"Don't you have any plans of getting up from my lap?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"No." the two answered.

Jiang Cheng give a helpless look to his sister who only chuckled at them.

Wei Wuxian is sitting on Jiang Cheng right lap while hugging him and Jingyi is sitting on his left lap while looking at the screen intently.

The dog dragged Wei WuXian, and Wei WuXian dragged Lan WangJi. The dog lead them halfway around, to the back of the stone castle. To his surprise, there was an entrance about a person's height in the wall. The shape was uneven, and there were fragmented pieces of rocks on the ground, which meant that it had just been violently blasted open with the use of a magical tool. The inside of the entrance was too dark for anything to be seen, aside from a red light that faintly shone. The dog loosened its teeth. It made another series of barks toward the inside, and madly wagged its tail at the two of them.

"Please stop barking." said Wei Wuxian, not looking at the screen.

Jiang Cheng decided to cover his ears.

"I wonder what happened to Young Mistress Jin." said Jingyi.

It was clear that Jin Ling must have broke open the stone castle by force, but something happened to him after he entered.

"A-ling." called Jiang Yanli worriedly.

"Don't worry a-niang, I'm safe." said Jin Ling.

"Really?" asked Jiang Cheng with a raised brow.

Jin Ling gulped nervously.

Bichen unsheathed on its own by an inch. The blade of the sword emitted a cold glow of light blue, illuminating the dark path ahead. Lan WangJi bent down and went inside first. Wei WuXian was almost stirred crazy by the dog, and rushed inside as well, nearly crashing into him. Lan WangJi held his hand to support him, and shook his head, either out of dissatisfaction or unwilling resignation.

The black-haired spiritual dog appeared like it really wanted to follow him, also trying to rush inside, but it seemed as if it was blocked outside by some sort of a force. It couldn't break the barrier no matter how hard it tried, so it could only sit down outside of the entrance, its tail wagging faster and faster. Wei WuXian was so glad that he almost knelt down for it. Taking his hand away, he walked a few steps inside. The distant shade of blue light coming from the sword almost appeared to be white when surrounded in this darkness.

"Yeah just stay outside you monster!" exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

Jingyi can't stop himself from laughing loudly.

"Monster? You call that adorable dog as a monster?" he asked in disbelief.

"My dog is not a monster!" exclaimed Jin Ling.

"It is." argued Wei Wuxian.

"Dogs aren't monsters, they are the cutest thing in the world!" exclaimed Jiang Cheng.

"You're taking his side?" asked Wei in disbelief.

"I'm saying the truth." said Jiang Cheng.

"No! You should take my side." said Wei Wuxian smacking Jiang Cheng's chest.

"Now you guys are focusing on different things." said Jin Zixuan.

"Shut up, you peacock!" yelled Wei Wuxian.

The Xinglu Ridge was covered in a tall, deep forest, so it was quite chilly. And, inside of the stone castle, it was colder than it was outside. Wearing only light clothing, there was wind blowing through Wei WuXian's cuffs and behind his back-the cold sweat due to the dog had already dried. The light at the entrance had disappeared as if it was a candle having been snuff out. The deeper they went inside, the darker and more spacious it became.

The top of the stone castle was spherical. Wei WuXian kicked a few pieces of rocks on the ground. He could hear a slight echo.

"It looks creepy." said MianMian

"Why didn't we get to find place like this to night hunt." asked Jingyi.

"Don't forget that it was your suggestion to go on that forest and we end up here." said Jin Ling.

"But isn't it great? We got to see and spend time with our parents past selves." said Jingyi.

"I wonder what was happening in our timeline by now." said Sizhui.

He finally couldn't endure it any longer and stopped in his tracks, pressing his right hand on his temple and scrunching his brows.

Lan WangJi turned around to ask, "What happened?"

Wei WuXian replied, "... It's so loud."

"Loud what?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"We can't even hear anything." said Nie Huaisang.

Inside the stone castle, there was only dead silence. It was as quiet as a cemetery. Actually, it itself also seemed similar to a cemetery.

