Chapter 32 - Dew

A/N: So so so sorry guys about the huge delay for this chapter 😭 My holidays were a bit of an adventure, but the point is, I'm back now to writing some fun mdzs reactions ;) Hope you all enjoy!

This time, throughout the night, Wei WuXian didn't shut his eyelids even once. With opened eyes, he managed to hold out until the second morning. After feeling the numbness pass and that his limbs were able to move again, he calmly took off his shirt inside the blanket and threw it under the bed.

There were muffled sounds of alarm. "...Woah, wait, what is he doing??"

"The new part's just started, and Wei Wuxian's already up to something..."

The fact Wei Wuxian was up to no good already didn't suprise the juniors, who were more impressed that Wei Wuxian was able to keep his eyes open for the whole night, just lying there and staring at nothing. Wouldn't he be dead with exhaustion the next day? Then again, Senior Wei did seem to have a limitless supply of energy, they couldn't imagine him being tired.

Then, he pulled off Lan WangJi's sash belt and succeeded in yanking his shirt half-off. He originally wanted to completely take off his shirt, but after seeing the sear under Lan WangJi's collarbone, Wei WuXian paused for a moment and stopped. Also remembering the Discipline Whip's scars on his back, he knew that he shouldn't go further and wanted to pull Lan WangJi's clothes back again.

Sizhui, who had immediately turned his head away and looked at the ceiling to avoid looking at his dad shirtless (that was just weird!) prayed in his head that Senior Wei would listen to his conscience and take a step back from whatever he was planning to do. It wasn't that he didn't like Senior Wei's pranks, but  any prank that involves taking Hanguang Jun's shirt off probably wasn't going to be an innocent one...

"Wow, Wei Wuxian having cold feet? That's not like him..." murmured the cultivators, clearly on the edge of their seats to see whether Wei Wuxian would go ahead with whatever he was planning.

Due to the delay, Lan WangJi seemed as if he felt cold. Shifting slightly, he opened his eyes with a frown on his face. As soon as his eyes were opened, he tumbled off the bed.

The room erupted with stifled laughter and gasps of horror. This story-showing was really revealing to the audience that Lan Wangji wasn't always a stiff, emotionless piece of jade. First with his behaviour while drunk, and now with him literally falling out of his bed after finding himself in a bed with a shirtless Wei Wuxian.

It really wasn't the elegant HanGuang-Jun's fault that he was not elegant at all after the shock. Any man who woke up with a hangover the morning after, saw another man lying beside him wearing nothing and that his own shirt was only half-on, and found that both of them were skin-to-skin snuggling in the same bedsheets, wouldn't have paid attention to be elegant.

Most of the room was just laughing now. Lan Wangji maintained his neutral expression, not seeming to feel embarrassed in any way.

Wei Wuxian nudged his husband playfully. "How scared were you? Be honest!"

Lan Wangji pursed his lips and didn't answer, just continued his dignified stare into the distance, which to Wei Wuxian was enough of an answer.

Wei WuXian partially covered his chest with the blanket, leaving only his smooth shoulders out.

Lan WangJi, "You..."

Wei WuXian purred, "Hmm?"

Lan WangJi, "Last night, I..." Wei WuXian winked his left eye at Lan WangJi and smiled mysteriously, resting his chin on one hand, "You were so bold last night, Han GuangJun."

"..."

The audience simultaneously groaned. Only Wei Wuxian would pull such an audacious prank on Hanguang Jun, of all people.

Some of the juniors looked too mortified to keep watching, but others were enjoying the entertaining situation immensely.

Sizhui suppressed his giggle. His dads were so funny before they got together.

Wei WuXian, "Do you really remember nothing of the things that happened last night?" It seemed that Lan WangJi really didn't remember. His face was already as pale as snow.

"Poor Hanguang Jun..." Mianmian sighed. "Wei Wuxian, stop tormenting him!"

"In my defence," Wei Wuxian began, "It was very funny. Look how scared he looks there, hahahaha! He really thought he might have done me while he was drunk! What's so bad that though, huh?"

"...Wei Ying."

It was fortunate that he didn't remember. Or else, if Lan WangJi still remembered that he sneaked outside to summon Wen Ning during the night and asked about it, neither lying nor speaking truth would make the situation better. With so many cases failing to tease Lan WangJi and lifting a rock only to have it drop on his on foot, Wei WuXian finally found some of his past abilities.

"Oh." several cultivators looked disappointed. "So that prank was just so Wei Wuxian could know if Lan Wangji remembered what had happened while he was drunk?"

"Aw.. I thought Wei Wuxian was just making a flirty prank..." sighed a cultivator.

"Knowing Wei Wuxian, he's probably doing it for both reasons. And because he gets so much satisfaction from using his old pranking skills on Lan Wangji."

Although he wanted to continue his successful pursuit, Wei WuXian still wanted to lure Lan WangJi into drinking again in the future, so he probably shouldn't go as far as to scar him for life, else Lan WangJi would be cautious the next time.

