Mo XuanYu was looking around at his unknown surroundings and the people in it. He was damn confused and scared, too. He just didn't understand what was going on. He knew he couldn't stay with his mother for long because of his aunt and cousin. But never had they ever sent him among such people who looked all powerful.

His lower lips almost wobbled when he sighted the golden colored geges. The one with the most beautiful face must be his father, for his mother had told him that his father was powerful and kind and also wore golden colors. A smiled morphed on his face as he ran immediately into Jin ZiXuan's lap, who was gaping at the kid who was his half-brother and right now giving him a toothy smile. He was so damn confused and was staring at the innocent eyes when he felt Yanli nudging his elbows. Looking up at her, he saw her giving him an encouraging smile. Thus, he picked up XuanYu and smiled softly at him.

'Hello XuanYu.' ZiXuan smiled softly at him.  XuanYu grinned at him and called him, 'Baba', which froze everyone in the room. They didn't know what to think anymore. While the culprit was not the least bothered, thinking about who knows what, with that creepy smile plastered on his face.

Seeing as everyone had frozen, Yanli took over, giving her beautiful and sweet smile, 'A-Yu, hello there, I am Yanli. You can call me Yanli-jie. But would you tell me why you are calling him Baba.'

A-Yu had already put her 2nd on his favorite person list after his mother. After all, she was the only one other than his mother, who smiled at him so kindly.

XuanYu- (smiling shyly) Mother told me that father would come soon and protect us from all the bad people. And he was kind and wore golden.

Yanli felt her heart breaking thinking of the hopes that this cute innocent kid had. Just how much he must have suffered to actually destroy his soul for revenge. Though, she would always be thankful to him for giving a new life to her A-Xian. Yet she couldn't help but wish to see the kid always smiling.

ZiXuan decided to take matters into his hands, as A-Yu was his brother. So he made him comfortable on his lap and then spoke with so much softness that A-Ling had to look away, for be had imagined that look on his parents' face so many times. But right now, he wasn't in the frame. Jiang Cheng had seen the look on his nephew's eyes and immediately understood it, as he himself had felt it so many times, when his father had favored Wei Ying. Thus, he immediately went and sat beside him and pulled him into a hug whispering only for him, "A-Ling, your parents do love you a lot. But caring for Mo XuanYu doesn't mean their love for you is any less. Look, you haven't even come to existence for them in this world, but if they are given a chance, they would still die for you. And anyways, your jiujiu is here, always', placing a kiss in his hair.

Lan Xichen was swooning on his own. His lover was so considerate. He couldn’t help his heart from making a wider space for the Jiang Heir. QinghengJun, on the other hand, was smirking looking at his two lovesick sons who were swooning for the Jiang siblings. To be honest, he was quite happy with their choices, too.

Jin Ling tightened his hold on him for a few moments longer before releasing him from the hug, feeling a lot better. And this time, when he met his parents' eyes, they were smiling widely at him. The proud one. And that was more than enough for him.

The entire experience was quiet, jarring for everyone, along with what was left as cliffhanger in the stimulation. So they all just kept to themselves for now, waiting for it to start, which it did a few minutes later, causing everyone to sit straighter.

On the other hand, Lan SiZhui and the other disciples did not find anything in the area of the ancient tombs and had moved on to search for clues in Goddess Temple.

'I just hope you all are safe', Yanli couldn’t help but mutter out loud.

'A-niang, see, we are safe and sitting in front of you', A-Ling said with a chuckle.

Yanli smiled, 'I know. But still, I can't help but be worried about you all. Safe doesn't mean that you had been unharmed.'

Even if they wouldn’t ever accept it, but right now both Madam Jin and Madam Yu wanted Wei Ying to reach there as soon as possible, for they knew, he wouldn't let anything happen to the kids come what may. At least Madam Yu was sure of the last part, as she knew deep down what kind of a person Wei Ying was.

In Dafan Mountain, aside from the tombs of the Buddha’s Feet ancestors, there was also the Goddess Temple. The being of worship was neither Buddha nor GuanYin, but the statue of a “dancing goddess.” A few hundred years ago, a hunter from Buddha’s Feet ventured into the mountains and found an extraordinary stone in a cave. It was around three meters in height, formed naturally, and appeared strangely like a human, with four limbs making a dancing pose.

The more peculiar thing was that human features could vaguely be seen on the statue, appearing to be that of a smiling lady.

'Why the hell are they telling us about a nameless goddess?' Wen Chao opened his mouthed and spouted stupid nonsense only to be rebuffed by his father, 'Chao-er shut up. There might be clues in the story. So listen to it carefully.'

'But father....' Wen Chao tried to save some face in front of so many people only for Wen ruohan to glare him shut.

The townspeople of Buddha’s Feet were all astonished and thought that it was a magical stone formed by gathering the energy of Heaven and Earth, making up a series of legends about it.

'The Goddess is not so much of a goddess... it seems...' Wei Ying muttered out loud.

'What do you mean Wei-gongzi?' QinghengJun seemed curious at the observation, as did everyone else. After all, it was a proven fact by now that the boy was a genius in making. Their presence in the Bubble itself proved that.

'Well, I think rather than resentful spirits, it is the goddess attacking the villagers. Well, that's what I guess. Let's wait for the confirmation.' Wei Ying spoke, still in a deep thinking. The others were left, eyeing him weirdly at his absurd logic. But the juniors had to try very hard to control their expressions. After all, their Wei-qianbei had just solved a mystery with the least no. clues at this age, too. The four were ready to prostrate in front of him immediately.

