Previously:

As they went to Qinghe, the demonic hand's posture suddenly changed as it now formed into a fist. This meant that wherever the hand was pointing at is just around the area.

General POV

Daytime came in a small town in Qinghe. At the gates of the town, the trio went for a walk in the main streets. The town was crowded with people doing their daily business. Amirul and Starise walked ahead to see the scenery with Lan Wangji behind them. 

As they walked further, a loud voice caught the siblings' attention, "Rouge and powder! High quality and cheap!"

Starise winced at the fragrance of the cosmetic as they went closer to the stall. Sensitive to strong smells, she backed away from it. Amirul, being the curious boy, picked up a cosmetic and glanced at the seller who wore the robes of a cultivator. And yet anyone from far would tell that this fellow is a fake one.

'A charlatan, huh...'

Noticing that Amirul seemed to be interested in the cosmetics, the charlatan immediately approached the boy. "Ah! Young Master, would you like to take a look?"

Amirul stared at the charlatan and smiled, "Yes, please." Convincing enough, the charlatan beamed and let the latter do his thing. He could feel the atmosphere change as he noticed the other two people behind the short-haired boy glaring at him.

The charlatan quickly distanced himself away from Amirul. Meanwhile, Amirul still had his eyes on the cosmetics in his hand, smelling them. He then decided that he wanted to buy it. The charlatan smiled, "Was it for your wife, Young Master?"

Hearing that statement, Amirul gave him a blank face while Starise turned her head around, coughing. Or should we say, trying to suppress her laugh? Lan Wangji, on the other hand just stared at the short-haired boy. "Do I look like I have a wife to you?" He asked the charlatan in a pissed tone.

The charlatan awkwardly smiled at the boy, trying to make up excuses. "Ah, of course not, Young Master." 

Amirul sighed and tossed a small pouch filled with the money that the people used. The charlatan gladly accepts the money and packs up a few papers, making Amirul raise his eyebrow.

"Thank you for purchasing my product. Here are some copies of the Yiling Patriarch." 

The siblings looked at the man, purposely asking him who is the Yiling Patriarch. "Who?" The charlatan spoke, "The Yiling Patriarch evil-suppressing portraits! One for the door, one for the hall, and one for your bedroom wall. It will make sure that no evil beings come to haunt you, even the spirit of the Yiling Patriarch himself."

What was on the paper was not the picture of the Yiling Patriarch that he knew but a malicious-looking figure like some kind of a Chinese boogeyman. 

KRIK KRIK KRIK

"Pft-"

Amirul snorted at the picture, thinking about how Wei Wuxian would react when he saw this. 'He's gonna be so pissed.' He thought. 

The charlatan heard the snort, "Is there something funny, Young Master?" 

Amirul waved his hand as there was nothing funny as the charlatan ignored him. Even though Amirul and Starise don't believe in superstition, the short-haired boy picks up the paper and stares at it.  Starise could see through her brother's shiny eyes that he wanted to prank his past self.

All she can do now is sigh as she walks toward him and smacks his head, making Amirul whine in pain. He glared at the Hijabi, "What was that even for, Star?"

"Don't even think about pranking someone." And by someone, he knew who she meant. "Aw, c'mon sis. It wouldn't be fun without these 'souvenirs' to show him." Amirul grinned, showing the papers to her. Starise just gave up on her brother.

The short-haired boy turned to the charlatan, "Hey, do you know the Yiling Patriarch's name?" He purposely asked that even though he already knew who the said person was. Starise was dumbfounded at his sneakiness but didn't want to say anything. 

The charlatan answered, "You don't know? Oh, Judging by your appearances, the two of you aren't locals. Well then, let this one tell you. The Yiling Patriarch's name is Wei Wuxian and he's nowhere too good."

"How come?" Amirul asked again. The charlatan spoke, "Well, according to the rumors, he was known to be a troublemaker from when he was born. He was raised by the former Sect Leader of Yunmeng Jiang Sect and some said that when he was sent to the Gusu Lan Sect for lectures, he always being a nuisance to his sect. Some also said that Wei Wuxian did prank the Second Master Lan.

Not to mention that he's the one who caused the downfall of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect during the early days of the Sunshot Campaign. After three months when the war started, he came back but that was when he used Demonic Cultivation. He defeated the Wens with his weapon called the Stygian Tiger Amulet.

When the war ended and the Qishan Wen Sect had fallen, he decided to betray us by saving a group of Wen dogs and hiding at the Burial Mounds for a year. Then, when the one-month anniversary of the newborn Young Master Jin, Wei Wuxian's dog, the Ghost General killed the Young Master's father.

The former Sect Leader Jin Guanshan decided to kill Wei Wuxian and landed a siege at the Burial Mounds. The Yunmeng Jiang Sect, Gusu Lan Sect, Qinghe Nie Sect, and many smaller sects followed him.

The siege was the worst ever recorded in history besides the Sunshot Campaign. It said that Wei Wuxian had killed three to five thousand cultivators that were in the siege including Sect Leader Jiang's deceased sister, Madam Jiang with his army of fierce corpses. After what happened to her, he started to become uncontrollable with the dark energy and died because of it. Some said that they couldn't find his body and that his soul was shattered beyond repair.

