TFOD Chapter 26

Who knew, he only took one step back, but his foot twisted, and it looked like he was about to fall to his knees. Lan Wangji’s expression changed, and he rushed forward, like last time at Dafan Mountain, he tightly grasped his wrist, steadied him, and knelt down on one knee to check his leg. Wei Wuxian was quite startled and hurriedly said, “No, no, no, Hanguang-Jun, you don’t need to be like this.”

Lan Wangji slightly raised his head, his light-colored eyes fixed on him for a moment, then he lowered his head and continued to pull up his trouser leg. Wei Wuxian’s hand was still being held by him, so he had no choice but to look at the sky.

His leg was covered in a patch of dark, bruised curse marks.

Lan Wangji looked at it for a long time before saying in a hoarse voice, “…I only left for a few hours.”

Wei Wuxian spread his hands and said, “A few hours is a long time, anything can happen. Alright, get up.”

He pulled Lan Wangji up and said, “It’s just an ordinary curse mark, when it comes looking for me, I’ll just scatter it. Hanguang-Jun, you have to help me, I can’t handle it myself. Did you catch the person? Is it him? Where is he?”

Lan Wangji turned his gaze towards the signboard of a shop in the distance on the long street. Wei Wuxian said, “Let’s settle the matter of the stone fortress first.” He then walked towards that shop. He didn’t notice it just now, but now he felt that his legs were a little numb, they must have been affected by the Purple Lightning Whip. Fortunately, Jiang Cheng knew how to control the strength of the Purple Lightning Whip, and didn’t directly electrocute him into a charred corpse that had been struck by lightning.

Lan Wangji stood behind him and suddenly called out, “Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian’s figure paused, and after a moment, he acted as if he hadn’t heard the name and responded, “What is it?”

Lan Wangji said, “Did it transfer from Jin Ling’s body?”

This was not a question, but a statement.

Wei Wuxian remained noncommittal. Lan Wangji said again, “You met Jiang WanYin.”

There were still marks left by the Purple Lightning Whip on the curse marks, so it wasn’t hard to tell. Wei Wuxian turned around and said, “As long as two people are alive in this world, they will meet sooner or later.”

Lan Wangji said, “Don’t go.”

Wei Wuxian said, “If I don’t go, will you carry me?”

“…” Lan Wangji looked at him quietly, and the smile at the corner of Wei Wuxian’s mouth froze, a foreboding shadow flashed in his heart.

If it were the Lan Zhan of the past, he would definitely be choked by this sentence, either giving him a cold face and leaving, or ignoring him completely. But if it were the current one, it was really hard to say how he would respond. As expected, Lan Wangji, upon hearing this, stood in front of him, seemingly about to bend down, and lower himself to carry him. Wei Wuxian was startled again and hurriedly said, “Stop, stop, I was just saying it casually. I was just numbed by the Purple Lightning Whip, it’s not like my leg is broken. A grown man being carried, how unsightly.”

Lan Wangji said, “Is it very unsightly?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Is it very good looking?”

After a moment of silence, Lan Wangji said, “But you’ve also carried me before.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Is there such a thing? I don’t remember.”

Lan Wangji said calmly, “You never remember these things.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Everyone says I have a bad memory, okay, then it’s bad. Anyway, I’m not being carried.”

Lan Wangji asked, “You really don’t want to be carried?”

Wei Wuxian said decisively, “No carrying.”

The two remained in a stalemate for a moment. Suddenly, Lan Wangji put one arm around his back, bent down slightly, and with the other hand, scooped under his knees.

Wei Wuxian was shorter than him and also lighter, and was scooped up at once, his whole body suspended in a pair of strong arms. Wei Wuxian never expected that the consequence of saying “no carrying” would be this. Whether in this life or the last, it was the first time someone had treated him this way, and he shuddered, “Lan Zhan!!!”

Lan Wangji carried him, walking very steadily, and answered very calmly, “You said you didn’t want to be carried.”

Wei Wuxian said, “That doesn’t mean I wanted you to carry me like this?”

Fortunately, it was already night, and there were no pedestrians on the street, so it wasn’t too embarrassing. Wei Wuxian was not someone with a thin skin, and after being carried for a few steps, he relaxed, and flicked Lan Wangji’s chest tassel, pretending to pull it, and laughed, “You want to see who has a thicker skin, huh?”

The clear scent of sandalwood lingered beside him. Lan Wangji didn’t look at him, but stared straight ahead, unperturbed, still with a face of utmost righteousness and utmost coldness. Seeing him deaf to his words and as unyielding as water and oil, Wei Wuxian, while playing with his tassel, thought, “I didn’t expect Lan Zhan to be so vengeful. What I used to tease him with, he’s now going to get it back one by one, making me look foolish. He has made so much progress. Not only has his cultivation improved, but his skin has also thickened.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Lan Zhan, did you recognize me at Dafan Mountain?”

Lan Wangji said, “Mn.”

Wei Wuxian was surprised, “How did you recognize me?”

Lan Wangji lowered his eyelashes, glanced at him and said, “Want to know?”

Wei Wuxian replied affirmatively, “Mn.”