Some told the story of an immortal falling in love with the Goddess of the Nine Heavens and carved a stone statue from the goddess’s appearance to convey the hardships of being lovesick. After discovering this, the goddess was furious, so the unfinished statue had to be left alone.

Others told the story of the Jade Emperor and his beloved daughter, who died young. The emperor’s longing for his daughter had, supposedly, turned into this statue.

Anyhow, there were all sorts of myths, able to make anyone gawk. In the end, the townspeople themselves also started to believe in these legends, which came out of their own mouths. Hence, someone turned the stone cave into a temple and the stone platform into a holy seat. The statue was named “Dancing Goddess,” and there were worshippers all year round.

The moment the image of the Dancing Goddess appeared on the screen, Wen Ning flinched. Wen Qing hugged her brother closer at the image. The scenes of their tragic childhood accident were floating in the forefront of her mind.

'Wen-guniang is everything alright?' Yanli asked as she had seen both the siblings folding into themselves.

Wen Chao, who had noticed them at that particular moment, scoffed and cackled while muttering, 'Cowards' under his breath.

'Really, you seem to be quiet enjoying the trauma. Let's see what will happen when you see your own death. I certainly do hope you enjoy it.' SiZhui spoke up pettily, leaving everyone gaping.

And when he actually took notice of everyone staring at him, he just spoke with a straight face, as if nothing happened, 'HanGuang-Jun has always taught me to speak up when such people try to bully someone. I know it's against the GusuLan Rule. But rules should show us the way but never restrict our inner voice. Our conscience should always be clear. We shouldn't ever live in regrets because that's the worst kind of pain in the world.'

The elders of all great sects were sitting still staring at him. For HanGuang-Jun to teach him that and the child to actually understand the meaning of it all, and take actions according to that lay heavy in them. They themselves had mostly preached up until today. But....

Wei Ying was so happy that he tackled SiZhui into a tight hug while Lan Zhan kept thinking as to what just happened in the future to change his views so much. Coz right at this moment, his views were much different. But he could see the logic in his future views, too.

His musings were interuppted when he heard, 'Thank you, Lan Zhan, for teaching my little Radish such amazing things. Your future self has raised him well. Thank you so much. Now I am sure you would be a great father someday. HanGuang-Jun suits you perfectly.'

It was one of the most sincere compliments he had heard, and somehow, it came from Wei Ying of all people. Still, he just said, 'Mn. SiZhui must have learned from you, too. You are the one who gave him a security of father-figure first.'

It was the first time that Lan WangJi had spoken so many words together and that too in front of so many people. Wei Ying was left gaping at the moment. Thus, the stimulation continued, pulling everyone's attention to it.

The inside of the cave was spacious, similar to the size of an erjin temple, with the statue of the goddess set in the center. At first sight, it did indeed look like a human—the maiden’s waist could even be considered lithe and graceful. However, after taking a closer look at it, it would seem rougher. Then again, a naturally-formed statue being so similar to an actual human was enough to make most people gasp in awe.

As did the viewers except the juniors and the Wens. Both the groups knew what a disgusting piece of work this particular goddess was. Others still couldn't catch what was wrong, though Wei Ying had his doubts about which he was 90 percent sure.

Lan JingYi lifted and lowered the compass of evil, but its pointer still didn’t move. A thick layer of incense ashes covered the table for offerings, and disordered candles lay on there as well. A sickly-sweet scent came from the plates for holding fruits. Most of the people from the GusuLan Sect had some degree of minor mysophobia. He fanned at the air in front of his nose and spoke, “The locals said that it is quite effective to pray at Goddess Temple, but how can it be this ruined? They should at least come and clean once in a while.”

Lan SiZhui spoke, “There has already been seven people who lost their souls. Everyone is saying that lightning has let out a fierce creature from the ancient graves of Buddha’s feet, so would anybody dare to come up the mountain? There is no attendance at the temple, and so, naturally, there is nobody to clean the place.”

A disdainful voice came from outside of the cave, “It’s only a stupid rock, given the title of a goddess by who-knows who, and people dare to put it here, accepting incense and worship!”

'Well, I hate to admit it, but Young Mistress Jin, you were quiet right in your assumption over there.' JingYi sighed and muttered only for his friends.

Jin Ling bristled at the name and was about to retort when Wei Ying serious voice came flying over, 'Well, I think Jin Ling is quiet right'.

While Yu Furen and Jin Furen took offense to that. Yu furen thus spoke up sternly, 'A-Ling, what you said was wrong. A goddess can never harm you.'

Jin Furen agreed with her soul sister, 'The gods are the ones we pray for our well-being and prosperity. I hope you will think before you speak next time.'

'What would you know, you brat. Don't you go on corrupting my grandson.' Yu furen bursted out angrily.

'Yu- furen, with all due respect, I hope you can watch the stimulation ahead to confirm your doubts. It would be better if you don't say such harsh words to Wei-quianbei. We don't like it.' Zizhen spoke up politely. For a second, it felt like he was channeling his inner Lan Xichen. Yu furen just hmmphed and sat back down. Wei Ying shared a happy and grateful look with the juniors. Well, at least someone in the future didn't hate him. What a relief!!!!!

