Between the Lines: Mo Dao Zu Shi Story Collections

When the Sun Sets (pt. 1)

Summary: Jiang Cheng's core has been restored and is reunited with his sister, but now his brother is missing. Lan Xichen has taken Jiang Cheng under his and Nie Mingjue's wing to serve as the new sect leader's mentors on the battlefield. Lan Zhan joins Jiang Cheng on his crusade to clear out Supervisory Offices and aid in searching for Wei Ying. They follow trail after trail, and at the end of the road is, not a bright light, but a dark and dreary path.

Warning: This is a convergence of all three works: Novel, Donghua, and Live Action. The details will all be mixed together.

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"Where is he?" Lan Wangji stares down the man caught by his throat. He tightens the chord as they refuse to reply. "Answer me," he says, his face stoic but his voice holds malice and anger.

"T-the Burial Mounds! We threw him in the Burial Mounds in Yiling with Young Master Wen! Nothing remains of him, not a soul or a bone!" the guard cries, practically begging to be spared. Lan Zhan looks to Jiang Wanyin, whose eyes are desperate and hopeless. The disciples of the Lan and Jiang sect take the soldiers away, capturing their swords and sealing their spiritual power, incapacitating them.

Just about a week ago, they had found out that Lan Xichen had taken a few of the Wens from Dafan, who were physicians and clean of any misdeeds, under his protection with the aid of Nie Mingjue. Wen Qing had told Lan Xichen what she knows of Wei Wuxian's fate, and the man wrote to his brother at once.

It seems that Wen Qing and Wen Ning were telling the truth, they realize as they stare off into the distance.

"We have to find him," Jiang Cheng speaks as tears build up in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. "I don't care if they say there's nothing left of him—that's just nonsense! There has to be...even if he's," he dares not to continue such thoughts, but there is jo way around it. It was a possibility, and an inevitable one. "There just...there has to be something."

Several other disciples run towards their leaders, holding the spiritual swords confiscated by the Wens.

"Hanguang Jun," says one of the disciples, holding out a familiar brown sword in its wooden sheath. "Young Master Wei's sword."

Lan Zhan stares at it, taking it from the boy's hands and fiddles with it. His hands tremble with anxiety as he reaches to unsheathe Suibian, but it would not budge, much to his and his companions' surprise. The sword had sealed itself without its master.

In just a few days, they both arrived to help Nie Mingjue in Qinghe. Jiang Yanli meets them there with Jin Zixuan, just as Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arrive, witnessing the aftermath of the massacre of Wen Xu and his men. The tides are turning and things seemed to be in their favor, all except for one thing.

"It's been three months," Jiang Cheng curls his fists before slamming it against the wall. "Three months and no one has seen him, other than those bastard dogs."

Lan Wangji says nothing, though in his heart, he is aching. He has done Inquiry in Yiling, on every cliff in the Burial Mounds. Still, no spirit answered his queries or his summons.

"They say anyone who gets thrown in, never gets out."

Wangji winces at the memory of Wen Ning's words. He angrily holds onto Bichen before stepping out of the discussion room, where he and Jiang Cheng were mapping out the areas they were to raid next. He needed to clear his head, ridding his mind of any horrifying thoughts.

Wei Ying would not fall that easily—Wangji knows just how strong the younger is.

Jiang Yanli came to him personally earlier that day, begging him to find Wei Wuxian and to bring him back. Whether she meant dead or alive, he did not need to ask.