TFOD Chapter 51

Chapter 48: The Cunning Child 10 (3) (1)

The last part of Nie Mingjue’s corpse, the head, was indeed here with Jin Guangyao.

The once invincible Chifeng-Zun Nie Mingjue, who had the thunderous might on the Sunshot Campaign, was sealed by numerous restrictions in this dark and cramped secret chamber, unable to see the light of day.

As long as Wei Wuxian unsealed the head, Chifeng-Zun’s corpse would sense his head and come on its own. He examined the restrictions on the helmet for a moment, and was thinking about how to proceed, when suddenly, an extremely powerful suction force came, and his light-as-paper body was forcefully pulled forward, directly onto Nie Mingjue’s forehead.

On the other side of Jinlintai, Lan Wangji was sitting beside Wei Wuxian, always staring at his face. After watching for a long while, his fingers moved slightly, he lowered his eyelashes, and raised his hand to lightly touch his lips.

Very lightly, as light as the paper figure had just bumped into it.

Suddenly, Wei Wuxian’s hands twitched slightly, his ten fingers clenched into fists, Lan Wangji’s eyes sharpened, and he pulled him into his arms. When he raised Wei Wuxian’s face to look, Wei Wuxian’s eyes were still closed, but his brows were tightly furrowed.

And Wei Wuxian in the secret chamber didn’t even have time to react. The dead with too strong resentment will endlessly radiate their own hatred and resentment, spreading it onto others, using this to vent their anger, and infect their emotions. Many hauntings are caused by this. In fact, this is the principle of empathy. If Wei Wuxian was using his physical body right now, the physical body is a line of defense for the soul, as long as he didn’t want to, naturally no resentment could infect him. But now he was possessing a thin piece of paper, his defensive power was inevitably greatly weakened, and being too close, Nie Mingjue’s resentment was extremely strong, and he was affected without realizing it. One moment he was thinking “This is bad!” and the next moment, he smelled the scent of blood.

It had been many years since he smelled such a strong scent of blood, and something in his bones was awakened in an instant, becoming noisy and boiling. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a flash of a blade, a shadow of blood, and a head flying high, along with the sound of a body collapsing.

The person whose head had been separated from their body, their family robe had the blazing sun flame pattern on the back. Wei Wuxian watched “himself” return the blade to its sheath, and a deep voice came from his mouth: “Pick up the head, hang it up, let the Wen dogs see.”

Someone behind him replied, “Yes!”

Wei Wuxian knew who this person who had been beheaded was.

Wen Xu, the eldest son of the Qishan Wen Sect leader, Wen Ruohan. This person was intercepted and killed by Nie Mingjue at Hejian, his head was cut off with one blade, and he was also lifted by the head, and hung in front of the formation to show his strength to the Wen family cultivators. The corpse was then ripped to shreds by the angry Nie family cultivators, ground into minced meat, and smeared on the ground.

Nie Mingjue glanced at the corpse on the ground, kicked it away, pressed his hand on the hilt of his blade, and slowly looked around.

Chifeng-Zun was very tall, last time when he empathized with A-Qing, Wei Wuxian’s vision was extremely low, but this time it was much higher than his usual vision. Looking around, there were countless dead and injured, some wearing the blazing sun flame robes, some with the Qinghe Nie Sect’s beast-head family crest on their backs, and some without family crests. They each occupied about a third, the scene was extremely tragic, the bloody aura rushed to the sky. While scanning, he began walking, seemingly to check if there were any Wen family cultivators who were still breathing. At this time, a crackling sound came from a nearby tiled house. Nie Mingjue waved his long blade, a sharp wind swept across, and sliced open the simple door of the tiled house, exposing a pair of mother and daughter behind the door who were in shock. The tiled house was dilapidated, there were not many things in the house, they also had nowhere to hide, huddled tightly under a table, not daring to breathe. The wide eyes of the young woman reflected Nie Mingjue’s blood-soaked, murderous appearance, tears streamed down her face, but the girl in her arms had already opened her mouth, scared stiff.