Jin Ling came inside, with his hands crossed behind his back. The time limit for the silence spell was not long, so his mouth could already open. However, nothing nice came out of that mouth of his, as he looked at the goddess statue and humphed,

As the narration spoke that particular line, Jin Ling facepalmed himself, for he knew he was going to feel so embarrassed at his stupidity.

The other juniors laughed at his expense. Though SiZhui tried to stop both ZiZhen and JingYi, yet his own lips twitched.

Jin Ling grumbled, 'Don't worry, let my chance come. I would surely laugh as loud as possible.'

'Yeah and embarrass yourself even further', JingYi snickered while A-Ling huffed. The others kept looking at them, but as no explanation came, they concentrated on the simulation

“These rural villagers don’t work hard when they face difficulties, but instead pray to the Buddha and other things every day. There are thousands and millions of people in the world, but gods and buddhas are already hands-full with their own matters, so who would care about them? Let alone a powerless goddess without status, like this one. If it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain to appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?”

Wei Ying, who had figured out by now, what was going on, groaned into his hands, 'A-Ling, though you are correct, but there is a time for saying anything.'

'I know', he muttered to himself.

Jiang Cheng couldn't see his precious nephew sad and thus came to his defense, 'What a hypocrite. Have you exercised that thing that you just preached? You generally run your mouth irrespective of the situation.'

'Aiyah, Chengcheng (said man bristled at the nickname but kept quiet and just glared) he is a kid. He needs to have more restraint. What if this lands him into a dangerous situation. After all, he is our precious A-Ling. Wei Ying whined and then gave an explanation that satisfied A-Cheng somehow, and he nodded gravely.

The juniors were looking at them incredulously, the same thought running in all of their minds, to which JingYi gave the voice, 'Uhmm.... have they both forgotten that technically, they are still younger to us right now?'

Nobody had the answer, but the Twin Jades knew enough to understand that the Yunmeng pride were way too protective for their loved ones, and they could come up with any explanations to keep them safe. It just increased their intensity of feelings for the Jiang siblings.

A few cultivators from smaller clans came in behind him, and everyone laughed right after hearing him, agreeing with his words. The originally quiet temple became bustling with noise after the group of people had rushed forth, and the space also seemed more cramped.

Lan SiZhui silently shook his head, turning around and glancing without any aim. His gaze landed on the head of the goddess statue; the features of a compassionately smiling face could vaguely be seen.

'Really, what is there to be scared of this lowly creature', scoffed Wen Chao.

Others decidedly ignored him as if he were of no consequence. It seemed to incense him, but he mellowed down a bit when Jin ZiXun too joined him, 'Well, I agree with Wen-gongzi. What is so marvelous in this that people are making such a show of it? I guess that's the reason I haven't gone to this night hunt. Probably thought, it was a waste of time. Huh...'

JingYi was so irritated with the two pompous pricks that he could have smacked them both facefirst to give them so brains. But SiZhui stopped him in time while whispering, 'Don't....just don't bother with them. When they see their ends, they will cower for sure. I am a hundred percent sure that they will be having nightmares after their deaths are shown. So calm down. We don't wasn't Baba and A-die to have any more problems, right? After all, their own problems are no less....'

JingYi nodded, though he punched them both in his imagination and quiet hard at that. The Lan arm strength wasn't famous for nothing.

Yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the smile, as if he had seen it somewhere before this.

'A-Yan', Wei Ying muttered to himself. But the juniors still picked it up and looked at him with wide eyes. How the hell did he still manage to solve the mystery without being at the site???!!!

Where on Earth had he seen it before?

Lan SiZhui thought that it must be a very important matter and couldn’t help but approach the statue, wanting to examine the goddess’s features carefully. At the same time, someone bumped into him.

A cultivator who was originally standing behind him had fallen down without any noise.

The others were alert with surprise. Jin Ling spoke in a vigilant tone, “What happened to him?”

Lan SiZhui held his sword and bent down to examine it. There was nothing wrong with the cultivator’s breathing, like he had just suddenly fallen asleep. Yet, no matter how hard he was pushed or called, he would not wake up. Lan SiZhui stood up, “He seems as if…”

Before he finished his sentence, the dark cave abruptly lit up. The cave was suddenly covered in a red light, as if a waterfall of blood was rolling off its walls. The candles on the platform for offerings and in the corners of the cave had ignited on their own.

Some of the viewers let out a small shriek at the sudden change, especially Huaisang, Wen Ning, Wen Chao, Jin ZiXun, and XuanYu.

The kid started crying as he was scared by the darkness and also the dangerous lights. Yanli and ZiXuan took turns to calm him down until he was only sniffling slightly. ZiXuan turned him, facing towards himself and kept patting him, lulling him to sleep. It was good, for they knew that the scenes ahead weren't something for his eyes.

With a few shings, everyone in the cave had either drawn their swords or taken out their talismans. At the same time, a person suddenly burst in from outside the temple, holding a gourd of medicinal alcohol. He threw it toward the stone statue, and raging flames sprouted from it, illuminating the stone cave so that it could even pass for daytime.

Most of them would not accept it, but they all certainly felt a slight bit relieved when Wei Ying came there.

Wei WuXian used up all of the items he had found in the qiankun bag. He threw it away and shouted, “Everyone, go back outside! Be cautious of the soul-consuming goddess on the inside!”

Someone yelled in surprise, “The goddess’s pose had changed!”

