However, after stroking it for a while, Jiang Cheng compelled himself to restrain his hostility.

The Jiangs are still having bad feeling about the reason why Jiang Cheng have Zidian.

Although he was displeased, as the leader of a sect, he needed to take more things into consideration, which meant that he couldn’t be as impulsive as Jin Ling. After the fall of the QingheNie Sect, among the Three Great Sects, the LanlingJin Sect and the GusuLan Sect were quite close due to the personal relationship between the two leaders. By leading the YunmengJiang Sect alone, he was already in an isolated situation among the three. HanGuang-Jun, or Lan WangJi, was quite a prestigious cultivator, while his elder brother ZeWu-Jun, or Lan XiChen, was the leader of the GusuLan Sect. The two brothers had always been on good terms with each other. It was best to not openly dispute with Lan WangJi.

"It seems like the Yunmeng Jiang Sect was left out." said Madam Yu.

"What does it means by the fall of Qinghe Nie Sect?" Nie Mingjue asked.

The juniors stayed silent.

"I guess we will find out it on our own." said Lan Xichen.

"Of course he won't fight with his brother-in-law." said Wei Wuxian, teasing his brother.

Also, Jiang Cheng’s sword, “Sandu,” had never made actual contact with Lan WangJi’s sword, “Bichen,” and it was not yet decidable whose hands would the deer die on. Although he owned the powerful ring, “Zidian,” a family heirloom of his, Lan WangJi’s zither, “Wangji”, was also known for its abilities. The thing that Jiang Cheng hated the most was to be disadvantageous during a fight. Without complete confidence in his success, he would not consider fighting with Lan WangJi.

"Do you really have to think like that?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Sorry not sorry, ChengCheng." said Wei Wuxian with a chuckle.

Jiang Cheng slowly took away his left hand, ceasing to stroke his ring. It seemed as if Lan WangJi was determined to take part in this matter, so it wouldn’t help if he continued to play the antagonist. Jiang Cheng made the decision to, for the time being, owe him a favour, and turned around to see Jin Ling still covering his mouth angrily, “HanGuang-Jun wants to punish you, so just let him do it for this one time. It’s not easy for him, either, to discipline juniors from other clans.”

"Just look at him mocking one of the twin jades." said Su She with disgust on his face.

Jiang Cheng looked down, knowing himself he was really sure that he is always like that. Wei Wuxian was death glaring the guy.

"It's okay, Wanyin." said Lan Xichen, holding his hand.

His tone was sarcastic, but it wasn’t clear who he was mocking. Lan WangJi never fought to win his way with words, and looked as if he didn’t hear anything. Jiang Cheng turned again, his words covered with thorns, “Why are you still standing there? Waiting for the prey to come and throw itself onto your sword? If, today, you don’t catch the creature hunting Dafan Mountain, don’t come to me ever again!”

"A-cheng." said Jiang Yanli.

"I'm sorry, a-jie." Jiang Cheng apologizes.

"Shijie, you know Jiang Cheng is always like that. That's just how he shows his love and care." said Wei Wuxian with a teasing grin.

Jiang Cheng can only glare at him.

Jin Ling threw Wei WuXian a tough look, but was too scared to look at Lan WangJi, the person who had silenced him. He put his sword back into its scabbard, saluted the two seniors, and retreated with the bow in his hand. Lan SiZhui spoke, “Sect Leader Jiang, the GusuLan Sect will return the exact number of spirit-binding nets that had been destroyed.”

Jiang Cheng sneered, “No need.” He chose the opposite direction and walked down calmly. The man who had come from the forest followed behind him, pulling a long face because he knew that it’d be impossible to escape a lecture when he returned.

"Why are you so scared of Lan Zhan?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"You don't know because you're the only one who is not afraid of him." said Zizhen.

"With that face of his, you don't know if you did something bad or offended him." said Jiang Cheng.

"But of course, our Jiang-xiong here won't accept compensation from his husband's sect." said Nie Huaisang earning a laugh from Wei Wuxian and a glare from Jiang Cheng.

"I am more worried for the disciple." said MianMian.

"It's not like I have to punish him." said Jiang Cheng.

"You don't know." said his friend with a tease.

After their figures disappeared, Lan JingYi spoke, “How could the Sect Leader Jiang act like this?” Only afterward, did he remember the Lan Clan’s rule of not talking behind others’ backs. He looked meekly at HanGuang-Jun and shut his mouth. Lan SiZhui smiled softly toward Wei WuXian, “Young Master Mo, we meet again.”

"Now you're talking behind my back." said Jiang Cheng.

Jingyi only smiled at him.

"I wonder what will the future Jiang-xiong will do if he found out about this." said Nie Huaisang.