Seeing that they were just an ordinary mother and daughter, who should be civilians who didn’t have time to escape after the battle here, Nie Mingjue’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Just then, a subordinate behind him followed up, not knowing what was happening, called out, “Sect Leader?”

The mother and daughter only knew that they had been living well, when suddenly a few groups of cultivators came, and fought a chaotic battle that made the sun and moon lose their light. They did not understand which side was good or bad, and were scared when they saw someone with a sword, thinking that they were bound to die, their expressions became more and more terrified. Nie Mingjue glanced at them, restrained his murderous intent, and said, “It’s nothing.”

He lowered the hand holding his blade, and walked steadily to the side. The young woman instantly slumped to the ground, holding her daughter, and after a long while, couldn’t help but sob softly.

After walking a few steps, Nie Mingjue suddenly stopped, and asked the subordinate behind him: “Who was the cultivator who remained at the very end during the last battlefield clean-up?”

That subordinate was slightly taken aback, and said, “Remained at the very end? This… I didn’t quite remember…”

Nie Mingjue frowned and said, “Remember and tell me.”

He continued to walk forward, and the cultivator quickly went to ask the others. Not long after, he caught up and said: “Sect Leader! I asked and found out. The cultivator who remained at the very end during the last battlefield clean-up was called Meng Yao.”

Hearing this name, Nie Mingjue slightly raised his eyebrows, seemingly a bit surprised.

Wei Wuxian knew why, before Jin Guangyao recognized his ancestors and returned to the clan, he went by his mother’s surname, and his name was Meng Yao, this was not a secret. Moreover, this name was once “very well known.”

The scene of how the future Lianfang-Zun Jin Guangyao, who would stand at the top of Jinlintai and turn his hands to make clouds and rain, first ascended to Jinlintai, although not many people had witnessed it with their own eyes, the rumors were extremely detailed. Jin Guangyao’s mother was a celebrity in a brothel in Yunmeng. Back then, she had a reputation for being a talented courtesan, it was said that she played the guqin well, wrote good characters, was knowledgeable and reasonable, not from a noble family, but better than one. Of course, no matter how much better, when spoken by others, a prostitute was still a prostitute. Jin Guangshan passed through Yunmeng and naturally could not miss this famous courtesan who was at the peak of her popularity. He lingered with the woman for several days, left a token, and left satisfied. After returning, of course, just like countless times before, he threw this once-pleasurable woman out of his mind.

In comparison, Mo Xuanyu and his mother were quite favored, at least Jin Guangshan later remembered that he had such a son, and had him brought back to Jinlintai. Meng Yao was not so lucky. The son of a prostitute could not compare to the children of respectable families. Meng’s mother gave birth to a son alone for Jin Guangshan. Like Mo Erniangzi, she waited and waited, hoping for the immortal leader to come back to take her and her child away, and carefully taught Meng Yao, preparing him for his future entry into the immortal sects. However, when her son was over ten years old, there was still no news from his father, and Meng’s mother was already critically ill.

Before her death, she gave her son the token that Jin Guangshan had left behind that year, and told him to go to Jinlintai to seek a way out. Thus, Meng Yao packed his bags and set off from Yunmeng. After traveling through mountains and rivers, he arrived in Lanling, and when he got to Jinlintai, Meng Yao was blocked outside the door, so he took out the token, and requested to be informed.

The token that Jin Guangshan had given was a pearl button. This was not a rare item in the Lanling Jin Sect, you could grab a handful of them. Their most common use was when Jin Guangshan went out to flirt and have affairs, gifting it to beautiful women, using this pretty little object as a rare treasure, along with sweet words, promising the next life and this one. He gave them out casually, and forgot about them immediately after giving them.

