TFOD Chapter 44

Xue Yang’s chest was slashed by Lan Wangji’s sword, not only splattering blood, but the soul-locking bag he was hiding in his chest was also picked away by the tip of Bichen’s sword. Wei Wuxian couldn’t see clearly and said, “Xue Yang! What do you want him to return to you? Shuanghua? Shuanghua isn’t your sword, what makes you say ‘return to you’? Do you have any shame?”

Xue Yang laughed loudly, “Senior Wei, you’re truly merciless.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Laugh, keep laughing. Even if you laugh yourself to death you still won’t be able to piece together Xiao Xingchen’s shattered soul. He’s disgusted by you, yet you still insist on dragging him back to play games.”

Xue Yang sometimes laughed, sometimes cursed, “Who wants to play games with him!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Then what are you doing, kneeling and begging me to help you repair his soul?”

Someone as clever as Xue Yang couldn’t be unaware that Wei Wuxian was deliberately trying to disrupt him, firstly to make him angry and lose focus, and secondly to make him shout, so that Lan Wangji could determine his position and attack. But he couldn’t help but respond to each sentence. He said in a nasty tone, “What am I doing? Hmph! Don’t you know? I want to turn him into a fierce corpse, a malevolent spirit, under my control! Isn’t he supposed to be a noble man? I’ll make him kill endlessly, never finding peace!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Oh? You hate him that much? Then why did you go kill Chang Ping?”

Xue Yang scoffed, “Why did I kill Chang Ping? Do I really need to ask, Yi Ling Patriarch! Didn’t I tell you? I said I would kill the entire Leyang Chang family, not even leaving a dog behind!”

As soon as he spoke, it was as if he was announcing his location. The sound of sword blades piercing the body kept ringing out, but Xue Yang’s ability to endure pain was extraordinary. Wei Wuxian had already witnessed this in the empathy, even if a sword pierced his abdomen, he could still talk and laugh as if nothing had happened. Wei Wuxian said again, “Your excuse is quite good, but the timing doesn’t match up. Someone as vengeful as you, who pays back a thousandfold, and is so ruthless and efficient, how could you have waited several years to complete the slaughter? Why exactly did you kill Chang Ping, you know it in your heart.”

Xue Yang said, “Then you tell me, what do I know in my heart? What do I know?!”

The last sentence he shouted out. Wei Wuxian said, “You killed them, that’s that, but why did you insist on using the Lingchi punishment, representing ‘punishment’? If you were seeking revenge for yourself, why use Shuanghua instead of your own Jiangzai? And why did you dig out Chang Ping’s eyes to make him look the same as Xiao Xingchen?”

Xue Yang said hoarsely, “Nonsense! It’s all nonsense! For revenge, do you think I should let him die comfortably?!”

Wei Wuxian said, “You are indeed taking revenge. But who exactly are you taking revenge for? How ridiculous. If you really wanted revenge, the one who should be sliced into pieces with Lingchi is yourself!”

Two whooshing sounds, sharp wind-breaking noises came rushing towards them. Wei Wuxian didn’t move an inch. Wen Ning flashed in front of him, intercepting two skull-piercing nails flashing with poisonous black light. Xue Yang let out a night owl-like, hair-raising laugh, then abruptly stopped, fell silent, and ignored him, continuing to fight Lan Wangji in the fog. Wei Wuxian thought, “This little rogue’s vitality is too strong, it’s like he can’t feel any pain. No matter where he’s injured he’s fine. If he just says a few more sentences, Lan Zhan will stab him a few more times, and I don’t believe he can still jump around if his hands and feet are chopped off. It’s a pity he won’t take the bait!”

Just then, a clear sound of bamboo stalks clattering came from the fog.

His mind raced, and Wei Wuxian shouted, “Lan Zhan, stab where the bamboo stalk sounds!”

Lan Wangji immediately attacked with his sword. Xue Yang grunted. A moment later, the bamboo stalk clattered again in another place a few feet away!

Lan Wangji continued to stab at the source of the sound. Xue Yang said coldly, “Little blind girl, you’re following behind me, aren’t you afraid I’ll crush you?”

