Chapter 13 - Refinement

At a later time, Wei WuXian pondered upon the reason why his relationship with Lan WangJi wasn't good. Getting to the root of the matter, everything started when he was fifteen, coming to the GusuLan Sect with Jiang Cheng to study for three months.

Something strange was happening on the board. Pictures were zipping past the board too fast for anyone to look at them properly - as if it was going backwards. From the blur of colour, a familiar scene blossomed - The Cloud Recesses. But there was small writing on the side, reading "The 18th year of the reign of Xuanzheng"

"T-The 18th year??"

"But it's the 34th year right now, could that mean...?"

The Lan disciples stared at the scenery. Yes, this version of the Cloud Recesses was very similar to the present day, with the beautiful green mountains, cascading waterfalls, white pebble paths - except, there were lots of differences here and there. Just small ones that only the ones living in the Cloud Recesses would notice.

Then the narration continued - it was still Wei Wuxian's voice.

There was a virtuous and prestigious elder in the GusuLan Sect—Lan QiRen. Everyone in the cultivation world accepted three characteristics which described him: pedantic, stubborn, and a strict teacher who produced outstanding students. Although the first two points kept a lot of people at a respective distance to him, some even to the point of secret dislike, the last one made them try everything they could to send their children to study under him.

Many cultivators put their hands to their mouths, feigning surprise but secretly shaking with laughter. Someone had finally said it out loud! However, they weren't entirely sure where Wei WuXian was going with this random narration.

Lan Qiren kept his face impassive. He knew precisely what people thought of him, and it didn't bother him. It was more Wei Wuxian's audacity to praise his ability to 'produce outstanding students', when he knew fully well he was about to mess that all up that irked him.

He had brought up quite a number of excellent disciples of the Lan Sect. As long as they stayed a few years in his classroom, no matter how pathetically useless they were when they first entered, they would at least seem to be decent when they depart, especially in terms of appearance and etiquette. There were plenty of parents who were so excited that tears flowed down their cheeks when they picked up their sons.

Some cultivator parents looked at their children thoughtfully, including Sect Leader Ouyang.

Zizhen guessed what his father was thinking immediately. "Nooo, don't send me there, I - I can't get up at 5 and sleep at 9 - I -"

His father said, "Exactly why I should  send you there!"

Zizhen straightened himself up, ready for a full argument with his father, then realised he shouldn't insult his friends' home in front of them. He slunk back down sulkily.

But suddenly, two figures appeared on the screen, running through the Cloud Recesses There was someone in  black and red robes and another in the purple clothes of the Jiang sect. Cheerful, bright music suddenly chirped through the theatre.

Finally, the figures came to a stop on a bridge.

"Let's take a break!" The figure in black and red said, his back still turned to the camera, but the voice was unfamiliar. A new character, it would seem.

But the face of the second figure, the one in the purple clothes, suddenly came into view. There were gasps of shock. Was that- a 16 year-younger Sect Leader Jiang??

His hair was in a moderate bun, trailing with long purple ribbons, and considerably shorter and more fresh-looking than he was now. However, there was no mistaking that trademark scowl on his face. But even the scowl didn't seem as harsh as it was now - it was lighter, more amused. It definitely made him look years younger.

Somehow, it wrong to see Sect Leader Jiang with a round, boyish face and wide, violet eyes.

"If you get up late tomorrow, I'm not waiting for you."

Jiang Cheng's voice had the same reprimanding tone as it did now, except several octaves more high-pitched. Jin Ling's eyes were at the point of popping out of his head. Did his grumpy and tough uncle really  look and sound like this when he was his age?? It made him seem less scary now. But then, the figure in black and red flipped his long ponytail with his hand and half turned.

"It's only being late! The worst it can get is to go stand in the corner!"

The boy was completely unfamiliar, but very good looking, with fine features, a genuine smile and greyish-purple eyes. But there was something familiar about the tone of his voice...

Seeing Wei Wuxian's boy-self gave Lan WangJi a funny feeling. When he was younger, that face had infuriated him to no end, but it had also made him feel longing for the first (and only) time in his life. That smiling face had found its way into Lan Wangji's thoughts, even his dreams, against his will. But now, after all that had happened, Lan WangJi wished he could go back into the much simpler past.

Wei WuXian gazed at his former self, half in a trance. The déjà vu was so strong here he thought he might fall out of his seat. Except that he was stuck in it.

