Burial Mound was less than three miles away from the town before them. Although they didn’t know what was waiting for them there, Wei WuXian had a hunch that it wasn’t anything good.

"Of course it will never be good." said Jin Zixuan.

"That's because the Yiling Patriarch will meet his second demise there." said Jin Zixun.

"You want it to be yours? You seemed to be so jealous." said Wei Wuxian.

"Of you? Why would I be jealous of you? I'm more better." said Jin Zixun.

"Better to be dead." said Jiang Cheng.

However, Lan WangJi was right beside him. His strides were steady and his eyes were calm. Wei WuXian didn’t have any sense of emergency to begin with. Looking at such a person, he couldn’t feel nervous no matter what. Walking through the town of Yiling, it was the accent of his home all around him. Refreshed by the familiarity, in spite of how he wasn’t going to buy anything, he couldn’t help but chat with the vendors by the streets in the the local accent.

After he felt satisfied with how much he had spoken, he finally turned around, “HanGuang-Jun, you remember this town, don’t you?”

Lan WangJi nodded lightly, “I do.”

Wei WuXian grinned, “I knew that your memory is better than mine. In this town, we’ve met once before. You happened to be night-hunting in Yiling and I said that I needed to treat you a meal. You remember this too?”

Lan WangJi, “I do.”

Wei WuXian, “But it’s quite a shame. You ended up paying in the end anyway, haha!”

"When was that?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"When you've become the Yiling Patriarch." answered Sizhui.

"Oh." said Wei Wuxian.

"Is he there to visit me?" he asked.

"Besides, why am I in Yiling not Yunmeng?" he added.

"Yes, a-die is there to visit you." answered Sizhui.

"Didn't Wei Wuxian said that the Lan Wangji was there to night hunt?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Because that's what Lan-shushu said to him, a-niang." said Jingyi.

"Little radish, you still didn't answer my question why I was living in Yiling not in Yunmeng." said Wei Wuxian.

"I guess the screen will show it, Wei-daijiu. It's better if you find it out yourself." said Jin Ling.

He sat on the donkey with his legs criss-crossed. He swayed as he pretended to be unconcerned, “Speaking of it, HanGuang-Jun, do you plan on ever retiring?”

Lan WangJi paused shortly, as though he was thinking for a moment. Wei WuXian struck the iron while it was still hot, “Have you thought of what to do after you retire?”

Lan WangJi gazed at him, “Not yet.”

Wei WuXian thought to himself, It’s perfect if you haven’t thought of anything yet! I’ll think for you.

"Like you're so sure that you'll live together." laughed Nie Huaisang.

"Because we will really live together." said Wei Wuxian.

"You don't even know his feelings yet." said Jin Zixuan.

"Besides, will Lan Wangji really retire from the cultivation world?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"He will once the world is in peace and in good hands." said Wei Wuxian.

"And we will travel together." he added.

"Mn." Lan Wangji agreed.

He was going to find a place beautiful though sparsely populated and build a large house there. He could build one for Lan WangJi next to him as well. Everyday there’d be two dishes and a soup. Of course, it’d be best if Lan WangJi was the one who cooked, or else they had to eat the things he cooked. It’d be best if Lan WangJi was responsible for the account of their money as well. Before his eyes even appeared the scene of Lan WangJi wearing coarse cloth, patches at his chest and his knees, sitting expressionlessly at a handmade wooden table, counting coins one by one. After he finished counting, he grabbed a hoe and went out to work. And, on the other hand, he’d… he’d… he’d do what?

Wei WuXian thought seriously about what he’d be doing. People often said that to exchange for food one either plowed the fields or spun cloth. Now that somebody was plowing the fields, somebody had to spin the cloth as well. Just thinking of him crossing his knees and shaking his legs in front of a loom was enough for him to cringe. He’d rather grab the hoe. It’d be more suitable for Lan WangJi to spin cloth. In the day they’d fish and plow the fields, while at night they’d get their swords and go night-hunting for beasts and demons. If they got tired of it, they could pretend that they’d never retired and it’d be fine for them just to enter the world again. But, as he had thought, they were missing a small one…

Wei Wuxian blushed hearing his thoughts.

"What a nice plan, Wuxian." said Lan Xichen.

"And you're even thinking on having a kid." laughed Nie Huaisang.

"Well, he really did have one." said Jiang Cheng.

"That simple thoughts is a proof that you are in love." said Nie Huaisang.

