Journey And Memories (Wangxian ff)

chapter 8

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS!!!"
The man in golden yellow yelled while throwing everything inside his secret room.
"Sect Leader Jin, please calm down—" Su She tried to say.
"Calm down? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN? I WAS SO CLOSE TO ACHIEVING EVERYTHING! I WAS SO CLOSE TO KILLING THAT JIANG CHENG! HOW COULD MY ER-GE FIND OUT ABOUT MY DEEDS? HE IS MINE ONLY! ONLY MINE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? NOW LEAVE, AND FIND WHOEVER EXPOSED ME TO MY ER-GE AND BRING THEM TO ME!!! IT WOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF YOU ALSO KILLED THAT SECT LEADER JIANG!"
Meanwhile, at Lotus Pier.
Jiang Cheng woke up in a warm embrace and saw the handsome face of his lover smiling at him.
"Good morning, love," Xichen greeted him with a beautiful smile.
Jiang Cheng simply looked at him and remembered what had happened at Carp Tower. He didn't really understand what had happened, but he was happy that his lover believed him more than his sworn brother.
"We should get up now. You need to meet someone," Xichen said.
Jiang Cheng didn't understand, but he complied with what his lover said.
After taking a bath, they walked to the dining area. Everyone was silent, even his sister.
After they finished eating, all the disciples left to do their duties.
"What happened? Is there something you want to tell me?" Jiang Cheng asked.
His sister, his brother-in-law, and his lover looked at each other before someone finally started speaking.
"Wanyin… Young Master Wei…" his lover began.
Jiang Cheng frowned, and his expression slowly turned into one of guilt.
"He's back," his sister continued.
Jiang Cheng raised his head and stared at his sister, as if asking who is back?
"A-Xian is back now, A-Cheng. He is in his old room now with—"
Before Jiang Yanli could finish speaking, Jiang Cheng ran toward his shixiong's old room and barged in.
But he froze, his eyes widening when he saw the unexpected person inside.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY BROTHER!?" he growled.
He marched toward the man, grabbed his collar, and threw him against the wall.
He activated his Zidian and was ready to whip the man, but an angry voice suddenly boomed inside the room and pushed Jiang Cheng away before he could strike.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, HURTING MY BROTHER!?" Sean said angrily while shielding his younger brother. He glared at Jiang Cheng with hatred.

Jiang Cheng's eyes widened. "What!? That man is a murderer!"
"He's my brother—"
"A-Cheng!" Jiang Yanli called as she reached the room.
She saw how their A-Xian was glaring at Jiang Cheng. She immediately bowed in apology.
"I'm sorry for what my brother did, Sean Gongzi."
Jiang Cheng frowned when his sister called his shixiong by a different name.
Sean frowned. "It's alright, Madam Jin. But if he tries to hurt my brothers again, I won't tolerate it anymore. And I would never hesitate to kill him. If my brothers and I are not welcome here, that is fine. We will leave immediately."
"Please don't. We promise this incident won't happen again," she pleaded. She didn't want to lose her brother again.
She then excused herself with her brother and spoke to him privately about A-Xian.
"So you mean… he is not from this timeline, but from another one? And he doesn't remember us?" Jiang Cheng asked, on the verge of crying.
The fact that his shixiong was back but did not remember any of them pained him deeply. What hurt even more was learning that the brothers of Mo Xuanyu and Xue Yang were now with him.
"Wangji said that he remembers some memories, but Young Master Wei believes they are only dreams."
Jiang Cheng gripped his robe tightly. It was his fault. If he hadn't listened to the other cultivators, maybe his brother would still be alive.
Later, Xiao Zhan, Fie, and Haoxuan arrived with Shen Yuan, Lan Wangji, He Na, and Ying Yuan as they entered the Sect Leader Hall.
They greeted him, but Xiao Zhan still glared at him coldly. Jiang Cheng only looked down at the floor.
"We need Sect Leader Jiang's permission to place this shield within your jurisdiction. There are many dark forces lurking around this world with killing intent," he said, showing them a stone.
The cultivators in the room immediately felt the powerful spiritual energy attached to the stone.