"Well, Jin Ling, there's my former body for you to judge yourself, isn't it awesome, huh?"

Wei Wuxian finally said, with a weak laugh.

Jin Ling choked. "What did you say?? That's not - you??"

"Of course it is! Why are you so surprised?" Wei WuXian snapped, offended.

The junior disciples and younger cultivators (as well as quite a few of the older cultivators) who had never seen the past Wei WuXian in person were in shock at these words. So, that was the infamous Wei WuXian, Yiling Laozu, with Sect Leader Jiang, both about 15 years old?? They snapped their head back around to scrutinise the pictures. Surely the infamous Yiling Laozu couldn't have looked so genuinely friendly and cheerful - not to mention extremely fine-looking?

"I always assumed you looked kind of like the portraits of the Yiling Laozu." Jingyi mumbled. "Not ugly! Just... a bit dodgier than that".

"Never believe the propaganda, Jingyi." Wei WuXian said darkly. "Especially when it shows me looking ugly."

As they stood on the bridge, a young man in gold walked by, flanked by two more disciples in gold. Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian  immediately gave a deep salute. The young man in gold glanced at them and gave them a  short cursory salute back.

Words appeared at the side, reading 'Jin Zixuan'. The room broke into an uproar again.

Jin Ling stared in shock at the young man, but the image was gone in seconds. He buried his head in his hands. This was too much to absorb, too quickly. Sizhui wrapped his arm around Jin Ling comfortingly.

"He's becoming more and more presentable." Wei WuXian said.

"Lanling Jin Clan, rich as the princes." Jiang Cheng replied with a scoffing tone. "He's the heir of the Jin Clan. He has to be presentable."

Wei WuXian stoked his chin thoughtfully, and Jiang Cheng shoved him. "Stop! Don't get any bad ideas! No matter what, Jin Zixuan is still my sister's fiancé! He'll be family one day. You'll have to bear with it."

Everyone heard that last sentence, Jiang Cheng's assumption that Wei WuXian was family too. Along with the arrival of Jin Zixuan, who everyone knew that Wei WuXian had basically killed, they took this as foreshadowing as what was going to happen.

Jiang Cheng had been silent this whole time, unhealthily painful emotions stirred up in him as he saw how things used to be between him and Wei WuXian, while he was Wei Wuxian's closest friend, not Lan WangJi, Jin Zixuan was still alive, and the only worry they had in the world was studying under Lan Qiren...

Wei WuXian felt a little bit bad about his previous disdain and rude attitude towards Jin Zixuan, but only because he knew in hindsight that Jin Zixuan wasn't really that horrible of a person, just terribly spoilt and unable to express his own feelings properly.

They walked on towards the Orchid room, outside of which there was a crowd of young disciples. The board zoomed in on one of these, who waved his arm and shouted, "Wei-xiong! Jiang-xiong!"

The little characters told the room it was Nie Huaisang. Unlike Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian, Nie Huaisang hadn't changed much, except his hairstyle in the past was a small bun above shoulder length hair. Still, most of the audience was finding this hilarious, seeing the most famous figures of the cultivation word as they were when they were teenagers. They watched the disciples discuss amongst themselves about Lan Qiren's talent for whipping unruly disciples into shape.

To this matter, Wei WuXian declared, "Do I not seem decent enough as of right now?" Jiang Cheng replied with a great deal of foresight, "You'd definitely be a mark of shame in his entire teaching career."

Cultivators looked at each other, a bad feeling forming in their guts. Wei WuXian was definitely going to wreak a lot of havoc in this place. However, they were slightly curious as to what type of mayhem Wei WuXian would make before he became the Yiling Patriarch. Could he have perhaps killed a few people or burnt a few buildings down at this age?

In that year, aside from the YunmengJiang Sect, there were also the young masters from other clans, sent to study here from parents who heard of the reputation. The young masters were all around fifteen or sixteen. It was widely known that, although Wei WuXian's surname was not Jiang, he was the leading disciple of the sect leader of the YunmengJiang Sect—Jiang FengMian, and also the son of his friend who had passed away. In fact, the sect leader regarded him as his own child.

Wei WuXian sighed nostalgically, "Ah, back in the days where those were the things that were widely known about me. Now, everything's 'Yiling Laozu this, Yiling Laozu that'."

