Lan Sizhui gulped in nervousness as his father rarely called him in his birth name and when he did it means he is is quite mad.

"Sorry a-die, I promise I will always listen to him." said Sizhui.

"Mn." Lan Wangji only said and Sizhui finally let out a breath.

With no attack methods working properly, the others were finally willing to listen to Wei WuXian’s words. Everyone gushed outside, scattering in all directions as fast as they could. With so many people and faces, the more anxious Wei WuXian became, the longer it took to find Jin Ling. Wei WuXian rode on the donkey and ran into a bamboo forest, encountering the juniors from the Lan Clan as he turned around.

"Next time when you are in dangerous situation please listen to your seniors." said Lan Xichen.

"We will, a-die." said Jingyi.

Wei WuXian called for them, “Children!”

Lan JingYi replied, “Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from? Did you really think that you would be considered a senior just because you washed your face?”

"I'm sorry, Wei-daijiu." said Jingyi.

"It's nothing. I know that you have that attitude because of your mother." said Wei Wuxian laughing at Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian spoke, “Okay, okay, okay, gege-s. Send a signal and get your clan’s… HanGuang-Jun up here!”

The juniors nodded a few times, and ran around while searching for signals. Lan SiZhui spoke, “The signal firelights… were all used up during the night at Mo Village.”

"What?" asked Wei Wuxian in disbelief.

"Are you crazy?" asked Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian was shocked, “You guys didn’t restock afterwards?”

The signal firelights were usually only needed once in over eight hundred years. Lan SiZhui replied bashfully, “We forgot.”

"Is that something you should forget?" asked Jiang Cheng, glaring at his son who is hiding behind Lan Xichen.

"Sizhui?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"I'm sorry, a-nia— I mean Wei-qianbe." said Sizhui.

"You shouldn't do that again." said Wei Wuxian.

"Mn." said Sizhui.

"You're really Lan Zhan's son." said Wei Wuxian.

Sizhui only smiled.

Wei WuXian tried to scare them, “Is this a matter that you should forget about? If HanGuang-Jun knew about this, he’s going to make you sorry.”

Lan JingYi’s face was pale with terror, “It’s over. This time, we are gonna be punished to death by HanGuang-Jun…”

"If not Hanguang-jun then probably I am the one who is going to do that." said Jiang Cheng.

"Look Lan Zhan, you're scaring them." laughed Wei Wuxian.

"Is that something you should laugh about?" asked Jin Zixuan.

"Of course, look at them. Their face is in full terror especially Jingyi." said Wei Wuxian.

"It's not funny. Clearly you are the one who is scaring them." said Jiang Cheng.

"ChengCheng, you're a traitor. You are now defending your brother-in-laws." said Wei Wuxian with a teasing smile.

"Brother-in-laws." said Jiang Cheng with a clear disgust in his face.

Lan Wangji was just expressionless as usual while Jin Zixuan was grimacing hearing the words.

Wei WuXian, “Indeed, he should punish you! Without punishment, you wouldn’t remember the next time.”

Lan SiZhui, “Young Master Mo, Young Master Mo! How did you know that it was not a spirit-consuming spirit or beast, but the goddess statue instead?”

"I also want to know how." said a random cultivator.

"Then watch and listen carefully." said Zizhen.

Wei WuXian searched for Jin Ling as he ran, “How did I know? I saw.”

Lan JingYi also caught up. They each ran on one side of him, “What did you see? We also saw lots of things.”

"We watch him the whole time but why didn't I see some clues connected to the incident?" asked a random cultivator in disbelief.

"You are not alone." his friend agreed.

“You saw, so what happens next? What things were in the area of the ancient tombs?”

“What else could there be? There were only dead souls.”

“Correct, there were dead souls. This is why it can’t be a soul-consuming spirit or beast. It’s simple—if it was either of these two, with so many dead spirits in the area, would it have chosen to not eat them? No, it wouldn’t have.”

This time, there were more than one person who asked, “Why?”

"Huh?" everyone still don't understand the situation.

"Wei-gongzi is a genius indeed." said Lan Xichen, he already understand the situation even before Wei Wuxian ran to the temple.

"Thank you, Zewu-jun or should I say brother-in-law." said Wei Wuxian, not missing a chance to tease his brother.

"I like it more better." said Lan Xichen.

"God! Jiang Cheng you've got the best husband." exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng was so red that he decided to hide his face in his hands.

Some were shocked while the others are just amused.

