TFOD Chapter 31

The head of the Chang family in Leyang, Chang Ping, went out night hunting with some family members one day. After more than half a month, he suddenly received terrible news on the road and rushed back. After grieving, he only found out that someone had maliciously broken his family’s protective array, allowing a group of ferocious evil spirits to enter. Other than that, he was completely in the dark.

Originally, the tragedy of a small family would have been known only to a limited number of people, but the situation at the time was special. The Sunshot Campaign had ended long ago, and the siege of the Burial Mounds had just concluded. The situation on the surface could barely be considered stable. The sudden outbreak of this incident immediately caused an uproar among the cultivation clans. There were also many alarmists spreading rumors that it was the Yi Ling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, returning to the world for revenge. However, there was no evidence, and the culprit could not be found. Of course, Xiao Xingchen would not sit idly by. He immediately took the initiative to take on the matter and seek the truth for Chang Ping. A month later, he finally found the murderer of the whole family.

The murderer’s name was Xue Yang.

This Xue Yang was even younger than Xiao Xingchen. He was an out-and-out teenager. However, his wickedness would not be lessened just because he was young. Since he was fifteen years old, he had been a notorious gangster in the Kui Province area, known for his amiable smile, vicious methods, and cruel personality. Everyone in Kui Province turned pale at the mention of Xue Yang. When he was young, he was a street urchin and seemed to have had some grievances with Chang Ping’s father, which he remembered for years. Out of revenge and some other reasons, he committed this horrific crime.

After Xiao Xingchen found out the truth, he traveled across three provinces and captured Xue Yang, who was still living happily and fighting with others. Taking advantage of the fact that the Lanling Jin Sect was holding a grand discussion and debate at their immortal mansion, Golden Carp Tower, with various families discussing the Dao and asking about the law, he dragged him in front of the public, explaining everything and demanding severe punishment.

He presented the evidence clearly, and the vast majority of the aristocratic families had no objections, except for one family that strongly opposed it. That was the Lanling Jin Sect.

Wei Wuxian said, “To object under such circumstances can be considered going against the will of the people. Could this Xue Yang be a favorite of Jin Guangshan?”

Lan Wangji said, “A guest elder.”

Wei Wuxian said, “He’s a guest elder? The Lanling Jin Sect was already among the four great families back then, so why would they invite a small gangster to be a guest elder?”

Lan Wangji said, “This is the second connection.”

He gazed into Wei Wuxian’s eyes and slowly said, “Because of the Yin Tiger Seal.”

Wei Wuxian’s heart leaped into his throat.

He was no stranger to the three words “Yin Tiger Seal”. On the contrary, no one was more familiar with it than he was.

It was the most terrifying of all the magical artifacts he had refined in his lifetime, and also the one everyone wanted most.

The tiger seal was used to give orders. As the name suggests, whoever obtained this tiger seal could command corpses, ghosts, and evil spirits, making them obey.

When Wei Wuxian created it, he didn’t think too much. When controlling corpses and evil spirits with his own primordial spirit, he would always get tired. He recalled that he had accidentally seen a rare piece of iron essence in the belly of a monster before, so he took it and forged it into a tiger seal.

But after the tiger seal was forged, Wei Wuxian discovered that something was very wrong after using it only once.

The power of the Yin Tiger Seal was far greater and more terrifying than he had originally expected. He originally wanted to use it as an auxiliary tool, but who knew that its power would actually have a tendency to overpower him, the creator. Moreover, this thing didn’t recognize its master. In other words, as long as someone obtained it, no matter who this person was, good or bad, enemy or friend, it would be used by whoever held it.

The disaster had been forged, and Wei Wuxian had not thought of destroying it, but the tiger seal was not easy to forge, nor was it easy to destroy, and it consumed a lot of energy and time. Moreover, at that time, he had already faintly sensed that his situation was not good, and sooner or later, everyone would want to kill him. The Yin Tiger Seal had a great deterrent power, and with this magic treasure, others would not dare to move him easily. So he temporarily kept it, but divided the tiger seal into two halves, so that it could only work when they were combined, and he would never use it lightly.

He had only used it twice, and each time, it had caused rivers of blood. The first time was during the Sunshot Campaign. After the second time, he finally made up his mind to completely destroy half of the tiger seal. However, before the other half could be completely destroyed, the great siege of the Burial Mounds came. After that, he was out of control.

