Wei WuXian lay on his stomach for the whole night. The first half of the night was spent thinking about what in the world had happened to Lan WangJi during these years, and he only drifted off during the second half. When he opened his eyes the next morning, Lan WangJi had already disappeared into nowhere. On the other hand, he lay on the bed properly, with his arms placed on the sides of his body in a position that made him seem well-behaved.

"Oh so we were back at watching that timeline." said Wen Rouhan.

"Then what about our time? Will we not watch it again." asked Nie Huaisang.

"We don't know. Maybe it will show it later again." said Sizhui.

"I wonder what will happen here." said Jin Zixuan.

Wei WuXian immediately took off the blanket that covered him. He dug the fingers of his right hand into his hair. The unexplainable feeling of absurdity and fright still couldn't be erased from his mind.

At this time, two knocks came from the jingshi's wooden door. Lan SiZhui's voice came from outside, "Young Master Mo? Have you waken?"

"Does Wei Wuxian know he is married to Lan Wangji?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"We don't know either." said Jingyi.

"Does Sizhui even know that Wei Wuxian is his mother that time?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"I know that my a-niang is Wei Wuxian but I don't know that Mo-qianbe was my a-niang that time." said Sizhui.

Wei WuXian, "Why are you calling me so early in the morning?!"

Lan SiZhui, "E-early? ... But, it is already nine."

"That's still early." said Wei Wuxian.

"I still don't get it why they have to wake up so early in the morning." said Jiang Cheng.

"There's no need for the both of you to follow that anyway." said Jingyi.

Everyone of the Lan Sect rose at five and slept at nine in a very systematic manner. Wei WuXian, on the other hand, rose at nine and slept at one in a similarly systematic manner, precisely four hours later than those the Lan Sect. Because he lay on his front for half of the night, his waist and back were both aching. He spoke in an honest tone, "I can't get up."

Lan SiZhui, "Uhm, what is wrong, this time?"

Wei WuXian, "What is wrong? I got done by your sect's HanGuangJun."

"Wei Wuxian!" shouted Lan Qiren.

"So f*cking shameless." cursed Jiang Cheng.

"I already expected that." said Nie Huaisang.

Wei Wuxian just laughed at them.

"That was nor necessary to say at all." saod Jin Zixuan.

"It is." said Wei Wuxian with a proud face.

Nie Huaisang laughed behind his fan, Jin Zixuan shakes his head and Jiang Cheng face-palmed himself.

Lan JingYi's angry voice also appeared, "If you continue to speak nonsense like this, you will pay for it. Come out!"

Wei WuXian spoke as if he had been wronged, "Really! He did me for the whole night! I can't go out. I don't have the face to see anyone."

"In front of my son? You have to say that in front of my son?" asked Jiang Cheng in disbelief.

"Poor innocent juniors." said Nie Huaisang.

"My poor nephews." said Jiang Yanli dramatically, teasing Wei Wuxian.

"Yeah, poor innocent us." said Jingyi imitating his aunt Yanli.

A few juniors stared at each other dumbfoundedly outside the door. People couldn't go into HanGuang-Jun's place without permission, so they couldn't just go inside and drag him out. Lan JingYi raged, "You have no shame at all! HanGuang-Jun is not a cut sleeve. He did you?! I would be more than grateful if you tell me that you did not do him. Get up! Take away that donkey of yours and train it properly. It makes so much noise!"

"Just look at how my nephew disrespect me." said Wei Wuxian.

"Like mother like son." he added with a pout.

"Well deserve." said Jiang Cheng.

"Now I really know that Hanguang-jun is a cut sleeve." said Jingyi.

Hearing his method of transportation being mentioned, Wei WuXian quickly climbed up, "What did you do to my Lil' Apple?! Don't touch it. It's gonna kick you."

Lan JingYi asked, "What is Lil'Apple?"

Wei WuXian, "My donkey!" Exiting the jingshi, he shooed the juniors to take him to his mount. He was led to a field of grass. The donkey was there, crying nonstop and making a lot of noise. The cries were because it wanted to eat grass, but a few dozens of round, white pompons gathered on the field, making it so that it couldn't eat.