"You're already imagining living a simple life." said Jiang Yanli.

"Simple and peaceful. Isn't that great, shijie?" asked Wei Wuxian with a bright smile.

"It is, a-xian." said Jiang Yanli.

"Do you agree in my plans, Lan Zhan?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"I like it." said Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian beamed at him.

Lan WangJi suddenly spoke up, “A small what?”

Wei WuXian, “Huh?”

He suddenly realized that he had spoken the last sentence out. He immediately regained himself, “I meant, Lil’ Apple is missing a small friend.”

Lil’ Apple turned around and spat hard. Wei WuXian slapped its donkey head. Pulling its long ears, he laughed, but all of a sudden, he couldn’t laugh anymore.

It wasn’t because of anything special, but only that he remembered. Back then, he really had a little child beside him. If he had lived until now, he’d be close to fifteen years old already.

"It's my a-yuan, right?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Yes, it's me." said Sizhui with a smile.

"So the future me suspects that my son died?" he asked and Sizhui nodded.

"Everyone you're with died so you thought that I'm also gone." he said.

"I'm sorry for not being there with you, a-yuan." said Wei Wuxian as he hugged his son.

"It's okay, a-niang. A-die always talked to me about you." said Sizhui.

"Still, you grew up without me." said Wei Wuxian.

"But, I know that you'll come back and be with us agai, and you did. A-niang, even if I grew up without you, I always know that you're always there with me in my heart, it's enough." said Sizhui.

"You're making me emotional." said Wei Wuxian as he dramatically wiped his invisible tears.

Sizhui helped him wipe his tears with a smile.

Burial Mound sat in the depths of the mountains of Yiling.

The world called Burial Mound a mountain of corpses. Over the hills, if one stuck their shovel anywhere into the ground, they’d be able to dig out a dead person. This wasn’t wrong. Burial Mound used to be an ancient battleground. In the years afterward, people had gotten used to tossing inside nameless corpses, causing there to always be dark, resentful energy throughout the year. In the end, it became the nightmare of everyone in the Yiling area.

As though tainted by the energy of resentment, within the woods on the mound, all of the leaves and branches were as black as death. From the most bottom part of the mountain, there was a tall wall dozens of feet in height. Carved onto the wall were tightly-packed incantations, preventing both the living and the dead from passing through. The wall of incantations that surrounded the entire burial mound was at first built by the third sect leader of the QishanWen Sect. However, since they couldn’t purify the overwhelmingly powerful spirits that dwelled here, they could only choose the second best option, to isolate them with a wall. Wei WuXian had once pushed this wall down. The one here now was a new wall rebuilt and strengthened by the LanlingJin Sect’s people.

"Is there any way that can fully purify this mountain?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"There is none." answered Wen Rouhan.

"If you push yourself to purify it, the resentment energy will eat you." he added.

"I will try looking at the ancient scrolls in our library, let's see if I can find one." said Qingheng-jun.

"That's great. That will make the Yiling people to be at ease when that place will finally be cleaned." said Wei Wuxian.

"That would be difficult." said Wen Rouhan.

"Then people should unite together in order to surpass the difficulty and attain the goal." said Wei Wuxian.

"That's right. We, Jiang Sect people will help." said Jiang Cheng as he gave his father a look.

"Do whatever you want, a-cheng." said Jiang Fengmian.

"Then, we, the Jin Sect will also help." said Jin Zixuan.

"Lets see if you'll succeed." said Jin Guangshan.

"And if we didn't, we four will join forces to throw you there." said Nie Huaisang.

"Right." Nie Mingjue agreed.

"The Nie Sect will also help." he added.

"See, it's possible when people worked together." said Wei Wuxian while looking at Wen Rouhan.

"Fine, little Wei. I won't challenge you anymore." said Wen Rouhan with a smile.

However, when they arrived, they discovered that a long section of the wall had been pushed down again.

Wei WuXian left the donkey down at the bottom of the mountain. He stepped over the remains of the wall and walked up the mountain path. Soon later, he saw the stone statue of a headless beast. The statue was thousands of pounds in weight. It had guarded the mountain path for many years. Vines climbed over it and moss gathered at the dents. The head of the beast had been chopped off by an axe and tossed somewhere near. As if to assert power, it had been smashed into small pieces. The cut was still new, revealing the whiteness inside. Farther along, similarly, the next statue that they saw had been cut into two halves, from head to toe.