Wei Wuxian was confident in the things he had refined. He dared to assert that even if an aristocratic family seized it and enshrined it for daily worship, the remaining half of the Yin Tiger Seal was only a piece of scrap iron. However, Lan Wangji told him something shocking: this Xue Yang seemed to be able to piece together the other half of the Yin Tiger Seal!

Xue Yang was very young, yet extremely intelligent. He was also a very evil heretic. The Lanling Jin Sect discovered that he could roughly piece together the other half based on the remaining half of the tiger seal. Although the restored piece could not be used for long and was not as powerful as the original, it could already cause very terrible consequences.

Wei Wuxian understood: “The Lanling Jin Sect wants to keep Xue Yang to continue restoring the Yin Tiger Seal for them, so they must protect him.”

Perhaps Xue Yang’s massacre of the Chang family was not entirely for revenge for the past injustice. Maybe he was using the lives of this family to test the power of the Yin Tiger Seal that he was restoring!

No wonder the rumors would link the family annihilation case with him. Wei Wuxian could almost imagine how the cultivators were gnashing their teeth: “This Wei Wuxian! If he hadn’t made such a thing, the world wouldn’t be suffering so much!”

Returning to the topic, back at Golden Carp Tower.

Although the Lanling Jin Sect was wholeheartedly shielding Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen remained unyielding. The two sides were deadlocked. Eventually, they alarmed Chifeng-Zun Nie Mingjue, who was not participating in the discussion. He flew from another place to Golden Carp Tower to intervene.

Although Nie Mingjue was a junior of Jin Guangshan, he was strict and intolerant, and he never condoned anything. He scolded Jin Guangshan, causing him to lose face and become speechless. The hot-tempered Nie Mingjue immediately drew his sword and was about to kill Xue Yang. His sworn younger brother, Lianfang-Zun Jin Guangyao, stepped forward to smooth things over, but was also ordered to get out of the way and was scolded so badly that he hid behind Lan Xichen, not daring to make a sound. In the end, the Lanling Jin Sect had no choice but to give way.

After Xue Yang was brought to Golden Carp Tower by Xiao Xingchen, he had been fearless. Even with Nie Mingjue’s blade pressed against his neck, he was still smiling. Before being taken down, he said to Xiao Xingchen very affectionately, “Daozhang, don’t forget me. We’ll see.”

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian knew that this “We’ll see” would make Xiao Xingchen pay an extremely painful price.

The Lanling Jin Sect was indeed the most shameless aristocratic family. Although they had agreed in front of all the families at Golden Carp Tower to deal with Xue Yang, once Nie Mingjue was no longer in sight, they quickly put Xue Yang in the dungeon, changed the sentence to imprisonment, and would never release him. Nie Mingjue was furious when he learned about this and put pressure on them again, but the Lanling Jin Sect still refused to hand him over. The other families watched the show with folded arms. Who knew that not long after, Nie Mingjue became possessed by a demon and died?

He cultivated faster than any previous leader of the Qinghe Nie Sect, but he also died earlier than any previous leader.

With the most difficult person to deal with gone, the Lanling Jin Sect became even more unscrupulous and started to think about even more crooked ideas. Jin Guangshan began to try to get Xue Yang out of prison, continue to restore the Yin Tiger Seal, and explore its mysteries.

However, this kind of thing was not glorious after all. To get a murderer who had annihilated a family out of the dungeon without a proper reason was not acceptable.

So, they turned their attention to Chang Ping.

Through coercion and temptation, and constant harassment, the Lanling Jin Sect successfully made Chang Ping retract his previous accusations, and declare: the annihilation of the Chang family had nothing to do with Xue Yang.

Xiao Xingchen came to the door to inquire about this news. Chang Ping helplessly said to him, “What else can I do? If I don’t give in, the rest of my family will have no way to survive. Thank you, Daozhang, but… please don’t help me anymore. If you help me now, you’re just harming me. I don’t want the Leyang Chang family to be wiped out.”

Just like that, a performance of “releasing the tiger back to the mountains” was completed.

Wei Wuxian was silent.