"The f*ck!" cursed Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng laughed at him.

"Don't tell me I got Jiang Cheng's way of naming a pet." said Wei Wuxian in disbelief.

"What was that supposed to mean?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"It means what i mean." said Wei Wuxian.

Wei WuXian was delighted, "So many rabbits! Here, here, let's put them on a stick and start roasting!"

Lan JingYi fumed with anger, "Killing is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses! Make it shut up, right now. The disciples doing early readings have already come to ask a few times! If this keeps up, we will be scolded to death!"

"Noooooo! Don't you even dare!" shoted the juniors while glaring at Wei Wuxian.

"Roasted rabbits are quite delicious." said Jiang Cheng, teasing the juniors more.

"A-niang?!" asked Jingyi in disbelief.

"What? It's true." answered Jiang Cheng.

"Look at how dramatic your son is. He really took after you." said Wei Wuxian.

"Not like your son who took after his father. At least my son is not boring like your Lan." said Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian fed it the apple that was given to him for breakfast. As he expected, the donkey stopped making noise as it chewed on the apple, crunching its teeth together. Wei WuXian stroked the back of its neck as he thought about the passage tokens on these juniors and pointed at the round rabbits all over the ground, "I really can't roast them? If I roast them, would I be chased off the mountain?"

"Can you please stop thinking of roasting them?" asked Jingyi and Sizhui.

"Say that to my future self." said Wei Wuxian.

Appearing as if he faced an imminent threat, Lan JingYi hastened to block in front of Wei WuXian with his arms stretched wide, "These are HanGuang-Jun's. We just occasionally help him look after them. You cannot dare to roast them!"

As Wei WuXian heard this, he laughed so hard that he almost fell on the ground. He thought, What an interesting person Lan Zhan is! In the past, he didn't even accept them when I gave them out for free, but now, he secretly raised a whole bunch. And he said he didn't want them. Who was he kidding? Oh please, I bet he actually likes this sort of white, fuzzy things. HanGuang-Jun, holding a rabbit while keeping up a straight face. My gosh, I'm gonna die...

"Just look at how he was thinking of him." said Nie Huaisang.

"Aww Lan Zhan raised a whole bunch of rabbits." said Wei Wuxian.

"Because it reminds him of you." said Sizhui with a smile.

"Lan Zhan really loves me." tease Wei Wuxian.

"Mn. Love Wei Ying." said Lan Wangji making the man blush.

However, as he thought of the situation of him lying on top of Lan WangJi last night, his laughter stopped abruptly.

Suddenly, rings of the bell came from the the western side of the Cloud Recesses.

"Now what is happening?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"Can't we just focus on love stories?" asked MianMian.

"I wished so too." said Nie Huaisang.

These rings were completely different from the ones that told the time. They were hurried and violent, as if a madman was striking it. With a sudden change in their faces, Lan JingYi and Lan SiZhui both stopped joking around with him, dashing toward the bell at once. Wei WuXian knew that something was wrong and quickly followed.

The sound came from a watchtower.

"Something bad is happening." said Jiang Yanli worriedly.

"What could it be?" asked Jin Zixuan.

The watchtower was called the "mingshi". It was the building the Lan Sect used to summon spirits, with walls made from a special material and incantations carved on them. When the bell of the watchtower started to ring on its own, it only meant one thing-that an accident happened to the people performing the summoning ritual inside.

Outside of the watchtower, more and more of the Lan Sect's disciples started to crowd around, but nobody dared to go in without careful consideration. The door of the mingshi was black and made of wood. It was tightly locked, only able to be opened from inside. It was not only difficult to violently destroy it from the outside, but it was also forbidden to do so. It was extremely scary for an accident to happen during the spirit summoning ritual, since nobody would know what being it would summon or what would happen if someone broke in. And, ever since the mingshi was built, there were almost no cases where the summoning failed. This made everyone more worried.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." said Nie Mingjue.

"Is it related to that left hand?" asked Wei Wuxian curiously.

"We will find out." said Jin Ling.