Meng Yao came at a very bad time. That day happened to be Jin Zixuan’s birthday. Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin were holding a banquet to celebrate their precious son’s birthday, and there were many family relatives present. Three hours later, it was late, and they were about to set off lanterns to pray for blessings, and were all getting ready to go out, when a servant finally found an opportunity to report the news. When Madam Jin saw the pearl button, she thought of Jin Guangshan’s past misdeeds, and her face darkened on the spot. Jin Guangshan quickly crushed the pearl into powder, loudly rebuked the servant, and instructed him to drive away the person outside, not letting them bump into them when they went out to set off the lanterns.

Thus, Meng Yao was kicked down from Jinlintai, from the very top step, all the way to the very bottom.

It is said that after he got up, he didn’t say anything, wiped away the blood from his forehead, patted the dust off his body, and walked away with his baggage.

After the Sunshot Campaign began, Meng Yao joined the Qinghe Nie Sect.

The Qinghe Nie Sect’s core disciples and the rallied wandering cultivators under Nie Mingjue were stationed in several locations, one of which was located in an unnamed mountain range in Hejian. Nie Mingjue walked up the mountain on foot, and before he was close, he saw a young man in cloth clothes come out of the dark green forest, holding a bamboo tube.

The young man seemed to have just returned from fetching water, his pace slightly fatigued, he was about to enter a mountain cave, when he suddenly stopped. He stood outside the cave, listening attentively for a while, and seemed to hesitate whether he should enter, and ultimately, he silently walked away with the bamboo tube in another direction.

After walking for a while, he found a place by the side of the road to squat down, took out a little white dry food from his chest, and ate it slowly with clear water.

Nie Mingjue walked towards him. This young man was burying his head and eating, suddenly, he was shrouded by a tall shadow, when he looked up, he quickly put away the dry food, stood up, and said, “Sect Leader Nie.”

This young man was small in stature, with a fair face and delicate eyebrows, it was Jin Guangyao’s well-behaved face that was very advantageous. At this time, he had not yet gone to Jinlintai to recognize his ancestors and return to his clan, so naturally, there was no cinnabar dot between his eyebrows. Nie Mingjue clearly had an impression of his face, and asked, “Meng Yao?”

Meng Yao respectfully said, “Yes.”

Nie Mingjue said, “Why aren’t you resting in the mountain cave like the others?”

Meng Yao opened his mouth, smiled a little awkwardly, and seemed not to know what to say. Seeing this, Nie Mingjue walked past him toward the mountain cave. Meng Yao looked like he wanted to pull him, but didn’t dare. He hid his breath, so even when he walked straight to the outside of the cave, no one noticed. The people inside were still happily talking:

“…Yes, it’s him.”

“No way! Jin Guangshan’s son? Could Jin Guangshan’s son mix with us? Why not go back to find his father? He could move his finger and not have to work so hard.”

“You think he doesn’t want to go back? He took the token all the way from Yunmeng to Lanling, isn’t that wanting to recognize his father?”

“Then he really made a mistake, Jin Guangshan’s wife is very powerful.”

“It’s not me talking, Jin Guangshan has so many children outside, at least a dozen, do you see him acknowledge any of them? He made it so that way, he brought it on himself.”

“People, just shouldn’t expect things they shouldn’t expect. When you fall and break your head, who do you blame? No one. It’s self inflicted.”

“How stupid! With a Jin Zixuan, why would Jin Guangshan care about any other sons? Not to mention that he’s the son of a whore, who knows whose child it actually is, I think Jin Guangshan is also suspicious that’s why he doesn’t dare recognize him! Hahahaha…”

“How could that be! I think he just doesn’t remember having had such a thing with that woman.”

“Thinking about how Jin Guangshan’s child is going to obediently fetch water for us, I am actually quite happy, hahaha…”

“Obediently my ass, he’s trying his best to show off, haven’t you seen how hard he’s been working, always running around and doing this and that, so diligently, just hoping to be successful enough so that his father would be willing to recognize him and take him home.”

