TFOD Chapter 85

This group of people originally thought they would definitely die tragically at the hands of the Yi Ling Patriarch, and then be reduced to walking corpses manipulated by him. They were all terrified. Who knew that Wei Wuxian had no interest in getting entangled with them. After reading the notice, he threw them on the ground and left with his hands behind his back.

He didn’t take back those Yin spirits, and those who were in pain continued to cry out, and those who were groaning continued to writhe, all unable to get up.

Not knowing how long had passed, suddenly a streak of blue sword light swept past, and everyone felt a lightness on their backs. Someone exclaimed, “I can move!”

Several people struggled to their feet first, only to see the blue sword light fly back and be sheathed by someone.

That person was an extremely young and handsome man, dressed in white with a forehead ribbon, with a cold and solemn expression, and a hint of suppressed worry between his brows. He moved quickly, but did not appear hurried at all, and even his clothes did not flutter.

The cultivator who had broken both his legs endured the pain and said, “Hanguang-Jun… Hanguang-Jun!”

Lan Wangji walked to his side, squatted down and pressed his legs to assess the injuries, which were not very serious. He stood up and before he could speak, the cultivator said again, “Hanguang-Jun, you are late, Wei Wuxian just left!”

Many people knew that in the past few days, the Hanguang-Jun of the Gusu Lan Sect had been searching for Wei Wuxian’s whereabouts, mostly to settle accounts with him and avenge the dozens of lives lost by the Gusu Lan Sect. They hurriedly said, “Yes, he’s only been gone for less than half an hour!”

Lan Wangji said, “What did he do? Where did he go?”

Everyone hurriedly complained, “He indiscriminately attacked us and nearly killed us all on the spot!”

Lan Wangji’s fingers, hidden under his snow-white wide sleeves, twitched slightly, as if he wanted to clench them into a fist, but quickly released them.

The cultivator hurriedly said again, “But he said he’s going to Nightless City now, to find the four major families at the oath-taking ceremony to settle accounts!”

After the Qishan Wen Sect was destroyed, the main palace complex of Nightless City was reduced to a magnificent and empty ruin.

In front of the Flame Sun Hall, located at the highest point of Nightless City, was an exceptionally wide plaza. In the past, there were three flagpoles standing tall at the front of the plaza. Now, two of them had been broken, and the remaining one was hanging a tattered Flame Sun banner, covered in blood.

That night, the plaza was densely packed with the formations of various families, large and small, each family’s banner fluttering in the night wind. In front of the broken flagpole was a temporary altar, and each family’s leader stood in front of their formation, with Jin Guangyao personally handing each of them a cup of wine. After receiving the wine cups, the family leaders raised them high, then poured the wine onto the ground.

As the wine seeped into the soil, Jin Guangshan said solemnly, “Regardless of clan, regardless of surname, this cup of wine is to honor the fallen martyrs of the cultivation families.”

Nie Mingjue said, “May their heroic souls live on.”

Lan Xichen said, “May they rest in peace.”

Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, had a gloomy face, and after pouring his wine, he remained silent.

Next, Jin Guangyao stepped out from the Lanling Jin Sect formation, holding out a black square iron box with both hands. Jin Guangshan took the iron box with one hand, raised it high, and shouted, “The ashes of the remaining Wen clan members are here!”

After speaking, he channeled his spiritual power, shattering the iron box with his bare hands. The black iron box shattered into pieces, and countless white ash particles scattered in the cold night wind.

Reduced to ashes!

A burst of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. Jin Guangshan raised his hands, signaling everyone to be quiet and listen to him speak. When the cheers gradually subsided, he said loudly, “Tonight, the ones reduced to ashes are two of the leaders of the remaining Wen clan members. And tomorrow! It will be all the remaining Wen dogs, and—the Yi Ling Patriarch, Wei Ying!”

Suddenly, a low chuckle interrupted his impassioned speech.

This chuckle came at a very inopportune moment, abrupt and jarring. Everyone immediately turned to look in the direction of the sound.

The Flame Sun Hall was a magnificent palace with twelve roof ridges, each ridge ending with eight divine beasts. At this moment, everyone noticed that there were nine on one of the ridges. That chuckle from just now came from there!