"How considerate..." muttered Jin Ling, and several members of the audience laughed appreciatively.

"Nooo.... don't let him drink again!" squeaked Jingyi. Seeing his idol drunk had shaken him to the core. Hanguang Jun was his role model - whatever he did, was always completely right. It was beyond terrifying seeing him in that state.

Wei WuXian lifted the covers open and showed him the trousers and boots that he still had on, "What a man! HanGuang-Jun, it was only a joke. I just took off our clothes. You're chastity is still there. You hadn't been tainted. Don't worry." Lan WangJi was still frozen on the spot and didn't answer.

The audience let out a sigh of relief. Watching Hanguang Jun's increasingly stressed, paling face had been hard to watch - and now, here was the good part, Hanguang Jun's reaction to the prank!

"Congrats and everything on finding your pranking powers again, but I think that prank was a bit brutal, Wei Wuxian. Look, he's still in shock." Guo Wanxin pointed out.

A shattering sound came from the center of the room. The sound was quite familiar—it was already their second time hearing it. The Qiankun Pouches that had been on the table were becoming restless again, throwing the cups and teapots onto the ground. This time, with the three body parts together, it was even more wild. Last night, one of them was hopelessly drunk while the other was helplessly tormented, so of course they forgot all about the duet.

"Oh. Yes. The body parts..." mumbled Zizhen. He was getting way too distracted by the romance between Senior Wei and Lan Wangji, he got whiplash every time the subject returned to the 'main topic" - the ghost arm mystery. Personally, he found Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun's story much more interesting - and, judging by the disappointed looks on many cultivators faces, he wasn't the only one.

Wei WuXian was worried that Lan WangJi was overly-shocked and would accidentally impale him onto the bed out of impulse. He hurried, "Serious business. Come, come. Let's do serious business first." He wrapped a piece of clothing around him, hopped off the bed, and extended a hand toward Lan WangJi, who had just stood back up. He wanted to help him up, but it looked almost as if he wanted to rip his clothes off.

Jiang Cheng refrained from face palming with every drop of self control he had left in his being. His tolerance was running dangerously low after so many hours just watching his crazy shixiong run around and circle that Lan Wangji.

"Probably not the most reassuring thing to do to Lan Wangji, in these circumstances." mused a Nie cultivator.

Lan WangJi still hadn't come over the shock and stepped backward, only to stagger from something under his foot. Looking down, it was Bichen, which had been lying on the ground ever since last night.

Wei Wuxian opened his mouth, but Lan Wangji was faster. He covered Wei Wuxian's mouth with his hand, muffling whatever indecent comments he was about to make. The two of them stared at each other, Lan Wangji suspiciously and Wei Wuxian innocently. Even when Wei Wuxian ran the tip of his tongue against Lan Wangji's palm, Lan Wangji didn't move his hand away, so Wei Wuxian sat back in his seat and saved the joke he had been about to make for another time.

And, at this point, one of the ropes that tied the pouches had come loose. Half of an ashen arm had already crawled out of the tiny opening. Wei WuXian put his hand into Lan WangJi's semi-opened clothes and searched around, fishing a flute out of the other's arms, "HanGuang-Jun, don't be scared, alright? I'm not going to do anything to you. It's just that you took away my flute last night. I need to have it back." After the comment, he even considerately pulled Lan WangJi's collars back up and tied his sash belt properly.

"Awww... "

There was something cute and almost flirty about the way Wei Wuxian rummaged inside Lan Wangji's clothed then tied it up for him - like something partners would do for each other. Zizhen was practically bouncing up and down in his seat.

Lan WangJi looked at him with a complicated expression, as if he really wanted to ask about the details of what happened after he was drunk. However, he was used to finishing important tasks first, so, suppressing his questions, he put on a serious expression and took out the seven-stringed guqin.

The audience felt a little bit calmer, now that Hanguang Jun was acting more like how he normally did. It was a credit to his name that he was able to focus on his duty, even when he must have had so many questions - for example, why he had Wei Wuxian's flute, why Bichen was on the floor, why they had been sleeping in the same bed, etc.

On the other hand though, they really were looking forward to seeing how Wei Wuxian explained what had happened while Lan Wangji were drunk.

Of the three Qiankun Pouches, one held the left arm, another held the legs, and the last held the torso. The three parts could already form a large portion of the body. They influenced the others and the resentful energy multiplied, making them harder to deal with than before. The agitation only ceased after the two played Rest three consecutive times.

Although Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's duet was a perfectly balanced, beautiful-sounding piece, Zizhen couldn't help but wriggle a bit in impatience after hearing it for the third time.

Jin Ling was also sulking. There were three dismemebered pieces of a body, all affected with resentful energy, but the moment things start to get exciting, Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun just stuff it in a bag and play lullaby music at it. Why did he always have to listen to music?! He didn't play an instrument, because it seemed so tame compared to shooting the monster with an arrow or slicing it with a sword.

