The Founder of Diabolism

Prologue

Prologue

"Great news! Wei WuXian has died!"

Less than a day has passed since the siege in LuanZang Hill, and the news spreads through the cultivation world as if it sprouted wings, surpassing even the speed of warfare.

For a while, from the most prominent clans to rogue cultivators, everyone is discussing the siege that was lead by the Four Great Clans and followed by hundreds of smaller ones.

"The YiLing Patriarch has died? Who could have killed him?"

"Who other than his shidi, Jiang Cheng, putting an end to his own relative for the greater good. Jiang Cheng led the Four Clans of YunmengJiang, LanlingJin, GusuLan, and QingheNie to destroy his "den"—LuanZang Hill."

"I must say, good riddance!"

"Good riddance indeed! We finally eliminated this scourge."

"If not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets, let alone causing mayhem as bold as the ones these days. The head of the Jiang clan raised him as her own child, yet he defected them and became the enemy of the cultivation world, bringing shame upon the the Jiang clan, even leading to its near-extermination. He is the prime example of biting the hand that feeds him!"

"Jiang Cheng allowed this fellow to live for too long. If I were him, at the time of the defection, I wouldn’t have just stabbed him. In fact, I would have thoroughly examined the disciples of the clan again, so that he doesn’t do those crazy things he did later on. Who cares about the so called ‘considerations’ that he gave to his childhood friend."

"That’s merely hearsay. Although Jiang Cheng was one of the main forces, he did not give Wei WuXian the final blow. Because he cultivates the Demon Path, Wei WuXian’s powers had backfired and he was ripped to pieces."

"Hahahaha… That’s karma!

"But, if not for Jiang Cheng making a plan that aimed at Wei WuXian’s weaknesses, the siege might not have succeeded. Should I remind you folks of the item that Wei WuXian possesses? Did you forget about the day that three thousand skilled cultivators were completely annihilated?"

"I heard that it was more than three thousand, possibly five thousand."

"He’s most certainly out of his mind."

"It’s a good thing that he destroyed that evil weapon before he died. Otherwise, if it was left in this world to harm humankind, his sins would have been worse."

"Oh well… You know, back then, Wei WuXian was one of the most promising cultivators, coming from a highly distinguished clan and finding success at a young age. How on Earth did he end up where he is now?"

"This proves that one can only cultivate by following the right path. Using these dishonest practices would only seem beneficial at first glance. Look, what happened in the end? Not even a whole corpse was left of him."

"Not everything was because of his cultivation path. Wei WuXian’s personality is quite immoral. One’s deeds will be paid, one way or another; what goes around always comes around."

…

After Wei WuXian’s death, the period is drawn on the topic. The discussions of the people are mostly the same, with a few unconventional opinions being brought down immediately.

However, the elephant in the room stayed in the back of everyone’s mind.

Nobody could summon Wei WuXian’s soul, which meant that his soul had disappeared.

It might have been torn apart by the millions of ghosts that devoured him.

Or, it might have escaped.

If was the first, then all is well. Then again, nobody doubts the fact that the YiLing Patriarch has the power to move mountains and empty seas. If was the last, his soul would eventually return to revive in his body. When the day comes, the cultivation world, or even all of mortal land, would be faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair.

The various clans set one hundred and twenty stone beasts on top of LuanZang Hill and initiated frequent soul-summoning rituals, followed by heightened vigilance and searches for strange occurrences from all over the world.

In the first year, nothing happened.

In the second year, nothing happened.

In the third year, nothing happened.

…

In the thirteenth year, nothing happened either.

More and more people were starting to believe that, maybe, the YiLing Patriarch actually perished.

Even if he was capable of turning the world upside down, it was finally his turn to be toppled over.

Nobody would remain at the top for all of eternity—legends are only legends.



