The Founder of Diabolism - Chapter 30

Chapter 30 Dew
Part Three

One day, the Yueyang Claris leader went out
night-hunting with a few family members for
about halfa month. İn the middle of the night,
vvithout any vvarning, they received the bad
news and immediately hurried back. After the
mourning, they only found out that someone
purposely destroyed their protective array and
let in a group of povverful evil spirits. Other
than that, they knew nothing.

İn most cases, only few people knew about
the tragedies that happened in smaller clans,
but the circumstances back then were
different. The Sunshot Campaign fınished long
ago, while the siege at Luanzang Hill only just
ended. On the surface, the situation seemed
rather stable. With the sudden disclosure of
this event, the entire cultivation world was
bubbling with discussion, some even
exaggerating that it was the revenge of the
revived YiLing Patriarch. Wei WuXian.
However, there vvasn’t any evidence, so it had
been impossible to fınd the killer. Of course,
Xiao XingChen didn't sit back and do nothing.
He volunteered to be responsible for the
matter and fınd out the truth for Chang Ping.
After a month, the murderer was fınally
discovered.
The murderer’s name was Xue Yang.

Xue Yang was even younger than Xiao
XingChen, nothing more than just a boy
Despite this, he definitely didn’t tone down on
his cruelty just because he was young. Ever
since the age of fifteen, he had been a
delinquent in the area of Kuizhou, known far
and wide for his radiant smile, inhumane
means, and merciless personality. Everyone’s
expressions changed whenever he was
brought up in a conversation. When he was a
child dwelling in the streets, it was said that he
developed a hatred that lasted for years
toward Chang Ping’s father. He committed this
crime in vengeance and for some other
reasons.
After Xiao XingChen found out the truth, he
went across three provinces and Xue Yang
was still happily picking fights with others.
Taking advantage of the Discussion Conference
that was happening at the Jinling Tower of the
Lanlingjin Sect’s residence, when the most
prominent sects met up and discussed
cultivation methods, Xiao XingChen brought
him over, explained the situation, and
demanded severe punishment.

With his straightforward list of evidence, most
sects didn’t have any objections, except for
one—the Lanlingjin Sect.
Wei WuXian, “Objecting in such a situation
would be placing itself against the entire
world. Could it be that Xue Yang was a favorite
with Jin GuangShan?”
Lan Wangji, “A guest disciple.”
Wei WuXian, “He was a foreign disciple? Back
then, the Lanlingjin Sect was already one of
the four most prominent sects, right? Why
would they have invited a delinquent to be a
guest disciple?”
Lan Wangji, "This is the second connection.”
He stared into Wei WuXian’s eyes, "Because of
the Stygian Tiger Seal.”
Wei WuXian’s heart immediately skipped a
beat.
The phrase was definitely not a stranger to
him. On the contrary, nobody was more
familiar to those three words than him.

Among all of the spiritual weapons he had
forged when he was still alive, this was the
scariest and most famous one.
When Wei WuXian first created it, he didn’t
think too much about it. Single-handedly
controlling corpses and spirits, of course he’d
occasionally grow tired. Remembering a rare
piece of iron ore he happened to have seen in
a beast’s stomach, he used it to cast a Tiger
Seal.
But, after the Tiger Seal had been created, Wei
WuXian only used it once before finding out
that it did more harm than good.
The Stygian Tiger Seal’s powers were
considerably greater than what he had
imagined. He originally wanted to use it to
assist him, but its powers were almost
exceeding him, its creator. Moreover, it didn’t
settle on one single master. This meant that if
someone got hold of it, no matter who they
were, whether they were good or bad, friend
or foe, they were able to use it.

