Previously:

Jin Ling thought that he saw death as he looked at Starise's dark eyes and stayed quiet. She then tossed him on the ground and loosened the ribbon around him as seeing the goddess statue walking out of the cave with a big thump sound from the ground.

Now they have to fight a walking goddess statue!

General POV

Amirul didn't sign up for this fight as he tried to distract the goddess statue before someone could get hurt. The statue was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved, giving off a strong sense of oppression. A few rogue cultivators came out of the forest as it came outside, having their swords brandished. They expressed excitement, lusting for battle, and were nervous but they all exclaimed.

"Haha, now this is what we're looking for!"

"Worth a fight, take it down now!"

Jin Ling clicked his tongue in irritation, not wanting those lowlifes to catch his prey. He jumped into the air and started swinging his sword at one of the arms of the goddess statue. As expected, it didn't cut through; his cultivation level wasn't high enough where his sword could cut through rocks like paper. He was at a complete disadvantage; nevertheless, he kept on pushing.

A bit worried for him, Starise dashed towards the boy and started whipping her ribbon at the goddess statue. She leaped her body into the air as she pulled out her ion blaster and started shooting it, which made the statue turned its attention to Starise. It then started using its arms, extending out, trying to catch Starise like a viper striking its prey. Only it couldn't grab its prey for Starise was able to dodge its arms in a zig-zag motion.

However, her heart sank when she saw Jin Ling trying to strike at the goddess statue from behind. Starise shouted, "Don't do it!"

But he did it anyway and the goddess statue turned its attention on Jin Ling, who was dodging nearly all of its attacks but having difficulty.

Amirul couldn't help but worry for the boy and murmured, "That guy's really worrisome."

He grabbed two of his shuriken bombs from his pocket and threw them at the back of the statue, making them exploded in the process. Amirul thought that he had it but only to see that the goddess statue walking as nothing happen.

Amirul silently exclaimed, 'How could it still moves?!'

He then noticed that something was wrong as he saw one of the arms had veins formed and dark energies surrounded it. Amirul clicked his tongue and tightened his fists.

"Scrap, It's the demonic hand!"

 From what he learned, a demonic hand is a part of a corpse that wants to die as a whole corpse. It carries the resentment of the deceased person. While it has no nose and eyes, it can only search its owner by devouring the hand of a living human and take its place. After it consumes all of the body's flesh and energy, it'll continue to search for the next vessel of possession until finds every single part of its body. Therefore exorcising it is impossible and it cannot be exorcised until it considers its body, only then it can be exorcised.

Then, the same group of rogue cultivators surrounded the goddess statue while their leader stood on a tree. He threw a small bell and shouted.

"Deploy magic tool!"

The silver bell made several rings before it turned into a large object. It hovered over the statue then covered it with a thundering bang. The bell completely trapped the goddess statue and everything was quiet. The rogue leader laughed triumphantly.

"Haha, it's subdued!"

Then, one of the rogue cultivators approached the bell and touched it with a smile, "We hunted lowly corpses all night, finally caught a big one."

At that moment, the bell shook wildly as if what was inside was trying to get out. However, the bell looked heavy enough where it shouldn't wobble but sure enough, it did and the goddess statue broke through, then grabbed the rogue cultivator by his head and lifting him. His whole body was sucked dry as he turned into a corpse. Everyone was shocked to see what was going on.

While Amirul, on the other hand, though, 'No wonder Mt. Dafan has so many corpses. This demonic hand reeks of resentment; of course, it attracts walking corpses.'

Not only that it's responsible for attracting walking corpses but also accountable for making corpses. A huge bright light came from where the goddess statue stood, causing the whole forest to turn into a blazing forest while the goddess statue stood among the flames like a flame goddess. While the demonic hand attached to the statue, glowed in an eerie blue flame, Amirul knew that the juniors wouldn't be able to handle that thing on their own. Now it's the time to call for some backup!

Amirul called for the Lan juniors, "Hey, you guys! Send a signal quickly and ask that senior of yours for help!"

Lan Jingyi snapped, "That's Hanguang-Jun for you!"

Lan Sizhui replied, "The signal fireworks were all used up back at Mo Village."

Amirul was shocked, "You guys didn't restock afterward?"

The juniors looked at each other with bashful expressions. Neither one of them didn't even think about restocking the fireworks. Lan Sizhui replied, "We forgot."

