The first item Wei Ying pulled out was the ring. It was discoloured with age, and looked quite coppery. Upon the flat head, a tree was engraved with the branches reaching to the sky. It's roots grew from the bottom, extending out towards the sides and nearly touched the branches.

"This is the Tree of Life." Wei Ying mused. His thumb gently ran over the raised edges of the emblem. His eyes caught on something, some writing that was inscribed on the underside of the ring.

He scrambled up to show Lan Zhan but accidentally dropped it into Li XiWang's lap. She picked it up to hand it back when the whole of the Jingshi was flooded with white light.

A tree, bright green with lush leaves was illuminated upon a high hill. Solitary, and majestic, it's branches reached out to encompass the whole sky. Towering above the land, its trunk was so wide, even if six people were to hold hands, they could not cover it's circumference.

The strong thick roots dug deep into the ground and raised the earth, making the ground uneven. A light shone upon the tree from above, and as their gaze travelled up, Wei Ying gasped.

And just as it began, everything faded away into the ring to leave them speechless, looking at one another.

"What was that?" Wei Ying asked, still a bit dazed. "Tell me you saw that?"

Li XiWang could feel her hands shaking still. Lan Zhan rubbed her arms, trying to make her feel better.

"Mn." He replied to Wei Ying's questioning look.

"Well, at least we have a rough idea of where the Tree of Life is." He added.

The other two looked at him as if he was crazy.

"The stars. Didn't you see them too?" Wei Ying looked surprised.

"We did, but how can you tell where the Tree is, just from them?" Li XiWang asked, puzzled.

"Easy. Those two stars are the estranged lovers. Neither of you know that story?" He looked more than surprised at Lan Zhan. "They really didn't teach you any of the useful stuff, did they?"

Lan Zhan just stared at him, golden eyes blazing intensely.

"Except...maybe... anyway," Wei Ying blushed and quickly looked away. "Jiang Fengmian told me the story one night. We were sitting on the docks one evening and these stars came out later.

"There once was a Princess, who was the official weaver girl in Heaven. She worked so hard and was so tired, her father, the King, gave her a day off. She started wandering around and saw a buffalo herder by the river, watering his animal. She asked him if he could tell her a story, and he did.

"She was so interested in his stories that she came back after her work the next night too, until she began coming every night. Soon, both the princess and the Buffalo herder fell in love.

"Meanwhile, the King began to miss the weaver girl, and when he found out that she was missing, he was angry. And when he found out that she had fallen in love, he pulled the lovers apart. The Queen threw her cape across the galaxy so that the two young lovers could not meet.

"Their story was so tragic, that in the end, the King let the lovers meet on only one night. He lets his flock of magpies create a bridge over the white cape of stars, and the Buffalo herder crosses over to meet the princess. On the seventh night, of the seventh moon."

Wei Ying stared at both people listening to him.

Li XiWang was openly crying, but even his husband's golden eyes were a little moist.

"When it rains in a certain province on the Central Desert, it is said that on that night, the buffalo herder was not able to reach his love."

That was it.

Li XiWang burst into tears; Lan Zhan actually frowned at him.

"I'm sorry." He said, but he couldn't help smiling.

"You don't mean it." Li XiWang said.

"Wei Ying is not sincere."

Wei Ying held in a giggle.

"Both of you are taking it too seriously. Anyway, my point is, the stars will meet in four weeks time. That means, we have to be there."

They stared at him.

"What?"

"So soon?" Li XiWang asked.

"Yeah...or we can wait until next year, it's fine if you're not ready." He smiled at both of them, tentatively. "We don't have to decide right away, isn't it?" He picked up the ring again. "I'm not quite sure what this says, perhaps we can ask XiChen-Ge. He's better at this sort of thing."

Next, he took out the abalone shell. He held it out to Li XiWang but she shrank back, and Lan Zhan growled at him.

"Maybe another time then." He laughed awkwardly. "Let's just leave the claw inside for now. Although I was tossing some ideas in my head."

"About what?" Lan Zhan asked him, suspiciously.

"Well you know how we had that whole problem with the knife, and it being cursed, and then I managed to create talismans to protect us? I was thinking about doing the same for all of these." He looked hopefully at Lan Zhan. "I mean, to be fair, I'm not at all affected, it's Li XiWang. We need to protect her more than anything else."

"Mn." Like clouds dispersing, leaving a clear blue sky, Lan Zhan's face cleared and he smiled.

"So shall we go and see Uncle?" Wei Ying asked.

"What about?" The suspicious tone was back.

"Nothing. I miss him." Wei Ying beamed, brightly.