Lan Wangji said, “You told me yourself.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Myself? Because of Jin Ling? Because I summoned Wen Ning? It’s not those, right?”

A ripple seemed to rise in Lan Wangji’s eyes. However, this barely perceptible fluctuation was fleeting, and it immediately returned to a deep pool. He said solemnly, “Think for yourself.”

Wei Wuxian said, “It’s because I can’t figure it out that I’m asking you.”

This time, no matter how he pressed, Lan Wangji kept his mouth shut. He carried Wei Wuxian into the inn. Except for the waiter at the front desk who spat out a mouthful of water, none of the onlookers made any overly outrageous actions. They arrived at the door of the room. Wei Wuxian said, “Alright, we’re here, you should put me down now. You don’t have a free hand to open…”

Before he could finish speaking, Lan Wangji made a very rude move. This was perhaps the first time in his life he had ever made such a coarse movement.

He kicked the door open while still holding Wei Wuxian.

As the two doors swung open, the person sitting inside, fidgeting, immediately cried, “Hanguang-Jun, I don’t know, I don’t know, I…”

After seeing the position the two people at the door came in with, his gaze became blank and he barely finished the last sentence, “…I really don’t know.”

It was indeed a case of “I don’t know anything”.

Lan Wangji acted as if he didn’t see him, and carried Wei Wuxian into the room, and placed him on the mat. Nie Huaisang looked as if he couldn’t bear to see it, and immediately opened his folding fan to cover his face. Wei Wuxian peered over the fan, taking a look. This old classmate of his hadn’t changed much over the years. He was still the same as he was back then. Clearly, he had a scholarly and refined face, but a mien as if he could be easily manipulated. His clothes were tasteful, elegant and refined, and he must have spent a lot of effort on it. To say that he was a sect leader was more akin to saying that he was a wealthy idler. He wouldn’t look like a crown prince in a dragon robe, nor a head of a sect with a long saber.

He vehemently denied it, so Lan Wangji placed the piece of cloth that the black-maned spirit dog had bitten off on the table. Nie Huaisang covered his missing sleeve, and said with a look of despair, “I just happened to be passing by. I really don’t know anything.”

Wei Wuxian said, “If you don’t know, then let me say it, and see if you’ll know something as you listen.”

Nie Huaisang stammered, unsure of how to respond. Wei Wuxian then said, “In the area of Qinghe Xinglu Ridge, there are rumors of a ‘man-eating ridge’ and a ‘man-eating fortress’, but there are no real victims, so it’s a rumor. And the rumor will make ordinary people stay away from Xinglu Ridge, so its real purpose is actually a defensive line. And it’s just the first one.”

“Where there’s a first, there’s a second. The second defensive line is the walking corpses on Xinglu Ridge. Even if there are ordinary people who aren’t afraid of the rumors of the man-eating fortress and venture up the ridge, or accidentally enter the ridge, seeing the walking dead will also make them flee in panic. But these walking corpses are few in number and have low lethality, so they won’t cause real harm.”

“The third defensive line is the maze near that stone fortress. The first two lines are to defend against ordinary people, only this one is to defend against cultivators. But the scope of effect is limited to ordinary cultivators. If they meet cultivators who possess spiritual weapons or spirit dogs that can break mazes, or someone of Hanguang-Jun’s level, this defensive line can only be broken through.”

“The purpose of the triple defenses is to prevent anyone from discovering the stone fortress on Xinglu Ridge. Who built the stone fortress is very clear. This is the territory of the Qinghe Nie Sect, and no one else except the Nie family could easily set up these three levels of defense in Qinghe. What’s more, you just happened to appear near the stone fortress, leaving behind evidence.”

“What exactly is the purpose of the Qinghe Nie Sect building a man-eating fortress on Xinglu Ridge? Where did the corpses in the walls come from? Did it eat them? Sect Leader Nie, if you don’t explain it here today, I’m afraid that if it gets out in the future, and all the cultivation sects come to question and attack you, then even if you want to talk, no one will be willing to listen to you or believe what you say.”

Nie Huaisang said in a self-abandoning manner, “…That’s not a man-eating fortress at all. That…that’s just our family’s ancestral tomb!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Ancestral tomb? Whose ancestral tomb doesn’t have coffins with bodies, but rather coffins filled with swords?”

Nie Huaisang said with a wailing face, “Hanguang-Jun, before I speak, can you make an oath, for the sake of our two families’ long-standing friendship, and that your older brother and my older brother were sworn brothers, that no matter what I say next, you… and the person next to you, must not spread it out. If it does get out in the future, please help me say a few words and be a witness. You have always been most trustworthy, if you make an oath, I will believe you.”

Lan Wangji said, “As you wish.”

Wei Wuxian said, “You say it’s not a man-eating fortress at all, then it hasn’t eaten people?”

Nie Huaisang gritted his teeth and honestly said, “…It has.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Wow.”

Nie Huaisang immediately added, “But only once! And the main mistake wasn’t with our family, and it happened decades ago! The rumor of the man-eating fortress on Xinglu Ridge started spreading from that time. I… I just fanned the flames, and amplified the rumor several times.”