Next chapters

Reincarnation
Aggression—Part One
Aggression—Part Two
Aggression—Part Three
Chapter 6 Arrogance—Part One</h3><p><em><b>Important Note</b>: From now on, the GusuLan Clan will be referred to as the GusuLan Sect. I, the translator, accidentally mistook the definition of a sect as that of a clan’s. For clarification purposes, a sect is an organization for cultivation that may or may not be related by blood, while a clan is a cultivation family related by blood. This means that GusuLan is a sect, with the Lan clan being the leaders of the sect. This is what Wei WuXian referred to as he was talking about the uniforms of the disciples who came—only those part of the clan are allowed to wear cloud patterns, excluding the common members of the sect. Again, I apologize for the miscommunication ヽ(；´Д｀)</em></p><p>Only a few days passed, and Wei WuXian realized that he might have made a wrong choice.</p><p>The donkey that he conveniently picked up was too hard to please.</p><p>Although it was only a donkey, it would exclusively eat fresh, young grass with dewdrops still hanging off them. If the tip of the grass had a streak of yellow, it wouldn’t eat it. Passing a farm, Wei WuXian stole some wheat straws to feed it, but after chewing them, it spit it out with a <i>ptoo</i>, even louder than that of its human counterparts. If it didn’t eat high-quality food, it wouldn’t budge, and it’d lose its temper and kick around. For multiple times, Wei WuXian was almost kicked by it. Aside from that, it’s brays also sounded extremely horrible to the ear.</p><p>It was useless, no matter as a mount or a pet!</p><p>Wei WuXian couldn’t help but to think of his sword. The sword was probably collected by the leader of a prominent clan and would have hanged on a wall as a trophy that they could show other people.</p><p>After pushing and pulling along for a few blocks, the road reached a vast farmland of some village. Under the scorching sun, there was a large pagoda tree and thick, green grass underneath it. Beside the tree, there was an old well, with a barrel and a dipper on the side, placed there by the farmers for any passersby to quench their thirst. The donkey ran over there and nothing could make it leave. Wei WuXian hopped down and slapped its honoured buttocks, "You’re definitely destined for wealth, even harder to please than me."</p><p>The donkey spat at him.</p><p>While they fooled around aimlessly, a group of people approached from within the fields.</p><p>The people carried handmade bamboo baskets, and wore cotton clothes and straw sandals, emitting the rustic airs of rural villagers. In the group, there was a young girl with a round face that could be considered delicate. Possibly because of walking for too long under the sun, they also wanted to come over to rest by the shade and have some water. However, seeing that there was a wild donkey tied to the tree and a lunatic with heavy makeup and dishevelled hair, they were reluctant to go over.</p><p>Wei WuXian had always thought of himself as one who was courteous towards women, so he moved over, emptying some space, and went to struggle with the donkey. After realizing that he was harmless, the people were finally at ease to come over. All of them were drenched in sweat and had ruddy cheeks; some were fanning themselves and some fetching water. The girl sat by the well and smiled at Wei WuXian, as if she knew that he purposely moved away.</p><p>One of the people held a compass in his hand. He looked into the distance, and then lowered his head questioningly, "We’re already at the foot of Dafan Mountain, so why hasn’t the pointer started moving yet?"</p><p>The designs and pointer on the compass looked strange, indicating that it wasn’t a normal compass. It wasn’t one that showed the North, South, East, and West, but one that showed the directions malicious creatures, also known as a "<b>Compass of Evil</b>." Wei WuXian realized that this was probably a poor cultivation clan from the countryside. Aside from highbrow, affluent clans, there were also smaller clans like this, who closed their doors and cultivated on their own. Wei WuXian thought that they might have left their village to either find a clan whom they were distant relatives to, or to go night-hunting.</p><p>The middle-aged man leading the group called for people to take a drink and replied, "Your compass might be broken; I’ll get you a new one later. Dafan Mountain is less than ten miles ahead of us, which means that we cannot rest for too long. We have struggled through the whole journey, and if we relax now and fall behind, with other people beating us to it, it wouldn’t have been worth it."</p><p>As expected, it was a night-hunt. A lot of refined cultivation clans called travelling to places and exorcising evil beings "hunting." Because of how these creatures often appear at night, it was also called "night-hunting." There were countless cultivation clans, but only a few were distinguished. Without the contributions from its ancestors, if an average clan wanted to become famous and receive respect in the cultivation world, it would have to show its abilities. Only if a clan captured a fierce monster or a terrorizing being, could it have then been treated seriously.</p><p>This was originally Wei WuXian’s specialty area. However, during the days of travelling, he destroyed a few graves, but only found small ghosts. He happened to need a ghost soldier to do evil for him, and decided to go to <b>Rice Mountain</b> to try his luck. If he found a good one, he’d capture it and put it to use.</p><p>After the group of people finished resting, they prepared to move on. Before they left, the round-faced girl took a small, partly-ripened apple out of her basket and handed it to him, "Here you go."</p><p>Wei WuXian extended his hand to receive it, grinning broadly, but the donkey also opened its mouth and bit at it. Wei WuXian quickly took the apple away. Seeing that the donkey </p><p>Without stopping, Wei WuXian arrived at Dafan Shan before dark. Upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, he finally realized that the "fan" wasn’t the one he thought it was. It got its name because, looking from far away, the mountain looked like a kind, chubby buddha. There was a small town below the mountain, named Buddha’s Feet.</p><p>The number of cultivators who gathered here were far more than what he had expected. Everything was a jumble, with people from different sects and clans walking down the streets, all in uniforms of different colours, almost blinding to the eye. For some reason, all of them wore distressed expressions. Nobody bothered to laugh at him even though they saw his strange appearance.</p><p>In the center of the long street, a group of cultivators gathered, talking in serious tones. It seemed as if their opinions differed greatly. Even from afar, Wei WuXian could hear them talking. In the beginning, everything was fine, but they suddenly became agitated.</p><p>"… I think that there are no soul-consuming beasts or spirits in the area at all. It’s clear that none of the Compasses of Evil showed anything."</p><p>"If there isn’t, then how did the seven people lose their souls? They couldn’t have all attained the same disease, could they? I, for one, haven’t heard of this disease at all!"</p><p>"Even if the Compass of Evil is not showing anything, does it mean that there’s nothing in the area? It can only point out an approximate direction, without any specifics, so it shouldn’t be fully trusted. Maybe there’s something here that can interfere with the pointer’s direction."</p><p>"Do you remember who created the Compass of Evil? I’ve never heard of anything that can interfere with its pointer’s direction."</p><p>"What do you mean? Are you implying anything with that tone of yours? Of course, I know that <b>Wei Ying</b> created the Compass of Evil. But, it’s not as if his creations are flawless. Aren’t we allowed the option of doubt, at least?"</p><p>"I never said that you can’t doubt it, much less his creations are flawless, so why accuse me?"</p><p>And so, their argument had turned to another direction. Wei WuXian passed them on his donkey, giggling and laughing. He didn’t expect that, after so many years had passed, he was still alive in the cultivators’ conversations. This was the so-called "much ado about Wei." If there was ever a poll to find out whose popularity was the most lasting in the cultivation world, the winner would be no other than Wei WuXian.</p><p>To be honest, the cultivator wasn’t wrong. The Compasses of Evil in use today was the first version that he made, and were, indeed, not specific enough. He was in the middle of making improvements when his "den" was destroyed, so he had to put everyone through the inconvenience of using the imprecise version one.</p><p>Anyways, creatures that ate blood and flesh were usually low in level, such as walking corpses. Only the more refined high-level monsters or ghosts were capable of eating and digesting souls. This one ate seven at once—no wonder so many clans had gathered here. Since the prey was by no means a trivial matter, it was inevitable for the Compasses of Evil to make mistakes.</p><p>Wei WuXian reined in the rope and hopped off the donkey’s back, holding the apple, which had been ahead of it for the whole journey, in front of its mouth, "One bite. One bite only… Hmph, are you trying to eat my whole hand with that bite of yours?"</p><p>He ate a few bites from the other side of the apple, and stuffed it back into the donkey’s mouth, pondering upon how he came down to the point of sharing an apple with a donkey, when, suddenly, someone bumped into his back. He turned around to see a girl. Although she bumped into him, she didn’t acknowledge him at all. Her eyes were dull and she had a smile on her face, staring into the distance without blinking.</p><p>Wei WuXian followed her gaze, and saw the dense mountaintop of Dafan Mountain.</p><p>All of a sudden, the girl started dancing in front of him without saying anything.</p><p>The dance was wild, with her arms flinging about savagely. Wei WuXian was watching the performance with keen pleasure when a woman ran over, lifting her dress slightly. She embraced the girl and cried, "A-Yan, let’s go back, let’s go back!"</p><p>A-Yan brushed her off with force, her smile still unfaded, creating a terrifying sort of affection, and continued to dance. The woman had to chase her down the street, sobbing while running. A street vendor on the side spoke, "How awful. A-Yan from Blacksmith Zheng’s family has escaped again."</p><p>"It must be horrible for her mom. A-Yan, A-Yan’s husband, and her husband… All of them were…"</p><p>Wei WuXian wandered around, piecing together the strange event that happened here from picking up on different people’s conversations.</p><p>On Dafan Mountain, there was a burial ground. Most of the ancestors of the townspeople from Buddha’s Feet were buried here and, sometimes, unidentifiable corpses would also receive a spot and a wooden plaque here. A few months ago, in a dark and stormy night, the wind and the rain caused a piece of land on Dafan Mountain to slide and collapse, which happened to be the burial ground. Many older graves were destroyed, and a few coffins were exposed to the air and struck by lightning, causing both the corpses and the coffins to be charred black.</p><p>The townspeople of Buddha’s Feet were extremely uneasy. After a few rounds of prayers, they rebuilt the burial ground again, assuming that everything would be just fine. However, ever since then, people in the town started to lose their souls.</p><p>The first one was a sluggard. He was a poor wretch, loafing about and doing no work at all. Because he loved to hike on the mountain and catch birds, he happened to be stuck in the mountain during the night of the landslide. He was frightened to death, but, luckily, he was safe. The peculiar thing was that, after a few days, he suddenly married someone. His wedding was quite large, and he said that he wanted to be charitable from now on and settle down.</p><p>On the night of the wedding, he was completely drunken, having never woken up ever since he lay on the bed. The bride didn’t receive an answer as she called him. Only when she pushed him over did she realize that the groom had dreary eyes and a cold body. Aside from being able to breathe, he was no different from a dead person. After a few days of lying on the bed, not eating or drinking anything, he was finally buried. Unfortunately, the bride had become a widow shortly after she married.</p><p>The second one was A-Yan, from Blacksmith Zheng’s family. The young girl had just received an engagement when her future husband was killed by a wolf on the second day, while he was hunting in the mountains. After she got the news, she also became like the sluggard. Luckily, after some time, her soul-losing disease was cured on its own. However, after this, she went crazy, cheerfully dancing to other people when she was outside.</p><p>The third one was A-Yan’s father, Blacksmith Zheng. Until now, this had happened to seven people.</p><p>Wei WuXian considered the situation, and figured that it was most likely a soul-consuming spirit, not a soul-consuming beast.</p><p>Although only one word was different between the two, they were completely different beings. A spirit was a ghost, while a beast was a monster. To him, it was likely that the landslide had destroyed an ancient tomb, and, with lightning splitting the coffin open, a resting spirit had been let out. If he looked at the type of coffin and the presence of any seals on it, he could figure out whether or not this was the case. However, the townsfolk of Buddha’s Feet had already buried the charred coffins somewhere else and laid the corpses to rest again, which meant that there wouldn’t be a great deal of evidence left.</p><p>To go up the mountain, one had to hike up trail that started in the town. Wei WuXian sat on his donkey and rode up the hill slowly. After a while, a few people walked down with ominous expressions on their faces.</p><p>Some of them had scars on their faces, and they were talking all at once. With the darkening sky, they all jumped as they saw a person who looked like a hanged ghost approaching them. After cursing, they walked around him quickly. Wei WuXian turned his head around and thought, <i>maybe they were frustrated because it was a strong prey?</i> He didn’t think too much about it and slapped the donkey’s buttocks, making it jog faster up the mountain.</p><p>Coincidentally, he missed the group’s whining, which happened shortly afterward.</p><p>"I haven’t seen anyone like this!"</p><p>"Would the leader of a big clan like that need to fight over a soul-consuming spirit with us? He probably killed tons of them when he was young."</p><p>"What can we do? He’s a sect leader. No matter which clan you choose to offend, you shouldn’t offend the Jiang clan, and no matter which person you choose to offend, you shouldn’t offend Jiang Cheng. Let’s just pack up, leave, and feel sorry for ourselves!"</p><h3>Translator’s Notes
