TFOD Chapter 50

“Where are you now? Who is the person who asked you to come back and see this letter?”

Who? Wei Wuxian also wanted to hear Qin Su say who it was. Who was it that could get close to the Immortal Supervisor’s wife and earn her trust, and who exposed some of Jin Guangyao’s hidden secrets? The letter certainly wouldn’t contain simple matters like murder or arson. It had to be something that could make Qin Su feel disgusted or afraid enough to vomit, and so difficult to say that even with only the two of them present, she only dared to question in a halting, vague manner. But if Qin Su were to truthfully reveal the messenger’s identity, she would be too foolish. Because once she spoke it out, not only would Jin Guangyao go after that person, he would also certainly resort to any means to silence Qin Su.

Fortunately, although Qin Su had been naive and out of touch with reality since she was young, even a bit silly, she no longer trusted Jin Guangyao. She stared blankly at Jin Guangyao, who was sitting upright at the table, the Immortal Supervisor who was above tens of thousands of people, her husband. At this moment, under the candlelight, he still looked as handsome as a painting, with a calm expression. He stood up as if he were going to bend over and help her, but Qin Su violently slapped his hand away, and couldn’t help but collapse to the ground, retching violently again.

Jin Guangyao’s brow twitched, and he said, “Am I really that disgusting?”

Qin Su said, “You’re not human… you’re a madman!”

In Jin Guangyao’s gaze, there was a kind of sorrowful tenderness. He said, “A-Su, I really had no other choice back then. Originally, I planned to keep it from you my whole life and not let you know about this. Now, it has been completely ruined by the person who told you. You think I’m dirty, you think I’m disgusting, that’s nothing, but if this matter spreads, you are my wife, what will others say, how will they look at you?”

Qin Su clutched her head and said, “Don’t say anymore, don’t say anymore, don’t remind me anymore!!! I really wish I had never met you and had nothing to do with you! Why did you approach me in the first place?!”

After a moment of silence, Jin Guangyao said, “I know that no matter what I say now, you won’t believe me, but I was sincere back then.”

Qin Su sobbed, “…You’re still spewing honeyed words!”

Jin Guangyao said, “I’m telling the truth. I always remembered that you never said anything about my background or my mother. I will be grateful to you for my whole life, and I also want to respect you, cherish you, and love you. But you need to know, if others don’t harm A-Song, A-Song must still die. He can only die. If we had let him grow up, you and I…”

When her son was mentioned, Qin Su couldn’t bear it any longer, and she raised her hand and slapped him. “Then who caused all of this?! What else can’t you do for this position?!”

Jin Guangyao didn’t dodge, and he took her slap straight on. A red palm print immediately appeared on his pale cheek.

He closed his eyes, and after a moment, said, “A-Su, you really won’t tell me?”

Qin Su shook her head. “…I tell you, so you can go and kill them to silence them?”

Jin Guangyao said, “What are you saying? It seems you’re confused from being sick. Father-in-law has already gone out for a cloud-traveling retreat. During this time, I’ll send you to join him so you can enjoy some family time together. Let’s quickly handle this matter, there are still many guests outside, and there’s the discussion conference tomorrow.”

Even at this point, he was still thinking about the guests outside and the discussion conference tomorrow!

While saying he would send Qin Su to recuperate, he ignored her pushing and shoving, and helped her up. Not knowing what he did, Qin Su suddenly went limp and powerless, and he calmly half-carried, half-dragged his wife into the layers of gauze curtains. The paper-man Wei Wuxian tiptoed out from under the table and followed them. He saw Jin Guangyao place his hand on a huge floor-to-ceiling bronze mirror. After a moment, his fingers actually passed through the mirror, as if penetrating the surface of water. Qin Su’s eyes were wide open, tears still flowing, as she watched her husband drag her into the mirror, unable to speak or shout. Wei Wuxian knew that this mirror could only be opened by Jin Guangyao himself, and that this was a rare opportunity. After roughly estimating the time, he suddenly jumped in.

Behind the bronze mirror was a secret room. After Jin Guangyao entered, the lamps on the wall ignited by themselves, and the dim light illuminated the various-shaped display shelves on the four walls. In the shelves were books, scrolls, gems, and weapons. There were also some torture instruments, black iron rings, sharp barbs, silver hooks, with unique shapes. Just by looking at them, one could feel a chill. Wei Wuxian knew that these were most likely Jin Guangyao’s creations.

The Qishan Wen clan’s leader, Wen Ruohan, was cruel and capricious, extremely bloodthirsty, and sometimes took pleasure in torturing criminals. Jin Guangyao was able to gain Wen Ruohan’s favor because he catered to his tastes, creating various, cruel, and interesting torture devices. He climbed higher and higher until he became a confidant.

Any cultivation clan would have two or three treasure rooms, so it wasn’t strange that the Fragrant Hall had such a secret room.

