Wangji had successfully managed to make his way up the mountain without anyone spotting him and had stealthily made his way back into the healers' den.

Although, he was still rather wet, and smelled heavily like lotus flowers and water vines. Worse things to smell like, really.

Taking off his robes, he hung them over a clothes rack. He braided his hair in a long plait, so it was off his neck and sunk into the bed.

Sleep claimed him instantly as he dreamt about water plants.

The next day, he woke up at noon precisely and felt better than he had in ages. He had absolutely no intention of lifting a single finger unless absolutely necessary.

Looking out the window with a content look, he exhaled and leaned back in his bed.

I guess I should get up now, he thought as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Wei Ying was absolutely jaded the entire day. The gift-giving ceremony just swam right through his ears, and he was in a daze the whole time. He didn't even bother to try to make trouble, he just stared at the floor in thought.

Just what was that thing? He had never seen anything like it. It looked like it was the same size as him, if not a bit bigger. He only saw a half of it. And the way it shone, reminded him of stars, or maybe pearls. It looked powerful, as well. Those fins looked like they could slice him in half.

Right, it had fins, didn't it? he thought as he let his feet guide him.

"Wei Wuxian!" Jiang Cheng snapped as he punched his shidi in the arm.

"Huh, what?" He said as he looked around. It seems that the Young Master of the Nie Sect had tagged along at some point. Oh, right, didn't they talk a little? Ah, who can remember? Definitely not him.

"Ey, Wei-xiong, you've been staring at the ground all day." Huiasang said, opening his fan in thought.

"Not just that, you've been acting weird ever since you got our invitations back. Just what happened last night?" Jiang Cheng huffed.

" Say, what do either of you know about BiLing Lake?" Wei Ying put a hand on his chin in thought as he walked side by side with them.

"BiLing Lake? It's just a lake as far as I know, why?" Huiasang pondered, fanning himself to cool down.

"Why are you asking something like that?" Jiang Cheng said.

" There's something in the lake." Wei Ying said, sitting down on a railing.

"Could you be any more vague?" Jiang Cheng expressed his disbelief with a scornful tone.

"Yesterday, when I was leaving the inn, I saw something under the water, at first it looked like an otter, and then a person. And then a saw a huge blue tail! And it was glowing under the moonlight, literally glowing!" Wei Ying exclaimed.

"Hm, and how many jars of wine did you have when you saw this." Jiang Cheng said mockingly.

"I was sober! Anyway, Nie-xiong, did anything weird happen recently?." He asked.

"Nope. Nothing" He answered.

"The only thing that was mildly interesting was Lan Wangji throwing up over his uncle's flowerbed."

"Huh? Who threw up?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Lan Wangji, the Second jade of Lan. He's Sect Leader Lan's younger brother. The reason you didn't see him at the gift-giving ceremony is that he was in the healers' den. He threw up and passed out. Apparently, he threw up so much and then passed out due to overwork. The healer said he's never seen anyone throw up more in his entire twenty-year career as a doctor." Huaisang whispered from behind his fan.

"I didn't know you could throw up from overwork." Jiang Cheng sceptically raised his eyebrow.

"I didn't believe it at first, but apparently he threw up so much that his uncle's begonias had to be dug up completely because they were ruined," Huiasang said with a half smile.

"Hm, he's Lan Xichen's younger brother? What's he like?" Wei Ying asked curiously.

"I wouldn't bother with him, Wei-xiong. He's the absolute polar opposite of his brother!" Huiasang huffed as he closed his fan.

" He's as frigid as ice and paler than jade. He's quiet when he walks, too, so sometimes I mistake him for a ghost. In fact, some disciples call him the Phantom of Cloud Recesses. Uh, not me though, I don't dare, hehe." Huaisang added, chuckling nervously as he looked around, most like to check whether the Phantom was behind him.

"How can you mix up a person and a ghost? A person is a person, and a ghost is a ghost." Jiang Cheng scoffed at the childish subject of conversation.

"That's what I thought before I met Lan Wangji. I'm telling you he's part ghost, or at least part something. And he never gets cold, either. I mean it! He could be on a mountaintop wearing nothing but underwear, and he'd be completly fine." He said to the looks of disbelief from both of his friends.

"Right, so he's part ghost and part winter fox?" Jiang Cheng scoffed as he rolled his eyes to the sky.

"I didn't know ghosts could throw up." Wei Ying laughed.

"Well, at least I'm not claiming that there's some sort of monster under the lake." Huiasang bit back while Jiang Cheng laughed.

"Hey!" Wei Ying snapped at the two. "There is something under the lake, I'm not lying! I would swear my right hand on it. I saw something last night, I don't know what it was, but it was most certainly real."

Upon hearing Wei Ying's words, the previously laughing pair stopped their and shifted their attention squarely onto him.

If he was really joking, he would have started laughing with by now.

"You really did see something last night?" Jiang Cheng questioned as they started walking again, although this time a lot slower.

