. "Si Zhui," he mouthed, horror clouding his tone. 

Wei Ying frowned. Si Zhui again? Who was this Si Zhui anyways? And why did Lan Zhan care so much about him? If he didn't know any better, he would've thought this was Lan Zhan's son! But that's impossible. Since when did Lan Zhan have a son? 

A frantic voice pulled Wei Ying out of his jealous haze. "Si Zhui what do we do! We're going to die in here! Oh please someone save us, I don't want to die yet!" 

Wei Ying's frown deepened. It was Jingyi. "What's that little drama queen doing here?" he groaned, shuffling forwards. 

"Well?" he hissed at his two companions. "We can't just leave them here." 

That seemed to do the trick, as Lan Zhan and Wen Ning immediately rushed forward, catching up with Wei Ying. 

The voices got louder and louder as they neared the entrance of the cave. It was the Demon Slaughtering Cave. Wei Ying almost snorted at the irony of it all. Demon Slaughtering Cave? Ha! The only demon there was himself!

 "Han-Guang Jun?" came Si Zhui's soft voice, breaking Wei Ying out of his trance. "Is that you?" 

Wei Ying harrumphed. "Of course it's him! Who else could it be? Certainly not Xichen! He's too busy with my little sister to bother with you!" 

"Who's your little sister? When did the Yiling Patriarch have a little sister?" came Jin Ling's incredulous voice. 

"Why Jiang Cheng of course!" 

"W-What?!" Jin Ling spluttered, speechless. "My uncle's going to break your legs for saying that!" 

"Ha! He always says that. He's been that way since we were kids. Doesn't he threaten you all the time? Look at you! You're still in one piece aren't you?" 

"W-Well," Jin Ling blushed, embarrassment clouding his tone. "You're different! My uncle hates you!" 

"No he doesn't," Wei Ying preened. "Jiang Cheng is the sweetest! He wouldn't hurt a soul!" 

"You-!" Jin Ling was just about to retort, when Wen Ning dashed forward, towering over them. Jin Ling trembled, but kept his head held high. There was no way he was going to bow to his father's murderer. 

A look of surprise flittered over his face when Wen Ning took it upon himself to loosen the ropes, untying Jin Ling. "W-What are you doing?" he gasped, unsure of what to make of this. On one hand, he was quite grateful to be rescued. On the other, his rescuer happened to be the same man that killed his father. Jin Ling couldn't very well stab him- it wouldn't be seemly. But he also couldn't just stand there and pretend like all was well. 

In the end, Jin Ling settled on a frown, sneering at Wen Ning in disgust. 

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get the fuck out of here!" Wei Ying rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"Y-Yes, Senior Wei!" Si Zhui saluted, gesturing towards his fellow disciples. "Hurry! Let's go!" 

"B-But, if we go outside, we'll be killed!" 

"If we leave, we'll at least have a fighting chance. If we stay, then we'll be cornered! If corpses come inside, we'll die for sure!" Si Zhui reasoned, grabbing Jingyi and sprinting outside. 

The rest of the Gusu Lan Sect disciples followed suit, and soon, more juniors trailed after them. 

Wei Ying turned, and was just about to leave- when Wen Ning suddenly flew backwards, landing in a heap in front of him. "Wen Ning?" Wei Ying scratched his head, confused. Wen Ning would never let himself be tossed around like that. Whoever it was, Wen Ning must've decided they weren't a threat.

"Who's there?" he called, voice echoing. 

"Me."

Wei Ying looked up to see Jiang Cheng's violet eyes, brewing with thunderous rage. Zidian glared with brilliant light, and crackles filled the air. 

"Jiang Cheng," he murmured with relief. 

Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes, fixing a glare at the bundle beside him. "Wen Ning..." he growled, the fury clear in his voice. 

Wei Ying held his hands up in surrender. "Hey, you can vent your anger out some other time. But right now? Looks like we have some company," he drawled as he glanced behind Jiang Cheng. Purple, blue, gold, red, white, and grey blended together in an array of colors. Each sect held a banner, and each raised their swords high in the air. 

It was clear a signal. 

The second siege of Burial Mounds, had officially begun.