Ever since being killed by Xue Yang, A-Qing had been hiding, not letting him find her. For some reason, Xue Yang didn’t really bother with this lonely, wild ghost, seeming to think she was insignificant and not worth fearing. But now, A-Qing followed Xue Yang like a shadow in the fog, banging her bamboo stick to expose his location, guiding Lan Wangji’s attacks!

Xue Yang’s movements were extremely fast, appearing in another place in an instant. However, A-Qing wasn’t slow when she was alive either, and after becoming a ghost, she was even more relentlessly stuck to his back like a curse, her bamboo stick hitting the ground wildly. The clattering sound was sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, unable to be shaken off. And as soon as it sounded, the sharpness of Bichen would follow!

Originally, Xue Yang was like a fish in water within the fog, able to hide and launch sneak attacks, but now he had to divide his attention to deal with A-Qing. He cursed and suddenly threw a talisman behind him, and it was in that moment of distraction that, accompanied by A-Qing’s strange scream, Bichen pierced through his chest!

Although A-Qing’s spirit had been shattered by Xue Yang’s talisman, and there was no more sound of bamboo clattering to expose his location, this sword had already struck a vital spot. Xue Yang could no longer be as elusive and difficult to catch as before!

Coughing sounds of blood came from within the fog. Wei Wuxian tossed out an empty soul-locking bag, letting it try to salvage A-Qing’s soul. Xue Yang took heavy steps, took a few steps, and suddenly lunged forward, reaching out and roaring, “Give it to me!”

Bichen’s blue light slashed down, Lan Wangji cleanly cutting off one of his arms.

Fresh blood sprayed wildly, a large patch of the misty white fog in front of Wei Wuxian was dyed crimson red. The bloody stench was overwhelming, and each breath was filled with the moist taste of rust. But he couldn’t care less about all of that, he was only focused on salvaging and absorbing A-Qing’s scattered spirit. Although Xue Yang still hadn’t cried out in pain, there was a heavy sound of knees hitting the ground. It seemed he had lost too much blood, and finally couldn’t walk anymore, kneeling on the ground.

Lan Wangji summoned Bichen again, the next strike would directly decapitate Xue Yang!

Who knew that at this moment, a sky-high blue flame suddenly rose from the white fog.

It was the spell fire from a teleportation talisman!

Wei Wuxian knew something bad was about to happen, and regardless of the danger in the fog, he rushed forward. As he charged, he nearly slipped, the ground with the strongest smell of blood was covered with sticky fresh blood, all of it gushing out from Xue Yang’s severed arm.

However, Xue Yang’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

Lan Wangji walked over, Wei Wuxian said, “The gravedigger?”

Xue Yang had already been struck in a vital spot by Bichen, and had lost an arm, judging by the amount of blood loss, he would surely die. He couldn’t possibly have any excess energy or spiritual power to use a teleportation talisman. Lan Wangji nodded slightly, “I struck the gravedigger with three swords, I could have captured him alive, but a large number of walking corpses attacked, allowing him to escape.”

Wei Wuxian said solemnly, “That gravedigger was injured by a sword, but he still went to the trouble of using more of his spiritual power to take Xue Yang’s body, it must be because he knew Xue Yang, and knew his background. Taking Xue Yang’s body…it’s likely to search him for the Yin Tiger Seal.”

It was rumored that the Yin Tiger Seal was lost after Xue Yang was ‘cleaned up’ by Jin Guangyao, and its whereabouts were unknown. But now it seemed that the Yin Tiger Seal was most likely on him. The Yi City was packed with thousands upon thousands of living corpses, walking corpses, and even fierce corpses. It would likely be hard to control them all using only corpse poison powder or skull-piercing nails. Only with the Yin Tiger Seal could it be explained how Xue Yang was able to command them at will, making them follow his orders and attack one after another. Such a suspicious and cunning person would definitely not place the Yin Tiger Seal where he couldn’t see it. Only when it was hidden on his body where he could touch it at any time would he feel safe. The gravedigger took his body, and that was almost the same as taking the Yin Tiger Seal.

This matter was not trivial, and Wei Wuxian’s tone was grave, “Now that things have come to this, we can only hope that the Yin Tiger Seal Xue Yang restored has limited power.”

At this time, Lan Wangji gently tossed something to him.

Wei Wuxian caught it without thinking, and said, “What is this?”

Lan Wangji said, “Right hand.”