Amirul facepalmed at the reply, "Oh Primus, is this something as that simple you should forget about? I don't know how Hanguang-Jun will react if he knew about this."

Lan Jingyi's face turned white as a ghost, "It's over, we're done for. We're going to be punished by Hanguang-Jun.."

Starise walked over to them with a poker face, "Without a doubt that you won't walk away without being punished. However, we do have a solution to this matter."

The juniors turned at her, "What is it?"

Amirul seemed to catch on to what his sister meant, "Wait, Starise. Are you going to use our signal?" The hijabi girl nodded as an answer as she took out a flaregun, loaded it with a black sphere, and pointed it to the air. Starise then pulled the blaster's trigger and a flare shot up to the sky as it forms a robot-shaped face symbol that the two siblings are familiar with but not for the Lan juniors.

Lan Sizhui was astonished, "That's your symbol? How unique." His friend nodded in agreement. Suddenly, the sound of a whoosh was heard and something flew right past Amirul a mere inches away from his head. It was an arrow and it directly pierced the goddess statue's forehead. The arrowhead appeared out of the back of its head.

Hearing the sound of the bow's released, Amirul looked in its direction. Jin Ling started running fast on the ground, then leaped up to a tree and stood on its branch. Later, he released three arrows at once. Even though it hit the goddess statue, all magical weapons were useless against it!

Amirul murmured in worrisome, "What on Cybertron is that brat doing?!"

Starise quickly dashed towards Jin Ling once again as she dodged the statue's attacks while trying to protect Jin Ling at the same time. Starise whipped her ribbon at the goddess statue, getting its attention towards her instead of Jin Ling.

At that moment, a shrilling sound of a flute, slicing through the night sky. Starise noticed that her brother playing nearby and the way he plays it wasn't the one he always played back home.

'Amirul, don't tell me that you're going to...!'

Lan Jingyi covered his ears, "Look at the situation that we're in and you still playing the flute? Also, it sounds horrible!" But Amirul ignored him as he continued playing the flute.

In the battle, Starise was still fighting the goddess statue alongside few rogue cultivators. Yet, at the same time, Jin Ling was on his last arrow. He observed as he aimed his arrow directly at the statue's head. His heart thumped like crazy and all of the blood in his body went towards his head. He released his final arrow and the goddess statue deflected it. Then, it raised one of its arms and reached for Jin Ling but luckily it didn't grab him, only by a hair. Starise saved him once again by pulling him back using her ribbon, a few meters away from the statue.

She loosened the ribbon the moment Jin Ling landed. All of the sudden, the goddess stopped as something beneath the ground began to make a rumbling sound.

Then, black chains emerged from the ground, catching two of the statue's arms and ripping them apart. Out from the ground, a figure emerged and immediately punched the goddess statue on the face, sending it away from the group.

After having a clear view of the figure, the cultivators' expressions became twisted. Even when facing the goddess statue that could suck away their souls, the group didn't cower or showing any fears but now their shouting voices were filled with terror that they could not hide.

"... The Ghost General, it's the Ghost General, Wen Ning!"

The title of the 'Ghost General' was as infamous as that of the Yiling Patriarch. The two would always appear together.

He is the right-hand man of the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian who had helped with the tyrant's crimes and stirring up chaos but most of all were the feral corpse who should have been turned into ashes a long time ago. The rogue cultivators were shaking in their boots as they stared at the Ghost General.

"How is it possible? Even before the siege happened, wasn't he already scattered to dust?"

The Ghost General, Wen Ning. His face was pale, delicate, and could consider handsome in many ways. However, there were no pupils in his eyes but only a low cloud of white along with several black, cracking lines which climbed up to his face from his neck. His robe's lower hem and sleeves were ragged and torn, showing a pair of wrists that were the same white shade as his face with black cuffs and chains on both his wrists and ankles.

Besides his gloomy appearance, he was different from the other corpses. Wen Ning didn't fear injuries, flames, coldness, poison, or anything that living humans fear. Also, he was no different from any humans. He could even think on his own as a human; he was the only one of his kind and was created by the Yiling Patriarch himself.

While the other cultivators were scared out of their wits, Amirul was in no better shape than them. He could hear his heartbeat beating rapidly as he stood there in shock.

From what his incarnation told him, Wen Ning shouldn't even be in this world at all. He was turned into ashes even before the siege in the Burial Mounds. So the question is how and why?

