"What? Wei Wuxian's missing? And what do you mean again?"

"Shifu, Master Wei vanished a few days ago, after the Seal had been taken out of Nie Mingjue's and Jin Guangyao's tomb. He had been called by the Seal, but after he reached the Forest of Gusu, the call had stopped."

"That might be because whoever started it took control of it."

"Yes, Shifu," the senior Lan disciple replied.

"And then he vanished again, after sending the juniors home after the night hunt. He went to save Lotus Pier from the attacking corpses," a second Lan Senior spoke up.

"Hm. Just the thing he'd do," Qiren stroked his beard, almost smiling.

"And then Senior Wei also handled the corpses who came to attack us!" A junior Lan disciple spoke up, a son of one of the Elders.

Qiren nodded his appreciation. While these Lan disciples spoke, the two Lan Jades were silent throughout, both deep in thought.

"Wangji, Xichen, are you two alright? You two are too silent..." a worried Elder enquired.

"Oh, no, Elder, just... I was wondering what it might be this time," Xichen hastily replied. 

"Send for Jin Ling!" Qiren suddenly said.

A junior disciple who knew the boy left to call him here. But instead of the one who was called, altogether three people rushed to meet Qiren and the Elders.

"Jin Ling, what have you done now? Even the Elders want to meet you!"

"Shut up, Jingyi, even I don't know. Sizhui, why did you two come?"

"To protect you!"

"Right! When Shifu's mad, he can be very mad!"

"Jingyi, shut up!"

Three students in white clothes, two with the floating clouds symbol, and one with a white peony logo, stumbled into the room.

"Jin Ling! I only wanted to meet the Jin Sect's Leader!"

"S-Sorry, Shifu, the two of us came to ask something from... from Zewu-Jun," Sizhui lied for the first time in his Lan life.

"Ask it later," Qiren fumed.

"Sect Leader Jin, have you received any news about Koi Tower being under attack?"

Jin Ling forgot his worries. "WHAT? MY TOWER'S BEING ATTACKED?" 

All the Elders and Lan disciples stared at him. None's faces showed even the slightest disapproval for his shouting: instead, they were astonished to see the true, glorious, arrogant self of a true Jin Sect Leader. 'That flamboyant Jin Zixuan would indeed have made a good Sect Leader... At least his son is no less!' Qiren thought.

Aloud he spoke, "Jin Ling! No shouting. No, your tower's not under attack; at least, we don't know. What the Elder asked was if you received such news."

"No, Shifu, I didn't. And I hope I won't. But I better go to check."

"No need," Hanguang-Jun finally spoke.

"Wangji, what do you mean? Don't you want to know where Wuxian-di went?" Xichen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wei Ying won't be there."

"How do you know?" Qiren asked, also raising an eyebrow.

"He left his ribbon with me. It means he went somewhere else... somewhere he's unsure he'll return from..." Wangji explained.

The Elders and disciples listened, shocked to see Hanguang-Jun like this. His voice was shaking, barely audible. He was still shaking, and even his breath was ice-cold. The warmth and comfort in his very soul was... gone.

The Elders were the most amazed. Last time this had happened, Lan Wangji had behaved like a psychopath.

Running around Gusu, looking for stocks of Emperor's Smile...

Turning the rooms and Library of the Cloud Recesses upside down, searching for 'a black flute with a red tassel', and a QishanWen branding iron...

And searching... Every day... Endlessly playing Inquiry... Asking very soul left on Earth where his Wei Ying was... Until his fingers were bleeding...

Strangely, even Lan Wangji seemed to recall this last point. That's it! He could just ask the spirits to tell him where Wei Ying had vanished to. Last time he didn't get an answer — Wei Ying had left the world and the Other Realm to some unknown place back then. But this time, he was still alive... Or at least, Lan Wangji prayed he was.

Leaving Xichen to answer the three sons' questions, he turned on his heels and ran, for the second time that day.

He ran and ran, all the way to the Jingshi, which was deep in the forest at the edge of the mountain.

He ran past his mother's gentians, now Wei Ying's gentians...

He ran across his mother's beautiful garden — the garden that was as mesmerising as her — now Wei Ying's garden, almost as gorgeous as him... 

The garden on which he 'played' with his A-Zhan...

He ran past his mother's veranda, now the veranda that Wei Ying and he played Cleansing on, every evening...

He crashed through the doors to his mother's home, now Wei Ying's most treasured home...

He stumbled over the table and cushions towards his mother's bed, now their bed...

He reached for Wei Ying's pillow — the one for which he had so difficultly found a cover decorated with an intricate lotus pattern — stuffed it under his arm, and walked to the back garden...

He broke off into another sprint, running past the forest, all the way down the mountain to their waterfall...

Their bunnies were there, waiting, somehow having sensed his arrival.

He sat down on a patch of grass, summoned Wangji, and played. Slowly, strings of shimmering smoke wafted around him: spirits willing to answer his questions.

The bunnies crowded around their other master's pillow, eyes sad, faces sulking. Where was their talkative friend? Why was their master sad? They listened to Wangji's music.