A fire of anger rose in Nie Mingjue’s heart, and it burned straight into Wei Wuxian’s chest.

His hand slammed down on the hilt of his blade, and Meng Yao quickly reached out to stop him, but failed. The blade was already out of its sheath, and a boulder in front of the mountain cave crashed to the ground. Dozens of cultivators who were resting inside were startled by the collapse of the rock and jumped up, drawing their swords. The bamboo tubes they were holding in their hands fell to the ground, clattering. Immediately after, Nie Mingjue shouted: “Drinking the water that others are bringing you, but you speak such malicious words! You joined my ranks not to kill the Wen dogs, but to gossip?!”

A flurry of commotion came from inside the cave. Everyone knew Chifeng-Zun’s temper. The more they tried to explain, the more his anger would rise, and today they were afraid they would not escape punishment, they could only honestly admit it, so no one dared to speak. Nie Mingjue sneered, not entering the cave, and said to Meng Yao, “You come with me.”

He turned and walked down the mountain, and Meng Yao indeed followed. After walking for a while, Meng Yao’s head got lower and lower, and his pace became heavier and heavier.

After a long while, he finally said, “Thank you, Sect Leader Nie.”

Nie Mingjue said, “A man should act righteously and stand upright, there is no need to care about the rumors of those idle people.”

Meng Yao nodded and said, “Yes.”

Although he said so, there was still a trace of worry on his face. Today, Nie Mingjue had helped him so much, but if they suppressed him now, those cultivators were bound to get back at him a hundred or a thousand times over in the future, how could he not be worried.

Nie Mingjue said, “The more these people talk behind your back, the more you need to make them speechless. I’ve seen you go into battle. Each time you’re in the front, and each time you stay behind to guide and resettle the civilians. You’ve done very well, keep it up.”

Hearing this, Meng Yao was slightly stunned, and raised his head a little. Nie Mingjue continued, “Your swordsmanship is very light and agile, but not solid. You need to train more.”

This was already a straightforward encouragement. Meng Yao quickly said, “Thank you for the pointers, Sect Leader Nie.”

Wei Wuxian knew that no matter how much he trained, it would not become solid. Jin Guangyao was not like other ordinary aristocratic children, his foundation was too poor, and he would never be able to reach the next level, so for cultivation, he could only seek to be broad, and could not seek to be refined and deep. This was why he needed to combine the strengths of all schools, and touch upon the unique skills of all the sects, and it was also why he was once criticized as a “thief of techniques”.

Hejian was an important strategic point in the Sunshot Campaign, and also Nie Mingjue’s main battlefield. Like an impregnable copper wall, it was placed to the side of the Qishan Wen Sect, preventing them from invading east and south. The Qinghe Nie Sect and the Qishan Wen Sect originally had old grievances, they had been holding it in, but after the war started, both sides broke out, and there were countless battles, big and small, in each of which they fought to the death, and the civilians in Hejian suffered greatly. The Qishan Wen Sect was naturally unscrupulous, but the Qinghe Nie Sect had to take them into consideration.

Under such circumstances, Meng Yao, who tirelessly cleaned up the battlefield and guided and comforted the civilians after each battle, drew more and more of Nie Mingjue’s attention. After several times, Nie Mingjue directly promoted him to his side, making him his deputy. Meng Yao also seized the opportunity, and each time was able to complete the tasks assigned to him properly. Therefore, at this time, Jin Guangyao was not like the later him who was always being severely disciplined by Nie Mingjue. On the contrary, he was quite appreciated and valued by him. And Wei Wuxian had heard too many jokes such as “Lianfang-Zun fled in disarray when he heard that Chifeng-Zun had arrived”, and each time he saw Meng Yao getting along peacefully with Nie Mingjue, even like a fish in water, he felt it was very surreal.

One day, the Hejian battlefield welcomed a guest.