Hearing the others called Wen Ning's name, Jin Ling's blade pointed towards Wen Ning, which initially aimed in the direction of the goddess statue. Seeing that he was distracted, the statue extended its arm and grabbed Jin Ling, pushing him to a tree.

Lan Sizhui called out, "Jin Ling!"

Amirul saw what was happening and quickly raised the metal flute again, his hands trembling while playing the notes which made the notes sound rough. The sounds were unpleasant to hear but Wen Ning started to move.

Within a blink of an eye, he had already shifted in front of the goddess statue and gave it a blow by using his palm's side which made the goddess statue's left hand, which was holding Jin Ling off with a clean cut.

The left hand had begun to move on its own and started to run using its fingers like a cat running through the bushes. Amirul didn't dare to relax and began to play more rapid notes, commanding Wen Ning to search and fight. However, he noticed that something off about the Ghost General.

Low-level corpses were easy to control because they were unable to think on their own but powerful feral corpses, on the other hand, were usually berserk or unconscious. So, Wen Ning should be conscious right now but he wasn't.

Amirul shook his head as this was no time to question as he needed to focus on commanding the feral corpse to find that demonic hand.

Fortunately, he didn't look much as he spotted Starise moving fast several meters away as if something was chasing her. A small shadow shot straight out from the bush; it was the demonic hand aiming for Starise's neck!

Before it could even grasp its target, Wen Ning immediately grabbed it and threw it to the ground. He was holding it in place while the hand wriggled in his grasp. Starise stopped running and looked at Wen Ning who was ten feet away, with a calm expression as she knew about the feral corpse from her brother's incarnation.

Amirul stopped playing and turned to Lan Sizhui, "Quick, the Evil-sealing Pouch!"

Lan Sizhui nodded and then walked towards where Wen Ning and Starise were. Amirul let out a sigh of relief but he began to have a foreboding feeling and thought.

'First, the bloodthirsty demonic hand, and now, the Ghost General? I'm afraid that there's more than meets the eye here.'

Lan Sizhui stopped near Starise and nervously looked at Wen Ning. However, a strange feeling of not fearing for Wen Ning came out of nowhere and he couldn't put his finger on it. He then pushed that feeling aside and pulled out a small pouch from his lapel.

He opened the pouch and a bright light shined out from it. Then, it began to suck the demonic hand and seal it. Once the hand was in the pouch, Lan Sizhui put it away.

However, several cultivators started to surround Wen Ning and point their blades at him. One of them shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Forget about the demonic hand! Capture the Ghost General, Wen Ning!"

Those words were enough to convince the crowd. What can a small demonic hand be compared to the Ghost General? After all, this was the mad dog under the Yiling Patriarch and if they were to capture him, they would become famous.

But, this is the Ghost General who took down the goddess statue by himself. With that thought, Lan Sizhui tried to reason with the cultivators, "Don't be rash!"

Yet, his reasons fell on deaf ears and one of the cultivators exclaimed, "What's there to fear? The Yiling Patriarch is long gone! Get him!"

'Little that they knew...'

Lan Sizhui shouted, "Wait!"

The cultivators let out battle cries as they raised their swords at Wen Ning. Sensing the danger, Wen Ning waved his arms and the black chains swept past hard, hitting all the cultivators in one swoop. Jin Ling decided to dash toward Wen Ning with his sword but Wen Ning was too fast for him. Thus, he pushed Jin Ling away from him.

As Wen Ning was about to punch Jin Ling in the face, he stopped his movement when a sound of a calmer, quieter tone fell in his ears. His face turned to Amirul who was playing the soft melody.

After a moment, Wen Ning let down his arm and walked toward the short-haired boy at a slow pace. His head was lowered and he dragged a large number of iron chains. Amirul retreated while still playing the flute, guiding him to follow. Walking for a short distance, Amirul caught a scent of sandalwood nearby.

Immediately after, his back bumped into someone. With a sudden pain in his wrist, the flute melody had stopped. Amirul gasped and turned around only to see Lan Wangji glaring at him with his cold eyes.

The situation was not so good and there's no mistake that Lan Wangji had seen him use the flute to control corpses with his own eyes.

When Amirul's heart almost stopped, he heard Wen Ning's groaning and turned in the feral corpse's direction only to see Wen Ning looking around as if he was searching for the flute melody that has suddenly disappeared.

