You've Changed | Wangxian |

Chapter 7 - The Battle

Calmly and Composedly, Lan Wangji rose into the air, shielding himself in a protective dome -  similar to the sword array demonstrated below, but entirely reliant on Lan Wangji's spiritual energy. He removed his guqin from his Qiankun pouch. He intended to use chord assassination to hold off the onslaught of arrows until the rest had safely left and then begin to fight using Bichen. Ideally, he would be able to rely on chord assassination the whole way through, however even with Wangji's large reserves of energy, it was too draining to stay like that for a long time.

Wen Chao smirked at the challenge Lan Wangji had presented for him. He would humour the man and let the others go relatively unharmed; although they were also important, they didn't pose much of a threat in their current state and he could always track them down later. Yes, that's what he would do but first he would watch as the venerable Hanguang-jun crumbled in a futile attempt to save his juniors. 

The arrows continued to rain down upon the sword array and the affect was beginning to show. Small holes had appeared in the makeshift barrier. They wouldn't be able to support it for much longer. Lan Wangji engaged in chord assassination. Energy fronts radiated from the guqin striking down the arrows before they hit the disciples. As wave after wave of arrows swarmed through the sky, the Lan returned wave after wave of defences, forcing a kind of standstill - no one was winning, no one was losing. A battle for who would run out of reserves first.

"Hurry and retreat!" Ordered Hanguang-jun. "Don't worry about me, all of you go then I can finish it up."

A few of the disciples looked like they disapproved and wanted to stay.

"Go. now. The longer you take the weaker I will get. Leave now!"

No one dared to challenge Hanguang-jun so they obliged and left, collapsing the sword array and disappearing under the cover of the foliage. He hoped for all their sakes that they hurried up.

The arrows still shot through the sky undeterred by the Lan's attempts. 'Damn it,' thought Lan Wangji, 'why did they have to be so well prepared'. 

Now that the rest of the disciples were out of immediate danger, he could be a bit more careless. As opposed to aiming to shoot down the arrows, he switched tactics targeting the lines of soldiers. There were a lot of soldiers however they were lined up along the wall / platform in rows of twos or threes at most. He began to attack the ends of the lines where the defence was weakest, toppling the guards off of the wall and onto the floor. Worst case scenario, they would only sustain light injuries but it would cause the remaining Wens to spread out further. As a result of this, they would be easier to fight off when his spiritual energy was running lower. 

The tactic was quite effective and within around ten minutes, he had managed to pull about 70 people off. 

"Clap, clap, clap. Well done Childe Lan. I must say I wasn't expecting that."

Lan Wangji blocked out Wen Chao's patronising voice. He could tell the man was getting angry that his plan wasn't working out how he had anticipated. He couldn't let himself be distracted: not whilst he had the temporary upper hand. 

He continued in his pursuit, knocking down an additional 20 or so people but he knew that his energy was beginning to dwindle. In one last strum of the guqin, he destroyed several of the Wen's weapons. It was now or never.

He jumped up on the wall next to the last soldier before quickly stabbing him with Bichen. He had needed to dissolve his spiritual shield and so was more vulnerable to attack however due to the angle of the wall, it would be hard for anyone to shoot at him from afar without hitting one of their allies. 

Becoming sensible of what was happening, soldiers rushed to confront him but their sword skills were far inferior to his. He defeated them one after another barely taking notice of how many fell beneath his blade.

By this point, Wen Chao was becoming exceedingly worried. He could be confident when backed by an army but he was no idiot. The prospect of a one on one battle with the notorious Hanguang-jun, the renowned Second Jade of Lan, scared him and no matter how conceited and self-absorbed he was, he knew who would win. 

Desperate, he ordered all soldiers to attack. Some with their swords and some with their bows. Hesitantly, the archers began to release arrows towards the Lan but he was moving too fast and more often then not, the one that would fall victim would be a Wen.

In a last ditch attempt, Wen Chao retreated but implored his soldiers to fight with their lives and launch a simultaneous attack on the Lan. Of approximately 60 soldiers, 40 fired arrows and 20 charged head on. No matter how good the Lan was he couldn't protect himself on all sides at once. His energy was already low and he had sustained a few minor injuries already but he had no choice. 'Do it for Wei Ying,' he thought,'you must avenge him!'

He was vaguely aware of several arrows hitting his extremities but all missed anywhere vital. He continued with his unyielding attacks. A slash here, a stab there, shoving and flipping and kicking and cutting. And somehow he made it through. Bodies littered the ground but he was alive. No he had not killed everyone, several had run away in fear, others merely injured but that was enough. 

His face was expressionless, he was numb. No external factors could change that. He stood victorious illuminated by the white light of the rising sun, framed by crimson clouds. He looked down. Like the sky, his pristine white robes were stained with their own crimson clouds. 'Oh,' he wondered,'is that mine or theirs?'

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Author's Note: I have delivered as promised - 2 updates in one day. I really hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Also, I know that the time frame for this battle isn't very realistic but in my head, a victorious Lan Zhan standing proud against the red sky seems very dramatic and appealing. Please vote and comment if you have any thoughts, opinions, ideas or corrections.