*Burial mounds*

Wei Ying puts his hands inside the front of his robes and takes out the Lan headband. He hands it to Lan Zhan, "Keep it safe for me." He says smiling mischievously.

Lan Zhan returns the smile...but it's loaded with worry.

Wei Ying nods encouragingly and is about to enter into the hall and reveal himself, when Lan Zhan stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, I think they will drift off to sleep any moment now." Lan Zhan says, gesturing towards the guards who are swaying on the spot due to excessive alcohol consumption.

Wei Ying agrees and a few minutes later, the guards are out cold.
The Yiling patriarch walks into the hall and starts playing Chenqing. Lan Zhan follows Wei Ying into the hall and squeezes the nape of the guards neck one by one making sure that the music doesn't disturb their slumber.
Lan Zhan stands next to Wei Ying, and takes out his zither.

Slowly black smoke starts to surround Wei Ying and Lan Zhan looks at his husband with worried eyes.

They had decided to do the calming music only if required, since the calming music had a distinct tone, a tone which Su She would no doubt be able to recognize.

The black smoke thicknes and starts swirling around Wei Ying. Lan Zhan moves closer to Wei Ying and he too is enveloped by the smoke.

As more and more resentful energy gets attracted to Wei Ying, the people who were thus far conscience less zombies start to get disoriented, and the pull of the negative energy makes them enter the hall.

Wei Ying's hands start shivering as more and more smoke starts entering him. He keeps a smile plastered on his lips, but Lan Zhan can clearly see the pain his husband is enduring.

His hands hover over his zinther but Wei Ying's gaze stops him.

'Wei Ying, please.' The light bearer mouths, but Wei Ying doesn't stop.
A few seconds later, there is a faint noise of foot steps and Su She enters the hall surrounded by the not so undead corpses.

Su She immediately puts two and two together and before trying to control the corpses, he takes out his zither and strums a few cords.

He laughs and walks towards the smoke swirling around in the centre of the hall. He can't see Wei Ying, but he knows the music, "Wei Wuxian, I know it's you. I never believed it fully that you were dead. And now, my master knows too." He informs.

Inside the smoke, things start getting out of hand. Lan Zhan notices Wei Ying struggling in the earnest and starts playing his Zinther.

"Hanguang Jun!" Su She exclaims and attacks Lan Zhan with his demonic music cords.

Seeing Lan Zhan in trouble Wei Ying changes the tune he is playing and the black smoke blocks the waves emitting out of Su She's instrument.

Realizing that he can't win against the combined forces of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying, Su She takes out his portal creating talisman.

"Noooooo!" Wei Ying yells. He knows that if Su She manages to escape now, it's game over for them.

Su She almost finishes reciting the spell, when two strong hands land on his shoulder. They grab him tight and throw him a few feet in the air.

Not having been able to complete the spell, the talisman in Su She's hand, burns to a crisp and becomes useless.
Su She falls to the floor with a loud thud. Already having dispensed almost all his spiritual energy, he looses conciseness at the impact.
Wen Ning grabs his wrists and ties it behind his back, making sure that the clan leader can't escape even after regaining consciousness.

The Ghost General drags the body to a side and smiles fondly at Wei Ying who has once again resumed playing the music to control the negative energy.

A few more minutes pass as Lan Zhan's zither and Wei Ying's flute make music together. Slowly the black smoke starts to disappear.
Once all the black smoke is gone, Lan Zhan stops playing, but Wei Ying continues to play. He changes the tune which now sounds more gentle and soothing.

The people who were under Su She's control just minutes ago now start falling to the floor one by one, till only the two cultivators and the Ghost General are left standing.

Wei Ying stops playing Chenqing and smiles at Lan Zhan. "It's done." The Yiling patriarch informs, with a satisfied smile on his face. Then he looks at Wen Ning who is looking at the unconscious people.

"Master Wei, what should we do with these people?" The Ghost General asks innocently.

"Nothing. We will do nothing. These people are exhausted, but they are free now. They will wake up in an hour or so. They will remember nothing." Wei Ying explains, and starts checking the vitals of the people lying unconscious. 

While Wei Ying is checking on the villagers, Lan Zhan walk over to Su She. He picks up the Zither, the clan leader had used and touches it's cords.

"Wei Ying." He calls his husband and motions him to come over.
"Lan Zhan, what is it?" The younger asks crouching down next to his husband.

