Protagonists

Wei Ying

(named Mo XuanYu after transmigration)

Common name: WuXian (fourth on the list of young masters)

Title: YiLing Patriarch

Name meanings: Wei—contains the character for “ghost”; Ying— “infant”; WuXian— “no envies”; YiLing—the place Yiling, where Luanzang Hill is

Height: 186 cm (180 cm after transmigration)

Sword: Suibian (the Chinese characters “Sui Bian”, meaning “whatever”, are engraved on the sword)

Tools: Stygian Tiger Seal (of which half was destroyed prior to the siege at Luanzang Hill), Compass of Evil, spirit-attraction flag

Lan Zhan

Common name: WangJi (second on the list of young masters)

Title: HanGuang-Jun (“Two Jades of Lan” with his brother Lan XiChen)

Name meanings: Lan— “blue”; Zhan—an adjective often used to describe an azure shade of blue; WangJi—a Daoist phrase, meaning “to not seek fame or wealth, forget about worldly matters, and be at peace with the world”; HanGuang— “to hold light”

Height: 188 cm

Sword: Bichen (meaning “to avoid dust/worldly matters”)

Guqin: Wangji

YunmengJiang Sect

Motto: to attempt the impossible

Residence: Lotus Pier, Yunmeng

Motif: the nine-petal lotus

Jiang Cheng

Common name: WanYin (fifth on the list of young masters)

Name meanings: Jiang— “river”; Cheng— “clear”, “transparent”; WanYin— Wan means “night”, while Yin means “to chant”

Height: 185 cm

Sword: Sandu (a Buddhist phrase that refers to the root of all turmoil—greed, anger, and ignorance)

Ring: Zidian (“purple lightning”); it can turn into a whip that emits purple lightning, able to separate the soul and body of a person who had seized someone else’s body

Jiang FengMian

(Jiang Cheng’s father and past sect leader; he was old friends with Wei WuXian’s parents)

Name meanings: FengMian—Feng means “maple”, while Mian means “to sleep”

Yu ZiYuan

(Jiang Cheng’s mother)

Name meanings: Yu—”to worry”; ZiYuan—”purple kite-bird”

Jiang YanLi

(Jiang Cheng’s older sister, Wei WuXian’s shijie)

Name meanings: YanLi—”to dislike separation”

GusuLan Sect

Motto: be righteous

Founder: Lan An (born in a temple; became a musician afterward)

Residence: The Cloud Recesses, Gusu

Motif: flowing clouds

Lan Huan

Common name: XiChen (first on the list of young masters)

Title: ZeWu-Jun

Name meanings: Huan—“to dissipate”; XiChen—”A chancellor of the morning sun”

Height: 188 cm

Sword: Shuoyue (“new moon”)

Xiao: Liebing (“fractured ice”)

Lan SiZhui

(mature disciple with polite manners)

Name meanings: SiZhui—”to recollect and long for”

Height: 172 cm

Lan JingYi

(less mature disciple with less polite manners)

Name meanings: JingYi—Jing means “scenery”, while Yi can mean either “appearance”, “etiquette”, or “gift”

Height: 168 cm

Lan QiRen

(the pedantic, stubborn, strict teacher who brings up excellent students)

Name meanings: QiRen—Qi means “to open, to start”, while Ren means “kindness”

LanlingJin Sect

Residence: Koi Tower, Lanling

Motif: the white peony Sparks Amidst Snow

(Disciples of the Jin Clan have vermilion marks on their forehead)

Jin GuangYao

(Leader of the LanlingJin Sect)

Title: LianFang-Zun

Name meanings: Jin—”golden”; GuangYao—Guang means “light”, while Yao means “a radiant piece of jade”; LianFang—”to hide fragrance”

Height: 170 cm

Jin Ling

(son of Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi)

Name meanings: Ling—”to rise above”

Height: 172 cm

Jin ZiXuan

(Ranked third on the list of young masters)

Name meanings: Zi—a common character found in many names; Xuan—”a tall pavilion”

Height: 185 cm

Jin GuangShan

(past sect leader, rumored to have died “in bed”)

Name meanings: GuangShan—Guang means “light”, while Shan means “kindness”

Mo XuanYu

(illegitimate son of Jin GuangShan, sacrificed his body to Wei WuXian)

Name meanings: XuanYu—Xuan means “mysterious”, while Yu means “feathers”

Qin Su

(Wife of Jin GuangYao)

Name meanings: Su—”sincerity”

QishanWen Sect

Founder: Wen Mao (the first to focus on expanding the clan instead of the sect)

Wen Ning

Alternative name: Ghost General

Name meanings: Wen—”lukewarm”; Ning—”peace”

Height: 183 cm

Wen RuoHan

(Past leader of the Wen Sect)

Name meanings: RuoHan—Ruo means “as though”, while Han means “coldness”

QingheNie Sect

Motif: the head of a beast

Nie MingJue

Title: ChiFeng-Zun (eldest one of the sworn brothers)