What he tossed was a brand new evil sealing bag. Wei Wuxian only now remembered the purpose of coming to Yi City, and he cheered up, “Good brother’s right hand?”

Lan Wangji said, “Mm.”

Despite all the obstacles of the gravedigger, the groups of walking corpses, and the blinding fog, Lan Wangji still managed to find the corpse’s right hand. Wei Wuxian was truly impressed, and praised him with vigor, “As expected of Hanguang-Jun! This means we’re one step ahead again. It’s just a pity it’s not the head. I was hoping to see what this good brother looks like, but we’ll see soon enough… Where’s Song Lan?”

After Xue Yang’s body disappeared, the movement of the fog sped up, seemingly becoming thinner. It wasn’t as difficult to see anymore. It was also because of this that Wei Wuxian suddenly realized that Song Lan was gone. Where he had been lying, only Wen Ning was still crouching on the ground, staring blankly towards them.

Lan Wangji placed his hand on the hilt of Bichen, which he had just returned to its sheath. Wei Wuxian said, “It’s okay. No need to be alert. Song Lan, that’s the fierce corpse from before, he shouldn’t have any intention to attack, otherwise Wen Ning wouldn’t have warned us. It’s probably because his mind has come back, and he’s left on his own.”

He whistled softly, and Wen Ning lowered his head, stood up, and left at the sound, his figure disappearing into the fog. The sound of dragging chains gradually faded into the distance, Lan Wangji didn’t say much more, he just said calmly, “Let’s go.”

Just as they were about to start walking, Wei Wuxian suddenly said, “Wait.”

In the pool of blood, he saw something all alone.

It was a left hand that had been chopped off. Four fingers were tightly clenched, and one little finger was missing.

The fist was clenched very tightly. Wei Wuxian squatted down, using all his strength to pry it open, one finger at a time. After prying it open, he found that there was a small piece of candy held in the palm.

The piece of candy was slightly blackened, definitely not edible anymore.

It had been held too tightly and had become a bit crushed.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji returned to the Yi Manor together. The front door was open. Indeed, Song Lan was standing beside the coffin where Xiao Xingchen was lying, staring down into it.

All the disciples from the various cultivation sects had pulled out their swords, huddled together in a group to the side, vigilantly staring at this fierce corpse who had just attacked them. When they saw Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji return, they were relieved as if they had received an amnesty, but didn’t dare to shout loudly, as if afraid to wake or enrage Song Lan. Wei Wuxian took a step into the Yi Manor, and introduced Lan Wangji, “Song Lan, Daoist Song Zichen.”

Song Lan standing by the coffin raised his head and turned his gaze towards them. Lan Wangji lifted the hem of his robe slightly, gracefully stepping over the high threshold and nodded slightly.

Now that Song Lan’s mind had returned, his pupils had also descended. His eyes were clear and black.

In those eyes that were originally Xiao Xingchen’s, there was unspeakable sadness.

And so, there was no need to ask anymore, Wei Wuxian knew. In the time that he was being controlled as a fierce corpse by Xue Yang, he saw everything, and remembered everything.

Asking or saying more would only add to the helplessness and pain.

After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian took out two small soul-locking bags, giving them to him, “Daoist Xiao Xingchen, and Miss A-Qing.”

Although A-Qing was very afraid of Xue Yang, she had been closely following this murderer who killed her with her own hands, making it so that he couldn’t shake her off or hide, until Bichen stabbed through his chest, giving him retribution. She was hit almost to the point of being scattered and destroyed by Xue Yang’s poisonous talisman. Wei Wuxian pieced together what he could, using all his skills, and barely managed to recover some of it. Now, the shattered pieces were about the same as Xiao Xingchen’s.

Two weak souls each curled up inside a soul-locking bag, as if they would scatter if they were bumped even a little bit within the bag. Song Lan’s hands trembled slightly as he received them, holding them in the palms of his hands, not even daring to lift them by the tassels, afraid of making them break.

Wei Wuxian said, “Daoist Song, what do you plan to do with Daoist Xiao Xingchen’s body?”

Song Lan carefully held the two soul-locking bags in one hand, and with the other hand drew Fuxue and wrote two lines on the ground: “Cremate the body. Nurture the souls.”

