Wei Ying sighed. "Alright," he muttered before kicking the creaking gates open. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

"Lan Zhan? Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying cried. They had been trudging along the deserted paths of the city, when all of sudden, Lan Zhan was gone. The mist was too heavy for Wei Ying to see anything, and he was panicking. A vice like grip latched onto his heart, and squeezed painfully. 'Where was Lan Zhan? And why wasn't he answering his calls? What if something happened to Lan Zhan? What if he bumped into trouble?' 

At the thought of Lan Zhan possibly getting hurt, Wei Ying's cries got even louder. "LAN ZHAN? LAN ZHAN WHERE ARE YOU?" he screamed, throat horse. 'Oh god. What had happened? Lan Zhan wouldn't just leave him here without a good reason to do so. What if the other wanted out of their relationship? What if he had finally realized what a burden Wei Ying was? What if-' 

Wei Ying was interrupted from his train of thought when a warm, steady hand touched his shoulder. He breathed a sigh of relief, all his doubts falling away. "Lan Zhan," he said in a shaky voice, "You're not hurt are you?" 

"No." 

Wei Ying turned, and gasped. Lan Zhan's amber eyes were filled with terror. His grip on Wei Ying's shoulder had tightened, and Wei Ying knew they would leave marks tomorrow. He really couldn't care less. Lan Zhan was in pain. 

He gently cupped both his hands around Lan Zhan's face. "Hey, look at me." he said, firmly. "I'm here. I'm here with you. I'm not going to leave." 

At his words, Lan Zhan visibly relaxed, some of the tension leaving his eyes. "Mn." he breathed, still gripping Wei Ying's shoulder. 

Wei Ying smiled, "Alright Lan-er gege, stay close to me," he winked. "Wouldn't want to get lost again."

The other blushed, "Shameless," he said, but slipped his hand in Wei Yings. 

Suddenly, a sword came out of nowhere and nearly cut Wei Ying's head off. "Who the fu-?" Wei Ying screeched as the sword retracted as quickly as it came. 

He heard voices up ahead. 

"Is that Senior Mo?" someone murmured? 

"Please don't tell me it's that lunatic again," a voice groaned. 

Wei Ying grinned. It was Jin Ling. 'Wait... what was Jin Ling doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be with Jiang Cheng? How did he end up in Yi City?' 

"Jin Ling?" Wei Ying called, pissed. That brat. 'How does he always manage to land himself in these horrible situations? It was like Jin Ling had a knack for getting in trouble!'  Wei Ying smirked. 'He takes after his uncle.'

"UGHHH," Jin Ling whined. "Why is it you AGAIN?!"

Wei Ying frowned. "Don't be so rude," he chastised. "I saved your ass."

"SHUT UP!" came a flustered reply.   

Wei Ying smiled smugly. Jin Ling seemed to be traveling in a big group. It was only natural that he didn't want to be embarrassed in front of all the other disciples. He had a bit of his other uncle in him too...

"Senior?" came a calm, honeyed voice. "Is that you?" 

"Hm?" Wei Ying asked confused, "Who's asking?" 

"It's Sizhui," the boy replied, obvious relief in his tone. "Since Senior is here, does that mean that Han-Guang Jun is also here?" 

"Of course!" the loud obnoxious voice of Jingyi announced, "Look! Isn't that him right there?" he asked as the groups neared each other. 

Wei Ying's eyes widened in surprise. Besides the Lans and Jin Ling, there were disciples from other clans as well. Gray, blue, black, red, and gold robes clumped together, separating themselves by color. Wei Ying's frown deepened. Usually a night hunt didn't involve this many people.

"What happened?" he asked, sensing something was up. 

Jingyi laughed nervously when he saw the cold glare Han-Guang Jun threw at him, "Heh, well uh it's a long story..." 

--------

"So you're saying that you tracked a dead cat all the way here. Then you heard bamboo taps which led you to Yi City?" Wei Ying was unimpressed. 

"Yes Senior," SiZhui said politely. Wei Ying frowned at the boy. For some reason, Lan Zhan's eyes would soften the slightest bit whenever they landed on SiZhui. Wei Ying didn't like that. Even if the boy was still a junior, Lan Zhan's eyes could only be on him. 

"Hm." he said pointedly. 

Just as he was about to put the junior in his place, the urgent sound of bamboo tapping was suddenly heard. 

"That's it..." Jin Ling muttered nervously, "That's what we heard..." 

Wei Ying frowned. Whoever was tapping clearly wanted to tell them something. 'But what? What did they want to say?' he thought, brows furrowing. 'Whatever it was, it was clearly important.'

He hesitated. "Let's follow the tapping." 

"WHAT?!" Jin Ling screeched, eyes wide, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" 

Jingyi just rolled his eyes, "Why would you ask that? Isn't it obvious?" He swallowed when Han-Guang Jun shot him a look that could freeze over ice. "I mean... YES SENIOR!" Lan Jingyi quickly amended, scared because Han-Guang Jun looked like he wanted to kill someone. 

Wei Ying scoffed, "Now you change up?" he said unimpressed. "You don't have to come. I don't know what the tapping is for, so it's best if you don't tag along," he added, completely oblivious to the expression on Lan Zhan's face. 