If he were Chang Ping, no matter how powerful the Lanling Jin Sect was, the leading aristocratic family that could cover the sky with one hand, no matter what kind of bright future and glory they promised him, he would never give in a single word. On the contrary, he would personally sneak into the dungeon at night, cut Xue Yang into a pile of minced meat, and then summon him back to cut him again and again, until he regretted being born in this world.

But not everyone had his kind of character that would rather die together. The Chang family still had a few members alive, and Chang Ping was still young, unmarried and childless, and had just embarked on the path of cultivation. Whether they threatened him with the lives of his surviving family members or with his future and cultivation, he had to consider it carefully.

After all, he was not Chang Ping himself, he could not take his righteous indignation for him, and he could not take his fear and suffering for him.

After Xue Yang was released, he did indeed begin his revenge once again. However, this time, he did not take revenge on Xiao Xingchen himself.

Xiao Xingchen left the mountain alone and had no relatives. He only had a good friend whom he had met after going down the mountain named Song Lan. This Song Lan was also a famous figure in the Daoist sect at that time. He was aloof and had a good reputation. Both of them wanted to build their own sects, emphasizing the importance of shared ideals over blood ties. They could be said to be close friends who shared the same goals and interests. People at the time called them: “The bright moon and clear breeze, Xiao Xingchen, the proud snow and cold frost, Song Zichen.”

So, Xue Yang chose to attack this side. He used the same trick, completely annihilating the Bai Xue Temple where Song Lan had grown up and learned. He also secretly ambushed and poisoned Song Lan’s eyes, causing him to go blind.

This time, he had experience in annihilating a family. He did it very cleanly, leaving no clues behind. Although everyone knew it must have been him, what could they do? There was no evidence. In addition, Jin Guangshan was deliberately shielding him, and even the furious Chifeng-Zun had already passed away. No one could do anything about him.

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian suddenly felt a little strange: although Lan Wangji looked indifferent and unwilling to get involved, based on what Wei Wuxian knew about him in the past, his hatred of evil was no less than Nie Huaisang’s older brother. In the past, when the Lanling Jin Sect had some bad practices, Lan Wangji never hesitated to speak his mind. Even now, he didn’t attend their discussions, not giving them any face. If two such terrible massacres had happened one after another back then, it would have spread like wildfire. Lan Wangji would never have sat idly by. Why didn’t he go and deal with this Xue Yang?

Just as he was about to ask, he remembered the Discipline Whip scars on Lan Wangji’s body.

One Discipline Whip strike was enough to kill someone. If Lan Wangji had made some big mistake and received so many lashes, he would have been forbidden to leave for several years. Perhaps it was during those years that he was being punished or recovering from his injuries. No wonder he only said he had “heard about it.”

Wei Wuxian felt a strange concern about those scars, but it was inconvenient for him to ask directly, so he had to suppress it for the time being. He said, “So, what happened to this Daoist Xiao Xingchen later?”

What happened later, of course, was also a tragic ending. Xiao Xingchen had sworn never to return to the mountain when he left his master. He valued his promises very much, but Song Lan was blind and severely injured, so he broke his vow and carried Song Lan back to Baoshan Sanren’s place, asking his master to save his friend.

Baoshan Sanren, out of consideration for their master-disciple relationship, agreed to his request. Xiao Xingchen then left the mountain and his whereabouts were unknown ever since.

A year later, Song Lan also left the mountain. The world was surprised that his eyes, which had been completely blind, had regained their sight. However, in reality, it was not because Baoshan Sanren’s medical skills were miraculous, but rather because Xiao Xingchen had…dug out his own eyes and given them to Song Lan, who had been implicated by him.

Song Lan intended to take revenge on Xue Yang. At this time, Jin Guangshan had already passed away, and Jin Guangyao had taken over the Lanling Jin Sect and been appointed Immortal Supervisor. To show that he was a new man with a new approach, he cleaned up Xue Yang as soon as he took office, no longer mentioned the restoration of the Yin Tiger Seal, and took various remedial and comforting measures to save face and suppress the rumors. Song Lan went to pursue the traces of his old friend. At first, he could still hear where he had gone, but later, there was no news either. In addition, the Leyang Chang family was just an unknown small family, so many things gradually faded into obscurity.

After listening to this long story, Wei Wuxian let out a soft breath and felt a wave of regret and pity: “Because of something that had nothing to do with him, he ended up in such a state, it’s really… If Xiao Xingchen had been born a few years earlier, or if I had died a few years later, things would not have turned out this way. If I were alive, how could I have ignored this kind of thing? How could I not have befriended such a person!”