From that day until now, we lived in peace for 13 years but since there were rumors of the Yiling Patriarch's return, we're afraid that he wants revenge. So, I'm telling you this... If you see him, use these portraits to protect yourself." 

The siblings listened to the charlatan's misleading story of Wei Wuxian and the two of them made clear that the locals believed that Wei Wuxian's gonna come back to haunt them.

"You know what? If I were the Yiling Patriarch, I would do something more interesting rather than haunting people's lives. Can't say that you're correct but we don't believe in superstitions. Bet that he'll be disappointed by now listening to this kind of insult." Amirul said sarcastically to the charlatan.  

Starise knew where this would be headed so she decided to stop him from continuing the sentence. The charlatan scoffed, "What are you saying? It's not like you've seen Wei Wuxian himself!"

Lan Wangji watched the siblings and the charlatan argue as he remembered something from the past when he was staring at Amirul. In his eyes, Amirul is the same as the person that he cares about. 

His personality, his black and red colored garments, his raven black hair, his eye color, his laugh, his smile... Everything about Amirul is the same as Wei Wuxian. (Even though he doesn't want to admit that the boy is a different person.)

"Wei Yi--" Before the Lan could say anything, the charlatan suddenly was thrown off, crashing into a wall behind him and all of his goods were scattered on the floor. The siblings and the Lan were shocked as they heard a familiar voice. 

"How dare you say that name in front of me!"

Turning towards the voice, they saw a boy wearing the familiar yellow robe with White Peony Sparks Amidst Snow. The charlatan was about to sound the boy but when he looked up, he froze and shivered in fear. 

Jin Ling glared at the charlatan for saying the name of the person he hated for his life. He spoke coldly, "Don't blame me for lacking mercy."

Amirul facepalmed as he watched the scene in front of him. 'Short-tempered, prideful, hardheaded, hostile to everyone... All of these traits were the same as his father and uncle. Not even close to his mother's good characteristics. No wonder he was spoiled so much by them. If I don't do something to him, he's gonna have some losses in the future.'

Starise on the other hand walked over to the charlatan, helping him up, and glared at Jin Ling. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You can't just throw people off just because they mentioned someone that you hate."

The Jin boy was surprised to see the siblings in town, not to mention he saw Hanguang Jun behind them. He scoffed, "You again... So what? You don't even know the reason why I hate Wei Wuxian!"

Starise sighed and spoke, "I may not know the reason why you hate him but it's not acceptable for you to hurt the people who only mentioned his name. That pride of yours will be your downfall and if you don't fix that attitude, you may have enemies in the future."

Hearing that, an imaginary arrow struck Amirul's head as if it were pointed at him as well. 'Geez, thanks very much, sis.'

The charlatan angrily pointed at Jin Ling, "How dare you kick an elder? Did your parents teach you any etiquette?!"

Jin Ling gritted his teeth and started to blow a short whistle. Amirul and Starise were curious about the whistle until they heard a barking sound. They looked behind and a Husky-breed dog ran in their direction.

The siblings and the charlatan backed away a little as the dog went straight for its master who was still glaring at them, especially Starise. Starise sighed in defeat as Amirul was down pissed at Jin Ling's attitude. The short-haired boy decided to give Jin Ling a lesson when he felt a hand rest on his right shoulder.

He turned his head behind to see Lan Wangji shooked his head as in no. Amirul clicked his tongue in frustration and decided to hold back. 

The short-haired boy pulled himself from Lan Wangji's grip and stared at the husky. While the trio watched Jin Ling give his attention to his dog, Fairy made eye contact with Amirul and started to back off from its master whimpering in fear, and beginning to run away from Jin Ling.

"Fairy!" Jin Ling noticed his dog's behavior and looked behind his shoulder, seeing Amirul standing there. "What did you do to my Fairy?"

Amirul looked behind him but he realized that he was talking to him. "Who, Me? I didn't do anything and I literally stand 5 meters away from you and your dog." But Jin Ling didn't believe him and unsheathed his sword. He pointed his sword toward Amirul as he threatened him. 

"Lies! Then, why did Fairy run away from me? She never runs away from me if there's anything that's scared her."

Amirul blankly stared at Jin Ling, 'This dude, I swear...'

"I don't know 'cause I've been questioning that to myself for my whole life. To be honest with you, it happened when I was a kid. I wanted to approach some stray dogs but they ran away from me. I guess they hate me so much and probably think that I'm some sort of a ghost. Wait, didn't I already tell you this back at Mt. Dafan?" He stated.

Lan Wangji stared at Amirul's statement and looked at Starise who nodded in confirmation. Jin Ling however didn't believe a single word he said.

"That's impossible! Dogs can't be that afraid of you. They're very loyal." Jin Ling said. Amirul shrugged and told him to sheathe his sword. Jin Ling then sheathed his sword as he was told to and arrogantly walked away from the siblings.