"WE'LL COME!" Lan Jingyi quickly declared. He gulped. Han-Guang Jun's glare made him shiver. There was no mistaking that look. It clearly said "I refrained from killing you a second ago, but I'm not afraid to commit murder if you don't accompany him." 

"Wonderful!" Wei Ying replied, ever the airhead. "Let's go," he said making his way towards the tapping sound. Suddenly it stopped. 

Wei Ying spun around, bewildered. 'Why had the sound just stopped?' 

He tried rushing forward, but before he could take another step, a sudden a laugh sounded in front of them. "Han-Guang Jun what an honor it is to meet you!" a sharp, masculine voice cut in. "The great Han-Guang Jun is indeed worthy of his reputation! If not for you showing up today, these juniors would've long been dead." the man said bitterly. 

Said juniors shivered at the nonchalant way the man said that. He was speaking of murder so casually as if he had just asked "how are you today?" 

"You can try!" Jin Ling shot back, trying to keep the tremble from his voice. 

The man just laughed. "Ah you cultivators. So arrogant." 

Jin Ling felt a chill wash down his spine. Even though he couldn't see whoever it was speaking, he could still hear the smirk in his voice. He couldn't control his involuntary shudder. 

"S-Shut up," he said, trying to regain some of pride that he'd just lost. 

"Aww, aren't you that Jin Zixuan's kid? Ha! That idiot. He thought he was so good. Look where that got him? Dead under the Yiling Patriarchs hands." the man scoffed. "Pathetic." 

Jin Ling had turned red with fury at his words, "SHUT UP!" he bellowed, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO DISRESPECT MY FATHER LIKE THAT?! HE'S TEN TIMES THE MAN YOU'LL EVER BE! YOU DOG! YOU DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO BE THE SHIT UNDERNEATH HIS FEET!" 

"Hah!" the man replied, not the least bit angered by his words, "You Jin's are so hypocritical. Must run in the family," he snickered. 

"As if you would know," Wei Ying snarked. "It's not like you even have a family."

"Oh? And why wouldn't I? Doesn't everyone have a family?" 

"Who would want to be related to you? I bet they abandoned you a long time ago." 

"Hah!" the voice chuckled. The juniors were starting to develop a strange feeling of respect for the man. Even though he disgusted them, it was refreshing to see someone... who just didn't care. Someone that would never get riled up, even when you tossed the worst insults in their face. They almost admired his ability to piss people off. No matter how they slighted him, this man would just laugh at them. It made juniors feel like the ones being offended, instead of the other way around. 

"Or maybe you killed them instead?" Wei Ying supplied. 

"Oh?" the man asked, this time his voice holding a dangerous undertone. It was a phrased a question, but the way he said made it seem more of a threat. The man who sounded as if he didn't have a care in the world, was suddenly furious. The atmosphere immediately tensed. 

"Yikes, looks like I hit a sore spot," Wei Ying immediately pounced. "Maybe you didn't even have kill them, maybe they were just so disgusted by you, that they killed themselves." 

The man was silent. Then a bright flash of light came shooting towards Wei Ying. A clash of crystal, and the sword flew backwards into the hands of its master. Wei Ying looked at the object that saved him. Bichen. 

Lan Zhan looked at him, eyes filled with resolution. "Go. I will take care of this." 

Wei Ying was about to open his mouth in protest when Lan Zhan interrupted. "You will get hurt."

Wei Ying's eyes immediately softened. "Alright. Take care." he murmured before hurrying towards the juniors. The younger disciples were still shocked by their exchange. They had never seen Han-Guang Jun act so tenderly to anyone before. They looked at Wei Ying with newfound respect and wariness. If there was one thing they gathered from this, it was that if anything happened to Senior Mo, Han-Guang Jun would have their heads.

Meanwhile Lan Zhan and the stranger had already begun to duel, and Lan Zhan was leading the other man away from the crowd. As soon as the man left, the bamboo sounds started up again. Wei Ying paused. "Follow the tapping!" he announced, much to the dismay of the juniors. They had hoped he had forgotten about that. 

--------

The bamboo sounds had led them to a small house near the center of the city. It was a rundown little cottage, with an abnormally high threshold. 

"Why is the threshold so high?" Jin Ling groaned, having almost tripped on the entrance. 

"It's a coffin house," Wei Ying deadpanned once they were inside. "The threshold is used to prevent any low level corpses from escaping." 

"But why? How would that help?" Jin Ling scrunched up his nose. 

Wei Ying sighed. "What do they teach you? When a corpse forms, they usually have very stiff limbs. They can't walk, can't run, can't do anything but hop. With such a high threshold, they're bound to trip. And if they trip, they won't be able to get back up again until the night as passed and someone has already found them." 

All the juniors immediately nodded with looks of enlightenment on their faces. "Uh, should we be writing this down?" Lan Jingyi chimed in. 

Wei Ying rolled his eyes at him. He was just about to respond, when a frantic tapping noise came from the sides of the coffin house. Whoever ever was tapping, was trying to lead them to a large coffin, located on the left side of the house, near the wall. 

Wei Ying frowned. "Stay back." he said, "It might be dangerous." 

The juniors all backed away, holding their swords out as a last line of defense. 

Wei Ying neared the coffin and slowly pushed it open. He furrowed his brow, and tilted his head, unsure of what to make of this. "Who is that?" he asked pointing to the person inside the tomb.