Xiao Xingchen’s soul was shattered like this, it definitely wouldn’t be able to return to his body. It would be good to cremate the body. If this body was dispersed, only a pure soul would remain, that could be nurtured slowly, and maybe one day, it could return to the world.

Wei Wuxian nodded, and said again, “What are your plans for the future?”

Song Lan wrote, “Carry Shuanghua, walk the path of the world. Together with Xingchen, eliminate demons and destroy evil.”

After a pause, he wrote again, “When he wakes up, say sorry, the fault was not yours.”

These were the words he was unable to say to Xiao Xingchen when he was alive.

The demonic fog in Yi City was gradually dissipating, and it was possible to roughly see the main street and the side paths. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian led a group of disciples from the various cultivation sects out of the desolate ghost city. Song Lan bid them farewell at the city gate.

He was still in that same pitch-black Taoist robe, all alone, carrying two swords, Shuanghua and Fuxue, and two souls, Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing. He embarked on another path.

It was not the same road they had taken to come to Yi City.

Lan Sizhui stared at his back in a daze for a while and said, “‘Bright moon and clear breeze Xiao Xingchen, proud snow and icy frost Song Zichen’… I wonder if the two of them will ever have a day where they meet again.”

Wei Wuxian was walking on the overgrown path, when he saw a patch of grass and thought, “Back then, it was here that Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing rescued Xue Yang.”

Lan Jingyi said, “Now you should finally tell us what you saw when you did empathy, right? How did that person become Xue Yang? Why did he pretend to be Xiao Xingchen?”

“And and, was that Ghost General from before? Where did Ghost General go? Why don’t we see him? Is he still in Yi City? How did he suddenly appear?”

Wei Wuxian pretended not to hear the second question, and said, “Well, this is a very complicated story…”

After they walked for a while, and he had finished telling the story, everyone was overcome with gloom, and no one remembered the Ghost General anymore.

Lan Jingyi was the first to burst into tears and said, “How can such things happen in the world!”

Jin Ling was furious, “That Xue Yang is a scumbag! Trash! It was too easy for him to die! If Fairy was here, I’d let Fairy bite him to death!”

Wei Wuxian was horrified: If Fairy was here, he probably would have been scared to death before Xue Yang was bitten to death.

The youth who had praised A-Qing while peeking through the crack in the door beat his chest and stomped his feet, saying, “Miss A-Qing, Miss A-Qing!”

Lan Jingyi cried the loudest, completely losing it. But no one told him to pay attention to not being loud this time, because Lan Sizhui’s eyes were also red. Luckily Lan Wangji hadn’t forbidden him from speaking. Lan Jingyi, while crying with snot and tears, suggested, “Let’s burn some paper money for Daoist Xiao Xingchen and Miss A-Qing, right? There’s a village at the intersection ahead, let’s go buy something and offer it to them.”

Everyone agreed in unison, “Yes, yes, yes!”

As they spoke, they arrived at the village at the stone tablet intersection. Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui couldn’t wait to run in, and bought some random incense sticks, candles, and red and yellow paper money. They went to the side and built a windproof stove-like thing out of dirt and stones. A group of youths huddled in a circle on the ground and began to burn paper money, murmuring as they burned. Wei Wuxian’s mood had originally not been very relaxed, and on the road he hadn’t said more than a few witty words. Seeing this, he couldn’t help himself and said to Lan Wangji, “Hanguang-Jun, look at them doing this at someone else’s doorstep, aren’t you going to stop them?”

Lan Wangji said faintly, “You go stop them.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Okay, I’ll help you discipline them.”

Then he went over and said, “Am I wrong? Each of you are disciples of a cultivation sect, didn’t your fathers and mothers, uncles and elders teach you that dead people can’t receive paper money? What do dead people need money for? They can’t receive it. And this is someone else’s doorstep, you’re burning it here…”

Lan Jingyi waved his hand, “Go away, go away, you’re blocking the wind. It won’t burn if it doesn’t have wind, and you haven’t died before, how would you know that dead people can’t receive paper money?”

Another youth, with tear-filled eyes and soot all over his face, raised his head and agreed, “That’s right. How would you know? What if they can receive it?”

Wei Wuxian murmured, “How would I know?”

Of course he knew!

In the ten years or so after he died, he hadn’t received a single piece of paper money!