Then he chuckled, secretly mocking himself, “Me? What could I have done? If I was still alive at that time, maybe the Chang family annihilation case wouldn’t have needed an investigation. They would have directly blamed it on me. If I met this Daoist Xiao Xingchen on the road, I would have tried to start a conversation, ask him out for a drink, and he might have used his horsetail whisk to whip me, haha.”

They had already passed the Chang residence and walked to a cemetery not far from there. Wei Wuxian saw the dark red “Chang” character on the memorial archway and asked, “So why did Chang Ping die later? Who dismembered the rest of his family?”

Before Lan Wangji could answer, at that moment, in the dim blue twilight, a series of “bang bang bang” sounds of something hitting a door could be heard.

The sound was very much like knocking on a door, but it wasn’t knocking on a door. It was very strong, very urgent, and didn’t stop for a moment. It was muffled, as if there was something between the sound and them.

The two men’s expressions suddenly turned solemn.

The fifty-odd members of the Leyang Chang family were now lying in their coffins, banging on their coffins from the inside. Just like the night they were scared to death, they were frantically pounding on the door, but they would never be able to wait for someone to open it.

This was the coffin-pounding sound at the Chang family cemetery that the shop assistant had mentioned!

However, the shop assistant had said that the haunting happened ten years ago and had long since stopped. How could it suddenly start again when they arrived?

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both suppressed their auras and stealthily moved forward.

Hiding behind the pillar of the memorial archway, they both saw a hole appearing in the center of the cemetery, among a cluster of tombstones.

It was a very deep hole, with mud piled up beside it, indicating that it had just been dug. A soft sound could be heard from inside the hole.

Someone was digging a grave.

The two of them quietly held their breaths and waited for the person in the hole to come out on their own.

In less than half a stick of incense, two people lightly leaped out of the dug grave.

Thanks to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s good eyesight, they could see that these were two people. Because these two people were like conjoined twins, one carrying the other on their back, tightly connected together, and both dressed in black, making it difficult to distinguish them.

The person who jumped out of the hole stood with his back to them, long and lanky. The person he was carrying had their head and limbs drooping lifelessly. But that was to be expected. Since it was dug out of a grave, it must be a dead person. It was normal for it to be lifeless.

Just as they were thinking this, the grave digger suddenly turned his head and saw them.

The person’s face was shrouded in a thick black mist, making it impossible to see his features and appearance!

Wei Wuxian knew that he must have used some strange magic to conceal his face. Lan Wangji had already summoned Bichen and entered the cemetery, engaging him in combat. The grave digger reacted quickly. Seeing the blue glow of Bichen’s sword attacking, he made a sword gesture and also summoned a sword glow. However, this sword glow, like his face, was wrapped in rolling black mist. It was impossible to see what color or aura it was. The grave digger, carrying a corpse on his back, had a very strange fighting stance. The two sword glows clashed several times. Lan Wangji recalled Bichen, held it in his hand, and his face quickly became covered with a layer of frost.

Wei Wuxian knew why his expression suddenly became so stern. Because even he, an outsider, could clearly see from the previous exchange that the grave digger was very familiar with Lan Wangji’s swordsmanship!

Lan Wangji didn’t say a word. Bichen struck more powerfully, and the sword intent was overwhelming. The grave digger retreated repeatedly, seemingly knowing that he was carrying a dead person and was no match for Lan Wangji. If they continued to fight, he would definitely be captured alive. Suddenly, he took out a dark blue talisman from his waist.

A teleportation talisman!

This talisman could instantly teleport a person thousands of miles away, but at the same time, it would consume a lot of spiritual power. It would take the user a long time to recover, and people with insufficient spiritual power were not qualified to use it. So, although it was a top-tier treasure, few people used it. Seeing that he was about to escape, Wei Wuxian clapped his hands twice urgently, knelt on one knee, and punched the ground.

The force of this punch penetrated the layers of soil, reaching deep into the ground, breaking through the thick coffin lids, and giving the trapped dead an almost insane stimulus. The sound of “kacha kacha” echoed as four bloody arms rose from the ground, grabbing the grave digger’s legs!