Wei WuXian put away his flute. He was about to gather up the body parts that rolled all over the ground when he suddenly commented, "Our dear friend hadn't been missing his workouts." The sash belt of burial robe on the torso had already loosened. The collars opened to reveal the strong, solid body of a man in the prime of his life. With broad shoulders and a thin waist in addition to the sharply contoured abdominal muscles, it was the masculine body figure that countless men dreamed to have.

"Mmmm... That's a really attractive torso!" exclaimed a cultivator enthusiastically. His friends turned to squint at him suspiciously.

"Wei Wuxian...did you really have to comment that? And describe it like that??" groaned Jiang Cheng.

Staring at it from every direction, Wei WuXian couldn't help smacking those abs a few times, "HanGuang-Jun, look at him. If he were alive and I hit him, the impact would've bounced back and hurt myself. Just how on Earth did he train?" The tips of Lan WangJi's brows seemed to twitch, but he said nothing.

Nie Huaisang looked like he was choking on air. Wei Wuxian couldn't watch what was happening on the screen, now that he knew who the torso he was smacking actually belonged to. He couldn't really apologise out loud without revealing to the whole audience who the corpse belonged to, so he just coughed and rubbed his nose, feeling - shockingly - embarrassed.

"Commenting on it was a bit weird, but understandable, but why are you smacking it now??" squeaked Zizhen. "It's a corpse!!"

"Worse than a corpse, it's just the torso because the head and limbs were chopped off... Senior Wei, what are you doing??" added Jingyi, sounding panicked.

Some cultivators noticed the slight change in Lan Wangji's facial expression and guessed what he was thinking. Lan Xichen watched and could tell his little brother was getting upset (i.e. jealous), and if Wei gongzi kept patting the corpse's abs, he might forcefully stop him.

Yet, unexpectedly, Wei WuXian smacked on it two more times. Lan WangJi finally took over the Qiankun Pouches, his face remaining expressionless, and silently started to seal the corpses. Wei WuXian made way for him at once. Quickly afterward, Lan WangJi finished sealing back all of the body parts and even tied quite a few dead knots over each one. Wei WuXian didn't think too much of it.

The cultivators who caught that laughed, including Mianmian and her friends, Guo Wanxin, Lan Xichen and some of the juniors.

"Wei Wuxian might not have thought much of it, but I think Lan Wangji didn't like how his crush was touching another man's chest, even if that man is a dismembered corpse, hahaha."

Wei Wuxian raised his eyebrows. "Wait, what?! Lan Zhan, you can't have been jealous of those dead abs! The only abs I touch are yours ~ and anyway, yours are much better than his-"

He was interrupted by screeching from the juniors, a roared "SHUT UP!" from Jiang Cheng, a croaking hiss from Lan Qiren and an amused chuckle from Lan Xichen.

He looked down at the figure of his current body, raised his brows, and tied his sash belt again, appearing to be properly dressed again.

This again drew several bouts of laughter from the audience.

"Why does he look disappointed, Mo Xuanyu's body isn't bad..."

"He should be glad he has a body." a cultivator muttered darkly.

Wei Wuxian sighed. "That's true. I quite like Mo Xuanyu's body now, the poor guy. Though, I suppose my body will never be as fit and awesome as my old one, because I don't use my sword now." He pouted.

"That doesn't matter." Lan Wangji said, undisturbed. Wei Wuxian's expression rapidly changed to a feisty grin.

"Yeah, as long as I can still-"

"STOP!" yelled Jiang Cheng. Why was it his job now to shut his stupid shixiong up before he traumatised poor Jin Ling - and himself??

Looking to the side, he saw that Lan WangJi still glanced at him after he put away the Qiankun Pouches, his eyes full of hesitance. Wei WuXian purposely spoke, "HanGuang-Jun, why are you looking at me like this? Are you still worried? Trust me. I really didn't do anything to you last night. Of course, you didn't do anything to me either."

"The way you phrased that really isn't reassuring at all." remarked Guo Wanxin. "Now it sounds like Hanguang Jun definitely did do something to you."

Her wife tilted her head. "He sounds sincere to me... And Hanguang Jun didn't really do anything to Wei Wuxian did he?"

"I suppose... but when it's Wei Wuxian talking, you really can't tell if he's genuinely being reassuring or about to prank you." her friend replied.

Lan WangJi thought for a few moments. As if he finally made a decision, he lowered his voice, "Last night, other than taking your flute, I..."

Wei WuXian, "You? What else did you do? Nothing much, really. You just said a lot of things."

The Adam's apple on Lan WangJi's snow-colored neck bobbed slightly, "... What sort of things?"

The cultivators snickered to each other.

"Is Wei Wuxian gonna tell him?"

"Lan Wangji looks so scared, what does he think he said to Wei Wuxian?"

"He's probably worried he accidentally confessed to him, haha!" They all laughed together.