After the seal had been forged, it wasn't that
Wei WuXian never thought about destroying
it, but since the seal was created with much
difficulty, it would’ve been extremely hard to
destroy, costing him both time and energy.
And. back then, he had already vaguely
understood that he wasn’t in a good situation
and would be hated by everyone sooner or
later. With a weapon as appalling as the
Stygian Tiger Seal, others didn’t dare to act
rashly, so he temporarily kept it. He separated
the seal into two halves, making it so that they
could only be of use when they were put
together, and never used without careful
consideration.
He had only used it two times before, and both
times caused great bloodshed. The first time
was during the Sunshot Campaign. After using
it for the second time, he finally decided to
destroy one half of the seal. Before he could
completely destroy the other half, the siege at
Luanzang Hill happened, and it had since then
been beyond his capabilities.

Toward his own creation, Wei WuXian was
confident to say that even if the sect that got
hold of it, made a temple for it, and offered it
incense every single day, the remaining half of
the Tiger Seal was just a piece of scrap iron.
However, Lan Wangji told him something
shocking—it appeared that Xue Yang could
rebuild the other half of the seal!
Although Xue Yang was young, he was also
quite clever, a bizarre eccentric. The Lanlingjin
Sect discovered that he could use the
remaining half of the seal to roughly piece
together the other half. Even though the
recreated version wasn’t as powerful and
couldn’t be used for as long, it could already
result in terrible catastrophes.
Wei WuXian understood, "The Lanlingjin
needed to keep Xue Yang so that he could
continue to restore the Stygian Tiger Seal, so
they had to protect him.”

Perhaps, Xue Yang destroying the Chang Clan
wasn’t entirely to avenge what they did to him
when he was young. He might have been
testing on this clan of live humans what
exactly was the extent of the restored Stygian
Tiger Seal’s powers!
No wonder the rumors connected the case to
him. Wei WuXian could almost imagine those
cultivators clenching their teeth, "That Wei
WuXian! If he didn’t make this, our world
wouldn’t have encountered so many
disasters!!!"
Returning to the original thread of
conversation, they continued about what
happened at the Jinling Tower.
Although the Lanlingjin Sect was determined
on protecting Xue Yang, Xiao XingChen didn’t
waver either. As the stalemate continued, they
finally startled ChiFeng-Zun, Nie Mingjue, who
didn’t intend on participating in the Discussion
Conference. He hurried over to Jinling Tower
from far away.

In spite of Nie Mingjue being a junior to Jin
CuangShan, he conducted himself in a strict
manner and refused to tolerate Xue Yang no
matter what. With an angry lecture, Jin
CuangShan was left with no words and a great
deal of embarrassment. Nie Mingjue, as the
irritable person he was, unsheathed his saber
on the spot with the intention of killing Xue
Yang. Even when his sworn younger brother
LianFang-Zun, Jin GuangYao, attempted to ease
the situation, he ordered him to leave. After a
harsh scolding, Jin GuangYao hid behind Lan
XiChen, not daring to say anything else. In the
end, the Lanlingjin Sect could only give in.
Ever since Xue Yang was brought to Jinling
Tower by Xiao XingChen, he hadn't been
scared at all. Even when Nie Mingjue's saber
was pressed against his neck, he still had a grin
on his face. Before he was taken away, he
spoke affectionately to Xiao XingChen,
"Daozhang, you wouldn’t forget me, would
you? Let’s wait and see.”

At this point, Wei WuXian knew that the “wait
and see” would make Xiao XingChen pay an
agonizing price.
The Lanlingjin Sect was indeed the sect with
the thickest face. Although, on Jinling Tower, it
promised in front of all of the sects that Xue
Yang would be executed, when it left Nie
Mingjue’s sight, it immediately shut Xue Yang
into the dungeons and changed the original
decision to a life sentence. Hearing about the
matter, Nie Mingjue was enraged and pressed
on them again. The Lanlingjin Sect rambled
about, refusing to give him Xue Yang no matter
how hard he tried. All of the other sects
watched them from the sidelines, but, shortly
afterward, Nie Mingjue passed away from Qi
deviation.
He cultivated at a faster speed than any other
past leader of the Nie Sect, and also died
sooner than any of them.
Now that the person who was most difficult to
deal with was gone, the Lanlingjin Sect
became more and more reckless and started
to think of worse ideas. Jin CuangShan started
to try as hard as he could to get Xue Yang out
of the dungeons so that he could continue to
restore and examine the Stygian Tiger Seal.
However, this wasn't exactly something to be
proud of. It was impossible for him to save the
murderer of an entire clan from the dungeons
without a valid reason.
So, they turned their attention to Chang Ping.
From coercion to harassment, in the end, the
Lanlingjin Sect finally pressured Chang Ping
into correcting his words, invalidating all of his
past speeches. He announced that the wiping
out of the Chang Clan had nothing to do with
Xue Yang.