Wei WuXian knew at once that these were the stone beasts that the sects had set onto the acupoints of the terrain to guard the mountain after he had died. The stone beasts were capable of exorcism. They required much craft and were quite expensive to produce. Now, it was likely that all of them had been destroyed. It was truly a waste.

"People are really not thinking for a lot of times before doing something. Those stone beast help on keeping the resentful energy for harming people. Once cut, they have a chance to go out of the barrier and cause chaos on the nearby village." said Qingheng-jun.

"I agree." said Sizhui.

"The people in our timeline are mostly dumb." he added.

"That's right. And when something bad happened, they will put the blame to Wei-jiujiu." said Jingyi.

"I don't understand how their mind works. It's full of stupid thoughts." he added.

Side by side, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi walked a few more steps. Inadvertently looking back, he saw that Wen Ning had already appeared.

He stood beside the stone beast, head lowered and unmoving. Wei WuXian asked, “Wen Ning? What are you looking at?”

Wen Ning pointed at the base of the stone beast.

The stone beast was on top of a short, thick tree trunk. By the trunk, there were three smaller, shorter trunks. They seemed to have been burnt over by fire. They were entirely black.

Wen Ning kneeled on the ground with both of his knees. His fingers dug deeply into the dirt, grabbing a handful of black dirt, and clenched it within his palm, “… Sister.”

"What?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"That is where his sister might be buried." said Jiang Cheng.

"So that's my grave?" asked Wen Qing.

"Why am I in the Burial Mound?" she added.

"Because you once lived there." said Sizhui.

"What?" Wen Qing asked in disbelief.

"Why would my niece in such place? That's impossible. The moment she step foot inside, she will die." said Wen Rouhan.

"Did my parents die?" asked Sizhui.

"They didn't, right?" he added.

"That's because the Yiling Burial Mound was once cleaned but not fully when my a-niang lived there." he said.

"I lived there?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Why would live there when I tried my very best to leave the place the first time I entered it?" he added.

"There's a reason to it, a-niang. We will find out sooner." said Sizhui.

Wei WuXian didn’t know what to say. He walked over and patted his shoulder hard.

Throughout Wei WuXian’s life, two periods of time had been extremely hard to endure. Both happened here. He never intended to visit such a place again.

And, to Wen Ning, Burial Mound was even more of an unforgettable place.

"Some Wens lived in the Burial Mound after the war." said Sizhui.

"That means me and my family, right?" asked Wen Qing and Sizhui nodded.

"Where are my family, then?" she asked.

Seeing the silent juniors, she understand at once.

"They're all gone. There's no more Wen in the future except my didi." she said.

"I know that it was because of war but, why is the innocent family of the Wens are included? They are non-cultivator." said Wen Rouhan.

"You'll know." said Jingyi.

"What is the purpose of watching it when we will reveal everything to you?" he asked.

"When will it be?" asked Wen Rouhan.

"Have patient." said Zizhen.

"The life of those Wens are very important that the screen will show it." he added.

"Why?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"They are connected to what happened to Wei-daijiu." said Jin Ling.

"And no more questions." he added.

A gust of cold breeze swept over. The sea of trees rustled as though tens of thousands of thin voices whispered. Wei WuXian listened carefully. Kneeling on the ground with one knee, he bent down and murmured something toward the earth below him. Suddenly, a bump formed below the surface.

As though a pale flower had grown out of the black soil, a skeleton arm slowly broke through the dirt.

The portion of the skeleton arm was weakly suspended in the air. Wei WuXian reached out and grabbed it. He bent down even lower. His long hair fell from his shoulder, masking half of his face.

He pressed his lips toward the skeleton hand and whispered something. Then he was quiet, as though he was listening for something. A while later he nodded slightly. The hand formed a flower bud again and withdrew into the soil.

"Wei Wuxian! Is that even needed?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"I just whispered something." said Wei Wuxian.

"Yeah, you did. But why do you have to do that?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"I don't know." Wei Wuxian shrugged as Lan Wangji grabbed his waist tightly.

"Are you jealous, Lan Zhan?" he asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Lan Zhan, that's just a skeleton hand." said Wei Wuxian.

"If he can get jealous of his own son then, getting jealous of a skeleton hand is also possible." said Jiang Cheng.

"That's not true." said Lan Wangji.

"And I'm not grumpy as what people say." said Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian stood up and swept away the dirt on him, “These days they’ve taken over a hundred people up here. They’re all at the top, still alive. The people who took them have already gone down the mountain though. I don’t know what they want to do. Anyways, we should be careful.”

