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It's been years since the second siege of burial mounds, and other than few minor incidents during the night hunt, things have mostly calmed down. Everyone has came to accept that Wei Wuxian will not cause them any trouble, not when Hanguang-jun is keeping a 'close eye' on him.
Lan Sizhui stared at the pair of husbands before him. When Hanguang-jun announced that he wanted to take Wei Wuxian as his dao companion, he was met with opposition and in the end, he chose to elope. In the end, Lan Qiren could only accept that no matter what, there is nothing he could do to change Lan Wangji's mind. So when both husbands returned to Cloud Recess, he no longer voiced out his opposition.
"A'Yuan, what are you doing being so slow? Hurry up and come here, ba!" Wei Wuxian's voice snapped Lan Sizhui out of his reminiscence. Lan Sizhui saw the smile that was plastered on Wei Wuxian's face, then his eyes went to Lan Wangji who still sported a stoic expression. But to Lan Sizhui, despite the major difference in both expression, both were filled with the same warmth.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Lan Sizhui replied as he hastened his steps. Only when he got closer did the pair of husbands continued their pace.
"Speaking of which, Mo Village is where I first met you after I got summoned back from the dead. Do you still remember?" Wei Wuxian asked as he glanced sideways at Lan Sizhui.
At this question, Lan Sizhui's mind went back to the first time they met in Mo Village. At that time, he didn't know that the soul who were currently inhibiting Mo Xuanyu's body is the soul of Wei Wuxian. He remembered when he first saw 'Mo Xuanyu's' face which was full of rouge and powder, his first thought was: 'What an interesting fellow.'
That incident with the severed arm of Chi Feng-zun left a lasting impression to him. After all, with that single arm, the whole cultivation world was turned upside down. A lot of people's masks end up being broken and they had shown their true faces. For someone like Lan Sizhui, it was really terrifying. It made him second guess who he should trust, and who he shouldn't. Luckily, Hanguang-jun was around to guide him.
"At that time, Wei-xiong really did act flamboyant," Lan Sizhui finally replied. "You must've been scared of being found out and yet, you still helped with the investigation. When we tried to thank you after subduing the arm, we found out that you have already disappeared. Fortunately we met again at Dafan Mountain."
"At Dafan Mountain, I was caught by your Hanguang-jun and brought back to Cloud Recess."
As they continued to talk about the past, they finally arrived at the edge of Mo Village. The village was bustling, the streets filled with vendors selling their goods, and children playing as they tan through the streets. One wouldn't have expected that the village was currently plagued by evil spirits.
"Should we head to the inn?" Lan Sizhui asked.
"No. You go and see the head of Mo family and ask them about the evil spirits. Hanguang-jun and I will go gather information from the streets," Wei Wuxian suggested.
Lan Wangji has always been a person who cherished words like gold, at his spouse's suggestion, he merely nods his head to show his agreement.
Seeing that Lan Wangji agreed to him, Wei Wuxian sported a big grin on his face, and Lan Sizhui felt that the older man might have planned for something mischievous. "It is settled. Now go on along," Wei Wuxian urged Lan Sizhui to go.
Left with no choice, Lan Sizhui only gave his two senior guardians a helpless smile before finally making his way to the Mo Family Residence. He walked through the familiar streets until he came face to face with the entrance of the residence. The last time he was here, he was accompanied by several other sect members. They were responsible in solving the problem that plague the village, but despite everything they've done, four lives were still lost.
Remembering this, Lan Sizhui let out a heavy sigh. Just as he raised his hand to knock on the gate, a loud scream. A sense of urgency filled Lan Sizhui's heart and he abandoned the idea of knocking as he proceeded to jump up the wall.
As he get closer to the source of the scream, Lan Sizhui was greeted with a scene of someone running away from the source direction. Based on the escapee's clothings, Lan Sizhui can safely assume that it was a servant.
Lan Sizhui grabbed the servant by the elbow, effectively stopping him from his panic running. "Wait, please calm down! I'm a disciple of Gusu Lan Sect, can you please tell me what happened?"
Lan Sizhui's voice contained a trace of urgency. Though he wanted to rush over, rushing blindly would expose him to more danger. In addition, he doesn't have other disciple with him to cover his back, and his two guardians are some distance away, gathering information.
