Eight years ago, Xie Lian was a hip hop artist, producer and YouTuber, cool and talented, with thousands of followers. He joined The Heavens, a state-of-the-art university for online marketing and media studies and top research centre as its star student, but dropped off on his first year. Now, he's back at The Heavens as #mostlikelytobeexpelled. On his first uni assignment, he meets a film production student rumoured to be bad news, Hua Cheng - little did he know this new acquaintance's known him for a very, very long time. The Ghost Groom On the first arc of this Hualian AU, Xie Lian goes to test a dating app developed at The Ming Guang Lab at Yu Jun Building. Its female users went missing after being contacted, so this rogue algorithm or whatever was causing it was dubbed 'The Ghost Groom'.

Xie Lian meets Hua Cheng, who sticks around for the weekend, doing shopping, laundry and house cleaning. @taoistpriestpupper invites Xie Lian to a Rap Battle, The Half-Moon Pass. Feng Xin and Mu Qing show up too. There's a fight, and hell breaks loose about past disputes.

Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan go for a uni assignment at Ghost City, a pop-up market organised by Hua Cheng. They take a colleague, Lang Qianqiu, who stirs trouble following a rumour of gang clashes; painful memories arise, and Xie Lian gets in trouble.

Hua Cheng takes Xie Lian and Lang Qianqiu undercover to a gathering at The Green Ghost Qi Rong's Lair; they want to confront him and ask about An Le and FangXin. Qi Rong talks too much for his own good, Xie Lian has a meltdown and Lang Qianqiu learns the truth about the past.

After all that happened at The Green Ghost Qi Rong's Lair, Xie Lian isn't sure how he feels; he decides to do some soul-searching, and jumps on a train. Back in XianLe, he has some time off, confronts his memories and faces his fears.

It's the end of the term, and there's a party at The Heavens to celebrate the term's achievements. And what better way to do it than by a contest, The Battle of The Lanterns? Xie Lian goes to investigate a stolen project nicknamed The Fetus Spirit, but its mystery just deepends; but, what really gets Xie Lian all confused are matters of the heart.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng meet again, and make some plans together, but Xie Lian gets enlisted to help Shi Qingxuan with an internet troll, The Reverend of Empty Words. They go to Amsterdam for a fun weekend, but end up in a bad trip; Hua Cheng makes Xie Lian's heart race!

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng end up at Shi Wudu's heavenly tribulation, an event for investors, and get dragged to Black Water Island, the property of an elusive multi-millionaire. Nothing is what it seems, and between deep conversations and embarrassing bodily reactions, down they go in murky waters...

At Qiandeng Temple nightclub, Hua Cheng's drink gets spiked and Xie Lian goes to his rescue, but there are some HOT side-effects they didn't count on! Then they get sent to some last-minute beach holidays, but not everything is fun in the sun: there's some drama, where once again Xie Lian's past has a part to play.

To stay away from Hua Cheng, Xie Lian goes to assist Officer Quan Yizhen in his investigations; they meet The Brocade Immortal, responsible for abnormal crypto transactions in The Heavens! Xie Lian gets the assignment of broadcasting Mount Tong'Lu Festival with Hua Cheng. They learn the story behind The Crown Prince of WuYong; Feng Xin and Mu Qing expose who Hua Cheng really is!