Wei Wuxian, Jiang, Cheng, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Yanli glanced at the four juniors.

"Don't tell you're there, Zizhen." said his father.

"Lets find out." said Zizhen.

"If your father is right, then this three was also there." said Jiang Cheng as he glared at his son and nephew.

"You won't do something, right?" asked Jingyi as he slowly hid behind his father.

"Lets find out." said Jiang Cheng.

"We're dead." Jingyi and Jin Ling mumbled.

The three continued upward. They came along a few run down shacks standing alongside the mountain path.

The houses varied in size. The structure was simple, even crude. Just one glance, it was obvious that they had been built rashly. Some were so burned that only bare frames were left, while some slumped entirely to one side. Even the most complete ones were half-destroyed. After being under over ten years of rain and wind, with nobody to care for them, each looked like dying ghosts in tattered clothing, looking down in silence at those who came up the mountain.

Ever since they had gone up the mountain, Wen Ning’s footsteps had been especially heavy. Right now, standing before one of the houses, again, he couldn’t walk any longer.

This was one of the houses that he had built himself. Before he left, the house had still been fine. Although it was crude, it was a place to seek shelter from the weather, nonetheless holding the people he was familiar with; the people he treasured.

In the saying ‘the things remain but the people don’t’, at least ‘the things’ still remained. With such a scene in front of him, there wasn’t even anything to remind him of the people whom he missed.

"We really lived there." said Wen Qing.

"A-ning." she whispered as he hugged his brother.

"Jiejie is here, your jiejie won't leave you alone." she said.

"Jiejie, I know." said Wen Ning as he hugged his sister back.

"Those are family." said Sizhui.

"My first family." he whispered.

"You're family is complete now, a-yuan. My little radish, we will be here." said Wei Wuxian.

"I know but, can I see them? Can I visit Grandma Wen, Uncle Four, and the others?" he asked.

"Mn. You can." said Lan Wangji.

"We will bring you to them." Wen Qing said with a smile.

"Thank you, aunty Qing." said Sizhui with a smile.

"Aunty?" asked Wen Qing.

"Mn. That's what I called you before and he is my Uncle Ning." said Sizhui.

"My family." he added.

Wei WuXian, “Don’t look anymore.”

Wen Ning, “… I knew that it’d be like this a long time ago. I just wanted to see if there was anything left…”

"Nothing's left." Wen Qing whispered.

"We will make sure you'll have a complete family here." said Sizhui.

"Thank you." said Wen Qing.

"It's nothing." said Sizhui.

"I have reason why I'm doing this." he added.

Before his voice faded off, a shadow suddenly wobbled up within one of the broken down houses.

The shadow stumbled toward outside of the house. The half-rotted face was submerged with the thin daylight. Wei WuXian clapped his hands. The walking corpse didn’t seem to notice anything at all, continuing to walk toward them. Wei WuXian calmly walked two steps backward, “It’s controlled by the Tiger Seal.”

Corpse puppets who had already submitted to him wouldn’t be controlled by the Tiger Seal. Likewise, corpse puppets who had submitted to the Tiger Seal wouldn’t listen to his commands. The rules were simple: first come, first served.

"But at least it could've warned us when such thing emerge suddenly." said Nie Huaisang.

"It didn't even do anything yet." said Jiang Cheng.

"Just by looking at its face is scary enough." said Nie Huaisang.

"They're looking ugly." he added.

"That's because it's already dead." said Jin Zixuan.

"Where can you find a good-looking corpse?" he added.

"When I'm dead, I will be a good-looking corpse." said Nie Huaisang.

"I want a proof." said Jiang Cheng.

"Jiang-xiong, you're impossible." said Nie Huaisang.

"I agree with ChengCheng." said Wei Wuxian.

"Traitor." Nie Huaisang mumbled.

Wen Ning shot forward. With a roar, he tore its head off. Right after, low bellows came from all around them. From amid the black forest slowly walked out almost fifty corpses. No matter gender or age, most of them were still fresh, wearing burial clothes. They were probably the corpses missing from many regions.

Lan WangJi flipped out his guqin. With a strum, notes flowed out like ripples. The group of corpses that had just surrounded them immediately kneeled into a circle. With both of his hands, Wen Ning picked up a male corpse with an especially large physique and threw it far away. Its chest had been pierced through by a sharp branch, and it struggled, stuck to the branch.

