I woke up with the sun. I was lying next to you! Fortunately, you hadn't opened your eyes all night! I left the bed, taking care not to wake you up. I went into the bathroom. After washing up, I put on clean clothes. I walked across the room. You were still asleep. I came out of the Jingshi without making a sound. SiZhui was waiting for me to report to Uncle. I had to tell him not to mention Mo XuanYu's presence for the time being.

Uncle listened to us carefully. We didn't talk about the altercation with Jiang Sheng about Wei Ying. We just told him that the dancing goddess had been destroyed! He asked SiZhui to write his report and send it to him before lunchtime.

We went out and separated. I headed for the cold spring. My night had been short and my body, with all the tension of the last few days, was aching. I slipped off my robe and took off my tunic. I went down into the cold pool and put myself in a state of meditation.

But the images of Mount Dafan came back to me. I had almost lost you as soon as I found you! I had searched for you for so long, I had experienced so many disillusionments that knowing you were there with me made me...hesitant. Would I have the courage to tell you how I felt? Or would I settle for our old friendship? Were you ready to accept other feelings from me? And what did you feel for me? I heard footsteps at my back. I half turned and saw you. You were surrounded by the mist that was coming from the cold spring.

I saw your face change at the sight of my back. I hadn't intended to show you. At least not right away. When I turned to face you completely, your eyes widened; you had just seen the iron mark on my chest. Realizing this, I quickly got out of the pool. You followed me with your eyes until I joined you.

"You are awake" I was afraid of the questions you would ask me and even more afraid of the answers I would have to give you.

"Lan Zhan, those whip marks on your back... "

I could only look down. I was ashamed. He knew those marks proved my disobedience to my clan.

"You have always been an example to the followers of the Lan Clan. What could you have done to deserve such a severe punishment? "

I remained silent. If he had let me talk last night, we wouldn't be having this discussion today! At this moment, I had not found the courage to talk to him about the last 16 years, let alone the weeks after his death.

"Lan Zhan, answer me" I felt that my silence made him angry. It was Lan Jingyi's voice that saved me!

"Han GuangJun, this is the afterlife chamber, the Master summoned the spirit but could not control it! "

We rushed in and arrived just as 2 disciples were thrown through the door. One of them was SiZhui. I asked him what had happened.

"Master Lan connected with the spirit but suddenly it became extremely powerful? This is not something we can control! "

"What spirit?" asked Wei Ying .

Inside me, I already knew the answer . I had told Uncle that the sword had traces of Yin Hufu on it . But he didn't listen to me!

"The Spirit of the Mo Manor Sword"

Wei Ying used a spirit talisman to open the doors of the hall of the afterlife. The doors closed just after we passed through. The room was silent, several elders were lying on the floor. Uncle was unconscious in the arms of a disciple. The sword was floating below the containment bell. I sat behind my uncle's qin and began to play. Soon Wei Ying accompanied me with his flute.

I looked at uncle discreetly. Wei Ying's special way of playing would make my uncle mad...even if he was unconscious at the moment!

Uncle started to get agitated! Wei Ying must have understood, because he started to play in an atrocious way. Although I understood his intention, I prayed for it to stop, he was breaking my ears !!!! Uncle regained consciousness for a moment;

"Stop playing the flute....get out of here...enough... "he fell back into unconsciousness.

Our duet resumed. This time Wei Ying played "purification" perfectly.

The sword suddenly fell to the ground, back under control. Wei Ying bent down to pick it up. I saw him begin to flail about as if possessed; seeming to hear voices that only he could perceive! I could see him struggling, but I couldn't help him. Why were our powers so different? Why should he be alone to fight the Yin Hufu? Because he designed it? Or because he was the only one who had survived the Yin Iron?

He dropped the sword and fell into my arms. I could see the worry and fear in him. I tightened my grip slightly to reassure him. Then I helped him up and guided him outside. I left the afterlife room in the hands of the Elders who had stayed outside and had Uncle transferred to his room.

Medication and acupuncture had failed, so I gave Uncle some of my energy. The disciples asked me questions and worried that they had an object infected with Yin Hufu.

Jingyi asked the questions that everyone had in mind.

"Is the Patriarch of Yiling really back? What should we do? Did he really possess someone else's body? "

I looked back at them! Like many, they were talking without knowing. But that was normal given their age. Some of them weren't even born when Wei Ying died! They relied on the distorted story told to them by their parents! From my face, they knew at once that their chattering was annoying me! I sent them all back to their rooms, especially SiZhui who had been hit by the evil waves of the sword!

They withdrew and I was left alone with Uncle!

In the past few years, he and I had not always seen eye to eye. But he had raised me, he had been more of a father than an uncle. He, too, had to control his anger. His anger at seeing his brother waste his life for a woman who didn't love him. The one of not having been able to hold back the woman he had fallen in love with. That of seeing his best student rebel against him! The one of having understood too late that I was no longer a child whose life he could control. But he was still my uncle. The same blood ran in our veins. I still hadn't completely forgiven him. But with Wei Ying's return, I might be able to do so. It all depended on how he would react when he found out he was back!

I stayed for another hour to give him my energy. An Elder came to replace me. I went to the Jingshi.

I had left the main room to Wei Ying. I had taken over SiZhui's old room. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next morning, I was surprised to see that Wei Ying was already up! When I went out to the gallery, I saw that my love had put his mask back on, probably because he was afraid to face people from his past who might recognize him. We could hear birds singing. I approached him.

I wanted to ask him if he had any idea who might have infected the sword. He had been before he came back to life. But to me, it had been intentionally brought into Mo Manor to implicate him. That meant that someone knew about his return, besides me!

He turned in my direction.

"You're not suspecting me, are you? I've been asleep for 16 years... "

"Of course I believe you, but where did the sword get infected with the amulet?"

"Normally that's impossible I broke the amulet into pieces. "

We realized at that time that only Yin Iron could restore Yin Hufu. And there was only one person who could do this! With one voice we said the same name:

"Xue Yang"

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)