The grave digger didn’t take it seriously. He poured spiritual power into the soles of his feet, shaking off the four corpse hands. Wei Wuxian pulled out his bamboo flute, and a sharp, piercing tune tore through the approaching night. Two heads broke through the soil from the grave, and their entire bodies followed, writhing up along the grave digger’s legs, like snakes, wrapping around him and biting at his neck and arms.

The grave digger snorted disdainfully, as if to say “child’s play.” He circulated his spiritual energy throughout his body, but this time, after shaking off the spiritual energy, he suddenly realized that he had been tricked.

He had shaken off the corpse that he was carrying on his back as well!

Wei Wuxian slapped the tombstone and laughed wildly. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, caught the limp corpse with one hand and thrust Bichen forward with the other. Seeing that the item he had just dug out had been snatched away, and he couldn’t beat Lan Wangji even in a one-on-one fight, let alone there was another person causing trouble. He did not dare to linger. He threw the teleportation talisman under his feet, and with a loud bang, rolling blue flames soared into the sky. His figure disappeared into the flames.

Wei Wuxian had known that the grave digger held a teleportation talisman. Even if they had captured him, he would have found a chance to escape. Leaving behind the corpse that he had dug up was already a clue. He did not feel it was a pity. He walked over to Lan Wangji and said, “Let’s see who he dug up.”

He was slightly shocked at this sight. The corpse’s head was already broken. And the place that was broken was not flesh and blood, but balls of cotton wadding that were already slightly blackened.

Wei Wuxian pulled and tore off the corpse’s head. Holding the exquisitely made fake head, he said, “What is going on here? Is there a fake corpse made of cotton and rags buried in the Chang family’s cemetery?”

Lan Wangji had just taken this corpse, weighed it, and knew that it was strange, “It’s not entirely fake.”

Wei Wuxian touched the corpse all over, finding that its limbs were all limp, only the chest and abdomen felt hard. Tearing the clothes, he indeed found that the torso was a real torso. The rest of the body was all fake.

The head and limbs made of cotton were used to “deceive” the torso, making it believe that it was still attached to its owner. Judging from the skin color and the broken surface of the left shoulder, it must be the torso of the good brother they were looking for. The grave digger had actually come to dig it up.

Wei Wuxian got up and said, “It seems like the person hiding the corpse noticed that we were investigating this matter. Afraid that we would dig it up, they came to move the torso. It was good timing, we happened to run into it haha. But,” he changed his tone, “Why is that mist-faced grave digger so familiar with your family’s swordsmanship?”

Clearly, Lan Wangji was also thinking about this. The layer of frost on his face had not yet faded. Wei Wuxian said, “This person’s cultivation level is quite high, high enough to support the consumption of using a teleportation talisman. He used magic on both his face and his sword. Using magic on his face is understandable, he’s afraid of being recognized. But generally, unknown cultivators don’t have a need to use magic on their sword to hide it–unless his sword has a bit of a name in the cultivation world, or is very famous. Many people recognize the glow of his sword, and it will be exposed as soon as he brandishes it, so he has to hide it.”

Wei Wuxian tentatively asked, “Hanguang-Jun, you exchanged blows with him earlier. Do you think he is someone you are very familiar with?”

He wasn’t comfortable saying anything more specific, like, Lan Xichen, or, Lan Qiren.

Lan Wangji said with certainty, “No.”

Wei Wuxian was very confident in Lan Wangji’s answer. He believed that Lan Wangji was not the kind of person who would cover up the truth or be afraid to face the truth. Since he said no, then it must not be. He also didn’t like to lie. As far as Wei Wuxian could see, Lan Wangji would rather place a silencing spell on himself than lie. Therefore, Wei Wuxian immediately ruled out these two people, saying, “Then it’s even more complicated.”

Lan Wangji put the torso into another double-layered Evil Sealing Bag, carefully storing it. The two of them walked around a few times and leisurely returned to the street where the tavern was located.

As expected, the young shop assistant had kept his word. Seven or eight out of ten of the other taverns on the street were closed, but their shop’s signboard was still hanging, and the lights were still on. The shop assistant was eating a big bowl of rice at the door. Seeing them, he happily said, “You’re back! What do you think, our shop keeps its word, right? Did the two of you see anything?”

Wei Wuxian smiled and answered a few questions. He and Lan Wangji sat back down in the spot they had been in during the day.

