( I know nothing to his manor, of the men you mention. I do not know your purpose. But then, Wen Kexing speaks and spills the venom that has begun to take a hold of his body and weaken it, and Lan Wangji does not choke with the tacit dagger's stab of his companion's frustration, does not wither with it.

Bichen holds in flight, shifting in slow, incremental descent. Not here, not with arrows and flying creatures still assailing the skies, but she begins, and it will be a pleasant reunion, dust motes returned to land. Unlike Lan Wangji — startled, staring — she is not lost. )

It is easy for men to be base and fickle. ( To renounce their duty, like spitting in the face of their ancestors. To know nothing of their shame, a troubled and cracked mirror. To remove themselves from their calling. )

But this is no easy world. And you live through complicated times. ( Nothing excuses you. ) Be the better man. Because it pleases you to.