Lan Zhan feels torn; A part of him wants to run back to his brother, and the other wants to shield his husband from whatever it was that had caused the temple walls to tremble.

He unsheathes Bichen, and looks around. He finds Jiang Cheng and Meng Yao's unconscious forms lying a few meters away, but Lan XiChen who was right next to the statue of the deity just moments ago, seems to have disappeared.

"Brother!" The light bearer yells, but no one responds. He is about to yell again but just then, Wei Ying puts his hand on Lan Zhan's shoulder, making the older man turn.

Wei Ying gestures Lan Zhan to remain silent, and points to a place right behind the statue of the deity. As always, Lan Zhan understands what Wei Ying is trying to say, and follows his husband when he starts walking towards the direction he had just pointed out to him.

As soon as the two cultivators walk behind the statue with Bitchen illuminating their way, Lan Zhan's eyes catch a glimpse of a figure moving just a few meters ahead of them.

Lan Zhan's eyes widened, and he tries to approach the figure, but Wei Ying stops him. And shakes his head. "Don't do anything." The younger man mouths, and reluctantly, Lan Zhan nods.

They continue to follow the figure who is none other than Zewu Jun.
Zewu Jun enters a freshly dug tunnel, the same one Meng Yao had entered just a couple of hours ago, and continues to walk towards the place where the box with Nie Mingu's head was kept.

On approaching the box, the older Jade sways on the spot before falling to his keens. He touches the lid, and a wail erupts from within him.

It's heartbreaking. It's the cry of a lost man.

Both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying cover their ears. Wei Ying has never heard a cry so full of resentment. His heart hurts at the thought of how the older Nie leader would have felt.

Lan Zhan tries to leave Wei Ying's side yet again, but is once again stopped by Wei Ying, who signals Lan Zhan to stand back.

In the meanwhile, Lan XiChen stops screaming and opens the lid. Taking out the dismembered head, he cradles it in his arms.

'He is crying.' Wei Ying observes at the way XiChen's shoulders shake.
'After this comes the hard part.' Wei Ying thinks to himself, and takes out Chenqing. He turns to look at Lan Zhan who looks at him questioningly.

Wei Ying smiles.

Lan Zhan knows this smile. He hates this smile. For it is the same smile Wei Ying had directed at him while falling to his death at Evernight. The light bearer purses his lips and shakes his head, "No." He mouths, but Wei Ying just shrugs.

The meaning is clear; Lan Zhan knows that Wei Ying is trying to tell him that the only way to save Zewu Jun is to risk his life. Lan Zhan doesn't want that. He can't afford to sacrifice one for the other.

There is always a way, there has to be a way, Lan Zhan thinks, trying to approach Wei Ying, to stop him. But Wei Ying knows his husband as well. He mutters a spell and a moment later, Lan Zhan is bound by glowing ropes about his arms and torso.

As light bearer falls to his knees, black smoke, dense and violent, starts forming around Lan XiChen. The older Lan stands up, and turns around to face Wei Ying.

Thought it is Lan XiChen who is looking at Wei Ying, the Yiling patriarch knows exactly who it is that is staring at him.

"Yiling Patriarch!" The older Jade growls, but he doesn't sound like himself; he is not himself. "You have taken the lives of innocent people. You need to be punished." He barks out, and Wei Ying starts playing his flute.

Lan Zhan knows this melody. It's the same one Wei Ying had used the day they had left Lanling, after he had been stabbed by Jin Ling. Lan Zhan remembers the toll it had taken on Wei Ying's body at the time.

"Wei Ying, don't!" Lan Zhan begs, and Lan XiChen's eyes fall on him.

"You! You stood by him. You disgraced your clan." XiChen accuses, and ignoring Wei Ying, walks towards Lan Zhan instead.

Wei Ying stops playing, he removes the binds that hold his husband and yells, "Lan Zhan, I will stop him. I will save him. Take Jiang Cheng, and leave!" With that, he blocks Zewu Jun's way, "Zewu Jun, try to remember who you are!"

The older Lan laughs mirthlessly, "XiChen, He trusted that son of a whore! He stopped me from doing the right thing! He chose Meng Yao over me!" He continues, and holds out his hand as if beckoning his saber to do his bidding.

The air around them grows colder and the black smoke gets drawn to XiChen's hand: a saber-like weapon takes form.

"Fuck..." Wei Ying mutters under his breath, and closes his eyes. A split second later, Subian unsheathes itself and blocks the black saber-shaped form that attacks Wei Ying.

The Yiling patriarch staggers back and resumes playing, as Bitchen joins Subian, and the two spiritual weapons stop the heavy relentless attacks from the weapon, made of nothing but negative energy.

Lan Zhan takes out his zither, and starts playing the inquiry. He knows that if he can get through to his brother, it will help them stop Nie Mingjue's restless angry spirit. But try as he may, he is unable to find XiChen. It's like the older Jade doesn't want to be found; Like he is letting the former Nie Clan leader control him willingly.
"Brother, please." Lan Zhan begs, but it falls on deaf ears.

In the meanwhile, the black smoke becomes denser.

"There is just a lot of suppressed anger and resentment, Lan Zhan. And it craves blood. I am afraid it will not be appeased until it takes a life, maybe more." Wei Ying states with a sense of urgency, and ducks as the saber aims for his head.

"The headband!" Lan Zhan exclaims and rushes over to Jiang Cheng who is just coming to.

"Jiang Cheng," Lan Zhan calls and helps the clan leader up, "Give me brother's headband."