He had a point, thought many of the younger disciples, who hadn't even heard of this information about Wei Wuxian's upbringing. They'd only heard about all the fearsome crimes he'd done as the Yiling Laozu.

This, along with how youths were not as concerned with status and ancestry as elders, they were soon friends. Only a few sentences passed, and everyone started to call others older brothers or younger brothers.

Somebody asked, "The Lotus Pier of the Jiang Clan is much more fun than here, right?"

Wei WuXian laughed, "Fun or not fun depends on how fun you make it to be. There's definitely less rules than here, and no need to wake up so early."

Wei Wuxian's past personality seemed to be precisely the same as his present day one - carefree, disregard for rules, cheerful. Many wondered where Wei WuXian how and when he had gone wrong and done all his horrible crimes. Perhaps they'd be able to see for themselves with this magic board!

Somebody else asked, "When do you guys wake up? What do you do during the day?"

Jiang Cheng humphed, "Him? He wakes at nine in the morning and sleeps at one during the night. When he wakes up, he doesn't practice his sword or meditate; he goes boating, swims around, picks lotus seedpods, and hunts for pheasants."

Wei WuXian replied, "No matter how much pheasants I hunt, I'm still number one."

The younger disciples gazed at Wei WuXian in awe and slight envy. The life Wei WuXian described seemed way too good to be true. If only they could live like that, and still excel in their cultivation!

Nie Huaisang spoke, "Next year, I'm going to Yunmeng to study! Nobody can hold me back!" A bucket of cold water was thrown on him , "Nobody would hold you back. Your older brother would just break your legs."

There was a hush at the mention of Nie Huaisang's brother. Not all the details about Nie Mingjue's violent end were clear to the general public, but they had heard plenty of rumours of backstabbing and Jin Guangyao being involved.

But in the time on the board, the young characters  obviously knew none of that. Wei Wuxian's narration, still in his present voice, not the voice of his past self, continued describing Nie MingJue.

The youth drooped at once. His brother, Nie MingJue, was extremely resolute when carrying out orders, quite renowned in the cultivation world. Although the brothers were not born from the same mother, their relationship was quite solid. Nie MingJue had always taught his younger brother with extreme harshness, particularly caring for his studies. This was why, even though Nie HuaiSang respected his older brother, he was the most scared of Nie MingJue mentioning his schoolwork.

Nie Huaisang smiled to himself. He had mostly made peace with himself about his brother's death, considering he'd spent more than half his life plotting to get revenge for his brother's murder. Seeing his past self scared of his big brother was funny to him now, although it made him miss his brother again.

Wei WuXian spoke, "To be honest, Gusu is quite fun as well."

Nie HuaiSang spoke, "Wei-xiong , listen to a sincere advice of mine. The Cloud Recesses is nothing like Lotus Pier. On this trip to Gusu, remember that there's one person whom you shouldn't provoke."

Wei WuXian asked, "Who? Lan QiRen?"

Nie HuaiSang replied, "Not that old man. The one you need to be careful of is his proudest disciple, named Lan Zhan."

Nie Huaisang flinched and hid behind his fan. He was so dead meat. But he could hear the audience laughing - he peeked at Lan Qiren, who looked already done with everyone and everything to be paying attention to disrespectful comments, then at Lan WangJi, who looked completely unperturbed.

But Nie Huaisang also had a nagging feeling that these pictures would eventually reveal a lot - including his secret involvement in, well, a lot of not very good things.

Wei WuXian spoke, "The Lan Zhan from the Two Jades of Lan? Lan WangJi?"

The respectable title of the Two Jades of Lan were given to the two sons of the GusuLan Sect's current sect leader—Lan Huan and Lan Zhan. Just after they passed fourteen, they were deemed by the elders of each sect as exemplary models to compare with their own disciples. They were exceptionally famous among the juniors, so it was only natural that everyone recognized the names.

Nie HuaiSang spoke, "What other Lan Zhan is there? Yes, it's that one. Oh gosh, he's the same age as you and I, but he has none of the energy of a teen. He's stiff and strict, even worse than his uncle."

There was a low 'oooh' as everyone watched Nie Huaisang try to hide behind his fan in terror.

Wei WuXian made the sound of an oh and asked, "Is he a lad who looks quite pretty?"

Jiang Cheng sneered, "Is there anyone who looks ugly in the GusuLan Sect? His sect doesn't even accept disciples with unclean features. If you can, find me one who has an average face."

