The afterlife of a huli jing

New discoveries

At the dinner table, Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan and Jiang cheng sat with serious faces, children already tucked in the bed, Wei Ying sat by the door with Lan zhan next to him. 

"It wasn't A-xian...." Jiang Yanli's lips quivered. Jiang cheng gasped. 

"The man who controlled Wen ning ......was Su minshan." Jin zixuan said. 

"Su minshan? Su she?" Wei ying asked.

"Lan sect's enemy." A fuming Lan zhan answered. 

"But......I....we.." Jiang cheng's voice broke.

"We were wrong......we killed him." Jiang Yanli sobbed. 

"A-cheng! Shijie! I died because I lost control! Its not your fault!" Wei ying's cries fell on deaf ears.

"Jiang Wanyin's sword pierced your heart." Lan zhan cut in.

"It was Jin guangyao's plan, to kill me and my father's to kill Wei wuxian." Jin zixuan confessed. 

"My brother's sworn brother! Maybe that was why he betrayed Wangji." Lan zhan connected the dots.

"He...he didn't know, he only tried to protect the innocent Wen farmers, who were used for demonic cultivation experiments by Jin Guangshan." Jiang Yanli said.

"That's right! The wens were innocent! " Wei ying chirped.

"And....and...I called a manhunt on him." Jiang cheng stuttered as the shocking realization seeped in.

"Every clan did that! Duh." Wei ying rolled his eyes, Lan zhan's gaze softened, he pulled his mate to himself. 

"I killed him a-cheng! It wasn't you...." She confessed. 

"Shijie.....don't blame yourself.." Wei ying sighed.

"A-jie, my sword pierced him!" Jiang Cheng protested. 

"I made you." She confessed. 

"Shijie! " Wei ying left out a shocked mewl.

"Wei ying!" A concerned  Lan zhan said. 

"A-jie?" Jiang Cheng gasped. 

"A-li?" A shocked Jin Zixuan turned to his wife.

"I had dreamed of marrying a-xuan, since I was young. After many hardships, I had finally married him, had a child with him. I was aware that A-xian hated a-xuan, but when Wen ning attacked a-xuan, I couldn't think of anyone else, but him........I wanted to end him.....I....I..was...wrong. " Jiang Yanli sobbed.

Wei ying was at a loss of words, he was so relieved that Jin Zixuan was alive, he had left him with Wen Qing. Wei ying would've never even thought about robbing Jin ling of his father.

"But it doesn't change the fact, that it was I who ended his life." Jiang cheng blamed himself. 

"I purposefully ran into the battle field, I purposefully stepped in front of one of a-xian's corpses. So, that it seems like A-xian is the one who attacked me, but he wasn't in control of the corpses. I had asked Jin Guangyao, to make A-xian loose his control. I did to avenge a-xuan, but I didn't know that a-xuan was alive and hiding with the wens." Yanli revealed. 

'How could she?! She was more of a mother to himself, than a sister! Even she failed to trust her xianxian! Was I nothing more than a servant to her?' Tears streamed down Wei ying's cheeks. 

"A-Li! He was your didi! How could you?" Jin Zixuan asked, his eyes widened. 

Jin Zixuan may not be as frivolous as Wangji used to think before. 

"You did not loose a husband!" Yanli slammed her fist on the table.

Wangji fumed in anger, but holding Wei ying was more important. 

"I used to think highly of you before meeting the Wens. I've heard that Jiang zhongzhu had visited the burial mounds, the day before he declared Wei Wuxian as the public enemy. What threat did you see in those elderly and children? " Jin Zixuan interrogated.

"Jiang Wanyin visited the burial mounds?" Lan zhan asked, Wei Ying nodded weakly.

Lan zhan bared his canines, but stopped for Wei Ying's sake.

"He was always better at everything! I used to hate him for excelling me! I feared that Wei wuxian might create his own army and overthrow me someday...." Jiang Wanyin revealed his true face.

"A-xian would never do that!" Yanli protested. 

"I....know a-jie.....but it was too late." Jiang cheng cried. 

"A-cheng....I would never...." Wei ying sobbed. 

"We were going to be the twin prides of Yunmeng, like the twin jades of Gusu...he had promised me.....I betrayed him." Jiang Cheng cried in his sister's arms.

"We....failed him.....mother and father failed him....." Yanli cried at her grave error. Jin Zixuan watched them in horror, Wei Ying couldn't help, but wish to leave the pier; forever. 

"You have a chance to do something for him." Jin zixuan offered. 

"We'll do anything! " Both the Jiangs agreed.

"Expose Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan. Jin Guangshanis already taken care off." Jin zixuan said. 

"We'll do our best." Jiang cheng said.

"I promise. " His sister spoke.

"Lan zhan, take me away..I don't want to be here." Wei ying cried. 

"Mn, will take a-ying far away from here." Lan zhan replied. 

"Go home, wangji has some unfinished business." Lan zhan said. 

After Wei ying's silhouette faded, Lan zhan bared his teeth and barged in, attacking the Jiang sect leader and his sister. 

"Xuebai xiansheng! Stop right there!" Jiang cheng yelled, but all in vain as Lan zhan had already sunk his teeth in Jiang Wanyin's calf.

"You feral fox!" Jiang cheng yelled, striking the fox away with his whip, burning the fox's white fur.

"You killed my Wei ying! I'll ruin you!" Lan zhan howled, before attacking the sect leader again.

"It is a fox spirit, it can understand us!" Yanli stopped her brother from whipping the fox again. Hearing her, the fox calmed down.

"Who are you? What do you want? " Yanli asked him.

"How is wangji supposed to communicate without a guqin, you vile woman! " Wangji growled, placing his paw on the painting of a guqin player.

"I do not understand the Language of qin, only lan-" A sharp realization hit Jiang cheng, as he connected the dots.

"A lan who had enough spiritual or demonic energy to become a fox spirit....A Lan who must've died in past three years....a brutal death....Lan wangji! " Jiang Yanli figured out.

"Lan-er-gongzhi! Is it you?" Jiang yanli asked. 

"But you died at the burial mounds?" Jin Zixuan asked. 

Lan zhan nodded. 

"We're sorry, I know that we'll never be able to make it up to you or A-xian, but please, let us do whatever we can, to redeem ourselves. " Yanli begged, Lan zhan did not wish to accept the proposal, but he had no say.

"We're greatful er-gongzhi." Yanli thanked Lan zhan. 

"If you're here, then....then..the red fox?! Is it-" yanli had a sudden realization. 

"He heard it! Didn't he?" A horrified Jiang cheng asked. 

Lan zhan nodded calmly. 

"A-xian...." Tears welled up in Jiang Yanli's eyes.

"Will you take me to him?" The jiang sect leader begged, Lan zhan shook his head in denial. 

"Please..er-gongzhi.." His sister pleaded. Lan zhan left without saying another word.