TFOD Chapter 11

Wen Ning lowered his head slightly, his hands hanging down, like a puppet waiting for its operator’s instructions.

His face was pale and delicate, even possessing a somewhat melancholy handsomeness. But because there were no pupils in his eyes, only a deathly white, coupled with the several black cracks that crawled from his neck up his cheeks, this melancholy transformed into a terrifying gloom. The hem of his long robe and the cuffs of his sleeves were torn and tattered, revealing wrists the same pale color as his face, fastened with black iron rings and chains, as were his ankles. The clinking and clanking sound was made when he dragged the chains. Once he stood still, everything returned to a deathly silence.

It was not difficult to imagine why the cultivators present were so terrified. Wei Wuxian was no more composed than the others; the storm in his heart had already surged over his head.

It wasn’t that Wen Ning shouldn’t have appeared here, but that he shouldn’t have appeared in this world. He should have been reduced to ashes before the siege at the Burial Mounds!

Jin Ling, hearing others call out Wen Ning’s name, involuntarily turned the edge of his sword, which had been facing the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden. Taking advantage of his distraction, the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden happily stretched out her long arm and hoisted him up.

Seeing that she had opened her mouth wide and was closing in on Jin Ling’s face, Wei Wuxian, disregarding the turmoil in his heart, once again raised his bamboo flute. His hands trembled slightly, and the tune he blew followed suit, also trembling. Moreover, since this flute was crudely made, the low notes could almost be called muffled and unpleasant. After two mournful “wuu” sounds, Wen Ning moved in response.

With this movement, he instantly appeared in front of the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden. Wen Ning chopped down with his hand, and the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden’s neck made a cracking sound. Her body didn’t move, but her head was knocked completely around by this blow, her face now facing the direction that had been her back, and she was still smiling. Wen Ning brought down another hand-chop, and the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden’s right hand, which had been holding Jin Ling, was cleanly severed.

She looked down at her neatly severed wrist. She didn’t turn her head back to the correct position, but instead turned her body around so that her face and back were facing Wen Ning at the same time. Wei Wuxian did not dare to be negligent, taking a breath and bowing his head, directing Wen Ning to engage. However, before long, he became increasingly alarmed.

Low-level walking corpses could not think for themselves and needed his command to guide them. The more lethal fierce corpses were often mentally confused and had no consciousness. Wen Ning’s situation was different. He was refined by Wei Wuxian, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was the most powerful fierce corpse in the world, unique. He could think and ponder. Other than being immune to injury, fire, cold, poison, and all the things living people feared, he was no different from a living person.

But the current Wen Ning clearly didn’t have his own consciousness!

Just as he was feeling surprised and uncertain, exclamations rang out in the field. It turned out that Wen Ning, with kicks and blows, had firmly pinned the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden to the ground. He then picked up a large rock, taller than a man, from the side, raised it above the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden, and slammed it down heavily on her. The thunderous blows fell one after another until the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden’s stone body was smashed into pieces!

Among the white, scattered rocks, a pearl emitting a snow-white halo rolled out. That was the core formed after the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden had devoured the souls of more than a dozen living people. If it was retrieved and carefully handled, the souls of those who had been devoured could still be restored. However, at this moment, no one was concerned about picking up the pearl. All the sword tips that had been aimed at the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden had been turned around.

A cultivator cried out hoarsely, “Surround him!”

Some hesitantly responded, but more people were wavering and slowly retreating. That cultivator shouted again, “Fellow cultivators, be sure to stop him and don’t let him run. This is Wen Ning!”

This sentence awakened everyone. The Ghost General was not something that a mere Soul-Devouring monster could compare to. Although they didn’t know why he had appeared, capturing one Wen Ning was better than killing a thousand Soul-Devouring Demons. After all, this was the most obedient and silent mad dog of the Yi Ling Patriarch, and from this they could surely make a name for themselves and rise to prominence! Originally, they had come to Dafan Mountain for the night hunt in order to compete for demon beasts and fierce creatures to enhance their credentials. With this cry, it was inevitable that some were moved. But those older cultivators who had personally witnessed Wen Ning’s berserk state back then still dared not act rashly. So, that person shouted again, “What are you afraid of? The Yi Ling Patriarch isn’t here!”

After thinking about it, that was right. What was there to be afraid of? His master had already been torn to pieces!

After a few sentences, the circle of swords surrounding Wen Ning suddenly shrunk. Wen Ning swung his arm, the heavy black iron chain sweeping across and knocking all the flying swords away. Then, he took a step forward, grabbed the neck of the person closest to him, and lightly lifted him off the ground. Wei Wuxian knew that the flute tune had been too urgent and fierce, making him become ferocious. He had to suppress it. He steadied his mind and confidently blew another tune.

