The sound of drums beating had echoed across the entire city.

Wei Wuxian was astonished upon hearing this, feeling a tint of mystery and yet shock. "What was that noise?" Based on his hearing, the player of drums must be within Yunmeng Jiang.

"Drums..." Shen Qingqiu fell silent. He attempted at analyzing the case, but couldn't remember anything of use.

"Who would be playing drums at this time of day!" Luo Binghe fumed in anger. A water droplet slid down from his robes, dropping into a puddle onto the pavement. His burst of irritation had attracted some passerby's, who paused to look at him.

"Binghe." Shen Qingqiu smacked him on the forehead with his fan.

"Shizun..." Luo Binghe cooed. He held the red mark on his forehead with a pained expression, "You can hit me, but don't hit me too hard."

Shen Qingqiu's stern eyes softened, as he snapped his fan shut.

"Gege," Hua Cheng's expression was solemn. "There was something suspicious about the drums playing."

Xie Lian nodded. "I know."

The rest of the three couples knew as well. After all, when the playing of the drums began, they all sensed a mysterious power within the sound. To be more accurate, they sensed resentful energy within the sound. If Wei Wuxian were to estimate, he'd guess that the beating drums were to trigger a sort of necromancy.

The three couples were on their guard.

After the sound of the drums, there seemed to be a long silence. It was like a blanket had been gently laid upon the noise, soothing it to sleep.

The three couples found it strange.

It was as if the world went still.

"AHHHH!!!" All of a sudden, a scream broke through the skies. The three couples were alerted as soon as they heard the scream. They relied on their ears and ran in the direction of the noise. When they arrived at the scene, the three couples were astonished to see what was before them.

A woman laid collapsed on the ground, blood seeping out from her torn open abdomen. Meanwhile, a pale and haggard man had repeatedly slashed at the woman, regardless of how much blood and flesh leaked out.

The man seemed to be out of control. His nails extended out to look like claws, growing sharp and strong. His appearance was most definitely pale and ragged. His skin was rotting exponentially, as if there was a dark force possessing his body.

"...h-help me..." the woman was still alive. Just barely on the brink of death.

She reached out a hand towards the three couples. However, the man didn't allow her to finish, as he attempted his finishing strike-

Lan Zhan stopped the man on time.

His sword, Bichen blocked the strike. The man didn't expect for the woman to be saved, and so, he attempted a final struggle.

Lan Zhan didn't allow him to, as he blatantly kicked the man into a wall.

A large sound resounded in the corridor, as the figure of the man created a huge crack amongst the brick wall. The remaining of the couples looked at the crack, astonished.

Lan Zhan didn't let the man escape. He immediately pressed his blade against the man's neck, then leaning down. "What are you planning to do?" Lan Zhan asked. His face was cold and stern, unbelievably able to make any person cower in fear.

However, all of a sudden, Lan Zhan's expressionless face showed a sign of surprise.

It was because, the man was already dead.

He was a fierce corpse.

Lan Zhan sneered, then without hesitation, he pierced his blade into the fierce corpse's abdomen. The fierce corpse couldn't handle such stimulation, then collapsed, with its soul dispersing.

"This..." The rest of the three couples understood what was up.

Xie Lian held out a hand to the victimized woman, closing her eyelids as she passed away.

Wei Wuxian explained his theory, "Could it be that the earlier drums player was... actually controlling fierce corpses?"

Xie Lian shot the idea down. "Could this man truly be a fierce corpse? Look at his clothes," he pointed at the newly bought clothes that the corpse wore. "If he was dead a long time ago, then his clothes would've had a trace of blood. Instead, he appears like he died without much of a struggle. Rather, his death itself appears... much more clean than other deaths."

"Couldn't it have been poison?" Shen Qingqiu brought a new thesis up.

Wei Wuxian shook his head. "These clothes are newly bought." He held his chin. "That means that this man should've been alive recently. He couldn't have died outside of Yunmeng Jiang..."

Suddenly, a lightbulb flashed in his head, as he asked, "How did a fierce corpse even get into Yunmeng Jiang?"

The three couples fell silent.

That was right! How did Yunmeng Jiang even get fierce corpses? Even if there were fierce corpses, who was controlling these fierce corpses? How did the controller get into Yunmeng Jiang?

"Most importantly, we must go find the drums player as soon as possible!" Wei Wuxian confirmed.

They all ran out of the corridor, planning to split up and find the drums player. It was then, another howl pierced the skies. The three couples stiffened.

It was Hua Cheng's turn to speak up. He solemnly asked, "Have you ever tried thinking that... there are more than one fierce corpse that infiltrated?"

"H-HELP ME!!!" A middle-aged man cried.

He attempted to flee from whatever monster that was chasing his trail. Sightings such as this became prosperous in Yunmeng Jiang. There were several fierce corpses under the control of the drums player, uncontrollably slaughtering citizens one by one.

Many people of Yunmeng Jiang died.

What Bo Fan said earlier became true. Yunmeng Jiang truly was being destroyed at that moment.

"We need to stop the fierce corpses." Shen Qingqiu solemnly deadpanned. "The guard disciples are fighting against Bo Fan at the moment. They aren't here to keep order around."

The three couples ran into another encounter with a fierce corpse.

Drawing their swords, they got rid of fierce corpses after fierce corpses. It was to no end. Who knew how many fierce corpses there were in Yunmeng Jiang. It could be hundreds.

"How many fierce corpses could have possibly infiltrated!" Luo Binghe cursed. He couldn't believe that underneath their noses the entire time, fierce corpses were wandering around in Yunmeng Jiang! Even worse, he was a demon. How did he not notice?

Shen Qingqiu looked worriedly at him. "Don't blame yourself."