Meanwhile, the charlatan was picking up his fallen product and saw Jin Ling walking away from his booth. "The moral degeneration of the world is getting worse day by day. How terrifying the disciples from the prominent clans these days. How terrifying!"

Amirul agreed with the charlatan, "Tell me about it. This is why I don't like dealing with troublesome brats like him. All bark but no bite."

Starise rolled her eyes, "Says the one who always makes trouble at the academy." She mumbled but was heard loud and clear by Lan Wangji who raised his eyebrow. The older Lan watched them both helping the charlatan clean up his trashed booth. After a while, the booth was back to normal and the charlatan thanked Amirul and Starise for their help.

"Thank you so much, Young Master and Young Lady. This one will forever be indebted to you both." The siblings just smiled and the charlatan gave them a copy of the Yiling Patriarch painting for free. Although Starise politely refused, Amirul took it with such glee that she glared at him, hitting his side in the process.

"Ow! Ok, ok, I'll stop!" He rubbed his head, pouting at his sister. Then, he remembered the demonic hand that was hidden in Lan Wangji's qiankun pouch and asked the charlatan. "Excuse me, good sir. If you don't mind borrowing your time for a bit, I want to ask you some questions."

The charlatan agreed to his request and Amirul hit him with his questions. "Have any strange events ever happened here or are there any weird rumors that you can tell us about?"

"Strange events? I've been living here in Qinghe for as long as I can remember but rumors? Now that you mention it, there is a rumor that has been the main topic for some time. Not far from here, there's a ridge called the Man-eating Ridge. I wouldn't recommend the three of you going there even if you are cultivators."

Amirul asked him again, " Who's the one that spread the rumor in the first place?"

The charlatan spoke, "Who else none other than the famous head-shaker of Qinghe Nie, the one and only Sect Leader Nie himself. After the former Sect Leader Nie passed away, that coward only shook his head and said 'I don't know!' all the time just to avoid the problem."

The siblings and the older Lan listened to the charlatan's story and put the pieces of the clues together. Lan Wangji then gave the charlatan money, thanking him for giving them the information they needed and for continuing their journey. They decided to stay at an inn a few miles away from the rumored Man-eating Ridge.

The trio booked two rooms at the said inn. The first room was used by Starise while the second room was shared between Amirul and Lan Wangji. After packing their things, they had their lunch and started to create a plan to get inside the ridge. They also reintroduced themselves to Lan Wangji but he still can't help but call Amirul 'Wei Ying'. The siblings can't do anything to the man but pretend not to notice that he called Amirul the Yiling Patriarch's birth name. 

On the other hand, Amirul and Starise also introduced Lan Wangji to Brains, and boy was he surprised to see the minicon. The man was shocked that such an odd creature like Brains exists when he learned the truth about the siblings. By far, only Lan Wangji alone knew about the sibling's secrets and promised to keep them until the end of the mission.

Nightfall in Qinghe and the trio had their dinner before getting ready to call it a day. Amirul minded his own business when he glanced at Lan Wangji who was playing a song on his guqin. The melody from the slim fingers that strummed through the strings on the instrument calmed his mind down unlike those depressed and emo songs that he had heard all the time.

The short-haired boy looked back at his notebook and thought, 'This case is getting more mysterious the more I think of it. The case with the ridge and the demonic arm just doesn't make sense. Why would someone do this? Whoever it is, it seems that they don't want to let Big Bro Wei rest in peace.'

He then closed the notebook and decided to sleep, not wanting to think about the day that they went through. Lan Wangji paused his daily guqin playing and stopped Amirul before he went to bed. "What's up, Hanguang-Jun? What 'cha need?"

Ignoring the slang that the boy used, he asked him, "How?"

Confused by the older Lan's question, Amirul asked him back. "How what?" 

Looking up at the boy, Lan Wangji frowned, "How did you look like him?" Amirul realized who was the man talking about. He didn't even know where to begin as it was a very long story.

But before he could even talk, a loud thud was heard from the next room that Starise was in. The two of them quickly went out and started banging on the door. "Starise! What's going on in there? Is everything ok?!" Worried about her, Amirul crashed himself into the room but all he saw was his sister in her praying uniform and an unknown man being tied up by Starise's ribbon.

The said man was wearing green olive-colored robes and judging from his appearance, he was in his mid-thirties and very slim. There's also a fan next to him and a symbol of the head of a bull in gold threads at the back of the robes. 'A disciple from the Nie Clan.' 

Unable to recognize the man, Lan Wangji, who is behind Amirul, saw the tied yet familiar man and immediately called him."Sect Leader Nie? What are you doing here?" Realizing the identity of the said man, Amirul asked Starise to lose her ribbon around the man. She then untied the sect leader as told.

Nie Huaisang, the current sect leader of Qinghe Nie Sect was frozen in the situation where he was in. At first, he thought that the men would be in this room but he was wrong. He felt embarrassed when he stumbled on Starise when she finished her praying session. Starise also didn't see that coming as she thought some thief was trying to rob or worst kidnap her.

"Ah, Hanguang Jun! It's not what it looks like! I swear!"

Man, I didn't realize it's been a year since I left this hanging and I'm sorry for the wait... Oh well, here u go~