Ouyang Zizhen doesn’t know what to expect the first time he meets the illustrious Haguang-jun. He’s grown up with the legend of him; how he’s one of the heroes of the Sunshot Campaign, how he defended the Cultivation world from the Yiling Patriarch’s depravity and wicked tricks, and how he’s brought light and order to where there previously was none.
However, it wasn’t this.
Lanling Jin is throwing a small gathering meant to introduce young cultivators to each other, and almost all sects are in attendance—if nothing else, they get the chance to ogle at the main residence of the cultivation wordl’s richest sect and eat their food. And gossip. Zizhen knows the main thing about these gatherings is gossiping.
In the gilded greatness of Koi Tower, Hanguang-jun manages to stand out like a beacon in his pure white robes and icy demeanor. Next to him stands a young cultivator who resembles him a lot, except that he’s smiling where Hanguang-jun’s face is impassive.
”That young man is Lan Sizhui,” Zizhen’s father hisses into his ear. ”He’s Hanguang-jun’s ward and the current sect heir. He’s in the same age group as you, Zizhen. You should make friends with him!”
Zizhen might be only thirteen but he’s pretty sure that Father’s main objective is more akin to worming his way closer to one of the Great Sects instead of actually urging Zizhen to make friends, but it’s alright. Lan Sizhui looks nice and Zizhen usually gets along with almost anyone.
He gets his chance later during the demonstrations and is happy to find out that Lan Sizhui is as nice as his smile indicated. The other Lan with him, Lan Jingyi, is loud-mouthed and irreverent, and very much fun. Zizhen ends up spending most of the gathering with them, making Father nod with approval. He even gets invited to the final crowd hunt, where he witnesses Hanguang-jun subdue a yao with his guqin. The monster was too powerful for the juniors, but a couple of crystal-clear chords thrumming with spiritual energy stun the yao so that the juniors can finish it off.
Zizhen doesn’t get any finishing done, too busy staring in awe at Hanguang-jun’s haughty visage.
As time goes by, Zizhen’s friendship with Sizhui and Jingyi deepens, and the three often request permission to night-hunt together. More often than not, Hanguang-jun travels with them for at least some time, on his way to help out the commoners and go where the chaos is. Zizhen still admires him greatly, but he starts to slowly realize that the man everyone idolizes might be a mere shell, a shadow of a man who used to be but is no more, a brittle facade almost ready to shatter like glass.
It won’t do to ask Sizhui—he might be easygoing most of the time but goes quiet whenever someone tries to breach the topic of where he comes from or what his relationship with Hanguang-jun is. However, Zizhen is able to piece together something from bits and pieces, mainly that Hanguang-jun has dressed in mourning whites since the Sunshot Campaign and that Gusu Lan turns down all marriage proposals aimed at him.
Obviously, Hanguang-jun has lost someone, and the legend of the Lan only loving once hints at who that person might be.
No wonder he never smiles, Zizhen thinks, for what is there to smile about when the love of your life is gone?
Years later, Zizhen has the chance to witness Senior Wei and Hanguang-jun fighting a murder of mutated crow yao. The sound of Hanguang-jun’s qin is still crystal-clear, but now it’s paired with the soaring sound of Senior Wei’s dizi. The shadow is gone and the shell that was Hanguang-jun is now filled with Senior Wei, chasing out the lingering sadness and smoothing out the sharp, brittle edges.
Zizhen lets out a sigh and smiles. He’s so glad that Hanguang-jun got his happy ending after all.