Soul Lock

Everything Ruined... No Chance Left...

The next morning, the duo set off pretty early. Taishan was only a day away, so Wen Lan didn't want to waste any more time. They already wasted a bit of the morning as Ju Xin was too curious about the previous night.

Luckily, Wen Lan had a few hours to plan what to tell Ju Xin while he was sleeping. Therefore, without stuttering, he told Ju Xin that after he fainted, he also fainted and when he opened his eyes, they were lying on the forest road, and the young man was nowhere to be found.

Voila!

Although Ju Xin had some suspicions about Wen Lan's story, he couldn't find any time to ask further as he was literally dragged out of the inn with a bun in his mouth. He had to keep his questions to himself until they finished munching on the buns as they walked; however, Wen Lan was faster.

"I have a question," he said, cleaning the crumbles from his mouth, "how did you end up in that small house ten years ago?"

The previous night, Ju Xin had the same attack for the sixth time and Wen Lan noticed that the silver aura over his golden aura was diminishing. Maybe, he could remember everything once the silver aura was completely gone. Wen Lan feared that possibility as it could jeopardize his whole plan, so he wanted to dig into his past to see if it was possible to prevent it.

One couldn't be too careful, right?

Ju Xin was flabbergasted, hearing the out-of-place question, but came around rather quick, "I woke up in that cottage," he said honestly as he saw no reason to hide it, "the owner of the cottage is a kind-hearted man, he said he found me in the forest and took me in."

"Why did I never see him?" Wen Lan asked with a frown.

"He is a wanderer, he only comes once a year," Ju Xin halted his steps, "actually, it is around this time every year," he said with an agitated expression. San Bo was kind enough to let him stay in his house for ten years, but he caused the house to burn down. Ju Xin's heart dropped, thinking what San Bo would think when he saw that he had a house no more and the culprit was nowhere to be found.

As Ju Xin was buried deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice Wen Lan was the same. Finally, the Ghost King managed to bring the pieces together. So, that wanderer was sure to have excessive spiritual powers and he was the one who trapped Ju Xin's aura. But why?

The duo walked in silence until they came across a river. While Ju Xin was refreshing, Wen Lan sat on a branch of a tree a little away from Ju Xin, giving him some privacy.

"What are you doing here, Yi Xin?" A sudden voice startled Ju Xin who was washing his face.

Ju Xin straightened up and dried his face with his sleeve before looking at the owner of the voice, "San Bo?!" he exclaimed, seeing the familiar face.

"San Bo?!" the same exclamation repeated again, but this time it was Wen Lan.

"En, this is the wanderer I just told you about," Ju Xin confirmed, "and this is Wen Lan, he is a... friend," he introduced Wen Lan to San Bo awkwardly.

Only then, San Bo bothered to look at Wen Lan and as soon as he lay his eyes on him, he grabbed Ju Xin's arm, yanking him behind him.

"For Heaven's sake, what are you doing with Lan Ye?!" he shouted while drawing his sword out.

Wen Lan froze and Ju Xin got confused.

"What are you saying?" Ju Xin asked, his eyebrows knitted together, "what Lan Ye?"

"HE IS THE GHOST KING OF XIN, LAN YE!" San Bo yelled, pointing at Wen Lan as if Ju Xin was deaf.

"You are mistaken," Ju Xin let out a tense chuckle, "Wen Lan is a friend, not a Ghost King."