Lan Jingyi added another blow to his heart, “Even if you can’t receive it, that’s definitely because no one burned any for you.”

Wei Wuxian asked himself, “How could it be? Am I really so much of a failure? Not a single person would burn paper money for me? Is it really because no one burned any for me that I didn’t receive any?”

The more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. He turned his head and whispered to Lan Wangji, “Hanguang-Jun, did you ever burn paper money for me? At least you burned some for me, right?”

Lan Wangji glanced at him, lowered his head and brushed off a little bit of paper ash from his sleeve, silently gazing into the distance, without uttering a word.

Wei Wuxian looked at his calm profile and thought, “Could it be?”

Could it really be that he didn’t?!

At this moment, a villager came over carrying an earthen bow, and said with dissatisfaction, “Why are you burning this here? This is my doorstep, how unlucky!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Look, they got scolded, right?”

These youths had never done something like this before, and didn’t know it was bad luck to burn paper money at someone’s door, so they apologized repeatedly. Lan Sizhui quickly wiped his face and said, “Is this really your doorstep?”

The villager said, “Hey, what kind of talk is that, kid? My family has lived here for three generations! If it’s not my house, is it yours?”

Jin Ling was not happy with his tone, and was about to stand up, “How are you talking to us?”

Wei Wuxian pressed his head down, forcing him to sit back down. Lan Sizhui said again, “So that’s how it is. Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by the question. It’s just that when we passed by this house last time, the hunter we saw here was someone else, so I asked about it.”

The villager was stunned, “Another hunter? What other one?”

He held up three fingers and said, “My family is one child only for three generations! There’s only me, I don’t have any brothers! My dad died long ago, and I haven’t even taken a wife yet, let alone have a kid. Where would another hunter come from?”

Lan Jingyi said, “There really was one!” He stood up too, saying, “He was wearing a lot of layers, with a big hat. He was sitting in your yard with his head down repairing his bow and arrow, like he was about to go out hunting. When we came here, we even asked him for directions. He pointed us towards Yi City!”

The villager spat, “Nonsense! You really saw him sitting in my yard? There’s no such person in my house! The ghosts in that corner of Yi City are even able to kill people, why would he point that path for you? He must have wanted to kill you! The thing you saw must have been a ghost!”

He spat several times, trying to spit away the bad luck, shook his head, turned around and walked away, leaving a group of youths to stare at each other. Lan Jingyi was still arguing, “He was definitely sitting in that yard, I remember it very clearly…”

Wei Wuxian said a few words to Lan Wangji briefly, and then turned back and said, “Do you understand now? You were all led to Yi City. The hunter who gave you directions was not a villager here, he was an ill-intentioned person pretending to be one.”

Jin Ling said, “Did someone start deliberately leading us to walk this way, starting from killing cats and disposing of the bodies? Was that fake hunter the one doing these things?”

Wei Wuxian said, “It’s likely.”

Lan Sizhui asked in confusion, “Why did he go to so much trouble to lead us to Yi City?”

Wei Wuxian said, “We don’t know yet, but you must be careful in the future. If you encounter such strange things again, don’t investigate them on your own, contact your families first, send more people, and act together. If Hanguang-Jun hadn’t happened to be in Yi City this time, your lives would be in danger.”

The thought of what would happen if they were trapped in Yi City made many people’s hair stand on end. Whether it was being surrounded by the hordes of corpses, or having to face that living demon, Xue Yang, the situation was frightening.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian led a group of disciples from the various cultivation sects for a while, and when it was almost dark, they arrived at the city where they left the dogs and donkey.

The city was brightly lit, with a noisy crowd. Everyone had the same feeling: this was where the living lived.

Wei Wuxian opened his arms to the flower donkey and shouted, “Little Apple!”

Little Apple furiously yelled back at him, and then, Wei Wuxian heard a dog bark, and immediately jumped behind Lan Wangji. Fairy also rushed over, and the dog and the donkey faced off, baring their teeth at each other.

Lan Wangji said, “Tie them up. Let’s eat.”

He dragged Wei Wuxian, who was nearly stuck to his back, and walked towards the second floor, guided by Cha Sheng. Jin Ling and the others also wanted to follow, but Lan Wangji turned his head and swept a glance at them, the meaning unclear. Lan Sizhui immediately said to the others, “The elders and the young ones must be separated, let’s stay on the first floor.”

