He had young, likeable features, almost handsome. However, the canine teeth that appeared when he smiled were cute to a point of childish, stealthily concealing the untamed cruelty within his eyes.

They put Xue on the front where they can observe and watch him properly for him not to escape.

But, Xue Yang only looked at them with a smile that resemble a devil.

Xue Yang tossed the bandages to the side, “Uh-oh. You found out.”

"You can't fool me." said Wei Wuxian with a smirk.

"Senior, I am nothing but an innocent man." said Xue Yang with smile.

"Now, I saw another version of Wei Wuxian." said Jiang Cheng with a glare.

Wei WuXian, “Purposely pretending that the pain is unbearable so that our consciences won’t allow us to take off your bandages and see; purposely showing us some of Shuanghua; purposely blurting out that you’re a roaming cultivator by accident. You knew of not only how to make yourself appear injured and defenseless, but moreover how to gain the sympathy of others. You truly brought out a genuine, virtuous Xiao XingChen. If not for how you were aware of more things than you should, I really would’ve believed that you were him.”

"What is your purpose?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"I don't know." answered Xue Yang.

"He's going to be another pain in my head." said Jiang Cheng.

Xue Yang just gave him a look.

And, during Inquiry, the answer that Song Lan gave for the second question was “Xiao XingChen”, while the answer for the third one was “the one behind you”.

If “the one behind you” was also Xiao XingChen, Song Lan wouldn’t have needed to express it in another way.

Unless, Xiao XingChen and “the one behind you” wasn’t the same person at all. Song Lan wanted to warn them of how dangerous the person behind them was, but if he simply answered Xue Yang, it was possible that they didn’t know who he was. He could only answer as such.

"What a great idea." praised Nie Huaisang while Song Lan just smiled at him.

"Are you going to punish me?" asked Xue Yang in childish tone.

"Lets watch first before we come into conclusion." said Qingheng-jun.

Song Lan was glaring at Xue Yang while the latter was inly smiling at everyone.

"One smiling person (Lan Xichen) is enough, you don't need to smile all the time. That will tire your lips and facial muscles." said Jiang Cheng.

"Smiling is a tiresome job." he added.

Xue Yang grinned, “Well, it’s true that his reputation is better than mine. Of course I pretended to be him. It’s easier to gain the trust of others this way.”

Wei WuXian, “That was some excellent acting right there.”

Xue Yang, “Now you’re just flattering me. I have a very famous friend. His acting is what I’d call excellent. I still have a long way to go. Anyways, enough with the chit-chat. Senior Wei, you really have to do me the favor.”

"Who is that friend of yours?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"How should I know? I know no one since arrived here." Xue Yang answered.

Wei WuXian, “You’re the one who made the long nails that controlled Song Lan and Wen Ning, aren’t you? You can even restore half of the Stygian Tiger Seal, so why would you need my help to restore a soul?”

Xue Yang, “They’re not the same. You’re the founder. If you never made the first half of the seal, I wouldn’t have been able to make the second half all on my own. There’s no doubt that you’re better than me. So if there’s something I can’t do, you must be able to do it.”

"You're quite admirable." commented Wei Wuxian.

"Thank you!" said Xue Yang.

"But, what are your intentions?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Senior Wei, why keep on asking me when I knew nothing about that?" asked Xue Yang.

They just smiled at one another.

Wei WuXian really couldn’t understand why strangers always had an inexplicable sense of confidence in place of him. He touched his chin, unsure of whether or not they should pass a few compliments between each other out of respect, “You’re being too humble.”

Xue Yang, “It’s not being humble. It’s the truth. I never like to exaggerate when I’m talking. If I say I’m gonna kill someone’s entire clan, I’ll actually kill their entire clan. I won’t even leave a dog behind.”

Wei WuXian, “For example, the YueyangChang Clan?”

"What grudge do you hold against that clan?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"A secret of mine. Why should I tell you?" asked Xue Yang.

"Would you really that kind of things?" Wei Wuxian asked again.

"What do you think? A revenge is a revenge." said Xue Yang with a creepy smile.

"Are you a psychopath?" asked Jin Zixuan.

"Do I look like one?" asked Xue Yang with a smile.

Before Xue Yang had the opportunity to answer, a black-robed shadow swept inside.

Wei WuXian and Xue Yang stepped back in unison and left the table. Xue Yang quickly snatched the Spirit-Trapping Pouch. Lightly pressing his hand against the table, Song Lan flipped as he was midair and landed on top of it. After he steadied, he quickly turned to look at the door. Black streaks of blood climbed over his cheeks.