Amirul decided to keep playing no matter what, even if Lan Wangji had seen him doing this. Although many people knew how to play the flute, several people imitated the Yiling Patriarch's method of using it for controlling corpses. Amirul had played the flute under Wei Wuxian's guidance in the past years and he knew that no matter what the consequences he will face in the future, he will not confess!

Ignoring the hand that gripped him, he raised his arm to continue playing. This time, the tempo was faster as if it was in a tone of urgency. Though the sound was still shrilling and harsh, Wen Ning quickly retreats and disappears into the dark forest. He finally dropped the metal flute and Lan Wangji let go of Amirul's wrist.

At the same time, a flash of purple light shaped into a whip came from behind in an attempt to strike them. Amirul turned around with a shock, yet Lan Wangji had already placed his guqin in front of him and played several notes, causing the purple light whip to stop coming forward.

Amirul was surprised at Lan Wangji defending him and when he looked up at the trees, he saw Jiang Cheng standing on one of the branches while holding a slender whip, emitting purple lightning which sizzled. It was Zidian!

The Lan juniors couldn't help but be in awe and shock. Lan Jingyi exclaimed, "Zidian?!"

Lan Sizhui nodded, "If an evil being seized a body, Zidian will expel its soul. Zidian can whip out any soul possessing another's body. Could it be that Sect Leader Jiang suspects that Young Master Amirul possessed?"

That was exactly what Jiang Cheng was thinking. Ever since one of his disciples reported to him about Wen Ning's appearance moments ago, he quickly rushed over to see it for himself. But not only that Wen Ning around, but he also saw Amirul controlling the feral corpse with a flute. He knew that no one could control Wen Ning but only Wei Wuxian can.

Hearing Sizhui's explanation made Amirul mentally facepalmed and exclaimed, ' Are you kidding me? Me, being possessed? Hell nah!'

Jiang Cheng's eyes looked down at the latter coldly as he spoke menacingly, "Well, well... So, you've returned, Wei Wuxian."

His lips curled up into a dangerous smile. Amirul knew that he is in deep trouble and he had to escape as he noticed Starise from the corner of his eye. He then started running towards her but Jiang Cheng saw what he was doing and was determined to grasp the chance, "Trying to escape?"

He jumped down and once he landed with a crack of his whip, Zidian lashed out with the resemblance of a poisonous snake, aiming at Amirul's back. But what he did shocked the crowd. Zidian went through Amirul as if Amirul were a ghost.

He then stopped near Starise who was helping him up. A whirring sound came from Amirul as he raised his arm only to see a round-shaped object on his wrist, emitting a blue light. Amirul glared at the older Jiang and smirked, "Wow, can't believe that Sect Leader Jiang is trying to hit an innocent teenager with a whip. So, what if you're from a powerful clan? You can't just hit people for no reason! Shame on you!"

Jiang Cheng was both shocked and enraged, "How it's possible? Why didn't it work?"

Amirul thought, 'Obviously it won't because I used the Phase Shifter* to dodge that, duh!'

Still a bit surprised and doubtful, Jiang Cheng prepared to whip him again, "Today I'm going to find out exactly who or what you are!"

Yet, Lan Jingyi suddenly shouted, "Sect Leader Jiang, this should be enough, right? It was Zidian! It won't fail the first strike only to succeed in the second."

The older Jiang halted his movement as he listened to the Lan junior. He wasn't wrong though, indeed, Zidian wouldn't fail on the first strike and he knew that better than anyone else. However, if it wasn't Wei Wuxian, who else could have summoned and controlled Wen Ning?

After thinking it over several times, Jiang Cheng still couldn't accept the fact. He pointed at Amirul and scowled, "Who on Earth are you?" At the same time, Jin Ling came over with the support from a Jiang disciple, watching his uncle interrogate the short-haired boy.

Amirul smirked under his mask, "Just a youth traveling with his sister, nothing else. Also, why would you care about this anyway? Is it because you thought that I practiced demonic arts? No way in hell that I would do that!"

Then, a disciple from the Jiang Sect shouted at Amirul, "Hey, watch your mouth when you're talking to the sect leader! He needs to know how you could dodge Zidian a while ago."

The other disciple nodded in agreement, "You said it. Also, did you hear how awful his flute playing sounds? How can it be compared to the Yiling Patriarch's ghost flute, ChenQing?"

