One day, the Yueyang Clan’s leader went out night-hunting with a few family members for about half a month. In the middle of the night, without any warning, they received the bad news and immediately hurried back. After the mourning, they only found out that someone purposely destroyed their protective array and let in a group of powerful evil spirits. Other than that, they knew nothing.

"What the? A person is really capable to do that without aby mercy?" asked Nie Huaisang in disbelief.

"People in the future is not what you can call normal." said a random cultivator.

In most cases, only few people knew about the tragedies that happened in smaller clans, but the circumstances back then were different. The Sunshot Campaign finished long ago, while the siege at Luanzang Hill only just ended. On the surface, the situation seemed rather stable. With the sudden disclosure of this event, the entire cultivation world was bubbling with discussion, some even exaggerating that it was the revenge of the revived YiLing Patriarch, Wei WuXian. However, there wasn’t any evidence, so it had been impossible to find the killer. Of course, Xiao XingChen didn’t sit back and do nothing. He volunteered to be responsible for the matter and find out the truth for Chang Ping. After a month, the murderer was finally discovered.

"He's brave to do that." said a disciple.

"People really can't investigate first before putting the blame on me." said Wei Wuxian while shaking his head.

"Thanks for my shishu to be brave enough to help them solve the problem." he added making Xiao Xingchen smile at him.

The murderer’s name was Xue Yang.

Xue Yang was even younger than Xiao XingChen, nothing more than just a boy. Despite this, he definitely didn’t tone down on his cruelty just because he was young. Ever since the age of fifteen, he had been a delinquent in the area of Kuizhou, known far and wide for his radiant smile, inhumane means, and merciless personality. Everyone’s expressions changed whenever he was brought up in a conversation. When he was a child dwelling in the streets, it was said that he developed a hatred that lasted for years toward Chang Ping’s father. He committed this crime in vengeance and for some other reasons.

"Xue Yang?" asked Wei Wuxian while looking around the crowd.

"Do you think he's here?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"It's possible. Whatever he did in the future might have come from a deep reason." answered Wei Wuxian.

"Do you even know what he look like?" asked Jiang Cheng while rolling his eyes.

Wei Wuxian shake his head making a boy at the last row smirk.

After Xiao XingChen found out the truth, he went across three provinces and Xue Yang was still happily picking fights with others. Taking advantage of the Discussion Conference that was happening at the Jinling Tower of the LanlingJin Sect’s residence, when the most prominent sects met up and discussed cultivation methods, Xiao XingChen brought him over, explained the situation, and demanded severe punishment.

"That's what he looks like?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"He's kinda good-looking." said a female cultivator.

Wei Wuxian once again looked at the crowd spotting his target who is looking at him with a smile that resembles a devil.

Wei Wuxian smirked at him.

"Jiang Cheng." he called.

Looking at each other, he knew that Wei Wuxian has something to tell him so he stood up and sat beside the man.

"I think I saw him. He's in the last row. Don't look. Lets watch more further before doing anything." Wei Wuxian whispered in his ears.

Jiang Cheng gave him a glare before nodding his head.

With his straightforward list of evidence, most sects didn’t have any objections, except for one—the LanlingJin Sect.

Wei WuXian, “Objecting in such a situation would be placing itself against the entire world. Could it be that Xue Yang was a favorite with Jin GuangShan?”

Madam Jin gave his husband a glare.

"What are trying to do? Siding with a delinquent? Are you trying to bring down our sect?" she asked.

"Maybe he needs him for something." said Nie Mingjue.

Lan WangJi, “A guest disciple.”

Wei WuXian, “He was a foreign disciple? Back then, the LanlingJin Sect was already one of the four most prominent sects, right? Why would they have invited a delinquent to be a guest disciple?”

Lan WangJi, “This is the second connection.” He stared into Wei WuXian’s eyes, “Because of the Stygian Tiger Seal.”

"What's that?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Something you've created." answered the juniors.

"What about it? Why is it related to Xue Yang's case?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Just watch further, a-niang." said Sizhui.

Wei WuXian’s heart immediately skipped a beat.

The phrase was definitely not a stranger to him. On the contrary, nobody was more familiar to those three words than him.

Among all of the spiritual weapons he had forged when he was still alive, this was the scariest and most famous one.

When Wei WuXian first created it, he didn’t think too much about it. Single-handedly controlling corpses and spirits, of course he’d occasionally grow tired. Remembering a rare piece of iron ore he happened to have seen in a beast’s stomach, he used it to cast a Tiger Seal.

"That's powerful." said Wei Wuxian.

"Yeah, the most powerful weapon you've even made that just by hearing it's name bring shivers down everyone's spine." said Jingyi and Jin Ling.

