Chapter 10 - Arrogance

Wen Ning's head was slightly lowered and his arms hung down, as if he was a marionette waiting for the orders of his master. His face was pale and delicate, and could be considered handsome in a melancholy sort of way.

Wei Wuxian didn't miss the way Lan Zhan's eye narrowed infinitesimally and silently laughed to himself (laughing out loud at such a tense moment would only make him look even more out of his mind) - but it was funny that Lan Zhan could still drink vinegar about him, it made him want to tackle him in a big hug and- Wei Wuxian mentally shook himself. He couldn't move from his seat, so it was useless thinking about such things.

There were no pupils in his eyes, but only a flat cloud of white, along with a number of black, cracking lines which climbed up his face from his neck, so the melancholy turned into a frightening gloom. The lower hem and sleeves of his robe were ragged and torn, showing a pair of wrists that were the same ashen shade as his face, with black cuffs and chains on both his wrists and ankles. The tinkling sound was produced when he dragged the iron chains on the ground. If he stopped moving, everything would be silent again.It wasn't hard to guess why all of the cultivators were scared out of their wits.

If the cultivators at present in the room were terrified of the picture version of the Ghost General, it was nothing compared to the ghastly expressions on the faces of the cultivators in the past, who'd believed that the Ghost General had long since been turned to ash.

Past Wei Wuxian didn't look any calmer, either. In fact, he looked like he'd been bashed on the head with a heavy pan judging by the way he looked confused and dizzy. The return of Wen Ning, his closest accomplice, was undoubtedly a big shock for him too.

Hearing the others call Wen Ning's name, Jin Ling's blade, which originally pointed at the direction of the soul-consuming goddess, couldn't help but to turn toward another direction. Seeing that he was distracted, the soul-consuming goddess gladly extended her arm and picked him up.

As mostly everyone had forgotten the existence of the soul-consuming goddess in their obsession with Wen Ning, the sudden development caused many of their hearts to skip a beat.

As Wei WuXian saw her opened mouth approaching Jin Ling, he didn't have time to be surprised. He raised the wooden flute again, hands slightly shaking, and therefore, the notes that he played also trembled. With two notes, Wen Ning started to move. Within the blink of an eye, he had already shifted in front of the soul-consuming goddess. Wen Ning gave another blow with his hand, and the soul-consuming goddess's right hand, which was holding Jin Ling, was cleanly cut off.

The cultivators watched with wide eyes. They had heard the legends of course, and some had seen the Ghost General in action, but now up close, (they were even able to see the blank white eyes) it was different. The speed, untraceable by the eye, was thrilling in a horrifying sort of way.

Luckily, Wei Wuxian wasn't commanding the Ghost General to fight the cultivators, just the soul-consuming goddess (presumably only for the sake of his nephew).

Wei WuXian didn't dare to relax. He took a deep breath and commanded Wen Ning to fight. However, not long had passed, and he became even more shocked. Wen Ning was created by Wei WuXian, which meant that he could easily be called the strongest fierce corpse in the current world, the only one who was capable of thought. Aside from not fearing injuries, fire, the cold, poison, and whatever living humans feared, he was the same as a one. However, at that moment, Wen Ning clearly wasn't conscious!

"Really? How can he tell?"

"He's his slave, of course the master can tell!"

"He isn't a slave. " snapped Wei Wuxian, forgetting his mental decision to ignore everything the other cultivators said. Since he had already broken his decision, he decided to keep talking.  "And if he was conscious, he would be talking to me, obviously! Otherwise I wouldn't be having to use my flute to get him to fight."

He was both shocked and doubtful as a few cries of alarm came threshing from the crowd. Using both his arms and legs, Wen Ning had secured the soul-consuming goddess on the ground. He picked up a rock which lay on the side, taller than the height of humans, and lifted it above the soul-consuming goddess. He started to slam it onto her with great force. Each strike sounded as loud as thunder, continuing until the stone body of the soul-consuming goddess was pounded to pieces!

To be fair, the Ghost General probably mercilessly pounded things a hundred times worse than a soul-consuming goddess to pieces daily. It was hard to imagine something with such sheer power, it could crush a goddess! And it was even harder to imagine such power in the control of a single other person - the Yiling Patriarch.

