[MXTX] Three Times the Love

Chapter 45 - Who Would Stop and Listen to Him?

There was the burst of metallic sparks.

Shen Qingqiu tried to reason with Lan Zhan, but the latter wouldn't listen. Their cold swords clashed at one another, creating a clean and crisp sound echo from within the cave. An astonishing rebound had inflicted, throwing the two cultivators away from each other.

Lan Zhan had collapsed, supporting himself by sticking his blade at the ground.

Earlier, he'd been mindlessly sending spiritual energy to the fake Wei Wuxian. His spiritual energy was almost sucked dry.

Now that he was fighting against Shen Qingqiu, who had his spiritual energy, it was clear that Lan Zhan was at the disadvantage.

"We don't want to fight." Luo Binghe interrupted. "HanGuang-Jun, what you're experiencing right now is an illusion. That Wei Wuxian..." He pointed at the illusion, "Is fake."

In the back, the real Wei Wuxian was worried. Couldn't Lan Zhan tell him apart?

Lan Zhan didn't talk. He slashed his sword at Shen Qingqiu, who quickly blocked it. "HanGuang-Jun!"

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian piped in.

Hearing that familiar voice, Lan Zhan's sturdy body had stiffened and paused. He tiredly looked in the direction of Wei Wuxian, while the fog over his eyes began to clear up. There seemed to be a ray of light shining past his pupils.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian called again.

This time, the grip Lan Zhan had on his sword became faint.

With a soft clink, Bichen collapsed on the hard ground. Immediately, Lan Zhan knelt on the ground. Sorrow was written heavily across his face.

Nobody was able to access his memories for him, otherwise they would've understood just how much anguish he'd experienced. Lan Zhan remembered every single detail of his past. There was the time he'd fought against his lover, trying to disciple him for breaking the GusuLan rules and sneaking alcohol in Cloud Recesses.

Although he'd been quite serious at that time, Lan Zhan realized that that memory was probably one of the happy times where his heart moved.

When he realized that the person who'd been bothering him all the time... had gone missing, Lan Zhan was unable to clearly explain the worry he felt. When Wei Wuxian came back from Burial Mounds, he changed into a different person.

Lan Zhan wanted to forcibly take the Yiling Patriarch back to GusuLan, so that they can finally rest together back at home, the place where they both belonged.

However, the world had other plans for them.

Nobody could accept the demonic cultivation that Wei Wuxian practiced—not because it was dangerous—but rather because it wouldn't benefit them in any way. This had angered Lan Zhan, but who in this godforsaken world would stop and listen to him?

He remembered trying to calm down. His hands were shaking and trembling like they never did before. Lan Zhan looked all over the place after Wei Wuxian fell down from that cliff in the Nightless City.

He'd taken him away to a cave.

Lan Zhan had sent spiritual energy to the dying Wei Wuxian, and fought against thirty-three GusuLan Clan elders. He'd wanted to bring Wei Wuxian back to Burial Mounds. It didn't matter where their home was. Wherever they are together was home.

But the temperature of Wei Wuxian had died down. The warmth had faded away.

That was when Lan Zhan understood that all was lost.