"T-t-the evil spirit is back again!! He kept on asking for Mo Ziyuan but that young master from the previous patriarch is already dead! How can we give him to the evil spirit, ah!!" the servant replied as he struggled to get free from Lan Sizhui's grip.
"Do you know the identity of the evil spirit?"
"How would I know, ah!" the servant replied as he increased his struggle.
Seeing that he will no longer be able to gain anymore information from the servant, Lan Sizhui finally let go of him. "You go and warn everyone. I will deal with the evil spirit," he told the servant before he once again rushed to the source.
Based on what the servant was saying, the evil spirit merely asked for Mo Ziyuan. It might be that they didn't even know that Mo Ziyuan has passed. If the resentment is indeed related with Mo Ziyuan, to solve this problem might become much easier.
But to his surprise, when he arrived at the location, he saw that Wei Wuxian was already standing there. "Wei-xiong!" he called out, but Wei Wuxian didn't respond. As he got closer, he noticed that there were something amiss with Wei Wuxian and he couldn't help but put his guard up. "Wei-xiong?" he called out again.
Still not getting any response, Lan Sizhui started to get worried. 'Did he... Get possessed by the evil spirit?' the thought crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. Wei Wuxian is the founder of demonic cultivation. No one understand resentment energy more than him, and there was no way that he would let some spirit to possess him. Not to mention, Wei Wuxian has Lan Wangji with him.
'Wait, where is Han Guang-jun?!' Lan Sizhui looked around and found that there was no trace of Lan Wangji at all.
"You..." Wei Wuxian who stood before Lan Sizhui spoke, but the tone of the voice was different. "Bring me Mo Ziyuan. He and I have a feud to settle."
"Mo Xuanyu?"
From that sentence alone, Lan Sizhui finally figured out that the person before him is not Wei Wuxian, but Mo Xuanyu. 'Of course, Wei-xiong took over his body and this is Mo Xuanyu's spirit. Then it make sense they look the same,' Lan Sizhui concluded. 'Hold on...'
Lan Sizhui came into another realization. The evil spirit before him talked to him. Spirits do not possess corporeal body, so they usually cannot speak. In order to communicate with the dead, Lan Sect had invented a method by using the qin language. That is called 'Inquiry'.
There are two instance where Lan Sizhui experienced communicating with the dead without Inquiry and that is with Wen Ning and Song Lan who lived as a fierce corpse. But those two times are because they had gained sentience. With such knowledge, Lan Sizhui eyed Mo Xuanyu, feeling extremely cautious.
"You know me?"
The question took Lan Sizhui by surprise. It took him a while before realizing that Mo Xuanyu was answering his previous inquiry. As Lan Sizhui stared at him, he realizes that he didn't sense any hostility from the other. But there are still resentment energy which is usually around in the presence of evil beings.
"Mo-xiong," Lan Sizhui cusped both his hands to greet the older male. Now that he has concluded that Mo Xuanyu is not hostile, it would make his task easier. "I understand your resentment with Mo Ziyuan. But Mo Ziyuan is already dead," Lan Sizhui informed him.
He saw how Mo Xuanyu's expression changed. Eyebrows scrunched up, forming into a frown. "Dead?"
'Did no one mentions it?' Lan Sizhui wondered.
"Mo-xiong, Mo Ziyuan has been dead for years now and his soul has already departed to the afterlife, waiting to enter the cycle of reincarnation," Lan Sizhui explained.
Mo Xuanyu did not respond, and Lan Sizhui didn't know if he should continue. He was afraid that if he said something wrong, the Mo Xuanyu before him will suddenly turn hostile. 'I don't even know what he is... If Wei-xiong is around, he would probably be able to guess what Mo Xuanyu currently is...'
"...to his grave."
"Huh?" Lan Sizhui was too deep in his thought that he failed to register what Mo Xuanyu had just said. It seems that Mo Xuanyu had also noticed that Lan Sizhui didn't hear him clearly so he repeated what he had said.
"I said, I know that he’s already dead, so bring me to his grave."
"Mo-xiong... Even if I were to bring you to his grave, there is nothing else to see. His soul is no longer around. Mo Ziyuan is already dead. I understand your resentment, and that your hatred for him ran deep, but it is time to let go," Lan Sizhui tried to convince Mo Xuanyu.
"Feel what you need to feel, then let go. Do not let it consume you."
