TFOD Chapter 59

Estimating that they had run far enough and that this place should be safe, he quickly turned around and gently placed Lan Wangji on the ground.

Originally, his leg injury hadn’t fully recovered, and now it had been bitten by the two rows of sharp teeth of the demon beast. Soaked in water, the white clothing of Lan Wangji had been dyed a large area of red with fresh blood. With the naked eye, one could see a row of black holes where fangs had pierced through. He couldn’t even stand, and the moment he was released, he fell to a sitting position.

Wei Wuxian bent down to check for a moment, then straightened up and looked around near the cave. There were a few shrubs growing on the ground, and he managed to find a few thicker, straighter branches. He forcefully wiped off the surface dirt with the corner of his robe, then squatted in front of Lan Wangji, saying, “Do you have any rope or straps? Ah, your forehead ribbon is good, come, come, take it off.”

Before Lan Wangji could speak, he swiftly reached out and took off the ribbon. With a flick, he used the ribbon as a bandage, stretching out Lan Wangji’s unfortunate leg and firmly fixing it to the branch.

Lan Wangji’s eyes widened when his forehead ribbon was suddenly taken off by him, “You…!”

Wei Wuxian was extremely quick, he had already tied the knot. He patted Lan Wangji’s shoulder and explained, “What ‘you’? Don’t worry about this right now. Even if you like this forehead ribbon, it’s not as important as your leg, is it?”

Lan Wangji fell backward, not sure if it was from the lack of strength or if he was so angry that he was speechless. Wei Wuxian suddenly smelled a faint scent of herbs. He reached into his inner robe and pulled out a small pouch.

The pouch was wet with its tassel dangling, looking delicate and pathetic. He remembered MianMian saying that it was full of medicinal herbs. He immediately opened it and saw that it was indeed full of half-dry, half-broken herbs, along with a few small flowers. He busily said, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, don’t fall asleep. Wake up for a bit, there is a pouch here, come and see if there are any useful herbs inside.”

He persistently dragged Lan Wangji up, forcing him to sit up, and Lan Wangji identified a few herbs that could stop the bleeding and dispel poison. While Wei Wuxian was picking them out, he said, “I didn’t expect this little girl’s pouch to be so useful. We must thank her properly when we go back.”

Lan Wangji said indifferently, “Really not to harass her properly?”

Wei Wuxian said, “What are you saying? When I do it, it’s not harassment, only someone greasy like Wen Chao would be harassing. Now take it off.”

Lan Wangji frowned slightly, “What?”

Wei Wuxian said, “What else? Take off your clothes!”

He started to take them off as soon as he said it, reaching out and grabbing both sides of Lan Wangji’s collar, pulling it wide, exposing a snowy-white chest and shoulders.

Lan Wangji was suddenly pressed to the ground by him, forcibly stripped of his clothes. His face turned green, “Wei Ying! What do you think you’re doing!”

Wei Wuxian tore off all of his clothes, ripping them into several strips. He said, “What do I think I’m doing? There’s only the two of us here, and I’m like this, what do you think I’m going to do?”

After he finished speaking, he stood up, loosened his belt, and in return, exposed his chest.

His collarbones were deep, his lines were smooth, still a little youthful, but full of a teenager’s energy and strength.

Lan Wangji watched his movements, his face alternating between pale, purple, black, and red, it looked like he was about to vomit blood. Wei Wuxian smiled slightly, took a step closer to him, and in front of his face, took off his wet outer robe. With one hand, he tossed it up and then let go, letting the clothes drop to the ground.

Wei Wuxian spread out his hands, “Clothes are off, now it’s your pants’ turn.”

Lan Wangji wanted to stand up, but his leg was injured, and after the fight, plus the sudden anger, the more he tried, the less he could, making him weak. His heart was racing, and he actually vomited blood.

Seeing this, Wei Wuxian immediately squatted down and tapped a few acupoints on his chest, saying, “Okay, the stagnant blood is out, no need to thank me!”

After spitting out that purplish-black blood, Lan Wangji felt the discomfort in his chest lessen. Seeing Wei Wuxian’s actions, he finally understood.

Ever since they had ascended Mount Muxi, Wei Wuxian noticed that Lan Wangji looked awful, there must have been some stagnant air blocking his chest. That’s why he deliberately tried to scare him to stimulate him and force the blocked blood out.

Although he knew that he had good intentions, Lan Wangji still showed a little anger, “…Can you please not make those kind of jokes again!”

Wei Wuxian argued, “This stagnant blood is very harmful to the body. It came out after being scared. Don’t worry, I don’t like men, I won’t take advantage of you.”

Lan Wangji said, “Boring!”