Hearing the news, Xiao XingChen visited him
to inquire upon the matter. Chang Ping
responded helplessly, “What can I do aside
from this? If I don't tolerate it, the rest of our
clan’s people wouldn't be safe for long, i’m
really grateful, Daozhang, but... please don’t
help me anymore. Now, helping me would be
harming me. I don’t want the YueyangChang
Sect to end yet.”
And thus, the tiger had been set free back to
the mountains.
Wei WuXian stayed silent.
If he were Chang Ping, he wouldn’t have cared
how prominent or powerful the Lanlingjin Sect
was, or how much glory the road ahead
offered him, and he wouldn’t have let the
matter go. Instead, he would’ve went to the
dungeons on his own, cut Xue Yang up so that
he was nothing more than a puddle of flesh on
the ground, and summoned his soul back to
repeat the process to the point that he
regretted ever being born in this world.

But, not everyone was like him, preferring to
perish together with his enemy. Some of the
Chang Clan’s people were still alive. Chang
Ping was also still young, single, and childless,
having just took his first few steps on the path
of cultivation. No matter if he was threatened
with the lives of his remaining family members
or his own future and cultivation, he had to
think carefully.
Of course, he wasn’t Chang Ping himself. He
couldn’t be angered or worried in place of
Chang Ping, and he couldn’t bear Chang Ping’s
share of mental and physical torment.
After Xue Yang had been released, he started
to take revenge again. However, this time, the
revenge wasn’t on Xiao XingChen himself.

Xiao XingChen left the mountain alone and had
no family. He only had a friend that he met
afterward, named Song Lan. Song Lan was
also a cultivator of the time. He was a
righteous, determined person and had a fair
amount of appraisal. Both of them wanted to
build a sect that valued common ideals instead
of blood ties, which made them the closest
and most like-minded of friends. The people of
the time described them as such-Xiao
XingChen the bright moon and gentle breeze;
Song ZiChen the distant snow and cold frost.
Xue Yang put his hands to this side. Repeating
his past technique, he wiped out the Baixue
Temple where Song Lan grew up and studied
at, and used poison to blind Song Lan’s eyes.
This time, with his experience of wiping out a
sect, he made sure to not leave any evidence.
Although everybody knew that he was the one
who did it, what would be the use of that?
There wasn’t any evidence. And, with Jin
CuangShan’s deliberate protection and the
death of the violent ChiFeng-Zun, nobody
could do anything about him.

Wei WuXian found this a bit strange. Although
Lan Wangji looked as if he didn’t care about
anything, from Wei WuXian’s past experiences
with him, he absolutely couldn’t stand
wrongdoings, possibly even more than Nie
HuaiSang’s brother. Back then, the Lanlingjin
Sect had some dishonest ways of doing things,
and Lan Wangji never bothered to be subtle
about them. Even until now, he always refused
to go to their sect’s Discussion Conferences. If
two cruel massacres happened, the news
would’ve probably spread over the entire
cultivational world and Lan Wangji definitely
wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to them.
Why did he not go and give Xue Yang what he
deserved?
Just as he was about to ask, he remembered
the scars that the discipline whip gave him.