Chapter 7 Arrogance—Part Two</h3><p>If it was darker, then one would need a torch to move freely about in the mountain’s forest. Wei WuXian walked for a while, but he didn’t meet many cultivators. He was quite surprised, <i>is it possible that half of the clans who came were in Buddha’s Feet arguing and talking empty words, while the other half could only come back defeated, like the group of people who just passed by?</i></p><p>Suddenly, cries for help came from in front of him.</p><p>"Is anyone there?"</p><p>"Help us!"</p><p>Both male and female voices could be heard, and all sounded panicked, probably not faked. Cries for help from desolate mountains were usually the works of evil creatures, to lure ignorant people into traps. Yet, Wei WuXian was extremely happy.</p><p>The more evil the creature was, the better it was for him!</p><p>He directed the donkey toward the direction of the voices, but couldn’t find anything around him. As he looked upward, instead of spirits or monsters, it was the rural clan that he met by the field earlier on, hanged on the trees by a huge, golden web.</p><p>The middle-aged man was originally patrolling and scouting in the forest with a few others. However, rather than meeting the prey that they had hoped for, they stepped into a net trap, probably set up by some wealthy clan, which was why they were hanging on the trees, complaining and calling for help.</p><p>After seeing that someone approached, they immediately brightened up, but the hope faded as they saw that it was a lunatic who came. Although the threads of the deity-binding net were thin, the material was fine in quality, making them difficult to break. No matter human, god, demon, spirit, or monster, it would take a long while for the intruder to struggle out, since it could only be broken by a superior magical tool. The lunatic probably didn’t even know what it was, much less how to get them outside of it.</p><p>He was about to call others to come help him, when the crisp sounds of parting branches and stepping on leaves approached. A boy wearing a light-colored robe emerged from within the dark forest.</p><p>The boy had a <strong>vermilion mark</strong> in between his eyebrows, his features delicate yet sharp. He was quite young, around the same age as Lan SiZhui—still in his adolescence. He carried a bamboo canister of feathered arrows and a luminous sword on his back, holding a longbow in his hand. The embroidery on his clothes were extremely delicate, forming a magnificent white peony in front of his chest. The golden threads glistened against the dark nighttime shades surrounding him.</p><p>Wei WuXian silently exclaimed, "How wealthy!"</p><p>This must have been a young master studying in the LanlingJin Sect, since the sect was the only one with a white peony as the clan pattern, using the king of all flowers to suggest that they were the king of all cultivators. The <b>vermilion mark</b>implied the meaning of "opening the doors toward wisdom and aspiration; illuminating the world with the vermilion light."</p><p>The young master already had an arrow on his bow,and was preparing to shoot it, when he realized that the deity-binding nets only caught humans. After an initial moment of disappointment, he quickly became annoyed, "I find you idiots every single time. There are more than four hundred deity-binding nets in the mountain, but you guys have already broken ten or so, and I haven’t even seen the prey yet!"</p><p>Wei WuXian thought, again, "How wealthy!"</p><p>A single deity-binding net was already expensive, yet he had set up four hundred all at once. A smaller clan would’ve became bankrupt after buying so many, but then, of course, this was the LanlingJin Sect. However, wasting deity-binding webs like this and not caring about what they caught shouldn’t be considered night-hunting at all. In fact, it was almost as if they were chasing people away, not allowing others the chance of contributing to the process. It seemed like that the cultivators who retreated earlier didn’t do it because the prey was difficult, but rather because this sect was one that shouldn’t be angered.</p><p>After a few days of travelling slowly and listening to the intriguing conversations at Buddha’s Feet, Wei WuXian gathered a lot of information about the changes to the cultivation world. As the final winner of the hundred-year-long cultivational disruption, the LanlingJin Sect was the head of all clans and sects—its leader was even referred to as the "commander" of all cultivators.</p><p>Even before this, the Jin Clan was arrogant, admirers of extravagant splendor. After the years of being at the top and while strengthening the sect, it had trained all of its disciples to do whatever they wanted to. Even a slightly weaker clan would have to submit to their humiliation, much less a small, rural clan such as this one. This was why, although the people trapped in the nets were red with fury, because of the mean words of the boy, they could not talk back.</p><p>The middle-aged man spoke with tolerance, "Please, <b>Young Master</b>, do us a small favor and let us down."</p><p>The boy was restless with the anxiety of his prey still not arriving, and it was convenient of him to direct his anger toward the country bumpkins. He crossed his arms, "You guys should just stay here, in case you mess around and get in my way again! I’ll let you down after I catch the spirit-consuming beast, that is, if I still remember you."</p><p>If they really stayed on the trees for the whole night, and happened to bump into the creature that haunted Dafan Mountain, being unable to move, all they could do would be to wait for their souls to be sucked dry. The round-faced girl who gave an apple to Wei WuXian felt scared and started crying. Wei WuXian was originally cross-legged on the donkey, but as it heard the sob, his long ears quivered, and it suddenly leaped forward.</p><p>Following the leap, came a long bray. If not for how horrible the bray sounded, its unstoppable vigor could almost pass for a purebred horse. Unprepared for this, Wei WuXian was thrown off of its back, almost injuring his head as he fell. The donkey ran head-first toward the boy, as if it believed that it could knock him off his feet with its head. The boy’s arrow was still poised on the bow, conveniently drawing the bow toward its direction. Wei WuXian didn’t want to find a new mount so soon, so he quickly yanked on its reign. The boy took a look at him, a look of shock to suddenly appear on his face.</p><p>After a second, the shock turned into disdain. His mouth twitched, "So, it’s you."</p><p>The tone was made of twenty percent surprise and eighty percent disgust, making Wei WuXian blink. The boy spoke again, "Did you lose your marbles after you were thrown back to your village? How could they let you outside when you looked as freaky as this?"</p><p>Did he really just hear something of such significance?</p><p><i>Might it be</i>, Wei WuXian suddenly realized, <i>that Mo XuanYu’s father isn’t the head of some small sect, but the famous Jin GuangShan?</i></p><p>Jin GuangShan was the last leader of the LanlingJin Sect, having already passed away. On the topic of this man, one sentence could not tell the whole story. He had a fierce wife from a prominent family and, in fact, he was known for being scared of her. However, even if he was scared, it never stopped him from going to other women. No matter how fierce Madame Jin was, it was impossible for her to follow him twenty-four hours a day. Therefore, from ladies of distinguished statuses, to prostitutes in rural areas, if he could get his hands on one, he wouldn’t miss the chance. And, although he enjoyed casual relationships and flirted everywhere, having an uncountable amount of illegitimate children, it was extremely easy for him to get bored.</p><p>After he grew tired a woman, he would forget about her completely, without any responsibility or whatsoever. Among all of his illegitimate children, there was only one who proved to be exceptionally talented and ended up being taken back—the current leader of the LanlingJin Sect, Jin GuangYao. Moreover, Jin GuangShan didn’t die honorably either. He believed that he was old but vigorous, and wanted to challenge himself, fooling around with a group of women. However, unfortunately, he failed and passed away during the act. This was too humiliating, and so, the LanlingJin Sect told the public that the old leader died from overworking himself. All of the other clans decided to keep silent about the matter and pretended that they didn’t know anything. Anyways, those were the real reasons behind his "fame."</p><p>During the siege in Luanzang Hill, aside from Jiang Cheng, Jin GuangShan was the second-greatest contributor. And now, Wei WuXian had taken over the body of his own illegitimate son. He really didn’t know if they were even with each other.</p><p>Seeing that he was spacing out, the boy grew even more annoyed, "Get out </p><p>In terms of his generation, it was highly possible of Mo XuanYu to be an elder to the boy, maybe an uncle. After being humiliated by a junior like this, Wei WuXian thought that, even if not for his own sake, he needed to return the humiliation for Mo XuanYu’s body, "What an attitude! I suppose that you didn’t have a mother to teach you?"</p><p>Hearing his words, two raging flames sparked in the boy’s eyes. He unsheathed the sword on his back and threatened, "What… Did you say?"</p><p>The blade of the sword shone a golden light. It was a rare sword of high quality—most clans probably couldn’t get a small piece of it even if they spent their whole lives saving for it. Wei WuXian examined it attentively, somehow thinking that the sword seemed familiar to him. Then again, he had seen his share of gold, top-notch swords. He didn’t think too much about it and began to spin a tiny cloth bag that he held in his hand.</p><p>It was a makeshift "spirit-locking bag" that he had created a few days ago, using the scraps and pieces of things. As the boy wielded the sword and came toward him, he fished a piece of human-shaped paper out of the spirit-locking bag. He shifted to the side, avoiding the attack, and slapped the paper onto his opponent’s back.</p><p>The boy’s movements were already fast, but Wei WuXian had done a lot of "tripping someone while slapping a talisman onto their back", which meant that he was faster. The boy suddenly felt his torso become numb, his back weakening, and he unwillingly collapsed onto the ground, with his sword also falling to the side with a <i>clunk</i>. He couldn’t get up no matter how hard he tried, as if a mountain was on top of him. On his back, there was a ghost who had died from gluttony, crushing him to the point that he couldn’t even breathe. Although the ghost was weak, it was completely capable of dealing with brats like this one. Wei WuXian picked up his sword, weighed it in his hands, and swung toward the direction of the deity-binding net, splitting it in half.</p><p>The family fell to the ground in an awkward way, but they sprinted off without saying anything. The round-faced girl seemed as if she wanted to thank him, but she was pulled away by an elder, who was scared that Young Master Jin would hate them even more. The boy on the ground was fuming, "You damn gay! Good for you, taking this sort of wrong path because you didn’t have enough spiritual powers to do anything! Watch out for your life! Do you know who came today? Today, I…"</p><p>Although the cultivation method that he used in the past was often criticized and, in the long term, it harmed the cultivator’s health, it could be mastered quickly. It was also especially attractive because there were no limitations as to the cultivator’s spiritual powers or talent, making it so that there were always people who secretly practiced it to find a shortcut. The boy presumed that, after being chased from the LanlingJin Sect, Mo XuanYu had chosen the dishonorable path, which was a reasonable conclusion to draw, saving Wei WuXian from a lot of unnecessary trouble.</p><p>The boy pushed on the ground, but couldn’t get up even after a few tries. His face was scarlet and he gritted his teeth, "If you don’t stop, I’m gonna tell my uncle, and you’re gonna wait for your death!"</p><p>Wei WuXian wondered, "Why is it your uncle, not your dad? Who’s your uncle, again?"</p><p>A voice suddenly came from behind him, a mixture of being bitter and cold.</p><p>"I am his uncle. Do you have any last words?"</p><p>Hearing the voice, all of the blood from Wei WuXian’s body traveled to his head, and drained away a moment later. The good thing was that his face was already a pile of white, so a shade whiter wouldn’t make too much of a difference.</p><p>A violet-clothed youth approached in confident steps, his <b>jianxiu</b> robe flowing smoothly and his hand pressing on the hilt of his sword. A silver bell hung by his waist, although it made no sound as he walked.</p><p>The young man had thin brows and almond eyes. His features were handsome in a sharp way, and his eyes held a composed vigor, with a slight intention of attack, appearing to be two bolts of lightning as he stared. He stood ten steps away from Wei WuXian, his expression resembling a honed arrow on the bow, ready to be released at any moment. Even his posture emitted an air of arrogance and overconfidence.</p><p>He frowned, "Jin Ling, why did you linger for so long? Do you really need me to come and pick you up? Look at what a terrible situation you’re in right now, and get up!"</p><p>After the initial numbing of his head, Wei WuXian quickly realized what was going on. He curled a finger inside his sleeve and made the piece of paper retreat. Jin Ling felt his back lighten and immediately rolled up, grabbing his sword in the process. He shifted near Jiang Cheng and pointed at Wei WuXian accusingly, "I’m gonna break your legs!"</p><p>With the pair of uncle and nephew standing beside each other, it was clear that they shared a close resemblance, probably able to pass for brothers. Jiang Cheng moved his finger, and the paper doll swiftly flew out of Wei WuXian’s hand and into his own. After taking one look at it, hostility came over his face. He pressured his fingers, and the paper was ignited, burning to dust with the screams of dark spirits.</p><p>Jiang Cheng spoke grimly, "Break his legs? Haven’t I told you? If you see this sort of evil and crooked practice, kill the cultivator and feed him to your dogs!"</p><p>Wei WuXian couldn’t even attempt to grab his donkey, backing away at rapid speed. He thought that, after so many years, no matter how much hatred Jiang Cheng had held for him, it would have disappeared long ago. He didn’t expect that, not only did it not disappear, it became richer, as if it was a <b>jar</b> of aged alcohol. At the present time, his hatred had grown to affect even people who cultivated like him!</p><p>With someone backing him up, Jin Ling’s attacks became more aggressive. Wei WuXian slid two fingers into the spirit-locking bag, about to take something out, when suddenly, the blue glare of a sword slashed out like lightning. It collided with Jin Ling’s sword, breaking the powerful sword’s golden rays in an instant.</p><p>It wasn’t because of the quality of the swords, but rather the great disparity in the strengths of the persons using the swords. Wei WuXian had originally calculated the timing, but his movements were suddenly interrupted by the sword’s glare, causing him to trip. He fell toward the ground, right on top of a pair of snow-white boots. After pausing for a moment, he slowly lifted his head.</p><p>What first came into his sight was a long, slender blade, crystalline and translucent, as if it was made of ice.</p><p>In the cultivation world, this sword was one of the most famous ones. Wei WuXian had experienced its powers countless times, including both battles fought beside it and against it. The hilt of the sword was forged from pure silver that had been refined with secret techniques. The blade of the sword was extremely thin, almost transparent, sending forth the cold breaths of ice and snow. However, at the same time, it could cut through iron like cutting through mud. This was why, although the sword looked light, as if it could fly away any instant, it was actually quite heavy, unable to be wielded by the average person.</p><p>Its name was "<b>Bichen</b>."</p><p>The blade turned, and the <i>clank</i> of the sword being inserted back inside the scabbard sounded from above Wei WuXian. At the same time, Jiang Cheng’s voice came from afar, "And I was wondering who it was. So, it is you, Second Young Master Lan."</p><p>The pair of white boots passed around Wei WuXian and calmly walked three steps forward. Wei WuXian raised his head and got up. As he walked past the former, slightly brushing their shoulders, he made eye contact with him for a short moment, pretending that it was unintentional.</p><p>He had an aura of smooth moonlight. The seven-stringed zither that he carried on his back was narrower than most. Its body was black, made using wood of soft color.</p><p>The man wore a forehead ribbon with cloud patterns. His skin was fair, features both refined and elegant, as if he was a piece of polished jade. The color of his eyes was especially light, like they were made of colored glass, causing his gaze to be overly distant. His expression held the traces of frost and snow, stern to the degree of being stiff, unwavering even as he saw Wei WuXian’s ridiculous face.</p><p>There wasn’t a single spec of dust or wrinkled spot on him, from his head to his feet. It was impossible to find any fault with his appearance. Even so, two capitalized words jumped into Wei WuXian’s mind.</p><p><i>Mourning clothes!</i></p><p>Mourning clothes, indeed. Although all of the clans in the cultivation world used extravagant words to describe the GusuLan Sect’s uniform as the best looking uniform, and Lan WangJi as a an incomparable beauty who only appeared once in a blue moon, nothing could help his bitter facial expression, as if his wife had passed away.</p><p>In an unlucky year, enemies would often find their paths to cross; good news always traveled alone, but one disaster always followed the next… Thus, the situation right now.