During the Sunshot Campaign, the three Venerables each had beautiful names and good stories passed down. Chifeng-Zun Nie Mingjue was invincible, and the Wen dogs did not survive in the places he passed. Ze Wu-Jun Lan Xichen was different from him. After the situation in Gusu became stable, with Lan Qiren holding the fort, he often went out to provide support, saving people from dire straits, and recovered countless lost territories and snatched people from the jaws of tigers in the Sunshot Campaign. Therefore, everyone was overjoyed when they heard his name, as if they had an additional ray of hope, and a life-saving trump card.

Each time Lan Xichen escorted cultivators from other families through Hejian, he would stop for a while as a transit point. Nie Mingjue personally received him into a bright and spacious hall. There were also several cultivators in the hall, all seated in the hall.

Although Lan Xichen’s appearance was almost identical to Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian could tell who was who with one look. However, when he saw this face, his heart couldn’t help but flutter, and he thought: “I wonder how my body is doing now, the paper transformation is invaded by resentment, would the physical body also have problems? Will Lan Zhan notice anything wrong?”

After a few words of greeting, Meng Yao, who had been standing behind Nie Mingjue, came out to serve tea to everyone. On the front lines, one person was used as six people, and there was simply no space for servants or maids. Therefore, these daily chores were also actively taken care of by Jin Guangyao, who was the deputy. When a few cultivators saw his face clearly, they were first stunned, and then their expressions varied. Jin Guangshan’s “romantic anecdotes” had always been a gossip topic that spread extremely quickly and widely. Meng Yao had been a famous laughingstock for a period of time, and a few people recognized him. Most of them felt that the son of a prostitute might also carry something unclean, and these few cultivators did not drink after receiving the teacup he offered with both hands. Instead, they put it aside and took out a snow-white handkerchief, as if they were in great discomfort, and intentionally or unintentionally repeatedly wiped their fingers that had just touched the teacup. Nie Mingjue was not a meticulous person, and had not noticed these details, but Wei Wuxian had seen them from the corner of his eye. Meng Yao acted as if he had not seen anything, and his smile did not falter, as he continued serving tea. When Lan Xichen received the teacup, he raised his eyes and looked at him, and smiled: “Thank you.”

Then he lowered his head to take a sip, before continuing his conversation with Nie Mingjue. Seeing this, the other cultivators became somewhat uncomfortable.

Nie Mingjue had always been serious, but when facing Lan Xichen, his expression was even gentle, and asked: “How long will you stay?”

Lan Xichen said: “I will trouble Brother Mingjue to let me stay for one night, and set off tomorrow to join Wangji.”

Nie Mingjue said: “Where are you going?”

Lan Xichen said, “Going to Jiangling.”

Nie Mingjue frowned, “Isn’t Jiangling still in the hands of the Wen dogs?”

Lan Xichen said, “It hasn’t been for the last two days. Now, it’s in the hands of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect.”

A sect leader said: “Sect Leader Nie doesn’t know yet, but the Yunmeng Jiang Sect leader is very impressive in that area.”

Another said: “How can he not be impressive? Wei Wuxian alone can be equal to a million soldiers, who would he be afraid of? He also does not need to run around for his life like we do. He stably sits in one place, he really is lucky…”

Someone noticed that the tone of these words was off, and quickly said, “Ah, thanks to Ze Wu-Jun and Hanguang-Jun who are providing support everywhere, or else, who knows how many aristocratic families and innocent civilians would have suffered from the Wen dogs’ poison.”

Nie Mingjue said, “Your brother is over there?”

Lan Xichen nodded and said, “He went with his people in the first ten days of this month.”

Nie Mingjue said, “Your brother’s cultivation is very high, he alone is enough, then what are you going to do?”

Hearing Nie Mingjue praise Lan Wangji’s high cultivation, Wei Wuxian was inexplicably happy, and thought: “Chifeng-Zun has very good judgment.”