“Just what can I say about your GusuLan Sect…” Wei WuXian could not tolerate it any more, “Why can’t you teach less annoying, lengthy nonsense like cultivational etiquette, family trees, and history which requires memorization, and teach more practical things? How is this hard to understand? Dead souls are a lot easier to absorb than living souls. The physical body of a living person is like a shield, and if it wants to eat a live soul, it would have to break the shield. For example…” He looked at the donkey, which panted while running, rolling its eyes, “For example, if an apple is put in front of you, and another one is put inside a locked box, which one would you choose to eat? Of course, it would be the one in front of you. This creature only eats living souls, and knows of a way to obtain them. It is both powerful and selective in terms of food.”

"We will consider to add practical things to study next time." said Lan Xichen.

"Yes! It will not be boring anymore." exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

"But we will still continue to teach the etiquette and histories of cultivation." said Lan Xichen.

"It's okay as long as there's a practical test." said Wei Wuxian.

"You're just going to play." said Jiang Cheng.

"But it is more better, Jiang-xiong." said Nie Huaisang.

"Whatever." said Jiang Cheng.

"His explanation make the situation more easy to understand." said Nie Mingjue.

Lan JingYi was astonished, “So that’s how it works? It makes a lot of sense! Wait, so you’re really not a lunatic?”

Lan SiZhui explained as he ran, “We all thought that, because the landslide and lightning led to the series of events, it must be a soulconsuming spirit.”

Wei WuXian spoke, “Wrong.”

“What is wrong?”

"My brain is not working as of the moment." said a random cultivator.

"Why is it so hard for me to understand." whined a younger disciple.

"How is it wrong?" asked Jin Zixun.

"Watch for you to find out." said Jin Ling.

“The order and the correlation is wrong. Let me ask you—for the landslide and the soul-consuming events, which ones were the first and second, the cause and effect?”

Lan SiZhui answered without thinking twice, “The landslide was the first, and the soul-consumption was the second. The first was the cause, and the latter was the effect.”

"He's right." said Sect Leader Yao.

"Wrong." said Wei Wuxian.

"How is it wrong, Wei-xiong?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"Please just watch." said Zizhen.

Wei WuXian spoke, “Completely wrong. The soul-consumption was first, and the the landslide was second. The soul-consumption was the cause, and the landslide was the effect! During the night of the landslide, a storm suddenly started, and a streak of lightning broke a coffin—remember this. This first person to lose their soul, the sluggard, was trapped in the mountains for the whole night, and married a few days later.”

Lan JingYi asked, “Where is it wrong?”

"I have the same question." said a random cultivator.

"Can he just explain it in the most easiest way?" asked a young disciple.

"Why don't you watch and listen to understand the reason." said Jingyi getting irritated.

Wei WuXian replied, “It is all wrong! Where would a good-for-nothing and penniless person obtain the money to form such a grand wedding?”

"A lucky wish that turns into reality, I guess." said Jiang Cheng.

"Do wishes like that ever be fulfilled?" asked Jin Zixuan.

"Why? You want to wish too? You're already rich, aren't you?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"I am just asking." said Jin Zixuan.

"If you trust some fortune god then maybe it will come true." said Wei Wuxian.

The boys were rendered speechless. But, it couldn’t have been helped, since the GusuLan Sect was a sect that did not need to worry about matters of wealth. Wei WuXian spoke again, “Did you take a look at all of the dead souls floating in Dafan Mountain? There was an old man who died from a hit to the head, wearing burial clothes that were made with fine craftsmanship and fabric. With such extravagant burial clothes, his coffin couldn’t have been empty, and there must have been a few burial items to protect it. The coffin that was broken by the lightning was most likely his. Yet, the people who came to retrieve the corpse did not find any burial items, which meant that they were definitely taken away by the sluggard, explaining why he suddenly became rich. The sluggard suddenly decided to marry someone after the night of the landslide, so something unusual must have happened during the night. On that evening, there was a harsh storm and he took cover in the mountain. Where on Dafan Mountain is it possible to take cover from the rain? Goddess Temple. And, when most people go into a temple, there is one thing that they would do.”

Younger disciples are busy taking notes.

"In such situation, you could only pray." said MianMian.

"So that's how everything happened." said Jiang Cheng.

"Don't tell me Jiang-xiong you already understand since the beginning." said Nie Huaisang.

"It's easy." said Jiang Cheng.

Lan SiZhui asked, “Pray?”

“That’s right. For example, he would pray for himself to be lucky, to become wealthy, to have enough money to marry, and so on. The goddess fulfilled his wish with the lightning that split open the grave, letting him see the treasures in the coffin. His prayers came true and, as the sacrifice, the goddess came to him on the evening of his marriage, and took his soul away!”

Lan JingYi, “All of these are just your guesses, right?”

"Guesses or not it is the only understandable logic to solve the problem." said Wei Wuxian.