But, in Wei WuXian's ears, right now, they were already surrounded by noise.

The noise came from all around them.

"Arghhh that's too loud!" exclaimed the cultivators as the whole place is covered with noises.

"That hurts." muttered Jaing Cheng.

"What is going on?" asked Wei Wuxian while covering his ears.

It was an ocean of whispers, rustles, and giggles, from in front and behind, above and below. The voices involved both male and female, old and young, loud and quiet. Wei WuXian could even hear a few fragmented sentences, but they came and went, not allowing him to catch any specific words.

It really was too loud.

"Just what is that place?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Is there something you want to say Sect Leader Nie?" asked Madam Yu while glancing to the said man.

He looks kinda nervous about the scene.

Wei WuXian continued to press on his temple with one hand, and used the other to grab a palm-sized Compass of Evil from the Qiankun Bag. The pointers on the compass shakily spun two times, then started to spin faster and faster. A few moments later, it spun madly around!

Last time, on Dafan Mountain, it had already been strange when the Compass of Evil didn't find the direction. This time, it went as far as to spin all by itself, without pausing for a single moment. This situation was even more unbelievable than the pointers not moving at all!

The foreboding shadow in Wei WuXian's heart grew denser. He called out loud, "Jin Ling!"

"I swear to break your legs when I find out you're in trouble." said Jiang Cheng.

"You always say that but never did." said Jin Ling which he received a glare from the man.

"Want me to do it now?" asked Jiang Cheng in anger.

Seeing the deadly expression of his uncle made him shiver.

"No." he said in a low voice making Jingyi and Wei Wuxian laugh at him.

The two had already walked for a while inside the stone castle, but they hadn't seen anyone. Wei WuXian had shouted a few times, without receiving any reply. The first stone rooms were all empty, but, as they went in deeper, in the center of one of the rooms, there was a black coffin.

"Is that an underground cemetery?" asked MianMian.

"I think so." replied Nie Huaisang.

It was quite odd for a coffin to appear here. However, the wood used was a deep black, and the shape was also crafted in a skilled way. Seeing this, Wei WuXian had an exceptionally strong affinity toward it. He couldn't help but patted it a few times. The wood was sturdy and the sound was firm. He praised it, "What a nice coffin."

"Really, Wei Wuxian?" asked Jiang Cheng in disbelief.

"It's really is a nice coffin." said Wei Wuxian.

"You're unbelievable." said Jin Zixuan.

Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian stood on opposite sides of the coffin. After passing a look between them, they extended their arms at the same time and opened the lid.

"Why did you open it without permission?" asked Nie Huaisang.

Nie Mingjue was glaring at the two.

"Isn't that disrespectful?" asked MianMian.

The moment the lid was opened, the noise around them suddenly multiplied, flooding through Wei WuXian's ears in the manner of tidal water. It was as if, before this, they were secretly watched by countless pairs of eyes-the owners of the eyes silently monitored and discussed every word they spoke, every action they performed, and suddenly became agitated as they saw that the coffin was about to be opened. Wei WuXian thought of a few dozen possibilities, already prepared to fend against strong odours of rancidity, stretching claws of monsters, an overflow of poisonous water, toxic smoke that dispersed quickly, or attacks from resentful spectres. Of course, his greatest wish was to see Jin Ling. Despite this, nothing happened. Nothing.

Surprisingly, this was an empty coffin.

The cultivators looked at the screen in disbelief. 'Who would put such a nice coffin there if they didn't put the body?'

"Hm that's weird." said Wei Wuxian.

"Did they lost their minds?" asked Wen Xu.

Wei WuXian was a bit startled, but also a bit disappointed at the fact that Jin Ling wasn't stuck in here. Lan WangJi went slightly nearer. Bichen unsheathed by itself for a few inches, its cold light shining on the bottom of the coffin. Only then, did Wei WuXian notice how it wasn't that the coffin was empty, but that the object inside was a lot smaller than what he had expected, and hid inside the deepest part of the coffin.