No wonder Jin Guangshan wanted to keep Wen Ning to himself - though it seemed he hadn't found a way to control the Ghost General anywhere as effectively as Wei Wuxian. Obviously not, as Jin Guangshan was an old fogey with barely any brains, relying completely on crafty advisors like Xue Yang who always had another agenda, flirting constantly a hundred mistresses.

Amid the white pile of rocks scattered on the ground, a marble-sized sphere rolled out, radiating a circle of light in the colour of snow. It was the core that condensed in the soul-consuming goddess after she devoured the souls of ten-or-so living people. If it was brought back and handled carefully, some people, who had their souls eaten recently, could be restored back to life. However, at the moment, nobody made any effort to pick up the sphere.

"...Where are their priorities?? They're just going to ignore the souls like that?" Jingyi exclaimed indignantly.

"They only care about capturing Wen Ning." Sizhui sighed. "Ten or so innocent lives don't mean anything to them compared to that glory."

His words, while soft, carried across the room, somehow making those cultivators immediately feel ashamed. Then they remembered they were probably triple that junior Lan disciple's age, making them feel even more embarrassed.

The blades which were aimed at the soul-consuming goddess all turned around. One cultivator shouted at the top of his lungs, "Close in on him!" Some people replied hesitantly, but more people were indecisive, walking backward slowly. The cultivator shouted again, "Fellow cultivators, we have to block him so that he doesn't escape. This is Wen Ning we're facing!" These words convinced the crowd. What was a mere soul-consuming monster compared to the Ghost General? Although the reason as to his appearance was unknown, it was obvious that killing one thousand soulconsuming spirits couldn't even compare to capturing one single Wen Ning.

"I'll tell Wen Ning that. He'd be flattered." Wei Wuxian snickered. "Remind me, won't you, Sizhui?"

"I won't forget, Senior Wei!" Sizhui replied eagerly. He already missed his friend (and also his sort of uncle), Wen Ning, and was looking forward to telling him all about this strange experience when they got back (however long that would take).

Yet, the older cultivators who saw with their own eyes how wild Wen Ning was when he broke out were still cautious to make a move. Hence, the person shouted once more, "What are you scared of? It's not as if the YiLing Patriarch is here right now." After another thought, the words made sense to them. What was there to be scared of? His master was already in pieces!

"Mmhmm... Definitely. I'm definitely not right there." Wei Wuxian nodded mock seriously, suppressing the wild laughter threatening to burst out of him. He would hate to ruin such a tense moment for everyone else watching the scene for the first time.

"In-in pieces?" Sizhui asked, confused and uneasy. He hoped the cultivator didn't mean that literally.

Wen Ning took a stride forward and gripped the neck of the person closest to him. With a light pull, he was lifted off the ground. Seeing the situation, Wei WuXian knew that the flute notes were too hurried and abrupt, causing him to develop a killing intent. To stifle it, Wei WuXian calmed his feelings and assuredly played another melody. The melody had drifted over his mind naturally. It was relaxed and tranquil, contrasting with the bizarre and ear-piercing one from before.

"Oh! It's that tune you always played, Han Guangjun!" Jingyi said excitedly, the Lan disciples around him nodding. Sizhui however, looked alarmed and tried to shush his friend, but Jingyi kept talking, "I remember hearing you playing it all the time growing up in the Cloud Recesses-" Jingyi finally snapped his mouth shut at the hostile glare Lan WangJi gave him.

"You played it a lot while I was... away?" Wei Wuxian gave Lan Zhan a side-ways glance. "You missed me that much?"

Lan Zhan stared down, his usually blank face betraying the slightest hints of emotion. Wei Wuxian immediately felt horrible for bringing up such an upsetting topic for him, and quickly changed the topic. "Oh no, now the whole cultivation world knows our song! It won't be our secret song anymore..."

To his relief, the corner of Lan Zhan's mouth twitched. "Doesn't matter if it's secret. It will still be our song. I will teach the lyrics to you later."