One lash of the discipline whip would already
be quite severe. If Lan Wangji made some sort
of a grave mistake and received so many
lashes, he had probably been grounded for a
few years. It was likely that he was either going
through his punishment or waiting for his
wounds to heal during the years when the
incidents happened. No wonder he said had
only "heard” about what happened.
For some reason, in his heart, Wei WuXian
cared quite a lot about those scars. However, it
was inconvenient for him to ask directly, so he
had to hold his thoughts for now, “Then, what
happened to the Daozhang Xiao XingChen
afterwards?”
What happened afterward was certainly a
tragic ending. When he left the mountain and
his teacher, Xiao XingChen vowed that he
would never go back again. He was a man of
his words, but since Song Lan was not only
blind but also badly injured, he broke his vow
and carried Song Lan back to BaoShan
SanRen’s residence, asking her to save his
friend.

For the sake that they were once teacher and
pupil, BaoShan SanRen agreed. Thus, Xiao
XingChen left the mountain once more, and he
was never seen again.
A year later, Song Lan also left the mountain.
To everyone’s surprise, his eyes, which were
completely blinded, saw light again. However,
it wasn’t that BaoShan SanRen’s medical skills
created a miracle, but that Xiao XingChen...
dug his own eyes out and gave them to Song
Lan, who was only involved in this because of
him.

Song Lan originally wanted to seek revenge on
Xue Yang. At this time, Jin CuangShan had
already passed away. Jin GuangYao took over
the Lanlingjin Sect and the position of Sect
Leader. To show that things were going to be
different, the first thing he did after he came to
power was to get rid of Xue Yang. Aside from
never mentioning the Stygian Tiger Seal again,
he also made amends to restore the sect’s
reputation, suppressing the rumors. Song Lan
went to search for his past friend's
whereabouts. At first, people still heard talk
about where he traveled to. After some time,
he also disappeared. Moreover, the
YueyangChang Sect was a small clan that was
generally unheard of. And thus, a lot of things
gradually faded away.

Having finished listening to the long story, Wei
WuXian sighed softly. A feeling of regret
sprouted inside him, Meeting such an end
because of something not related to him at all,
it really was... If Xiao XingChen was born a
few years earlier or if I died a few years later,
things wouldn’t have had to be like this. If I
was alive, how would I have not taken part in
the matter? How would I have not made
friends with such a person?
Immediately afterward, he laughed at himself
bitterly, I would’ve done something? What
could I have done? If I was still alive back
then, perhaps the YueyangChang Sect’s case
didn’t even need to be investigated before
everyone decided that I did it. If the Daozhang
Xiao XingChen bumped into me on the streets
and I chatted with him, invite him to drink
together, it’s likely that he’d hit me with his
horsetail whisk, haha.

They had already walked past the Chang
Residence, toward a cemetery nearby. Wei
WuXian saw the dark-red character of
“Chang" on the pailou and asked, “Then, why
did Chang Ping die afterward? Who killed the
remaining members of his clan?”
Before Lan Wangji could answer, a series of
bangs came from amid the blue-tinted dusk.
The noise sounded a lot like slamming on
doors, but it wasn’t. The bangs were carried
out with force and at a fast pace, without a
moment of rest. They sounded somewhat
muffled, as if there was something separating
them from the outside world.
Their faces immediately changed.
The fifty-or-so people of the YueyangChang
Sect were currently lying in their coffins,
slamming on their coffin lids from the inside. It
was at night they were frightened to death—
they madly slammed on the doors, but there
wasn’t anyone to let them out.
This was the slamming on coffins in the Chang
Clan’s cemetery that the liquor shop’s waiter
talked about!

However, the waiter said that the haunting
was ten years ago and stopped long before
now. Why would the slamming happen to
start again when they came?
Without passing any words between them,
Wei WuXian and Lan Wangji both softened
their breathing, stealthily moving without
making a sound.
Propping themselves against the pillars of the
pailou, they both saw that, in the center of the
cemetery, there was a hole amid the
tombstones.
It was a deep, recently-created hole with piles
of dirt surrounding it. Faint noises came from
within the hole.
Someone was digging out a grave.
The two of them held their breaths, attentively
waiting for the person in the hole to come out
on their own.
Before an hour passed, two people hopped up
from inside the opened grave.