Inside the coffin, there lay a long sword.

"Who would bury a sword instead of the body?" asked Su She.

"I said they finally lost their minds." said Wen Xu.

"Maybe there's a reason why they bury the sword instead of the body." said Wen Qing.

"Maybe." said MianMian.

The sword had no sheath. The hilt seemed to have been casted from gold, appearing to be quite heavy in weight. Its body was slender and its blade shone. Resting on a layer of red cloth at the bottom of the coffin, it reflected a bloody shade of scarlet, emitting a chilling air of destruction.

"That's seemed similar to the Nie Sect sabers." said Wen Rouhan.

"Da-ge?" asked Nie Huaisang.

Nie Mingjue stayed silent ignoring their questionable gazes.

A sword was put inside a coffin instead of a corpse. There really wasn't anywhere not peculiar about these stone castles in the Xinglu Ridge, revealing mysteries every step they took.

The two closed the coffin lid and continued walking. They found other coffins like this in some other rooms. Looking at the texture of the wood, their ages were all different. And, within every coffin, there was a long sword. Even until they went inside the last room, there still wasn't any trace of Jin Ling. Wei WuXian closed the lid of the coffin, feeling slightly worried.

"Just where are you?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"I don't know. I don't remember." said Jin Ling.

"How come you don't remember? Are you dead?" asked Jiang Cheng in anger.

"Jiujiu." cried Jin Ling as he is getting nervous for what will happen next.

Seeing his knitted eyebrows, Lan WangJi thought for a moment, put the guqin horizontally on the coffin, and raised his hand. A melody poured from his fingers.

He only played a short excerpt, and then took his right hand away from the guqin. He stared attentively at the still-vibrating strings.

Suddenly, the strings quivered, and one note sounded on its own.

Wei WuXian asked, "Inquiry?"

"Huh? What's that?" asked a random disciple.

"Maybe a technique of the Lans." his friend answered.

Inquiry was a famous piece composed by an ancestor in the GusuLan Sect. Different from Evocation, it was used when the victim's identity was unknown and there wasn't a medium. The player used notes of the guqin to inquire, asking questions to the victim, while the victim's answers would be transformed into melodies by Inquiry and shown on the strings.

If the strings vibrated on their own, it meant that Lan WangJi had already brought a spirit in the castle here. After this, the two would start asking and answering using the language of the guqin.

"Oh that seems interesting." said a random disciple.

"Only for the Lans." said his friend.

"So they are going to ask the ghost." said another random disciple.

"As you can see." said the one sitting next to him.

The language of the guqin was a special skill unique to the GusuLan Sect. Although Wei WuXian knew a wide variety of things, there were still some that he was unable to learn, such as the language of the guqin. He whispered, "HanGuang-Jun, help me ask what is this place, what is it for, and who built it."

As he mastered the language, without any hesitation, Lan WangJi confidently played a few limpid notes. After a few moments, the strings played two notes on their own. Wei WuXian quickly asked, "What did it say?"

Lan WangJi, "I do not know."

"Huh?" asked Wei Wuxian.

The Lans are in disbelief. 'How could Hanguang-jun doesn't know?'

Lan Xichen was looking at the screen intently and suddenly a small smile crept his face.

Wei WuXian, "What?"

Lan WangJi replied in an unhurried manner, "It said, 'I do not know'."

"..." Wei WuXian looked at him, suddenly remembering a conversation about "whatever" a few years ago. Touching his nose, he was at a loss for words, and thought, Lan Zhan is so bright. He even learned how to make me speechless.

Everyone laughed at Wei Wuxian's reaction.

"Lan Zhan, you're making fun of me." said Wei Wuxian with a pout.

Lan Wangji was silent.

"Now, you can go back to him." said Jiang Cheng.

"No, he is making fun of me at the screen." said Wei Wuxian with slight anger.

"My lap is getting numb." Jiang Cheng mumbled.

