There is a small part of Lan Xichen that wonders if the words are meant to be a knife in his side and that Jin Guangyao is trying to hurt him for the past by referencing it. But the pain on his face looks so real that he can't bring himself to fully challenge those questions. When he looks at the man, so clean and whole in comparison to his last sight of him, the Lan Sect Leader still sees his young sworn brother, his friend, and the innocence he once believed in without any question at all casting an echo back at him. He's almost frightened that if he looks too long at that image he will start to believe in it again.

"It wasn't him, if that is what you are asking. I met my brother. We concluded that these must be a shared dream of some kind. A way to bring us together for some sort of message, although we could not make out what the purpose was."

His breathing is still slightly fast, despite the calm he manages to hold onto. Xichen holds out a hand, palm raised, toward the gold-robed man.

"Let me see your hand."