Wei WuXian, "Nothing too important. Pretty much, mnn, for example, you really like..." Lan WangJi's gaze froze. Wei WuXian, "You really like rabbits."

"..."

Lan WangJi closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.

The cultivators laughed harder, particularly at Lan Wangji's long suffering expression.

"That has to be deliberate now..."

"He's giving poor Hanguang Jun too many heart attacks..."

Wei WuXian added in consideration, "It's okay! Rabbits are so cute—who doesn't like rabbits? I also like them, as in, I like to eat them hahahahahaha! Here, HanGuang-Jun. You drank so much last night... Uh, not really. You were so drunk last night, so you're probably not feeling that good right now. You can wash your face, have some water, then rest for a while before we set off again. This time, it's pointing at the Southwest. I'll go buy some breakfast downstairs and not bother you any longer."

Wei Wuxian said all of this in rapid succession, not giving the audience the time to fully process the many different topics he had switched between.

Jingyi said "Hmph!", thinking about Wei Wuxian's joke about liking eating cute rabbits (hopefully it was a joke, anyway).

A round-faced young woman, a Lan cultivator cupped her face in her hands in distress. Wei Wuxian recognised her immediately as the young woman who'd given him an apple at Dafan Shan, and whom he'd met in the Cloud Recesses feeding rabbits. He realised that he had never actually asked for her name. He called out, "Oh, hey! It's you again! Don't look so stressed, I've never actually tried to catch and eat a rabbit from the Cloud Recesses. What's your name, by the way?"

The round-faced cultivator glanced at Lan Wangji in terror and didn't reply.

Mianmian rolled her eyes. "Wei gongzi, don't you start doing this again! I remember that annoying word play you did with my name before."

Wei Wuxian tapped his chin, trying to remember. "Yuan Dao si mian mian." Lan Wangji reminded him.

No one else understood, but Wei Wuxian burst into laughter immediately.

As he was about to go, Lan WangJi spoke coldly, "Wait." Wei WuXian turned around, "What?" Lan WangJi stared at him fixedly. Finally, he asked, "Do you have money?"

"No!" The juniors all chorused.

"Senior Wei is broke."

"HEY!" Wei Wuxian complained. "You kids..."

Wei WuXian grinned, "Yes! You didn't think that I don't know where you keep your money, did you? I'll grab some breakfast for you too, alright? HanGuang-Jun, you can take it slow. We're not in a hurry."

He left the room and closed the door behind him. In the hallway, he bent over and silently laughed for quite a long while. Lan WangJi seemed as if he had received a major shock. He shut himself inside the room and didn't come out for a long period of time.

Lan Wangji raised his eyebrows. He had been panicking silently in the room, while Wei Ying was outside silently laughing? He wasn't surprised in the slightest.

"Wei Wuxian was clearly holding that laugh in for a long time..." the cultivators chuckled.

"He's having way too much fun confusing poor Hanguang Jun."

As he waited, Wei WuXian sauntered downstairs, left the inn, and strolled around the area, buying some snacks along the way. He sat down on a set of stairs and bathed in the sunlight as he ate. After having sat there for a while, a group of thirteen-, fourteen-year-old children ran across the street. The child in the front ran as if he flew, holding a long string in his hand. At the end of the string, a kite danced up and down in the air. The children behind him had toy bow and arrows, shouting as they chased and shot at the kite. Wei WuXian also loved to play this game when he was young.

Most of the cultivators in the audience had of course loved playing the game too. It was the classic game that all children played to practice archery while still mucking around. It was a bit strange to them that the infamous Wei Wuxian had been a normal enough child to play such games as well.

Back when Wei WuXian lived in the Lotus Pier and played shooting kites with the Jiang Sect's disciples, he won a lot of first places. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, had always been second. His kites were either flown too far away to shoot down or near enough to shoot but not as far as Wei WuXian's.

The audience gave a few snickers and a short "ooh" but looking at Jiang Cheng's rapidly purpling face, they suppressed their laughter.

Wei Wuxian remembered how him being better than Jiang Cheng at archery (and many other things) had been the source of a lot of insecurities for his shidi. Although it wasn't his fault, it was a bit awkward how the board was making it seem like he regularly thought about how much better he was than Jiang Cheng - when in reality, it was just part of his vague recollections of their childhood.

"Senior Wei must have been really good at archery, then." said Zizhen, a little bit cautiously in case he offended Sect Leader Jiang.

Their kite was almost twice the other people's kites, made into the shape of a flying beast. It had bright, exaggerated colors, a large, gaping mouth, and a few sharp tails that flapped in the wind. From a distance, it was exceptionally vibrant and lively, not quite terrifying, but almost a bit silly. The framework had been assembled by Jiang FengMian himself, then given to Jiang YanLi to paint. This was why, whenever they took the kite out to compete, they both felt a sense of pride. Thinking of this, Wei WuXian's lips shaped into a smile.

