In the midst of the rain, a white figure walked forwards step by step.

Xie Lian's bamboo hat blocked the rain for him, with the rain drops sliding down the brim. In one hand, he held Mo Huanhan's alchemy book. In his other hand, he analyzed a needle. Ever since completing the mission at the Mo Clan, he'd been studying the functions of absorbing spiritual energy.

Acupuncture was definitely miraculous, he thought.

"Where are you headed to, Xie-xiong?" Shen Qingqiu saw him and ducked underneath his bamboo hat. The distance between them had decreased extremely. Their shoulders brushed past one another.

Xie Lian smiled, "I am going to visit the embroidery store. Just recently, I purchased some needles as an experiment. The needles are custom-made. They should be created from the finest steel wire and nickel, deposited from Yunmeng Jiang's best mine."

He showed the needle in his hand to Shen Qingqiu. "This was purchased from their store. I experimented with them and saw that it fits me. I'm going to purchase some more."

Shen Qingqiu understood. "What's the experiment you're working on?"

"Spiritual energy absorption." Xie Lian lowered his voice. His eyes were gentle, "I wanted to try out the methods in Mo Huanhan's alchemy book. It might come in good use for the future."

Shen Qingqiu's eyes brightened. "That's a good idea!" He snapped his fan shut. "If you ever finish learning this method, please do teach me! There's no doubt that you'd be a great teacher!"

Xie Lian chuckled gently at him. "You overpraise me, Shen-xiong."

They continued conversing with one another, as they finally entered the embroidery store. After purchasing more needles, Xie Lian and Shen Qingqiu stepped out from the store. They ducked underneath Xie Lian's bamboo hat for shelter from the rain, walking consistently.

"Oh yeah," Shen Qingqiu suddenly remembered. "Last time we bought items, you couldn't even afford eight simple tanghulu's. How come now you have money?"

Xie Lian tripped on the spot.

Shen Qingqiu was surprised. He reacted quickly, grabbed the scrap-picker by his forearm and prevented him from falling onto the wet pavement. "Pay attention to where you're stepping!"

"...I did." Xie Lian pouted. Earlier, he had tripped on... absolute flat ground.

Shen Qingqiu sighed. "What would you do now without your Ghost King?" They continued hiding underneath the bamboo hat, walking down past several streets. Gradually, they came across a familiar figure.

Wei Wuxian strolled across them. He looked at the box of needles they carried with interest.

Seeing his curiosity, Xie Lian passed the box over. "It is apart of an experiment I'm conducting."

Wei Wuxian pulled a needle out, fondling with its tip, which easily drew a bead of blood out from his finger. "Nice, it is quite sharp."

He gave back the needle, placing it in the box.

Xie Lian looked worriedly at the blood on Wei Wuxian's finger. "Wei-xiong, your hand..."

Wei Wuxian arched an eyebrow then flexed his hand. "Oh, this? It's nothing." He rubbed the bead of blood from his fingers, which was immediately smeared into nothing. "See? It's fixed."

The panic visible in Xie Lian's golden pupils had faded away. He sighed, "Don't go injuring yourself like that. Just imagine how worried HanGuang-Jun will be for you."

Wei Wuxian bowed his head. "You're right."

The three wifey's ducked from the rain. They were all sheltered from underneath Xie Lian's bamboo hat. Their shoulders touched one another, but none of them cared for the shortness of distance.

They continued walking until arriving at the rooms of where they stayed.

There, their husbands waited for them.

Luo Binghe was pitifully shedding tears. "Shizun!" He cooed, "They are bullying me! Look at the bruise on my face! Look at how hard they hit me!"

Shen Qingqiu, "..." What bruise? You mean the pigment on your face that the rain is dissolving?

He smacked his fan on Luo Binghe's forehead, sparing no pity. "Binghe, do you think I am so easy to trick? Next time, come up with a better piece of artwork."

This time, true tears spilled out from Luo Binghe's eyes. "I was wrong, Shizun! I didn't mean to trick you!"

In the back, Hua Cheng sneered, "I can't believe a Demon Lord like you is resorting to such cheap tactics."

Luo Binghe spat back, "Don't act like you haven't ever acted pitiful to your loved one!"

Xie Lian fell silent. It was true—Hua Cheng did enjoy being coaxed...

Hua Cheng found his cover had been blown off. Dark lines ran across his face, and he harrumphed, "It doesn't matter." He turned to Xie Lian, gently holding his hands, "Let's talk about something else, Gege."

In the meantime, Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan watched the entire spectacle unfold. They enjoyed the interactions. When they all first met, the three couples all had swords drawn against each other's necks. Now, a month passed by and they were all laughing happily.

They fought against demons together, went to the hot springs, taught and learned about love, took on missions, played as babysitters, argued for paying the bill, drank at the same table, and more.

Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Zhan and flashed a quick smile.

There seemed to be a deeper meaning behind it—

Suddenly, a scream surfaced. Nobody understood how it all began, but a torrent of civilians began running at the same direction. They were all fleeing from something.

"RUN!"

"Crazy! Damn crazy that man is!"

"CHILD! Get my child out of here!"

"Yunmeng Jiang isn't safe!"

The insane amount of people was enough to fill up a nation. They all wore absolute horror across their faces. They ran, and their footsteps hammered against the floor. The commotion was so loud, enough to be mistaken as a stampede.

Within an instant, the three couples guarded each other.

The husbands carried their wifeys up on their shoulders, avoiding from being swept within the stampede of panicking people.

"What is going on?" Wei Wuxian blurted out.

At that point, it looked like a sea of civilians had flooded the streets of Yunmeng Jiang. Everywhere on the pathway was blocked. The people were all fleeing to the right side, never looking back.

