GusuLan have over three thousand rules detailing how much mercy is acceptable (none), who is owed respect (those who can take it), their duties to the non-cultivators (to remind them of their places and remind everything else that they belong to GusuLan), and many more things.

Lan Wangji almost wonders, at times, whether he might prefer to have been born to a softer, gentler sect.

But when he sees Wei Wuxian, shining and brilliant and vicious, he is grateful that the wisdom of his ancestors says he should seize hold and take.