"But why would I make that when I know its evil?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Maybe the screen will show the real reason why you made that." answered Sizhui.

But, after the Tiger Seal had been created, Wei WuXian only used it once before finding out that it did more harm than good.

The Stygian Tiger Seal’s powers were considerably greater than what he had imagined. He originally wanted to use it to assist him, but its powers were almost exceeding him, its creator. Moreover, it didn’t settle on one single master. This meant that if someone got hold of it, no matter who they were, whether they were good or bad, friend or foe, they were able to use it.

"So that's why Jin Guangshan wants it?" asked Wen Rouhan.

"As you can see." said the juniors.

"Is he planning to rule the whole cultivation world?" asked Jin Zixuan.

The juniors nodded their heads making Jin Zixuan gave a glare to his own father.

"You've become greedy for power." he said with a clear disgust on his tone.

The Yunmeng prides raised their brows at him thinking that Jin Zixuan was different from his family.

After the seal had been forged, it wasn’t that Wei WuXian never thought about destroying it, but since the seal was created with much difficulty, it would’ve been extremely hard to destroy, costing him both time and energy. And, back then, he had already vaguely understood that he wasn’t in a good situation and would be hated by everyone sooner or later. With a weapon as appalling as the Stygian Tiger Seal, others didn’t dare to act rashly, so he temporarily kept it. He separated the seal into two halves, making it so that they could only be of use when they were put together, and never used without careful consideration.

He had only used it two times before, and both times caused great bloodshed. The first time was during the Sunshot Campaign. After using it for the second time, he finally decided to destroy one half of the seal. Before he could completely destroy the other half, the siege at Luanzang Hill happened, and it had since then been beyond his capabilities.

"I've thinking about it and wanted to ask, what is Sunshot Campaign?" asked Wen Rouhan with respect which is unusual of him.

"What do you think?" asked Jingyi.

Wen Rouhan narrowed his eyes at him but Jingyi just gave him a glare that made him amused.

"Is it related to us?" asked Wen Qing.

The juniors refused to answer.

Toward his own creation, Wei WuXian was confident to say that even if the sect that got hold of it, made a temple for it, and offered it incense every single day, the remaining half of the Tiger Seal was just a piece of scrap iron. However, Lan WangJi told him something shocking—it appeared that Xue Yang could rebuild the other half of the seal!

"He's quite a dangerous man." whispered Jiang Cheng.

"We can subdue him quite easily if it is based on skills." Wei Wuxian whispered back.

"Why not catch him now then decide what to do with him after all of this?" asked Jiang Cheng angrily but with a low voice making those who are looking at them frown seeing the tension.

"Wanyin." called Lan Xichen.

Jiang Cheng only gave him a look but still glaring at Wei Wuxian who just shrugged his shoulders, acting all innocent.

"You should keep your emotions at bay so that they won't be suspicious of us." Wei Wuxian whispered.

Although Xue Yang was young, he was also quite clever, a bizarre eccentric. The LanlingJin Sect discovered that he could use the remaining half of the seal to roughly piece together the other half. Even though the recreated version wasn’t as powerful and couldn’t be used for as long, it could already result in terrible catastrophes.

Wei WuXian understood, “The LanlingJin needed to keep Xue Yang so that he could continue to restore the Stygian Tiger Seal, so they had to protect him.”

Perhaps, Xue Yang destroying the Chang Clan wasn’t entirely to avenge what they did to him when he was young. He might have been testing on this clan of live humans what exactly was the extent of the restored Stygian Tiger Seal’s powers!

"What the hell?!" cursed Jiang Cheng while glaring at Jin Guangshan with a deadliest glare.

"That's horrible." muttered Nie Huaisang.

Wei Wuxian gave Xue Yang a look but the boy only smiled at him, not affected by what is happening on the screen making Wei Wuxian doubt him.

No wonder the rumors connected the case to him. Wei WuXian could almost imagine those cultivators clenching their teeth, “That Wei WuXian! If he didn’t make this, our world wouldn’t have encountered so many disasters!!!”

Returning to the original thread of conversation, they continued about what happened at the Jinling Tower.

Although the LanlingJin Sect was determined on protecting Xue Yang, Xiao XingChen didn’t waver either. As the stalemate continued, they finally startled ChiFeng-Zun, Nie MingJue, who didn’t intend on participating in the Discussion Conference. He hurried over to Jinling Tower from far away.

"That's my da-ge." said Nie Huaisang.

"He will never tolerate such things." he added.

Nie Mingjue gave Jin Guangshan a glare together with other cultivators who is against such act.

