*A few meters away from Wei Ying's old residence at burial mounds*

After having walked for an hour or so,  the three men stop. All three can feel what can only be described as disturbance in the air. Wei Ying puts his hand out to touch the invisible layer but Lan Zhan catches his hand and stops him.

"Your touch might not go unnoticed." The light bearer says, pointing at his husband's flute. "It might be better if Wen Ning could tell us where the barrier starts."

Wei Ying agrees and gestures Wen Ning to show them the starting point of the barrier.

They follow Wen Ning, as the Ghost General walks around the invisible barrier.

"The force is completely surrounding the area." Lan Zhan observes.

"Mn." Wei Ying nods and looks around, before adding, "I could not hear the kids, but I could feel unstable core energy."

"I think the kids have been sedated." Lan Zhan points out.

"A Yuan!...Master Lan, are they ok?" The Ghost General asks in a worried tone.

"They are fine." Lan Zhan answers.

Wei Ying puts a hand on Lan Zhan's shoulder and informs, "Lan Zhan, we can't break the barrier without alerting the enemy, luckily, when I was occupying the burial mounds, I had discovered a tunnel in my chamber. It was in a terrible condition. But I was free at the time and I had fixed it. The exit of the tunnel, if I remember correctly should be somewhere around here."

"Aaaa... I remember Master Wei." Wen Ning says, and starts walking towards a burnt looking old tree. The two men follow the Ghost General, who stops a few feet away from the tree and crouches down next to where a few rocks are littered around. He immediately starts plucking the grass and carelessly throwing it to a side.

"Wen Ning, what are you doing?" Wei Ying asks.

"Master, don't you remember, this is the entry to your chamber." Wen Ning answers, continuing to pluck out the grass and then removing the soil.

Wei Ying's eyes widen in surprise, "Fuck! Wen Ning, how come you remember this spot?" Wei Ying says, crouching down next to the ghost general and helping him clear the ground.

Lan Zhan snorts unexpectedly, "Wei Ying, we all, including you, know how bad your memory is." The light bearer says lightheartedly.

The two men share a fond look before they fall silent and get to work. Within minutes the trap door becomes visible.

"Lan Zhan, I think, we should let Wen Ning guard the entrance while we go inside." Wei Ying suggests.

"Mn." Lan Zhan nods and turns to the Ghost General, "Stay here. If there is trouble, blow this." Hanguang Jun says, handing a small instrument to Wen Ning.

Wen Ning takes it and nods, and the two cultivators open the trap door and step inside.

"Wen Ning, close to door and hide. Meng Yao's men might be patrolling the arena." Wei Ying instructs.

Once the two men have walked a few feet inside, Wen Ning closes the trap door and covers it with grass before climbing a tree and hiding himself between it's branches.

*Inside the tunnel*

Once Wen Ning closes the trap door, the tunnel gets plunged into darkness. Lan Zhan unsheathes Bitchen and it starts glowing, illuminating their way ahead.

"Lan Zhan, the tunnel opens into my jingshin.....You will have to use the silencing spell around the area to avoid getting detected." Wei Ying advises.

"Mn."

"Lan Zhan.." Wei Ying whispers.

"Mn?"

"If we are not able to save all of them..." Wei Ying starts to say, but Lan Zhan doesn't let him finish.

"I will not let you get hurt, and I will not leave you there." Lan Zhan says, reading his husband's mind.

"But Lan Zhan... "

"Wei... " Lan Zhan says softly holding Wei Ying's arm, "I know that you always put others first and disregard your safety, but I can't do that. I will always put you first... And if we are put in a position where once of us has to stay back, it will be me."

"Lan... Amm" Wei Ying starts to protest but the words don't get out when unexpectedly, Lan Zhan's lips land on Wei Ying's. The light bearer pulls his husband closer and urges Wei Ying's mouth open, deepening the kiss. Wei Ying resists but soon gives up, and returns the kiss.
They part after what feels like hours, but it's only been a minute or so.

When they finally break the kiss, they are out of breath and their lips are swollen.

Lan Zhan traces Wei Ying's lower lip and whispers breathlessly, "Wei Ya...when this is over, come back to Gusu with me."

Wei Ying's eyes fill with unshed tears. He cups his husband's face, "I will. Once this is over, I will come back to Gusu with you... Hell... I will go wherever you want me to go. I will be your shadow... I pro..."