The viewers were literally gaping as the scene unfolded in front of them. It was so weird and much more than seeing Wei Ying in action, one who was in disguise as a lunatic.

Before, the statute clearly had one foot lifted, and both of its arms raised upward, of which one was pointing directly at the sky, its form graceful. However, amid the crimson and yellow flames, it lowered both its arms and its foot. There was no doubt—it definitely wasn’t a mistake of the eye!

Wen Ning 'eeped' for it actually brought back his horrible childhood tragedy. Wen Qing couldn't do much, except embracing her brother even tighter. SiZhui wanted to go and comfort his uncle, but he knew that doing so would be equal to giving up his identity and revealing the plot much earlier.

And that wouldn't serve the purpose of this viewing. These people had to understand their actions and inaction, to not commit the same mistake yet again.

Meng Yao, on the other hand, was feeling a bit amazed at the entire situation both on screen and at his own presence at the present time. He was still trying to work out his connection.

The next moment, the statue lifted one foot again and stepped out of the fire! Wei WuXian shouted, “Run, run, run! Stop slashing around! It won’t work!”

Everyone's heart rate had increased as they watched with wide eyes, as the entire scene unfolded.

Most of the cultivators ignored him. The soul-consuming monster that they had tried so hard to find had finally appeared, so why would they miss out on the chance? However, even with so many swords chopping and stabbing and so many talismans and magical tools being thrown at it, the statue’s advance didn’t stop at all. It was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved, giving off a strong sense of oppression. It picked up two cultivators and lifted them in front of its face. The stone mouth seemed like it opened and closed, and the swords in the cultivators’ hands dropped to the ground with two clanks.

Their heads drooped. Their souls were sucked away.

There were several gasps in the room, and no one knew who it was. Even though the juniors had experienced it first hand, yet seeing the entire scene as a third person sent a shiver down their spine for sure.

Yanli prayed internally for the kids to be safe while Huaisang had sqeaked and already hid in his brother's embrace. Even mingjue couldn't deny that the scene was horrific and to think that these future kids had lived through this....

With no attack methods working properly, the others were finally willing to listen to Wei WuXian’s words. Everyone gushed outside, scattering in all directions as fast as they could.
With so many people and faces, the more anxious Wei WuXian became, the longer it took to find Jin Ling. Wei WuXian rode on the donkey and ran into a bamboo forest, encountering the juniors from the Lan Clan as he turned around. Wei WuXian called for them, “Children!”

Lan SiZhui replied, “Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from? Did you really think that you would be considered a senior just because you washed your face?”

'JingYi'.

Only one single word from Lan Zhan was enough for him to feel ashamed, and he knew the questioning in the tone, though for others, it was quiet plain. He wasnt his father, but HanGuang-Jun was no less, for he had almost raised JingYi along with SiZhui. So JingYi atleast understood hom to a certain degree if not at par with ZeWu-Jun, SiZhui and Wei-qianbei.

Bowing his head towards Wei Ying, 'Wei-qianbei, JingYi apologizes for his mistake. It wasn't the place, nor the time to put forth such questions.'

Wei Ying chuckled and pulled JingYi in a side hug, 'It's fine, my little duckling. Mistakes happen sometimes. And you wouldn't be a perfect person if you dont make mistakes. Right Lan Zhan?' He looked at Lan Zhan.

'Mn'.

JingYi felt a bit relieved and smiled before going back to his seat.

Wei WuXian spoke, “Okay, okay, okay, gege-s. Send a signal and get your clan’s… HanGuang- Jun up here!”

Everyone nodded their heads in solemn as they thought it was the perfect course of plan.

The juniors nodded a few times and ran around while searching for signals. Lan SiZhui spoke, “The signal firelights… were all used up during the night at Mo Village.”

Wei WuXian was shocked, “You guys didn’t restock afterward?”

The signal firelights were usually only needed once in over eight hundred years. Lan SiZhui replied bashfully, “We forgot.”

Lan Qiren was so stressed out at this point that he wanted to give the juniors present in the room, a good lecture. But he controlled his emotions.

Lan Zhan, on the other hand, just gave them one look, and that was enough for JingYi to sputter, 'Forgive us HanGuang-Jun. It was these disciples' mistakes.'

SiZhui nodded along with him, 'Yes, HanGuang-Jun. And we have already served our punishment there.'

Lan Zhan only nodded and said, 'This mistake shouldn't be repeated again.'

Wei Ying agreed with him, 'Exactly kids. Even I agree with him. It's too dangerous. '

But he was interrupted by Jiang Cheng scoffing, 'Says who'.

'Aiyah A-Cheng, they are my sweet ducklings. Of course I have to take more care of them.' Wei Ying whined.

Nobody retorted this time, for they knew it was useless to warn him. He was always too reckless.

Wei WuXian tried to scare them, “Is this a matter that you should forget about? If HanGuang- Jun knew about this, he’s going to make you sorry.”

Lan JingYi’s face was pale with terror, “It’s over. This time, we are gonna be punished to death by HanGuang-Jun…”

Wei Ying chuckled, 'Look, Lan Zhan, they kids are so scared of you in future. You surely live up to your reputation.'

Lan Zhan didn't know how to respond to that and was saved from it when his uncle said, 'And that is perfect. They need to be disciplined always.'

Wei WuXian, “Indeed, he should punish you! Without punishment, you wouldn’t remember the next time.”

Now that got everyone gaping. Wei Ying is so supportive of being punished. It surely said that the situation was quite dire.