"What happened?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"It's getting exciting." said Jiang Cheng

"You are really a different breed along with Wei-xiong. How is that exciting?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"It's full of action." said Wei Wuxian.

With iron chains following behind him, Wen Ning broke through the door from amid the white fog and chilly winds.

"What are you doing there?" Wen Qing asked her brother.

"I d-dont k-know." answered Wen Ning.

"Why is he stuttering?" asked Nie Huaisang.

"It's normal." said Wen Qing.

"Oh!" said Nie Huaisang while giving Wen Ning a smile.

While he was playing the first tunes on the flute, Wei WuXian had already given the commands for summoning Wen Ning. He ordered, “Fight outside. Be careful not to beat him up too badly. Watch the living people and don’t let any other corpses approach them.”

"Would he really follow you?" asked Jin Zixuan.

"Maybe." answered Wei Wuxian.

"Interesting." said Xue Yang with a gleam in his eyes.

Wen Ning raised his left hand, and one of the chains swung over. As Song Lan faced the attack with his whisk, it collided with the chain and the two twisted together. Wen Ning pulled on the chain and backed away. Song Lan didn’t let go either, and was dragged outside the door. The disciples had already hid inside another shop near this one, every one of them stretching his neck and staring fixedly at the scene. With the horsetail whisk, the iron chains, and the long sword, it was a frenzy of clanks and clashes. They could see that a battle between two fierce corpses was intense indeed. Each move was ruthless, each attack was fatal—only two corpses could fight in such a brutish way. If two living humans fought like this, they would’ve already been nothing more than severed limbs and battered flesh!

"They seemed so astonished while watching it." said MianMian making the juniors blush.

"It's a great fight." said Wei Wuxian.

Wen Qing was getting scared for her brother.

Xue Yang, “Guess who’s gonna win?”

Wei WuXian, “Would I need to guess? Wen Ning, of course.”

Xue Yang, “It’s such a shame that even though I gave him so many nails in his head, he was still unwilling to obey. Things that are too loyal are also quite troublesome.”

"My brother isn't a thing." said Wen Qing while glaring at Xue Yang.

Xue Yang only smirked at her. Damn, this boy isn't scared of anyone.

Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen was observing him.

Wei WuXian replied in an indifferent tone, “Wen Ning is not a thing.”

Xue Yang laughed, “Don’t you see that what you said could be interpreted in a different way?” As the “be” came out of his mouth, he suddenly unsheathed his sword and attacked.

"Wei Ying!" exclaimed Lan Wangji and galred at Xue Yang.

"I'm fine, Lan Zhan." said Wei Wuxian.

Wei WuXian darted to the side, “Do you often sneak up on people when you’re in the middle of a sentence?”

Xue Yang’s voice was filled with surprise, “Of course. I’m a delinquent, aren’t I? I’m sure you know already. Anyways, it’s not that I want to kill you. I just want to make it so that you can’t move. Then I can take you back and you can take your time repairing the soul for me.”

"Are you really like that?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"What do you think?" asked Xue Yang.

"People can change. Would you choose to stay the same or change for the better?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"For what pleasure?" asked Xue Yang.

Jiang Cheng raised his brow at him.

"You know, stop pretending to be cool." he said.

"One Wei Wuxian is enough, don't be like him." he added.

Xue Yang just smiled at him.

Wei WuXian, “I’ve already said that I can’t do anything about it.”

Xue Yang, “Don’t be so eager to refuse me. If you don’t know what to do about it, the both of us can discuss the matter together.” Before he finished his sentence, he lunged once more. Wei WuXian dodged and dodged again, surrounded by ragged strips of paper that covered the ground. He thought to himself, The little delinquent has some good moves. Watching Xue Yang’s attacks become greater in both speed and lethality, Wei WuXian couldn’t help but exclaim, “Are you really taking advantage of my body’s low spiritual power?”

"You'll be a great cultivator if you will use that skills of yours on good things." said Wei Wuxian.

"Cultivator? Tsk!" Xue Yang scoffed with full hatred.

"If you hate some cultivators, then not all of us are the same." said Nie Huaisang.

"We can help you." said Jin Zixuan.

"I don't need your help nor you pity." said Xue Yang.

"Let him be for now, he will open up later on." said Lan Xichen.

Xue Yang, “That’s right!”

Wei WuXian had finally met someone more shameless than him. He returned the smile, “It’d be better for one to upset a hero than to upset a rogue, which is you, in this case. I’m not dealing with you any longer. Let’s have someone else.”