The table around his feet was piled high with wine jars. He said, “Right, where were we before? We were interrupted by that grave digger who suddenly jumped out. I still don’t know how Chang Ping died.”

Lan Wangji continued to tell him the story in an extremely concise manner.

Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan and others left one after another. Some disappeared, some died. Several years after this matter was forgotten, one day, Chang Ping and the remaining members of his family all died in one night by dismemberment. Moreover, Chang Ping’s eyes had also been dug out.

This time, no one could find out who the murderer was. After all, all the parties involved had disappeared. However, there was one thing that could be determined.

The sword that dismembered them was identified through examination of the wounds as Xiao Xingchen’s sword–Frost Blossom.

Wei Wuxian stopped the bowl of wine by his mouth, shocked by this outcome: “Dismembered by Xiao Xingchen’s sword? Then is the person who did it him?”

Lan Wangji said, “Xiao Xingchen is missing, it’s not conclusive.”

Wei Wuxian said, “If you can’t find the living, have you tried summoning their souls?”

Lan Wangji said, “We tried. It was fruitless.”

Fruitless, then either they had not died, or their souls had dispersed. As a specialist, Wei Wuxian had to voice his opinion on this: “Soul summoning is not absolute. The right time, place, and circumstances are all necessary, and sometimes there will be mistakes. I guess many people think it was Xiao Xingchen’s revenge, right? Hanguang-Jun, what about you? What do you think?”

Lan Wangji slowly shook his head and said, “Without seeing the whole picture, I will not comment.”

Wei Wuxian greatly admired his way of dealing with things and his principles. He smiled and took a sip of wine. He then heard Lan Wangji say, “What do you think?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Dismemberment is a kind of torture that inherently means ‘punishment’. And the digging out of eyes is hard not to connect with Xiao Xingchen who also had his eyes dug out. So these people guessing it was Xiao Xingchen’s revenge is understandable, but,” he thought for a moment about his wording, “I think, from the beginning, Xiao Xingchen did not want Chang Ping’s gratitude when he stepped in to handle this matter. I…”

He hadn’t figured out exactly what “I” was. The shop assistant very diligently brought up two plates of peanuts. Wei Wuxian was interrupted, and conveniently didn’t have to continue. He looked up at Lan Wangji and smiled, “Hanguang-Jun, why are you looking at me like that? I’m not doing anything. I also don’t know the full picture, and I also won’t comment. What you said is right, before understanding the whole story and the context, no one can make arbitrary judgments about anything. I only ordered five jars, but you bought five extra for me, I’m afraid I can’t finish drinking them all by myself. How about it, will you drink with me? This is not the Cloud Recesses, it’s not against the rules, right?”

He was prepared to be rejected, but who knew that Lan Wangji would say, “Drink.”

Wei Wuxian clucked, “Hanguang-Jun, you’ve really changed. In the past, when I drank a small jar in front of you, you were fierce, you’d want to throw me over the wall, and you’d even hit me. Nowadays, you’re even hiding Emperor’s Smile in the house, secretly drinking it.”

Lan Wangji adjusted his collar and said in a low voice, “I haven’t touched a single jar of the Emperor’s Smile.”

Wei Wuxian said, “If you’re not drinking it, what are you hiding it for? To give it to me as a gift? Okay, okay, if you didn’t touch it, I believe you, alright? I won’t mention it anymore, come on. I really want to see how many cups a Gusu Lan Sect disciple who doesn’t touch a drop of alcohol can handle.”

He poured a bowl for Lan Wangji. Without thinking, Lan Wangji took it and downed it. Wei Wuxian was excited and stared at his face, watching to see when he would blush. Who knew that after staring for a long time, Lan Wangji’s face and expression didn’t change at all. His light-colored eyes calmly watched him–there was no change at all!

Wei Wuxian was greatly disappointed. Just as he was about to encourage him to drink another jar, Lan Wangji suddenly frowned slightly and gently rubbed his temples. After a moment, he rested his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes.

…Asleep?

…Asleep!

Normally, after drinking so much alcohol, people should get drunk first, and then fall asleep. How could Lan Wangji skip the getting drunk step and go straight to sleep?!

What he wanted to see was the “getting drunk” part!

Wei Wuxian waved his hand in front of the sleeping Lan Wangji, who still had a stern and upright expression, and clapped his hands next to his ear. He didn’t respond.