With the first question unanswered, Lan WangJi played another sentence. The strings responded again, with the same two notes as before. Wei WuXian could tell that, this time, the answer was "I don't know" as well. He asked, "What did you ask it, this time?"

Lan WangJi, "How it died."

Wei WuXian, "If it was secretly killed when it was not paying attention, then it'd explain why it doesn't know how it died. Why don't you ask it if it knows who killed it?"

Lan WangJi raised his hands to play another phrase. Yet, the answer was the same two notes- "I don't know".

"How can the spirit doesn't know how he died and who killed him?" asked a random disciple.

"Maybe he was killed secretly." said Nie Huaisang in uncertainty.

"Reasonable." said Jiang Yanli.

It was a spirit who had been trapped here, yet it didn't know where this was, how it died, and who killed it. This was also Wei WuXian's first time meeting such a deceased person. With a change of thought, he spoke again, "Then, let's ask something else. Ask him whether it's a man or a woman. There's no way that it doesn't know this."

Lan WangJi did as he was told. After he took away his hands, another string sounded in a strong way. Lan WangJi translated, "A man."

"Oh it's a man." said Jin Zixun.

"Yeah as you heard." said Zizhen.

"I'm so curious by now." said MianMian.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this." said Jiang Yanli.

"Me too." said Jin Zixuan and the two looked at Jin Ling.

Wei WuXian, "We finally know about something, huh? Ask again, whether or not a boy of fifteen or sixteen entered here."

It answered, "Yes."

Wei WuXian asked again, "Then where is he right now?"

The strings paused for a moment, then replied. Wei WuXian hurried to ask, "What did he say?"

Lan WangJi's face was solemn, "It said, 'Right here.'"

"Where? I can't see him anywhere." said Jiang Cheng.

"A-ling, you can tell us what really happened there." said Jiang Yanli.

"I don't have any idea of what is happening." said Jin Ling truthfully.

"Are you sure?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Yes." answered Jin Ling.

Wei WuXian was dumbfounded.

"Here" probably referred to this stone castle. But, before this, they searched through the whole place, and hadn't seen Jin Ling. Wei WuXian spoke, "It can't lie, right?"

Lan WangJi, "I am here, so it cannot."

"Of course there's no spirit that could lie to my Lan Zhan." said Wei Wuxian.

"But where is Jin Ling exactly?" asked Jiang Cheng.

Indeed, it couldn't. The person inquiring was HanGuang-Jun. Under his control, the spirit who came was unable to lie, and had definitely been answering the truth. Wei WuXian proceeded to search around this room, looking for any mechanisms or secret rooms that he had missed. After a thinking for a moment, he played a few more phrases. However, after he received the answer, his expression changed slightly. Seeing this, Wei WuXian asked, "What did you ask this time?"

Lan WangJi, "How old he was; where he was from."

"So we are finally gonna know who the spirit is." said a random disciple.

"Any idea of who it is?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"None." answered Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng.

Both of these questions were attempts to find out the identity of the spirit. Wei WuXian knew that he definitely received some sort of an unconventional answer, "How was it?"

Lan WangJi, "Fifteen, from Lanling."

Wei WuXian's expression changed as well.

The soul that "Inquire" had found was Jin Ling?!

"What?!" exclaimed Jiang Yanli worriedly.

"The f*ck you died." said Jiang Cheng in disbelief.

"A-ling." called Sizhui worriedly.

"Can't believe he is already dead." said Wen Xu.

"He's a ghost!" exclaimed Jin Zixun.

"Stay away from my cousin." he said while unsheathing his sword.

"What are you planning to do?" Jiang Cheng asked coldly.

"To exterminate that ghost." Jin Zixun answered.

"Are you dumb?" asked Jingyi.

"I don't know. I don't remember dying." said Jin Ling softly.

He listened intently. Amid the noise that seemed to have bombarded here, there really seemed to be a few weak shouts coming from Jin Ling. They were faint, however, and indistinct.

Lan WangJi continued to ask. Wei WuXian knew that he was asking for the precise location, so he stared fixedly at the strings of the guqin, waiting for Jin Ling's answer.