Lan Xichen sighed: “It’s shameful to say, after Wangji went, it seems like he and that Young Master Wei of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect had a very unpleasant disagreement, I think I should still go and see.”

Nie Mingjue said: “What happened?”

One person said: “It seems that Hanguang-Jun had a dispute with Wei Wuxian because Wei Wuxian’s methods are too demonic and strange. It is said that Hanguang-Jun directly scolded Wei Wuxian, saying something about insulting corpses, being cruel and bloodthirsty, and losing his true nature. But on that side, everyone is talking about how amazing Wei Wuxian is in the battle of Jiangling, and if I have the opportunity, I would want to witness it with my own eyes.”

This person’s words were considered good, some exaggerated stories said that he and Lan Wangji were fighting while killing Wen dogs on the battlefield, in fact their relationship back then was not as incompatible and disliking of each other as others had said, but there were some small disagreements. During that time, Wei Wuxian was digging graves everywhere every day, and Lan Wangji was always saying unpleasant things, such as how it was damaging to his body and temperament and not a righteous path, and even directly stepped in to stop him, and almost every few days there was a head-on battle or ambush with the Wen dogs, and both of them had a lot of fire and hostility, so they often parted on bad terms. Now that Wei Wuxian heard people talking about this, it was as if it had been from another life – he suddenly remembered, it wasn’t as if, it truly was from another life.

One person said: “In my opinion, it’s not necessary for Hanguang-Jun to be like that. The living people are about to die, why are you still worrying about the bodies of the dead?”

Another person agreed, “That’s right, it’s an extraordinary time. Sect Leader Jiang is right, when it comes to evil, who is more evil than the Wen dogs? Anyway, he is on our side, so it’s good that he is killing Wen dogs.”

Wei Wuxian thought: “You guys weren’t saying this when you were surrounding and suppressing me later.”

Not long after, Lan Xichen rose and left with his people, and Meng Yao led them to the rest area. Nie Mingjue returned to his own room, took a long sword, and went to find Lan Xichen.

Who knew that before he was close, he heard the two of them talking inside the room. Lan Xichen said: “What a coincidence, you actually came to Brother Mingjue’s command, and became his deputy.”

Meng Yao said: “Thanks to Chifeng-Zun’s appreciation and promotion.”

Lan Xichen smiled and said, “Brother Mingjue has a fiery temper, it’s not easy for you to gain his promotion and appreciation.” He paused, and added: “Recently, the Jin Sect Leader of Lanling Jin is having a difficult time in the Langya area, and is widely recruiting talents.”

Meng Yao was slightly stunned, and said, “Ze Wu-Jun, what do you mean by that…”

Lan Xichen said: “There’s no need to be so restrained. I remember that you told me that you hoped to obtain a position in the Lanling Jin Sect and gain your father’s recognition. Now that you already have a foothold in Brother Mingjue’s ranks and a world for you to show your skills, is this wish still the same?”

Meng Yao seemed to hold his breath, there was a long silence, and then he replied: “…Still the same.”

Lan Xichen said, “I thought so.”

Meng Yao said: “But I am already Sect Leader Nie’s deputy now. Sect Leader Nie has the kindness of discovering my talent, so no matter if I still want it or not, I can’t leave Hejian.”

Lan Xichen pondered for a moment, and said, “That’s indeed the case, even if you wanted to go, I’m afraid it would not be easy to bring up. But I believe that if you ask, Brother Mingjue would respect your choice. If he is unwilling to let you go, I can also persuade him a little.”

Nie Mingjue suddenly said, “Why wouldn’t I be willing?”

He pushed the door open and entered the room. Lan Xichen and Meng Yao were sitting across from each other, both with serious expressions. They were slightly surprised when he appeared. Meng Yao abruptly stood up, and before he could speak, Nie Mingjue said, “Sit down.”

Meng Yao did not move. Nie Mingjue said again, “Tomorrow, I will write a letter of recommendation for you.”

