in this au Xie Lian is the son of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying.Lan Zhan is soft but strict parent sometimes, he has taught Xie Lian how to fight and act while in a conflict, Wei Ying on the other hand was more aloof and troublemaker like always and would prank Lan Zhan together. Lan Zhan loved those pranks but he was kind of overprotective of Xie Lian and Wei Ying.

Xie Lian has grown up and left Gusu to explore the world like he said, that's when he met Hua Cheng the ghost King, they became friends but Xie Lian never told him that his fathers were the yilling patriarch and the second lan clan leader of Gusu, he kept a low profile like Hua Cheng who never said anything about being the ghost king but it didn't takke long for Xie Lian to realise even though he still calls him San Lang his alternative name.

one day Xie Lian found out that Hua Cheng was hunting down his father Wei Ying because of his reputation as the yilling patriarch abd wanted to stop him, to tell him the truth but he was scared that San Lang would hate him.