"There are lyrics?!" Wei Wuxian covered his mouth.

Hearing the sound, Wen Ning froze, and slowly turned toward the direction of which the melody came from. Wei WuXian stood in the same spot, staring into his pupil-less eyes. After a moment, Wen Ning released his hand, throwing the cultivator on the ground. He let down his arms and walked toward Wei WuXian at a slow pace. Wei WuXian retreated while playing the flute, guiding him to follow. Walking like this for a short distance, they moved into the forest, when suddenly, Wei WuXian caught the chilly scent of sandalwood. Immediately after, his back bumped into someone. With an abrupt pain on his wrist, the flute melody had stopped. Wei WuXian thought, oh no , and turned around to look. His sight collided with Lan WangJi's eyes. They were light-coloured to the point of appearing to be physically cold.

This moment was a moment Lan Wangji knew he would remember for the rest of his days. He remembered first hearing that tune reverberating through the mountain from miles away, making him freeze for a few moments, his blood running ice-cold as shock and the implications of hearing that tune ripped through him.  He fought against himself as he felt himself starting to feel hope in the first time in too long, not daring to think that name in his mind - because if he started hoping that he was alive only to be wrong and disappointed, it would crush him again like it did 13 years ago. But his mind involuntarily conjured up the image of a laughing man, red ribbon in his hair, twirling a flute between his fingers, his feet moved of their own accord, drawing him irresistibly to the source of the music. It had always been like that. No matter how hard Lan Zhan tried to resist, he would do anything for Wei Wuxian.

The closer he got to the source of the flute, the more certain he became that his Wei Ying really had come back. He couldn't explain it, but nothing else could recreate the magnetic attraction to he felt deep in his bones whenever he got near Wei Wuxian. The rush of joy cascaded through him, a waterfall in a long-dry desert. After a decade of apathy, such destabilising emotions, the emotions only one person had been been able to conjure, made him feel off-balanced, slightly deranged, but wildly and utterly happy.

It was slightly surprising that from the board (which he assumed to be Wei Wuxian's perspective), Lan Zhan's face still seemed devoid of any emotion. In fact, his eyes still looked cold enough that Wei Wuxian's first thought was 'oh no', whereas Lan Zhan's thoughts were more like a mess of 'Thank the heavens thank the heavens", "He's alive! Wei Ying is alive, and he still remembers our song!" and then, noticing the situation with the cultivators of Wen Ning, "?? He's playing OUR song for Wen Ning??".

But staring into his eyes, he recognised his soulmate. Even if he looked different (probably because he was possessing the body, which he knew he should be disapproving of, but he really didn't at the delight of knowing that Wei Wuxian's soul was intact), Lan Zhan knew for sure that the person opposite him was Wei Ying, and he didn't intend on ever letting him go again.

Meanwhile though, the past Wei Wuxian was utterly oblivious.

The situation looked unpromising. Lan WangJi had seen him use the flute to control corpses with his own eyes. Lan WangJi used one hand to steadily grip Wei WuXian, who thought quickly and made his decision at once—so what, if Lan WangJi had seen him do this before? There were tens of thousands of people who knew how to play the flute. He wouldn't confess no matter what! He decisively ignored the hand that gripped him and raised his arm to continue playing. His air was not steady and each note cracked at the end, sounding shrill and harsh. Suddenly, Lan WangJi's hand tightened, almost causing his wrist to break. Wei WuXian's fingers loosened from the pain and the wooden flute dropped to the ground. Fortunately, his orders were clear enough. Wen Ning retreated quickly, disappearing into the dark and gloomy forest without a sound. Wei WuXian feared that Lan WangJi would chase after Wen Ning, so he backhandedly grabbed him instead. But, surprisingly, Lan WangJi never even looked at Wen Ning once, but stared at Wei WuXian the whole time.The two stood face to face, gripping each other's arms, and stared.

The atmosphere in the room started to get very uncomfortable. Some cultivators were feeling hot in the face at the blatant sparks flying between Lan WangJi and Wei Wuxian and had to look away. Mian Mian had tears in her eyes, unable to hold back her emotion at how absolutely sweet  their reunion was after thirteen years!