Lan SiZhui, “Young Master Mo, Young Master Mo! How did you know that it was not a spirit- consuming spirit or beast, but the goddess statue instead?”

'Yes, even we want to know that', Huaisang spoke after a long time, bringing everyone's attention to him. He hid behind his fan soon, though. But nobody could deny their own curiosity, too.

Wei WuXian searched for Jin Ling as he ran, “How did I know? I saw.”

Lan JingYi also caught up. They each ran on one side of him, “What did you see? We also saw lots of things.”

“You saw, so what happens next? What things were in the area of the ancient tombs?”

“What else could there be? There were only dead souls.”

“Correct, there were dead souls. This is why it can’t be a soul-consuming spirit or beast. It’s simple—if it was either of these two, with so many dead spirits in the area, would it have chosen not to eat them? No, it wouldn’t have.”

Now, that point itself struck everyone. Mingjue voiced it, though, 'Seriously, we missed out on such an important point. Hmmm... now I really want to see the reasons behind it all. Your mind is quite a unique one, Wei-gongzi.'

Wei Ying smiled, but he was more focused on the simulation, for he wanted to make sure that his future self got the kids to safety. Nothing else mattered now. He knew the mystery and had solved it some sichens ago.

To be honest, even the other three sect leaders were waiting for the scene to be unfolded.

This time, there was more than one person who asked, “Why?”

“Just what can I say about your GusuLan Sect…”

Lan Quren frowned, and there was a minor twich in Lan Zhan's eyebrows. But Xichen and QinghengJun were interested in knowing his views.

Wei WuXian could not tolerate it anymore, “Why can’t you teach less annoying, lengthy nonsense like cultivational etiquette, family trees, and history which requires memorization, and teach more practical things? How is this hard to understand? Dead souls are a lot easier to absorb than living souls. The physical body of a living person is like a shield, and if it wants to eat a live soul, it would have to break the shield. For example,”

He looked at the donkey, which panted while running, rolling its eyes, “For example, if an apple is put in front of you, and another one is put inside a locked box, which one would you choose to eat? Of course, it would be the one in front of you. This creature only eats living souls and knows of a way to obtain them. It is both powerful and selective in terms of food.”

And yet again, everyone was left gaping. Only Wei Ying himself was not fazed by it. It clearly meant that  he had already known it. Wen Ruohan could only think, 'Just how much of a genius is this boy and solving such a mystery after just being resurrected after 13 years of his death. It's.... well, I need to know more about him. I have to concentrate more on this boy. He could surely be a gem if brought into the Wen Sect. Let's see what exactly his weakness is.'

Jin Guangshan wasn't far from the same thought, but he was way too malicious. Jin ZiXun and Wen Chao cackled together. But no one paid them any heed. They kept quietly embarrassed.

Lan Qiren was about to open  his mouth to retort when QinghengJun stopped him, 'He isn't much wrong. We will talk about it later.' Qiren hmmphed but sat back quietly.

Lan JingYi was astonished, “So that’s how it works? It makes a lot of sense! Wait, so you’re really not a lunatic?”

Lan SiZhui explained as he ran, “We all thought that, because the landslide and lightning led to the series of events, it must be a soul-consuming spirit.”

Wei WuXian spoke, “Wrong.”

“What is wrong?”

“The order and the correlation are wrong. Let me ask you—for the landslide and the soul- consuming events, which ones were the first and second, the cause and effect?”

Lan SiZhui answered without thinking twice, “The landslide was the first, and the soul consumption was the second. The first was the cause, and the latter was the effect.”

Wei WuXian spoke, “Completely wrong. The soul-consumption was first, and the landslide was second. The soul-consumption was the cause, and the landslide was the effect! During the night of the landslide, a storm suddenly started, and a streak of lightning broke a coffin— remember this. This first person to lose their soul, the sluggard, was trapped in the mountains for the whole night and married a few days later.”

Lan JingYi asked, “Where is it wrong?”

Wei WuXian replied, “It is all wrong! Where would a good-for-nothing and penniless person obtain the money to form such a grand wedding?”

'Aaaaa...', Huaisang and ZiXuan empire literally gaping.  When Yanli closed his mouth, he blushed while she chuckled behind her sleeves. To cover up for it, he asked, 'But wait, aren't you on a mission. Are you seriously teaching them while in a trail of the goddess?'

Yanli smiled and spoke, before her father could speak up and cause yet another argument with his wife in front of so many sects, 'A-Xian has always been like that. His teaching methods are way different from the others. But our young and even the older shidis and Shimeis, all of them grasp it all. He believes that only if one experiences a particular situation would he or she be able to learn the methods to prevent it. So, his teaching consists mostly of the practical part. That helps in understanding the depth of the theory.'

The boys were rendered speechless. But it couldn’t have been helped since the GusuLan Sect was a sect that did not need to worry about matters of wealth.

And though Qiren wouldn't accept it, it actually made sense. QinghengJun burst out laughing, 'Good one, Wei-gongzi. That really was apt. I guess our sects, some teachers, like you for sure.'

Wei Ying was a little embarrassed, for it was QinghengJun, the Lan Sect Leader who was praising him. It was a waist disconcerting yet a proud moment at the same time.

He continued, but this time facing Jiang Fengmian, 'Fengmian, you really got a gem in all three of your kids. Congratulations.'

Sect Leader Jiang smiled and nodded.