“Where did you get this celestial stone, little master?” Ying Yuan asked.
Sean groaned. “Stop calling me little,” he retorted. “My grandma gave this to us and said to place it at the center of our house. She said it’s a shield. It can repel anyone with bad intentions within your jurisdiction.”
“How does it work?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Just give us permission and I’ll show you how it works,” Sean replied.
Jiang Cheng agreed.
They brought him in front of the ancestral hall.
“This is the center of the sect,” Jiang Yanli said.
Sean nodded.
Both brothers looked around the ancestral hall.
Then Haoxuan took something out of his bag.
“What is that thing?” Jingyi asked curiously.
“Uh… it’s a bag. We can store anything inside,” Haoxuan replied casually.
He took out several items and began assembling them.
After they finished assembling it, Sean placed the stone on top.
An array immediately rose up. In the distance, they could hear screams and see lightning striking as if it were attacking someone.
“What’s that?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Don’t worry. The array senses assassins and spies with bad intentions. It attacks them and throws them outside the barrier,” Fie explained.
Lotus Pier was now protected by a powerful array, and Sean added another layer of protection to the stone.
“No one can touch this stone except me. Anyone who tries to destroy it will be stunned and electrocuted. It can even kill whoever attempts to destroy it. Don’t worry—people can still enter and leave as long as they have no bad intentions.”
“We appreciate your effort, Sean Gongzi—”
Sean shivered at the formality. “Can you please stop calling me gongzi? Sean, Zhan, or Xiao Zhan is fine.”
Jiang Cheng’s brows twitched at the name. “Zhan?”
Xiao Zhan looked at him as if to say, Yes, and so what?
Then Jiang Cheng glanced at the “iceberg” beside him and saw the faint smugness on his face.
“Who the hell gave you that name?” Jiang Cheng asked, annoyed.
“Myself. I grew up in the States and only had the English name Sean, so I made my own Chinese name too. And Zhan sounds close to Sean,” he said with a huff.
Lan Xichen and Jiang Yanli smirked and glanced at Lan Wangji.
“Anyway, we’ve already set up the shield. Later, we’ll leave—”
“What!?” both Jiang siblings exclaimed.
Lan Wangji simply looked at Xiao Zhan.
“We’re not here for a vacation. We’re looking for our grandma.”
“Which grandma do you mean?” Jiang Yanli asked.
“Her name is Baoshan Sanren,” Haoxuan answered. “Someone kidnapped our grandma, and our uncle sent us here.”
“Are you sure?” Jiang Cheng asked, clearly unconvinced.
Xiao Zhan turned and left the ancestral hall.
Lan Wangji immediately followed him, along with Haoxuan, Fie, Ying Yuan, He Na, and Shen Yuan. The others followed soon after.
“And where are you planning to look for her?” Jin Zixuan asked.
The three brothers shrugged.
“Wait—I think I know where we should start,” Sean suddenly exclaimed excitedly.
The others frowned.
“Where is the Burial Mounds located?” he asked.
The cultivators’ eyes widened, except for He Na, Ying Yuan, Shen Yuan, and his brothers.
“But why the Burial Mounds, Da-ge?” Haoxuan asked.
Jiang Cheng frowned upon hearing Xue Yang call his shixiong gege.
“Remember what Uncle said before he sent us here?”
The two suddenly widened their eyes.
“Of course!” Fie exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of it earlier?”
“Because you’re not Da-ge,” Xue Yang said, sticking out his tongue at Mo Xuanyu.
The two immediately started chasing each other. The cultivators couldn't believe that these were the infamous demonic cultivators. Yet here they were, chasing each other like children.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan were in turmoil after hearing that they had once killed Xue Yang—and that Xue Yang had actually been framed.
Even Shen Yuan felt a bit hurt when he saw Binghe happily interacting with his new family.
“Hey, you two, stop it and be serious,” Sean said.
The two pouted but still glared at each other.
“Uncle said that when there is a sea of Yin resentment, there is also a sea of pure Yang energy—and that we will find her there,” Sean repeated.
“And the only place with a sea of resentment is the Burial Mounds,” Fie added.
“We can take you there. But how are you going to find her there? There’s nothing there except—”
“I’m sure there’s something mysterious about that place that we still don’t know. We’ll go there and try to find some clues.”
“We’ll go with you,” Jiang Cheng said.
“No,” Sean cut him off. “You still have work to do regarding your Chief Cultivator.”
“Then you won’t do anything until we finish dealing with that issue,” Jiang Cheng said firmly.
“And who are you to demand—” Sean started.
“They are right, little mas—”
“Stop calling me little,” Sean snapped, glaring at Ying Yuan.
“Sorry, little one. In our realm, you’re still a toddler.”
The three brothers groaned in annoyance.

“We will help them so that we can start our journey sooner. We don’t know where we can find Immortal Baoshan Sanren, but my instinct says it’s better if we take them with us. So just be good kids—”
“We’re not kids!!” Sean, Fie, and Haoxuan protested at the same time.
“Okay,” Ying Yuan and He Na both replied calmly.
“We will help them solve the case about Sect Leader Nie’s body,” He Na explained.
Sean simply crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
While the cultivators were investigating the case about the former Sect Leader Nie, their lives were constantly in danger. Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji, He Na, Ying Yuan, and Song Lan were the ones handling the task.
Meanwhile, Sean, Fie, Haoxuan, Xiao Xingchen, Shen Yuan, and the juniors stayed in Yunmeng for safety.
It had been three weeks since the others left to investigate.
Finally, they found the remaining body parts. The head was in Jin Guangyao’s possession. Su She was killed by Lan Wangji, while Jin Guangyao managed to escape.
Lan Xichen was deeply disappointed, but at least the truth about the Yiling Patriarch and Xue Yang was finally clarified.
Now the entire cultivation world was searching for Jin Guangyao.
They still did not know who would become the next Chief Cultivator. After discussing it, the other sect leaders decided that until Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng, and Nie Huaisang returned, they would temporarily postpone choosing the next Chief Cultivator. Everyone agreed to this decision.
“So I guess we can start looking for Grandma now?” Sean asked.
The others nodded.
“I will assign my right-hand man to manage the sect for the meantime,” Jiang Cheng said.
“What about Jin Guangyao?” Fie asked.
“No one knows where he is right now. But don’t worry—we have already sent messages to our lord to search for him while we look for Immortal Baoshan Sanren,” He Na explained.
The three brothers nodded.
They then began preparing for tomorrow’s journey.