Jingyi was reprimanding himself on not realising at this point about Wei Wuxian and Lan WangJi  being a thing - really, people don't stare into each other's eyes with that expression for that long unless they're head over heels for them.

At the same time, Jiang Cheng arrived. He maintained his patience and waited for the results in Buddha's Feet, but before he finished a single cup of tea, a disciple ran from the mountain hastily and told him about how powerful and cruel the thing in Dafan Mountain was. Hearing this, his heart jumped and he rushed up here again. He shouted, "A-Ling!" Jin Ling almost had his soul taken away a moment ago, but he was fine now, and stood on the ground properly, "Uncle!"

"A-a-and we're back to 'worrying about Jin Ling'" someone joked.

"Really, the only thing Sect Leader Jiang has been doing so far has been running around after Jin Ling, helping him and worrying about him..."

Jin Ling opened his mouth to argue then vaguely realised that they were right, and promptly went pink.

Seeing that Jin Ling was safe, Jiang Cheng finally calmed down. Quickly afterward, he scolded angrily, "Didn't you bring signal firelights with you? Don't you know to use them when you meet something like this? What are you pretending to be strong for? Scram over here!"

"Is that how he shows that he's calmed down? Scold people angrily?" a young disciple wondered.

"Yes, exactly." Jin Ling replied at the same time Wei Wuxian said, "Yeah, that's what he does."

They both looked at each other in surprise, then started snickering. One thing they had in common was they had been on the receiving end of a lot of Jiang Cheng's scolding.

Among the cultivators who wore differently-coloured clothing, a bunch were the disguised disciples of the YunmengJiang Sect, ordered by Jiang Cheng to secretly assist Jin Ling, in case he couldn't overcome the challenge.

"..Jiu-jiu, don't you have any trust in me, at all ?? "

Jiang Cheng sniffed but before he could make a disparaging reply, Wei Wuxian cut in and said, "Ah, don't worry, Jiang Cheng is just stubborn and over-the-top like that, and you're his own family left!"

"Wei Wuxian!" Jiang Cheng raged. "Shut your mouth!"

One cultivator still hadn't overcome the shock, "Sect, Sect Leader, it's... It's Wen Ning..." Jiang Cheng thought that he had misheard, "What did you say?" The person replied, "Wen Ning is back!"He suddenly pointed to the side, "... He was the one who summoned him!"

Wei WuXian was still in a stalemate with Lan WangJi. Instantly, they were the center of everyone's attention. Jiang Cheng's lightning-like gaze also moved toward where he stood. After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng's lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring again. He spoke softly, "... Well, well. So you're back?" He let go of his left hand, and a long whip dangled from it.

Everyone held their breaths. Jiang Cheng had looked dangerous before, stroking his ring when he had briefly considered fighting with Lan WangJi, but the look on his face now was beyond scary... it was somewhere between violent and insane and enraged and with that twisted smile, slightly evil.

Before Wei WuXian moved, Lan WangJi had already placed his zither in front of him. With an assured stroke, it was as if a rock had created thousands of waves in water. The sound of the zither had created countless ripples in the air, colliding with Zidian.  Jiang Cheng's considerations of "not rashly fighting with him" and "not displeasing the Lan Clan" were as if they were eaten by dogs.

The night sky above Dafan Mountain's forest was sometimes surging with purple light, and sometimes as bright as daytime; there were sometimes deafening roars of thunder, and sometimes waves of the zither's notes. The rest of the cultivators quickly retreated into a safe distance away from the scene, standing on the side and watching. They were both frightened to death and staring in awe.

The cultivators now were in a similar state. It was quite the epic battle, with the full, unrestrained vengeful power of Jiang Cheng's Zidian going against the cold, unrelenting force of Lan Wangji's guqin. There wasn't really any doubt of who would win, of course. Jiang Cheng was powerful but he didn't have the same renown as Lan WangJi in terms of fighting.

After all, rarely did one have the chance to watch two famous cultivators of prominent families combat directly, which was why everyone hoped that the fight was more violent and intense. Among these thoughts, there were also some unspeakable hopes for the relationship between the Lan Clan and the Jiang Clan to fall apart, creating an interesting scenario.

Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen both raised their eyebrows, thoroughly unimpressed. Were people's need for gossip so strong that they were willing for a battle to happen?

On the other hand, Wei WuXian waited for his chance, and suddenly sprinted off. The crowd was extremely surprised. He hadn't been hit by the whip yet only because Lan WangJi acted as a barricade in front of him. For him, running away like this was the same as seeking his own death!

Sure enough, as if eyes grew on his back, Jiang Cheng saw that he went outside Lan WangJi's area of protection, and was determined to grasp the chance. With a slanting crack of his whip, Zidian slashed out with the semblance of a poisonous dragon, precisely landing on the center of his back! Wei WuXian was almost flung away from the attack of the whip. If not for the donkey blocking him, he would have directly crashed into a tree.

Most people, even Sect Leader Yao, winced. Such a blow from Zidian, clearly not at a safe power level, would really hurt. Of course, everyone in the room now knew that Wei Wuxian had been summoned by a sacrificial ritual, he hadn't gone and possessed someone else's body, so they weren't surprised that Zidian didn't whip out his soul. Clearly though, Lan WangJi and Jiang Cheng didn't. Wei Wuxian again wanted to laugh at the rare look of surprise that was resting on Lan Zhan's face.

However, after the blow, both Lan WangJi and Jiang Cheng stopped, looking quite stunned. Wei WuXian massaged the back side of his waist, and crawled up with the support of the donkey. He hid behind it and yelled angrily, "How amazing! You really can do anything when you're from a powerful clan, can't you? You can even beat up anyone you want! Tsk tsk tsk!"

Lan WangJi, "..."

Jiang Cheng, "..." He was both shocked and enraged, "What is going on?"

Wei Wuxian shook his head. "Poor Jiang Cheng, you never know what is going on..."

"Shut up!' snapped Jiang Cheng again, "And you do?"

Wei Wuxian thought for a moment. "Well..yes, mostly."

One unique power of "Zidian" was that, if it hit someone who seized another's body, their soul and physical form would immediately separate. Without any exceptions, the person's soul would be whipped away from the body. Yet, Wei WuXian was still moving properly and running about after he was hit. The only explanation was that he did not seize this body. Wei WuXian thought, of course Zidian couldn't whip out my soul. I didn't seize anyone's body, but was forcibly given one!

Bewilderment could be seen on Jiang Cheng's face as he prepared to whip again, when Lan JingYi suddenly shouted, "Sect Leader Jiang, this should be enough, right? It was Zidian!"

It was absolutely impossible for the first strike to fail and the second to succeed, for a magical weapon of such high level like Zidian. If nothing was taken out, nothing would be taken out; In fact, the shout made Jiang Cheng, who cared about maintaining his reputation above anything else, unable to make another move.

"Nice move, Jingyi!" Zizhen said appreciatively, making Jingyi puff his chest with pride at his single instinctive moment of genius.

However, if it wasn't Wei WuXian, who else could have summoned and controlled Wen Ning? Even after thinking it over multiple times, Jiang Cheng still couldn't accept the fact. He pointed at Wei WuXian and scowled, "Who on Earth are you?"

Finally, a meddlesome bystander added a word to the conversation. He coughed, "Sect Leader Jiang, you might have not paid attention to these things so didn't know about this. Mo XuanYu was the LanlingJin Sect's... Ahem , he used to be a foreign disciple of the Jin Sect. But, because his spiritual powers were low and he didn't work hard in his studies, and also had that ... He harassed a peer and was thrown out of the LanlingJin Sect. I've also heard that he lost his marbles? In my opinion, he was probably bitter from being unable to cultivate using the correct method, he ventured off onto the wrong path. It might not be... the YiLing Patriarch seizing this body." Jiang Cheng asked, "That? Which?" "That... As in that..." Someone couldn't help but to comment, "The cut-sleeve penchant!"

Wei Wuxian, who had grown strangely attached to Mo Xuanyu by now (perhaps an aftereffect of living inside his body) couldn't help but bristle at these words.