Amirul couldn't help but rolled his eyes, "Please, watch my mouth? Supposedly, it should be your sect leader who should watch his mouth. But, if he apologizes to me first, maybe I would consider it." And boy the crowd gasped at his sassiness.

"You!"

"That's enough!"

Jiang Cheng stopped his men before things get ugly as he glared at the short-haired boy in front of him, Zidian sizzles again. Then, he saw the hijabi girl next to the boy and couldn't help but stared at her. 

'She looks a lot like...'

Starise noticed that Jiang Cheng was staring at her as she was uncomfortable and hid behind her brother. Amirul frowned as he blocked Jiang Cheng's view and suddenly Lan Wangji cleared his throat and spoke calmly, "Jiang Wanyin."

Hearing his courtesy name, Jiang Cheng turned to the older Lan; hostile eyes met with calm eyes. After a moment of the two silently staring into each other, Jiang Cheng calmly let out a small sigh before turning towards Amirul and speaking commandingly.

"In any case, he's a practitioner of the demonic arts. Seize him!"

"Yes sir!" His disciples saluted.

The siblings backed away from the disciples until Starise decided to use her secret weapon but Amirul refrained her from doing so. Then, Lan Wangji stepped forward to shield them and had no means of moving over. Jiang Cheng spoke, "Second Master Lan, are you deliberately getting in my way?"

Everyone except the siblings knew that Jiang Cheng continued to watch out for Amirul in an almost crazed manner. He would take a lot of people who practiced or associated with a demonic cultivator, inflicting severe torture on his victims. If he wanted to bring someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their lives.

Lan Sizhui spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang, even if the evidence is not clear, Young Master Amirul is not possessed. Why the need to be so imposing on just a nobody?"

'Amirul? What a weird name.' Thought the sect leader as he replied coldly, "Then, may I ask why ever since a while ago, Second Master Lan has been so persistent in protecting such nobody who practiced the demonic arts?" 

After a long pause, Lan Wangji spoke, "His path is uncommon but his deeds are righteous. For sentiment or reason, he deserves gratitude."

And that's when Starise decides to give the sect leader a piece of her mind. "With all due respect, Sect Leader Jiang, what my brother did back there was to capture the demonic hand before it could hurt someone, especially innocent people. Also, even though he can control the Ghost General other than the Yiling Patriarch, he wasn't a demonic cultivator. In fact, we're not cultivators, to begin with!"

Lan Jingyi added, "It's true what Lady Starise just say. He saved us several times and just saved Jin Ling too. But not just him, she also helped. And back at Mo Village, they helped us using their weapons and it's unique, like Lady Starise's ribbon."

Starise looked at Lan Jingyi with shock as he just said her cybertronian name and quickly glared at Amirul who averted his eyes. Lan Sizhui also wondered about Starise's name.

Jiang Cheng looked at the Lan disciple and the hijabi girl silently as he was thinking about something. Then, Lan Wangji spoke in a manner yet bravely way, "I will bring them in, back to the Lan Sect."

Amirul and Starise only blinked and stood there, completely dumbfounded, "Huh?"

With that, Jiang Cheng left begrudgingly as his two disciples and Jin Ling followed him. Lan Wangji also led his group in the opposite direction while Lan Jingyi dragged the dazed Amirul. Starise followed them from behind and Lan Sizhui asked her about her name.

"Well, I have two names. The first one is my original name which is Starise and the other name is Nurain. Nurain is also my undercover name when Amirul and I went on missions. I'm sorry for lying to you and I hope that you can forgive me. Also, I need to give Amirul a piece of mind."

The two Lan juniors didn't mind and that made her relief as Starise thought about something, 'Why does Sect Leader Jiang stare at me back there? Is it because of my hijab or..?'

Time skip~

It was already morning at the residence of the Lan Sect, located in a remote mountain outside the city of Gusu. Mist always enveloped the white walls and black roofs of the buildings which stretched along with the beautiful gardens of the waterside pavilion. It was as if was an ocean of clouds in an immortal realm. A perfect complement to its name, Cloud Recesses.

One could spend a moment here feeling relaxed and forget about the everyday routine. The tranquility of the air could bring a reckless heart into a calming heart of peace.

'Wow, kinda reminds me of Cameron Highlands*. Ah, kinda miss that place.' Amirul thought as he, without his mask on, inhale the cold, fresh air of the Cloud Recesses. He also appreciates the silence as he was used to living in a crowded city as well for Starise.