"Go to the left!" Shen Qingqiu pointed out.

In order to find out what was happening, they naturally had to go against the current.

Their husbands reacted and began pushing against the flood of people. They ran while carrying their wifey's within their strong and domineering embrace. Wei Wuxian's head was shielded by Lan Zhan's rough palm, which occasionally played with the locks of fluffy hair.

As they continued going against the tide of people, a strange familiar scent wavered in the air.

It was the scent of blood.

The scent was nauseating and compelling, which forced the three couples to hold their breaths subconsciously. "What the hell is this..." Luo Binghe's breath hitched.

He flinched when they finally arrived at the scene.

They were at the entrance to Yunmeng Jiang, the gates.

This place used to be flourishing in purple lotuses, blossoming in flowers, and growing in aspiring citizens. There used to be guards and disciples who guarded the gates. They wore the familiar violet robes, which reached to the lengths of their knees and a belt to tie everything together. The guard disciples of Yunmeng Jiang were the ones who kept everything in order.

However, at that moment, they were collapsed across the pavement. A pool of blood flowed from their cracked skulls, bathing the entire scenery in crimson red.

Hua Cheng wore a face of disapproval.

Surrounded by the corpses of Yunmeng Jiang's guard disciples, there was a familiar figure. This familiar figure had the masculine shape of a demon.

It was Bo Fan.

He wielded his demonic longsword, wiping off the flesh and blood that tainted its blade. Bo Fan turned around, facing the three couples with an ugly smile. "You six..."

"So, we meet again." He sneered.

Wei Wuxian jumped out from his husband's arms. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing?" Bo Fan rolled his eyes. "I'm saving the world by persecuting those with sins." He sarcastically remarked.

Xie Lian's eyes thinned. He landed on the ground simultaneously as Shen Qingqiu.

"You are not welcomed in Yunmeng Jiang." Lan Zhan blatantly spoke.

Bo Fan harrumphed, "And why should I listen to you?"

"You are disrupting the peace and harmony." Xie Lian pointed out. "You have murdered these fifteen Yunmeng Jiang guard disciples. Out of everything, you should be thrown in prison and executed." The silk bandage on his arm, Ruoye, began to unfold itself.

Bo Fan noticed the spiritual device, then he smiled, revealing a canine tooth.

"I am not here to fight you." He pointed at Xie Lian, "Nor you," Wei Wuxian, "You," Lan Zhan, "You," Shen Qingqiu, "Or you." His finger landed on Luo Binghe before pulling away.

"Today is for me to take vengeance." He cackled. His eyes were bloodshot. "On that day, I was up against five hundred Yunmeng Jiang disciples. What a pity it was for me to not tackle them to death. Therefore, I came today to kill them."

Bo Fan took on the appearance of a madman.

He threw his head back and laughed crazily. His masculine figure pulsed along with his every breath and laughter. To the audience, it looked like his body was laughing along.

"Oh really?" A familiar voice entered the scenario.

Black boots walked across the pavement, with its heels standing tall and almighty. A falling leaf was crushed underneath the domineering boots, squeaking out weak crunches. Gradually, the ground began trembling. It was unknown as to what was happening but... the ground rose up and down, like the belly of a snoring beast.

It was then... the three couples recognized that the cause of the stampede was due to... five hundred Yunmeng Jiang disciples.

"Did you say that you wanted to duel against my disciples?" Jiang Cheng sneered.

On his left was Wen Ning. On his right was Lan Xichen. And behind him was a crowd of five hundred Yunmeng Jiang disciples.

Bo Fan's eyes widened. Then, he smiled, "Hello there, Clan Leader Jiang." One of his fingers trailed up the blade of his longsword. "It is true that I want to duel against the five hundred disciples. Is it not possible to grant my wish?"

"What are you here to do?" Jiang Cheng spat. He completely disregarded the nonsense that Bo Fan spouted on about.

Bo Fan straightened his hunched back.

He sheathed his longsword, "It is exactly what I said. I came here to fight."

"Despite knowing that you'll lose?" Jiang Cheng arched his eyebrows. "You're saying that you want to fight my five hundred disciples? Do you know what you're saying?" One of his hands touched the silver ring strung around his finger, "You basically served yourself to us on a silver platter."

Bo Fan gave a silly grin. "Is that so?"

"Your death is basically guaranteed." Jiang Cheng deadpanned. "Are you truly attempting to kill us in one shot when you know you can't... or... is it that you have something hidden under your sleeves?"

Bo Fan shook his head. "No."

Veins popped upon his neck as sudden killing intent surrounded his entirety. He unsheathed his longsword, sending out a sharp cling to ring in the air. "I'm just confident that I'll be able to kill all of them."

The blade of the longsword reflected Bo Fan's eyes of resentment. "Besides, whether I live or die, Yunmeng Jiang will for sure be destroyed."

What is the best way to get your lover's attention?

Luo Binghe: I added some pigment on my cheeks so that it looked like Chengzhu and HanGuang-Jun bullied me. Hahaha! I'm such a genius-

Shen Qingqiu: ಠ益ಠ Do you want to live or not?

Does anyone in the audience understand the difficulty of picking Chinese names? I mean, I can understand Mandarin, though I wouldn't say I excel at the language. So, in this chapter, I'll give you a deeper meaning to the Five Strikes Demon, Bo Fan's name.

His name in pinyin is "Bo Fan", and in hanzi is【博犯】

The Bo【博】in Bo Fan means: Win/Obtain (also means rich, but I meant the former)

The Fan【犯】in Bo Fan means: Attack/Violate

Hope this gives y'all an insight on Bo Fan's character (not like it does anything, lol).