Return of the lotus

Alive

After the end of the empathy everyone returned to their clan and were left to reflect upon their mistakes.

Jiang clan

After the departure of all the sects Jiang Cheng was left alone to drown in his own guilt and regrets. He wandered aimlessly and finally found himself at the doors of the ancestral Hall. He entered and payed his respect to his ancestors and parents and stayed there to calm his mind and soul. He took this time to reflect on his life. Suddenly all these responsibilities and consequences of his own actions seemed too heavy on his shoulder. He couldn't help but think what could have been different if he had acted differently, if he had known everything earlier.

After mulling like that for an hour or so he decided to push back all these thoughts. Right now he had more important matters to attend than grieving a lost future since he would be acting as a temporary Sect Leader of Jin Clan untill Jin Ling is ready to take over the throne which is nearly four years from now.

Lan Clan

Words about the empathy had started to spread like fire among the people. Many were now skeptical to believe in the cultivation world. The Lan Sect was one of the most criticized sect. The sect's reputation to uphold righteousness and justice was now tarnished. The sect that preached so much about conduct and virtue was the same sect that had supported evil the most. The Lan sect started to lose the faith of people rapidly.

Lan Xichen was being blamed for the downfall of the sect by the Lan elders. Lan Xichen was punished by disciplinary whip and sent to two years of seclusion for revealing the secret teaching of Lan clan to an evil person which were used to bring harm to several innocent people. Lan Xichen took his punishment without any complaints after getting a disapproving look from Lan Qiren.

Lan Wangji on the other hand had entered seclusion and locked himself in his Jingshi. He was blaming himself for not believing Wei Ying. His mind replayed the scene of him killing Wei Ying and the heartbroken and betrayed expression on Wei Ying's face.

Lan Sizhui or A-yuan had gotten his childhood memories back and lamented the loss of his Xian gege. He also regretted his harsh remarks on Wei Wuxian.

Jin Clan

Jin clan had it the worst and were criticized the most. People saw them as greedy and power hungry cultivators.

All the clan elders that had conspired with Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao were locked in the dungeon by Jiang Wanyin.

Jin Ling had now started training harder with his uncle as he had to take the responsibilities of Sect Leader after four years.

In the shadows a man was lurking around and collecting news about the cultivation world. He clenched his fists in anger.
"I will make all of them pay but now is not the time to act rashly. I need resources and a plan. I will come back and definitely destroy you all" he murmured darkly and disappeared among the crowd.

Some unknown place

A group of children were playing near the outskirts of the forest.

One of the small girl saw a black robe peeking from the tall bushes. She trotted over happily and saw a man lying there.
" Shixiong!!!Come here quickly. Someone is sleeping here. " she called her companions in a hushed whisper so as not to wake the said person.

The others made their way towards her. The eldest came forward and saw that the person is heavily injured.
" One of you go and quickly call Er-gege here. "