Lan Jingyi spoke, "So, what do you think? Pretty cool, right?" The siblings looked at the latter and smiled, "Yeah, it is. We love this kind of place." Amirul grinned as Starise nodded in agreement. Then, one thought came into the short-haired boy as he asked the Lan junior beside him.

"Hey, Jingyi. Just wondering, why is your Hanguang-Jun so eager to bring us here?" There was a pause at the moment as Lan Sizhui reasoned to them, "Young Master Amirul and Lady Starise, Hanguang-Jun brought the two of you here for your own good. You see, Sect Leader Jiang wouldn't easily let go otherwise. During these years, there were countless people that were caught by him and took them back to Lotus Pier. Since then, none of those people were ever let out."

Amirul and Starise widen their eyes at Sizhui's explanation, 'That guy's really gone too far. Also, those were just innocent people!' They bitterly thought.

As they enter the Cloud Recesses, Amirul couldn't help but look at a wall, full of Chinese characters carved on it. He then asked Sizhui what is the wall for and the latter answered, "Oh, that's the Lan Sect's Wall of Discipline. Here in Cloud Recesses, you have to follow every single rules that had carved on this wall. If you break one of the rules, you have to face punishment. Mostly, it was Hanguang-Jun who organize the punishments as he's in charge of disciplinary. So, I hope that Young Master Amirul and Lady Starise can follow them."

"Sizhui, as we don't want to disrespect you, just call us by our names. It's just that we're uncomfortable with all the formalities and I hope that you won't mind it." Amirul said and Starise agreed.

Lan Sizhui smiled, "Very well then, Amirul and Starise." 

"So, how many are there?" The short-haired boy was so curious that Starise sighed in annoyance. Lan Sizhui again replied, "Well, before the siege it was three thousand and now it increased to four thousand."

The two of them were stunned and looked back at the wall with mixed feelings.

'Four thousand?! They're really strict but not as strict as ours back at the Academy though. I bet that some of them are ridiculously irrelevant.'

As they walked past the wall, they saw a few white-clothed cultivators walking through the door. Each person wore the Lan Sect's uniform with flowing, plain robes as white as snow. The man standing in front was tall and slender. Aside from his sword, hanging on his waist was a Xiao or a vertical flute that was made out of white jade. As Lan Wangji saw them, he slightly bowed his head to show respect and the person did the same.

He looked at Lan Wangji and smiled, "Wangji, you're back. This is?"

The person in front of Lan Wangji almost looked like Lan Wangji's twin brother. Only it was his brother, elder brother to be exact. However, Lan Wangji's eye color was extremely light shade of gold while his elder brother's eyes were a darker shade of brown and had more gentle light in them.

That was Lan Huan, courtesy name; Xichen and he's the famous Zewu-Jun, the leader of the GusuLan Sect.

The two brothers were grown up within the Lan Sect; both were very handsome in many different ways such as their appearance was similar but their personalities were the opposite. Lan Xichen was gentle and warmhearted while Lan Wangji was overly aloof and stern but good in keeping everyone at arm's length.

'What Big Bro Wei told us about them was all true. Also, they look a lot like Sire and Principal Magnus.' Amirul and Starise thought as they looked at the Lan brothers.

Lan Wangji spoke politely with his elder brother, "Brother, are you going to revisit Lianfang-Zun?"

Lan Xichen nodded, "To negotiate about the next Discussion Conference at Jinlin Tai."

Lianfang-Zun, also known as Jin Guangyao, is the current sect leader of the LanlingJin Sect and the only illegitimate child whom Jin Guangshan approved. He was Jin Ling's youngest uncle, half-blooded brothers with both Jin Ling's father and Mo Xuanyu. They were both extremely even though they were both illegitimate sons of the former sect leader. While Mo Xuanyu was in Mo Village, sleeping in a pig's pen, Jin Guangyao would be reading a book while drinking tea and enjoying the luxurious life. (A/N: They knew who was Mo Xuanyu's father)

If he wanted to talk to Lan Xichen or initiate a Discussion Conference, he could do so however he wanted to. Then again, everyone knew that the sect leaders of the Lan and Jin sects personally went along quite well; they were sworn brothers after all.

Lan Xichen spoke, "Uncle has taken and examined what you brought back from Mo Village."

