There was the burst of metallic sparks.

Shen Qingqiu tried to reason with Lan Zhan, but the latter wouldn't listen. Their cold swords clashed at one another, creating a clean and crisp sound echo from within the cave. An astonishing rebound had inflicted, throwing the two cultivators away from each other.

Lan Zhan had collapsed, supporting himself by sticking his blade at the ground.

Earlier, he'd been mindlessly sending spiritual energy to the fake Wei Wuxian. His spiritual energy was almost sucked dry.

Now that he was fighting against Shen Qingqiu, who had his spiritual energy, it was clear that Lan Zhan was at the disadvantage.

"We don't want to fight." Luo Binghe interrupted. "HanGuang-Jun, what you're experiencing right now is an illusion. That Wei Wuxian..." He pointed at the illusion, "Is fake."

In the back, the real Wei Wuxian was worried. Couldn't Lan Zhan tell him apart?

Lan Zhan didn't talk. He slashed his sword at Shen Qingqiu, who quickly blocked it. "HanGuang-Jun!"

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian piped in.

Hearing that familiar voice, Lan Zhan's sturdy body had stiffened and paused. He tiredly looked in the direction of Wei Wuxian, while the fog over his eyes began to clear up. There seemed to be a ray of light shining past his pupils.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian called again.

This time, the grip Lan Zhan had on his sword became faint.

With a soft clink, Bichen collapsed on the hard ground. Immediately, Lan Zhan knelt on the ground. Sorrow was written heavily across his face.

Nobody was able to access his memories for him, otherwise they would've understood just how much anguish he'd experienced. Lan Zhan remembered every single detail of his past. There was the time he'd fought against his lover, trying to disciple him for breaking the GusuLan rules and sneaking alcohol in Cloud Recesses.

Although he'd been quite serious at that time, Lan Zhan realized that that memory was probably one of the happy times where his heart moved.

When he realized that the person who'd been bothering him all the time... had gone missing, Lan Zhan was unable to clearly explain the worry he felt. When Wei Wuxian came back from Burial Mounds, he changed into a different person.

Lan Zhan wanted to forcibly take the Yiling Patriarch back to GusuLan, so that they can finally rest together back at home, the place where they both belonged.

However, the world had other plans for them.

Nobody could accept the demonic cultivation that Wei Wuxian practiced—not because it was dangerous—but rather because it wouldn't benefit them in any way. This had angered Lan Zhan, but who in this godforsaken world would stop and listen to him?

He remembered trying to calm down. His hands were shaking and trembling like they never did before. Lan Zhan looked all over the place after Wei Wuxian fell down from that cliff in the Nightless City.

He'd taken him away to a cave.

Lan Zhan had sent spiritual energy to the dying Wei Wuxian, and fought against thirty-three GusuLan Clan elders. He'd wanted to bring Wei Wuxian back to Burial Mounds. It didn't matter where their home was. Wherever they are together was home.

But the temperature of Wei Wuxian had died down. The warmth had faded away.

That was when Lan Zhan understood that all was lost.

He used over ten years playing the guqin, searching for Wei Wuxian's soul. Nothing worked. Wei Wuxian died. He won't come back. His mother never came back, so why would Wei Wuxian?

But Lan Zhan was proven wrong.

Wei Wuxian did come back! Miracles did happen. Mo Xuanyu's sacrifice had brought his beloved back, and Lan Zhan swore that he wouldn't let anyone take Wei Wuxian away again.

Therefore, he must be strong-

Lan Zhan collapsed in Wei Wuxian's embrace. "Lan Zhan? Stay strong, I'm here."

Weak, but not entirely unconscious, Lan Zhan groggily opened his eyes. "HanGuang-Jun, listen to your husband for once, alright? Stop fighting." There was the figure of Shen Qingqiu in the distance. The Peak Master was fanning himself as usual.

Beside him was Luo Binghe, who fondled over his Shizun's hands, which gained calluses from holding the sword. "Shizun... be more careful next time."

Luo Binghe looked over at Lan Zhan. "HanGuang-Jun! Next time you fight Shizun, you must go easy on him! You should know that my Shizun easily gets himself into trouble. He gets hurt easily as well, so don't use your full strength! Go fight someone else, like Wei Wuxian!"

"Lan Zhan..." Wei Wuxian caressed Lan Zhan. He lowered his head, kissing his lover on the forehead, "You can rest now."