</p><p>Lan WangJi was silent, staring straight ahead, standing motionlessly in front of Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng was already exceptionally handsome, but as they stood face to face with each other, he still seemed a few degrees inferior. He raised one brow and spoke, "HanGuang-Jun, you sure live up to your reputation of ‘being wherever the chaos is’. So, you had time to come to this remote area today?"</p><p>Powerful cultivators from prominent clans usually didn’t care to pay attention to lower level preys. However, Lan WangJi was an exception. He never cared for the prey of a night-hunt, and wouldn’t refuse to go just because the creature was not threatening enough to increase his fame. If anyone wanted help, he would be there. He had been like this ever since he was young. "Being wherever the chaos is" was the comment that the public gave him for his night-hunts and, also, praise for his moral character. Right now, Jiang Cheng really didn’t seem too polite as he said the words in such a tone. Even the juniors who came following Lan WangJi didn’t seem comfortable hearing it.</p><p>Lan JingYi spoke straightforwardly, "Isn’t Sect Leader Jiang here as well?"</p><p>Jiang Cheng replied grimly, "<i>Tsk</i>, do you really think that you should butt in when your seniors are conversing? The GusuLan Sect has always been known for its respectful conduct. Is this really how it teaches its disciples?"</p><p>Lan WangJi seemed as if he didn’t want to engage in conversation, throwing Lan SiZhui a look. The latter understood and told the juniors to speak among themselves. Afterward, he spoke toward Jin Ling, "Young Master Jin, night-hunts have always been fair competitions amongst the different clans and sects. However, to set up nets all over Dafan Mountain is clearly hindering the cultivators, causing them to fall into the traps. Is this or is this not against the rules of night-hunting?"</p><p>Jin Ling’s grim expression was exactly the same as his uncle’s, "What can I do? It was their own fault for stepping into the traps. I’ll solve everything after I finish capturing the prey."</p><p>Lan WangJi frowned. Jin Ling was about to speak again, but he suddenly realized that, shockingly, he could neither open his mouth nor make any sounds. Seeing that Jin Ling’s upper and lower lips became inseparable, as if they were glued together, anger appeared on Jiang Cheng’s face. The sloppy manners that he upheld before this were all gotten rid of, "You, with the Lan surname! What do you mean by this? It’s not your turn to discipline Jin Ling yet, so release the spell, now!"</p><p>The silence spell was used by the Lan Sect to reprimand its disciples. Wei WuXian had suffered a ton from this little trick. Although it wasn’t anything too complicated or obscure, only people of the Lan Clan could release the spell. If one wanted to forcibly speak, it would result in either their lips being ripped bloody or a hoarse throat for a couple of days. The only solution was to stay silent and reflect upon the wrongdoings, until the time limit of the punishment was over. Lan SiZhui spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang, there is no need for anger. As long as he does not break the spell forcefully, it would release on its own, after thirty minutes."</p><p>Before Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to speak, a purple-clothed man in the Jiang Sect’s uniform ran toward them from within the forest. He shouted, "Sect Leader!" However, after seeing Lan WangJi’s presence, he hesitated. Jiang Cheng spoke satirically, "Talk. Is there more bad news?"</p><p>The man spoke in a low voice, "Not long ago, a blue sword flew over and destroyed the deity-binding nets that you had set up."</p><p>Jiang Cheng glanced at Lan WangJi harshly, his displease plastered all over his face, "How many were broken?"</p><p>The man replied carefully, "… All of them…"</p><p><i>That’s more than four hundred!</i></p><p>Jiang Cheng seethed with anger.</p><p>He didn’t expect the journey to be this unlucky. Originally, he came to help Jin Ling out. Jin Ling would be turning fifteen this year, the age of which he should already be making his debut and starting to compete with the juniors of other clans. Jiang Cheng considered the decision carefully before choosing Dafan Mountain as the location of the hunt. He also set up nets everywhere and threatened the cultivators of other clans, showing them the consequences so that they would retreat, in order to let Jin Ling take the top prize without anyone fighting against him.</p><p>Although four hundred deity-binding nets were a whopping price, it wasn’t too much for the YunmengJiang Sect. Nonetheless, losing the nets were a small matter, but losing face was not. With Lan WangJi’s actions, Jiang Cheng felt a whirlpool of anger at the bottom of his heart, rising higher by every second. He narrowed his eyes, his left hand casually stroking the ring on his right hand’s index finger.</p><p>This was a dangerous sign.</p><p>Everyone knew that the ring was a menacing, strong magical weapon. Whenever Clan Leader Jiang started touching it, it meant that he had the intent to kill.</p><h3>Translator’s Notes
Chapter 8 Arrogance—Part Three</h3><p>However, after stroking it for a while, Jiang Cheng compelled himself to restrain his hostility.</p><p>Although he was displeased, as the leader of a sect, he needed to take more things into consideration, which meant that he couldn’t be as impulsive as Jin Ling. After the fall of the QingheNie Sect, among the Three Great Sects, the LanlingJin Sect and the GusuLan Sect were quite close due to the personal relationship between the two leaders. By leading the YunmengJiang Sect alone, he was already in an isolated situation among the three. HanGuang-Jun, or Lan WangJi, was quite a prestigious cultivator, while his elder brother ZeWu-Jun, or Lan XiChen, was the leader of the GusuLan Sect. The two brothers had always been on good terms with each other. It was best to not openly dispute with Lan WangJi.</p><p>Also, Jiang Cheng’s sword, "<b>Sandu</b>," had never made actual contact with Lan WangJi’s sword, "Bichen," and it was not yet decidable <b>whose hands would the deer die on</b>. Although he owned the powerful ring, "<b>Zidian</b>," a family heirloom of his, Lan WangJi’s zither, "<b>Wangji</b>", was also known for its abilities. The thing that Jiang Cheng hated the most was to be disadvantageous during a fight. Without complete confidence in his success, he would not consider fighting with Lan WangJi.</p><p>Jiang Cheng slowly took away his left hand, ceasing to stroke his ring. It seemed as if Lan WangJi was determined to take part in this matter, so it wouldn’t help if he continued to play the antagonist. Jiang Cheng made the decision to, for the time being, owe him a favour, and turned around to see Jin Ling still covering his mouth angrily, "HanGuang-Jun wants to punish you, so just let him do it for this one time. It’s not easy for him, either, to discipline juniors from other clans."</p><p>His tone was sarcastic, but it wasn’t clear who he was mocking. Lan WangJi never fought to win his way with words, and looked as if he didn’t hear anything. Jiang Cheng turned again, his words covered with thorns, "Why are you still standing there? Waiting for the prey to come and throw itself onto your sword? If, today, you don’t catch the creature hunting Dafan Mountain, don’t come to me ever again!"</p><p>Jin Ling threw Wei WuXian a tough look, but was too scared to look at Lan WangJi, the person who had silenced him. He put his sword back into its scabbard, saluted the two seniors, and retreated with the bow in his hand. Lan SiZhui spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang, the GusuLan Sect will return the exact number of spirit-binding nets that had been destroyed."</p><p>Jiang Cheng sneered, "No need." He chose the opposite direction and walked down calmly. The man who had come from the forest followed behind him, pulling a long face because he knew that it’d be impossible to escape a lecture when he returned.</p><p>After their figures disappeared, Lan JingYi spoke, "How could the Sect Leader Jiang act like this?" Only afterward, did he remember the Lan Clan’s rule of not talking behind others’ backs. He looked meekly at HanGuang-Jun and shut his mouth. Lan SiZhui smiled softly toward Wei WuXian, "Young Master Mo, we meet again."</p><p>As Wei WuXian pulled the corners of his mouth, Lan WangJi spoke again, "Do your tasks." The command was simplistic and clear, without any fancy vocabulary for decoration.</p><p>The juniors finally remembered the reason behind why they came to Dafan Mountain. They gathered their thoughts and respectfully waited for further instructions. After a moment, Lan WangJi spoke again, "Do what you can. Don’t force anything."</p><p>The voice was deep and alluring. If one was too near, the tip of their heart would tremble. The juniors replied mannerly, afraid to linger for too long, and walked into the depths of the forest. Wei WuXian thought that, undeniably, Jiang Cheng and <b>Lan Zhan</b> were extremely different from each other. Even their advice for juniors were the complete opposite. While thinking, he suddenly saw Lan WangJi give an almost unnoticeable nod to him. He was quite surprised.</p><p>Ever since a young age, Lan WangJi had been so prim and proper that it was painful to watch. He had always been solemn and stiff, as if he had never been lively before. He couldn’t let a single grain of sand appear in his eyes, which was why he had never approved of Wei WuXian cultivating the dark path. Lan SiZhui had probably informed Lan WangJi of his suspicious behaviour in Mo Village already. Even so, he had nodded in acknowledgement, probably thanking him for helping out the juniors from the Lan Sect. Without thinking, Wei WuXian immediately returned a salute. When he looked up again, Lan WangJi had already disappeared.</p><p>After pausing for a second, he turned around to travel down the mountain.</p><p>No matter what prey haunted Dafan Mountain, he couldn’t take it. Wei WuXian could fight for it against anyone, except for Jin Ling.</p><p><i>Why did it turn out to be Jin Ling?</i></p><p>With so many disciples in the Jin Sect, he really didn’t expect that the person he met happened to be Jin Ling. If he knew, he definitely wouldn’t mock Jin Ling for "having no mother to teach him." If someone else had said the same words to Jin Ling, he would teach them about what it means to bring misfortune upon oneself with careless talk. Yet, the person who had said so turned out to be himself.</p><p>After standing still for a moment, Wei WuXian raised his hand and gave himself a slap on the face.</p><p>The slap was both loud and hard, causing his right cheek to sting. Suddenly, shuffling sounds came from a thicket on the side, and Wei WuXian saw a donkey emerge from within. As he dropped his hand, the donkey actually approached on its own, unlike other times. Wei WuXian pulled on its long ears and forced a smile, "You wanted to </p><p>The donkey whined, just as a wave of cultivators approached from the bottom of the hill. After the four-hundred-or-so spirit-binding nets were destroyed by Lan WangJi’s sword, the hesitant cultivators in Buddha’s Feet all rushed up again. Everyone here was probably Jin Ling’s opponent. Wei WuXian considered for a moment, about whether or not to make them retreat again with force. But, after thinking about it, he ended up silently walking out of the way, letting them pass.</p><p>The disciples from different sects, wearing differently colored uniforms, complained as they walked, "Both the Jin Sect and the Jiang Sect spoil Young Master Jin too much. He’s still so young, but he’s already this arrogant and rude. If they let him have the LanlingJin Sect, who knows what chaos would happen? I don’t think we’d even survive."</p><p>Wei WuXian slowed his pace.</p><p>A soft-hearted female cultivator sighed, "How can they not spoil him? He lost both his parents at such a young age."</p><p>"Shimei, that’s not how it works. So what, if both his parents died? There are tons who lost both of their parents. If everyone acted like him, then what would happen?"</p><p>"I’m surprised that Wei WuXian was cruel enough to harm her. Jin Ling’s mother was Jiang Cheng’s elder sister from birth—the shijie who brought him up."</p><p>"It really was too bad for Jiang YanLi, bringing up a wolf that bites the owner’s hand. Jin ZiXuan had it even worse. Just because he had something to do with Wei WuXian, he ended up like that."</p><p>"Why does Wei WuXian have something to do with everyone…"</p><p>"Indeed. Have you heard him being close with anyone other than the mad dogs that he raised? His enemies were everywhere, and he did wrong to everyone. Even with HanGuang-Jun, they were like fire and water, hating each other."</p><p>"Speaking of it, today, if it wasn’t for HanGuang-Jun…"</p><p>After walking for a while, the gurgling sounds of a running stream came into Wei WuXian’s ears.</p><p>He didn’t hear this when he came up. Wei WuXian finally realized that he walked the wrong path down the mountain, and onto another one that forked off.</p><p>Holding the reign of the donkey, he stood beside the running water. The moon could be seen high in the sky. With no branches or leaves on the banks of the stream, fragments of white reflected over the surface. In the reflection, Wei WuXian saw a face, ever-changing from the flow of the water.</p><p>He slammed his palm into the water, dissolving the ridiculous features. He lifted his dripping wet palms and wiped away the powder on his face.</p><p>A handsome, graceful youth appeared in the reflections of the water. He looked as pure as if he had been cleansed by moonlight, with smooth brows, bright eyes, and lips curving slightly upward. Yet, as he lowered his head to stare at himself, the drops of water hanging from his lashes rolled off, as if they were drops of tears.</p><p>It was a young and unfamiliar face, not the YiLing Patriarch who had overturned the world and killed thousands—Wei WuXian.</p><p>After taking a few more looks at this face, Wei WuXian wiped his face again and rubbed his eyes. He sat beside the stream with a <i>thud</i>.</p><p>It wasn’t as if he couldn’t withstand the words of attack. After all, back when he made the decision, he fully understood the situations that he had to face. Ever since then, he had reminded himself of the YunmengJiang Sect’s motto—do it even if it was impossible.</p><p>However, although he thought that his heart was like a stone, in the end, he was still human, not some emotionless grass or plant.</p><p>The donkey seemed as if it knew that he wasn’t in a great mood, and for once, it wasn’t being loud out of impatience. A moment of silence passed, and it turned around to leave. Wei WuXian sat by the stream, not responding at all. It turned around to look, throwing its hooves onto the ground, but Wei WuXian still paid no attention to it. The donkey had to come back sulkily, biting and tugging on the corner of Wei WuXian’s collar.</p><p>He could choose to go, and he could choose to not go. Seeing that the donkey had went as far as to use his mouth, Wei WuXian decided to follow him. The donkey took him to a few trees and circled around an area of grass. In the grass, there lay a <b>qiankun bag</b>, with a ragged golden net hanging above it. It probably fell off as an unlucky cultivator struggled their way out. Wei WuXian picked up the bag and opened it. There were quite a few items in it, such as <b>gourds</b> of medicinal liquor, talismans, miniature demon-reflecting mirrors, and so on.</p><p>He fished around for some time and happened to pull out a talisman. Immediately, a ball of fire appeared in his hand.</p><p>The burning item was an gloom-burning talisman, which, like its name, used dark energy as fuel. It would burn automatically if it made contact with dark energy. The more energy there was, the stronger the flame was. It lit up as soon as it was taken out, meaning that there was a spirit not far away from Wei WuXian.</p><p>Seeing the light of the fire, Wei WuXian held it to detect the spirit’s direction, watching attentively. When he turned to the east, the fire weakened; when he turned to the west, the fire suddenly intensified. He walked a few steps toward the direction, and saw a white, stooping figure appear under a tree.</p><p>The talisman had finished burning, and the ashes fell from his fingertips. An old man was sitting with his back to him, speaking in faint murmurs.</p><p>Wei WuXian slowly approached. The words that the old man murmured became clear.</p><p>"It hurts, it hurts."</p><p>Wei WuXian asked, "Where does it hurt?"</p><p>The old man answered, "Head. My head."</p><p>Wei WuXian replied, "Let me take a look at it."