This melody appeared in his heart naturally, gentle and serene, vastly different from the strange and harsh tune just now. Wen Ning froze upon hearing the sound, slowly turning to face the direction from which the flute sound was coming. Wei Wuxian stood still, making eye contact with his pupil-less eyes.

After a moment, Wen Ning loosened his hand, dropped the cultivator onto the ground, and lowered his arms, walking step by step towards Wei Wuxian.

He drooped his head, dragging his chains along the ground, actually looking rather dejected. Wei Wuxian blew and retreated, leading him over. After walking like this for a while, they retreated into the mountain forest, and suddenly he smelled a faint, cool sandalwood fragrance.

Immediately after, his back bumped into someone, and his wrist suddenly ached. The sound of the flute came to an abrupt halt. Wei Wuxian felt a bad premonition. He turned around to face Lan Wangji’s eyes, which were so light in color that they were almost icy.

Not good. Lan Wangji had personally seen him controlling corpses with his flute back then.

Lan Wangji held Wei Wuxian tightly with one hand, while Wen Ning stood blankly less than two zhang away from them, looking around slowly, as if searching for the suddenly disappeared flute sound. In the distance, firelight and voices spread from the mountain forest. Wei Wuxian’s thoughts raced. He made a decisive decision: So what if he’s seen it? There were thousands who could play the flute, and even more people who learned to use flute tunes to control corpses like the Yi Ling Patriarch. He would deny it till death!

Ignoring the hand grabbing him, he raised his arm and continued to blow the flute. This time, he played more urgently, like urging or scolding. His breath was unstable, the ending notes broke, and it was piercingly shrill. Suddenly, he felt Lan Wangji’s hand tightening, his wrist almost being crushed. Unable to bear the pain, Wei Wuxian’s fingers loosened, and the bamboo flute fell to the ground.

Fortunately, his instructions were clear enough. Wen Ning quickly retreated, soundlessly disappearing into the dark mountain forest in an instant. Wei Wuxian, fearing that Lan Wangji would intercept and kill Wen Ning, grabbed him. Who would have thought that, from beginning to end, Lan Wangji hadn’t even glanced at Wen Ning, only staring intently at Wei Wuxian. The two of them were like this, one pulling, the other tugging, glaring at each other face to face.

Just then, Jiang Cheng arrived.

He had patiently waited for the outcome in the town at the foot of the mountain. He hadn’t even finished a cup of tea when a disciple rushed down the mountain in a panic, saying how formidable and brutal the things on Dafan Mountain were. Hearing this, his heart jolted, and he rushed up the mountain, shouting, “A-Ling!”

Jin Ling, who had almost had his soul devoured, was now safe and sound, standing on the ground. He said, “Uncle!”

Seeing that Jin Ling was unharmed, Jiang Cheng’s heart calmed down. Then he scolded, “Don’t you have a signal flare on you? When you encounter something like this, you don’t know to release it? Showing off your strength, get over here!”

Jin Ling, who hadn’t captured the Soul-Devouring Heavenly Maiden, was also angry. “Didn’t you tell me I had to take it down?! If I couldn’t, don’t bother going back to see you!”

Jiang Cheng really wanted to slap this brat back into his mother’s belly. But he was the one who had said those words, so he couldn’t very well slap himself in the face. He could only turn to the cultivators scattered on the ground, mocking, “What on earth was that? You guys got killed so neatly.”

Among these cultivators wearing different colors, several were Yunmeng Jiang Sect disciples in disguise, sent by Jiang Cheng to secretly help Jin Ling, fearing that he wouldn’t be able to pass this hurdle. This elder had really gone to great lengths. One of the cultivators was still staring blankly. “Sect… Sect Leader, it’s… it’s Wen Ning…”

Jiang Cheng suspected he’d misheard. “What did you say?”

The man said, “Wen Ning has come back!”

In an instant, shock, disgust, anger, and disbelief mixed and surged across Jiang Cheng’s face.

After a long time, he said coldly, “That thing was reduced to ashes and displayed to the public long ago. How could he possibly come back?”

The disciple said, “It really is Wen Ning! There’s no mistake! I absolutely did not see wrong!…” He suddenly pointed towards the side, “…He summoned it!”

Wei Wuxian was still deadlocked with Lan Wangji. In an instant, he had become the focus of everyone’s attention. Jiang Cheng’s cold, sharp gaze slowly shifted towards the direction where he stood.