Hearing the word 'Mo Village", the two siblings started to pay attention as they were thinking about their friend, Mo Xuanyu, and what happened to his family last night. Also, they figured that what Lan Xichen meant was probably the demonic hand they had brought back.

Lan Xichen looked at the short-haired boy and the hijabi girl and spoke again, "It is not often that you bring somebody home and being in good spirits."

Amirul carefully looked at Lan Wangji's face and thought, 'Good spirits? How could he tell that he is in good spirits?! His face is stiff as a board!'

After watching Lan Xichen leave, Lan Wangji spoke, "Drag him inside."

Starise looked at the older Lan warily as she watched her brother being dragged in by the Lan juniors but didn't say anything.

Only distinguished cultivators had come to visit the Lan Sect and never had anyone seen guests like them before. The rest of the juniors all crowded around them, interested in seeing new faces but if it weren't for the sect rules being so strict, there would be a lot of laughter.

Lan Jingyi asked, "Hanguang-Jun, where should we drag him to?"

Lan Wangji replied, "The Jingshi."

All of the juniors' jaws dropped slightly and Amirul didn't know what was going on so he looked at Lan Sizhui curiously.

He asked, "Um, what's the Jingshi?"

Lan Sizhui replied, "It was Hanguang-Jun's bedroom and study but this is the first time that he's inviting someone to his room even though it was prohibited to enter by anyone except Zewu-jun and his uncle, Grandmaster Lan."

Amirul and Starise were astonished and thought, 'This situation is getting weirder and weirder.'

As Amirul was inside the Jingshi while Starise were at the Guest Quarters, he couldn't help but be in awe at the room. The furniture in the Jingshi was extremely simplistic without any unnecessary belongings. There was a painting of drifting clouds floating in fine brushwork. A table that had a guqin on top of it with an incense stand in the corner, a hollowed-out incense burner made out of white jade that emitting soft, lingering smoke, filling the whole room with the scent of sandalwood.

Lan Wangji went to see his uncle to discuss pressing matters while Amirul was left alone. However, he went outside and strolled around as he stumbled across his sister who was also taking a stroll around the Cloud Recesses.

They stopped at the edge of the mountain near the main hall as they watched the clouds passed them. Amirul then touched his headgear as he went to his music playlists and opened a song that he chooses. He looked at Starise as she nodded and started singing.

https://youtu.be/YAXTn0E-Zgo

Amirul= test
Starise= test
Both= test

Sora tobu hane to hikikae ni
Tsunagiau te o eranda bokura
Sore demo sora ni miserarete
Yume o kasaneru no wa tsumi ka

Natsu wa aki no senaka o mite
Sono kao o omoiukaberu
Akogare na no ka koi na no ka
Kanawanu to shittei nagara

Touriame ga touriame to
Komorebi-tachi ga Komorebi to
Nanoru zutto zutto zutto mae kara
Anata wa anata de itandarou

Juuryoku ga nemuri ni tsuku sennen ni ichido no kyou
Taiyo no shikaku ni tachi bokura kono hoshi o deyou
Kare ga me o samashita toki tsuremodosenai basho e
'Se - no' de daichi o kette koko de wa nai hoshi e

Ikou (3x)

Natsu kaze ni aseru kokoro ga
Natsu o sarani hayaokuru yo
Memagurushii keshiki no naka
Kimi dake ga tomatte mieba

Kimi to deatta ano hi kara
Patari to yoru yume wa yanda yo
Tsuchi no naka de machikogareta
Kanaeru sonotoki wa imada

Juuryoku ga nemuri ni tsuku sennen ni ichido no kyou
Hanabi no oto ni nose bokura kono hoshi o deyou
Kare ga me o samashita toki tsuremodosenai basho e
'Se - no' de daichi o kette koko de wa nai hoshi e

Ikou

Mou sukoshi de unmei no mukou
Mou sukoshi de bunmei no mukou (ikou)
Mou sukoshi de unmei no mukou
Mou sukoshi de

Ikou

Mou sukoshi de unmei no mukou
Mou sukoshi de bunmei no mukou (ikou)
Mou sukoshi de unmei no mukou
Mou sukoshi de

Yume ni bokura de ho o hatte
Kitarubeki hi no tameni yoru o koe
Iza kitai dake man tan de
Ato wa dounika narusa to kata o kunda

Kowakunai wakenai demo tomannai
Pinchi no sakimawarishita tte bokura ja shoganai

Bokura no koi ga iu
Koe ga iu

'Ike' to iu

After they ended the song, they head back to their quarters, well for Amirul it's Lan Wangji's quarter that he stayed in, but little that they knew, while they were singing two white figures hide behind the walls of the main hall and listening to their voices. Although they didn't understand the language, they were in awe at the melody and quickly ran away as soon as the siblings went back to their quarters.