</p><p>He walked a few steps to the side of the old man, and saw a bloodied, large hole on his forehead. This was a ghost, probably killed with a weapon which was smashed onto his head. He was dressed in a burial robe made with fine material and craftsmanship, meaning that he had already been en-coffined and buried properly. This wasn’t the soul that a living human had lost.</p><p>However, ghosts like this shouldn’t have appeared on Dafan Mountain.</p><p>Wei WuXian did not find an explanation to this implausible scenario. Feeling quite worried, he jumped onto the donkey’s back, slapped it with a shout, and rode toward the direction of where Jin Ling came up the mountain.</p><p>Around the area of the ancient tombs, there were a lot of cultivators who wandered around, in hope of <b>a hare crashing into the tree trunk</b>. Somebody dared to hold a spirit-attraction flag, but only attracted a bunch of dark spirits who wept despairingly. Wei WuXian pulled on the reign, scanned around, and asked in a loud, clear voice, "Excuse me and sorry for the interruption, but where did the young masters from the Jin Clan and the Lan Clan go?"</p><p>Sure enough, after washing his face, people actually acknowledged him. One cultivator answered, "They left here, for Goddess Temple."</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke, "Goddess Temple?"</p><p>The rural clan from back then had sneaked up the mountain again and joined the group of night-hunters, after hearing that all of the deity-binding nets were destroyed. The middle-aged man recognized his clothing and the grimacing donkey, realizing that he was lunatic who’d saved them earlier. He felt quite awkward, and pretended that nothing had happened. Nonetheless, the round-faced girl showed him the path, "Over there. It’s a divine temple in a cave on the mountain."</p><p>Wei WuXian inquired again, "Which deity is the temple built for?"</p><p>The round-faced girl spoke, "I, I think it’s a natural stone statue of a goddess."</p><p>Wei WuXian nodded, "Thank you."</p><p>After the conversation, he immediately ran toward the direction of Goddess Temple.</p><p>The sluggard’s marriage, lightning that destroyed coffins, the fiance eaten by wolves, the father and daughter losing their souls, the extravagant burial clothes… It was as if a string was being pulled through all of the beads, tying everything into one perfect strand. No wonder the compasses of evil didn’t pick up anything, and the spirit-attraction flags didn’t work either. Everyone had underestimated the creature in Dafan Mountain.</p><p>It wasn’t at all what they thought it was!</p><h3>Translator’s Notes
Chapter 9 Arrogance—Part Four</h3><p>On the other hand, Lan SiZhui and the other disciples did not find anything in the area of the ancient tombs, and had moved on to search for clues in Goddess Temple.</p><p>In Dafan Mountain, aside from the tombs of the Buddha’s Feet ancestors, there was also the Goddess Temple. The being of worship was neither Buddha nor <b>GuanYin</b>, but the statue of a "dancing goddess."</p><p>A few hundred years ago, a hunter from Buddha’s Feet ventured into the mountains, and found an extraordinary stone in a cave. It was around three meters in height, formed naturally, and appeared strangely like a human, with four limbs making a dancing pose. The more peculiar thing was that human features could vaguely be seen on the statue, appearing to be that of a smiling lady.</p><p>The townspeople of Buddha’s Feet were all astonished, and thought that it was a magical stone formed by gathering the energy of Heaven and Earth, making up a series of legends about it. Some told the story of an <b>immortal</b> falling in love with the <b>Goddess of the Nine Heavens</b>, and carved a stone statue from the goddess’s appearance to convey the hardships of being lovesick. After discovering this, the goddess was furious, so the unfinished statue had to be left alone. Others told the story of the <b>Jade Emperor</b> and his beloved daughter who died young. The emperor’s longing for his daughter had, supposedly, turned into this statue.</p><p>Anyhow, there were all sorts of myths, able to make anyone gawk. In the end, the townspeople themselves also started to believe in these legends which came out of their own mouths. Hence, someone turned the stone cave into a temple, and the stone platform into a holy seat. The statue was named "Dancing Goddess," and there were worshippers all year round.</p><p>The inside of the cave was spacious, similar to the size of an <b>erjin temple</b>, with the statue of the goddess set in the center. At first sight, it did indeed look like a human—the maiden’s waist could even be considered lithe and graceful. However, after taking a closer look at it, it would seem rougher. Then again, a naturally-formed statue being so similar to an actual human was enough to make most people gasp in awe.</p><p>Lan JingYi lifted and lowered the compass of evil, but its pointer still didn’t move. A thick layer of incense ashes covered the table for offerings, and disordered candles lay on there as well. A sickly sweet scent came from the plates for holding fruits. Most of the people from the GusuLan Sect had some degree of minor mysophobia. He fanned at the air in front of his nose and spoke, "The locals said that it is quite effective to pray at Goddess Temple, but how can it be this ruined? They should at least come and clean once in awhile."</p><p>Lan SiZhui spoke, "There has already been seven people who lost their souls. Everyone is saying that lightning has let out a fierce creature from the ancient graves of Buddha’s Feet, so would anybody dare to come up the mountain? There is no attendance at the temple and so, naturally, there is nobody to clean the place."</p><p>A disdainful voice came from outside of the cave, "It’s only a stupid rock, given the title of a goddess by who-knows who, and people dare to put it here, accepting incense and worship!"</p><p>Jin Ling came inside, with his hands crossed behind his back. The time limit for the silence spell was not long, so his mouth could already open. However, nothing nice came out of that mouth of his, as he looked at the goddess statue and humphed, "These rural villagers don’t work hard when they face difficulties, but instead pray to the Buddha and other things every day. There are thousands and millions of people in the world, but gods and Buddhas are already hands-full with their own matters, so who would care about them? Let alone a powerless goddess without status, like this one. If it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain to appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?"</p><p>A few cultivators from smaller clans came in behind him, and everyone laughed right after hearing him, agreeing with his words. The originally quiet temple became bustling with noise, after the group of people had rushed forth, and the space also seemed more cramped. Lan SiZhui silently shook his head, turning around and glancing without any aim. His gaze landed on the head of the goddess statue; the features of a compassionately smiling face could vaguely be seen.</p><p>Yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the smile, as if he had seen it somewhere before this.</p><p>Where on Earth had he seen it before?</p><p>Lan SiZhui thought that it must be a very important matter, and couldn’t help but to approach the statue, wanting to examine the goddess’s features carefully. At the same time, someone bumped into him.</p><p>A cultivator who was originally standing behind him had fallen down without any noise. The others were alert with surprise. Jin Ling spoke in a vigilant tone, "What happened to him?"</p><p>Lan SiZhui held his sword and bent down to examine it. There was nothing wrong with the cultivator’s breathing, like he had just suddenly fallen asleep. Yet, no matter how hard he was pushed or called, he would not wake up. Lan SiZhui stood up, "He seems as if…"</p><p>Before he finished his sentence, the dark cave abruptly lit up. The cave was suddenly covered in a red light, as if a waterfall of blood was rolling off its walls. The candles on the platform for offerings and in the corners of the cave had ignited on their own.</p><p>With a few <i>shings</i>, everyone in the cave had either drawn their swords or taken out their talismans. At the same time, a person suddenly burst in from outside the temple, holding a gourd of medicinal alcohol. He threw it toward the stone statue, and raging flames sprouted from it, illuminating the stone cave so that it could even pass for daytime.</p><p>Wei WuXian used up all of the items he had found in the qiankun bag. He threw it away and shouted, "Everyone, go back outside! Be cautious of the soul-consuming goddess on the inside!"</p><p>Someone yelled in surprise, "The goddess’s pose had changed!"</p><p>Before, the statute clearly had one foot lifted and both of its arms raised upward, of which one was pointing directly at the sky, its form graceful. However, amid the crimson and yellow flames, it had lowered both its arms and its foot. There was no doubt—it definitely wasn’t a mistake of the eye!</p><p>The next moment, the statue lifted one foot again, and stepped out of the fire!</p><p>Wei WuXian shouted, "Run, run, run! Stop slashing around! It won’t work!"</p><p>Most of the cultivators ignored him. The soul-consuming monster that they had tried so hard to find had finally appeared, so why would they miss out on the chance? However, even with so many swords chopping and stabbing, and so many talismans and magical tools being thrown at it, the statue’s advance didn’t stop at all. It was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved, giving off a strong sense of oppression. It picked up two cultivators and lifted them in front of its face. The stone mouth seemed like it opened and closed, and the swords in the cultivators’ hands dropped to the ground with two <i>clanks</i>. Their heads drooped. Their souls were sucked away.</p><p>With no attack methods working properly, the others were finally willing to listen to Wei WuXian’s words. Everyone gushed outside, scattering in all directions as fast as they could. With so many people and faces, the more anxious Wei WuXian became, the longer it took to find Jin Ling. Wei WuXian rode on the donkey and ran into a bamboo forest, encountering the juniors from the Lan Clan as he turned around.</p><p>Wei WuXian called for them, "Children!"</p><p>Lan SiZhui replied, "Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from? Did you really think that you would be considered a senior just because you washed your face?"</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke, "Okay, okay, okay, <b>gege</b>-s. Send a signal and get your clan’s… HanGuang-Jun up here!"</p><p>The juniors nodded a few times, and ran around while searching for signals. Lan SiZhui spoke, "The signal firelights… were all used up during the night at Mo Village."</p><p>Wei WuXian was shocked, "You guys didn’t restock afterwards?"</p><p>The signal firelights were usually only needed once in over eight hundred years. Lan SiZhui replied bashfully, "We forgot."</p><p>Wei WuXian tried to scare them, "Is this a matter that you should forget about? If HanGuang-Jun knew about this, he’s going to make you sorry."</p><p>Lan JingYi’s face was pale with terror, "It’s over. This time, we are gonna be punished to death by HanGuang-Jun…"</p><p>Wei WuXian, "Indeed, he should punish you! Without punishment, you wouldn’t remember the next time."</p><p>Lan SiZhui, "Young Master Mo, Young Master Mo! How did you know that it was not a spirit-consuming spirit or beast, but the goddess statue instead?"</p><p>Wei WuXian searched for Jin Ling as he ran, "How did I know? I saw."</p><p>Lan JingYi also caught up. They each ran on one side of him, "What did you see? We also saw lots of things."</p><p>"You saw, so what happens next? What things were in </p><p>"What else could there be? There were only dead souls."</p><p>"Correct, there were dead souls. This is why it can’t be a soul-consuming spirit or beast. It’s simple—if it was either of these two, with so many dead spirits in the area, would it have chosen to not eat them? No, it wouldn’t have."</p><p>This time, there were more than one person who asked, "Why?"</p><p>"Just what can I say about your GusuLan Sect…" Wei WuXian could not tolerate it any more, "Why can’t you teach less annoying, lengthy nonsense like cultivational etiquette, family trees, and history which requires memorization, and teach more practical things? How is this hard to understand? Dead souls are a lot easier to absorb than living souls. The physical body of a living person is like a shield, and if it wants to eat a live soul, it would have to break the shield. For example…" He looked at the donkey, which panted while running, rolling its eyes, "For example, if an apple is put in front of you, and another one is put inside a locked box, which one would you choose to eat? Of course, it would be the one in front of you. This creature only eats living souls, and knows of a way to obtain them. It is both powerful and selective in terms of food."</p><p>Lan JingYi was astonished, "So that’s how it works? It makes a lot of sense! Wait, so you’re really not a lunatic?"</p><p>Lan SiZhui explained as he ran, "We all thought that, because the landslide and lightning led to the series of events, it must be a soul-consuming spirit."</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke, "Wrong."</p><p>"What is wrong?"</p><p>"The order and the correlation is wrong. Let me ask you—for the landslide and the soul-consuming events, which ones were the first and second, the cause and effect?"</p><p>Lan SiZhui answered without thinking twice, "The landslide was the first, and the soul-consumption was the second. The first was the cause, and the latter was the effect."</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke, "Completely wrong. The soul-consumption was first, and the the landslide was second. The soul-consumption was the cause, and the landslide was the effect! During the night of the landslide, a storm suddenly started, and a streak of lightning broke a coffin—remember this. This first person to lose their soul, the sluggard, was trapped in the mountains for the whole night, and married a few days later."</p><p>Lan JingYi asked, "Where is it wrong?"</p><p>Wei WuXian replied, "It is all wrong! Where would a good-for-nothing and penniless person obtain the money to form such a grand wedding?"</p><p>The boys were rendered speechless. But, it couldn’t have been helped, since the GusuLan Sect was a sect that did not need to worry about matters of wealth. Wei WuXian spoke again, "Did you take a look at all of the dead souls floating in Dafan Mountain? There was an old man who died from a hit to the head, wearing burial clothes that were made with fine craftsmanship and fabric. With such extravagant burial clothes, his coffin couldn’t have been empty, and there must have been a few burial items to protect it. The coffin that was broken by the lightning was most likely his. Yet, the people who came to retrieve the corpse did not find any burial items, which meant that they were definitely taken away by the sluggard, explaining why he suddenly became rich. The sluggard suddenly decided to marry someone after the night of the landslide, so something unusual must have happened during the night. On that evening, there was a harsh storm and he took cover in the mountain. Where on Dafan Mountain is it possible to take cover from the rain? Goddess Temple. And, when most people go into a temple, there is one thing that they would do."</p><p>Lan SiZhui asked, "Pray?"</p><p>"That’s right. For example, he would pray for himself to be lucky, to become wealthy, to have enough money to marry, and so on. The goddess fulfilled his wish with the lightning that split open the grave, letting him see the treasures in the coffin. His prayers came true and, as the sacrifice, the goddess came to him on the evening of his marriage, and took his soul away!"</p><p>Lan JingYi, "All of these are just your guesses, right?"</p><p>Wei WuXian, "Yes, they are guesses. But, following this train of logic, all of the things that happened afterward could be explained."</p><p>Lan SiZhui, "How can this explain what happened with the girl, A-Yan?"</p><p>Wei WuXian, "Great question. You guys probably asked around before you came up the mountain. A-Yan had just got engaged during those days. All recently-engaged girls will definitely have the same wish."</p><p>Lan JingYi was befuddled, "What wish?"</p><p>Wei WuXian replied, "None other than something that goes like, ‘I wish my husband would love me and care for me for his whole life, attracted to only myself’."