"I will never try to make a wish anymore." said a random cultivator.

Wei WuXian, “Yes, they are guesses. But, following this train of logic, all of the things that happened afterward could be explained.”

Lan SiZhui, “How can this explain what happened with the girl, A-Yan?”

Wei WuXian, “Great question. You guys probably asked around before you came up the mountain. A-Yan had just got engaged during those days. All recently-engaged girls will definitely have the same wish.”

"What wish?" asked a cultivator to his partner.

"What do you think?" his partner asked back.

"I wonder if Jiang Cheng also wished the same thing." said Wei Wuxian.

"I never wished in my life." said Jiang Cheng.

"Yeah right, you don't believe on them." said Wei Wuxian.

Lan JingYi was befuddled, “What wish?”

Wei WuXian replied, “None other than something that goes like, ‘I wish my husband would love me and care for me for his whole life, attracted to only myself’.”

"And your wish was fulfilled." muttered Jin Ling which didn't escaped the ears of his uncles.

"Wei Wuxian got married?" asked Jiang Cheng.

The juniors nodded.

"I wonder who is the person that can keep up with him." said Jiang Cheng.

Our Lan Wangji is drinking a jar of vinegar.

The boys were at a loss, “Would a wish like this really be able to be granted?”

Wei WuXian held his palms out, “It’s simple. If her husband’s ‘whole life’ immediately ended, wouldn’t it count as ‘loving only one person for his entire life’?”

"Please don't ever come to a temple just to make a wish like that." said some cultivators to their partners.

"Unless if you guys can't be loyal to them before marriage." said Nie Huaisang.

Lan JingYi finally understood and shouted excitedly, “Oh, oh! So, so, so, the reason behind her husband being eaten by wolves the day after her engagement was that it was highly possible for A-Yan to have been to Goddess Temple to pray!”

"That is kinda horrible for the man." said MianMian.

"We should trust each other to avoid going to such conclusion." said Jiang Yanli.

Wei WuXian struck while the iron was still hot, “It was hard to say whether he was attacked by a wolf or something else. There is another factor that is unique to A-Yan: why is that, out of all of the victims, only A-Yan’s soul returned? How is she different from everyone else? The difference is that she has a relative who also lost his soul. Or, in other words, a relative replaced her! Blacksmith Zheng is AYan’s father, especially one who loved his daughter. So, when he saw that his daughter lost her soul, and there were no ways to deal with it, what was the only thing that he could do?”

This time, Lan SiZhui was quick to reply, “He could only entrust his hope to the Heavens. Therefore, he also went to Goddess Temple to pray, the wish being ‘I wish my daughter A-Yan’s soul can be found’!”

"What a great father he is." said a female cultivator.

"It's just so sad that she also have to lose her father's life to be safe." said MianMian.

"How I wish all the fathers are like that who love their sons and daughters so much to harm themselves without a second thought." said another female disciple.

Jiang Fengmian looked down when he heard what she said.

Wei WuXian spoke with appraise, “This is why only A-Yan’s soul came back, and also the reason behind Blacksmith Zheng losing his soul. However, although A-Yan’s soul was given back, it was still slightly fractured. After her soul returned, she had unconsciously started to imitate the goddess statue’s dance and even its smile.”

"That's creepy." said Nie Huaisang.

The similarity of the people who lost their souls was that, most likely, they had all prayed in front of the goddess statue. The prices to pay for their wishes were their souls.

"I swear on my life that I will never wish again." said a random cultivator.

"Same. If that is the payment then I prefer to suffer in life." said another random cultivator.

The goddess statue was originally just an average rock which happened to look like a person. Having accepted a few hundred years’ worth of worship without any reason, it had gained some powers. Yet, because it was greedy and its thoughts ventured off the wrong path, it had wanted to quickly increase its powers by eating souls. These were souls that it obtained by means of swapping wishes, and could be considered as the voluntarily sacrificed souls of the people who prayed. The two sides had a fair deal, one wish for another, and it seemed to be just and moral. This was why the pointers of the compasses of evil did not move, why the spirit-attraction flags did not work, and why the powers of the swords and talismans were all nullified—the creature in Dafan Mountain wasn’t any sprite, demon, ghost, or monster, but a goddess! This was an untitled goddess born from the hundreds of years of incense. Using the items used to deal with evil spirits and beasts to deal with it would be like using fire to distinguish fire!

"Hmm interesting." said Wen Rouhan.

"Of course he understand it easily because he is the one who invented those things." said Meng Yao.

"But if you focus on more logical reason then you will understand it more easier." said Jiang Cheng.

Lan JingYi shouted loudly, “Wait! Before this, in the temple, someone’s soul was also taken away, but we didn’t hear him wish!”