Jiang Cheng pulls out the headband from the front of his robes and hands, it over to Lan Zhan, "Where is everyone?" He asks looking around.
But Lan Zhan doesn't have time to answer. He signals Jiang Cheng to follow him and go to where Wei Ying is single-handedly battling XiChen.
"What's Zewu Jun doing?"

"Nie Mingjue's spirit is possessing him." Lan Zhan answers, and throws the headband to Wei Ying, who dogges another blow and catches it.

"Lan Zhan, use the killer string and bind him." Wei Ying orders and light bearer complies.

This further angers the possessed man, and as expected, he tries to break himself free of the restrains. He winces as the string tears through the layers of clothes and breaks skin.

"Hurry up, Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan urges, and Wei Ying moves closer to, and then enters the black dense cloud that surrounds XiChen.

Lan Zhan expects the bind to hold; he expects the headband to work, but he is proved wrong as the powerful flute falls to the floor drenched in blood.
"Nooooooooooo!" Lan Zhan screams and lungs at the smoke that had injured Wei Ying, but he is pushed back as soon as he makes contact with the dark matter.

Jiang Cheng breaks Lan Zhan's fall.
Lan Zhan's face is devoid of color and he is trembling from head to toe.
"Wei Ying... " The light bearer whispers as tears make their way down his cheeks. He tries to stand up and approach the smoke again, but fails.

"Stay." Jiang Cheng instructs, and sparks emanate from his fingers signaling that Zidian is being summoned.

Jiang Cheng lifts his hand and Zidian makes contact with the dark clouds. Unfortunately, Jiang Cheng meets the same fate as Lan Zhan. But Jiang Cheng doesn't give up, he unsheathes Sando and tries again.

This time the smoke clears a little and Wei Ying's unconscious form, dangling in mid-air, comes into view.
Lan XiChen looks at Jiang Cheng and seems to calm down, "You are noble." He announces and gives Jiang Cheng a curt nod. "You denounced this evil-doer." He adds proudly.

'Clan leader Nie trusts me because I stood by him at Evernight.' Jiang Cheng realizes and bows, "Yes I did. And I will do it again." He lies.

Lan XiChen smiles and almost hands Wei Ying over to Jiang Cheng but just before he can, his eyes fall on Sando. His face darkens, "No, you too are against me!" He growls.

Jiang Cheng drops Sando and raises his hands, "Zewu Jun, please, come back." He begs.

"Zewu Jun!?" The possessed man bites out, "Yes, where is he?" He questions and looks around, "Zewu Jun, I didn't take you for a coward, even though you betrayed me!" He says coldly, and Wei Ying's body falls to the floor.

"Zewu Jun, show yourself!" Nie Mingjue's spirit demands, walking towards the front of the temple, searching for his sworn brother.
The spirit looks at Lan XiChen's headband that Wei Ying had tried to use on him, "I can feel you here, XiChen!"

As the possessed man moves away from the injured cultivators, Jiang Cheng moves towards Wei Ying's unmoving body.

"Wei Wuxian, wake up!" He shakes his senior brother's shoulder desperately, while Lan Zhan crawls towards his husband.

"Wei Ying, " Lan Zhan mutters, gathering his energy and sitting up. He pulls his husband into his lap and closes his eyes, "Wake up, Wei Ya... " He urges, trying to transfer his spiritual energy to his husband.
But there is nothing to transfer. Lan Zhan is too week; He can barely hold on to his conscience. When the transfer fails, Lan Zhan looks at Jiang Cheng, "Help him."

But the Jiang Clan leader shakes his head, "I tried, it's not working... Lan Wangji, don't lose hope. Wei Wuxian is a fighter. He is breathing. He can be saved."

Lan Zhan feels devastated. He feels useless, "Help my brother, Jiang Cheng." He mutters, pulling Wei Ying closer and looking pleadingly at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng nods, but he is as clueless as the light bearer. He knows that he is no match for Nie Mingjue's spirit, that's when he remembers Huaisang who he had seen lying unconscious in front of the statue.

He runs towards the spot where he had last seen his once close friend and lets out a sigh of relief on finding him as he had been left.

"Brother Huaisang, wake up. We need you." Jiang Cheng shakes the unconscious man's shoulder, and the young man opens his eyes. His brows knit, "Brother Cheng, what are you doing here?" He asks, sitting up.

"Your brother's spirit is possessing Zewu Jun. He has already injured Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. I think he is not yet aware that he is possessing Zewu Jun's body, so he is looking for him. There is a good chance that your brother might try to harm or kill Zewu Jun... I think you can stop him, Brother Huaisang." Jiang Cheng informs and urges the young man, but Huaisang doesn't react. Instead, he smiles and looks at the feet of the statue where Meng Yao is hiding and stands up. The young clan leader looks around and spots a mirror lying on the floor, broken in half, and picks it up.

"Brother Huaisang, what are you doing?" Jiang Cheng questions, to which Huaisang replies, "What have I ever done? After all, I know nothing, remember?"

{Note :- That's it for today's update. Please feel free to point out error if you come across any.

I am aware that I am quite horrible when it comes to penning down action sequences so please pardon my incompetency. I will try to do better next time.

Some of you were wondering when I will be updating 'Mine', the thing is, I wanted to finish TLB before continuing Mine, but if you guys would rather have that update, please let me know in the comments section and I will see what I can do.

On another note, I wrote a Wangxian one-shot 'The soul traveller', if you haven't already checked it out, please do so if you can spare a few moments. Also feedback is greatly appreciated ❤

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Thank you for reading.
Have a nice day.}