</p><p>The boys were at a loss, "Would a wish like this really be able to be granted?"</p><p>Wei WuXian held his palms out, "It’s simple. If her husband’s ‘whole life’ immediately ended, wouldn’t it count as ‘loving only one person for his entire life’?"</p><p>Lan JingYi finally understood and shouted excitedly, "Oh, oh! So, so, so, the reason behind her husband being eaten by wolves the day after her engagement was that it was highly possible for A-Yan to have been to Goddess Temple to pray!"</p><p>Wei WuXian <b>struck while the iron was still hot</b>, "It was hard to say whether he was attacked by a wolf or something else. There is another factor that is unique to A-Yan: why is that, out of all of the victims, only A-Yan’s soul returned? How is she different from everyone else? The difference is that she has a relative who also lost his soul. Or, in other words, a relative replaced her! Blacksmith Zheng is A-Yan’s father, especially one who loved his daughter. So, when he saw that his daughter lost her soul, and there were no ways to deal with it, what was the only thing that he could do?"</p><p>This time, Lan SiZhui was quick to reply, "He could only entrust his hope to the Heavens. Therefore, he also went to Goddess Temple to pray, the wish being ‘I wish my daughter A-Yan’s soul can be found’!"</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke with appraise, "This is why only A-Yan’s soul came back, and also the reason behind Blacksmith Zheng losing his soul. However, although A-Yan’s soul was given back, it was still slightly fractured. After her soul returned, she had unconsciously started to imitate the goddess statue’s dance and even its smile."</p><p>The similarity of the people who lost their souls was that, most likely, they had all prayed in front of the goddess statue. The prices to pay for their wishes were their souls.</p><p>The goddess statue was originally just an average rock which happened to look like a person. Having accepted a few hundred years’ worth of worship without any reason, it had gained some powers. Yet, because it was greedy and its thoughts ventured off the wrong path, it had wanted to quickly increase its powers by eating souls. These were souls that it obtained by means of swapping wishes, and could be considered as the voluntarily sacrificed souls of the people who prayed. The two sides had a fair deal, one wish for another, and it seemed to be just and moral. This was why the pointers of the compasses of evil did not move, why the spirit-attraction flags did not work, and why the powers of the swords and talismans were all nullified—the creature in Dafan Mountain wasn’t any sprite, demon, ghost, or monster, but a goddess! This was an untitled goddess born from the hundreds of years of incense. Using the items used to deal with evil spirits and beasts to deal with it would be like using fire to distinguish fire!</p><p>Lan JingYi shouted loudly, "Wait! Before this, in the temple, someone’s soul was also taken away, but we didn’t hear him wish!"</p><p>Wei WuXian’s heart suddenly jumped. He stopped his footsteps, "Someone’s soul was taken away in the temple? Describe to me everything that happened earlier, without missing a single word."</p><p>Lan SiZhui repeated the scenario both clearly and quickly. When he heard Jin Ling’s talk of "if it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?" Wei WuXian spoke, "How is this not wishing? It most definitely is a wish!"</p><p>The others agreed with Jin Ling, so it was accepted that they had all wished the same thing. At the time, the soul-consuming goddess was right in front of them, so the wish was granted. Then, it was time to seize the sacrifice!</p><p>Suddenly, the donkey halted, and ran toward the opposite direction. Wei WuXian was, again, swung off unprepared, but grabbed on to the rope no matter what. However, in the bushes in front of him, there came a noise of chewing, complete with crunches and slurps. An immense figure was crawling in the bush, its huge head on the ground and moving using its stomach. Hearing the noise, it immediately lifted its head. Their eyes met.</p><p>In the beginning, the soul-consuming goddess’s features were vague, and there were only the shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears on its face, but after it had eaten the souls of a few cultivators all at once, it could already form clear features. It was the face of a smiling woman, with blood dripping down the corners of its mouth, munching on an arm that had been torn off.</p><p>Everyone, following the donkey, ran in the other direction.</p><p>Lan SiZhui was breaking down, "That is not supposed to happen! The YiLing Patriarch had said before, that high-level ones eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!"</p><p>Wei WuXian couldn’t help but to comment, "Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess! No rules stay the same in all situations. You can think of it as an infant—when it lacks teeth, it can only eat congee and soup, but when it grows up, it would, of course, also want to eat meat using its teeth. Her powers had just risen greatly, so naturally she’d want to taste something new!"</p><p>The soul-consuming goddess stood up from the ground. Her body was tall. She used her arms and her legs to dance with uncontrollable excitement, seeming like she was extremely pleased. Out of the blue, an arrow came with a <i>whoosh</i> and pierced her forehead, the arrowhead appearing out of the back of her head.</p><p>Hearing the sound of the bow’s release, Wei WuXian’s looked toward its direction. Jin Ling stood atop a tall hill, not far away, and already had his second feathered arrow on the bow. He pulled to the maximum, and another head-penetrating arrow was released, the strength causing the soul-consuming goddess to stagger a few steps backward.</p><p>Lan SiZhui yelled, "Young Master Jin! Send off the signal on you!"</p><p>Jin Ling turned a deaf ear to his words, determined to kill the monster. With a solemn face, he set three arrows onto the bow at once. Although she was shot in the head twice, the soul-consuming goddess was not angered, and advanced toward Jin Ling with the same smile plastered on her face. Although she danced while walking, her speed was terrifyingly fast, decreasing the distance between them by half in just a few moments. A few cultivators appeared from the side and fought with her, hindering her strides. Jin Ling shot each arrow as the goddess took each step, probably intending to use up all of the feathered arrows first, before fighting in a closer range with the soul-consuming goddess. His arm was quite steady, and his shots were accurate, but all magical weapons were useless against it!</p><p>Both Jiang Cheng and Lan WangJi were at Buddha’s Feet, waiting for any news, so who knows how long it would take for them to realize that something was wrong and come up here. To extinguish fire, water was needed. Therefore, if magical weapons didn’t work, what about dark sorcery?</p><p>Wei WuXian unsheathed the sword on Lan SiZhui’s waist and chopped off a piece of a thin bamboo, swiftly making it into a flute. He lifted it up in front of his lips and took a deep breath. The shrill timbre of the flute was like an arrow, slicing through the night sky and shooting into the clouds.</p><p>This should have been a last resort for him, but however, with the situation already like this, it didn’t matter what he summoned. It’d be fine as long as the dark energy was strong enough and the killing intent was keen enough, so that it could rip the soul-consuming goddess into pieces!</p><p>Lan SiZhui was shocked to the point that he couldn’t even move, while Lan JingYi covered his ears, "Look at what situation we are in, and you are still playing the flute? It sounds horrible!"</p><p>In the battle, three or four of the cultivators who were fighting with the soul-consuming goddess had lost their souls. Jin Ling pulled out his sword. He was already less than two <b>zhang</b> away from the soul-consuming goddess. His heart thumped like crazy and all of the blood in his body went toward his head, <i>if I can’t slice off her head with this blow, I will die here—death it is, then!</i></p><p>At the same time, from within the forests of Dafan Mountain, a tinkling sound appeared.</p><p><i>Tinkle tinkle</i>, <i>tinkle tinkle</i>. It was sometimes faster, sometimes slower; sometimes pausing, sometimes continuing. It echoed in the silent woods, resembling the sound of iron chains colliding and being dragged on the ground. It came closer, and became louder.</p><p>For some reason, the sound gave the people an uneasy sense of threat. Even the soul-consuming goddess stopped dancing. It raised it arms, blankly staring into the dark of which the sound came from.</p><p>Wei WuXian put away his flute and carefully looked into the direction.</p><p>The ominous feeling that he felt became stronger and stronger, but because it was willing to come due to the summoning, it would at least be something that listened to him.</p><p>Then, all of a sudden, the noise stopped. A figure emerged from within the darkness.</p><p>After having a clear view of the figure and the face, the cultivators’ expressions became twisted.</p><p>Even when facing the goddess statue that could suck away their souls at any minute, the group did not cower or show any fear, but however, their shouting voices right now were filled with terror that they could not conceal.</p><p>"… The ‘Ghost General’, it’s the ‘Ghost General’, it’s Wen Ning!"</p><p>The title of the "Ghost General" was as infamous as that of the YiLing Patriarch’s. Most of the time, the two appeared together.</p><p>The word only referred one person—the right-hand man of the YiLing Patriarch Wei Ying, who had helped with the tyrant’s crimes, stirred up wind and waves, played the jackal to the tiger, overturned the world with him, and most of all, was a fierce corpse who should have been turned into ashes a long time ago—Wen Ning!</p><h3>Translator’s Notes
Chapter 10 Arrogance—Part Five</h3><p><span>Wen Ning’s head was slightly lowered and his arms hung down, as if he was a marionette waiting for the orders of his master.</span></p><p><span>His face was pale and delicate, and could be considered handsome in a melancholy sort of way. However, there were no pupils in his eyes, but only a flat cloud of white, along with a number of black, cracking lines which climbed up his face from his neck, so the melancholy turned into a frightening gloom. The lower hem and sleeves of his robe were ragged and torn, showing a pair of wrists that were the same ashen shade as his face, with black cuffs and chains on both his wrists and ankles. The tinkling sound was produced when he dragged the iron chains on the ground. If he stopped moving, everything would be silent again.</span></p><p><span>It wasn’t hard to guess why all of the cultivators were scared out of their wits. Wei WuXian wasn’t any calmer than any of them either. In fact, the storm in his chest had already crashed over the top of his head.</span></p><p><span>It wasn’t that Wen Ning shouldn’t be here, but that Wen Ning shouldn’t be in this world at all. He was turned into ashes even before the siege at Luanzang Hill.</span></p><p><span>Hearing the others call Wen Ning’s name, Jin Ling’s blade, which originally pointed at the direction of the soul-consuming goddess, couldn’t help but to turn toward another direction. Seeing that he was distracted, the soul-consuming goddess gladly extended her arm and picked him up.</span></p><p><span>As Wei WuXian saw her opened mouth approaching Jin Ling, he didn’t have time to be surprised. He raised the wooden flute again, hands slightly shaking, and therefore, the notes that he played also trembled. Aside from this, the flute was roughly crafted, so the sound produced could be described as coarse and unpleasant to the ear. With two notes, Wen Ning started to move.</span></p><p><span>Within the blink of an eye, he had already shifted in front of the soul-consuming goddess. Wen Ning used the side of his palm and gave a blow. The soul-consuming goddess’s neck cracked, and although her body didn’t move, her head was twisted around because of the force. She faced the direction of which her back originally faced, but kept on smiling. Wen Ning gave another blow with his hand, and the soul-consuming goddess’s right hand, which was holding Jin Ling, was cleanly cut off.</span></p><p><span>She bowed her head to look at the wrist which broke off sharply. Instead of turning her head toward the correct direction, her entire body turned around, so that she was facing Wen Ning with her face and her back. Wei WuXian didn’t dare to relax. He took a deep breath and commanded Wen Ning to fight. However, not long had passed, and he became even more shocked.</span></p><p><span>Low-level corpses were unable to think on their own and needed his orders to lead them. Powerful fierce corpses, on the other hand, were usually delirious or unconscious. Yet, Wen Ning’s case was different—he was created by Wei WuXian, which meant that he could easily be called the strongest fierce corpse in the current world. He was the only one who was capable of thought. Aside from not fearing injuries, fire, the cold, poison, and whatever living humans feared, he was the same as a one.</span></p><p><span>However, at that moment, Wen Ning clearly wasn’t conscious!</span></p><p><span>He was both shocked and doubtful as a few cries of alarm came threshing from the crowd. Using both his arms and legs, Wen Ning had secured the soul-consuming goddess on the ground. He picked up a rock which lay on the side, taller than the height of humans, and lifted it above the soul-consuming goddess. He started to slam it onto her with great force. Each strike sounded as loud as thunder, continuing until the stone body of the soul-consuming goddess was pounded to pieces!</span></p><p><span>Amid the white pile of rocks scattered on the ground, a marble-sized sphere rolled out, radiating a circle of light in the colour of snow. It was the core that condensed in the soul-consuming goddess after she devoured the souls of ten-or-so living people. If it was brought back and handled carefully, some people, who had their souls eaten recently, could be restored back to life. However, at the moment, nobody made any effort to pick up the sphere. The blades which were aimed at the soul-consuming goddess all turned around.</span></p><p><span>One cultivator shouted at the top of his lungs, "Close in on him!"</span></p><p><span>Some people replied hesitantly, but more people were indecisive, walking backward slowly. The cultivator shouted again, "Fellow cultivators, we have to block him so that he doesn’t escape. This is Wen Ning we’re facing!"</span></p><p><span>These words convinced the crowd. What was a mere soul-consuming monster compared to the Ghost General? Although the reason as to his appearance was unknown, it was obvious that killing one thousand soul-consuming spirits couldn’t even compare to capturing one single Wen Ning. After all, this was the most obeying mad dog under the YiLing Patriarch, which bit people without making any noise. If it was captured, they would surely become famous in the cultivation world and quickly rise to success! Their original goal from attending the Dafan Mountain night-hunt was to fight for fairies, beasts, and evil spirits to add to their experiences. With the shouts, it was certain that some people were interested. Yet, the older cultivators who saw with their own eyes how wild Wen Ning was when he broke out were still cautious to make a move. Hence, the person shouted once more, "What are you scared of? It’s not as if the YiLing Patriarch is here right now."</span></p><p><span>After another thought, the words made sense to them. What was there to be scared of? His master was already in pieces!</span></p><p><span>With these remarks, the ring of swords which circled around Wen Ning had suddenly decreased in size. Wen Ning waved his arm, and the black iron chains swept past heavily, hitting the swords so that the directions of their blades slanted off to the side. Right afterward, he took a stride forward and gripped the neck of the person closest to him. With a light pull, he was lifted off the ground. Seeing the situation, Wei WuXian knew that the flute notes were too hurried and abrupt, causing him to develop a killing intent. To stifle it, Wei WuXian calmed his feelings and assuredly played another melody.</span></p><p><span>The melody had drifted over his mind naturally. It was relaxed and tranquil, contrasting with the bizarre and ear-piercing one from before. Hearing the sound, Wen Ning froze, and slowly turned toward the direction of which the melody came from. Wei WuXian stood in the same spot, staring into his pupil-less eyes.