The scene faded momentarily to a different sky and to different children - Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng when they were 9 or 10 - flying an exceptionally extravagant kite. The noise in the room immediately quietened and softened at the adorable sight of the proud way they handled the kite. It was beyond obvious they both loved their sister and father the most in the world.

He couldn't help but raised his head to see how the kite that the children were flying looked. It was entirely golden, a round mass of some sort. He pondered to himself, What is this thing? A pancake? Or some beast that I don't know about?

"A beast you don't know about?? You know every beast out there, Senior Wei!" said a junior disciple admiringly.

While most cultivators were chuckling at Wei Wuxian's completely ignorant thoughts - a pancake?? really?? - Jiang Cheng suddenly felt a cold prickle in his heart. A round golden kite just like that had been the trigger to the massacre of the Jiang Sect, all those years ago. The sight of kites like that still brought to his mind the hateful image of that revolting woman, Wang Lingjiao.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew over. The kite wasn't that high in the first place and it wasn't in an open space, so it was immediately knocked off. One child cried out, "Oh no, the sun fell!" Wei WuXian understood at once. These children were probably playing a game in imitation of the Sunshot Campaign.

"Oh!!" There were a few laughs as the cultivators suddenly understood the game the kids were playing. It made sense that Wei Wuxian wouldn't be familiar with the Sunshot Campaign game - he had played an active part in it, and it was probably strange for him to see real events he experiences played out by children like it was a game.

They were in the area of Yueyang. When the QishanWen Sect was at the peak of its prosperity, it abused its powers everywhere. And, since Yueyang wasn't far from Qishan, the people here must have suffered greatly, having been either troubled by their unleashed beasts or bullied by their arrogant cultivators. After the Sunshot Campaign ended, the Wen Sect was annihilated by the combined forces of other sects, the hundred-years-old foundation instantly crumbling down. Around the area of Qishan, a lot of places enjoyed activities that celebrated the Wen Sect's destruction, which almost turned into traditions. This game was probably one of them.

"Ah..." The atmosphere in the room suddenly dimmed considerably.

"I never thought about it like that..." muttered a cultivator from a nearby area to Qishan.

The children stopped the chase and, gathering together in contemplation, started to discuss, "What do we do? We didn't even shoot the sun, and it fell off by itself. Now who's the leader?" Someone raised a hand, "Me, of course! I'm Jin GuangYao. I killed the Wen Sect's big villain!"

The room burst into snorts of laughter.

"Oh, I see! They're playing a role-play game. Those are the most interesting." commented a cultivator. "Ironic how he proud he is to be pretending to be Jin Guangyao, haha..."

Sitting on the stairs leading to the inn, Wei WuXian watched them with keen interest. In these types of games, the head of all cultivators, LianFang-Zun, who was currently the most successful of all, was of course the most popular character. Although his family background was a bit disgraceful, the fact that he later climbed to such a rank was precisely why people respected him.

Lan Xichen had gone stone-faced again. It ignited an unfamiliar spark of anger at the injustice every time he was reminded at how two-faced people were. One moment they could be praising Jin Guangyao for his background, and shaming him in the blink of an eye after their perspectives of him changed. And he could never express any of his doubts or opinions about A-Yao's possible motivations behind a lot of his crimes, because none of it would be considered for even a second by the others. He wondered if this was how helpless Wei gongzi had felt trying to defend the Wens.

During the Sunshot Campaign, he skillfully worked undercover for the QishanWen Sect, deceiving all of the Wen Sect's people to a point that a tremendous amount of information were disclosed, yet they knew nothing. After the Sunshot Campaign, with flattery, wit, and countless other methods, he finally became the Chief Cultivator, fully deserving of the title. Such a life could even be considered a legend.

"Yeah, it was a legend. Just not with him being the hero anymore, haha!" the cultivators mocked amongst themselves.

If he was playing, he'd also want to try being Jin GuangYao. Choosing this boy to be the leader would very reasonable choice!

The audience made noises of shock and surprise. "Did you really think so highly of him?"

Wei Wuxian ground his teeth together. "Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, you all used to too. You've forgotten that, have you?"

There were a short few minute of silence. Any mention of Jin Guangyao, particularly from back when he was so popular, was always immensely uncomfortable, because the cultivators were embarrassed by how much they used to worship him. It was obvious to all those with some clear sight that the praise and criticism of the people was really surface level all the time. And then there were the people who had the most trouble coming to terms with the fact that Jin Guangyao wasn't who they thought he was - namely, Lan Xichen and Jin Ling.

Someone else protested, "But I'm Nie MingJue! I've won the most battles and captured the most people. I should be the leader!"

"Jin GuangYao", "But I'm the Chief Cultivator!"

"Nie MingJue" raised swung his fist, "So what if you're the Chief Cultivator. You're still my youngest brother. You'll have to run away whenever you see me anyways."

"Jin GuangYao" did indeed cooperate and maintain his character. Flinching his shoulders, he quickly ran away.