Wei Wuxian had already noticed that Lan Wangji was particularly irritated today, so he didn’t argue and waved his hand, “Okay, okay, boring is boring. I am boring. I’m the most boring.”

As he spoke, the cold air from underground crawled up his back, making Wei Wuxian shiver. He quickly got up and went to collect a pile of withered branches and leaves, re-drawing the fire-summoning symbol on his palm.

The branches caught fire, crackling, and two or three sparks flew out from time to time. Wei Wuxian crushed the medicinal herbs he had just picked out, tore open Lan Wangji’s trouser leg, and evenly sprinkled them on the three gruesome black holes that had barely stopped bleeding.

Suddenly, Lan Wangji raised his hand and stopped his movement. Wei Wuxian said, “What’s wrong?”

Without saying a word, Lan Wangji took some of the crushed herbs from his palm and pressed them onto his chest.

Wei Wuxian shuddered all over from the pressure, shouting, “Ah!”

He had forgotten that he still had a fresh wound from the iron branding, which was also bleeding and soaking wet.

Lan Wangji withdrew his hand. Wei Wuxian hissed twice and picked off the herbs that had been pressed on his chest and threw them back on his leg, “Don’t mention it. I get injured all the time, and I still go swimming in Lotus Lake afterwards, so I’m used to it. How many herbs can be contained in a small pouch, it wouldn’t have been enough anyway. I see these three holes of yours need it more… Ah!”

Lan Wangji’s face was heavy. After a long while, he said, “Since you know it hurts, don’t be reckless next time.”

Wei Wuxian said, “I couldn’t help it either? Did you think I wanted to get burnt like that? Who knew that Wang Lingjiao was so vicious, almost branding people’s eyes. That MianMian is a girl, and a pretty one too. If she were blind in one eye, or had such a mark on her face for her entire life, how terrible would that be?”

Lan Wangji said calmly, “The mark you have on your body now, it won’t be able to disappear for your entire life either.”

Wei Wuxian said, “That’s not the same. It’s not on my face. Besides, I’m a man, so what am I afraid of, how many times can a man avoid getting injured and having scars?”

He sat on the ground with his upper body bare, picking up a branch and poking the fire, making it burn brighter, saying, “And look at it another way, although this mark will not go away, it represents that I once protected a girl. And this girl will definitely remember me from now on, she will never forget it, actually, it’s quite…”

Suddenly, Lan Wangji pushed him hard, angrily saying, “You know she won’t forget you for her entire life!!!”

This push landed right on Wei Wuxian’s chest wound. Wei Wuxian, clutching his chest, fell to the ground, shouting, “…Lan Zhan!”

He lay on the ground, sweating in pain, lifting his neck and groaning, “…Lan Zhan, you…do I have a grudge against you?…This feels like a deep-seated, murderous hatred!”

Hearing this, Lan Wangji clenched his fist.

After a moment, he loosened his hand, seemingly wanting to help Wei Wuxian up. However, Wei Wuxian sat up on his own, quickly backing away, saying, “Okay, okay! I know you dislike me, so I’ll sit further away. Don’t come over! Don’t push me again, it hurts so much.”

The wound was on his left side, so lifting his left hand would make it hurt. Wei Wuxian hid to the side, picked up the white clothes he had just torn into strips, and threw them over to Lan Wangji with his right hand, saying, “You can bandage yourself. I’m not going over there.” He then laid his robe he had taken off near the fire to dry it.

After drying it for a while, no one spoke. Wei Wuxian said again, “Lan Zhan, you are really strange today, so rude. The way you are talking doesn’t seem like you at all.”

Lan Wangji said, “If you don’t have that kind of intention, then don’t go flirting with others. You do as you please, but it’s causing others to be upset and confused!”

Wei Wuxian said, “I’m not flirting with you, you’re the last person to be upset and confused about it. Unless…”

Lan Wangji said sharply, “Unless what?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Unless Lan Zhan you like MianMian!”

After a pause, Lan Wangji coldly said, “Please do not talk nonsense.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Okay. I’m talking nonsense on purpose.”

Lan Wangji said, “Is it interesting to be quick with words?”

Wei Wuxian said, “It’s very interesting. Not only am I quick with words, but I’m also very quick with my hands and feet.”

“…” Lan Wangji murmured to himself, “Why am I talking such nonsense with you here.”

Without realizing it, Wei Wuxian had moved to sit next to him again. He said, not afraid of death, “Because there is no choice, this place is left with only the two of us unlucky people. If you don’t talk nonsense to me, who else can you talk to?”

Lan Wangji glanced at this person who had forgotten the pain so quickly. Wei Wuxian was about to smile at him when he suddenly saw him lower his head.

