Chapter 11

A/N: If you guys have read my warnings about Wattpad messing up with the order of this book's chapter, then let me tell ya guys something... THIS particular chapter has been (and still is) visiting (whether placed before or after) chapter 8 for some unknown reason and I'm fearing that this chapter will end up visiting the other chapters too. Next thing I know, I'll might as well see this chapter gone and moved out of the book to explore my other ones... *Sigh* If this chapter isn't in its rightful place, just skip it and keep on going according to the correct order. Enjoy the chapter!❤️

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In the morning, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling followed by 7 disciples, were in a forest a bit aways from between Lanling and Yunmeng (Lanling was closer tho) on their horses looking for the two missing people. They even brought an extra horse for them to ride on together since Jiang Cheng disapproved of the idea of Lady Lan riding alone on a horse. Lan Xichen and his Lan disciples stayed back at Jin Clan until their return; Xichen had a feeling he needed to be there for some reason, until he finds out what the reason is, he's staying there. Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling were just talking and discussing the plans on what to do if finding one of them or the both of them along with the enemy, until...

*Shrub shrub*

They stopped when sensing a presence behind the bushes, only for both Wen Ning AND Lan Zhēn to pop out of them.

Jiang Cheng/Jin Ling: "Princess!"

Wen Ning: "Shh! We need to run! The Leader of the gang might already know the Princess escaped!"

Jiang Cheng nodded, understanding the situation and deciding to keep the questions for last. Jiang Cheng gave them the extra horse they've brought in case they found them, but Wen Ning stopped Jiang Cheng and told him that it would be best if she was riding a horse with either Childe Jin or with him (Jiang Cheng), since being with him (Wen Ning) would only make her a bigger target. Having no time to discuss further of this, Jiang Cheng agreed and let her ride with Jin Ling, her being at front while Jin Ling in the back, that way she's more secured (Jin Ling still controlled the horse though). After this being decided, Wen Ning helped her unto the same horse as Jin Ling, he mounted the extra horse, and they all quickly left... But it didn't take long until gang members started arriving little by little leaping tree to tree.

With weapons in hand, the disciples protected their Leaders and Wen Ning (he also fought) with all their might.

Lan Zhēn: "Clan Leader Jiang! *Gets his attention* There's an old man within them that can sense people's cores, in other words, the enemy knows where we are and where we are going. If we don't come up with a strategy, he might confuse us somehow and get us trapped."

Jiang Cheng got tense at this information. How would they go back to the Clan then?

Jin Ling: "Uncle! Remember the shortcut we found recently? The cave? Wouldn't that make it difficult for him to sense us?"

Lan Zhēn: "Perfect! The cave will block the signals and vibrations that our cores give to him."

Jiang Cheng: "But the cave isn't that long! It's just a shortcut so we wouldn't go around the mountain! Plus, if we keep getting attacked this way, it would be too dangerous! The cave isn't stable enough for a single dinamite!"

Lan Zhēn thought deeply while the disciples kept fighting hard against the enemy. Her eyes then widened and gleamed, a plan in her mind.

Lan Zhēn: "Let's go to the cave! I've got a plan!"

Jiang Cheng: "But it's not-!"

Lan Zhēn (desperate): "Trust me!"

Jiang Cheng was hesitant, after all, he was risking not only his life, but everyone else's. Jin Ling watched his Uncle think and then the road to the cave nervously/desperately as they all neared the two separate roads. Time is running out and Jiang Cheng hasn't made up his mind.

Lan Zhēn (desperate): "Clan Leader Jiang!"

Jiang Cheng: "Alright! Let's go!"

Almost on last minute, everyone turned towards the road where it leads them to the cave. Seeing the cave's entrance, Lan Zhēn looked at Jin Ling in a semi uncomfortable face.

Lan Zhēn: "Childe Jin, my deepest apologies but... May I undo your waste band?"

Jin Ling (flustered/confused): "W-wHaT?!"

Lan Zhēn: "Please don't think wrongly! I need to strap myself to you so I can remain balanced while I put my plan to work. Please, we don't have much time! I won't be able to see in the dark!"

Jiang Cheng stared at them both confused and lost while seeing how a red and flustered Jin Ling nods while looking away. With this response from the embarrassed boy, Zhēn started undoing his waist band in which Jiang Cheng got shocked by and quickly shook his head disapprovingly at this, but he stayed silent since they were in a worse situation. The two teens were then strapped together by the time they finally entered the cave, where she explained the plan to everyone... and her core started glow...

Back at the Campsite:

Tài Yǎzhù (irritated): "So? Did you find them?