Wei WuXian spoke again, “Did you take a look at all of the dead souls floating in Dafan Mountain? There was an old man who died from a hit to the head, wearing burial clothes that were made with fine craftsmanship and fabric. With such extravagant burial clothes, his coffin couldn’t have been empty, and there must have been a few burial items to protect it. The coffin that was broken by the lightning was most likely his. Yet, the people who came to retrieve the corpse did not find any burial items, which meant that they were definitely taken away by the sluggard, explaining why he suddenly became rich. The sluggard suddenly decided to marry someone after the night of the landslide, so something unusual must have happened during the night. On that evening, there was a harsh storm and he took cover in the mountain. Where on Dafan Mountain is it possible to take cover from the rain? Goddess Temple. And, when most people go into a temple, there is one thing that they would do.”

Lan SiZhui asked, “Pray?”

“That’s right. For example, he would pray for himself to be lucky, to become wealthy, to have enough money to marry, and so on. The goddess fulfilled his wish with the lightning that split open the grave, letting him see the treasures in the coffin. His prayers came true, and, as the sacrifice, the goddess came to him on the evening of his marriage and took his soul away!”

Lan JingYi, “All of these are just your guesses, right?”

Wei WuXian, “Yes, they are guesses. But, following this train of logic, all of the things that happened afterward could be explained.”

Lan SiZhui, “How can this explain what happened with the girl, A-Yan?”

Wei WuXian, “Great question. You guys probably asked around before you came up the mountain. A-Yan had just got engaged during those days. All recently-engaged girls will definitely have the same wish.”

Lan JingYi was befuddled, “What wish?”

Wei WuXian replied, “None other than something that goes like, ‘I wish my husband would love me and care for me for his whole life, attracted to only myself’.”

The boys were at a loss, “Would a wish like this really be able to be granted?”

Wei WuXian held his palms out, “It’s simple. If her husband’s ‘whole life’ immediately ended, wouldn’t it count as ‘loving only one person for his entire life’?”

Lan JingYi finally understood and shouted excitedly, “Oh, oh! So, so, so, the reason behind her husband being eaten by wolves the day after her engagement was that it was highly possible for A-Yan to have been to Goddess Temple to pray!”

Wei WuXian struck while the iron was still hot, “It was hard to say whether he was attacked by a wolf or something else. There is another factor that is unique to A-Yan: why is it that, out of all of the victims, only A-Yan’s soul returned? How is she different from everyone else? The difference is that she has a relative who also lost his soul. Or, in other words, a relative replaced her! Blacksmith Zheng is A-Yan’s father, especially one who loved his daughter. So, when he saw that his daughter lost her soul, and there were no ways to deal with it, what was the only thing that he could do?”

And in the gaping audience, Lan Zhan spoke up, 'He prayed to the goddess and exchanged his soul for hers. But her soul was still fractured when given back. Thus, she dances and makes expressions like the Goddess.'

'Yes, absolutely correct, Lan Zhan. You are so intelligent', Wei Ying jumped up clapping. Lan Zhan couldn't help his ears from turning red.

Xichen had to control his laugh and his astonishment at Wei Ying's mind at the same time. These both would actually make quite a good pair. Even Meng Yao was left gaping. No one of the esteemed cultivators from the gentry had been able to solve, except Wei WuXian of both timelines. The signs were so few, but he brought the entire situation behind the screens to the front. He truly was a genius.

This time, Lan SiZhui was quick to reply, “He could only entrust his hope to the Heavens.
Therefore, he also went to Goddess Temple to pray, the wish being ‘I wish my daughter A-Yan’s soul can be found’!”

Wei WuXian spoke with appraise, “This is why only A-Yan’s soul came back, and also the reason behind Blacksmith Zheng losing his soul. However, although A-Yan’s soul was given back, it was still slightly fractured. After her soul returned, she had unconsciously started to imitate the goddess statue’s dance and even its smile.”

The similarity of the people who lost their souls was that, most likely, they had all prayed in front of the goddess statue. The prices to pay for their wishes were their souls.

The goddess statue was originally just an average rock that happened to look like a person. Having accepted a few hundred years’ worth of worship without any reason, it had gained some powers. Yet, because it was greedy and its thoughts ventured off the wrong path, it had wanted to quickly increase its powers by eating souls. These were souls that it obtained by means of swapping wishes and could be considered as the voluntarily sacrificed souls of the people who prayed. The two sides had a fair deal, one wish for another, and it seemed to be just and moral.

This was why the pointers of the compasses of evil did not move, why the spirit-attraction flags did not work, and why the powers of the swords and talismans were all nullified—the creature in Dafan Mountain wasn’t any sprite, demon, ghost, or monster, but a goddess!

'Wei-xiong, you have to tutor me now. You are way too much of a genius.' Huaisang wailed.

'Huaisang-xiong, this was just a small incident. Why are you so intimidated by me. I am still the same Wei WuXian. But if you say so, I will help.'  Wei Ying smiled at him, causing the green-eyed monster to roar inside WangJi. He so wanted that smile only for himself. He had to crush that immediately. He couldn’t just go against his sect precepts just like that, not until Wei Ying reciprocated his feelings, which seemed next to impossible.

This was an untitled goddess born from the hundreds of years of incense. Using the items used to deal with evil spirits and beasts to deal with, it would be like using fire to distinguish fire!
Lan JingYi shouted loudly, “Wait! Before this, in the temple, someone’s soul was also taken away, but we didn’t hear him wish!”