</span></p><p><span>After a moment, Wen Ning released his hand, throwing the cultivator on the ground. He let down his arms and walked toward Wei WuXian at a slow pace.</span></p><p><span>His head was lowered and he dragged a large amount of iron chains, even seeming as if he looked dejected. Wei WuXian retreated while playing the flute, guiding him to follow. Walking like this for a short distance, they moved into the forest, when suddenly, Wei WuXian caught the chilly scent of sandalwood.</span></p><p><span>Immediately after, his back bumped into someone. With an abrupt pain on his wrist, the flute melody had stopped. Wei WuXian thought, oh no, and turned around to look. His sight collided with Lan WangJi’s eyes. They were light-coloured to the point of appearing to be physically cold.</span></p><p><span>The situation looked unpromising. Lan WangJi had seen him use the flute to control corpses with his own eyes.</span></p><p><span>Lan WangJi used one hand to steadily grip Wei WuXian. Wen Ning stood still at about two zhang away from them, slowly looking around as if he was searching for the flute melody that had suddenly disappeared. From far into the forest, the light of flames and sound of human voices were spreading. Wei WuXian thought quickly and made his decision at once—so what, if Lan WangJi had seen him do this before? There were tens of thousands of people who knew how to play the flute, and the number of people who imitated the YiLing Patriarch’s method of using it to control corpses could form a sect on their own. He wouldn’t confess no matter what!</span></p><p><span>He decisively ignored the hand that gripped him and raised his arm to continue playing. This time, the tempo was faster, as if it was urging or scolding. His air was not steady and each note cracked at the end, sounding shrill and harsh. Suddenly, Lan WangJi’s hand tightened, almost causing his wrist to break. Wei WuXian’s fingers loosened from the pain and the wooden flute dropped to the ground.</span></p><p><span>Fortunately, his orders were clear enough. Wen Ning retreated quickly, disappearing into the dark and gloomy forest without a sound. Wei WuXian feared that Lan WangJi would chase after Wen Ning, so he backhandedly grabbed him instead. But, surprisingly, Lan WangJi never even looked at Wen Ning once, but stared at Wei WuXian the whole time. The </span></p><div> <span style="font-size:10px;">Advertisement</span> </div> two stood face to face, gripping each other’s arms, and stared.<p><span>At the same time, Jiang Cheng arrived.</span></p><p><span>He maintained his patience and waited for the results in Buddha’s Feet, but before he finished a single cup of tea, a disciple ran from the mountain hastily and told him about how powerful and cruel the thing in Dafan Mountain was. Hearing this, his heart jumped and he rushed up here again. He shouted, "A-Ling!"</span></p><p><span>Jin Ling almost had his soul taken away a moment ago, but he was fine now, and stood on the ground properly, "Uncle!"</span></p><p><span>Seeing that Jin Ling was safe, Jiang Cheng finally calmed down. Quickly afterward, he scolded angrily, "Didn’t you bring signal firelights with you? Don’t you know to use them when you meet something like this? What are you pretending to be strong for? Scram over here!"</span></p><p><span>Jin Ling was also angered from not capturing the soul-consuming goddess, "Weren’t you the one who told me that I have to catch it? And, if I don’t catch it, I shouldn’t go see you?"</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng seriously wanted to slap the rotten brat so hard that he went back inside his mother’s stomach. However, he really did say so himself, and he shouldn’t prove himself wrong. He could only turn to the cultivators who lay collapsed on the ground, speaking with satire, "What on Earth could it be, beating you up in such a dignified way?"</span></p><p><span>Among the cultivators who wore differently-coloured clothing, a bunch were the disguised disciples of the YunmengJiang Sect, ordered by Jiang Cheng to secretly assist Jin Ling, in case he couldn’t overcome the challenge. He was quite the responsible elder, going to such great lengths. One cultivator still hadn’t overcome the shock, "Sect, Sect Leader, it’s… It’s Wen Ning…"</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng thought that he had misheard, "What did you say?"</span></p><p><span>The person replied, "Wen Ning is back!"</span></p><p><span>In an instant, shock, disgust, anger, and disbelief all crossed Jiang Cheng’s face.</span></p><p><span>After a long while passed, he finally spoke bitterly, "The thing was ground to dust in front of everyone long ago, so how can it come back?"</span></p><p><span>The disciple spoke, "It really is Wen Ning! There’s no way for it to be wrong! My eyes couldn’t have mislooked!" He suddenly pointed to the side, "… He was the one who summoned him!"</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian was still in a stalemate with Lan WangJi. Instantly, they were the center of everyone’s attention. Jiang Cheng’s lightning-like gaze also moved toward where he stood.</span></p><p><span>After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring again. He spoke softly, "… Well, well. So you’re back?"</span></p><p><span>He let go of his left hand, and a long whip dangled from it.</span></p><p><span>The whip was extremely slender. Like its name, it was a streak of purple lightning which sizzled, as if it had just been taken away from a sky full of storm clouds. He held one side of it in his grip. As it was brandished, it seemed to let out rapid slashes of lightning!</span></p><p><span>Before Wei WuXian moved, Lan WangJi had already placed his zither in front of him. With an assured stroke, it was as if a rock had created thousands of waves in water. The sound of the zither had created countless ripples in the air, colliding with Zidian. The latter waned, and the former waxed.</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng’s considerations of "not rashly fighting with him" and "not displeasing the Lan Clan" were as if they were eaten by dogs. The night sky above Dafan Mountain’s forest was sometimes surging with purple light, and sometimes as bright as daytime; there were sometimes deafening roars of thunder, and sometimes waves of the zither’s notes. The rest of the cultivators quickly retreated into a safe distance away from the scene, standing on the side and watching. They were both frightened to death and staring in awe. After all, rarely did one have the chance to watch two famous cultivators of prominent families combat directly, which was why everyone hoped that the fight was more violent and intense. Among these thoughts, there were also some unspeakable hopes for the relationship between the Lan Clan and the Jiang Clan to fall apart, creating an interesting scenario. On the other hand, Wei WuXian waited for his chance, and suddenly sprinted off.</span></p><p><span>The crowd was extremely surprised. He hadn’t been hit by the whip yet only because Lan WangJi acted as a barricade in front of him. For him, running away like this was the same as seeking his own death!</span></p><p><span>Sure enough, as if eyes grew on his back, Jiang Cheng saw that he went outside Lan WangJi’s area of protection, and was determined to grasp the chance. With a slanting crack of his whip, Zidian slashed out with the semblance of a poisonous dragon, precisely landing on the center of his back!</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian was almost flung away from the attack of the whip. If not for the donkey blocking him, he would have directly crashed into a tree. However, after the blow, both Lan WangJi and Jiang Cheng stopped, looking quite stunned.</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian massaged the back side of his waist, and crawled up with the support of the donkey. He hid behind it and yelled angrily, "How amazing! You really can do anything when you’re from a powerful clan, can’t you? You can even beat up anyone you want! Tsk tsk tsk!"</span></p><p><span>Lan WangJi, "…"</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng, "…"</span></p><p><span>He was both shocked and enraged, "What is going on?"</span></p><p><span>One unique power of "Zidian" was that, if it hit someone who seized another’s body, their soul and physical form would immediately separate. Without any exceptions, the person’s soul would be whipped away from the body. Yet, Wei WuXian was still moving properly and running about after he was hit. The only explanation was that he did not seize this body.</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian thought, of course Zidian couldn’t whip out my soul. I didn’t seize anyone’s body, but was forcibly given one!</span></p><p><span>Bewilderment could be seen on Jiang Cheng’s face as he prepared to whip again, when Lan JingYi suddenly shouted, "Sect Leader Jiang, this should be enough, right? It was Zidian!"</span></p><p><span>It was absolutely impossible for the first strike to fail and the second to succeed, for a magical weapon of such high level like Zidian. If nothing was taken out, nothing would be taken out; if it wasn’t the seizing of a body, it wouldn’t be the seizing of a body. In fact, the shout made Jiang Cheng, who cared about maintaining his reputation above anything else, unable to make another move.</span></p><p><span>However, if it wasn’t Wei WuXian, who else could have summoned and controlled Wen Ning?</span></p><p><span>Even after thinking it over multiple times, Jiang Cheng still couldn’t accept the fact. He pointed at Wei WuXian and scowled, "Who on Earth are you?"</span></p><p><span>Finally, a meddlesome bystander added a word to the conversation. He coughed, "Sect Leader Jiang, you might have not paid attention to these things so didn’t know about this. Mo XuanYu was the LanlingJin Sect’s… Ahem, he used to be a foreign disciple of the Jin Sect. But, because his spiritual powers were low and he didn’t work hard in his studies, and also had that… He harassed a peer and was thrown out of the LanlingJin Sect. I’ve also heard that he lost his marbles? In my opinion, he was probably bitter from being unable to cultivate using the correct method, he ventured off onto the wrong path. It might not be… the YiLing Patriarch seizing this body."</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng asked, "That? Which?"</span></p><p><span>"That… As in that…"</span></p><p><span>Someone couldn’t help but to comment, "The cut-sleeve penchant!"</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng’s eyebrows twitched. His eyes which stared at Wei WuXian seemed more disgusted than before. There were more comments on the matter, but nobody dared to say them in front of Jiang Cheng.</span></p><p><span>Although he was infamous, people had to admit that, before the YiLing Patriarch Wei WuXian had betrayed the YunmengJiang Sect, he was known for being a handsome young man and a refined cultivator skilled in the six arts. He ranked the fourth among all of the young masters in the cultivation world, being described as lively and cheerful. On the other hand, the ill-tempered Sect Leader Jiang ranked five, surpassed by him, so most people weren’t so bold as to mention the matter. Wei Ying was a frivolous and wanton person who loved to have tangled ties with pretty girls. Nobody knew how many female cultivators he had troubled with his charms, but it was yet unheard of that he was also attracted to men. Even if he wanted to steal a body and seek revenge… according to Wei Ying’s taste, he definitely wouldn’t have chosen a lunatic cut-sleeve who rode a donkey while eating fruits and painted his face to resemble a hanged ghost!</span></p><p><span>Someone else muttered, "It’s not him no matter how you look at it… The flute was also played horribly… This is definitely a case of blind imitation, hearing how inferior it sounded."</span></p><p><span>During the "Sunshot Campaign," the YiLing Patriarch stood on the battlefield and played his flute throughout the whole night, controlling the ghost soldiers as if they were a living army. He swept away all obstacles—whether a human or god was standing in front of him, he had defeated them. The sound of his flute was as if it was played by an immortal, absolutely incomparable to the terrible moans made by the abandoned son of the Jin Clan. No matter how horrible Wei WuXian’s character was, it was too insulting to compare them like this.</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian felt somewhat offended, … Why don’t you try playing a few notes after ten-or-so years of not practicing, using a lousy flute made with just a few slices and cuts? If it sounds pleasant, I’ll kneel in front of you!</span></p><p><span>A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. After thinking it through, he made a gesture. The disciples understood his intention and came over.</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian hurriedly jumped behind Lan WangJi with the donkey, and exclaimed while holding a hand over his chest, "Ah! What are you going to do to me?"</span></p><p><span>Lan WangJi gave him a look, putting up with his extremely discourteous, noisy, and exaggerated behaviour.</span></p><p><span>Seeing that he had no means of moving over, Jiang Cheng spoke, "Second Young Master Lan, are you purposely making it difficult for me?"</span></p><p><span>Everyone in the cultivation world knew that the young leader of the Jiang Clan watched out for Wei WuXian in an almost crazed manner. He would rather catch the wrong person than let go of any possibility, and took anyone who seemed like they held the soul of Wei WuXian away to the YunmengJiang Sect, inflicting severe torture on his victim. If he wanted to take someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their life. Lan SiZhui spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang. The evidence is clear—Mo XuanYu’s body was not taken. If so, why should you want to trouble an unimportant person such as him?"</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng replied coldly, "Then, why is Second Young Master Lan going to such great lengths to protect an unimportant person such as him?"</span></p><p><span>Out of the blue, Wei WuXian made a few sounds of suppressed laughter.</span></p><p><span>He spoke, "Sect Leader Jiang, umm, I’ll feel very troubled if you keep on bothering me like this."</span></p><p><span>Jiang Cheng’s eyebrow twitched again. His instincts told him that this person would definitely not say anything that pleased him.</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian spoke, "Thank you for being so enthusiastic. However, your thoughts are quite off. Even if I am attracted to men, I don’t like just any type of man, much less follow anyone who waves at me. For example, I’m not interested in ones like you."</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian was purposely trying to disgust him. Jiang Cheng had always hated being defeated while compared with others, no matter how pointless the comparison was. If anyone said that he wasn’t as good as someone else, he’d be angered and not think about anything else until he won against the person. As expected, Jiang Cheng’s face darkened, "Oh, really? Then, may I ask which type you’re interested in?"</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian replied, "Which type? Well, I am very much attracted to people like HanGuang-Jun."</span></p><p><span>Lan WangJi could not tolerate this sort of frivolous and foolish joke at all. If he felt disgusted, he would definitely draw a line between them and keep his distance. Disgusting two people at once—this was killing two birds with one stone!</span></p><p><span>However, as Lan WangJi heard this, he turned around.</span></p><p><span>His face was emotionless, "Mark your words."</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian, "Hmm?"</span></p><p><span>Lan WangJi turned back, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, "I will take this person back to the Lan Sect."</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian, "…"</span></p><p><span>Wei WuXian, "…Huh?"</span></p><h3>Translator’s Notes