"Was it due to our negligence?" Wei Wuxian bit his fingernail, while racking his brain for thoughts.

Lan Zhan immediately shut down that thought process for him. "Not your fault." He reached out and held his lover by the hand, with his eyes and gaze gentle like the morning's breeze.

Wei Wuxian's breath hitched. He quickly looked away, trying to hide his rare shyness.

His cheeks were flushed in red, appearing especially appeasing, like sprinkling petals of roses on a blank piece of white canvas.

"Anyways," Wei Wuxian knew what thoughts roamed in his husband's mind, so he hurried to change the subject. "If I were the drum player, I would've ran away at this moment."

"...hm?" Shen Qingqiu was confused. "Why run away?"

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Haven't we established that the drum player and Bo Fan are accomplices? The day Bo Fan decided to challenge the five hundred disciples to a showdown, the drum player decides to outbreak a wave of fierce corpses in Yunmeng Jiang. If this isn't cooperation, then I don't know what is."

Luo Binghe heard this and couldn't help but agree.

"Wei-xiong," Xie Lian thought of an idea. "Are you saying that the drum player is running away because... they are leaving Yunmeng Jiang to deal with the fierce corpses?"

Wei Wuxian nodded. "I don't know what their deal is with killing cultivators and all that, but... unanimously, their goal must be for a large outbreak of deaths. There are so many fierce corpses that they could probably overtake Yunmeng Jiang in a day."

The remaining three couples were astonished.

Shen Qingqiu blurted, "Then what will happen to Yunmeng Jiang?"

Wei Wuxian sensed their worry, and hurried to ease them. "If we don't do anything, then Yunmeng Jiang will definitely be destroyed. If that happens... well, I would have to congratulate Jiang Cheng on having to rebuild his clan for the second time..."

The three couples didn't laugh at his joke.

"Cheer up!" Wei Wuxian waved his hands around. "Based on my perspective, the drums player couldn't have gone far. From the moment they began playing the drums, they were inside Yunmeng Jiang. Now that their job is over, they must flee amidst the chaos."

Xie Lian stroked his chin with a slender finger. "That makes sense."

"Does anyone have a person in mind that fits the identity of this trash drums player?" Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow. His cold face was still full of mesmerizing... indifference.

They began to discuss. However, what the three couples didn't know was that... the fierce corpses didn't come out of nowhere. After all, at the entrance to the gates of Yunmeng Jiang, the guard disciples were turning on each other.

Yunmeng Jiang disciples attacked and blocked each other.

Some of them had increased in mobility, becoming extremely agile. They jumped at one another, knocking each other down and stabbing. It was like they lived for bloodshed. These disciples were nothing like before when they were properly fighting against Bo Fan.

"What did you do to them?" Jiang Cheng was furious.

He seethed these words like they were coated in venom.

Bo Fan shook his head. "I didn't do anything to them. I merely wanted to have a proper and fair fight."

"Fair fight?" Jiang Cheng sneered. "Since the beginning you arrived at the gates and slaughtered my people, you knew that this wasn't going to be a fair fight."

Every word he spoke was the utter truth.

Where did Bo Fan get the confidence to come out and challenge the disciples to a fight? It was because he knew that the disciples couldn't beat him. Why couldn't the disciples beat him, even though they had such a large advantage in numbers? Probably because the disciples were manipulated by some sort of method.

"Believe in me, Clan Leader Jiang." Bo Fan cackled. "I did nothing to your disciples, alright. But the same can't be applied for that bitch- I mean, assistant."

If his "assistant" were to hear that, she would've thrown a ball of blue fire at his face.

Jiang Cheng's expression at that point was extremely ugly. "What did your assistant do to my disciples?"

"Huh?" Bo Fan put up a pretence. "I have no idea what you're talking about—"

He was interrupted by a loud cry amidst the fighting disciples. A young disciple was sprawled upon the pavement floor, dodging attacks left to right. The young disciple cried to his attacker, whom were friends. "I-I don't want to kill you!"

His attacker, the young disciple's friend had already fallen to a state of out of control.

The young disciple couldn't help but cry. The two friends were turned against each other—but for what reason? For what reason do they have to throw away their lives, slaughter for justice, and more? Why was this happening?

"I will soothe the disciples!" Lan Xichen pulled out a flute.

His flute; Liebing, was a vertical instrument made of bamboo. As he pressed his lips to Liebing, a gentle melody flowed out.

The out of control disciples had momentarily paused.

Even Jiang Cheng, who was in a sour mood, had frozen.

Lan Xichen played his melody, while Wen Ning lashed out and suppressed the momentarily paused disciples with his chains. The two cooperated well. By the time Lan Xichen finished playing his melody, all disciples had been suppressed.

Jiang Cheng recovered from his stupor.

It was then he realized... that Bo Fan had disappeared!

"Damn!" Jiang Cheng swore. "He fled, didn't he! That coward!" He cursed under his breath, and felt the urge to whip something with Zidian. His one hand curled around the silver ring on his other hand. Jiang Cheng consecutively stomped at the ground, tormented with madness.

Lan Xichen put Liebing, his flute, away.

He wanted to calm Clan Leader Jiang down, but then, was hit with the sight of something shocking.

The Yunmeng Jiang disciples that were acting out of control... their skin were rotting at an imperceptible rate to the naked eyes. They were oh so pale and blemished with wounds, scars, and blood. It was then the Clan Leaders understood, there was something wrong.

"...is it possession?"

Lan Zhan: Today, I saw my lover acting shy with me. What happened?

Wei Wuxian: 😤 You know exactly what happened!

Lan Zhan: What did I do? I am being wrongly accused!

The other two couples: Now is not the time for PDA!