An angry Yǎzhù glares towards an old meditating Wiseman, the Tài disciples behind him shaking on the ground from their failure.

Old Wiseman: "Yes. They entered a cave, it's a short route, so they will be getting out soon."

A few seconds after saying this, his already aged face wrinkled more. A look of confusion washes his features.

Tài Yǎzhù: "What happened?"

Old Wiseman: "I... *Opens eyes* She's everywhere."

Tài Yǎzhù (gritted teeth): "What?"

Back to Zhēn and company:

Everyone got out of the cave, but with a Lan Zhēn clone on their horses except for Jiang Cheng's since he was going to stay by Jin Ling's side. Zhēn had already untied herself from Jin Ling in the cave so she could confuse the enemy; Jiang Cheng then explained to everyone (because he's scarier when angry) one last time to try to protect her clones as if they were really Lan Zhēn and to prevent as much as possible in getting them to receive ANY damage at all, or else they'll disappear. Wen Ning and Lan Zhēn shared a final look until he and the other disciples scattered off, going their own way back to Lanling. Of course, the enemy scattered as well and little by little, the clones dissipated when injured or receiving a hard impact from falling to the ground, the disciples would escape to safety as fast as possible after the clones disappeared, in which they all succeeded.

One gang member spotted Lan Zhēn with the Jiang Clan Leader and Jin Childe from a distance and followed them.

Archer GM: "You won't get away!"

An Archer GM leaped on the trees to catch up to them, he then used a tight metal rope and was able to catch/tie one of Zhēn's wrists and pulled her out of Jin Ling's arms whom tried his hardest to grasp her, but failed. When being pulled, she got herself hit by a branch hard, hard enough to break all her ribs because of the huge branch in comparison to her small body, which panicked the GM greatly.

*Puff*

It was a clone. With this being revealed, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling ran away as fast as their horses could possibly run. The GM scowled at this, yet was mostly relieved that he got to live another day. He wanted to follow them, but was called over by a colleague who informed him that the real Lan Princess was captured along with "Huamei", and so they returned back to Camp grounds.

Back to Campsite:

Tài Yǎzhù (smirk): "Well well well. I admit that you are truly smarter than I thought you would be."

Lan Zhēn (glaring): "..."

Tài Yǎzhù: "... And you must be this Huamei character that has been tormenting my men. I'll have my fun with you later, but for now, I first want to teach this young girl a lesson. Maybe then *on Lan Zhēn's eye level* she won't disobey me... Ever again."

With this said, he roughly grabbed Zhēn by the neck, raised her from the ground and slammed her on to a tree, the impact knocked the air out of her...

*Puff*

*Gasps*

Tài Yǎzhù (gritted teeth): "She was a clone?"

GM: "My apologies Master! I-I promise I didn't know!"

Tài Yǎzhù: "Silence! You... (At Wen Ning) She'll be back for you, unfortunately though *stab*, it will only be your lifeless corpse."

Wen Ning: "*Smirks*"

*Puff*

Tài Yǎzhù shook and breathed heavily, letting go of his dagger in the process, anger radiating from him. Everyone then shakily bowed and remained down except for the Wiseman who remained calm.

Tài Yǎzhù (furious): "I thought... you told me... that they were the ones."

Old Wiseman (calmly): "I only said that because she was the only one around, after all, there had to be a real one among the clones. *Slight bow* My apologies for failing you young Master."

Tài Yǎzhù: "No, you didn't fail me, she just outsmarted us that's all. Besides, there's no reason for getting angry, she belongs to me either way, she was just merely stolen from me. They'll give her back, after all... *pulls out sword* What can they possibly do against me? Lan Xichen doesn't have a choice, either he sacrifices her and make Crystal Heart reborn, or give her to me and allow her to live. *Smirk/Grins* Oh, how I don't want to be placed in his shoes... *Chuckle/short evil laugh*"

Back to the others:

Jiang Cheng: "I think we lost them. We need to get back to Lanling, quick everyone!"

Jin Ling (worried): "But what about Lady Lan and Wen Ning?"

Jiang Cheng: "I'm sure they're fine, let's go."

Finally reaching the Jin Clan after 30+ minutes of horse ridding, Fairy ran towards Jin Ling and started sniffing him as to see if he was okay. Jin Ling semi-smiled, and after petting her a little he continued to walk towards the Main Hall with his Uncle, where Xichen was located, the sound of a Guqin sounding louder as they neared. Once there, Xichen noticed their presence, dissipated his Guqin and hurriedly went to them.