Wei WuXian’s heart suddenly jumped. He stopped his footsteps, “Someone’s soul was taken away in the temple? Describe to me everything that happened earlier, without missing a single word.”

Lan SiZhui repeated the scenario both clearly and quickly. When he heard Jin Ling’s talk of “if it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain appear in front of me right now." Can the statue do it?”,

Wei WuXian spoke, “How is this not wishing? It most definitely is a wish!”

The others agreed with Jin Ling, so it was accepted that they had all wished the same thing. At the time, the soul-consuming goddess was right in front of them, so the wish was granted. Then, it was time to seize the sacrifice!

Suddenly, the donkey halted and ran toward the opposite direction. Wei WuXian was, again, swung off unpreparedly but grabbed on to the rope no matter what. However, in the bushes in front of him, there came a noise of chewing, complete with crunches and slurps.

An immense figure was crawling in the bush, its huge head on the ground and moving using its stomach.

Hearing the noise, it immediately lifted its head. Their eyes met.

The viewers gasped. Jin Ling and Zizhen, who hadn't been in this particular spot, too shivered at the image. Huaisang squeaked yet again before hiding behind his brother. ZiXun and Wen Chao won't accept, but they too were trembling looking at the creature.

In the beginning, the soul-consuming goddess’s features were vague, and there were only the shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears on its face, but after it had eaten the souls of a few cultivators all at once, it could already form clear features. It was the face of a smiling woman, with blood dripping down the corners of its mouth, munching on an arm that had been torn off.

Everyone, following the donkey, ran in the other direction.

Lan SiZhui was breaking down, “That is not supposed to happen! The YiLing Patriarch had said before that high-level ones eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!”

Wei WuXian couldn’t help but comment, “Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess! No rules stay the same in all situations. You can think of it as an infant—when it lacks teeth, it can only eat congee and soup, but when it grows up, it would, of course, also want to eat meat using its teeth. Her powers had just risen greatly, so naturally she’d want to taste something new!”

Jiang Cheng smacked his head from behind, 'You brat,why would you try to malign your own name even more than it already is?'

Others too were confused, but WangJi’s concentration was on the hand that hit his Wei Ying. He had to curb his instinct to yank Jiang Wanyin of Wei Ying.

Wei Ying, 'Ouch, A-Cheng that hurt. And it's not about malignant my name further. But the matter is, nothing in this universe is conformed into a particular limit. It keeps changing. There are many different paths to achieve a goal or reach our destination. But just because they are unknown doesn't mean they don't exist. In the same way, people think, whatever I said about demonic cultivation is ultimately, when even I hadn't seen through it much, what with having died quiet early. Even the demonic cultivation itself was an unknown entity. No one has a particular answer as to why it should be avoided. And just the way you need reasons to prove something, me using demonic cultivation and succumbing to it in the end gave them the perfect reason.

What I wanted was the juniors to think for themselves and Rawson out a certain scenario, not to blindly follow me or someone else.'

Mingjue spoke before he could think anything more, 'Wei-gonzi, what you said is completely true, but then why do rules exist in the first place?'

Wei Ying, 'Well, let's see. People are always scared of the unknown. So when it becomes known, one tends to keep the rules so as to tell the others the conditions under which a certain path was taken. But that doesn't mean you couldn't question it. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. What we can exploit depends on us. And that way, we can find an alternative pathway. Just be referencing through others' pathways. We get a starting and ending point from the rules. We can find our own way through it. I won't say that rules aren't to be followed. They are there for a reason. They are for our own benefit. But still, they are not set in stone.'

The soul-consuming goddess stood up from the ground. Her body was tall. She used her arms and her legs to dance with uncontrollable excitement, seeming like she was extremely pleased. Out of the blue, an arrow came with a whoosh and pierced her forehead, the arrowhead appearing out of the back of her head.

Hearing the sound of the bow’s release, Wei WuXian’s looked toward its direction. Jin Ling stood atop a tall hill, not far away, and already had his second feathered arrow on the bow.

He pulled to the maximum, and another head-penetrating arrow was released, the strength causing the soul-consuming goddess to stagger a few steps backward.

The Jins and Jiangs were literally worried for him. Though they sighed in relief a bit at his appearance. But the situation was still dire. They could only pray for Wei WuXian to keep him safe, completely forgetting that he was present in the same room with them and was completely safe.

Lan SiZhui yelled, “Young Master Jin! Send off the signal on you!”

Jin Ling turned a deaf ear to his words, determined to kill the monster. With a solemn face, he set three arrows onto the bow at once.

Everybody facepalmed, but didn't utter a word, for Jin Ling’s safety was more important, and they were waiting for it.

'A-Ling, do you know, how much scared I was at that moment. You gave deaf ears to all the warnings. You haven't been punished for that yet, right? Well, tonight I won't go easy on you.'SiZhui whispered in A-Ling's ears, making him blush at the comment. He knew perfectly well, just how much he was going to suffer tonight. A-Yuan would actually carry out through his punishment. Though, it sent a sweet shiver through his body for sure. He was nervous as well as excited for it. Though he wouldn't dare reveal it to anybody else.