Seeing that Lan WangJi didn't appear, Wei WuXian had a foreboding feeling. If Lan WangJi was still in the Cloud Recesses, he would have hurried over immediately, as he heard the alarming chimes of the bell, unless... Suddenly, the black door bursted open with a bang. A whiteclothed disciple rushed outside, staggering and stumbling.

"Wangji is inside." said Lan Xichen.

"Lan Zhan." called Wei Wuxian worriedly.

"I'm here." said Lan Wangji, holding the man tightly.

As his legs weren't steady, he rolled down the stairs as soon as he came out. The door of the mingshi instantly closed again, as if someone angrily slammed it shut.

In confusion, the bystanders quickly helped the disciple up. After he stood up, he immediately fell down again, his face covered in tears beyond his control. He held onto the people around him, "We should have... shouldn't have summoned..."

Wei WuXian grabbed his hand at once, speaking in a low voice, "Which being's spirit are you summoning? Who else is inside? Where's HanGuangJun?!"

"Look how worried he is." said Nie Huaisang.

"You're focusing on the wrong thing." said Nie Mingjue.

"Just how dangerous is it?" asked Jiang Cheng.

It seemed as if the disciple had trouble breathing, "HanGuang-Jun told me to run away..."

Before he finished his sentence, dark-red blood gushed out of his nose and mouth. Wei WuXian pushed him into Lan SiZhui's arms. With the hastily created bamboo flute still by his waist, he went up the stairs in just a few strides. He kicked the mingshi's door and commanded, "Open!"

"Does he think the door will open just like that?" asked Su She with mockery.

"What do you think?" Jingyi asked back.

"If don't have any nice things to say then better shut that mouth of yours." said Jin Ling.

"How disrespectful." said Su She.

"You don't deserve our respect." said Zizhen.

The mingshi's door opened abruptly, as if it was laughing wildly with a gaping mouth. Wei WuXian entered in a flash, and the door closed right behind him. A few disciples followed him in shock, but the door couldn't be opened again, no matter what. A guest disciple rushed at the door, shock and anger on his face, and blurted out, "Who on Earth was that person?!"

"Yiling Patriarch." murmured the juniors.

"What are you guys murmuring?" asked Jin Zixun.

"Why would we tell you?" asked Jin Ling.

"A-ling." said Jiang Yanli and boy was silent while glaring at the said man.

Lan SiZhui held the earlier disciple up and spoke through clenched teeth, "... Come help me first. His qiqiao are bleeding!"

As soon as he entered the mingshi, Wei WuXian felt a dark energy coming over him.

The dark energy seemed like a combination of the energies of resentment, anger, and arrogance, almost visible to the human eye. Surrounded by it, one's chest would feel a constricted sense of pain. The inside of the mingshi was about ten meters in both length and width. By its corners, a few people lay motionless on the ground. The object of this summoning was set in the center of the array on the ground.

It was nothing else but an arm-the one taken back from Mo Village!

"I told you it was the arm." said Wei Wuxian.

"I don't think it's a coincidence. Why would an arm appear at the Mo Village? Do you think it is purposely sent by someone?" asked Lan Xichen.

"Maybe someone wants to harm the juniors." said Jiang Cheng.

"Or someone wants someone to investigate something that is related to the peace of the cultivation world." said Wei Wuxian.

It stood on the ground, as straight as a stick, with the side where it was cut off on the bottom. Four of its fingers were clenched into a fist, yet its index finger pointed toward the sky, as if it was angrily pointing at someone. The steady flow of dark energy that filled the mingshi was emitted by this.

Everyone participating in this spirit summoning ritual had either ran away or passed out. Lan WangJi was the only one still seated properly, at the main position on the east side.

"Just how powerful is that arm?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"No! You should asked how harmful that arm is." said Jiang Cheng.

"Am I the onle seeing that the arm is quite familiar?" asked a Nie disciple.

"It's giving me a bad vibe by just looking at it." said another Nie disciple.

A guqin lay on his side. Although his hand wasn't on the strings, they continued to vibrate on their own. He appeared to be lost in thought or listening to something, only raising his head as he sensed that someone came in.