Lan Xichen (worried): "What happened? Did you encounter any gang members?"

Jiang Cheng: "Yes. We also encountered Miss Lan and Wen Ning."

Lan Xichen (panicked): "Where are they?"

Jiang Cheng then took out a piece of folded fabric from his inside pocket, in which Xichen recognized as a piece of Zhēn's robe, Jiang Cheng then gave it to Xichen in which he unfolded. There was a Fūinjutsu, a seal technic that originated in Japan, he showed Lan Zhēn this as well as a few others in case they were to be necessary... Which now was.

Jiang Cheng: "She said you knew how to undo it."

Xichen didn't waste time, he hurriedly place the cloth on the ground and, after bitting his thumb, he quickly performed a few hand signs he learned before showing it to her...

*Place hand on seal* (the one with the bitten thumb)

*Swoosh/Pof*

Zhēn and Wen Ning appeared and both of them stumbled, Wen Ning was held by Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng while Zhēn was held by Xichen.

Lan Xichen (shaky): "Zhēn."

Zhēn grunted and began to slowly open her eyes, weak from the amount of energy she used so far, which was so much more than she would normally use in all of her years of living. Once their eyes connecting, she got emotional.

Lan Zhēn (sad smile): "Papa?"

At this, Xichen smiled, a single tear escaping his glossy eyes and soon engulfed his daughter in a tight yet gentle hug. Zhēn clinged unto her dear father, relieved that she's truly once more in his arms after all of the stress she went through in those three days away from him. Jiang Cheng smiled at this wholesome sight, but the feeling changed to suspicion when he saw how Wen Ning kept a serious face.

Jiang Cheng: "What's wrong? Are you not happy they are reunited?"

This sudden question caught Xichen's attention and looked up, but he still held Zhēn in his arms.

Wen Ning (serious): "O-of course I'm happy! I-I just... Have important information for C-Clan Leader Lan."

Lan Xichen nodded, he ordered his men to take Zhēn to her temporary room to let her rest and Jiang Cheng ordered the Jiang/Jin disciples to help the Lan disciples in protecting her while she rested; Jin Ling volunteered in guarding her, so he helped her to her room and left with the disciples. Once alone, Wen Ning told them everything he found out, and if it wasn't obvious... They weren't very pleased with any of the given information.

Jiang Cheng (furious): "What?! As a wife?! You can't be serious! She's 15 for heaven's sake!-"

Jiang Cheng kept ranting on and on about how disgusted and furious he is with the Tài Clan Leader's plans while Lan Xichen kept quiet, but even though he was silent, his anger was noticeable due to his slighty shaky state as well as his intense distant glare.

Lan Xichen: "So if you arrived any time later, she could've most likely been harmed?..."

Wen Ning looked down and nodded with a serious face. Xichen exhaled deeply, a wave of relief going through his body knowing that Wen Ning came before that man did.

Jiang Cheng: "Clan Leader Lan. We need to make a reunion and give everyone the news. Clearly we are not going to let that man lay a finger on Miss Lan."

Lan Xichen: "Nor will I ever consider him as a son. Please, start writing the letters. All I want is to be with Zhēn and try to talk to her of what she went through before Wen Ning came to her rescue. I also want to help her rest, I'm sure she had a hard time doing so these few days with the enemy."

With this said, Jiang Cheng excused himself and ran off to start writing the letters and send them off as soon as possible. Before leaving the Hall, Lan Xichen turned to Wen Ning with a serious look.

Lan Xichen (serious): "Is there something only I should know?"

Wen Ning: "S-she made her first kill... B-but I don't mean hunting."

Lan Xichen exhaled through his nose and tensed. She was always so pacific, the most she would do to harm anyone would be beating them up and that's it, the hits wouldn't even be that harsh anyways... but killing people?

Lan Xichen: "Please tell me it was just one."

Wen Ning looked down and slowly shook his head, this made Xichen grip his sword in anger.

Wen Ning: "A gang member s-stabbed me with a spear that had some kind of seal on it that paralyzed me completely, I f-fainted afterwards since it somehow affected me a lot. S-She saved me and herself... I-I'm sorry, I tried to keep her safe... But there were a lot of giants and-"

Lan Xichen (smiling): "I either way thank you Wen Ning, for trying your absolute hardest and for not giving up."

Wen Ning: "P-please Zewu Jun! Y-you shouldn't, I just did it because... S-She's like a sister to me."