Lan Zhan pecks Wei Ying's lips and stops him from continuing, "Don't promise me anything...you are terrible at keeping them."

Wei Ying smiles and nods, "Can't argue with that." He says, looking at his husband fondly before walking ahead.

*Lotus Cove*
*Meng Yao's chamber*

Su She follows Meng Yao who is being supported by Lan XiChen into the Jin Clan leader's temporary chamber.

"A Yao, I told you that no harm will come to them." Zewu Jun says in a comforting tone, helping Meng Yao to  bed.

Tears form in Meng Yao's eyes as he looks at his most dear friend, 'I wish I had never walked the path I chose... Er ge, if you knew my truth, you would hate me... I can never have that.' Meng Yao thinks, smiling fondly at Zewu Jun.

"Er ge, do you trust me?" Meng Yao asks.

Zewu Jun smiles, "What do you think?" He asks but is met with silence, he presses on, "A Yao, I will trust you till you give me a reason not to do so anymore... Tell me, have you done anything that can make me distrust you?"

Meng Yao opens his mouth to answer when he hears a knock on the door.
The three men look at the door, where Jiang Cheng stands with a distressed look on his face.

"Clan leader, please come in. What is the matter?" XiChen says, politely.

Jiang Cheng looks past Zewu Jun and his gaze lands on Meng Yao, "I just got news that several villagers who had ventured out during the day have not returned. First Jin Ling... and now my people... " Jiang Cheng trails off and sways on the spot.

"Jiang Cheng!" XiChen exclaims and rushes to Jiang Cheng's side, supporting him. He looks at Su She, "Clan leader Su, please stay with A Yao, I will escort Clan leader Jiang to his quarters and be back." XiChen says urgently.

Jiang Cheng tries to push XiChen away, "I don't need... "

"Jiang Cheng. This is not the time to reminisce about the past. We have bigger things to worry about." The Jade of Lan says in a strict tone as if disciplining a child. Jiang Cheng's face flushes but he stops resisting. And with a nod to Meng Yao, XiChen leaves, with his arms around Jiang Cheng's waist, supporting the young clan leader.

Once out of sight, Su She turns to Meng Yao, "Should I send men to keep an eye on them?"

"No, it's not required. Did you not see how much Clan leader Jiang, hates Zewu Jun?" Meng Yao says, smiling maliciously.

"Clan leader, when should we leave for the woods?" Su She asks, walking closer to Meng Yao.

"Su She, I need you to teleport to burial mounds and see if everything is in order. Stay there. I just want to make sure that what the old woman said was true." Meng Yao says. He pauses and takes a deep breath, "Su She, I am worried... if Wei Wuxian has indeed passed away, there is a chance that Lan Wangji will hold me responsible. He is stubborn. He will try to foil our plans... If he was anyone else, I would have just disposed him off... but he is Zewu Jun's brother... I don't know... "

Anger flashes across Su She's face, "Enemies must be eliminated." Su She bites out, "He is high headed and proud. He thinks he is special. If he comes in our way, we should send him to his lover." Su She adds.

Meng Yao takes a deep breath, "If Hanguang Jun tries to disrupt our plans, restrain him and hide him...We will try to take away his memories once we have at least two pieces of Yin iron...Now go. I will send for you if I need you. We will start for the cave after sunset.

Su She bows and leaves.

Meng Yao closes his eyes for a few minutes. He feels exhausted. The amount of spiritual power he had used to create the undead corpses and the power he was still using, to keep the barrier around burial mounds was making him feel week. His head swims with thoughts of his rough childhood and the comfort he had found in Zewu Jun's company. 'I can't lose you Er ge.' Meng Yao mutters under his breath and with Zewu Jun's face filling his mind, Meng Yao falls asleep.

"Clan leader!" Someone calls loudly and knocks on the door, pulling Meng Yao out of his slumber.

He curses under his breath and sits up. He looks at the guard who looks like has seen a ghost and shakes his head, "Speak." He says in a flat tone.

"Clan leader....my apologies... but.. it's Clan leader Lan...he..he.. " The guard trails off.

Sleep leaves Meng Yao's eyes. He rushes towards the guard and grabs his collar. He roars, "Speak, what happened to Er gege?"

{Note :- Yes, once more, we are back with a cliffhanger 😅
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