"So this whore is the real problem in the future." said Madam Yu while letting out his whip.

"What is the punishment for such acts?" she asked.

"He clearly wanted to destroy by being on top." she added.

"It depends on action, but for now he didn't do anything so we don't have a reason to give him punishment." said Qingheng-jun.

Wen Rouhan was amused by Yu Ziyuan choice of words. Looks like she is changing her attitude and views as the scene continues to show the future.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's jaw dropped hearing her.

In spite of Nie MingJue being a junior to Jin GuangShan, he conducted himself in a strict manner and refused to tolerate Xue Yang no matter what. With an angry lecture, Jin GuangShan was left with no words and a great deal of embarrassment. Nie MingJue, as the irritable person he was, unsheathed his saber on the spot with the intention of killing Xue Yang. Even when his sworn younger brother LianFang-Zun, Jin GuangYao, attempted to ease the situation, he ordered him to leave. After a harsh scolding, Jin GuangYao hid behind Lan XiChen, not daring to say anything else. In the end, the LanlingJin Sect could only give in.

"So brave, my da-ge." said Nie Huaisang.

"Why is that Jin Guangyao hiding behind Xichen?" asked Nie Mingjue.

"We don't know." answered Jin Zixuan, he is not feeling good about that man.

"You're there? Why didn't you do anything regarding the situation?" Jiang Cheng asked Lan Xichen.

Lan Xichen was also curious as why his future self is not doing anything. He knows that he will never tolerate such things.

"But what I'm curious about is why are you not there?" asked Wei Wuxian while looking at Jiang Cheng.

"Yeah, I've noticed too." said Nie Huaisang.

"That event takes place after the siege at LuanZhang Hill and you know- you died. So a-niang is not in stable mind to join any conference." said Jingyi.

Ever since Xue Yang was brought to Jinling Tower by Xiao XingChen, he hadn’t been scared at all. Even when Nie MingJue’s saber was pressed against his neck, he still had a grin on his face. Before he was taken away, he spoke affectionately to Xiao XingChen, “Daozhang, you wouldn’t forget me, would you? Let’s wait and see.”

"It will not end up good." said Wei Wuxian.

"I'm sure he will take revenge for this." said Nie Huaisang.

At this point, Wei WuXian knew that the “wait and see” would make Xiao XingChen pay an agonizing price.

The LanlingJin Sect was indeed the sect with the thickest face. Although, on Jinling Tower, it promised in front of all of the sects that Xue Yang would be executed, when it left Nie MingJue’s sight, it immediately shut Xue Yang into the dungeons and changed the original decision to a life sentence. Hearing about the matter, Nie MingJue was enraged and pressed on them again. The LanlingJin Sect rambled about, refusing to give him Xue Yang no matter how hard he tried. All of the other sects watched them from the sidelines, but, shortly afterward, Nie MingJue passed away from Qi deviation.

He cultivated at a faster speed than any other past leader of the Nie Sect, and also died sooner than any of them.

"That's why I tell not to cultivate too fast." said Nie Huaisang.

Nie Mingjue didn't give him any attention but was glaring at Jin Guangshan.

"Did the Lan Sect just let that happen?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Aren't they called the most righteous sect? Why didn't they do anything?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Are you two by any chance insulting your husbands' sect?" asked a Lan cultivator.

"We were simply asking questions." answered Wei Wuxian.

"I promised that such thing will never happen again." said Lan Xichen.

"Or else? If you're motto is righteousness then you must follow and understand it very well. If you let such thing happen in front of your face and didn't do anything then you're not following and upholding the principles of sect and clan. Then you can't call yourself righteous or even deserve title in the cultivation world." said Jiang Cheng with a little bit mickery in his tone making Lan Wangji glare at him.

Now that the person who was most difficult to deal with was gone, the LanlingJin Sect became more and more reckless and started to think of worse ideas. Jin GuangShan started to try as hard as he could to get Xue Yang out of the dungeons so that he could continue to restore and examine the Stygian Tiger Seal.

However, this wasn’t exactly something to be proud of. It was impossible for him to save the murderer of an entire clan from the dungeons without a valid reason.

So, they turned their attention to Chang Ping.

"I'll be the one to end your life." muttered Madam Jin.

"I can help. I can give him the worst torture he will even have in his life that he will wish that he was never been born." said Madam Yu.

"I have a lot of suggestions. We can discuss about it later on." said Nie Huaisang thinking that he wants to avenge his brother's death.

From coercion to harassment, in the end, the LanlingJin Sect finally pressured Chang Ping into correcting his words, invalidating all of his past speeches. He announced that the wiping out of the Chang Clan had nothing to do with Xue Yang.