The fake Wei Wuxian had died in the corner.

The scenery had broken into thousand shards of glass, leaving the two couples wandering in the darkness. Lan Zhan allowed his lover to hug him. They stood there without moving, as if trying to make sure the other person was there and alive.

"What will happen now..." Shen Qingqiu grumbled.

The two couples warily examined their surroundings. It was purely pitch black, not a single figure in sight, except for themselves.

"How do we get out of here?" Luo Binghe hummed.

He tried to figure the puzzle out, but regardless of that, something clicked. The two couples found themselves contorting. It was like the world had vanished, leaving them flailing about and trying to grasp onto something.

The two couples held onto their respective partners.

They couldn't find a standing group, and collapsed into the void of absolute nothing...

The two couples woke up to a start.

The first thing Lan Zhan did when he came to was to check for his lover. Reassuringly, Wei Wuxian had woken up right beside him.

The two grasped onto each other's hands.

"You've woken up!" Xie Lian cheered. By his side, Hua Cheng sat on a chair domineeringly.

On the ground, Luo Binghe crawled into his Shizun's lap. "Shizun... look at Xie-xiong and Hua Chengzhu! While we were unconscious, they didn't even bother pampering us! They could have placed us on a bed for comfort, but no! How cruel, Shizun! They directly threw us on the ground!"

Shen Qingqiu pampered his disciple. He patted him on the head, "There there, Binghe. If you don't stop talking..." His eyes flashed over to look at Hua Cheng. "There might be even worse consequences than being thrown on the ground..."

Hua Cheng looked like he was ready to outright murder Luo Binghe.

If Shen Qingqiu didn't say something, his disciple would've directly sought for death!

"Ohh..." Luo Binghe understood what his Shizun meant. He quieted down, and the two couples looked around their surroundings.

They were back in the inn, on the ground of Wei Wuxian, Luo Binghe, and Hua Cheng's room. It was still nighttime, with the moon hanging high up in the sky, and snowflakes drizzled down to join the horizon of daisy white snow.

"Meow," the black cat had stretched its limbs. It took the bed, with its tail occasionally swinging back and forth. It was kind of at unease, but forced itself to calm down.

"What happened?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Xie Lian wanted to explain, but Hua Cheng directly passed him a cup of tea. "San Lang?" The scrap picker was slightly confused. What did his lover mean?

"Take a drink and rest, Gege." Hua Cheng said. "Let me do the talking. Your throat might go dry if these idiots continue bothering you so much."

The two couples labelled as idiots, "..." They didn't know how to feel.

Hua Cheng stretched his wrist around. "Anyways, the story is that Nu Wang and Yi Ran escaped."

He and his lover had been guarding the unconscious two couples, while Nu Wang was guarding the unconscious Yi Ran. They were at a standstill. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were aiming for Yi Ran. They wanted to learn more about the tall man in a cloak from Ping Hai's memories. In order to do so, they must recapture Yi Ran again.

However, if they moved towards Yi Ran, Nu Wang could easily move against the unconscious two couples. This led the two groups at a standstill.

Both of them didn't dare to engage in the others.

Before they knew it, Nu Wang had skillfully picked up Yi Ran and escaped. Nobody tried to stop them. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian had carried the two unconscious couples back to their inn. They also had to bring the twenty hunters back to their own room as well.

The twenty hunters were harmed by the ghost, Ping Hai.

Xie Lian had bargained with them. If they didn't disclose of anything that happened, then Hua Cheng would offer them a certain amount of gold.

Of course, the twenty hunters agreed without a second thought.

Upon hearing that, Lan Zhan frowned. Wei Wuxian noticed that and added, "Is it really okay for Chengzhu to give away gold like that? This is gold we're talking about!"

"It's fine." Hua Cheng cut in. "If I can't even do something so simple like that for Gege, what use is there for me to exist?"

Xie Lian worriedly looked over at Hua Cheng. "San Lang... didn't I already tell you?"

Hua Cheng looked back. He wore a gaze that seemed to say, "What did Gege already tell me? Why don't you repeat it one more time?"

Xie Lian bit his bottom lip.

His hands shuffled with one another, then he whispered softly, "If you don't know how to live anymore, then live for me." Xie Lian's lips had gently moved along to every word he spoke. This made Hua Cheng envious of the words coming out of his mouth. "I have no answer to the question you asked. However, if you don't know the meaning to your life, then make me that meaning, and use me as the reason to live."

