Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian continues their search and arrives in a forest. At the same time, Jin Ling is also here to night-hunt but meets Sect Leader Yao. The latter starts attacking him and this catches the attention of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. The two then rush to stop Sect Leader Yao. Wei Wuxian explains the large amount of resentful energy here is causing hallucinations and Jin Ling is unaffected because of the Yunmeng bell. Later, the three of them discover the guards of the observation tower killed by a mysterious beast. As the air grows ominous, a snake-like beast attacks them. With the efforts of the three, they successfully kill the monster. However, as Sect Leader Yao talks about Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling runs away. He ends up in a place full of corpses and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian hurry over. A head attacks them and Wei Wuxian represses it. With Lan Wangji's guqin, they find out the head belongs to the deceased Jin Zixun, an uncle of Jin Ling. The memory of his death at Wei WuXian's hands after he tried to force him to remove a curse he supposedly placed on him unveils. The effects of the curse on Jin Zixu's body should remain even after death, unless the caster had died. His body disappeared after Wei WuXian's death, so no one could confirm the marks had dissipated, which they would have if Wei WuXian cursed him - possibly to conceal the fact the marks remained even after the death of the Yiling Patriarch.