"So cruel, Wen Ning." said Nie Huaisang making the flushed red.

"Damn, I will never cross line with him." said Jin Zixuan.

"You're scared of him?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"His current self is looking like a cinnamon." he added.

"I mean the corpse one." said Jin Zixuan.

"You're not even able to meet him." said Jin Ling.

"But, isn't that the man who killed you in the future?" asked Jin Zixun.

"It must be an accident." said Jin Zixuan.

"I don't believe it." he added.

Wei WuXian shouted, “Don’t bother with them, just go up the mountain!”

He didn’t know how many groups of walking corpses Jin GuangYao had madly summoned within these past few days using the Tiger Seal. One attack wave followed another. The three subdued the corpses as they backed up the mountain. The closer they were to the top of Burial Mound, the denser the groups of corpses were. The notes of the zither echoed through the sky above the black forest as crows flew off. Almost two hours later, they finally had some time to rest.

"This man is really something. He will do something in the back and put blame to little Wei in the front." Wen Rouhan said in amusement.

"Just for his plans." Jin Ling mumbled.

"I guess, the Jin GuangYao in the future really deserve what happened to him." Jiang Cheng said with a glare.

"He do." the juniors agreed.

"And it's not enough." they added.

Meng Yao stayed silent.

Sitting atop one of the destroyed stone beasts, Wei WuXian sighed as he mocked himself, “I’ve always been the one using this to deal with others. Today it’s finally my turn to have others use it against me. Now I know just how obnoxious the Tiger Seal is. If I were them, I would’ve wanted to kill the person who created this damn thing as well.”

"At least you use it for the good, a-niang." said Sizhui.

"But it's still nor good. That weapon is a curse." said Wei Wuxian.

"I will never create such thing in this lifetime." he added.

"Of course you won't." said Qingheng-jun.

"You shouldn't have a close contact with resentment energy." he added.

"I promise that I won't, father-in-law." said Wei Wuxian.

"I know you will not." said Qingheng-jun with a smile.

Lan WangJi put his guqin away. He pulled out a sword from within his sleeves and passed it to him, “To protect yourself.”

Wei WuXian took it over. It was Suibian. After the day when it had been used to cut the melon, Wei WuXian tossed it to the side. Lan WangJi put it away again. He unsheathed the sword and stared for a while at the snowy blade before sheathing it back inside right away, smiling, “Thank you.”

He wore it by his waist and didn’t seem like he was going to use it. Seeing how Lan WangJi looked at him, he fiddled with his hair and explained, “I haven’t used a sword in so many years. I’m not used to it.” As he spoke, he sighed again, “Alright. The real reason is that my current body is low in spiritual energy. Even if there’s a high level sword, it won’t be able to make the best use of it. And so, it’ll be up to HanGuang-Jun to protect the delicate man that I am.”

Lan WangJi, “…”

"Mn. I will protect you." said Lan Wangji.

"Why do I feel that there's a deep reason on why you won't use it?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Because there's really is " Jin Ling whispered.

After the delicate man sat for a while, he finally stood up, bracing a hand against his knees. The three walked farther up and finally, at the end of the path, they saw a cave with a dark opening.

The mouth of the cave was around fifty feet in both height and width. Before they were even near, they could feel a cold breeze in front of them. They could almost hear the blurry sounds of human moans.

This was the legendary den where the YiLing Patriarch made humans into his corpses and did the deeds that even the Heavens couldn’t tolerate— the Demon-Slaughtering Cave.

"What?" Wei Wuxian asked with a laugh.

"Do they really think I will do something like that. I can't even imagine it." he added.

"It's just some exaggerated rumors, really." said Zizhen.

"Rumors are rumors. They will be something you will never expect. Most are lies." said Jiang Cheng.

"That's why you shouldn't believe in just a rumor. It's better if you hear to the person involve." said Wei Wuxian.

"They bring nothing good." he added.

The ceiling of the cave was broad. The three held their breaths and snuck inside. Nobody made a noise, but the human voices coming from the depths of the cave grew louder.

"There are really humans inside." said Jiang Yanli.

"Those who put them there wanted them dead." said Nie Mingjue.

"Yes, they do." said Jingyi.

"How would you know?" asked Jiang Cheng as he narrowed his eyes at his son.

"Just a guess." Jingyi shrugged and immediately avoided his gaze.

"Lets see." said Jiang Cheng with a smile making the four shiver.