Lan Wangji nodded slightly, his expression indifferent as he continued to walk upstairs. Jin Ling hesitated as he stood on the stairs, not knowing whether to go up or not. Wei Wuxian turned his head and chuckled, “Adults and children must be separated. There are some things that it’s better you not see.”

Jin Ling curled his lips, “Who wants to see!”

Lan Wangji ordered the staff to prepare a table for the group of disciples on the first floor. He and Wei Wuxian went to a private room on the second floor, and sat down facing each other.

Wei Wuxian said, “Hanguang-Jun, listen to me, your family should not take on the aftermath of Yi City all alone. Such a big city, if you really have to clean it up, it would require a huge amount of manpower and resources, it’s very troublesome. Shu is not under the jurisdiction of the Gusu Lan Sect, you should point out which families are in the group of juniors downstairs. Each family should do their part, and contribute the manpower that is needed.”

Lan Wangji said, “That can be considered.”

Wei Wuxian said, “You should consider it well. Everyone loves to fight for a piece of the pie, but they’ll push away all responsibility. Today, you suffered this loss. It’s not good to spoil people. They won’t appreciate you or understand your principles. If this happens too many times, others will feel like it’s your duty to come forward when something happens. That’s how things are in this world.”

After a pause, he said again, “But it’s also just bad luck, Yi City is too remote, and it doesn’t have a watchtower. Otherwise, Jin Ling and Sizhui wouldn’t have accidentally stumbled into it, and the souls of Miss A-Qing and Daoist Xiao Xingchen would not have been unable to see the light of day for so many years.”

Large and small cultivation sects were scattered everywhere, mostly living in prosperous cities or beautiful spiritual lands, but there were no sects that were willing to establish themselves in remote and impoverished areas. Even the number of roaming cultivators with strong cultivation who wandered there was very small. Because of this, when demons and evil spirits caused trouble in those places, the local people were often left in dire straits and had nowhere to ask for help. When the previous leader of the Lanling Jin Sect, Jin Guangshan, was still in power, Jin Guangyao once brought up an idea about this. However, because the resources required would be vast, and Jin Guangshan didn’t have a positive attitude towards it. Added with the fact that the Lanling Jin Sect at the time did not have enough strong influence, it was not taken seriously, and the idea was abandoned.

When Jin Guangyao formally succeeded as the head of the family, and ascended to the position of Cultivation Supervisor, he began to gather and allocate manpower and resources from all families to push forward with the original idea. Initially, there were loud voices of opposition, and many people even suspected that the Lanling Jin Sect would benefit from this and were lining their own pockets. Jin Guangyao wore a smiling face and spent five whole years, forming alliances with countless people, while also turning against countless others, using both soft and hard tactics to get his way, and finally, he was able to complete it, building over 1200 “watchtowers”.

These watchtowers were distributed across these remote and impoverished areas. Each watchtower was assigned disciples from different sects. If they found any signs of danger, they would immediately act. If they were unable to solve the problem, they would quickly send a notice to ask for help from other families or roaming cultivators. If the cultivators who came to help requested a reward, and the locals were unable to pay, the money the Lanling Jin Sect collected each year was enough to cover it.

These all happened after the Yi Ling Patriarch’s death. On their travels, the two passed by several watchtowers, and it was then that Wei Wuxian learned the whole story from Lan Wangji. It was rumored that the Jin Sect was preparing to build the second batch of watchtowers, expanding them to 3000, so that the coverage area would be wider. Although these watchtowers had received widespread praise after they were completed due to their significant effects, the voices of suspicion and ridicule never stopped. When the time came, it would surely be another large and chaotic fiasco.

Soon after, the dishes and the wine came. Wei Wuxian seemed to carelessly scan the table. Almost all the dishes were spicy and red. He noticed the dishes Lan Wangji picked, finding that he mostly ate the light and refreshing dishes, only occasionally reaching for the fiery red plates, and his face remained unchanged when he ate them. Wei Wuxian’s heart twitched slightly. Lan Wangji noticed his gaze and asked, “What is it?”

Wei Wuxian slowly filled a cup and said, “I want someone to drink with me.”