Hearing the news, Xiao XingChen visited him to inquire upon the matter. Chang Ping responded helplessly, “What can I do aside from this? If I don’t tolerate it, the rest of our clan’s people wouldn’t be safe for long. I’m really grateful, Daozhang, but… please don’t help me anymore. Now, helping me would be harming me. I don’t want the YueyangChang Sect to end yet.”

And thus, the tiger had been set free back to the mountains.

"Even if he did take back his words, his sect will end eventually knowing that Xue Yang was free again." said Wei Wuxian.

"What a pity?! People in power will do everything even if they harm people just get their hands on something evil. Such leader doesn't deserve to lead nor deserve to live." said MianMian.

"Why are you all glaring at me? That's not me because it happened in the future but not now." said Jin Guangshan.

"Past and future. You're just the same old manwhore who ruin a lot of women's lives and bring problem to a lot of children you never recognized. What happened in the future reflects how you lead and how greedy you are." said Jingyi in anger.

Jin Guangshan was dumbfounded knowing that he can never save himself.

Wei WuXian stayed silent.

If he were Chang Ping, he wouldn’t have cared how prominent or powerful the LanlingJin Sect was, or how much glory the road ahead offered him, and he wouldn’t have let the matter go. Instead, he would’ve went to the dungeons on his own, cut Xue Yang up so that he was nothing more than a puddle of flesh on the ground, and summoned his soul back to repeat the process to the point that he regretted ever being born in this world.

"How cruel my thoughts are." said Wei Wuxian.

"Which you can really do." said Jin Ling.

But, not everyone was like him, preferring to perish together with his enemy. Some of the Chang Clan’s people were still alive. Chang Ping was also still young, single, and childless, having just took his first few steps on the path of cultivation. No matter if he was threatened with the lives of his remaining family members or his own future and cultivation, he had to think carefully.

Of course, he wasn’t Chang Ping himself. He couldn’t be angered or worried in place of Chang Ping, and he couldn’t bear Chang Ping’s share of mental and physical torment.

"I pity this man." said MianMian.

"He can't fight for the right just because he have to protect his family." said Wen Qing.

"The Jin Sect will be doomed." said Wen Xu.

The Jins gave him a glare and he just smiled at them in amusement.

After Xue Yang had been released, he started to take revenge again. However, this time, the revenge wasn’t on Xiao XingChen himself.

Xiao XingChen left the mountain alone and had no family. He only had a friend that he met afterward, named Song Lan. Song Lan was also a cultivator of the time. He was a righteous, determined person and had a fair amount of appraisal. Both of them wanted to build a sect that valued common ideals instead of blood ties, which made them the closest and most like-minded of friends. The people of the time described them as such— Xiao XingChen the bright moon and gentle breeze; Song ZiChen the distant snow and cold frost.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan looked at one another, having the same worry feeling in their stomach.

"Zichen." Xiao Xingchen said.

"Whatever happens, always remember that it didn't happened yet and we can still change the course of the future." said Song Lan.

Xue Yang put his hands to this side. Repeating his past technique, he wiped out the Baixue Temple where Song Lan grew up and studied at, and used poison to blind Song Lan’s eyes.

This time, with his experience of wiping out a sect, he made sure to not leave any evidence. Although everybody knew that he was the one who did it, what would be the use of that? There wasn’t any evidence. And, with Jin GuangShan’s deliberate protection and the death of the violent ChiFengZun, nobody could do anything about him.

"Why did he have to do that?" asked Xiao Xingchen while looking at Song Lan.

Song Lan was devastated knowing that the sect he grew up with was wiped out. Not knowing where Xue Yang is, he can only glare at Jin Guangshan.

"You let that thing happen? What kind of mindset do you have? Do have nothing inside that brain of yours?." asked Madam Jin in disbelief and in anger.

Wei WuXian found this a bit strange. Although Lan WangJi looked as if he didn’t care about anything, from Wei WuXian’s past experiences with him, he absolutely couldn’t stand wrongdoings, possibly even more than Nie HuaiSang’s brother. Back then, the LanlingJin Sect had some dishonest ways of doing things, and Lan WangJi never bothered to be subtle about them. Even until now, he always refused to go to their sect’s Discussion Conferences. If two cruel massacres happened, the news would’ve probably spread over the entire cultivational world and Lan WangJi definitely wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to them. Why did he not go and give Xue Yang what he deserved?

Just as he was about to ask, he remembered the scars that the discipline whip gave him.

"So that's the reason why." said a random cultivator.

"The Jin Sect really have a thick face." another cultivator commented.

"Let me just kill this bitch!" yelled Madam Jin who furious and grabbed Jin Guangshan sword to slash the man's neck but he was stop by Jin Zixuan.