That extra ridge beast moved slightly, and the next moment, a boot and a piece of black clothing corner dangled from the eaves, swaying gently.

Everyone’s hands pressed onto their sword hilts. Jiang Cheng’s pupils constricted, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged. Jin Guangshan was shocked and angry, “Wei Ying! How dare you show up here!”

The person began to speak, and it was indeed Wei Wuxian’s voice, sounding very strange, “Why wouldn’t I dare to show up here? Do all of you added up number three thousand? Don’t forget, during the Sun Shooting Campaign, I fought five thousand people single-handedly, let alone three thousand. And my appearance here, wouldn’t that be exactly what you wanted? It’ll save you the trouble of coming to my door tomorrow to reduce me to ashes.”

Several disciples of the Qinghe Nie Sect had also lost their lives at the hands of the frenzied Wen Ning, and Nie Mingjue said coldly, “Such arrogance from a junior.”

Wei Wuxian said, “When was I ever not arrogant? Sect Leader Jin, isn’t it painful to slap your own face? Who was the one who said that as long as the Wen siblings went to the Golden Carp Tower to beg for forgiveness, this matter would be over? Who was the one who just now said that tomorrow, they would reduce me and the rest of the Wen remnants to ashes?”

Jin Guangshan said, “One thing is one thing! The ambush at Qiongqi Path, where you massacred over a hundred of my Lanling Jin Sect disciples, that’s one thing. You let Wen Ning commit murder at the Golden Carp Tower, that’s another…”

Wei Wuxian said, “Then may I ask Sect Leader Jin, who was ambushed at Qiongqi Path? And who was killed? Who was the mastermind? Who was the one who fell into the trap? In the end, who was the first to provoke me?!”

Those disciples standing in the formations, hidden among the crowd and feeling safe, became bolder and shouted from afar, “Even if Jin Zixun planned to ambush you, you shouldn’t have been so ruthless and killed so many people!”

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian analyzed for him, “He wanted to kill me and didn’t need to worry about killing me, it would just be my bad luck if I died. If I were to protect myself, I would have to worry about not hurting this one, or that one, and not even a single hair of his could be touched? In short, it’s okay for you to surround and attack me, but I’m not allowed to retaliate, right?”

Sect Leader Yao raised his voice, “Retaliate? Those hundred or so people and the thirty-plus people at the Golden Carp Tower were innocent. Why did your retaliation involve them?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Then the fifty or so Wen cultivators on Burial Mounds were innocent too, so why did you involve them?”

Another person spat, “Just what great favor did the Wen dogs give you? To make you side with this bunch of riffraff.”

“I think there wasn’t any great favor at all. He just thinks he’s some hero fighting the whole world, thinks he’s doing a righteous deed, and feels like he’s very great for defying the world!”

Upon hearing this, Wei Wuxian fell silent.

The people below took his silence as a retreat, saying, “In the end, wasn’t it you who cast that despicable and vicious curse on Jin Zixun first!”

Wei Wuxian said, “May I ask what evidence you have to prove that I cast the curse?”

The person who asked the question was at a loss for words, and after choking for a moment, said, “Then what evidence do you have to prove that you didn’t cast it?”

Wei Wuxian laughed, “Then I’ll ask again, why wasn’t it you? You also have no evidence to prove that you didn’t cast the curse?”

That person was shocked and furious, “Me? How could I be like you? Stop confusing right and wrong and trying to twist things! You have the most suspicion, do you think we don’t know? You had a grudge with Jin Zixun more than a year ago!”

Wei Wuxian said with a chilling tone, “Just who is twisting things? Yes, if I wanted to kill him, I would have done so more than a year ago. There was no need to wait until now. Otherwise, someone like him, I would have forgotten about him in three days, let alone a year.”

Sect Leader Yao was shocked, “…Wei Wuxian, ah, Wei Wuxian, today I’ve truly broadened my horizons. I’ve really never seen such an unreasonable villain like you…After killing someone, you still have to insult them verbally and speak vile words. Do you not have even a shred of sympathy or guilt?”