Although she was shot in the head twice, the soul-consuming goddess was not angered, and advanced toward Jin Ling with the same smile plastered on her face. Although she danced while walking, her speed was terrifying fast, decreasing the distance between them by half in just a few moments. A few cultivators appeared from the side and fought with her, hindering her strides. Jin Ling shot each arrow as the goddess took each step, probably intending to use up all of the feathered arrows first, before fighting in a closer range with the soul-consuming goddess. His arm was quite steady, and his shots were accurate, but all magical weapons were useless against it!

Though ZiXuan was damn proud of his son, yet at this moment, both he and Yanli were worried for him. He was way too precious for them.

Both Jiang Cheng and Lan WangJi were at Buddha’s feet, waiting for any news, so who knows how long it would take for them to realize that something was wrong and come up here. To extinguish fire, water was needed. Therefore, if magical weapons didn’t work, what about dark sorcery?

'Good', Wei Ying muttered to himself.

Meng Yao was surprised. He hadn't thought that he would dare reveal his identity just to save someone who had been disrespecting him since the beginning.

Lan Zhan, who heard it, was worried, too. He wished for his future self to arrive soon  and protect Wei Ying.

Lan Qiren and Madam Jin were forced to think, whether their judgment on Wei Ying was ever right. The only moment they saw him using Demonic Cultivation was when he had to save someone. Would he be so bad?

Wen Ruohan and Jin GuangShan were more busy waiting for the action to unfold, quite unbothered about his future grandson and heir.

Wei WuXian unsheathed the sword on Lan SiZhui’s waist and chopped off a piece of a thin bamboo, swiftly making it into a flute. He lifted it up in front of his lips and took a deep breath. The shrill timbre of the flute was like an arrow, slicing through the night sky and shooting into the clouds.

This should have been a last resort for him, but however, with the situation already like this, it didn’t matter what he summoned. It’d be fine as long as the dark energy was strong enough and the killing intent was keen enough so that it could rip the soul-consuming goddess into pieces!

Even though the thought of Demonic Cultivation sent Lan Qiren into a Qi Deviation. But right now, saving the kids was much more important. So he just had to shut himself up.

Lan SiZhui was shocked to the point that he couldn’t even move, while Lan JingYi covered his ears, “Look at what situation we are in, and you are still playing the flute It sounds horrible!”

In the battle, three or four of the cultivators who were fighting with the soul-consuming goddess had lost their souls. Jin Ling pulled out his sword. He was already less than two zhang away from the soul-consuming goddess. His heart thumped like crazy and all of the blood in his body went toward his head. If I can’t slice off her head with this blow, I will die here—death it is, then!

'A-Ling', Yanli gasped, and tears formed in her eyes. SiZhui indicated through his eyes and pushed Jin Ling slightly, who then moved towards his parents. Once in her sight, Yanli pulled Jin Ling into her embrace.

'A-niang, look at me. I am fine. See. Please don't cry.' A-Ling tried calming her down. And though she calmed down a bit, but still held onto her son, as if he would vanish if she left his hand.

At the same time, from within the forests of Dafan Mountain, a tinkling sound appeared.
Tinkle tinkle, tinkle tinkle. It was sometimes faster, sometimes slower; sometimes pausing, sometimes continuing. It echoed in the silent woods, resembling the sound of iron chains colliding and being dragged on the ground. It came closer and became louder.

'B-but, w-why does it feel so omnious', Huaisang spoke up from his seat.

'I guess because it is because something omnious is coming up', Guangshan spoke up from his seat.

The juniors looked at each other worriedly and sent some side eye glances towards Wen Ning. It was going to blow up so badly.

For some reason, the sound gave the people an uneasy sense of threat. Even the soul-consuming goddess stopped dancing. It raised it arms, blankly staring into the dark of which the sound came from.

Wei WuXian put away his flute and carefully looked into the direction.

The ominous feeling that he felt became stronger and stronger, but because it was willing to come due to the summoning, it would at least be something that listened to him.

Then, all of a sudden, the noise stopped. A figure emerged from within the darkness. After having a clear view of the figure and the face, the cultivators’ expressions became twisted.

Even the viewers were anxious to see, as to what kind of creature responded to Wei Ying and why it changed everyone's expressions, even in the face of danger.

Even when facing the goddess statue that could suck away their souls at any minute, the group did not cower or show any fear, but however, their shouting voices right now were filled with terror that they could not conceal.

“... The ‘Ghost General’, it’s the ‘Ghost General’, it’s Wen Ning!”

The Wen Siblings flinched at the mention. Wen Qing's hold on her brother tightened.

The title of the “Ghost General” was as infamous as that of the YiLing Patriarch’s. Most of the time, the two appeared together.

This confused everyone further. Wen Ning was so timid, and Wei WuXian wasn't even familiar with him at this point in time. Wen Qing prayed it to be a misunderstanding.

The word only referred one person—the right-hand man of the YiLing Patriarch Wei Ying, who had helped with the tyrant’s crimes, stirred up wind and waves, played the jackal to the tiger, overturned the world with him, and most of all, was a fierce corpse who should have been turned into ashes a long time ago—Wen Ning!

The look on their faces was that of shock. Wen Qing had gone rigid, and Wei Ying had his eyes widen. The image that appeared in front of the screen was so different from the Wen Ning who was sitting in the room. It was hard to imagine that the two were the same person. The shy timed boy v/s the fierce corpse.

Everyone was in so much shock that, before, they could understand anything, Wei Ying was lying on the floor with a bloody jaw and Wen standing on him with red eyes, rage swimming in them.
      *************************

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