Name meanings: MingJue—”a bright, penannular jade”; ChiFeng—”a crimson blade”

Saber: Baxia (“to be under forceful power”)

Height: 191 cm

Nie HuaiSang

(the cowardly second young master)

Name meanings: HuaiSang—Huai means “to hold”, while Sang refers to “mulberry leaves”

Height: 172 cm

Yicheng Arc

Xue Yang

Height: 180 cm

Sword: Jiangzai (“to bring down disasters”)

Xiao XingChen

Name meanings: Xiao—”dawn”; XingChen—”star-dust”

Height: 185 cm

Sword: Shuanghua (“floral frost” or “the brilliance of frost”)

Song Lan

Common name: ZiChen

Name meanings: Lan—”mist”; ZiChen—Zi a common character found in many names, while Chen means “a precious stone”

Sword: Fuxue (“to brush away snow”)

A-Qing

Name meanings: Qing—”bamboo”

Series appearance of Lan Zhan and Wei ying. Lan zhan in white and Wei ying in black

“Great news! Wei WuXian has died!”

Less than a day has passed since the siege in LuanZang Hill, and the news spreads through the cultivation world as if it sprouted wings, surpassing even the speed of warfare.

For a while, from the most prominent clans to rogue cultivators, everyone is discussing the siege that was lead by the Four Great Clans and followed by hundreds of smaller ones.

“The YiLing Patriarch has died? Who could have killed him?”

“Who other than his shidi, Jiang Cheng, putting an end to his own relative for the greater good. Jiang Cheng led the Four Clans of YunmengJiang, LanlingJin, GusuLan, and QingheNie to destroy his “den”—LuanZang Hill.”

“I must say, good riddance!”

“Good riddance indeed! We finally eliminated this scourge.”

“If not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets, let alone causing mayhem as bold as the ones these days. The head of the Jiang clan raised him as her own child, yet he defected them and became the enemy of the cultivation world, bringing shame upon the the Jiang clan, even leading to its near-extermination. He is the prime example of biting the hand that feeds him!”

“Jiang Cheng allowed this fellow to live for too long. If I were him, at the time of the defection, I wouldn’t have just stabbed him. In fact, I would have thoroughly examined the disciples of the clan again, so that he doesn’t do those crazy things he did later on. Who cares about the so called ‘considerations’ that he gave to his childhood friend.”

“That’s merely hearsay. Although Jiang Cheng was one of the main forces, he did not give Wei WuXian the final blow. Because he cultivates the Demon Path, Wei WuXian’s powers had backfired and he was ripped to pieces.”

“Hahahaha… That’s karma! The ghost soldiers that he created are like unleashed dogs, biting everyone that they come across. It serves him right to be chewed to death!”

“But, if not for Jiang Cheng making a plan that aimed at Wei WuXian’s weaknesses, the siege might not have succeeded. Should I remind you folks of the item that Wei WuXian possesses? Did you forget about the day that three thousand skilled cultivators were completely annihilated?”

“I heard that it was more than three thousand, possibly five thousand.”

“He’s most certainly out of his mind.”

“It’s a good thing that he destroyed that evil weapon before he died. Otherwise, if it was left in this world to harm humankind, his sins would have been worse.”

“Oh well… You know, back then, Wei WuXian was one of the most promising cultivators, coming from a highly distinguished clan and finding success at a young age. How on Earth did he end up where he is now?”

“This proves that one can only cultivate by following the right path. Using these dishonest practices would only seem beneficial at first glance. Look, what happened in the end? Not even a whole corpse was left of him.”

“Not everything was because of his cultivation path. Wei WuXian’s personality is quite immoral. One’s deeds will be paid, one way or another; what goes around always comes around.”

…

After Wei WuXian’s death, the period is drawn on the topic. The discussions of the people are mostly the same, with a few unconventional opinions being brought down immediately.

However, the elephant in the room stayed in the back of everyone’s mind.

Nobody could summon Wei WuXian’s soul, which meant that his soul had disappeared.

It might have been torn apart by the millions of ghosts that devoured him.

Or, it might have escaped.

If was the first, then all is well. Then again, nobody doubts the fact that the YiLing Patriarch has the power to move mountains and empty seas. If was the last, his soul would eventually return to revive in his body. When the day comes, the cultivation world, or even all of mortal land, would be faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair.

The various clans set one hundred and twenty stone beasts on top of LuanZang Hill and initiated frequent soul-summoning rituals, followed by heightened vigilance and searches for strange occurrences from all over the world.

In the first year, nothing happened.

In the second year, nothing happened.

In the third year, nothing happened.

…

In the thirteenth year, nothing happened either.

More and more people were starting to believe that, maybe, the YiLing Patriarch actually perished.

Even if he was capable of turning the world upside down, it was finally his turn to be toppled over.

Nobody would remain at the top for all of eternity—legends are only legends.