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

"Grandmaster Lan knows what you're planning to do." said Jin Zixuan.

"He is stopping you from tainting his nephew." laughed Nie Huaisang.

Lan QiRen was tall and thin, standing with a straight back. Although he had a long, black goatee, he was definitely not old. And, according to the tradition of the GusuLan Clan producing beautiful men each generation, he was definitely not bad-looking either. Yet, unfortunately, with the pedantic and stiff air that surrounded him, nothing would feel wrong if one called him an old man. He entered with a scroll in one hand. The long scroll of paper rolled all over the ground as soon as he opened it, and he started to talk about the rules of the Lan Sect. The faces of everyone in the room started to grow dark. As Wei WuXian was bored, his gaze flew everywhere, and landed on the side face of Lan WangJi. He was shocked as he saw concentration and seriousness that were nothing like a facade, "How can he listen so attentively to something so boring?"

"And why are you always draw your attention to him?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Jiang-xiong is right." agreed Nie Huaisang.

Immediately, in the front, Lan QiRen slammed the scroll onto the ground and smiled bitterly, "I am only repeating this one by one because nobody reads it, even though it was carved onto the rock wall. Hence, nobody will be able to violate them using ignorance as an excuse again. Even if I do this, there are still people who do not pay attention. Very well, I will proceed to talk about something else."

Although his words could be applied to everyone in the room, Wei WuXian's intuition told him that it was a warning directed at him. As he expected, Lan QiRen spoke, "Wei Ying."

"From the start, Zu-shufu target Wei-daijiu as always." said Jingyi.

"You're right, no wonder Wei-daijiu always pranked him." said Jin Ling.

Wei WuXian answered, "Here."

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

Wei WuXian smiled, "No."

"Why not? How are they differentiated?"

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

"Lesson time, everyone." said Zizhen and they took some paper to writes some important notes.

"I'm gonna give these to the younger disciples when we get back." said Jingyi.

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

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

"So intelligent." commented some cultivator.

"That's just a basic." said Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan.

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

"A butcher."

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

"Sparks Amidst Snow."

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

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

"The fact that you only asked him and didn't bother to ask the other students." said Wen Rouhan.

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you Qiren?" asked Madam Yu with a smirk.

His fluent answers made everyone's hearts skip a few beats. Although they felt lucky, they all prayed for him to not be stumped by any questions, so that Lan QiRen wouldn't have the opportunity to pick on other people. Yet, Lan QiRen spoke, "As a disciple of the YunmengJiang Sect, you should have been very familiar with these and known them by heart since long ago, so there is nothing to be proud of even if you answered correctly. Let me ask you again-there is an executioner with parents, a wife, and children, but before he died, he executed more than one hundred people. He suddenly died in the public and, to punish him for his deeds, he was left on the streets for seven days. With the repressed energy of resentment, he started to haunt and kill. What should be done?"

"That's easy. It should be done using liberation, suppression, and elimination." said Xiao Xingchen.

"If liberation fails then suppress it and if still doesn't work then eliminate it." Song Lan added.

"Impressive." said Qingheng-jun making the two men blush.

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

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

"Of course he is going to use his nephew against me." said Wei Wuxian wriggling his brows at Lan Qiren.

Lan WangJi did not look at Wei WuXian. He nodded to indicate respect and spoke in a monotonous voice, "First, liberate; second, suppress; third, eliminate. The initial approach is to utilize the gratitude of his relatives and grant his dying wish, set free what he could not let go of. If it fails, suppress it. If the crimes were extremely wrongful, and its energy of resentment does not dissipate, exterminate it completely. The cultivation world should precisely keep to this order of measures. No errors should be allowed."

"As expect from Second Jade of Lan." said a random cultivator.

"Of course Lan Zhan is the best." exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng scoffed and rolled his eyes.

Everyone let out a long breath, thanking the Heavens because Lan WangJi was the one the old man selected. Else, if it was their turn, it would be hard to not overlook a few steps or mix up the order. Lan QiRen nodded with satisfaction, "Not a single mistake was made." With a pause, he spoke again, "No matter in terms of cultivation or as a person, one needs to be as solid as this. If one becomes complacent and proud just because they defeated a few simple mountain beings in their home and hold some empty reputations, one would definitely bring disgrace upon themselves, sooner or later."

"Such a show off." said Madam Yu.

"Of course he will use that nephew of his to show that someone is more better than our Jiang disciple." she added.

The Jiang siblings was shocked when they heard that. Never in their life heard her accept Wei Wuxian as their disciple.

Wei WuXian raised his brows and took a look at the side of Lan WangJi's face. He thought, so, apparently this old man meant it for me. He called his best pupil to listen with us in order for me to watch.

He spoke, "I have a question."

Lan QiRen replied, "Speak."

"I just hope that he won't do something stupid." said Jiang Cheng as his instinct is telling that his brother will do something unacceptable.

Wei WuXian, "Although 'liberation' comes first, it is often impossible. 'To grant his dying wish' sounds simple-it would be easy, if the wish was a new piece of clothing, but what if the wish was to kill lots of people for revenge?"