The scolding was overwhelming, but Wei Wuxian endured it calmly.

Only anger could suppress the other emotions in his heart.

A cultivator standing in the front row of a formation said, heartbroken, “Wei Ying, you’ve disappointed me too much. I even once admired you, I said you were a founding figure of a new path. Now that I think about it, I feel like throwing up. From this moment onwards, I am irreconcilably at odds with you!”

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian was stunned for a moment, then burst into a wild laugh, “Hahahaha…”

He laughed so much he could hardly breathe, and said, “You admired me? You said you admired me, so why didn’t I ever see you when you admired me? And now that everyone is shouting to beat me, you jump out to cheer them on?”

Tears streamed from the corners of Wei Wuxian’s eyes as he laughed, “Your admiration is too cheap. You say you are irreconcilably at odds with me from now on, very well, does your being at odds or your mortal hatred have any impact on me? Your admiration and hatred are so insignificant, how dare you bring them out to make noise?”

Before he finished speaking, his throat suddenly choked, and a sudden, dull pain came from his chest.

He looked down, and an arrow was lodged right in his chest, the arrowhead buried between two ribs.

He looked in the direction the arrow came from. The one who shot the arrow was a handsome young cultivator, standing in a small family’s formation, still maintaining his posture, the bowstring still trembling.

Wei Wuxian could see that this arrow was originally aimed directly at his heart, a fatal spot. But the shooter’s skills were poor, and the arrow’s momentum weakened in mid-air, causing it to deviate from his heart and pierce his ribs.

The people beside the shooter were all looking at this reckless action of their fellow disciple with shocked, even horrified, expressions. Wei Wuxian raised his head, a fierce look on his face, and pulled out the arrow with a backhand, throwing it back with force. There was a scream, and the young cultivator who had shot him was impaled in the chest by the arrow thrown back by his bare hand!

Another young man beside him threw himself onto him, wailing, “Brother! Brother!”

That family’s formation instantly fell into chaos. The family leader pointed a trembling finger at Wei Wuxian and said, “You…you…how vicious!”

Wei Wuxian casually pressed on the wound on his chest with his right hand to temporarily stop the bleeding. He said indifferently, “What do you mean by vicious? Since he dared to sneak attack me with an arrow, he should have expected the consequences if he missed. Since you all call me a demonic heretic, surely you don’t expect me to be magnanimous and not hold it against him.”

Jin Guangshan shouted, “Set up the formation, set up the formation! We absolutely cannot let him leave here alive today!”

With this order, the stalemate was finally broken. Several disciples summoned their swords and bows, and began to encircle the palace from above.

Finally, they made the first move!

Wei Wuxian sneered, took Chenqing from his waist, and put it to his lips. As the flute let out a sharp screech, pale arms broke through the ground of Nightless City’s plaza!

Corpses broke through the fine stone-paved surface, climbing up from deep within the soil. Some who had just lifted off the ground on their swords were immediately dragged down. Wei Wuxian stood on the ridge of the Flame Sun Hall, playing the bamboo flute, his eyes flashing with a cold light in the night. He looked down at the formations below, the various clan colors like multi-colored water, boiling and churning, sometimes scattering, sometimes gathering. Except for the Yunmeng Jiang Sect’s formation which remained unscathed, the other families were in chaos, each family leader busy protecting their own disciples, and had no time to attack Wei Wuxian.

Just then, a clear and melodious zither sound disrupted the sound of Chenqing’s flute.

Wei Wuxian lowered Chenqing and looked back. He saw a person sitting on another roof ridge, with a zither in front of him, a snow-white figure somewhat conspicuous in the night.

Wei Wuxian said coldly, “Ah, Lan Zhan.”

After greeting him, he raised his flute to his lips again, and said, “You should have known a long time ago, the Serene Heart Tune is useless against me!”

Lan Wangji flipped the zither onto his back, instead drawing Bichen, and directly attacked Chenqing, wanting to sever this ghost flute that was producing demonic music. Wei Wuxian turned and evaded, laughing loudly, “Good, good, good, I knew that one day we would have to fight like this with real swords. Anyway, you’ve never liked me, come on!”