Xie Lian spoke really quiet.

Only Hua Cheng was able to hear what he said. The other couples could only try to read his lips, but find themselves at a loss, for Hua Cheng began to direct a heavy aura at them. "Nobody but me is allowed to look at Gege's lips!" That was what the Ghost King seemed to mean.

"Gege doesn't need to remind me." Hua Cheng smiled contentedly. His facial features had unknowingly softened, and his voice smoothed over.

The couple looked at one another. They were lost in their own land of nirvana.

"Hey," Wei Wuxian couldn't bear to cut the happy atmosphere, but there was a question that must be asked. "Back when visiting Ping Hai's memories, we saw a tall man approach Yi Ran. He was the one that lured Yi Ran into becoming his minion."

Xie Lian became serious as well. "That man... we're not sure who he is."

"Could it be Bo Fan?" Luo Binghe pondered, but then he erased that idea. That tall man could barely be distinguished because of that cloak. But his height was clearly taller than Bo Fan's.

His voice was also different.

"We can talk about this later." Shen Qingqiu said. "I doubt that we're actually familiar with that person."

The remaining couples agreed.

"Oh, and I forgot to say this," Xie Lian added, "But there is something that the ghosts would like to tell us. They're outside of the inn."

Hearing that, the remaining three couples hurriedly rushed out. They opened the front doors of the inn, running out. They were greeted by a large expanse of ghosts. The ghosts all had blurry figures, appearing rather sickly and dead. Their skins and clothes were burned from their death.

In the middle of the ghosts was Ping Hai.

He wore a sad expression, "Fellow cultivators..."

"Oh, Ping Hai!" Wei Wuxian was ecstatic. "You're still alive, huh!"

Ping Hai, "..." Was he supposed to be dead? Wait... he was already... forget it.

"I thank... these... fellow cultivators... for protecting... Square Town." Ping Hai bowed. "Without... your... help, Square Town... might've already... gone... up in flames."

Lan Zhan frowned, "Get up. There's no need for thanks."

"Anyways," Shen Qingqiu snapped shut his fan. "Is there anything we can do to help? You guys are... still ghosts..." This means that... these ghosts still couldn't let go.

Ping Hai wore a sorrowful expression. "We'd like to... move on... but... we can't... help... but worry that... Square Town might... become endangered... again... What... if Yi Ran... comes back... Without us... the... people of... Square Town..."

"Don't worry." Wei Wuxian stated. He'd interrupted Ping Hai, and couldn't wait for the latter to finish his slow speeches. "With us here, we'll protect Square Town."

He smiled. "My Junior brother is Jiang Cheng. He's the prominent Jiang Clan Leader, and has over thousands of troops! Surely, he can help assist Square Town!"

Hearing that, the ghosts could finally stop worrying.

They all wore a happy smile, with their bodies beginning to fade away. Ping Hai was on the verge of fading away as well. He groggily closed his eyes, wearing a simple grin, "...my... time... has come..."

"Thank you... for... fulfilling... the... promise.... I can... finally... rest..." A teardrop slid down his cheeks. "In... peace..."

Ping Hai and the remaining ghosts had all faded away.

The three couples were in melancholic and yet satisfactory spirits. They felt good that the ghosts could finally move on from their deaths.

But they couldn't stay happy for too long.

The sound of a storm roared in the horizon. That noise had startled all three couples awake into stupor. "W-What is that sound from?"

Shen Qingqiu's eyes widened. He pointed up at the sky. "Is that... a storm?"

Looking upwards, the clouds in the night sky had begun to form and condense. A dark hole was sunken in the centre of the condensed clouds. The pressure began to solidify, and an unknown energy arose from the midpoint.

"...a storm?" Xie Lian shook his head. Out of everyone, he was the one who was most familiar with this kind of scenario. "It's... a heavenly tribulation!"

Wei Wuxian: My Junior brother will protect Square Town. Don't worry! I guarantee that he's a reliable person!

Ping Hai: But... we don't even... know... the guy-

Wei Wuxian: I said... ( ಠ ⌣ ಠ ) MY JUNIOR BROTHER will PROTECT Square Town!

Ping Hai: QWQ... whatever... makes you... happy...

Wei Wuxian: ^_^

Jiang Cheng: Where are my rights in this mini theatre? 💢