Wei Wuxian screamed, “Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah shut up!!! Shut up, shut up, shut up!!!!!!”

Lan Wangji had buried his head in his arm, tightly biting his arm. Hearing this, not only did he not let go, but he bit even harder.

Wei Wuxian said, “Are you going to let go?!!! If you don’t let go I’ll kick you! Just because you are injured doesn’t mean I won’t kick you!!!!!!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Don’t bite! Don’t bite! I’ll roll! I’ll roll!!! I’ll roll, I’ll roll, I’ll roll. You let go and I’ll roll!!!!!!”

Wei Wuxian: “Lan Zhan you’ve gone crazy today!!!!!!! You’re a dog!!! You are a dog!!!!!!!! Don’t bite me!!!!!!!”

When Lan Wangji had finally finished going crazy and had bitten enough, Wei Wuxian quickly jumped up and crawled to the other side of the cave, saying, “Don’t come over!”

Lan Wangji slowly straightened up, tidied his clothes and hair, lowered his eyes without a word, completely calm, as if the person who was yelling, pushing, and biting just now was someone else. Wei Wuxian looked at the tooth marks on his arm, still in shock, and squatted down, shrinking in the corner to continue stoking the fire. In his heart, he couldn’t understand, “How can Lan Zhan be like this? Although he saved me, I also saved him, right? I’m not saying I want him to thank me or anything, but why is it that after all this, we still can’t be friends? Could it be… am I really as annoying as Jiang Cheng says?!”

While he was doubting himself, suddenly, Lan Wangji said, “Thank you.”

Wei Wuxian thought he had misheard him. Looking at Lan Wangji, he was also looking at him, and he solemnly repeated, “Thank you.”

Seeing him slightly lower his head, Wei Wuxian was afraid that he was going to bow to him, so he quickly dodged, “Forget it, forget it. I have a habit, I can’t stand when people thank me, especially when they’re as serious as you. It’s creepy, it gives me goosebumps. And bowing to me is unnecessary.”

Lan Wangji said calmly, “You’re overthinking it. Even if I wanted to bow to you, I can’t move.”

Seeing that he seemed to have finally returned to normal and even said thank you to him twice, Wei Wuxian was delighted, and couldn’t help but want to move closer. This was just his personality, he liked to be close to people, but the tooth mark on his arm slightly hurt, reminding him that Lan Zhan had gone crazy just now, and maybe he might go crazy again later, he quickly restrained himself. Looking at the dark cave ceiling, he said with a serious face, “Jiang Cheng and the others ran out, it will take them a day or two to get down the mountain. After they go down the mountain, they will definitely return home and will absolutely not go back to the Wen family. But the swords have been confiscated, and we don’t know how long it will take to find help. I think we’ll have to stay underground for a while. We have to think of ways to solve some problems.”

After a pause, he said again, “It’s a good thing that the monster stays in the black pool and doesn’t chase after us. But the bad thing is that it doesn’t come out. Blocking the entrance of the cave at the bottom of the pool, we can’t get out either.”

Lan Wangji said, “Maybe it’s not a monster. Look at it, what does it look like.”

Wei Wuxian said, “A turtle!”

Lan Wangji: “There is a kind of divine being, its form is just like this.”

Wei Wuxian said, “The Xuanwu divine beast?”

Xuanwu, also known as Xuanming, a combination of a turtle and a snake, is the god of water, residing in the North Sea. The underworld is also in the north, hence the god of the north.

Lan Wangji nodded. Wei Wuxian bared his teeth, “A divine beast looks like that? With fangs, and it also eats human flesh, that’s a bit different from the legends.”

Lan Wangji said, “Naturally, it’s not a genuine Xuanwu divine beast. Rather, it is a half-finished product that failed in its competition to become a god, and was demonized. Or it could be said to be a deformed Xuanwu divine beast.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Deformed?”

Lan Wangji said, “I once read records of it in ancient texts. Four hundred years ago, a ‘fake Xuanwu’ appeared in Qishan, causing chaos. It was huge, loved to eat humans, and some cultivators named it ‘Slaughtering Xuanwu’.”

Wei Wuxian said, “The one that Wen Chao had us hunt, is that four-hundred-year-old Slaughtering Xuanwu beast?”

Lan Wangji said, “Its size is bigger than what was recorded in the ancient texts, but it should be it.”

Wei Wuxian said, “After four hundred years, it should have grown a bit bigger. Wasn’t this Slaughtering Xuanwu killed back then?”

Lan Wangji said, “No. Cultivators had formed an alliance, preparing to kill it. However, that winter, there was a heavy snowfall, and the cold was extreme. The Slaughtering Xuanwu disappeared, and hasn’t appeared since.”

Wei Wuxian said, “It went into hibernation.”