Meng Yao said, “Sect Leader Nie?”

Nie Mingjue said, “You can take this letter to Langya and find your father.”

Meng Yao quickly said: “Sect Leader Nie, if you heard everything just now, you should have also heard me say…”

Nie Mingjue interrupted him, “I didn’t promote you because I wanted you to repay my kindness, I just thought you were capable enough, your character also suits me well, and you should be in this position. If you truly want to repay me, then kill a few more Wen dogs on the battlefield!”

Hearing this, Meng Yao, who was always eloquent and good at speaking, was choked. Lan Xichen smiled and said, “See, I said so, Brother Mingjue will respect your choice.”

Meng Yao’s eyes were red, and he said, “Sect Leader Nie, Ze Wu-Jun… I…”

He lowered his head and said: “…I really don’t know what to say.”

Nie Mingjue sat down, and said, “If you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything.”

He placed another sword on the table. When Lan Xichen saw it, he smiled and said, “Huaisang’s sword?”

Nie Mingjue said: “Although he is safe with you, he cannot neglect his lessons. You can ask others to supervise him when they have time, when we meet next time, I want to check his swordsmanship and mindset.”

Lan Xichen said: “Huaisang originally made the excuse that his sword was left at home, but now he has no reason to be lazy.”

Nie Mingjue said, “Speaking of which, how, have you met before?”

Meng Yao said: “Ze Wu-Jun, I have.”

Nie Mingjue said: “Where? When?”

Lan Xichen shook his head with a smile, and said, “It’s best not to talk about it, it is a lifelong disgrace, Brother Mingjue, you also should not ask.”

Nie Mingjue said, “What are you afraid of being embarrassed in front of me, Meng Yao, speak.”

Meng Yao said, “Since Ze Wu-Jun is unwilling to say it, then I can only keep it a secret.”

The three of them said a sentence each, one moment they spoke about official business, and the next they chatted casually, they were much more relaxed than they were when chatting in the reception hall. Listening to their conversations, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but want to interject, but he couldn’t, and thought, “Their relationship wasn’t bad at this time. Ze Wu-Jun is quite good at chatting, how come Lan Zhan is so bad at chatting? But, it’s good that he can’t chat, it’s good that all the words were spoken by me, and he just listens and says ‘hm’ or ‘uhm’. What’s it called again…”

A few days later, Meng Yao left Hejian with Nie Mingjue’s letter of recommendation, and set off for Langya.

After he left, Nie Mingjue changed a deputy, but according to what Wei Wuxian could sense, everything was always half a beat slower. Meng Yao was a rare, astute, and clever talent. Things that he did not say, Meng Yao could understand. Things that he had only said a third of, Meng Yao could accomplish ten parts of. He was swift, neat, and never dragged things out. After getting used to him, it was difficult not to compare others.

After a period of time, the Lanling Jin Sect, which was struggling hard in Langya, was about to be unable to hold on, and Lan Xichen had just gone to support another area, Jin Guangshan turned to Hejian for help, and Nie Mingjue came to his aid.

After one battle, Jin Guangshan, who was in a panic, came over to express his thanks. Nie Mingjue spoke briefly with him, and then asked: “Sect Leader Jin, what is Meng Yao doing now?”

When Jin Guangshan heard this name, he said: “Meng Yao? This… Sect Leader Nie, don’t take offense, who is that person?”

Nie Mingjue immediately frowned. The incident of Meng Yao being kicked down from Jinlintai had spread for a long time, and even those on the side knew of this farce. It was impossible for the person involved to not remember this name. Even someone with a slightly thinner face would be too embarrassed to pretend to be ignorant, but Jin Guangshan’s face was not thin at all.

Nie Mingjue said in a cold voice: “Meng Yao was my original deputy. I wrote a letter and had him bring it over.”