He’s actually a one-bowl wonder.

Wei Wuxian hadn’t expected this kind of situation. He slapped his thigh and thought for a moment. He looped Lan Wangji’s right arm around his neck, dragged him out of the small tavern.

He had become very skilled at searching Lan Wangji’s body. He took his money bag, found an inn, and asked for two rooms. He put Lan Wangji into one of the rooms, took off his boots, and covered him with the quilt. Then, taking advantage of the night, he went out.

When he reached a desolate and remote area, Wei Wuxian pulled out the bamboo flute from his waist, put it to his lips, and played a tune. Then, he waited quietly.

These days, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were together all day, and he did not have time alone. Therefore, he could not summon Wen Ning. Besides his partially hidden identity, there were other reasons.

Wen Ning had killed people from the Gusu Lan Sect. Even though Lan Wangji was good to him, Wei Wuxian could not just summon Wen Ning in front of him. Or rather, it was because Lan Wangji was so good to him that Wei Wuxian was embarrassed to summon Wen Ning in front of him. No matter how thick his skin was, he was not thick-skinned when it came to this kind of thing.

Coming back to his senses, the sound of chilling “ding ding dong dong” could be heard in his ears.

Wen Ning’s head-down figure appeared in the shadow of the city wall in front of him.

He was all in black, melting into the darkness around him. Only his eyes without pupils were glaringly white, white and terrifying.

Wei Wuxian put his hands behind his back and slowly walked around him in a circle.

Wen Ning moved, seemingly wanting to follow his steps in a circle. Wei Wuxian said, “Stand still.”

So, he honestly stood still. That handsome face seemed even more melancholy.

Wei Wuxian said, “Hand.”

Wen Ning extended his right hand. Wei Wuxian grabbed his wrist and lifted it up, carefully examining the iron rings and chains locked on his wrist.

These were not ordinary iron chains. When Wen Ning went berserk, he was extremely violent and could twist steel into mud with his bare hands. He would not have allowed it to drag on his body like this. It was likely a set of iron chains specially made to restrain Wen Ning.

Crush the bones and scatter the ashes?

Even the remnants of the Yin Tiger Seal were being painstakingly restored, so of course some aristocratic families coveted the Ghost General. How could they bear to crush the bones and scatter the ashes?

Wei Wuxian sneered, stood next to Wen Ning, and after a moment of contemplation, he slowly began to press into his hair.

The person who had left Wen Ning and locked him up must not have wanted him to think for himself. In order to make him obey other people’s orders, they must have destroyed Wen Ning’s mind and planted something in his head. Sure enough, after pressing three times, Wei Wuxian felt a hard little spot on a certain acupoint on the right side of his brain. He placed his other hand on the symmetrical spot on the left side of Wen Ning’s brain. There was a similar little hard thing, which seemed to be something like a needle tip.

Wei Wuxian pinched the needle tips at both ends at the same time and slowly pulled out two black spikes from Wen Ning’s head.

These two black spikes were about an inch long, with the thickness of the red string that tied a jade pendant. They were deeply buried in Wen Ning’s head. The moment the spikes left the skull, Wen Ning’s features trembled slightly, and a layer of something like black blood vessels crawled over his eyes, as if he was trying his best to endure the pain.

He was clearly a dead person, yet he could still feel “pain.”

There were delicate and complex patterns carved on the two spikes. They definitely had an extraordinary origin. The person who made them had some skills. If they wanted Wen Ning to recover, it would take a long time. Wei Wuxian put them away, looked down at the iron chains on Wen Ning’s wrists and ankles, and thought, it was not a good idea to drag them around like this, making noise. He had to find a celestial sword to cut them off.

The first thing he thought of was naturally Lan Wangji’s Bichen. Although it was inappropriate to take someone from the Lan family’s sword to help Wen Ning cut the chains, it was the celestial sword he could get the easiest, and he couldn’t just let Wen Ning drag around with so much baggage on his body.

Wei Wuxian thought: “Like this. I’ll go back to the inn now. If Lan Zhan is awake, then I won’t borrow it. If Lan Zhan is still asleep, then I’ll borrow Bichen for a bit.”

Having made up his mind, he turned around. Who knew, as soon as he turned around, Lan Wangji was standing behind him.