After Essam cast an incantation, he told Lan Zhan to get up. Lan Zhan wondered about this because he was supposed to lie down first, but did as Essam told him and then stared in disbelief over at the bed where he saw his body lying. "What?" He asked, confused.

Essam didn't answer him and instead took his hand. He simply pulled Lan Zhan with him into a vortex of light that had suddenly appeared in the room. They were practically pulled into the vortex of light and when they came out the other side, they suddenly found themselves in Lan Zhan's family's house. "They can't see us. Everything has already happened. We only look into the past and can't change anything." Explained Essam as Lan Zhan looked at him questioningly.

"I understand." Replied Lan Zhan and fell silent when he saw his mom coming out of the kitchen. She was holding a tray on which was a teapot, two cups, and some pastries. She carried it outside to the courtyard where Lan Zhan's father was sitting by the pond reading a book.

"Put your book away and let's have some tea." Lan Zhan's mom said.

"Not now. I need to read this book." Replied Lan Zhan's father.

"And why is that? What's so special about this book?"

"It's not an ordinary book. It's an official book. It tells which officials work where."

"I see, and why are you interested in that?"

"Because I hope to find out where our son is. Since Wangji left, he hasn't contacted us once. I want to know where he is and how he's doing."

"Are you going to start that again? Do you still regret sending him away?"

"We sent him away! And yes, I do regret it. I always thought that's the way it had to be. He's the second born. But since he left, I can't stop wondering where he is, how he's doing, and if we'll ever see him again. He's been gone for three years and no one knows where he is. I miss him a lot. And I'm surprised that you, as his mother, don't miss him."

"I miss him too. Very much so. But I just know he's doing well. He's hardworking and very smart. He's going his way."

"That may all be true. But then why is he not contacting us? He's still part of our family."

"He is. But I don't think he's ever really seen himself as part of our family. He was always cold and dismissive toward us."

"That was just his way. He didn't like to show emotion."

"Good afternoon, Father. Good day mother." Said Lan Zhan's brother, who had just returned with his wife and their young son. "What were you guys talking about? Wangji?"

"Yes." Said Lan Zhan's father.

"Well, you know my opinion. You should never have sent him away. I don't know why you did that. I really miss my little brother. And someday I will go look for him." Lan Zhan's brother said.

Lan Zhan looked at Essam questioningly. "So my brother Huan never wanted me to go?"

"Looks like it. As far as I know, he was named courtesy, Lan Xichen in authority." Explained Essam.

"True." Said Lan Zhan. He was about to say or ask more, but that's when the vortex of light reappeared and pulled the two of them into it. A few seconds later, they were still in his family's house. But a few years seemed to have passed.

Lan Zhan saw his brother standing at the ancestral shrine. Two new names were on shiny tombstones. Those of Lan Zhan's parents. They had both died within a year apart. "There was an outbreak of a plague in the city. Your mother tried to help the infected and got infected herself. She also infected your father. Both died within 10 days of each other." Explained Essam.

"And my brother?" Lan Zhan wanted to know.

"His marriage to his wife fell apart. After the death of your parents, their son also fell ill. When he also died, your brother learned that he was not the boy's biological father at all. He separated from his wife and concentrated on finding you. That day when he was sitting at the ancestral shrine, he said goodbye to your parents. He told them that he found out where you lived and that he was going to see you."

"So..." Again, the beam of light appeared and pulled the two of them into it.

Seconds later, the two found themselves in the village where Lan Zhan had been living. Lan Zhan looked around and remembered that night. For it was the night the Inquisitor made him a vampire. "What the hell!" Shouted Lan Zhan. Then he saw his brother sneaking through the village to the church.

Lan Zhan, in his spectral form, ran after his brother and saw him sneak past the Inquisitor's soldiers and into the church. He saw the Inquisitor and himself. He saw the Inquisitor infect him with the vampire venom. Lan Zhan's brother grabbed a sword that had been leaning against one of the Church benches and pointed it at the Inquisitor. "Let go of my little brother!" He shouted.

"Come on over here my boy." Replied the Inquisitor laughing and simply dropped the unconscious Lan Zhan.

"What did you do to him?" Xichen wanted to know.

"What did I do to him? Well, I gave him immortality."

"What are you?"

"Come here and I'll show you."

Xichen slowly walked up to the inquisitor and knelt beside the unconscious Lan Zhan. "Wake up little brother! Come on Wangji, open your eyes!"

"He won't wake up. And your sword won't do you any good. Not against me!"

"Oh yeah, and why not?"

"Because I am immortal!" The inquisitor replied. He grabbed the sword in a flash, snatched it from Xichen's hands, grabbed Xichen by the wrist, and laughingly announced, "I'll give you that gift, too." Then he bit Xichen's neck and infected him with the vampire venom as well. However, unlike Lan Zhan, he did not just leave Xichen lying there.

He called two soldiers to him and let the unconscious Xichen be carried out. Lan Zhan followed them and saw the soldiers put his brother in a cage. The inquisitor also came out and said, "We will take him away and abandon him somewhere in a few days." None of the soldiers said anything against it.

The beam of light appeared again and this time they were back in the room after a few seconds. Lan Zhan was lying on the bed again. His eyes watered as he asked Essam, "So my brother is not dead and a vampire like me?"