Lan WangJi, "Thus, suppression assists liberation. If it is necessary, elimination would also follow."

Wei WuXian smiled, "Such a waste." He paused, and continued, "It wasn't that I didn't know of this answer, I was only thinking of a fourth path."

"You're purposely trying to annoy them, aren't you?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"What fourth path? Never heard of that." said Qingheng-jun.

"There is no such thing." said Lan Qiren.

Lan QiRen spoke, "I have never heard of any fourth paths."

Wei WuXian spoke, "Because the executioner died in such a way, it is only natural that he turned into a ferocious corpse. Since he executed more than one hundred people before he died, why not dig up the graves of these people, arouse their energy of resentment, collect the heads of those hundred people, and use them to fight with the ferocious corpse..."

"No wonder he became the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Even at such a young age he is already thinking like that." said Jin Guangshan.

"Shut up! When you speak there is nothing good coming from it." said Jin Ling in anger.

"Show some respect to your grandfather." exclaimed Jin Guangshan.

"Why would I? You don't deserve." Jin Ling shouted back.

Everyone was silent just watching the two of them.

Lan WangJi finally turned around to look at him. His brows were knit, still expressionless. Lan QiRen was so angered that his goatee was quivering. He shouted, "How dare you!"

Everyone in the room was stunned. Lan QiRen sprang to his feet, "The essence of exorcising demons and annihilating ghosts is to liberate! You do not study the methods of liberation, and even think about increasing their energy of resentment! You reverse the natural order, and ignore ethics and morality!"

"You're the first person that can make him that mad." said Lan Xichen.

"I take that as a compliment." said Wei Wuxian with a proud face.

"That is not something you should be proud of." exclaimed Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian replied, "There are some things that have no use after liberation, so why not find a way to make use of them? When Yu the Great tamed the flood, obstruction was the inferior method, and redirection was the superior. Suppression is the same as obstruction, so isn't it inferior..." Lan QiRen hurled a book toward him, but he flinched to the side and avoided it. His expression remained unchanged, and continued to talk nonsense, "Spiritual energy is energy; resentful energy is energy as well. Spiritual energy is stored in the dantian. It can split mountains and fill oceans, available for human use. If so, then why can't resentful energy also be used by humans?"

"Wei Wuxian stop!" yelled Jaing Cheng.

"Jiang Cheng that doesn't happened yet." said Wei Wuxian.

"I'm going to beat if you dare to do that." said Jiang Cheng in anger.

Another book came flying from Lan QiRen. He spoke harshly, "Then, let me ask you again! How do you make sure that the resentful energy only listens to you and does not harm others?"

Wei WuXian ducked while speaking, "I haven't thought of it yet!"

Lan QiRen raged, "If you thought of it, the cultivation world would not allow your existence! Get out!"

"Zu-shufu be predicting the future." said Jingyi.

"Who are in their right to say something like that in front of Grandmaster Lan." said Su She which received a glare from the juniors.

Wei WuXian couldn't be more glad, and quickly went out.

He wandered about the Cloud Recesses for the morning, picking flowers and playing with grasses. After everyone finished the lesson, they finally found him on the roof of a tall wall. Wei WuXian was sitting on the grey tiles of the ledge, holding a piece of grass in his mouth. His right hand was under his cheek, and sat with one leg propped up and the other hanging down, swaying slightly. The disciples down there pointed at him, "Weixiong! How admirable of you! He told you to get out, and you really went outside! Hahahaha..."

"What else should I do when he told to get out?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"At least apologize first." said Jiang Cheng.

"After you went out, a long while passed before he finally understood what happened. His face was so purple!"

Wei WuXian chewed on the grass and shouted toward below him, "He asks, and I answer. If he tells me to get out, I will get out. What else does he want me to do?"

Nie HuaiSang spoke, "Why does it seem like old man Lan is especially strict towards you? He always directs his scoldings at you."

"Nie-xiong is right." exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

"He is just afraid that you will taint his nephew." said Jin Zixuan.

"Or he is just unbearable." said Jiang Cheng.

"You guys are bullying me." whined Wei Wuxian.

"Do not bully him." said Lan Wangji that silence everyone.

Jiang Cheng humphed, "It serves him right. What sort of answer is that? It's fine if he spouts these nonsense at home, but he dared to say these in front of Lan QiRen. He's seeking his own death!"

Wei WuXian spoke, "No matter how I answered it, he wouldn't like me, so I might as well just say what I wanted to say. Anyways, I didn't try to offend him. I was just answering properly."

"That's not what we call properly." said Su She.

"Their your brain must be rotting away." said Jingyi sarcastically.

The trio tried not to let out a laugh.

After thinking for a few moments, an expression of envy and yearning appeared on Nie HuaiSang's face, "To be honest, Wei-xiong's words were quite interesting. Spiritual energy can only be obtained through cultivation and taking great pains to form a golden core. It would take I-don't-know how-many years to do, especially for someone like me, whose talent seems as if it was gnawed by a dog when I was in my mother's womb. But, resentful energy are from the fierce ghosts. If they can easily be taken and used, it would be beyond wonderful."

"Nie Huaisang!" shouted Nie Mingjue.