Since Lan WangJi's face was always placid, Wei WuXian had no idea what he was thinking about. Lan QiRen, who was originally responsible for one section of the mingshi, now lay collapsed and unconscious on the side, his qiqiao bleeding like the disciple who escaped the mingshi. Wei WuXian replaced into his position, turning around and stepping toward the far west, directly across of Lan WangJi. He pulled the bamboo flute from beside his waist, and lifted it to his lips.

"Are we going to listen to him playing?" asked a random disciple.

"You should get used to it." said his friends.

"Even Grandmaster Lan collapsed because of it." said Nie Huaisang.

"Because he's old already." laughed Wei Wuxian.

"You should really show some respect to your future uncle-in-law." said Jiang Cheng.

During the night at Mo Village, Wei WuXian first used the whistling sound to distract it, then Lan WangJi attacked it from afar with notes of the zither. They only suppressed the arm while unintentionally collaborating like this. Lan WangJi met his gaze, a look of understanding on his face. As he raised his right hand, a melody poured out from the guqin. Wei WuXian quickly joined with the flute.

The song that they played was named "Evocation". It used the corpse, part of the corpse, or loved objected of a deceased person as a medium for the spirit to follow the melody. Usually, only one section was needed for the spirit to appear within the array. Yet, the song had almost ended, but there was no spirit being summoned.

"Why do you have to summoned it?" asked Jin Zixun.

"To find out, you dumbass." said Jin Ling.

"Find out what?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"Who the arm belongs to." answered Jingyi.

"And to find out why and how it died." said Zizhen.

Nie Huaisang just nodded his head quite not understanding what they are saying.

The arm seemed as if it was angered, with veins twitching visibly. The sense of suppression in the air felt heavier. If someone else was guarding the west side, they would have fallen long ago and ended up in the same way as Lan QiRen with their qiqiao bleeding. Wei WuXian was secretly shocked. It was almost impossible that the spirit couldn't be summoned with Lan WangJi and him playing "Evocation" together, unless... Unless the dead person's soul was cut apart alongside with his corpse!

"That's worse." said Jin Zixuan.

"Who would do something like that?" asked MianMian.

"A psychopath." muttered Jin Ling.

It appeared that this good fellow's death was a bit worse than his. Although his corpse was chomped into more pieces, at least his soul was complete.

"That's how I died?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Mn." answered Sizhui while looking down.

"Wei Ying." muttered Lan Wangji while holding the man more tightly.

Since "Evocation" didn't work, Lan WangJi's fingers shifted, and started playing another tune.

This song had a calm melody, different than the sinister, questioning one from before. Its name was "Rest". Because both of these songs were quite well-known in the cultivation world, it wouldn't be strange for anyone to know how to play them, and Wei WuXian naturally followed him.

The YiLing Patriarch's ghost flute, "Chenqing", was known far and wide. Yet, right now, with his bamboo flute, he purposely played it with many mistakes and short breaths of air, to a point where it was heartbreaking to hear. Lan WangJi had probably never played with someone with such terrible skills before. After a while, he finally couldn't bear to continue as if nothing was wrong any longer, and raised his head to look at Wei WuXian with an expressionless face.

"Can you at least stop doing that?" asked Jiang Cheng while covering his ears.

"It sounds so f*cking horrible." he cursed.

"Even Wangji-xiong can't take it anymore." laughed Nie Huaisang.

"Mean." muttered Wei Wuxian while pouting.

Wei WuXian thickened his face, pretending that he didn't see anything, his tune venturing even more off. As he turned around to continue playing, something strange happened behind him. He turned around to look, and was shocked as he saw it. Lan QiRen, who had lost consciousness, actually sat upright again. He pointed at Wei WuXian with a trembling hand, his face covered in blood and rage, and shouted in a hoarse voice, "Stop playing! Get out! Get out now! Stop..."

Everyone laughed at Lan Qiren qho was embarrassed of himself.

"My uncle-in-law really dislikes me." said Wei Wuxian.

"That's because your tainting his precious nephew." laughed Jiang Cheng.

Before he even finished saying what to stop doing, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and fell down in the same place, sinking into the deep coma yet again.

Lan WangJi, "..."