The corner of Lan Xichen's mouth twitched upwards into a smile. That behaviour was definitely in character. His da-ge, Nie Mingjue was the one person Jin Guangyao was most terrified of.

Nie Huaisang was smiling too. It was funny seeing how other people saw his older brother - angry and violent and good at battle. And they were mostly right.

Someone else spoke up, "You short-lived idiot." Choosing a cultivator to be must have meant that they felt admiration toward the certain cultivator. "Nie MingJue" raged, "Jin ZiXuan, you died even earlier than I did, so you're more short-lived!"

"Jin ZiXuan" responded defensively, "What's wrong with being shortlived? I'm ranked third."

"Even if you're third, it's only your face!"

Jin Ling perked up at this scrap of information about his father.

"Is that true??" he pressed Wei  Wuxian.

"Ummm...." Wei Wuxian chuckled nervously. "That peacock..your father, I mean, was a good cultivator. I'm sure it wasn't only his looks that gave him his third rank. It was also his money and status...Though, I suppose, he had looks too." he added hastily.

"What were you ranked?" asked Jingyi curiously.

"Heh, I was 4th, after Jin Zixuan. Of course, the perfect Jade Twins are one and two. Jiang Cheng was 5th, Nie Mingjue was 7th, if I'm remembering correctly??" Wei Wuxian thought for a bit, then shrugged. "Those ranks aren't that important anyway. It made you look cool to others and gave you some status, but there are a lot of other things that make you a better cultivator, of course."

The juniors all nodded solemnly in agreement, though they were privately pondering the thought of Wei Wuxian being ranked 4th in the entire cultivational world. He must have been very popular and famous even before he became the Yiling Patriarch. So why did he turn to the demonic path??

One of the children seemed to be tired from all the running and standing. He also moved to the stairs and sat down beside Wei WuXian. Waving his hands, he mediated between the two, "Okay, okay. Let's stop fighting. I'm the YiLing Patriarch, so I'm the most powerful. So, if you guys insist so much, I can be the leader."

Wei WuXian, "..."

The look on the past Wei Wuxian's face was priceless - a combination of being taken aback, confused and incredulous, as if he really hadn't been expecting that turn of events.

The irony also contributed to the hilarity of the situation - if that kid playing the role of the Yiling Patriarch had realised that the literal real-life person Wei Wuxian was watching them right now, he'd have been scared out of his pants.

He looked down. There really was a small, wooden stick stuck beside the boy's waist, probably Chenqing. Only simple-minded children like this would deign to be the YiLing Patriarch, only discussing in terms of power, not whether he was good or evil.

"Senior Wei, why are you talking about yourself like you're a low or evil person? You know you aren't, even if that's what everyone else says." asked a junior disciple.

"It never mattered if I was actually evil or not," shrugged Wei Wuxian, "Just that's what most cultivators think, so naturally that's just part of my identity now. "

Someone else barged in, "No. I'm the SanDu ShengShou. I'm the most powerful." The "YiLing Patriarch" replied as if he understood everything, "Jiang Cheng, how is it possible for you to be better than me? Is there even one time that you didn't lose against me? How do you dare to say that you're the most powerful? Aren't you embarrassed?"

The cultivators couldn't hold back this time. The room broke out in hoots of laughter and long 'ooooh's.

"He's not wrong, is he?" snickered a cultivator.

Most of the audience was impressed by that kid - he must have a lot of guts, pretending to be the Yiling Laozu and making fun of Sect Leader Jiang for the whole street to hear.

Lan Xichen glanced sympathetically at Jiang Cheng. He had basically turned into a source of entertainment for the audience at this point - every time he was mentioned, he was being made fun of.

"Jiang Cheng", "Hmph, I can't be better than you? Do you remember how you died?" The light smile on Wei WuXian's face dissipated at once. It was as if he had suddenly been pricked by a poisonous needle. A faint, sharp pain came from all around his body.

The room finally quietened. Seeing Wei Wuxian upset was something not many people knew how to respond to.

But of course he's upset, thought Sizhui. Anyone would feel hurt hearing children on the streets casually making fun of his own death...

And what was more, it did sound uncannily like something Jiang Cheng might say - even if deep down didn't think that, his actions certainly usually made it seem like he hated Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji stiffened and frowned. He hated seeing Wei Wuxian in pain. His Wei Ying didn't deserve to be talked about in such a dismissive way. He tightened his hand protectively around Wei Wuxian's. The people would know, hopefully soon enough, what a good person his partner was, then they would change their tune.

The child "Yiling Patriarch" didn't seem fazed at all by the child "Jiang Cheng"'s words. After all, he couldn't understand how those words could hurt as he hadn't died so horrifically like Wei Wuxian had. Instead, he continued his charade as pompously as he could.

The "YiLing Patriarch" who sat beside him clapped his hands, "Look at me! Chenqing on my left, the Tiger Seal on my right, along with the Ghost General—I'm invincible! Hahahaha..."