Jin Guangshan almost thanked his son but his eyes widened hearing his son's words.

"He don't deserve an easy death. Lets find out all the cruelness he did and from then on we can decide what to do to him. The more mistakes he made, the more unbearable punishments he will take." said Jin Zixuan.

One lash of the discipline whip would already be quite severe. If Lan WangJi made some sort of a grave mistake and received so many lashes, he had probably been grounded for a few years. It was likely that he was either going through his punishment or waiting for his wounds to heal during the years when the incidents happened. No wonder he said had only “heard” about what happened.

"His scars also make me curious of why such man get such cruel punishment." said a random cultivator.

For some reason, in his heart, Wei WuXian cared quite a lot about those scars. However, it was inconvenient for him to ask directly, so he had to hold his thoughts for now, “Then, what happened to the Daozhang Xiao XingChen afterwards?”

What happened afterward was certainly a tragic ending. When he left the mountain and his teacher, Xiao XingChen vowed that he would never go back again. He was a man of his words, but since Song Lan was not only blind but also badly injured, he broke his vow and carried Song Lan back to BaoShan SanRen’s residence, asking her to save his friend.

"You promised that you will never broke that vow." said Song Lan.

"I have to do it. If not, then what will happen to you. Because of me, you were harmed. What do you think the most reasonable thing that I should do?" asked Xiao Xingchen making Song Lan silent.

For the sake that they were once teacher and pupil, BaoShan SanRen agreed. Thus, Xiao XingChen left the mountain once more, and he was never seen again.

A year later, Song Lan also left the mountain. To everyone’s surprise, his eyes, which were completely blinded, saw light again. However, it wasn’t that BaoShan SanRen’s medical skills created a miracle, but that Xiao XingChen… dug his own eyes out and gave them to Song Lan, who was only involved in this because of him.

"Xingchen?" asked Song Lan in disbelief and anger.

"Why would you do that?" he asked.

"Because I'm the reason why it happened to you. I have to do something for you." answered Xiao Xingchen.

"I don't need if it will come from you. What will happen to you of you're blind. I can accept what happened but you doing such thing, I can't. I decided it on my own to stand by your side so you don't have to do that." said Song Lan.

The cultivators are just watching them, not knowing what to do or what to say to ease the tension between the best of friends.

Song Lan originally wanted to seek revenge on Xue Yang. At this time, Jin GuangShan had already passed away. Jin GuangYao took over the LanlingJin Sect and the position of Sect Leader. To show that things were going to be different, the first thing he did after he came to power was to get rid of Xue Yang. Aside from never mentioning the Stygian Tiger Seal again, he also made amends to restore the sect’s reputation, suppressing the rumors. Song Lan went to search for his past friend’s whereabouts. At first, people still heard talk about where he traveled to. After some time, he also disappeared. Moreover, the YueyangChang Sect was a small clan that was generally unheard of. And thus, a lot of things gradually faded away.

"I wonder what happened to them." said Nie Huaisang.

"It will not end yet. Such thing will not end in a good way." said Nie Mingjue.

"Maybe we will know what really happened to them after that when we watch more further." said Wei Wuxian.

Having finished listening to the long story, Wei WuXian sighed softly. A feeling of regret sprouted inside him, Meeting such an end because of something not related to him at all, it really was… If Xiao XingChen was born a few years earlier or if I died a few years later, things wouldn’t have had to be like this. If I was alive, how would I have not taken part in the matter? How would I have not made friends with such a person?

Immediately afterward, he laughed at himself bitterly, I would’ve done something? What could I have done? If I was still alive back then, perhaps the YueyangChang Sect’s case didn’t even need to be investigated before everyone decided that I did it. If the Daozhang Xiao XingChen bumped into me on the streets and I chatted with him, invite him to drink together, it’s likely that he’d hit me with his horsetail whisk, haha.

"We can have time with each other as I am your shishu besides, I've promised you that I will let you meet my master." said Xiao Xingchen.

"I like that. Can we bring my friends as well?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Xiao Xingchen only nod his head making Wei Wuxian smile.

A soft smile was seen on Song Lan's lips. He promised himself that he will make sure that their friendship will never break.

They had already walked past the Chang Residence, toward a cemetery nearby. Wei WuXian saw the dark-red character of “Chang” on the pailou and asked, “Then, why did Chang Ping die afterward? Who killed the remaining members of his clan?”

Before Lan WangJi could answer, a series of bangs came from amid the blue-tinted dusk.

"Now what is happening?" asked a random cultivator.

"We will find out another mystery, I guess." said Nie Huaisang.