The juniors laugh seeing Jingyi's reaction who gone pale.

As Wei WuXian pulled the corners of his mouth, Lan WangJi spoke again, “Do your tasks.” The command was simplistic and clear, without any fancy vocabulary for decoration.

The juniors finally remembered the reason behind why they came to Dafan Mountain. They gathered their thoughts and respectfully waited for further instructions. After a moment, Lan WangJi spoke again, “Do what you can. Don’t force anything.”

"The way the two of them talk to the juniors are really different." said a random cultivator.

"Because were are not the same." said Jiang Cheng glaring at the man.

"That was to be expected from the second jade of Lan." said a Lan elder.

The voice was deep and alluring. If one was too near, the tip of their heart would tremble. The juniors replied mannerly, afraid to linger for too long, and walked into the depths of the forest. Wei WuXian thought that, undeniably, Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan were extremely different from each other. Even their advice for juniors were the complete opposite. While thinking, he suddenly saw Lan WangJi give an almost unnoticeable nod to him. He was quite surprised.

"Maybe only your heart will tremble hearing his voice, don't include others." said Jiang Cheng.

"You say that because you already have your Zewu-jun." said Wei Wuxian making the man blush.

Ever since a young age, Lan WangJi had been so prim and proper that it was painful to watch. He had always been solemn and stiff, as if he had never been lively before. He couldn’t let a single grain of sand appear in his eyes, which was why he had never approved of Wei WuXian cultivating the dark path. Lan SiZhui had probably informed Lan WangJi of his suspicious behaviour in Mo Village already. Even so, he had nodded in acknowledgement, probably thanking him for helping out the juniors from the Lan Sect. Without thinking, Wei WuXian immediately returned a salute.

"Of course he wouldn't approve of your path, he is a Lan." said Jin Zixuan.

"They are called 'righteous' for that." Jiang Cheng agreed.

"Isn't that their motto." said Nie Huaisang.

After pausing for a second, he turned around to travel down the mountain.

No matter what prey haunted Dafan Mountain, he couldn’t take it. Wei WuXian could fight for it against anyone, except for Jin Ling.

Why did it turn out to be Jin Ling?

"He is getting guilty." said a random disciple.

"Why wouldn't he, that kid is the son of his shijie." said another random disciple.

With so many disciples in the Jin Sect, he really didn’t expect that the person he met happened to be Jin Ling. If he knew, he definitely wouldn’t mock Jin Ling for “having no mother to teach him.” If someone else had said the same words to Jin Ling, he would teach them about what it means to bring misfortune upon oneself with careless talk. Yet, the person who had said so turned out to be himself.

"No need to feel guilty, Wei-daijiu. You have already apologized to me." said Jin Ling.

"But still-" Wei Wuxian was cut-off.

"What he said is right. You don't have to be guilty anymore." said Sizhui.

After standing still for a moment, Wei WuXian raised his hand and gave himself a slap on the face.

"Wei-daijiu, why did you?" asked Jin Ling who has shocked.

"A-xian." said Jiang Yanli getting sad for his brother.

"I'm sorry, shijie. I deserve that." said Wei Wuxian.

"Don't do that again." Jiang Yanli said, comforting him.

The slap was both loud and hard, causing his right cheek to sting. Suddenly, shuffling sounds came from a thicket on the side, and Wei WuXian saw a donkey emerge from within. As he dropped his hand, the donkey actually approached on its own, unlike other times. Wei WuXian pulled on its long ears and forced a smile, “You wanted to save the damsel in distress, but asked me to be the hero to the rescue.”

"Now I'm starting to like this donkey." said Wei Wuxian.

"Even the donkey can understand human emotions." said MianMian.

The donkey whined, just as a wave of cultivators approached from the bottom of the hill. After the four-hundred-or-so spirit-binding nets were destroyed by Lan WangJi’s sword, the hesitant cultivators in Buddha’s Feet all rushed up again. Everyone here was probably Jin Ling’s opponent. Wei
WuXian considered for a moment, about whether or not to make them retreat again with force. But, after thinking about it, he ended up silently walking out of the way, letting them pass.

"How lucky Jin Ling is to have such uncles who are willing to scare people away just for him." said a female disciple.

"Why do I don't have a family member who are like that." said another disciple.

Jin Ling was being proud of himself for having such uncles.

The disciples from different sects, wearing differently colored uniforms, complained as they walked, “Both the Jin Sect and the Jiang Sect spoil Young Master Jin too much. He’s still so young, but he’s already this arrogant and rude. If they let him have the LanlingJin Sect, who knows what chaos would happen? I don’t think we’d even survive.”

"People can change." said Wei Wuxian.