As usual, Jiang Cheng's grumpy attitude was revealing itself again.

Wei WuXian emphasized, "Very pretty." He pointed at his head, "White from top to bottom, wearing a forehead ribbon, and carrying a silver sword on his back. He looked rather handsome, but with his straight face, he looked like he was mourning."

The cultivator audience whispered amongst themselves, speculating. Was Wei WuXian already that interested in Lan WangJi that he'd stalked him?

"..." Nie HuaiSang spoke assuredly, "That's him!"

After a pause, he spoke again, "But he had been doing secluded meditation for the past few days. You just came yesterday; when did you have the chance to see him?

"Yesterday night"

"Yesterday... Yesterday night?!" Jiang Cheng was stunned, "There's a curfew in the Cloud Recesses. Where did you see him? Why don't I know about this?"

Wei WuXian pointed, "There."

He pointed to a the top of a very tall wall. The others were out of speech. Jiang Cheng even felt his head growing larger and clenched his teeth, "We just came and you got into trouble! What's the matter about?"

The audience stared at the scene unfolding in horror. They knew that Wei WuXian was going to make trouble, but they didn't expect him to have already made the trouble, before they'd gone into class!

His short answers to Jiang Cheng's questions really didn't sound very reassuring.

Suddenly, the scene on the board switched. Suddenly, it showed the rooftops of the Cloud Recesses, the moon glowing bright in the sky. The edges of the scene were hazy, and they could still hear past Wei Wuxian's bird-like voice over the top, still talking to Jiang Cheng and the rest.

"There really isn't much. When we came, we passed that liquor shop called 'Emperor's Smile', right? Yesterday at night, I was tossing and turning, and couldn't stand it any longer, so I went down the mountain, into the city, and brought back two jars. Mind you, we don't have the chance to drink this in Yunmeng."

Jiang Cheng, "Then, where's the liquor?"

Wei WuXian, "Well, when I just flipped over the top of the wall, before I even had one leg inside, I was caught by him."

The scene showed Wei WuXian racing across the roofs of the Cloud Recesses, making no noise. One huge jar of alcohol swung from each hand. He peered over the wall, looking left and right, then swung a leg over. Suddenly, he looked over - on an adjacent rooftop, looking right at him, was a figure in white.

"It's Hanguang Jun!" the Lan disciples cheered, craning their heads to see what their idol looked like when he was their age.

Lan WangJi's stature was quite different - he wasn't so tall and his face was more round. However, the stone-cold expression on his face did make him look quite a few years older than he really was, as Nie Huaisang had said before.

As the young Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian stared at each other, the conversation between the youth continued.

One youth remarked, "Wei-xiong, you must have struck gold. He probably just got out of seclusion and went on night patrol, and caught you red-handed."

Jiang Cheng spoke, "Those who return at night won't be let in before seven in the morning. How come he let you inside?"

Wei WuXian said dramatically "So, he didn't let me in. He wanted me to move back the leg that had already stepped in. You tell me—how would I do that? And then, he came up, as light as a feather, and asked me what I had in my hands."

Jiang Cheng felt his head start to ache, indicating a foreboding feeling, "What did you say?"

The young Wei WuXian suddenly broke off his staring game with young Lan WangJi and gave him a full, toothy grin - a smile so wide and bright it involuntarily warmed the hearts of the audience. "It's Emperor's Smile! If I share a jar with you, can you pretend that you never saw me?"

The scene switched back to the youths talking on the bridge in front of the Orchid room.

Jiang Cheng sighed, "... Alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses. That's a worse crime."

Wei WuXian spoke, "He said the same thing to me. And I asked, 'Why don't you tell me what exactly is not forbidden in your sect?' He seemed like he was a bit angry and wanted me to look at the Wall of Rules in front of the mountain. Honestly, there were over three thousand, and everything was written in seal script . Who would read them? Did you read them? Anyways, I didn't. What's angering about this?"

"That's right!"

Lan Qiren started to choke. There was only so much anger he could restrain before his body started to fail him. The Lan disciples were staring open-mouthed at past Wei Wuxian's casual insulting of their sect rules. The alarming thing was that the youths were all nodding along. All they needed was one audacious person to voice what they all secretly were thinking deep down and then they'd all go out of control. And Wei WuXian happened to be the probably most audacious of people that had ever existed.