Jin Guangshan continued to feign ignorance, and said: “Really? But I haven’t seen any letter on this side, nor have I seen this person. Ah, if I had known earlier that Sect Leader Nie had sent a deputy over, I would have treated him well. But has something gone wrong in the middle?”

He just perfunctorily said that he did not remember, and had not heard of this person. Nie Mingjue’s expression grew colder, and he realized that there was something wrong, so he didn’t hold back, and said goodbye. He asked the other cultivators for a while, but to no avail. Nie Mingjue went to a few places, and walked around randomly, passing by a small forest.

This forest was very secluded. It had just experienced an ambush attack, the battlefield had not been cleaned up yet. Nie Mingjue walked along the way, and along the way were the corpses of cultivators wearing Wen clan, Jin clan, and a few other family’s clothing.

Suddenly, he heard a “hissing” sound coming from the front.

Nie Mingjue placed his hand on the hilt of his blade, and approached. He parted the trees and leaves, and only saw Meng Yao standing among a pile of corpses, turning his wrist and drawing a long sword from the chest of a cultivator.

His expression was extremely calm, his movements were both steady and quick, and extremely cautious. He did not even have a single drop of blood on him.

This sword was not his own. The hilt of the sword had a flame-like iron ornament. It was the sword of a Wen family cultivator.

His swordsmanship was also the Wen’s swordsmanship.

And the person who died by his sword was wearing the gold star and snow wave robe. He was a cultivator from the Lanling Jin Sect.

Nie Mingjue saw this scene, but did not say a word. The blade of his sword was drawn out an inch, emitting a sharp sound.

Hearing this familiar unsheathing sound, Meng Yao trembled, and quickly turned his head, his soul almost flew away: “…Sect Leader Nie?”

Nie Mingjue completely drew his long blade from its sheath. The blade was snow-white and bright, but its edge faintly gleamed with a tinge of blood red. Wei Wuxian could feel the overwhelming anger and the disappointment and hatred that was coming from him.

Meng Yao was the most aware of what kind of person Nie Mingjue was. With a clang, he discarded the sword, and said: “Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Nie! Please wait, please wait! Let me explain!”

Nie Mingjue shouted, “What do you want to explain?!”

Meng Yao rolled and crawled over, and said: “I was forced, I was forced!”

Nie Mingjue said angrily, “What could have forced you?! When I sent you over, what did I say?!”

Meng Yao fell to his knees at his feet, and said: “Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Nie, please listen to me! After I joined the Lanling Jin Sect, this person was my superior. He always looked down on me, and often humiliated and beat me…”

Nie Mingjue said, “So you killed him?”

Meng Yao said, “No! It’s not because of that! How could I not be able to endure humiliation? How could I not endure only beatings! It was just that every time we captured a Wen clan’s stronghold, I had spent so much effort, and had racked my brains and heart to come up with plans, and charged into the battle on the battlefield, and he would just lightly say a few words or move his brush a few times and transfer the battle merits to himself, saying it had nothing to do with me. This wasn’t the first time, every single time! I tried to reason with him, but he didn’t care. I tried to find others, but no one would listen to me. Just now, he also spoke about my mother, my mother was… I could really no longer endure it, I had lost control for a moment, and this was why I made a mistake!”

In his panic, he spoke very fast, afraid that Nie Mingjue would cut him down before he could finish speaking. But he still gave a clear account, and emphasized how hateful others were and how innocent he was. Nie Mingjue grabbed him by his collar, lifted him up, and said, “You’re lying!”

Meng Yao shivered. Nie Mingjue stared into his eyes, and said word by word, “You lost control, and made a mistake? A person who has lost control, when they kill someone, will they have the same expression you had just now? Would they purposely choose this hidden forest that had just experienced a battle? Would they specially use the Wen clan’s sword and the Wen clan’s swordsmanship to kill him, and disguise it as a Wen dog ambush, so that he can frame others? You were clearly scheming, and had been planning it for a long time!”

Meng Yao raised his hand and swore: “What I said