Lan Wangji asked and asked. He asked every single spirit in the place. He asked every last soul that appeared. Where is Wei Ying? The same notes played over and over again, until his fingers grew sore, his eyes reddened with exhaustion, and Wangji began to loose tune.

He played on and on, over and over again, enquiring as to his beloved's whereabouts. But none knew the answer. Souls drifted into the forest from all over the world, to answer this lonely man's questions. But nobody could answer. A whole day passed. Wangji the zither, having endured this same scenario once long ago, could bear it no more.

Snap! A string broke.

But Hanguang-Jun kept playing with what was left.

Snap!

Snap!

With only half the zither's strings left, its master still showed no mercy.

I'm sorry, Wangji, but I must find him.

Having apologised, Lan Zhan proceeded. But not for too long. The music stopped playing. His fingers were moving, but the music stopped. Lan Zhan looked down to see a dark crimson seeping everywhere. On his clothes, on the grass, on the fatigued Wangji. Blood. With three strings having snapped while playing, Hanguang-Jun's fingers were bleeding furiously.

Lan Zhan smiled sadly, looking at his fingers, droplets of blood drifting in the gentle breeze of the spirits around him. Just like back then... A-Ying, where are you?... Tell me it's not like it was back then... Even if it is, then tell me you'll come back to me again...

Lan Zhan stared at his fingers and then at the waterfall — their waterfall — for a long, long time.

Night came and went.

By morning, Wei Ying's pillow was crushed and wet. But he had taken care to not let a single drop of blood spoil the pillow that was now worth his very life.

With the blessing of dawn, Lan Zhan decided to give one last try. If this didn't work... he would run away from Gusu with Bichen to find him.

Wangji, please, just once more.

He plucked the same notes, having put the broken three strings together last night.

"Wei Ying? Do you mean Wei Wuxian?" A female spirit responded.

Lan Wangji nodded. "You know him?" He enquired.

"Wei Wuxian is our master. I know where he is!"

"Your master?"

"Yes... but I'll speak only under one condition."

"Anything."

"You cannot exorcise me."

Exorcise? Lan Wangji didn't care if he was now speaking to the Devil himself. "Fine. Tell me. Who are you? And where is my Wei Ying?"

"Yours? Oh, you must be Master's beloved! Great! You could help Master. I am one of Master's closest demons, the Scarlet Seductress. Master Wei is miles away from here. There's someone Master keeps calling the Enemy. He's headed towards the Enemy. The Enemy keeps sending lackeys — useless dogs — to confront Master. Master has killed every last one of them so far. I don't know where he's going, but he keeps calling me and some others from time to time, to slay the minions. He's already asked help from the Blue Brawler and Darkest Doom several times now, so I might be next. If you follow me, I'll lead you to him."

"Why does he keep calling you three most devilish demons?" A third voice spoke from within the thicket. Zewu-Jun walked out.

"Oh, another Jade?"

"Master's brother-in-law."

"AND Master's BROTHER." Jiang Cheng marched out behind Lan Xichen, his seething fury about to reach boiling point. Clearly, Xichen had been translating the whole tale.

"Well... He's got two brothers and a beloved. And yet, Master always seems so down... Anyways, it's because Master wants to finish those idiots off quickly, so he can move on. Things will be a lot easier if the Two Jades and another Pride were there!" The Scarlet Seductress was indeed named justly. Even a regular gentle smile of hers seemed... suggestive of other things.

Not that anyone present was affected — each had a pure heart, one's already claimed; some, almost taken.

"Fine, then, take us to my stupid brother."

"Of cour– He's calling me, right now! Quick, you three get on your swords!"

"Let's go!" Xichen cried, as Hanguang-Jun, Zewu-Jun and Sandu Shengshou jumped onto Bichen, Shouyue and Sandu. Though cultivators take a long time to learn to teleport, for powerful demons like herself, it was nothing. Immediately, the demon lady tied a red cloth around their group of four, and she disappeared, dragging the three great cultivators along with her.

**********

All four seniors having disappeared, three children crept out from within a deeper thicket.

"Look at all these bunnies!" Jingyi muttered, the joy in his words contrasting the sorrow in his voice.

"What is this pillow doing here?" Jin Ling asked, his voice filled to the brim with emotion.

Sizhui was silent. He knelt on the grass where his father had played and bled. He softly touched the blood stains. In moments, three pairs of eyes were sorrowfully staring at the grass, tears gently washing the blood away. The bunnies dragged Sizhui to the pillow, tugging at the hem of his robes. Sizhui took the pillow in his arms. The three stroked the breathtakingly delicate pink lotus pattern and hugged it. 

A hint of sandalwood. Father...

A whiff of salt? Father must have cried.

But more than these came a softer, sweeter fragrance... Pleasing, teasing his nostrils, making Jin Ling suddenly wish to plunge into a Yunmeng lake. Lotuses.

That was what the bunnies were asking. Where was their friend?

"Daddy had gone. We don't know where. But don't worry, he'll come back soon," Sizhui said, more to himself than to the other two and the bunnies.