This time, the answer came a bit slower. After he finished listening, Lan WangJi spoke to Wei WuXian, "'Stand at where you are, face the southwest, and listen to the strings. After each note is played, walk forward one step. When the sound stops, it will be right in front of you.'"

"So where finally going to find you." said Zizhen.

"I guess." answered Jin Ling with uncertainty, getting nervous for what he is going to see.

"You'll be fine, a-ling." said Sizhui.

Without saying a word, Wei WuXian turned toward the southwest. Behind him came seven notes of the guqin, so he walked seven steps forward. However, nothing had appeared in front of him.

The notes continued, but the pause between them grew longer and longer, and he also walked slower and slower. Another step, and another, and another...

After the sixth step, the guqin finally silenced. No more notes sounded.

And, before him, there was only a wall.

"What the f*ck?!" cursed Jiang Cheng.

Sensing Jiang Cheng's madness, Wei Wuxian and Jingyi leap out of his lap.

Jiang Cheng stood up with a deadliest look and slowly walked towards his nephew but before he can reach him he suddenly stumbled down.

"Wanyin." Lan Xichen called worriedly.

He falls because his legs was numbing cause by the weight of his brother and son.

Jin Ling is hiding behind his mother with fear for his life.

"You brat." muttered Jiang Cheng.

"I really don't know." said Jin Ling.

Lan Xichen softly lift Jiang Cheng up walked back to his seat, putting Jiang Cheng on his lap.

"Calm down, Wanyin." he said but only receive a glare from the man.

"Another danger happen in your life, I swear that I am going to cut off your legs so that you can't go anywhere." Jiang Cheng said and calm himself down.

"Thank you, Zewu-jun." said Jin Ling and only received a smile fron the said man.

"He didn't even mind sitting on brother-in-law's lap." mumbled Wei Wuxian.

The wall was made of grey-white rock bricks, pieced together tightly. Wei WuXian turned around, "... He's in the wall?!"

"Obviously." said Jiang Cheng.

"How did you get there?" asked Jingyi.

"As I've already said I don't know!" exclaimed Jin Ling.

Bichen unsheathed. Four streaks of blue light swept past, and a neat pound sign had been carved onto the wall. The two went forward to take apart the bricks. After removing some of them, a large sheet of black dirt was exposed.

It seemed that the stone castle was made to be double-layered, filled with dirt between the two layers of hard rock. Using his bare hands, Wei WuXian dug out a large chunk of dirt. Surrounded by the coal-black dirt, there was a human's face, eyes tightly shut.

It was the missing Jin Ling!

"He was really there." said Nie Huaisang.

"You will never to such place again." said Jin Zixuan sternly.

Jin Ling can only nod his head.

"I can help you sneak out." whispered Jingyi on his ears.

"We're both going to die." Jin Ling whispered back.

Having his face enveloped in dirt, as soon as it appeared, air poured into Jin Ling's mouth and nose. He immediately started to cough and breathe. As Wei WuXian saw that he was still alive, his heart finally calmed. Jin Ling really did almost die. Or else, "Inquiry" wouldn't have caught the still-alive soul that was about to leave his body. The good thing was that only a short while passed after he was buried into the wall. If it took them any longer, he would have suffocated to death.

"That's good then. Thank you so much, Lan-er-gongzi." said Jiang Yanli with a smile.

Lan Wangji only nodded at her.

"What will happen if he really died that time?" asked Jingyi curiously.

"Chaos." mumbled Sizhui.

The two hastened to dig him out of the wall. However, who knew that, as if dirt clung onto a carrot being pulled out of the ground, the moment Jin Ling's upper body emerged from the dirt, the sword on his back caught on something else and dragged it out.

It was the ashen bone of a human arm!

"Now it is another mystery." said Nie Huaisang.

"Why is there a human arm?" asked Wei Wuxian.

The Nies looked at one another. Seeing them, a smile crept into Wen Rouhan lips.

"Looks like something interesting will be revealed." he said.