Besides a desk, there was also a long, rectangular iron table, black and cold, that could fit a person. There seemed to be some solidified black marks on the tabletop. Wei Wuxian thought, “This iron table is perfect for killing and dismembering someone.”

Jin Guangyao gently helped Qin Su onto the iron table. Qin Su was ashen-faced. Jin Guangyao tidied her slightly disheveled hair and said, “Don’t be afraid. In your current state, it’s inconvenient for you to wander around. Since there are many people these days, you should just rest for a bit. As long as you tell me who that person is, you can come back. If you’re willing, just nod, I haven’t sealed all the meridians in your body. You can still nod.”

Qin Su’s eyes turned to her still gentle and considerate husband, her gaze filled with fear, pain, and despair.

Just then, Wei Wuxian suddenly noticed a shelf that was covered by a curtain. The curtain was covered with blood-red, sinister curse marks, a particularly domineering and powerful seal.

A paper man was sticking to the base of the wall and slowly moving upwards. Half an inch, half an inch, moving extremely slowly. Meanwhile, Jin Guangyao was still softly pleading with Qin Su. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned around alertly.

There was no one else in the secret room besides him and Qin Su. Jin Guangyao stood up and carefully looked around, but did not see anything unusual, and then he walked back.

Naturally, he wouldn’t know that when he had turned his head, Wei Wuxian had already climbed up to a shelf of books. As soon as he saw Jin Guangyao’s neck move slightly, he swiftly inserted his thin paper body into the book, like a bookmark, flattened against the paper of the front and back pages of the manuscript. Fortunately, although Jin Guangyao’s vigilance was extraordinary, he wasn’t vigilant enough to flip through this book to see if someone was hiding inside.

Suddenly, Wei Wuxian felt that the characters he saw were very familiar. He stared hard for a long time and cursed in his heart: How could they not be familiar, this is his handwriting!

Jiang Fengmian’s assessment of his writing was, “Sloppy and frivolous, but with a refined structure.” This was definitely his handwriting. Wei Wuxian looked more carefully, and roughly made out “…different from possession…” “…revenge…”, “…forced pact…” and some damaged and blurry parts. He finally confirmed that the book he had squeezed himself into was his own manuscript. The content of the manuscript was an article about the forbidden art of the sacrificial body, which he had written after collecting and organizing information from various sources, as well as his own deductions.

He had written many such manuscripts back then, writing them at will and throwing them away, leaving them in the cave where he slept at the Burial Mounds in Yiling. Some of these manuscripts were destroyed by the fires during the siege, and some, like his sword, were collected by others as spoils of war.

He had previously wondered where Mo Xuanyu had learned the forbidden arts. Now he had the answer.

Since it was a remnant of a forbidden arts manuscript, Wei Wuxian did not believe that Jin Guangyao would let any outsiders see such a thing. It seemed that, even if Jin Guangyao and Mo Xuanyu were not that kind of relationship, they were definitely not far apart.

While he was thinking, Jin Guangyao’s voice came: “A-Su, it’s time for me to go. I need to go preside over the situation. I’ll come see you later.”

Wei Wuxian had already twisted himself out of his own pile of manuscripts bit by bit, and when he heard the voice, he quickly inserted himself back in. This time, what he saw was not manuscripts, but what seemed to be two… house deeds and land deeds?

Wei Wuxian felt very strange, why would house and land deeds be special enough to be stored with the Yiling Patriarch’s manuscripts? But looking and looking, they were indeed two ordinary house and land deeds, neat and proper, without any hidden codes. The paper was yellowed, and there were ink stains. But he didn’t think Jin Guangyao would just put these here carelessly, so he recorded the address, located in Yunping City in Yunmeng. He thought that if he had the chance later, maybe he could find something out there.

After a long while without hearing any sounds from the outside, Wei Wuxian continued to move along the wall, finally climbing to the shelf that was covered by the forbidden curse curtain. But before he could see what exactly was in this shelf, his vision suddenly brightened.

Jin Guangyao walked over and lifted the curtain.

For a moment, Wei Wuxian thought he had been exposed. However, after the faint light shone in from outside the curtain, he realized he was enveloped in shadow. There was a round object in front of him, which just happened to block him.

Jin Guangyao stood still, seemingly staring at the thing in this shelf.

After a long while, he asked, “Were you looking at me just now?”

Of course, there would be no response. After a moment of silence, Jin Guangyao lowered the curtain.

Wei Wuxian silently stuck himself to this object. It was cold and hard, seeming like a helmet. He turned to the front, and as expected, he saw a pale face. The one who placed the seal wanted this head to see nothing, hear nothing, and say nothing. Therefore, the pale skin of this face was covered with densely packed curse marks, and the eyes, mouth, and ears were firmly sealed.

Wei Wuxian silently said in his heart, “It’s an honor to finally meet you, Red Peak-Zun.”