Holding a stick on his left hand and a rock on his right, he laughed for quite awhile, "Where's Wen Ning? Come out!" A child from behind the crowd raised a hand and replied feebly, "I'm here... Uh... I'm just saying... When the Sunshot Campaign happened, I wasn't dead yet..."

"There's even a Wen Ning?"

"Not a very good Wen Ning, is he? Hahaha..." another cultivator replied with a smirk.

"No, actually that was a very Wen Ning-like tone to use. It definitely sounds like something he would say. And he's not wrong, is he? " explained Sizhui. Why didn't anyone realise how gentle and sweet Wen Ning really was?

Wei WuXian felt that he really needed to interrupt. He asked, "Cultivators, may I ask a question?" When the children played this game, there had never been an adult who stepped in. Not to mention, it wasn't a scolding, but this sort of serious question. The "YiLing Patriarch" looked at him with both wonder and caution, "What do you want to ask?" Wei WuXian, "Why isn't there anyone from the GusuLan Sect?"

No one was really surprised to hear Wei Wuxian asking about the Lan Sect, and they could all guess why he was interested in that sect in particular. The question wasn't whether, but when he would inevitably ask about a child acting Lan Wangji.

"There is."

"Where are they?"

The "YiLing Patriarch" pointed at a child who never said anything from the beginning to the end, "That's him." Wei WuXian looked over. The child had delicate features, the seedling of a charming, handsome man. A white rope wrapped around his smooth forehead, in place of a forehead ribbon. Wei WuXian asked, "Who is he?" The "YiLing Patriarch" pouted in disdain, "Lan WangJi."

... Fine. These children understood the essence. Someone acting as Lan WangJi should indeed shut his mouth and stay silent!

The audience laughed. Something about the way the child "Yiling Patriarch" pouted when he said "Lan Wangji" seemed very familiar to the real Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian's grudging approval of the children after they chose the right child to play "Lan Wangji", even though the child "Jiang Cheng"'s words had just hurt him said a lot about how important Lan Wangji was to him.

Out of the blue, Wei WuXian's lips curled upward again. The poisonous needle had been pulled out, tossed into some random corner. All of the pain had been instantly wiped away. Wei WuXian murmured to himself, "How strange. Why can someone as boring as him always make me so happy?"

Mianmian laughed and clapped in delight. At least Wei Wuxian was acknowledging it by now! She wasn't alone - there were plenty of cultivators who were giggling to their friends and clutching their hearts.

"It's so cute how even the short mention of Lan Wangji can cheer Wei Wuxian up immediately!" gushed one of them.

When Lan WangJi came downstairs, he saw Wei WuXian sitting on the stairs. A group of children sat around him, eating steamed meat buns together.

While some of the older cultivators gave half-hearted gasps of "oh no, he's tainting more of the younger generation", most of the audience smiled at the sweet scene, including Lan Xichen who was again pondering how Wei Wuxian was able to effortlessly win the affection and attention of children. He'd done it with the junior disciples at Yi City, and again here with these Yueyang street children.

Maybe it was the bright energy that he constantly exuded, along with a sense of confident strength that made children like him. It would be clear to any child withWei gongzi that he was not a heartless, mad, mass murdering necromancer. In any case, Wei gong-zi would be an excellent teacher, even if he went around different areas and villages teaching children archery or drawing.

Wei WuXian ate his meat bun as he directed two children who stood back-to-back in front of him, "... Now, in front of you, there are thousands of the Wen Sect's cultivators. All of them were heavily armed and surrounded you so closely that even a single drop of water wouldn't have leaked in. Your eyes should be sharper. Yes, that's it. Okay, Lan WangJi, pay attention here. You aren't how you usually would be. You're covered in blood! There's a lot of killing intent! You look really scary! Wei WuXian, move closer to him. Do you know how to spin the flute? Let me see you spin it, with only one hand. Be cooler. Do you know how to look cool? Come, let me show you."

In between their laughter, the juniors had vaguely registered what Wei Wuxian had described about the Sunshot campaign and about Hanguang Jun. Surrounded by thousands of Wen Sect cultivators? Shivers ran down their spines.

It wasn't just the juniors having trouble imagining Hanguang Jun's pristine white robes covered in blood, emanating killing intent. It was  certainly a very disturbing mental image.

Lan Wangji pondered how Wei Ying had described him as looking 'really scary'. Wei Ying had never seemed to look afraid of him. If anything, Lan Wangji had been the one who was scared - of Wei Wuxian's new, dark and angry persona and his dangerous use of demonic cultivation.

"Wei WuXian" responded and gave the small stick to him. Wei WuXian adeptly whirled "Chenqing" between his fingers, causing all of the children to crowd around him and gasp in awe.

The cultivators chuckled. Wei Wuxian entertaining the children was somehow entertaining for them as well. It was a bit strange though how Wei Wuxian seemed to switch between making fun and looking down on his Yiling Patriarch self, and commenting or bragging about how cool he had been.

Lan WangJi, "..."