Night has fallen at the Cloud Recesses and one hour before the GusuLan Sect's curfew, Amirul tried to distract himself by doing handstands and pushups. He couldn't help but think about what happened in the last few hours.

Flashback~

After Amirul had returned to the Jingshi, he walked down to the bed when his foot shifted under one piece of wood that sounded hollower than other places in the room. He reached down curiously and turned a part of the board up. He looked at his surroundings as he prayed that no one would find him doing this. 'I'm sorry, Hanguang-Jun.'

Finding a secretive space in Lan Wangji's room was already more than enough to surprise Amirul but when he looked at what was inside, he was even more surprised.

After flipping the wooden board up, a mellow aroma filled the air and mixed with the sandalwood scent. Eight black jars were packed in a small, squared cellar. Amirul was astonished at what he has just seen.

He then picked up one of the jars and smelled the liquid inside. 'It smells familiar but from where did I smelled this before?' Amirul thought as he realized that the familiar sweet scent is Wei Wuxian's favorite alcohol in Gusu, Emperor's smile!

"Wait, weren't the rules stated that alcohols are prohibited here in Cloud Recesses? Why on Cybertron that Hanguang-Jun had these in his room? Don't tell me that he drinks these!" Amirul couldn't believe that the esteemed Lan Wangji had drunk alcohol in Cloud Recesses.

He put the jar back in the cellar and closed the board. He sat there for a while and stared at the wooden floor, 'Just what happened to him after his death thirteen years ago? Must have been a wreck for Hanguang-Jun. Also, did he know that I'm not Big Bro Wei?'

"Oh yeah, I bet that he knew you're not the Wei Wuxian he's been looking for."

"Huh?"

As Amirul heard the voice, he looked to his left and screamed. "Woah!!" What did scared Amirul was that in front of him was a small humanoid figure, almost similar to an action figure but made out of metal. The figure had a frenzy-looking blue hair and a pair of enormous goggle-eyes. Also, the unique thing about the small metal figure was that it looks like a mad scientist and you could see its brain from the outside.

The robot then stepped forward and stopped right in front of Amirul and chuckled, "Well, well. Look who we have here. Did you have some fun back there?" The robot asked.

"B... Brains?! What are you doing here?" Amirul didn't expect that his mentor was here in the cultivation world with him and Starise. "Wait, how did you get here? I thought that you were at the other side of the lab?" He asked the psycho minicon.

"What do you think? With your recklessness, I wouldn't be here. Also, it was your sister who put me in your backpack, and back then, that was just some creepy hologram me! Now, are you going to apologize for what you've done back at the lab?" Amirul looked away as if he was avoiding the question. 

Brains then hopped on the table and he hit Amirul on the head. "Ouch! What was that for, you crazy old bot?!" Amirul shouted as he rubbed his head in pain. The minicon spoke again, "That's for touching my stuff again."

"OK, OK I'm sorry but why do you keep hitting me on the head?!" Despite having him as his mentor, Amirul always respected him the same way that his mother did when she was Brain's mentee in the past.

"Then, what's the next plan?" The minicon asked his reckless student.

The short-haired boy shrugged his shoulders, "Well, probably solving the demonic hand problems, try to find the way home, and maybe that's it." His mentor listened as he sighed.

"Did you ever think about what happened after his death thirteen years ago?" Hearing those words made Amirul silent and look at him questionably. "Hm, I guess that depends on you. Well, I'm going in." Brains went back to Amirul's backpack as the latter blankly stared at the minicon and sighed in defeat.

Flashback end~

'Yeah, didn't expect him back there.' Thought Amirul as he heard the bells from the main hall. He looked at his watch and its curfew which is at exactly 9 o'clock and waking up at exactly 5 o'clock.

"Well, better get to sleep then." And Amirul went to bed.

Brains

*meaning

Phase Shifter=  A cybertronian relic

Cameron Highlands= A popular tourist attraction in Malaysia