"So what if he was a cutsleeve?? Jin Guangyao made him go crazy and framed him for all of that so he wouldn't have any competitors to the Jin sect throne."

Jiang Cheng's eyebrows twitched. His eyes which stared at Wei WuXian seemed more disgusted than before. There were more comments on the matter, but nobody dared to say them in front of Jiang Cheng. Although he was infamous, people had to admit that, before the YiLing Patriarch Wei WuXian had betrayed the YunmengJiang Sect, he was known for being a handsome young man and a refined cultivator skilled in the six arts . He ranked the fourth among all of the young masters in the cultivation world, being described as lively and cheerful.

Wei Wuxian beamed. "I knew that people hadn't forgotten about how cool I was! I'd started to worry that people only knew me as the ugly Yiling Laozu. Yep, 'handsome, young man' and 'refined cultivator', that's me."

"Who was ranked above you, then?" Jin Ling asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, the mighty Hanguang Jun here, of course, and Zewu-Jun... Then your father, Jin ZiXuan was third. Though that was mostly because of looks and money-" Wei Wuxian cut himself off in case he said something off-the-limits with Jin Ling, but Jin Ling looked happy enough with his answer.

On the other hand, the illtempered Sect Leader Jiang ranked five, surpassed by him, so most people weren't so bold as to mention the matter. Wei Ying was a frivolous and wanton person who loved to have tangled ties with pretty girls. Nobody knew how many female cultivators he had troubled with his charms, but it was yet unheard of that he was also attracted to men.

"Unheard of? Well, I'd like to make an announcement!" Wei Wuxian said loudly. "I am indeed attracted to a man, the one right here. Only this one man, though."

His shameless declaration made some people gasp in outrage, but Lan Zhan's ears were flushed pink again.

Even if he wanted to steal a body and seek revenge... according to Wei Ying's taste, he definitely wouldn't have chosen a lunatic cut-sleeve who rode a donkey while eating fruits and painted his face to resemble a hanged ghost!

Wei Wuxian sighed. "Now people are thinking too highly of me. What revenge do they think I'm taking? Everyone who I wanted dead is dead, anyway."

Someone else muttered, "It's not him no matter how you look at it... The flute was also played horribly... This is definitely a case of blind imitation, hearing how inferior it sounded." During the "Sunshot Campaign ," the YiLing Patriarch stood on the battlefield and played his flute throughout the whole night, controlling the ghost soldiers as if they were a living army. He swept away all obstacles—whether a human or god was standing in front of him, he had defeated them. The sound of his flute was as if it was played by an immortal, absolutely incomparable to the terrible moans made by the abandoned son of the Jin Clan.

"Wow, is that actually you, Senior Wei?" Jingyi pointed at the lone black figure on the board, controlling a sea of hundreds of thousands of corpses.

'Mmm, yes, the Sunshot Campaign... that was tiring. Flattering that people think of my playing like an immortal's, isn't it?"

But while the junior disciples were thrilled at the power their idol held, the other cultivators shivered in fear. Most of them had been alive at the time where anti-Yiling Laozu sentiments in the general population had been at its highest, and weren't able to override their instincts as easily as the younger disciples could.

No matter how horrible Wei WuXian's character was, it was too insulting to compare them like this. Wei WuXian felt somewhat offended,

... Why don't you try playing a few notes after ten-or-so years of not practicing, using a lousy flute made with just a few slices and cuts? If it sounds pleasant, I'll kneel in front of you!

"Hahaha, Senior Wei is still only offended about that cultivator calling his playing horrible."

"I was temped to just go and tell them I really was Wei Wuxian, just to see the look on their faces, but I didn't really want to get slaughtered by Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan." Wei Wuxian said regretfully.

A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn't. Zidian definitely wouldn't deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn't mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It's impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I've done things like this in the past anyways . After thinking it through, he made a gesture. The disciples understood his intention and came over.

Jiang Cheng felt mildly embarrassed at having his bloodthirsty thoughts on display for everyone to listen to. As much as he bantered with Wei Wuxian, he was extremely glad he hadn't gone and actually tortured Wei Wuxian like he did with all the other suspects. It made him slightly sick now, recalling all he did while he was blinded in his hatred for Wei Wuxian. Now he knew the truth about...everything, he wanted to go into the past and slap himself.