Chapter 11 Refinement—Part One</h3><p>The residence of the Lan Sect was located in a remote mountain outside the city of Gusu.</p><p>Mist constantly enveloped the white walls and black roofs of the buildings, which stretched along the picturesque garden of the waterside pavilion, as if it was an ocean of clouds in the immortal realm. At dawn, the first rays of the morning sun shone through the hazy billows of mist that drifted far and wide, perfectly complementing its name—the "<b>Cloud Recesses</b>."</p><p>In such a tranquil place, one’s heart would be like still water. Only the echoes of the bell tower could be heard vibrating through the air. Although it was incomparable to a holy temple, the cold mountains still send forth a lonesome air of Zen.</p><p>However, the ambience was suddenly shattered by a long wail, giving a few shudders down the backs of the disciples who were training or doing their <b>morning readings</b>. They couldn’t help but to glance at the direction of the main entrance, where the sound came from.</p><p>Wei WuXian was crying in front of the entrance, clinging onto his donkey. Lan JingYi spoke, "Stop crying! You said that you liked HanGuang-Jun yourself, so what are you wailing for, now that he has taken you back?"</p><p>Wei WuXian pulled a long face.</p><p>He never had the chance to summon Wen Ning again, after the night at Dafan Mountain. Neither did he have any opportunities to find out why Wen Ning was unconscious or why he had appeared in this world again, before he was carried back by Lan WangJi.</p><p>When he was in his early youth, he had came to study at the Lan Sect for three months, along with the disciples of other clans, so he had experienced the GusuLan Sect’s dull, boring atmosphere in person. In fact, he still shuddered at the thought of the three-thousand-or-so sect rules which crammed onto the Wall of Discipline. As he was tugged up the mountain, he passed by the rock wall again, and saw that a thousand more were carved on. Now, there were more than four thousand. Four thousand!</p><p>Lan JingYi spoke, "There, there! Stop making a ruckus. Noise is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses."</p><p>He was making loud noises exactly because he didn’t want to enter the Cloud Recesses!</p><p>If he was dragged inside, it would be extremely difficult for him to come outside again. Back then, when he came to study, all of the disciples were given a jade token for passage. Only with the token, would a person be able to enter and leave freely, or else they couldn’t pass through the protective barrier of the Cloud Recesses. After ten years had passed, the security could only have gotten stricter, instead of looser.</p><p>Lan WangJi stood still in front of the entrance, turning a deaf ear to him, and watched the scene with an indifferent look. When Wei WuXian’s voice had somewhat quieted, he spoke, "Let him cry. When he becomes tired, drag him inside."</p><p>Wei WuXian hugged the donkey and cried even harder, bumping his head against it.</p><p>How misfortunate! He thought that with a whip from Zidian, all of his doubts would be cleared. At the moment, he felt satisfied with himself and, along with his mouthful of teasing words, he offhandedly gave Lan WangJi a few repulsive comments. Yet, who knew that Lan WangJi didn’t follow the routine he had followed before? What was this all about? Was it possible that, after so many years, his level of cultivation had increased, but he became more intolerant?</p><p>Wei WuXian spoke, "I’m attracted to men, so with so many beautiful young men in your sect, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to control myself."</p><p>Lan SiZhui tried to reason with him, "Young Master Mo, it was for your sake that HanGuang-Jun brought you here. If you do not follow us, Sect Leader Jiang will not be willing to let the matter go. During these years, there were countless people whom he caught and took back to <b>Lotus Pier</b>, and none of those people were ever let out."</p><p>Lan JingYi spoke, "That is right. You have seen Sect Leader Jiang’s methods, have you not? They are quite cruel…" He paused here, remembering the rule that stated "talking behind other people’s backs" was prohibited, and secretly glanced at Lan WangJi. Seeing that HanGuang-Jun didn’t show any means to chastise him, he was bold enough as to mumble on, "It is all because of the unhealthy trend that the YiLing Patriarch started. There are so many people who copy him and cultivate that foolish method. With Sect Leader Jiang being so suspicious of everyone, is it even possible for him to catch all of them? Just look at you and your flute skills… <i>Heh</i>."</p><p>The <i>heh</i> told more words than what any sentences could describe. Wei WuXian felt like he really needed to defend himself, "Well, actually, you might not believe me, but I usually play the flute quite well…"</p><p>Before he finished his defense, a few white-clothed cultivators walked through the door.</p><p>Each person wore the Lan Sect’s uniform, with flowing, plain robes as white as snow. The man standing in front was tall and slender. Hanging on his waist was a <b>xiao</b> made of white jade, aside from his sword. As Lan WangJi saw them, he slightly bowed his head to show respect, and the person did the same. He looked at Wei WuXian and smiled, "WangJi never brings guests home. This is?"</p><p>As the person stood in front of Lan WangJi, it was as if they were mirror images. However, the color of Lan WangJi’s eyes was extremely light, as if they were tinted crystals, while his eyes were of a gentler, darker shade.</p><p>This was <b>Lan Huan</b>, the leader of the GusuLan Sect—<b>ZeWu-Jun</b>, <b>Lan XiChen</b>.</p><p>Each place brought up the same kind of people. The GusuLan Sect had always been known for nurturing a lot of handsome men, especially the <b>two jades</b> of the clan’s current generation. Even though the two were not twins, they looked extremely similar to each other, which made it difficult to tell who was the superior one. Yet, although their appearances were similar, their personalities were not. Lan XiChen was gentle and benevolent, while Lan WangJi was overly aloof and stern, keeping everyone at an arm’s length and being the opposite of amiable. This was why, in the list of the best-looking young masters in the cultivation world, the former ranked first, and the latter ranked second.</p><p>Lan XiChen proved himself worthy of being the leader of a sect. Even as he saw Wei WuXian embracing a donkey, he did not appear to be affected at all. Wei WuXian let go of the donkey with a beaming smile on his face and approached him. The GusuLan Sect placed a lot of regard on the order of seniority. If he talked nonsense to Lan XiChen, he would most definitely be chased off the Cloud Recesses. However, when he just got ready to show his capabilities, Lan WangJi looked at him. Immediately, his lips were sealed close.</p><p>Lan WangJi turned around and continued his polite conversation with Lan XiChen, "Brother, are you going to visit LianFang-Zun again?"</p><p>Lan XiChen nodded, "To negotiate about the next Discussion </p><p>Wei WuXian was unable to open his mouth, so he sourly walked back to the donkey.</p><p>LianFang-Zun was the current leader of the LanlingJin Sect—Jin GuangYao, the only illegitimate son whom Jin GuangShan approved of. He was Jin Ling’s youngest uncle, being half-blooded brothers with both Jin Ling’s father, Jin ZiXuan, and Mo XuanYu. However, although they were both illegitimate sons, they were extremely different. While Mo XuanYu was in Mo Village, sleeping on the ground and eating leftovers, Jin GuangYao was sitting in the highest seat of the cultivation world, <b>summoning the winds and controlling the rain</b>. If he wanted to talk to Lan XiCheng or initiate a Discussion Conference, he could do so however he wanted to. Then again, no wonder the sect leaders of the Lan and Jin sects personally went along quite well—after all, they were <b>sworn brothers</b>.</p><p>Lan XiChen spoke, "Uncle has taken and examined what you brought back from Mo Village."</p><p>Hearing the words "Mo Village", Wei WuXian automatically started to pay attention. Unexpectedly, he felt his lips part. Lan XiChen had released his silence and spoke to Lan WangJi, "It is not often that you bring somebody home, being in such good spirits. You need to treat your guest with courtesy, unlike this."</p><p><i>Good spirits?</i> Wei WuXian carefully looked at Lan WangJi’s face.</p><p><i>How could he tell that he was in good spirits?!</i></p><p>After watching Lan XiChen leave, Lan WangJi spoke, "Drag him inside."</p><p>Then, Wei WuXian was, indeed, dragged into a place which he swore not to step inside again.</p><p>In the past, only distinguished cultivators had came to visit the Lan Sect, and never had anyone seen a guest like him before. The juniors all crowded around him, interested by this new turn of events. If not for the sect rules being so strict, there would definitely be bouts of laughter along the journey. Lan JingYi asked, "HanGuang-Jun, where should we drag him to?"</p><p>Lan WangJi replied, "The <b>jingshi</b>."</p><p>"… The jingshi?!"</p><p>Wei WuXian didn’t know what was going on. The rest stared among themselves, afraid to make any sound.</p><p>It was HanGuang-Jun’s bedroom and study, which he had never invited anyone inside…</p><p>The furniture in the jingshi was extremely simplistic, without any unnecessary belongings. On the accordion partition, there was a painting of drifting clouds, floating and morphing with its fine brushwork. A <b>guqin</b> table lay horizontally in front of it. On top of the three-legged incense stand in the corner, a hollowed out incense burner made of white jade emitted soft, lingering smoke, filling the whole room with the chilling scent of sandalwood.</p><p>Lan WangJi went to see his uncle to discuss serious matters, while Wei WuXian was pushed into the room. Right after Lan WangJi left, Wei WuXian also went outside. He strolled around the Cloud Recesses, and found that, as he had expected, without the jade token for passage, even if he climbed up the white walls of a few zhangs’ height, he would be immediately flung off by the barrier, attracting the attentions of the nearby patrolmen at once.</p><p>Wei WuXian could only go back to the jingshi.</p><p>He never really worried about anything, no matter what he came across. He walked around the jingshi with his arms behind his back, firmly believing that, sooner or later, there would be a solution. The refreshing scent of the sandalwood was cold and clear. Although it wasn’t sentimental, it had its own way of tugging one’s heartstrings. With nothing to do, he started to think random thoughts, <i>Lan Zhan happened to smell like this scent. His clothes were probably tinged with the fragrance when he was practicing his guqin or meditating here</i>.</p><p>After these thoughts, he couldn’t help but to shift closer to the incense stand at the corner. With this shift, he became aware that, beneath his foot, one piece of wood was significantly different from the other places. Wei WuXian bent down and started to knock here and there, due to curiosity. In his past life, he did a lot of digging pits, excavating graves, and finding holes in the ground. After a few moments, he turned a piece of board up.</p><p>Finding a secretive space in Lan WangJi’s room was already more than enough to surprise Wei WuXian. However, after he saw what was hidden inside, he was even more surprised.</p><p>After flipping the wooden board open, a mellow aroma had filled the air, unnoticeable when it was mixed with the sandalwood scent. Seven or eight black jars were packed into a small, square cellar.</p><p>Sure enough, Lan WangJi had changed—he even started to hide liquor!</p><p>The Cloud Recesses prohibited liquor. Because of this, the first time they met, they had a small fight. Lan WangJi ended up spilling a jar of the "Emperor’s Smile" which he brought back from the city of Gusu.</p><p>After he returned from Gusu to Yunmeng, Wei WuXian never had the chance to drink the "Emperor’s Smile" made exclusively by Gusu’s experts ever again. He had thought about this for his entire life, always telling himself to come back to taste it if he ever received the opportunity. But, the opportunity never came. Hidden in here was no other than the liquor—he didn’t even need to open and taste it, and knew that it was an "Emperor’s Smile" just by the smell of it. He would never have thought that he would find a liquor-hiding vault in the room of a person as scrupulous and abstinent as Lan WangJi’s. Karma really outdid itself with this reincarnation.</p><p>As Wei WuXian exclaimed upon the matter, he finished one jar already. He had a high tolerance for alcohol and loved to drink. After he came to the conclusion that Lan WangJi still owed him a jar of Emperor’s Smile and it was time to collect his interests, he drank another jar. When he was just starting to get tipsy, a thought suddenly passed his mind. How hard was it to get the jade token? In the Cloud Recesses, there was a cold spring with a lot of miraculous effects, for the male cultivators to use. It was said to be able to calm down one’s heart, clear one’s mind, <b>quench one’s fire</b>, and so on. When he went into the cold spring, he was bound to take off his clothing. Then, with his clothing already off, there would be no where to put it aside from holding it in his mouth, which was definitely out of question.</p><p>Wei WuXian clapped his hands and finished the last gulp in the jar. After searching, he found that there were no places to throw it away, so he filled the empty jars with clear water and sealed the lids again, stuffing them back inside and closing the wooden board. With this done, he ventured out to find the jade token.</p><p>Although the Cloud Recesses had been burnt down before the "Sunshot Campaign" happened, the rebuilt structure of the area was the same. Wei WuXian walked through the winding paths from memory, and soon found the cold spring, situated at a quiet and obscure place.</p><p>The disciple on duty for watching over the cold spring was quite a distance away. The female cultivators were in another quarter of the Cloud Recesses and didn’t come here to use it. Nobody in the Lan Sect did an impudent thing such as coming to the cold spring to watch others bathe, anyway. Therefore, the security wasn’t strict at all and it was extremely easy to overcome, making it easy for Wei WuXian to go and shame himself. And, coincidentally, there was a set of white clothes on top of the white rocks behind the crisscrossed eupatorium grasses, meaning that someone had already came.</p><p>The set of white clothes was folded extremely neatly, almost making one’s hair rise. It looked like a snow-white piece of tofu—even the forehead ribbon was folded without any creases. As Wei WuXian put his hand in and searched for the jade token of passage, he was almost reluctant to mess it up. Afterward, stepping over the bushes of eupatorium grasses, his gaze passed over the spring, and suddenly halted.</p><p>The water in the cold spring was freezing. Unlike a hot spring, there wasn’t any vapour to shroud one’s eyes, so it was possible to take a clear look at the upper half of the person in the spring who stood with his back to him.</p><p>The person in the spring was quite tall. His skin was fair and his hair was black, wet and gathered to one side. The lines which outlined his waist and back were smooth, graceful yet holding strength. In simpler terms, he was a beauty.</p><p>However, Wei WuXian was definitely not stunned and unable to avert his gaze because he was looking at a bathing beauty. No matter how beautiful he was, he wouldn’t actually be attracted to men. Really, it was the things on the person’s back that made him unable to avert his gaze.</p><p>There were dozens of intersecting scars.</p><p>They were the scars from a discipline whip. In the different sects, there was a type of discipline whip to punish disciples of that sect who made significant mistakes. After the torture, the scars would never disappear. Although Wei WuXian had never been hit by a discipline whip before, Jiang Cheng had been. Even after desperately trying, he couldn’t make the disgracing imprint fade one bit. This was why Wei WuXian would never misremember scars like this.</p><p>Usually, with only one or two strikes of the discipline whip, it would already be enough of a punishment for the bearer to remember it for their whole life, never to make the same mistake ever again. The amount of scars on this person’s back accumulated thirty at the least. Just what sort of monstrous crime did he commit for him to be whipped so many times? If it really was a monstrous crime, why didn’t they kill him?</p><p>At the moment, the person in the spring turned around. Beneath his collarbone and near his heart, there was a clear sear. Seeing the sear, Wei WuXian’s shock instantly reached its highest peak.</p><h3>Translator’s Notes
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