"Wei Ying, can you make out what message was sent out by Su She before Wen Ning incapacitated him?"

"You mean the exact words?" Wei Ying asks, taking Su She's Zither on his lap.

"Mn."

"I can try. But I will need your help." Wei Ying informs, taking out his flute.

"Mn."

Wei Ying closes his eyes and touches the strings of the instrument and closes his eyes.

"Lan Zhan, the cords he played were familiar, yet somehow modified. What do you think?"

"Mn. It was definitely Gusu music but the extra notes that he infused in them were definitely of foreign origin."

Wei Ying contemplates what he knows and what Lan Zhan had told him and then voices his thoughts, "Play the enquiry, Lan Zhan. I have a feeling that Su She's zither will respond to yours. And I will play the possession tune. I think if both of us play together, we will know exactly what message was sent out by him."
Lan Zhan nods and takes out his zither, "Ready when you are, Wei Ying."

Wei Ying starts playing his Chenqing and simultaneously Lan Zhan starts playing his Zither.

Su She's instrument starts vibrating at once and Wei Ying closes his eyes. And a few seconds later, when he opens his eyes, he finds words engraved on the floor.

Lan Zhan reads them out loud, "Master, Yiling patriarch is alive and here. It's a trap."

"Fuck!" Wei Ying exclaims, "Lan Zhan, what will we do now?"

"Wei Ying, we will take care of this together. Even if Meng Yao knows, he can't take sudden decisions." Lan Zhan says trying to calm down his husband.

"True... true. Lan Zhan, what do you think will Meng Yao do now?"

"I think, he will proceed as planned."

Wei Ying nods, "Yes, afterall Su She did not know that we already have the piece of Ying iron that was hidden in the cave. And he knows that he will need it to control the undead corpses.....Ammmm, Lan Zhan, the faster we get to the cave, the better it will be... but I am worried about Jiang Cheng and Zewu Jun."

"Wei Ying, Su She did not say anything about Jiang Cheng's involvement when he sent the message, and Meng Yao trusts brother, he will never go against brother without solid evidence."

"That makes sense." Wei Ying agrees and signals Wen Ning to bring Su She to them.

"Wen Ning, what is the matter?" The Yiling patriarch asks his general, who has not spoken a word and is looking paler than usual.

"Master Wei, I am sorry. I could not stop him sooner. And now, because of my incompetence, you are worried about clan leader Jiang." Wen Ning answers without looking at the two men.

Wei Ying smiles, "Wen Ning, it was not your fault. Our plan was not foolproof. And it was my fault for underestimating Su She's intelligence. You did good, Wen Ning." Wei Ying says and almost taps his shoulder, but pulls his hand back before he touches the Ghost General and looks at Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan shakes his head and turns away, and starts walking towards the tunnel where the disciples are waiting.

{Note :- That's it for today's update.
Sorry for the delay.

Warning : A not so small rant ahead.

Here is the reason if anyone is interested to know why the updates have once again become a little slow. 😭 I know not many care anymore... I am just putting it here since there are a few who still care about this story (you guys know who you are -> 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖)

If you guys are one of those few who read my ramblings at the end of the updates, you must be aware that I was writing a Kids Fiction / Fantasy book for Open novella contest 2020 since the first week of Feb, now mind you, I was pretty freaking confident that it would not qualify in the fist round, because I am have never done it before...and my mediocre writing skills don't help either.... Lol
But unexpectedly the book qualified 😅 and I proceeded to write the next 6000 words needed to submit my story once again.
This time however, I was 100% sure that it will not qualify, but still I believe in finishing things that I start, so I finished writing the whole thing a couple of days back and I was very happy that I would now be able to concentrate on TLB and Mine, but once again (I have no freaking clue how) the book qualified for the next round.
Though I am happy about it, I am stressed as well, since now I have to edit the whole thing for mistakes and inconsistencies etc. And with my eye issue (that's a rant for another day) it is getting very difficult for me to update my other books.

But worry not, since the whole ordeal with the kids book will be done by 4th or 5th of May which is the last day for submission 😅😅😅

So please bear with me for the next few days till I submit the kids book (that only 6 people are reading... Thank you sweeties 💖💖💖)

Please Vote to show your support for this update if you have enjoyed it.

Thank you for reading.
Have a nice day.}