"Whose sect rules are over three thousand in number, and don't even repeat? Things like 'killing livestock within the area is prohibited, fighting without permission is prohibited, promiscuity is prohibited, venturing at night is prohibited, causing noise is prohibited, running is prohibited' are tolerable, but there're even ones like 'sneering for no reason is prohibited, sitting improperly is prohibited, eating more than three bowls is prohibited'..."

Wei WuXian suddenly added, "What? Fighting without permission is also prohibited?"

Jiang Cheng, "... Yes. Don't tell me you fought with him."

Wei WuXian, "I did. And we broke a jar of Emperor's Smile."

"Didn't you bring back two jars? Where's the other one?"

"I drank it."

Jiang Cheng, "Where did you drink it?"

"In front of him. I said, 'Okay, if alcohol is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses, then I won't go in. I'll drink it standing on the wall. That wouldn't count as violating the rules, would it?' Then I drank everything in one gulp, right in front of him."

"... And then?"

The scene switched back to the moonlit roofs of the Cloud Recesses,

Wei WuXian was leaning against the edge of a roof, shamelessly chugging the jar of alcohol right in front of Lan WangJi. Liquor dripped down the sides of his mouth. Lan Wangji's eyes had widened in rage. With a threatening 'shing', he had drawn his sword, Bichen. Wei WuXian didn't seem concerned, leisurely finishing the jar and wiping his mouth on his sleeve before leaning to side to avoid Lan Wangji's attack.

Exciting, fast-paced music now played, echoing the atmosphere in the audience right now. Here was the dramatic fight between two of the most famous cultivators that they'd been promised!  Lan Wangji's moves were lightning quick and ruthless, but Wei WuXian, still swinging his jars of alcohol from each hand, was laughing delightedly and twirling around Lan WangJi, easily avoiding each of his attacks.

Lan WangJi just seemed to get more enraged. He sent a particularly vicious swipe  with Bichen that Wei WuXian vaulted over. The two of them flew past each other and made eye-contact, Wei Wuxian's violet eyes still bright with laughter and Lan Wangji's golden eyes narrowed in anger.

Suddenly the fight felt a bit too intimate to be violent.

After a few more seconds of spinning around each other, attacking and dodging so fast that most of the cultivators could barely track their movements, Wei WuXian used the strings connecting his jar of Emperor's Smile to twist around Bichen and stop it from moving.

It was a clever move, and it stumped Lan WangJi for a second before he yanked his sword up, sending the full jar of Emperor's smile into the air. It fell to the floor with a smash, and with the loud jarring noise, the scene changed back to the youths.

"Wei-xiong." Nie HuaiSang blurted out, "You're so smug."

Wei WuXian lifted his brows, "Lan Zhan's skills were quite good."

Normally, such a boldly condescending comment on Lan Wangji's skills would be met with outrage from the audience -he was in the top 3 most skilled cultivators in the world. However, after seeing their very well-matched fight from the night before, the cultivators in the room supposed that Wei WuXian was probably entitled to say that.

"You're gonna die, Wei-xiong! Lan Zhan had never been at such a loss before. He's probably after you. You should be careful. Although Lan Zhan doesn't go to classes with us, he's in charge of punishments in the Lan Sect!"

Wei WuXian was not frightened at all, waving his hand, "What's there to be scared of? Didn't everyone say that Lan Zhan had been a prodigy since he was very young? If he's so smart from such an early age, then he probably finished learning everything his uncle taught and do secluded meditation all the time. How would he have time to come after me? I..."

Before his sentence was finished, as the group walked around a wall with a hollowed out window, they saw a white-clothed boy sitting in a rigidly upright position in the room, with long hair tied up and wearing a forehead ribbon, emitting an aura of ice and frost. He swept a cold look at them. At once, it was as if the ten-or-so mouths were silenced.

Wei WuXian laughed. "Even at 15, you could silence a room, Lan Zhan! Congratulations!"

Lan WangJi didn't reply, just gazed at the pictures, lost in thought. He wasn't sure exactly when he had fallen in love with Wei WuXian - he certainly hadn't admitted it to himself until at least a year or so afterwards, when Wei WuXian was already the Yiling Patriarch - but watching his younger self, he could admit that it was indeed very hard to tell anything from his expression. No wonder so many people just assumed he hated Wei WuXian - including Wei WuXian himself, it seemed.

They quietly entered the room, quietly picked their seats to sit, and quietly avoided the desks around Lan WangJi.