Wei WuXian hurriedly jumped behind Lan WangJi with the donkey, and exclaimed while holding a hand over his chest, " Ah! What are you going to do to me?" Lan WangJi gave him a look, putting up with his extremely discourteous, noisy, and exaggerated behavior. Seeing that he had no means of moving over, Jiang Cheng spoke, "Second Young Master Lan, are you purposely making it difficult for me?"

But of course Lan Zhan wouldn't move. He'd lost Wei Wuxian once and had spent 13 years regretting all the decisions he'd ever made, wondering how he could have stuck by Wei Ying's side better and prevented his tragic ending. Now that he'd been given a second chance, there was no-one he wasn't willing to fight to protect his beloved.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian was pondering about how Lan Zhan already knew it was him at this point. It was interesting to see everything replay again, but to be able to see it with a different perspective. He could see now that Lan Zhan wasn't just protecting him out of gratitude for helping the Lan disciples, Lan Zhan just didn't want him falling into Jiang Cheng's hands again.

Lan SiZhui spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang. The evidence is clear—Mo XuanYu's body was not taken. If so, why should you want to trouble an unimportant person such as him?"

Jiang Cheng replied coldly, "Then, why is Second Young Master Lan going to such great lengths to protect an unimportant person such as him?"

"Thanks for trying, Sizhui." Wei Wuxian said sincerely. "I know it didn't work, but it's the thought that counts."

Out of the blue, Wei WuXian made a few sounds of suppressed laughter. He spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang, umm , I'll feel very troubled if you keep on bothering me like this." Jiang Cheng's eyebrow twitched again. His instincts told him that this person would definitely not say anything that pleased him. Wei WuXian spoke, "Thank you for being so enthusiastic. However, your thoughts are quite off. Even if I am attracted to men, I don't like just any type of man, much less follow anyone who waves at me. For example, I'm not interested in ones like you."

There were ripples of laughter through the audience, as they knew how ridiculous Wei Wuxian was purposefully being - the idea that Wei Wuxian was implying was comically absurd, and as they were slowly beginning to appreciate, just the style of shameless strategy that Wei Wuxian tended to use to get out of sticky situations.

Wei WuXian was purposely trying to disgust him. Jiang Cheng had always hated being defeated while compared with others, no matter how pointless the comparison was. If anyone said that he wasn't as good as someone else, he'd be angered and not think about anything else until he won against the person. As expected, Jiang Cheng's face darkened, "Oh, really? Then, may I ask which type you're interested in?"

"Hahahahaha, I can't believe that worked! It's good you know Jiang Cheng so well, hahaha!" Jingyi doubled over in laughter.

Jin Ling mentally took note of this weakness of his uncle and stored it for later use. Jiang Cheng went purple at how humiliating it was that he was so predictable, but he supposed that it was deserved seeing as he completely fell for Wei Wuxian's manipulations.

Wei WuXian replied, "Which type? Well, I am very much attracted to people like HanGuang-Jun." Lan WangJi could not tolerate this sort of frivolous and foolish joke at all. If he felt disgusted, he would definitely draw a line between them and keep his distance. Disgusting two people at once—this was killing two birds with one stone! However, as Lan WangJi heard this, he turned around. His face was emotionless, "Mark your words."

"Disgusting him? You didn't realise you were flirting with him??" Jin Ling said, incredulous.

"I didn't know!!" Wei Wuxian said, distressed. "I didn't notice anything, I thought Lan Zhan was just the same old angry Lan Zhan from Cloud Recesses!"

Wei WuXian, "Hmm?"

Lan WangJi turned back, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, "I will take this person back to the Lan Sect."

Wei WuXian, "..."

Wei WuXian, "...Huh?"

The whole audience was shocked into silence too, except for Zewu-Jun, who was beaming. It was great that his little brother was finally starting to take some initiative instead of pining and longing for Wei Wuxian to come to Gusu with him.