"Ahh everybody save me." yelled Nie Huaisang, running away from his seat.

"No one can save you." said Nie Mingjue in anger.

A golden core was a core formed by cultivators after they had cultivated to a certain point. It can store and control spiritual energy. After the core was formed, the cultivator's level of cultivation would increase at a rapid speed, and become better and better. Else, they would only be a low-end cultivator. If disciple from a prominent clan forms the core at a later age, it would be a disgrace to tell other people of it, yet Nie HuaiSang didn't feel ashamed at all. Wei WuXian also laughed, "I know, right? No harm comes from using it."

"Nonsense. You're not really planning to do that, right?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Well he turned out to be the founder of it." said Jin Zixun.

"I am not asking so shut that goddamn mouth of yours." said Jiang Cheng in anger.

"I won't, ChengCheng." said Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng warned, "That's enough. It's fine if you talk about it, but don't actually walk such a crooked path."

Wei WuXian smiled, "Why would I leave the nice, broad road, and walk on a single-plank bridge on a dark, narrow river instead? If it really is that easy, people would have already walked on it. Don't worry, he was just asking, and I was just answering. Hey, are you guys coming? Since it's not curfew yet, hunt for pheasants with me."

"Yet he still become the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation." said Meng Yao.

"Shut up!" yelled the juniors, glaring at him.

Jiang Cheng scolded, "What do you mean 'hunt for pheasants'? Why would there be pheasants here?! First, go copy Righteousness. Lan QiRen asked me to tell you to copy the Virtue section of Righteousness for three times, so that you can learn what natural law and morality is."

Righteousness was the collection of the Lan Sect's sect rules. The sect rules here was too long, so Lan QiRen revised them into a thick collection. The sections Virtue and Conduct were four fifth of the whole book. Wei WuXian spat out the grass which he held in his mouth and dusted his boots, "Three times? I'd fly up to Heaven if I just copied them once. I'm not from the Lan Sect, and don't intend to marry into the Lan Clan, so why should I copy the sect rules of his sect? I'm not gonna copy."

"Don't intend to marry? So who is married to Wangji in the future?" asked Lan Xichen with a tease.

"Brother-in-law please don't tease me or else I won't have a second thought to tease you back." said Wei Wuxian.

"Shut up both of you." said Jiang Cheng.

Nie HuaiSang quickly spoke, "I'll copy for you! I'll copy for you!"

Wei WuXian, "No good person does favours for others out of the blue. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Nie Huai Sang replied, "It's like this. Wei-xiong, old man Lan has a bad habit. He..."

"What are you planning?" asked Wei Wuxian to his friend.

"I don't know." answered Nie Huaisang.

In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly paused and coughed drily, opening up his fan and shifting to the side. Wei WuXian knew that something was wrong. He turned around and, sure enough, Lan WangJi stood under an ancient, verdant tree and gazed in their direction, carrying the Bichen sword on his back. He looked like a jade tree, reflecting the mottled shadows of leaves and sunlight. However, his stare wasn't kind at all, as if it could lock them in a cavern made of ice. Everyone knew that their shouts were a bit too loud, and the noise had probably led him over, so they all shut their mouths. Yet, Wei WuXian jumped down and gravitated toward him, "WangJi-xiong!"

"Wangji be admiring his future husband from afar." teased Lan Xichen.

"Xiongzhang." said Lan Wangji with a bit of warning in his voice that only his brother can understand.

Lan WangJi turned around and immediately walked away. Wei WuXian cheerfully went after him and yelled, "WangJi-xiong, wait for me!"

The white clothed figure flashed behind the tree, and suddenly disappeared without a trace, clearly showing that Lan WangJi didn't want to converse with him. Having received only a view from behind, Wei WuXian turned around and complained to the others, "He ignored me."

"Of course he will. Remember what you said back at the hall." said Jiang Cheng.

"Wangji is just ashamed, Wanyin." said Lan Xichen not heeding his younger brother's warning.

"Yeah," Nie HuaiSang spoke, "It looks like he really hates you, Weixiong. Lan WangJi usually... No, he never does something so impolite."

Wei WuXian, "He hates me already? I wanted to apologize to him."

"Too late." said Jiang Cheng.

"Don't hate Wei Ying." Lan Wangji suddenly said.

"Of course Lan Zhan." said Wei Wuxian and the two cuddled closer.

"Really?" asked Jiang Cheng in disbelief. His brother even stop him from whispering to his future husband.

"Do you want to cuddle too, Wanyin?" asked Lan Xichen.

"No!" exclaimed Jiang Cheng with a flushed face.

Jiang Cheng sneered, "Apologizing now? Too late! Like his uncle, he surely thinks that you are evil and unruly to the core, and didn't bother to pay you any attention."

Wei WuXian thought otherwise. He chuckled, "Who cares if he ignored me? Does he look pretty?" After a thought, he realized that Lan WangJi did look pretty. And so, he happily threw away his desire to twitch his lips.

"Lan Zhan is the prettiest." said Wei Wuxian happily.

"I don't think so." said Jiang Cheng raising one of his brows at his brother.