Wei WuXian gaped.

He knew what followed Lan QiRen's "stop"- Stop playing! Stop duetting! Stop tainting his favorite disciple WangJi's guqin notes!

"I told you so." laughed Jiang Cheng together with Nie Huaisang and the juniors.

"I can't believe that he woke up just to do that." said Jin Zixuan and laughed along with others.

Even Lan Xichen chuckled at his uncle's reaction.

Their guqin and flute duet actually angered Lan QiRen so much that he woke up and fainted again. This showed how horrible it sounded...

Yet, even so, the hand still drooped gradually, under the combined forces of the guqin and the flute. Wei WuXian thought shamelessly, Although it sounds bad, it doesn't matter as long as it works.

"I still helped." said Wei Wuxian proudly.

"But it's so horrible." said Jiang Cheng.

"You're just like old man Lan. No wonder he likes you more than me." said Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng just rolled his eyes at him.

Instantly, after the last echo of the guqin, the doors of the mingshi sprang open, pouring in a flood of sunlight. It was likely that the alarms of the watchtower stopped ringing. All of the disciples who surrounded the mingshi rushed inside, their voices calling "HanGuang-Jun".

Lan WangJi pressed his hand on the guqin, suppressing the residual sound of the strings' vibration, and walked over to Lan QiRen to check his pulse. With him leading, the rest of the people soon calmed down. The older seniors laid the bodies of the bleeding few flat on the ground and started to treat them. As they used needles and medicine, another group of disciples carried a large bell over, intending to cage the arm inside. Although it was a bustling scene, everything unfolded in an orderly fashion. Everyone whispered softly, with nobody making loud noises.

"That kind of scene never happened to Jiang Sect." said Wei Wuxian.

"It's because of your loud voice that never stop spouting nonsense." said Jiang Cheng.

"And your loud voice that didn't stop on nagging me." said Wei Wuxian.

"Just accept the fact that both of you are really noisy." said Jin Zixuan.

"That made the two Lan who are used in silence to fall in love with them." said Nie Huaisang.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng was silent looking at them with a glare.

Jiang Yanli and Lan Xichen chuckled at them.

A few people worried, "HanGuang-Jun, neither elixirs nor acupuncture work. What should we do?"

With three fingers still set on Lan QiRen's wrist, Lan WangJi remained silent. Lan QiRen had directed at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, spirit summoning ceremonies before. Of those, a lot included fierce spirits. Seeing even he was harmed by the energy of resentment, it was clear that the amount of resentful energy within this ghost hand was unprecedentedly strong.

"Just what is in that hand?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Just watch." said Jiang Cheng.

"ChengCheng is so mean." whined Wei Wuxian.

Wei WuXian stuck the bamboo flute back beside his waist. He squatted down beside the bronze bell and gently stroked the inscriptions on it. As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a downcast expression on Lan SiZhui's face, "What's wrong?"

Lan SiZhui already knew that he wasn't an ordinary person. After hesitation, he spoke in a low voice, "It is just that I feel slightly guilty."

"My a-yuan, what's wrong? Wht are you feeling guilty?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"You'll know it." answered Sizhui.

Wei WuXian asked, "Guilty for what?"

Lan SiZhui, "This hand was coming for us."

Wei WuXian smiled, "How do you know?"

Lan SiZhui, "Spirit-attraction flags of different levels are drawn in different ways and have different amounts of power. The spirit-attraction flags we drew at Mo Village had a range of only twenty-five hundred meters in circumference. Yet, this ghost hand has a strong killing intent, feeding on human flesh and bone. If it had been within that range in the beginning, with its level of malice, Mo Village would have been a river of blood since long ago. However, it appeared after we arrived... This means that it must have been set there purposely at that time, by someone with ill intentions."

"What an intelligent kid." said a random cultivator.

"That's because he is Hanguang-jun son." said Jingyi.

"And you are Zewu-jun son." said Nie Huaisang.

"That's because Jingyi doesn't focus on his studies unlike Sizhui." said Jin Ling.

"Young mistress Jin, how dare you?" asked Jingyi.

"I'm telling the truth." said Jin Ling with a smug look.