Upon hearing this sentence, Lan Wangji’s movements paused, and he said, “Wei Ying!”

Although this was shouted, any clear-headed person would hear that Lan Wangji’s voice was clearly trembling. However, Wei Wuxian had already lost his ability to judge. He was already half-mad and half-unconscious, all the malice was magnified infinitely in his mind, he only felt that everyone in the world hated him, and he hated everyone. He was not afraid of anyone who came, it was the same with anyone, just like this.

Suddenly, amid the sounds of fighting, Wei Wuxian heard a soft voice.

That voice was calling out, “A-Xian!”

This voice was like a bucket of cold water, dousing the raging evil fire in his heart.

Jiang Yanli?

When did she come to the oath-taking ceremony?!

Wei Wuxian was immediately stunned, and forgetting about fighting Lan Wangji, he put down Chenqing, “Shijie?!”

Jiang Cheng also heard this voice, and his face turned deathly pale in an instant, “Sister? Sister! Where are you? Where are you?”

Wei Wuxian jumped off the ridge of the Flame Sun Hall, and like Jiang Cheng, shouted hoarsely, “Shijie? Shijie? Where are you? Where are you? I can’t see you!”

He didn’t care about the blades of swords coming at him, he charged forward through the chaotic crowd, throwing punches and palm strikes, and desperately running forward. Suddenly he saw Jiang Yanli’s white figure being submerged in the crowd. Wei Wuxian tried hard to push away the people in his path and struggled forward. There was still a large distance between them, countless people separating them, and Wei Wuxian couldn’t reach her any time soon, nor could Jiang Cheng. Even worse, at that moment, both of them suddenly noticed, behind Jiang Yanli, a fierce corpse was standing up shakily.

The corpse’s body was half-rotted, and it was dragging a rusty longsword in its hand, drawing closer to Jiang Yanli.

Seeing this heart-wrenching scene, Wei Wuxian shouted sternly, “Get away! Get away from her! Don’t touch her!”

Jiang Cheng also roared, “Make it go away!”

He threw out Sandu, the purple sword light flew towards the fierce corpse, however, the sword light was interfered with by other cultivators’ sword lights on the way, and deviated from its direction. The more chaotic Wei Wuxian’s mind became, the worse his control got. That fierce corpse ignored his command and instead raised the long sword in its hand, slashing towards Jiang Yanli!

Wei Wuxian was going crazy, shouting as he charged, “Stop, stop, stop it!”

Now everyone was busy dealing with the fierce corpses entangling them and had no mind to pay attention to whether others were in danger. That fierce corpse slashed down with its sword, cutting Jiang Yanli’s back!

Jiang Yanli fell to the ground at once.

That fierce corpse stood behind her, and continued to raise its longsword. Just then, a sword light cut off half of its body!

Lan Wangji landed on the plaza, catching the returning Bichen, and only then did Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng rush over. They didn’t even have time to thank Lan Wangji. Jiang Cheng took Jiang Yanli into his arms first, while Lan Wangji stopped Wei Wuxian, grabbing his collar, pulling him in front of him, and shouting sternly, “Wei Ying! Stop controlling the corpses!”

Wei Wuxian could not care about anything else at the moment. He couldn’t see Lan Wangji’s face in his eyes at all, nor could he see the bloodshot eyes in Lan Wangji’s eyes or his red eye sockets. He only wanted to see if Jiang Yanli was okay, and with red eyes he pushed him away and threw himself on the ground. Lan Wangji was staggered by his push, steadied himself and looked at him. He had not taken his next step yet, when he heard someone cry out for help in the distance, he turned his gaze away, and flew to the rescue.

Jiang Yanli’s back was soaked with blood, her eyes were closed, but thankfully she was still breathing. Jiang Cheng pulled back his hand that was probing her pulse and let out a sigh of relief, and then suddenly punched Wei Wuxian’s face, shouting, “What’s going on! Didn’t you say that you could control them? Didn’t you say it was okay?!”

Wei Wuxian fell to the ground, dazed, “…I don’t know either.”