The Jins and Jiang are glaring at the screen for insulting their heir.

"A-cheng won't let that happen." said Jiang Yanli.

Wei WuXian slowed his pace.

A soft-hearted female cultivator sighed, “How can they not spoil him? He lost both his parents at such a young age.”

“Shimei, that’s not how it works. So what, if both his parents died? There are tons who lost both of their parents. If everyone acted like him, then what would happen?”

"That man is right." a lot of cultivators agreed.

Jin Ling looked down.

“I’m surprised that Wei WuXian was cruel enough to harm her. Jin Ling’s mother was Jiang Cheng’s elder sister from birth—the shijie who brought him up.”

"I would never." said Wei Wuxian.

He treasures his shijie so much that he will always protect her. He will never hurt her not to mention killing her.

"Maybe we have some misunderstanding here." said Jiang Yanli, she can never imagine that her own brother will harm her.

“It really was too bad for Jiang YanLi, bringing up a wolf that bites the owner’s hand. Jin ZiXuan had it even worse. Just because he had something to do with Wei WuXian, he ended up like that.”

The Jins were mad at him.

"How dare you hurt my son?" exclaimed Madam Jin.

"I know that he hate him but he really did kill him." said a random cultivator.

"Please everybody please calm down." said Sizhui.

"Calm down? How can I calm down when the man who killed my son was just sitting here?" asked Madam Jin in disbelief.

"Can't you just watch more futher before come into unnecessary conclusion?" Jingyi asked in anger.

The Jiangs was silent, even Madam Yu is still processing the information.

“Why does Wei WuXian have something to do with everyone…”

“Indeed. Have you heard him being close with anyone other than the mad dogs that he raised? His enemies were everywhere, and he did wrong to everyone. Even with HanGuang-Jun, they were like fire and water, hating each other.”

“Speaking of it, today, if it wasn’t for HanGuang-Jun…”

"Of course Lan Zhan hates me." said Wei Wuxian with a clear sadness in his voice.

"Wei Ying." said Lan Wangji who was silent for a long time.

"There's a misunderstanding about it." said Sizhui comforting his parents.

After walking for a while, the gurgling sounds of a running stream came into Wei WuXian’s ears.

He didn’t hear this when he came up. Wei WuXian finally realized that he walked the wrong path down the mountain, and onto another one that forked off.

Holding the reins of the donkey, he stood beside the running water. The moon could be seen high in the sky. With no branches or leaves on the banks of the stream, fragments of white reflected over the surface. In the reflection, Wei WuXian saw a face, ever-changing from the flow of the water.

"Why does the atmosphere suddenly became heavier?" asked a random cultivator.

"He look so sad." said MianMian.

"Oh my a-xian." said Jiang Yanli and stood up to hug his brother.

He slammed his palm into the water, dissolving the ridiculous features. He lifted his dripping wet palms and wiped away the powder on his face.

A handsome, graceful youth appeared in the reflections of the water. He looked as pure as if he had been cleansed by moonlight, with smooth brows, bright eyes, and lips curving slightly upward. Yet, as he lowered his head to stare at himself, the drops of water hanging from his lashes rolled off, as if they were drops of tears.

"Mo Xuanyu looks so handsome." said Nie Huaisang.

"Is Wei-gongzi crying?" asked MianMian.

"I feel sad for him." a lot of female cultivator said.

Wei Wuxian was still hugged by Jiang Yanli.

It was a young and unfamiliar face, not the YiLing Patriarch who had overturned the world and killed thousands—Wei WuXian.

"Killed a thousand?" asked Sect Leader Ouyang.

"He must be really evil." said Sect Leader Yao.

"Do you want me to cut-off your tongue?" asked Jin Ling in a deadly tone.

After taking a few more looks at this face, Wei WuXian wiped his face again and rubbed his eyes. He sat beside the stream with a thud.

It wasn’t as if he couldn’t withstand the words of attack. After all, back when he made the decision, he fully understood the situations that he had to face. Ever since then, he had reminded himself of the YunmengJiang Sect’s motto—do it even if it was impossible.

"Of course you really understand our motto so well." said Jiang Cheng.

"Jiang Cheng." said Wei Wuxian.

"You really left me." said Jiang Cheng.

However, although he thought that his heart was like a stone, in the end, he was still human, not some emotionless grass or plant.

"A-xian shouldn't be emotionless." said Jiang Yanli.

"You're not a Lan to be emotionless." said Jiang Cheng.

"You're not mad at me?" asked Wei Wuxian.

"Why would I? You have your reasons why you did that." said Jiang Cheng.

"As much as I want to hug you now, I'm afraid your husband will get jealous." said Wei Wuxian and finally let out a chuckle.