He silently walked over. Seeing that he was here, Wei WuXian dusted off his trousers and said goodbye to the children. Finally managing to stand up, he laughed as he walked, almost as if he had taken some strange poison.

Lan WangJi, "..."

Wei WuXian, "Hahahahahaha I'm sorry, HanGuang-Jun. I gave them all of the breakfast I bought for you. Let's buy some more later."

Lan WangJi, "Mnn."

Wei WuXian, "What do you think? Were those two kids cute? Guess who was the one with a rope tied around his forehead pretending to be, hahahaha..."

After a while of speechlessness, Lan WagJi finally couldn't hold it any longer, "... What else did I really do, last night?"

No one in the audience blamed Hanguang Jun for not being able to hold back his questions any longer - with Wei Wuxian cackling like that with every sentence as if there was something really funny that he knew that Lan Wangji didn't.

It definitely wasn't that simple. Or else, what could've made Wei WuXian laugh even until now??? Wei WuXian quickly waved his hands, "No, no, no. You didn't do anything. I'm just being ridiculous, hahahahahaha... Okay. Ahem. HanGuang-Jun, I'm going to talk serious business now."

"Are you really, though?" wondered Jin Ling sceptically.  "It looks like you're having a lot of trouble saying anything without laughing."

Lan WangJi, "Speak."

Wei WuXian pulled on a straight face, "The coffin-slamming noises of the Chang Clan's cemetery had been silent for ten years. Suddenly starting again, it definitely wasn't a coincidence. There must've been some other cause."

Lan WangJi, "What do you think the cause is?"

Wei WuXian, "Good question. I think that the cause was the corpse being dug out." Lan WangJi, "Mnn." His expression was so attentive that it made Wei WuXian recall how sincere he looked as he held both of his fingers last night, when he had been drunk.

The cultivators groaned.

"Keep it together and focus on the corpse mystery!"

Jin Ling facepalmed, an action that mirrored his uncle Jiang Cheng's. "I knew it... You didn't even last half a minute."

Painfully holding back laughter, Wei WuXian continued in all seriousness, "I think that the dismemberment of the corpse probably wasn't simply to seek revenge and vent hatred, but a malicious way of suppression. The person who cut up the corpse intentionally chose those places haunted by evil beings to place the body parts."

Lan WangJi, "Combatting poison with poison. They balance out and keep each other in check."

The audience slowly started morphing back into 'mystery' mode - it had been a bit hard to concentrate before with all the other drama and entertainment going on. The discussion was making sense to them now though - the corpse might not have been related to the Chang clan massacre, the torso was just hidden there because there was a lot of malicious energy there already to hide the torso's resentful energy.

Wei WuXian, "That's right. So, since the gravedigger dug out the torso yesterday, there wasn't anything to suppress the Chang Clan's resentful spirits anymore, so that coffin-slamming noises started again. It's the same as how the QingheNie Sect's Saber Hall suppressed the saber spirits and wall-corpses. Perhaps, this technique was derived from the Nie Sect's Saber Hall in the first place. It looks like that this person is connected to both the QingheNie Sect and the GusuLan Sect. I'm afraid they aren't some easy opponent."

"Connected to the Nie sect and the Lan sect?" The cultivators glanced sidelong at each other, each clearly bubbling with conspiracy theories to tell each other. Who could this culprit be? It had to be a person of high cultivation, to use the Portal Talisman.

"Maybe Nie Mingjue did it. He's close to Zewu Jun, so he'd know Lan sword techniques, right? And he was Sect Leader, so he'd know about the Saber Hall." whispered Guo Wanxin.

Wei Wuxian snorted, but not loud enough to dissuade the torrent of gossiping that had immediately broke out after Guo Wanxin's suggestion.

Lan WangJi, "There are only few people like this."

Wei WuXian, "Yep. The truth is slowly being unveiled. And, since the opponent started to move the corpse parts already, it means that he or they are already starting to become anxious. They'll definitely move again soon. Even if we don't go find them, they'll come and find us. As they search around, they'd leave behind more clues for sure. And, our dear friend's hand will also tell us which direction to go. But we'll probably need to move faster as well. Only the right hand and the head are left. After this, we must also arrive before they do."

The two travelled in the direction of the Southwest. This time, the ghost hand pointed at Shudong, a place known for heavy fog. It was a haunted city that nobody in the area dared to approach.

The junior disciples glanced at each other excitedly. Heavy fog? Haunted city? They all knew precisely what was going to come next.

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A/N: I know a lot of you want to get to the ✨ big reveal ✨ parts of the novel, and at the rate I'm going that might take a while 🥲. Let me know if you guys would prefer me to skip some chapters in the Yi City arc or if you'd rather go through and enjoy every chapter <3 Thank you for reading, sorry again for the huge delay between the last chapter and now!! <3

By the way guys, this is the end of the first book (Seven Seas), so I'll post a chapter with all the illustrations from this chapter too tomorrow :)