Hearing this, everyone turned their attention to Jin Ling who hid behind his mother.

"I hope you learned your lesson." said Wei Wuxian.

"If not then I will beat you." said Jiang Cheng.

"Don't worry, he already changed." said Jingyi and Zizhen.

Wei WuXian’s heart suddenly jumped. He stopped his footsteps, “Someone’s soul was taken away in the temple? Describe to me everything that happened earlier, without missing a single word.”

Lan SiZhui repeated the scenario both clearly and quickly. When he heard Jin Ling’s talk of “if it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?” Wei WuXian spoke, “How is this not wishing? It most definitely is a wish!”

"You brought danger to yourself." exclaimed Jiang Cheng.

"I'm sorry." is all Jin Ling can say when his uncles are glaring at him.

The others agreed with Jin Ling, so it was accepted that they had all wished the same thing. At the time, the soul-consuming goddess was right in front of them, so the wish was granted. Then, it was time to seize the sacrifice!

Suddenly, the donkey halted, and ran toward the opposite direction. Wei WuXian was, again, swung off unprepared, but grabbed on to the rope no matter what. However, in the bushes in front of him, there came a noise of chewing, complete with crunches and slurps. An immense figure was crawling in the bush, its huge head on the ground and moving using its stomach. Hearing the noise, it immediately lifted its head. Their eyes met.

"Aaahhhhh!" shouted some cultivators seeing the scenario.

"How are you guys not scared seeing that creature?" asked Nie Huaisang in disbelief, hiding behind his brother.

"That is to be expected." said Jiang Cheng.

In the beginning, the soul-consuming goddess’s features were vague, and there were only the shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears on its face, but after it had eaten the souls of a few cultivators all at once, it could already form clear features. It was the face of a smiling woman, with blood dripping down the corners of its mouth, munching on an arm that had been torn off.

Gagging noises can be heard everywhere.

"I told you it's creepy." said Nie Huaisang.

"See Jin Zixun, it's not beautiful." he shouted at the man.

"May the person who owns that arm will rest in peace." said MianMian.

Everyone, following the donkey, ran in the other direction.

Lan SiZhui was breaking down, “That is not supposed to happen! The YiLing Patriarch had said before, that high-level ones eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!”

Wei WuXian couldn’t help but to comment, “Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess! No rules stay the same in all situations. You can think of it as an infant—when it lacks teeth, it can only eat congee and soup, but when it grows up, it would, of course, also want to eat meat using its teeth. Her powers had just risen greatly, so naturally she’d want to taste something new!”

"Even him is criticising himself." said Wen Xu.

"I am right though." said Wei Wuxian.

"You should know that rules are changing in every situation." said Jiang Cheng.

"There is no permanent rules." said Nie Mingjue.

The soul-consuming goddess stood up from the ground. Her body was tall. She used her arms and her legs to dance with uncontrollable excitement, seeming like she was extremely pleased. Out of the blue, an arrow came with a whoosh and pierced her forehead, the arrowhead appearing out of the back of her head.

"Nice shot." commented a random cultivator.

"That won't do anything. That's a goddamn stone." exclaimed Jiang Cheng.

"Why is no one sending a signal?" asked Wei Wuxian.

Hearing the sound of the bow’s release, Wei WuXian’s looked toward its direction. Jin Ling stood atop a tall hill, not far away, and already had his second feathered arrow on the bow. He pulled to the maximum, and another head-penetrating arrow was released, the strength causing the soul-consuming goddess to stagger a few steps backward.

Lan SiZhui yelled, “Young Master Jin! Send off the signal on you!”

"You!" shouted Jiang Cheng, ready to grabbed his nephew from hiding behind his mother.

"Don't act like a hero when you know you can't." he yelled making his nephew tremble.

"A-niang please calm down." said Jingyi grabbing him back to his seat.

Jin Ling turned a deaf ear to his words, determined to kill the monster. With a solemn face, he set three arrows onto the bow at once. Although she was shot in the head twice, the soul-consuming goddess was not angered, and advanced toward Jin Ling with the same smile plastered on her face. Although she danced while walking, her speed was terrifyingly fast, decreasing the distance between them by half in just a few moments. A few cultivators appeared from the side and fought with her, hindering her strides. Jin Ling shot each arrow as the goddess took each step, probably intending to use up all of the feathered arrows first, before fighting in a closer range with the soul-consuming goddess. His arm was quite steady, and his shots were accurate, but all magical weapons were useless against it!

"Jin Rulan." yelled Wei Wuxian.

'Shit, I'm doomed.' thought Jin Ling being on the receiving end of his uncles' glare.