Wei Wuxian laughed at them.

"Of course my a-yuan is the best." said Wei Wuxian.

Wei WuXian responded, "Your academics are quite strong. That was a great analyzation."

Lan SiZhui lowered his head, "If so, for the lives lost at Mo Village, we should... we should also be responsible. And, now, we also involved Lan QiRen and the others in this matter..."

"Don't say that. Blame the one who put that arm on Mo Village." said Wei Wuxian which Sizhui nodded.

"You didn't even call him granduncle?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Sometimes I did but sometimes I didn't. It depends." saod Sizhui.

After a while of silence, Wei WuXian patted his shoulder, "The one responsible shouldn't be you guys, but the person who sent out the ghost hand. In this world, there are some things impossible for one to control."

"Right, listen to my advice." saod Wei Wuxian in which the juniors nodded their heads.

On the other side, Lan WangJi removed his hand. The people of the Lan Sect hurried to ask, "HanGuang-Jun, how is it?"

Lan WangJi replied, "Trace to its source."

Wei WuXian, "That's right. If we trace to its source, find the full corpse of this ghost hand, understand who he really is, then there'd naturally be a way to save them."

"How can you do it though?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"That seems interesting." said MianMian.

Although Lan JingYi already knew that he definitely wasn't a lunatic, he still couldn't help but to speak in a criticizing tone, "You make it sound so simple. The spirit-summoning did not work, and it became this big of a mess. How can we possibly find it?"

"There is no doubt that he is your son. He is really the same as you, always criticizing me." said Wei Wuxian.

"Whatever." said Jiang Cheng.

"You raised to be like you a-cheng." said Jiabg Yanli with a chuckle.

"Not you too, a-jie." said Jiang Cheng but Jiang Yanli just giggled at him.

Lan WangJi stated, "The northwest."

Lan SiZhui wondered, "The northwest? HanGuang-Jun, why is it the northwest?"

Wei WuXian, "Hasn't it already been shown to you guys?"

"Who?" a lot of cultivator asked.

"Focus on the screen." said Wei Wuxian.

Lan JingYi was puzzled, "Shown to me? Who? Who showed it? HanGuang-Jun did not."

Wei WuXian spoke, "It."

The people suddenly realized that what he was pointing at was the ghost hand!

"How can the hand do it?" asked a random cultivator.

"Aren't you a cultivator? So why don't you know something about that?" asked Jin Ling quite irritated.

The cultivator was silent.

The arm steadily pointed at one direction. As someone changed its position, it stubbornly turned back around, back to where it originally faced. Nobody had ever seen a situation like this before, and all were shocked. Lan JingYi stammered, "It? What... What is it pointing towards?!"

Wei WuXian replied, "What else can it be pointing towards? It's either the other parts of its corpse, or the murderer who made him this way."

"Oh it's getting interesting." said Nie Huaisang.

"Are you even brave enough to see it?" asked Jin Zixun with a mocking tone.

"What do you mean?" asked Nie Mingjue that made the man shivers.

Hearing this, a few boys who stood in the northwestern direction quickly shuffled aside. Giving him a look, Lan WangJi slowly rose, speaking to the disciples, "Care for Uncle properly."

The few nodded, "Okay! Are you going to travel down the mountain?"

Lan WangJi gave a slight nod. Wei WuXian had already stealthily shifted behind him, talking to himself in a loud, cheerful way, "Yes, yes, yes, we can finally get off this mountain and elope together!"

"Shameless." muttered Lan Qiren.

"Seems like a great idea." said Wei Wuxian making Lan Wangji agree with him.

Everyone looked as if they couldn't bear to watch the scene any longer. The expressions of the older disciples were especially scary, but a few of the boys were already used to it. Lan QiRen's face seemed to twitch again, as he lay unconscious on the ground. The disciples thought, If he spoke a few more sentences, maybe Mr. Lan would be angered awake again...

Some people laugh at that.

"Surely Qiren will Qi deviate hearing that." said Wen Rouhan.

"Don't want my uncle-in-law to pass at such age." said Wei Wuxian dramatically making everyone laughed at him.