Jiang Cheng patted Wei WuXian's shoulder and whispered, "He's after you. Hope for the best."

There was laughter in the audience at the starkly different tone in Jiang Cheng's voice, like he was talking to a dead man walking. It was quite sweet how Jiang Cheng seemed to genuinely worry about his shixiong, even though on the surface he seemed to always be telling Wei WuXian off, rather like how Jiang Cheng showed his care for Jin Ling.

When Wei WuXian turned his head, he could see the side of Lan WangJi's face. His lashes were long, appearing to be extremely delicate and elegant. His posture was also very upright, looking straight ahead. As he was just thinking about starting a conversation with him, Lan QiRen walked into the room.

The cultivators stared at Wei WuXian in confusion. Why would he want to talk with Lan WangJi after their fight last night?? Did he have a death wish or did he want to gloat? Nonetheless, it was good that Lan Qiren chose that time to walk into the room.

Lan QiRen was tall and thin, standing with a straight back. Although he had a long, black goatee, he was definitely not old. And, according to the tradition of the GusuLan Clan producing beautiful men each generation, he was definitely not bad-looking either. Yet, unfortunately, with the pedantic and stiff air that surrounded him, nothing would feel wrong if one called him an old man.

Lan Qiren ignored the stifled snorts and laughter around him. The world really was doomed if people had started laughing at Wei Wuxian's pathetic jokes. Hopefully he'd be able to retire peacefully without having to deal with the new generation of crazy fools.

He entered with a scroll in one hand. The long scroll of paper rolled all over the ground as soon as he opened it, and he started to talk about the rules of the Lan Sect. The faces of everyone in the room started to grow dark.

As Wei WuXian was bored, his gaze flew everywhere, and landed on the side face of Lan WangJi. He was shocked as he saw concentration and seriousness that were nothing like a facade, "How can he listen so attentively to something so boring?" He muttered to himself, probably a bit louder than he intended.

Jiang Cheng sighed. "And why do you  always watch him if he's so boring?"

Immediately, in the front, Lan QiRen slammed the scroll onto the ground and smiled bitterly, "I am only repeating this one by one because nobody reads it, even though it was carved onto the rock wall. Hence, nobody will be able to violate them using ignorance as an excuse again. Even if I do this, there are still people who do not pay attention. Very well, I will proceed to talk about something else." Although his words could be applied to everyone in the room, Wei WuXian's intuition told him that it was a warning directed at him.

"For once, Wei Ying, your intuition is correct." Lan Qiren muttered. "Not that it was very useful, considering you still misbehaved like that in my class."

Wei WuXian laughed nervously in response. "Sorry, Old Master Lan?"

As he expected, Lan QiRen spoke, "Wei Ying."

Wei WuXian answered cheerfully, "Here."

"Let me ask you. Are yao, demons, ghosts, and monsters the same things?"

Wei WuXian smiled, "No."

Wei WuXian seemed to have a lot of confidence in himself to be smiling while Lan Qiren was quizzing him in an attempt to humiliate and humble him.

"Why not? How are they differentiated?"

"Yao are formed from living, non-human beings; demons are formed from living humans; ghosts are formed from dead humans; monsters are formed from dead, non-human beings."

This was the most concise summary many young cultivators had ever heard. It was also slightly amusing in hindsight that the first question Lan Siren had chosen to ask Wei WuXian, the future founder of Diabolism, was about different beings formed from resentful energy.

"'Yao' and 'monsters' are often confused. What is an example that distinguishes the two?"

"That's easy." Wei WuXian pointed at the viridian tree outside of the room and replied, "For example, a living tree was tainted with the energy of books, cultivated into a conscious being, and causes mischief, it would be a 'yao'. If I took an axe and cut it in the middle, so that only a dead treestump was left, and then it cultivates into a being, it would be a 'monster.'"

Zizhen gave an amazed exclamation. "Wow! That makes so much more sense than my textbook! Thank you Senior Wei!"

Wei WuXian smiled, "No problem. If you have any questions about demons or yao or resentful energy in general, I'm sure I am the most qualified person to answer them-"

Sect Leader Ouyang yelled out, "Don't you go corrupting my son, you creepy demonic cultivator! Zizhen, you don't talk to him, understand me?"

"You can't tell me what to do! Senior Wei is smarter than all your advisors put together-"

"You little brat! When we get home-"

Lan Xichen cleared his throat politely to remind them they were making a scene.