"Yes."

"And where is he? Where can I find him?"

"I don't know. Unfortunately, I can only ever recall brief moments of the past. Some things remain hidden from me. Especially when it comes to vampires."

"I need to find my brother. If he's really still alive, then I just have to find him."

"And where are you going to start looking?"

"Where it all started. At my parents' house!"

"All right. But for now, let's get my little brother here okay?"

"Yes please." Replied Lan Zhan. Essam called Wei Ying into the room. When Wei Ying came into the room, Lan Zhan jumped off the bed, ran to him and took him in his arms. He kissed him and thanked him.

After this intimate moment of the two, Lan Zhan and Essam talked about what they had seen in the past. Wei Ying was also immediately in favor of looking for Lan Zhan's brother. However, he insisted that Lan Zhan recover first and that they bring Youn and Ali home. Because it might be too dangerous for the two of them.

"We shouldn't rush and make a plan. It won't get us anywhere if we just run around aimlessly looking for your brother." Said Wei Ying.

"Yes, you're right." Replied Lan Zhan.

"So I will be going back for now. I will send Yanli and Cheng here then." Said Essam.

"I'll bring you back brother."

"No it's alright. I will take the sea route. I hadn't been traveling for a long time. And who knows, maybe I'll find out some information about the ship of the dead. I think there will be more ships like that."

"Do you really mean Essam?"

"Yes. There were several ships of the dead back then. How else could the same death ship have been seen in many different parts of this world at the same time?"

"Okay, then it could be true. But then shouldn't we rather search for these death ships together?"

"My dear Teremun... um no you want to be called Wei Ying now. Anyway. You will help Lan Zhan find his brother. I will get Yanli and Cheng and search for the death ships with them. Yanli can teleport as well. Not as well as you little brother. But good enough for our purposes."

"Alright. But if you need us, you come get us."

"Of course. I'm going to eat now and then I'll go to the harbor and leave on the next ship that leaves. And little brother? You can stop blocking me. Then we can keep in touch that way."

"Yes."

"Lan Zhan?"

"Yes Essam?" Lan Zhan looked at him questioningly.

"Don't get too caught up in looking for your brother. Try to keep in mind what and who is around you and enjoy this time."

"I know. Thank you." Said Lan Zhan. He held Wei Ying's hand and they both looked after Essam, who waved goodbye to them.

As soon as Essam left, Lan Zhan wrapped his Wei Ying in his arms again and kissed him deeply. Afterwards, he let Wei Ying tell him why the latter sought out his brother and how they destroyed the ship of the dead and killed all its sinister inhabitants. He was amazed at how easy it was in the end. He could hardly believe that it had been enough to just burn the ship down.

"All those dead humans. And in the end it was enough to just burn the ship down? Then why didn't we do that?" Lan Zhan asked.

"Honestly, I thought it would be harder, too. But my brother said they can't leave the ship during the day."

"I see. They couldn't leave the ship, so they couldn't do anything about it when you set it on fire. In the end, I guess it didn't matter. Because they would have died either way."

"Yeah right."

"So what do we do next?"

"Like I said earlier, you need some more rest. You need to recover. And I think we should take the two boys to your house. They'll be better off there when we go looking for your brother."

"I agree with you. However, I promised Youn that we would go to Korea after the trip and look for his uncle."

"I understand."

"On the one hand, I want to keep my promise. But on the other hand, I want to search for my brother. But no one knows how long the search will take."

"Mhhh. I understand your dilemma. But maybe we shouldn't worry about it right away. First you need to recover and process all this a bit. And then we should talk to Youn and Ali together about the next steps. The two of them are old enough, so they should be involved in any decisions."

"I agree with you Wei Ying. Let's go home first and then we'll all talk together."

"Good."

"Hey Wei Ying?"

"Yes?"

"When I woke up after you stabbed me and you weren't there, I was afraid you wouldn't come back."

"I would always come back to you."

"I know. While I was unconscious, I had visions. At least, that's what I think of it."

"These visions you had of my brother."

"Yeah, but they were all about you. And you know, I saw a conversation between you and your mother. You guys were talking about me."

"I did that a lot."

"Maybe so. But at that moment, your brother wasn't there."

"My brother was always there. Surely you just didn't see him. He used to sit in a chair at a little table and read while I talked to my mother. Our father forbade me to go anywhere alone. He worried about me constantly because he thought I was too delicate and gentle. He didn't want anyone to hurt me. My brother Essam was only too happy to take on the role of protector. But not only him. All my siblings looked out for me."

"I know. They loved you from the first moment. I could feel what your brother felt for you when he held you in his arms for the first time. It was an incredibly strong and pure love. And he still feels the same way about you. I don't know if it's because of his blood. But I could feel what he felt all the time."

"It's because of his blood. As long as it's still in you, you're connected."

"I understand."

"What was it like for you when he showed you the past?"

"Very emotional. I never thought my father would miss me. I also never thought my brother would come looking for me."

"And how do you feel about knowing what the Inquisitor did to your brother?"

"Well, that's another point on the list of why I want to kill him."

"And I'm going to help you do it." Said Wei Ying and kissed Lan Zhan.