"You're really are more shameless than me." said Wei Wuxian.

"Really? I don't think so. You're the king of shamelessness, I'm sure that I can never defeat you." said Xue Yang.

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang laughed at that making Wei Wuxian glared at them.

"He's right though." said Jin Zixuan.

Xue Yang grinned, “Who else? That HanGuang-Jun? I got more than three hundred walking corpses to gang up on him. He…”

Before he finished his sentence, a white-robed figure descended from the sky. Bichen’s icy blue glare swept at him.

"Of course, Wangji will never let his wife to be in danger." said Lan Xichen with a tease.

"Wife?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"You're the wife." said Jiang Cheng.

"You, too." said Wei Wuxian making him red.

Surrounded by an ambience of frost and ice, Lan WangJi stood in front of Wei WuXian. Xue Yang fended the attack by casting out Shuanghua. The two swords collided, then flew back to their respective owners. Wei WuXian commented, “Isn’t this called ‘to come in time is better than to come early’?”

Lan WangJi, “Yes.”

"Lan Zhan, you're really my savior." said Wei Wuxian.

"Mn. Will always be there for Wei Ying." said Lan Wangji.

"Lan Zhan, you're the sweetest." said Wei Wuxian while kissing the man's cheek.

"Please, not in front of my eyes." said Jiang Cheng.

"Way to ruin our moment." said Wei Wuxian.

"I'm just doing what you did to me." said Jiang Cheng with a smirk.

As their exchange finished, they turned back to fighting with Xue Yang. A few moments ago, Wei WuXian was chased around by Xue Yang, but now, Xue Yang was driven around by Lan WangJi. In reaction to the adverse situation, with a roll of his eyes and a grin on his face, he tossed Shuanghua to his left hand. His right hand shifted inside his sleeve. Wei WuXian was concerned that he might hurl poisonous powder or hidden knives from the qiankun sleeves. However, he simply pulled out another sword, and seamlessly adjusted to a double-sworded style of attack.

"Nice sword." said Wei Wuxian.

"Thanks." said Xue Yang with a grin.

The glare of the sword that he pulled from his sleeve was grim and dark. As it was wielded, it almost seemed to emit a black aura, creating a stark contrast with Shuanghua’s silver radiance. Using both swords equally well, Xue Yang’s hands kept in perfect time with each other. He gained the upper hand at once. Lan WangJi questioned, “Jiangzai?”

Xue Yang, “Hmm? HanGuang-Jun, you know of this sword? What an honor.”

“Jiangzai” was Xue Yang’s own sword. As its name and as its owner, it was a foreboding sword that brought with it bloodshed. Wei WuXian interrupted, “The name matches you perfectly.”

"Just like it's owner." said Wei Wuxian.

"It's a nice name for a sword." said Wen Rouhan.

"Thank you for the praise." said Xue Yang.

"But, it's still nothing against my Lan Zhan." said Wei Wuxian.

"Stop boasting." said Jiang Cheng.

"You can do the same with brother-in-law. Ni need to be shy." said Wei Wuxian.

Lan WangJi, “Step back. You are not needed here.”

Thus, Wei WuXian humbly listened to the suggestion and stepped back. When he got to the door, he looked outside. Expressionless, Wen Ning was gripping Song Lan by the neck. He lifted him into the air and slammed him onto the wall, creating a large man-shaped dent. Similarly expressionless, Song Lan grabbed Wen Ning’s wrists. With a backflip, he threw him onto the ground. Both corpses fought expressionlessly, ceaselessly smashing and banging. Since neither of them felt pain or feared injury, unless they were cut into pieces, they would continue to fight even if they lost a limb or two. Wei WuXian muttered under his breath, “I don’t think I’m needed here, either.”

"What a powerful fight." said Wen Xu.

"It's so nice to watch." said Nie Mingjue.

"It looked so thrilling." said Nie Huaisang in awe.

Suddenly, he saw that Lan JingYi, inside a dimly-lit shop, was frantically waving to him. He beamed, Aha. I’ll definitely be needed there.

"You're their mother hen." said Nie Huaisang.

"My nephew looked so cute there." said Wei Wuxian.

"Of course I am." said Jingyi while raising his head.

"You're not." said Jin Ling.

"You're just jealous." said Jingyi with a pout.

"Stop it, you two." said Jiang Cheng while glaring at them.