After a while, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s mouth twitched into a twisted smile. His left hand involuntarily began to caress the ring again. He said softly, “……Very well. He’s back?”

He released his left hand, and a long whip fell from his hand.

The whip was extremely thin. Just as its name implied, it was a purple electric current that was still crackling, like a flash of pale lightning that had crawled across the thunder-filled sky. He held one end firmly in his hand. When he swung it, it was like unleashing a swift, unparalleled bolt of lightning!

Before Wei Wuxian could make a move, Lan Wangji already had his guqin in his hands. With a flick of a finger, it was like a stone had been tossed into a thousand waves. The guqin notes brought forth ripples in the air, clashing against the Purple Lightning, with gains and losses.

Jiang Cheng’s considerations of “never rashly engage,” and “not making enemies with the Lan family” seemed to have been devoured by dogs. In the night sky above the mountain forest on Dafan Mountain, sometimes purple light shone brilliantly, sometimes it was as bright as day, sometimes the sound of thunder rumbled, and sometimes the sound of the guqin wailed. The other cultivators quickly moved a safe distance away, watching from the sidelines, both terrified and transfixed. After all, it was a rare opportunity to see two prominent figures of well-known families in a confrontation. They couldn’t help but hope that the fight would be more intense and more brutal. This also included some unspoken expectations. They only hoped that the relationship between the Lan and Jiang families would truly break, which would be more interesting. Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian seized the opportunity and ran.

Everyone was shocked. The whip hadn’t struck him because Lan Wangji was blocking him. If he ran like that, wasn’t that courting death!

As expected, Jiang Cheng seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Seeing that he had escaped the range of Lan Wangji’s protection, how could he let go of this great opportunity? He raised his hand and whipped out a diagonal strike. The Purple Lightning shot out like a poisonous dragon, striking him squarely in the back!

Wei Wuxian was almost sent flying by the whip, but luckily the flowery donkey blocked him for a moment. Otherwise, he would have directly crashed into a tree. Yet, with this successful strike, both Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng stopped, both shocked.

Wei Wuxian rubbed his lower back, grabbed the flowery donkey to help himself up, and hiding behind it, he roared, “How impressive! So great to be powerful and influential! Just hitting people randomly! Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

Lan Wangji: “…”

Jiang Cheng: “…”

He was shocked and angry. “What’s going on?!”

The “Purple Lightning” had a special ability. If someone who had been possessed was struck by it, their body and soul would be separated instantly. The soul of the possessor would be directly ejected from the physical body by the Purple Lightning, without exception. But this person was still acting normally, jumping around, after being struck. There was no other explanation except that he was not a possessed person.

Wei Wuxian, however, thought, “Nonsense, of course the Purple Lightning can’t extract my soul. I wasn’t possessed, I was sacrificed. Forced sacrifice!”

Jiang Cheng looked surprised and doubtful. He was about to whip him again, when Lan Jingyi yelled, “Sect Leader Jiang, that’s enough! That’s Purple Lightning!”

A spiritual tool of the Purple Lightning’s level couldn’t possibly fail once and succeed only on the second attempt. If it didn’t extract it, it didn’t extract it. If he wasn’t possessed, then he wasn’t possessed. Otherwise, it would be a waste of the name. This shout forced Jiang Cheng, who valued face as if it were his life, to hold back.

But, if it wasn’t Wei Wuxian, who else could summon Wen Ning?!

Jiang Cheng couldn’t accept it no matter how much he thought about it. Pointing at Wei Wuxian, he said with a dark face, “Exactly who are you?!”

At this time, a nosy spectator finally chimed in, coughing, “Sect Leader Jiang, you might not pay much attention to these things. You might not know, this Mo Xuanyu, he’s from that Lanling Jin Sect… cough, he used to be a disciple from the Jin family with a different surname. But because of his low spiritual energy and lack of effort in cultivation, plus he was known for… harassing other disciples, he was expelled from the Lanling Jin Sect. I heard he even went mad? From my point of view, it’s likely that he failed to cultivate in the righteous path, felt resentment in his heart, and went astray. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the… that the Yi Ling Patriarch took possession of him.”

Jiang Cheng said, “That? Which one?”

“That… that is that…”

Someone couldn’t help but say, “The broken sleeve habit!”

Jiang Cheng’s eyebrows twitched, and his gaze toward Wei Wuxian became even more disgusted. There were a few more sentences that others didn’t dare to say in front of Jiang Cheng.