He said despairingly, “…I can’t control them, I can’t control them…”

At this moment, Jiang Yanli moved slightly. Jiang Cheng hugged her tightly and said incoherently, “Sister! It’s okay! It’s okay, how are you? It’s good, you just had a sword cut, it’s good, I’ll take you down right away…”

As he said this, he was about to pick Jiang Yanli up, but Jiang Yanli suddenly said, “…A-Xian.”

Wei Wuxian shivered, and hurriedly said, “Shijie, I… I’m here.”

Jiang Yanli slowly opened her dark eyes, and Wei Wuxian felt a pang of fear in his heart.

Jiang Yanli said with effort, “…A-Xian. Before… why did you run so fast… I didn’t even have time to look at you, and say a word to you…”

As he listened, Wei Wuxian’s heart was pounding wildly.

He still didn’t dare to face Jiang Yanli’s face, especially now, this face, like Jin Zixuan’s back then, was covered with dust and blood.

He dared not listen to what she was going to say next either.

Jiang Yanli said, “I… I came to tell you…”

Tell him what?

It’s okay?

I don’t hate you?

Nothing happened?

I don’t blame you for killing Jin Zixuan?

Impossible.

But she couldn’t say anything completely opposite to that either.

So, she didn’t know, in this situation, what else she could say to Wei Wuxian.

But, in her heart, she just felt that she had to come and see this younger brother of hers.

Letting out a sigh, Jiang Yanli said, “A-Xian, you… you should stop now. Don’t, don’t anymore…”

Wei Wuxian said quickly, “Okay, I’ll stop.”

He picked up Chenqing, put it to his lips, and started playing with his head down. He used all his strength to stabilize his mind. This time, the fierce corpses finally didn’t ignore his commands. One by one, they made a gurgling sound in their throats, as if they were complaining, and slowly laid down.

Lan Wangji stopped his feet slightly, looking towards this side from afar. Finally, he turned back, continuing to draw his sword, rescuing his sect members and non-sect members who were still fighting hard.

Suddenly, Jiang Yanli’s eyes widened, and her hands, with an unknown strength, pushed Wei Wuxian away!

Wei Wuxian was pushed away and fell to the ground again. When he raised his head, he saw a bright longsword piercing through her throat.

The young man holding the sword was the young cultivator who had just thrown himself onto the shooter and wept bitterly. He was still wailing, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Wei thief! This sword is to avenge my brother!”

Wei Wuxian sat on the dirty ground, looking at Jiang Yanli with disbelief. Her head had already tilted, and large amounts of blood were gushing from her throat.

He was just waiting for her to speak, as if she was giving him a final sentence.

Jiang Cheng was also stunned, still holding his sister’s body, not reacting at all.

After a long while, Wei Wuxian let out a piercing scream.

Lan Wangji pierced his sword out, and abruptly turned his head.

Only then did the young man realize that he had mistakenly killed the wrong person. He pulled out the long sword, causing a string of bloody sprays, and retreated in panic, “….No, no, it’s not… I wanted to kill Wei Wuxian, I wanted to avenge my brother… She threw herself on it!”

Wei Wuxian suddenly flashed in front of him, grabbed his neck. Sect Leader Yao waved his sword and shouted, “Demon, let him go!”

Lan Wangji no longer cared about his composure and bearing. He pushed away one after another people in his path, and ran towards Wei Wuxian. However, before he had traveled half the distance, Wei Wuxian, before everyone’s eyes, crushed the young man’s throat with his bare hands.

Another cultivator said angrily, “You! You—First you were responsible for the deaths of Jiang Fengmian and his wife, and now you’re responsible for your Shijie’s death. You brought it upon yourself, yet you dare to blame others! You don’t know how to repent, but instead you continue to injure others, your sins are unforgivable!”

However, no matter how much they scolded and reprimanded, Wei Wuxian could not hear it at this moment.

As if possessed by another soul, he stretched out his hands, took out two things from his sleeves, and pieced them together in front of everyone.

The two things, one on top, one below, merged into one, emitting a chilling, clanging sound.

Wei Wuxian held it in his palm, and raised it high.

The Yin Tiger Seal!