Just as he left, Bichen’s sword glare brightened tenfold. With a brief slip of the hand, Shuanghua flew out of Xue Yang’s grip. Lan WangJi conveniently caught the sword. Seeing that Shuanghua was in someone else’s hands, Xue Yang had Jiangzai slash directly at the left arm that Lan WangJi used to grab the sword. As the attack was dodged, a chilling rage flashed within Xue Yang’s eyes. He demanded coldly, “Give me the sword back.”

Lan WangJi, “You do not deserve this sword.”

"Lan-er-gongzi is right, you will never deserve Xingchen's sword." said Song Lan.

"I don't care." said Xue Yang with a grin.

Both of them are glaring at each other.

Xue Yang made a bitter sound of laughter.

On the other hand, Wei WuXian walked over to the disciples. Surrounded by the boys, he inquired, “Everyone alright?”

“Yes!”

“We all listened to you and held our breaths.”

"Good kids." Wei Wuxian commented.

"They listened to their mother." said Nie Huaisang.

Wei WuXian, “Good. If anyone doesn’t listen to me, I’ll feed him congee again.”

"Please don't, show some mercy to the kids." said MianMian.

"I will if they disobey me." said Wei Wuxian.

"We won't." said the juniors in unison.

The few boys who had encountered the taste pretended as if they were vomiting. Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps came from all around them. Shadows had already begun to emerge from the end of the street. Lan WangJi heard the sound as well. With a wave of his sleeve, he took out his guqin, Wangji.

The body of the guqin was horizontally slammed onto the table. Lan WangJi tossed Bichen to his left hand and continued to fight with Xue Yang, his attacks remaining strong. At the same time, without even turning his head, he raised his right hand and strummed across the strings.

The chord was loud and clear. It resonated all the way to the end of the street. What came back was the strange yet familiar noises of the corpses’ heads bursting. Lan WangJi continued to fight Xue Yang with one hand and play the guqin with the other. He’d glance across the scene as if it was only a simple matter, then nonchalantly curve his fingers to strum again. Working with both of his hands, he somehow still seemed calm and unhurried.

"He is really so protective of you." said MianMian.

"Of course, my Lan Zhan loves me so much." said Wei Wuxian while Lan Wangji nodded his head.

"He look so good." said a younger disciple.

"He's the best." said Wei Wuxian.

Jin Ling blurted out in spite of himself, “He’s so good!”

He had seen Jiang Cheng and Jin GuangYao go on night-hunts and kill beasts, which made him think that his two uncles were the two most powerful cultivators in the entire world. Toward Lan WangJi, though, he had always felt more fear than respect, especially toward his technique of silencing others and his cold temper. However, at the present moment, he couldn’t help but admire Lan WangJi’s abilities. Lan JingYi approved, “Well, obviously. Of course HanGuang-Jun is good. He just never likes to show it off. He is very low-key, right?”

"Jingyi is fanboying." said Lan Xichen.

"You admired him so much, huh?" asked Jiang Cheng.

"Of course, he is just scary sometimes." answered Jingyi.

The “right?” was directed at Wei WuXian, who replied in confusion, “Are you asking me? Why are you asking me?”

Lan JingYi was on the verge of being angered, “So you think that HanGuang-Jun is not good?!”

"No! He is the best!" exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

"Right?" he asked like daring someone to argue with him.

Jiang Cheng just scoffed at him making him smirk.

Wei WuXian touched his chin, “Hmm. He’s good. Of course. He’s really good. He’s the best.” As he talked, he couldn’t help but break into a smile.

"Hear that?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Stop it. Clearly, there is someone who is more better than him." said Jiang Cheng while Wei Wuxian smirked.

"Who?" he challenged.

"Lan Xichen. He's ranked first, while your Lan is ranked second. Surely, a younger brother can't defeat his elder brother right?" he asked.

"Wanyin thinks I'm the best." said Lan Xichen.

"Oh you shut up." said Jiang Cheng making his friends snickered at him while Lan Xichen held his hand.

The dangerously terrifying night was finally about to pass—dawn was almost here. However, this wasn’t the best of news. If daylight came, the fog would also become thicker. Then, they’d again be unable to do a thing!

If there were only Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi, it wouldn’t be as difficult. But with so many living humans around, if they end up surrounded by a large group of walking corpses, escape would be close to impossible. As Wei WuXian urgently tried to think of a solution, the crisp tip-taps of the bamboo pole sounded once more.

The ghost of the blind-eyed, tongue-less girl came again!

"The girl spirit is back again." said Nie Huaisang.

"Just what is her intention?" asked MianMian.

"You'll find out." said Sizhui.