Although his reputation wasn’t good, it had to be acknowledged that before the Yi Ling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, betrayed the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, he was a well-known handsome man, a refined gentleman proficient in all six arts. He was ranked fourth in terms of appearance among the young masters of the aristocratic families, and people described him as “elegant and handsome.” The very prideful Sect Leader Jiang just happened to be ranked fifth, barely losing out to him, so others didn’t dare mention this matter. Wei Ying was frivolous and unrestrained, most fond of being ambiguous with beautiful women. How many fairies had been victimized by this evil peach blossom of his, yet no one had ever heard of him also liking men. Even if he were to possess someone or come back to kill… based on Wei Ying’s taste, he would absolutely not choose a madman with a broken sleeve who rode a donkey, ate fruit, and had his head painted like someone about to be hanged!

Someone muttered, “It doesn’t look like it either… and his flute playing was so bad… he learned it so poorly, that’s what a pathetic imitation looks like.”

Back then, during the “Sun Shooting Campaign”, the Yi Ling Patriarch, on the battlefield, played his flute throughout the long night, controlling ghost soldiers and ghost generals like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, invincible, killing anyone who stood in his way. The sound of the flute was like the music of the heavens, how could this Jin family’s castoff be compared with those muffled whimpers he had played? Even if Wei Wuxian’s character was terrible, he couldn’t be compared like that. It was too insulting.

Wei Wuxian felt slightly depressed: … You try not practicing for more than a decade, make a broken flute from a couple of cuts, and play one note for me. If it sounds good I’ll kneel for you!

Just now Jiang Cheng had believed this person to be Wei Wuxian, and all his cold blood had boiled. But now, the Purple Lightning in his hand clearly told him that he wasn’t. The Purple Lightning would never deceive him, nor would it make a mistake. He quickly calmed down and thought to himself: It’s not a big deal. First, find an excuse to take him back, and then use every means possible to probe him. He won’t be able to conceal anything. He didn’t believe he wouldn’t reveal some sort of weakness. Anyway, things like this hadn’t never happened before. Thinking through this point, he gestured. The disciples of various families understood his meaning and surrounded them. Wei Wuxian quickly led the donkey behind Lan Wangji, clutching his chest and shouting in alarm, “Ah, what are you going to do to me!”

Lan Wangji glanced at him and endured this extremely rude and noisy exaggerated behavior.

Seeing that he had no intention of letting them pass, Jiang Cheng said, “Young Master Lan, are you deliberately trying to go against me, Jiang?”

No one in the cultivation world didn’t know that the young head of the Jiang family was wary of Wei Wuxian to the point of being near madness. He would rather catch the wrong person than let one go. If he saw someone suspected of being possessed by Wei Wuxian, he would bring them back to Yunmeng Jiang Sect for severe torture. If he took this person back, he would definitely be taught a lesson that would take away half his life. Lan Sizhui said, “Sect Leader Jiang, the truth is in front of you. Young Master Mo wasn’t possessed. Why are you making things difficult for an unknown person?”

Jiang Cheng said coldly, “Then, why has Young Master Lan been protecting an unknown person since just now?”

Wei Wuxian suddenly chuckled a few times.

He said, “Sect Leader Jiang, well, you see, it’s rather difficult for me when you keep bothering me like this.”

Jiang Cheng’s eyebrows jumped twice. He had a subconscious premonition that this person would not say anything that would please him.

Wei Wuxian said, “You’re too enthusiastic, thank you. But you’re also thinking too much. Even if I like men, I don’t like just any man, and I won’t follow anyone who beckons to me. I’m not interested in someone like you.”

Wei Wuxian was doing this deliberately to annoy him. Jiang Cheng hated being outdone by others. No matter how trivial the comparison, as long as someone said that he was inferior to someone else, he would get angry and not be able to eat or sleep, wanting to win no matter what. Sure enough, Jiang Cheng’s face turned blue. “Oh? Then please tell me, what kind of person do you like?”

Wei Wuxian said, “What kind of person? Hmm, I really like someone like Hanguang-Jun.”

Lan Wangji was someone who couldn’t tolerate this kind of frivolous and boring joke the most. After being disgusted, he would absolutely actively draw a line to keep his distance. Annoying two people at once, a double whammy!

Who knew, after hearing this, Lan Wangji turned around.

He said expressionlessly, “You’re the one who said that.”

Wei Wuxian: “Huh?”

Lan Wangji turned his head, polite, but leaving no room for doubt, said, “This person, I will bring back to the Lan family.”

Wei Wuxian: “…”

Wei Wuxian: “…Ah?”