"I don't know what it was, but it was blue and green. It had a big shiny tail and these insanely sharp-looking fins. I think it was purple as well, or just a little bit purple." Wei Ying pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to remember. Curse his goldfish brain!

"Oh, it had little purple marks all along it, that was it! Uh, what else. When I was looking at it, the top half looked like it had arms for a second, but it was a completely different colour than its bottom half."

"Hm, that doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of." Huaisang started but stopped and gave out a small squeak.

"What is it?" They both asked as they looked at him strangely.

"It's the Phantom." He muttered as he covered his face with his fan. A rather pointless gesture, as anyone who knows him would instantly know that it was him because of that very action.

"Huh, where?" Wei Ying's eyes went over to the next courtyard as the three of them were staring at the back of someone.

The only thing they could make out was a head of long wavy raven hair as the person stood with one hand behind their back with an elegant poise about them.

"Hm, that's him?" Jiang Cheng asked whispered, not being too sure why he was whispering in the first place.

"It's him, although he changed his hair today. But it's definitely him." Huaisang uttered.

"He looks pretty real to me." Jiang Cheng scoffed.

"Yeah, he doesn't look very transparent." Wei Ying joked.

However, they were about to be proven very wrong as said figure walked over to a bannister and sat and turned around to sit down.

Jiang Cheng watched closely as they both saw the face of Lan Wangji for the first time. Huiasang's descriptions were rather accurate. He was very ghostly looking. The pale sunlight seemed to just go right through him as he stared off into space.

"Huiasang, I take it back, he's a ghost." Jiang Cheng dazedly said as the three just stood there.

Wei Ying couldn't take his eyes off the person standing before him. He possessed a face of exquisite beauty, one that was accentuated by his fair complexion. There was an undeniable allure to his appearance that simply couldn't be matched.

With the way his robes fluttered in the gentle breeze, and the way his back was as straight as an arrow. His hair looked lovely and wavy as it moved in the wind with a sort of shimmer.

"That's Lan Wangji?" Wei Ying whispered. "I was expecting someone a little more, well, I don't really know what I was expecting, really."

He would have kept staring for another hour or so if Huiasang didn't somehow manage to trip into the air and fall on his side.

Wangji looked over to the other side of the courtyard to see three very awkward-looking people scrambling around and looking anywhere but him.

Wangji simply just glared at them before walking off to the library.

Wei Ying felt like he had just met an old friend somehow, as he stood there with Huaisang and Jiang Cheng.

Why does he seem so familiar? Wei Ying thought to himself.

The rest of the day he kept thinking about Young Master Phantom and how he swore he had seen him someplace.

It was bugging him for the entire day. First, the monster under the lake, and then this pretty young master shows up out of nowhere.

Hold on, pretty? Where did that come from?

"I don't think he's pretty." Wei Ying muttered as he aimlessly walked around Cloud Recesses.

Classes didn't start until tomorrow, there was no need to really do anything. he just kept walking around until he found something mildly interesting. Its a shame, if Gusu wasn't a place with endless rules, it would be beautiful.

Wei Ying walked with his head down and he kicked a rock as he did. Let's see, what spiritual beast fits the bill of the one in Biling Lake?

It had scales, so maybe a dragon? Do those even still exist? Do they live underwater? Possibly. But what about the top half? He could have sworn that he saw hair, was it a ghoul? No, it didn't feel like anything evil. It felt pure, magical. Whatever it was, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He kept walking with his head down in thought when all of a sudden he bumped into a fragrant wall. The strong smell of water lilies and lotus blooms invaded his lungs as he looked up and saw none other than Young Master Phantom.

Wangji owlishly blinked for a few seconds before regaining his composure and putting a hand behind his back.

"Oh, um sorry Lan-er-gongzi." Wei Ying smiled as he look at Wangji's eyes. God, there was something familiar about him.

Wangji just simply nodded in dismissal, while Wei Ying and he kept eye contact for no reason in particular.

Where have I seen him before? Wangji wondered.

I swear to god, I've seen him before, Wei Ying thought.

Wangji was about to walk away when all of a sudden, Wei Ying stopped and said "Um, Lan-er-gongzi, uh, well, I was wondering if, uh you knew um anything about BiLing Lake?"

Why did I ask about that of all things? Wei Ying mentally rolled his eyes at himself.

Biling Lake, why? Wangji thought as his brows furrowed.

Wei Ying watched the emotions go through the eyes of this beautiful young master. Did he know something? His face was stoic but his eyes looked like they knew a lot more than he let on.

Wangji shook his head after a pause.

"Um, oh." Wei Ying awkwardly said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm only saying that because I was in Caiyi town last night and I saw something."

It was just a split second before Wei Ying saw extreme panic in Wangji's eyes before his eyes went back to their usual glassy expression.

Oh, he so knows something and I'm getting to the bottom of it if it's the last thing I do, Wei Ying thought as he crossed his arms.