Mo Xuanyu continued to eye Lan Sizhui. The frown was still plastered on his face. After a while, he took one step forward, then another. Soon, he was walking towards Lan Sizhui, slowly approaching him. Once he was close enough, he finally spoke: "What right do you have to dictate how I'm supposed to feel? Just because he's dead, I'm supposed to let go?"
Lan Sizhui suddenly felt a sense of danger and he quickly jumped backwards a few times, creating some distance between him and Mo Xuanyu. "Mo-xiong! If you can't let go and move on from the past, I can only exorcise you to prevent you from harming other people!"
"Exorcise?" Mo Xuanyu appeared confused by what Lan Sizhui was saying. "Little brother, is there some kind of mistake? Clearly you cannot exorcise a living person, ah.”
This time, it was Lan Sizhui’s turn to be confused. “What do you mean? You… didn’t you sacrifice yourself to summon the Yiling Laozu?”
“Even if I did, what makes you think that I am ‘dead’?” Mo Xuanyu asked. “Clearly right now, I am living and breathing,” Mo Xuanyu added. Then, his face turned gentle as he said the next sentence: “And it is all thanks to—”
“Xuanyu, enough,” a new voice suddenly joined in.
Mo Xuanyu's sentence was cut off by the new voice. He glanced to his side and Lan Sizhui followed his gaze. Not far away, stood a person that looks slightly familiar to Lan Sizhui, but he simply couldn’t figure out who it was.
“Ah’Yi,” Mo Xuanyu’s expression took a major change. A smile was now on his face as he walked over to the other person.
“En. I found his grave. Let’s go. Hanguang-jun and Yiling Laozu is here. I don’t wish to meet them,” the person said before he turned around to leave.
“Wait!” Lan Sizhui tried to stop them from leaving but he was halted when a spear flew towards him, only to stab the ground before him. Lan Sizhui stopped in his track and could only watch as the two stepped on their flying sword.
‘Mo Xuanyu… I heard that he was a waste before and that his cultivation level is low. So how could he ride a flying sword?’
Unfortunately, this question of Lan Sizhui was bound to be left unanswered. Just as he thought that the two would leave, the mysterious man suddenly turned to face Lan Sizhui.
With a beckoning of his hand, the spear that was stuck on the ground returned to his hand. Then, Lan Sizhui saw that the other was smiling at him. Once again, Lan Sizhui felt that the smile was extremely familiar, as if he had seen it a long time ago.
“Xiao Yuan,” the man spoke out in a calm tone. “Do me a favor and don’t mention about seeing me or Xuanyu to your elders,” he said before he finally turned to Mo Xuanyu. “Let’s go. His grave along with the other Mo family members who died that year are up by that hill over there,” he said as he pointed to the hill to the north of Mo Residence.
“If people would just tell me where their grave is, it would have been far easier. But no matter who I ask, they only think that I’m crazy and when I ask those who lives in this residence, they all think I’m some sort of ghost,” Lan Sizhui heard Mo Xuanyu grumble.
“It cannot be helped. Everyone think that those four who died were cursed so no one wanted to be associated with them,” the other replied with a small chuckle before finally flying over to the direction of the aforementioned hill.
Lan Sizhui who was left alone, could not make a head or tail of what had just happened. “I know that he said not to mention seeing them, but Hanguang-jun and Wei-xiong should know! Especially Wei-xiong. Maybe he can help shed some light about what is going on with Mo Xuanyu,” Lan Sizhui muttered to himself before finally turning to leave the Mo Residence in order to meet up with his two elders.
Meanwhile, back with Mo Xuanyu...
"Ah'Yi, do you think he really wouldn't tell Hanguang-jun and Yiling Laozu as you requested?" Mo Xuanyu asked his companion.
"Oh, Xiao Yuan will definitely tell them. So we better hurry. Let's just get your things and leave," the other person said to Mo Xuanyu.
"Since you knew he will tell them, why did you ask him not to?" Mo Xuanyu couldn't help but ask in wonder.
"I wonder about that myself..." was the only reply that Mo Xuanyu had gotten.
But, within the mind of the other person, another voice had spoken up which Mo Xuanyu could not hear.
[Small Candy: Didn't the master ask for a method to delay Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian? With Lan Sizhui informing them and asking them, they are bound to spend some time to explain to him. Please do not blame this system and trust this system more.]