"What was the profession of the progenitor of the QingheNie Sect?"

"A butcher."

"The heraldry of the LanlingJin Sect is a white peony. Which type of white peony is it?"

"Sparks Amidst Snow."

"Who was the first in the cultivation world to focus on the rise of his clan rather than his sect?"

"The progenitor of the QishanWen Sect, Wen Mao."

His fluent answers made everyone's hearts skip a few beats. Although they felt lucky, they all prayed for him to not be stumped by any questions, so that Lan QiRen wouldn't have the opportunity to pick on other people.

The audience now was similarly impressed. Wei WuXian had seemed to be a bit of a goofball with all the sneaking around at night drinking alcohol and fighting with Lan WangJi, but considering his  quick and accurate answers to each of Lan Qiren's questions, he couldn't really be criticised as someone who didn't study.

Jin Ling gave an upset noise. How was it fair that Wei WuXian was such a know-it-all when he didn't seem to put any effort in?? "How do you know all this if you spend all your days mucking around and hunting pheasants?", he demanded.

Wei WuXian rolled his eyes. "Those questions were fairly easy if you'd been secretly eavesdropping on Sect conferences and discussions since you were little. Jiang-shushu used to point out the different people from the different clans to me and tell me about their clans and families." He broke off suddenly with a frown, then changed the subject "I used to study a lot because I wanted to be the best cultivator in the world, and so Jiang shushu wouldn't regret taking me in. But then I realised the most important thing in life..."

Jin Ling paused, then asked. "What is it?"

"Enjoy life and have no regrets, of course!" Wei WuXian exclaimed with a grin. He winked at Lan WangJi.

Yet, Lan QiRen spoke, "As a disciple of the YunmengJiang Sect, you should have been very familiar with these and known them by heart since long ago, so there is nothing to be proud of even if you answered correctly. Let me ask you again—there is an executioner with parents, a wife, and children, but before he died, he executed more than one hundred people. He suddenly died in the public and, to punish him for his deeds, he was left on the streets for seven days. With the repressed energy of resentment, he started to haunt and kill. What should be done?"

This time, Wei WuXian didn't answer immediately.

The cultivators in the audience looked at each other uncomfortably. This scenario that Lan Qiren had seemingly randomly come up with seemed to be a bit of a dangerous one to ask to the Grandmaster of Demonic cultivation.

That, along with that fact that Wei WuXian hadn't answered, but was staring into the distance with a faraway look on his face, made them certain that Lan Qiren wouldn't like his response.

The others thought that he was confused, and were all feeling restless. Lan QiRen scolded, "Why are you looking at him? Think about this as well. Don't open your books!"

The disciples took their hands away from the books that they intended on quickly flipping through. They were confused as well—having died in the public and left on the streets for seven days, it was definitely a fierce ghost and a ferocious corpse, and therefore a question hard to solve. Everyone hoped that the old man Lan wouldn't pick on them to answer. After a few moments, seeing that Wei WuXian didn't answer, Lan QiRen seemed like he was thinking, and spoke again, "WangJi, you can tell him what should be done."

As the scene faded to black again, the whole room gave an impatient sigh. They had actually wanted to hear the solution to the scenario! Instead, they'd just have to chat to the cultivators around them for the next few minutes.

Jingyi turned to his friends and whispered to them in a hushed voice, "Can you guys believe how  weird this is?? We're watching Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun when they were our age!"

Zizhen nodded fervently. "You wouldn't think they'd..you know... like each other, but I guess they all started as enemies then became friends then..."

Jin Ling rolled his eyes as his friend started to go into 'romantic daydream mode'.

"It's probably weird for them too." Sizhui said reasonably. "I'm not sure how much these pictures will show us, but I have a feeling we'll get to learn a lot of new things about Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun  and Sect Leader Jiang."

"I've learnt loads already." grumbled Jin Ling. "Senior Wei has not changed since he was 15, he used to be taller and have more purpley eyes, he met Lan WangJi by sneaking alcohol into the Cloud Recesses, and he and my uncle used to not hate each other."

"And... you saw your dad." Zizhen said timidly. "You kind of do look like him."

Jin Ling felt a bit warm inside. "Do you think so?" He was hoping very hard that he'd be able to see more of his father and get to fully understand everything that happened before... Qiongqi Path.