A whistle broke the quiet of the night.

It was the signal for a fierce corpse, one labeled by the world as terrifying, unholy but revolutionary. The corpse now moved through the trees he'd been hiding in carefully and jumped, making it through the window and onto the floor of the bedroom.

"Wen Ning," Zishu greeted as the corpses shut the window behind him. He and Wangji were sitting at the desk, paper scattered in front of them. "No one saw you, right?"

"No one saw me."

"Great. Sit down."

Wen Ning sat down.

A knock came from outside and a young voice called, "It's me!"

"Come in."

Sizhui entrred, closing the door behind him. He greeted, "Hanguang Jun. Senior Zhou. Senior Wen."

Wangji's guess had been correct. Sizhui hadn't freaked out upon seeing Wen Ning, when they had been far enough from Cloud Recesses to call him out again. He had been surprised and a bit cautious, but accepted Wen Ning as a travel companion without much fuss, even asking if he could call the Ghost General "Senior Wen".

He now sat down between Wangji and Wen Ning.

"Sizhui- good timing," Zishu remarked. "We've managed to piece together what we think the array we're looking for looks like, based on the notes we found and wanna hear what you think- guesses where it might be. Look."

Wangji pulled the drawing of the array from the pile of parchment.

"Hanguang Jun thinks-"

"Is this it?!"

"Only our guess based on the notes, but yeah," Zishu replied. He frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"I've seen this before," Wen Ning whispered. There was real fear on his face, and Zishu noticed his hand went to the top of his head, as if he was looking for sonething there. "That place... I thought they'd simply kill me, I didn't think..."

"What?" Zishu asked. "Wen Ning are you okay?"

"Where is it... where are they?! Get them out, pull them out!!"

"What are you talking about?!"

Wen Ning shook his head. His hands began grasping at his hair more frantically, their movements too strong for Zishu, Sizhui and even Wangji to stop him. He didn't seem to be able to hear anyone anymore- he didn't respond no matter how much any of them called his name, even Wangji speaking up wasn't enough to shock him back to reality. Something about this array had put him into a blind panic and no one knew how to-

"UNCLE NING!" Sizhui yelled.

That snapped Wen Ning outta his weird trance. He lowered his hands slowly, staring at Sizhui in astonishment. "What... what did you just call me...?" he stammered.

"I... ah hahaha... uh..." Sizhui mumbled, bowing awkwardly. "I think I said... Uncle Ning. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose composure like that..."

"..."

"It's fine."

Zishu turned to Wangji, but his face gave nothing away.

His words seemed to prompt Wen Ning into speaking because the corpse burst out, "Ah- it's okay!! Really it's fine!! You caught me off guard that's all! No one's called me that for years..."

"If I may, who was the last person to call you Uncle Ning?"

"...a small child," Wen Ning replied with a small, sad smile on his face. "A small child that liked to be buried in the ground like a radish, to chew on the scary Yiling Partiarch's flute... the light of the Burial Mounds, who lost his home too early, whose corpse has probably been destroyed..."

"Oh..." Sizhui bowed his head and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Wen Ning shook his head. He offered, "You can keep calling me Uncle Ning if you like. I don't mind."

Sizhui nodded.

"Uh... Wen Ning?" Zishu prompted cautiously. "Do you need to leave the room for the time being?"

"No I'm okay," Wen Ning replied. He took a deep breath and explained, "Sorry, I was only... I've seen that array before and... it brings back some really bad memories."

"Why? Where did you see it?"

"The dungeons under the Golden Carp Tower."

It took some time for Wen Ning's words to process in everyone's heads.

"...well I guess we should probably change route to Lanling then," Zishu remarked. "Do we have any way to get into the Golden Carp Tower?"

"Discussion Conference," Wangji stated.

"Ah- Hanguang Jun's right, the Discussion Conference's being held at the Golden Carp Tower now!" Sizhui realized. "It's been going on for 2 days already and we need a day to get there, but there's still 4 for us to stay. Hanguang Jun's Zewu Jun's brother, he'll definitely be able to get us in."

"...4 days," Zishu murmured under his breath. "4 days to sneak into the dungeons and find the array..."

"Must be done," Wangji replied.

"I guess so yeah. The good thing is we can figure out how to activate it beforehand so 1 of us finds the array, we can call the rest and activate right then and there. Sounds good?"

Everyone else nodded.

Wangji took the notes and the drawing of the array. "I'll study this until I fall asleep," he stated.

"Sure."

As Wangji swept out of the door, Zishu noticed Sizhui biting back a yawn.

He chuckled. "It's late for you Lans," he pointed out. "You should sleep. We have a long road tomorrow."

Sizhui nodded and followed Wangji out, shutting the door behind him.

The door had barely shut when Zishu felt a searing pain hit his chest. He doubled over and grimaced. He knew all too well what this was...

That's... earlier than I expected, he thought, trying to hide his pain. Shit... Wen Ning's still here...

As if on cue Wen Ning moved closer and prompted, "Young Master Zhou?"

"Wen Ning, you should go-"

The Nails hit him full force before he could finish and he keeled over right then and there.

"Young Master Zhou?!"

"Lower your voice," Zishu gasped, fighting not to cough up blood. "You'll bring Hanguang Jun and Sizhui back."

"But-"

"I can save myself, stay in the corner."

Wen Ning didn't seem like he wanted to, but he sat down in the corner watching Zishu worriedly.

With great effort, Zishu sat up. He took a deep breath and began mediating, trying to force his meridian back into order.

After a long struggle, it was done. Zishu gasped for breath, holding his chest in pain but relieved.

He'd made it another night.

"...Young Master Zhou?"

Zishu jumped at Wen Ning's hesitant prompt and worried stare.

"Are you okay? What's... that?"

Zishu sighed and replied, "The Nails of 7 Autumns for 3 Apertures. It's something from my world. I... I was the one who put them in my body. I've done a lot of bad things, and this is my penance. It's the only fair punishment for me considering what happened to my brothers of the Siji Manor."

Wen Ning stared at him blamkly.

"Do you get it?"

Wen Ning shook his head. He offered, "We could find you a doctor- if we tell the 2 Young Master Lans-"

"Wen Ning," Zishu explained, like he was teaching a child that 2 and 2 made 4. "These Nails are my punishment. Who on Earth punishes themself then asks someone else to relieve their burden? Besides... a stubborn person from my world has already sent a doctor my way to repay a favor he owed my soulmate. You're forbidden from telling Hanguang Jun and Sizhui about this."

"But-"

"I'd like some peace," Zishu stated firmly, closing his eyes. "I always want some peace, but especially after dealing with the Nails."

"Young Master Zhou-"

"GO!"

There was a lull, but soon enough Zishu heard footsteps, the window opening, then swish of ragged robes and chains. He opened his eyes and looked.

Wen Ning really was gone.

Zishu sighed. He went to shut thw window, but paused with a hand on the frame. The moon was beautiful, he observed, and it looked so familiar. But it wasn't the same moon he was familiar with... it wasn't the same moon he'd look at in late nights, after a tough time with the Nails... it wasn't the same one under which someone had played the flute for him...

...I wonder how Lao Wen's doing.