Xichen's smile widened at this and nodded. Finished with the conversation, they went to visit Lan Zhēn to know if she's better (A/N: They're conversation most likely took about 40 minutes or an entire hour, with Jiang Cheng of course). Nearing her dormitory, they saw from a distance the doctor talking to Jin Ling and soon left after a bow from him towards the teen, Lan Xichen and Wen Ning speed walked and reached Jin Ling.

Lan Xichen: "Childe Jin, may I know what the doctor said?"

Jin Ling: "He said she needed rest. He also said that if she were to still be weak tomorrow, she should be given a diet of white meats as well as fruits rich in vitamins and vegetables so her body can recover the lost energy."

Xichen nodded and entered while Wen Ning stayed outside. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jin Ling asked what happened to her and why he took so long in finding her when he (Wen Ning) had better senses than a human's. Wen Ning hesitated a bit, didn't know if he had permission to give the teen the full answer so he just told Jin Ling about the old man who could sense people's cores and that he was the reason why Lan Zhēn wasn't reachable. Inside the room though, Lan Xichen neared Lan Zhēn's bed and sat on it's edge, waking Lan Zhēn in the process. Xichen smiled and gently pushed away a strand of hair from her face with his finger, this made her smile and lean on to his hand which he gently placed on the side of her head after pushing the hair away.

Lan Xichen: "How are you feeling?"

Lan Zhēn: "I already miss Grandpa and Uncle."

Xichen chuckled at this and moved his hands on to her small ones, gently holding them. He gripped them a bit tightly and popped the question...

Lan Xichen: "What happened before Wen Ning found you?"

Zhēn smiled reassuringly and held her dear father's hands.

Lan Zhēn: "They didn't harm me, nor did they think of doing so. All they said was that I 'belonged' to their leader and that I should be well protected and taken cared off. They feared the man too much to even think or let anyone else think of hurting me. So rest assured, they were only feeding me well and such more, that is all."

Xichen sighed from relief and nodded, smiling over the fact that, despite them being the enemy and obviously being forced to obey, no harm was done to her. But still, he wasn't pleased with the fact she was taken away... Especially with the word 'belonged'.

Lan Xichen: "You don't belong to anyone, you belong to yourself. I won't let that man lay a finger on you Zhēn."

Lan Zhēn smiled at her father's words, she opened her mouth to speak, but only a soft sigh was made. Her eyes were closing, but she wanted to stay awake. Lan Xichen saw this and began to stroke her nose gently, this is something he would always do to her so she would sleep, Zhēn smiled but still persisted and wiggled her nose. He chuckled, but didn't waste a second and began to hum a lullaby (A/N: his character song because I don't know what else he could sing, feel free to recommend me one!) to her. With each soft stroke and hum, Zhēn relaxed and soon fell into a deep and comfortable slumber. Noticing this, he moved and softly kissed Lan Zhēn's forehead and silently left the room.

~Timeskip to early morning at the Main Hall, brought to you by Fairy's adorableness (must protect cloud bean)~

Early in the morning, it was a true miracle everyone got there so fast in just a few hours. Then again, it was about Lan Zhēn's arrival and new information about the enemy's plans, they did not waste time and left as soon as they finished reading their sent letters, not even caring if it was night time. At the Main Hall, Jiang Cheng decided to be the one to tell the news while Xichen only sipped his tea as to calm himself down, Wen Ning would sometimes speak a few words as to put more details in the given information. During and after everything was revealed, everyone was furious from the plans their enemy is putting to place, the Hall was filled with rants and tantrums. In all honesty, no words can possibly describe their anger.

Clan Leader Yao (angry): "What do we do? If he were to capture Miss Lan again, his bloodline will improve and he'll end up taking over our Clans."

Nie Huisang: "That won't be possible though."

Clan Leader Ouyang (confused): "What do you mean?"

Nie Huisang: "For a diamond cored person to be able to make a diamond cored child, there has to be true love between the partners. Otherwise, the children that will come won't have a diamond core, nor the abilities of one; and if they do, they die at birth."

Jiang Cheng (angry): "So you're saying that, he either didn't think his plans very well, or he just wants Miss Lan?"

Lan Xichen (emotionless): "Huisang is right. It won't work, maybe he's aware that Zhēn is strong and may upgrade his bloodline, but not the fact that they must do so out of love."

Jiang Cheng (worried): "What do we do then? If he finds out about this, won't he try to kill her?"

Everyone thought for a second, but their thoughts were then interrupted...

*PUFF*

A gang member of the Tài Clan appeared in the middle of the room...

A good reminder that "The Untamed" series as well as their characters belong to their rightful owner. The only things I own are a few made up characters and the plot of this story.

Thanks for reading!❤