Wei WuXian and Lan Wangji could tell that
these were two people only because they had
good vision. These two appeared as if they
were conjoined twins. One carrying the other
on their back, they were tightly connected
together. With both of them wearing entirely
black clothes, it was extremely hard to tell the
two apart.
The person that hopped up had long legs and
long arms, standing with his back toward
them. The one that he carried seemed lifeless,
their head and limbs hanging down. This was
only natural. Since the person was dug out
from a grave, then it must have been dead.
Lifeless was what should’ve been expected of
it.
As he thought, the gravedigger suddenly spun
around and saw them.
There was a mass of thick, black mist over the
man’s face, making it so that nobody could see
how their face and features looked!

Wei WuXian knew that he must have casted
some sort of strange spell to block his face.
Lan Wangji had already unsheathed Bichen,
darted into the cemetery, and started the fight.
The gravedigger's reaction was extremely
quick. Seeing the attack of Bichen’s blue sword
glare, he made a hand seal and also
summoned a sword glare. The sword glare
was the same as his face, surrounded by
dense mist, and made it so that it was
impossible to see what its color and style was.
With a corpse on his back, the gravedigger
fought in a strange way. The two sword glares
clashed a few times. Lan Wangji summoned
Bichen back and held it in his hand, a layer of
frost climbing over his face.
Wei WuXian knew why his face suddenly
turned cold. It was because, during the fight,
even an outsider like him could tell that the
gravedigger was extremely familiar with Lan
Wangji's sword moves!

Lan Wangji said nothing. Bichen’s attacks were
deeper and deeper, attacking with tremendous
force. The gravedigger fell back a few times. As
if he knew that, with a dead person on his
back, he wouldn’t be able to win against Lan
Wangji and, if they continued to fight, he’d be
captured alive, he suddenly fished out a dark-
blue talisman from his waist.
A Transportation Talisman!
This type of talisman could instantly transport
someone to hundreds of miles away, but it
also expended a great amount of spiritual
energy. It would take a long time for the user
to regain their energy. Those with spiritual
energy that wasn’t powerful enough wouldn’t
be able to use them. Thus, although they were
of very high quality, it was rare for anybody to
use them. Seeing that he was about to escape,
Wei WuXian hurriedly clapped twice, got
down on one knee, and slammed his fist on
the ground.

The strength of his punch passed through
layers of dirt, reached the depths of the soil,
and penetrated the thick coffin lids, provoking
the corpses trapped inside. With crackling
noises, four bloodied arms shot up from the
ground, grabbing both of the gravedigger’s
legs!
The gravedigger seemed as if he didn’t care at
all. He poured his spiritual energy toward the
bottom of his legs, blasting the four corpse
hands away. Wei WuXian pulled out his
bamboo flute. A shrill, piercing melody ripped
open the curtain of darkness that had fallen.
Two human heads emerged from the ground
along with their bodies, climbing upward from
the gravedigger’s legs and winding around his
body as if they were snakes. Opening their
mouths, they prepared to bite down at his
neck and arms.
The gravedigger snorted with disdain, as if he
was saying “what a petty trick”, and sent
spiritual energy throughout his body. Yet, this
time, only after he released his energy did he
realize that he had been fooled.

He sent the corpse that he carried on his back
flying off as well!
Wei WuXian laughed uncontrollably as he
smacked the tombstone, while Lan Wangji
caught the flaccid corpse with one hand and
attacked with Bichen using the other. Seeing
that what he had just dug out had been
snatched away, that he couldn’t even win solo
against Lan Wangji, let alone the mischief of
another person, he didn’t dare to stay any
longer. He hurling the Transportation Talisman
on the ground. After a loud noise, blue flames
surged up toward his sky. His figure
disappeared into the fire.
Wei WuXian knew that the gravedigger had a
Transportation Talisman on him, which meant
that, even if they caught him, he could find an
opportunity to escape. The corpse that he dug
out was already a clue, so he didn’t have any
regrets. He walked over to Lan Wangji. “Let’s
see who he dug out.”

As he glanced at it, he was somewhat
surprised. The head of the corpse had already
been split open. From within the cut, there
wasn’t any blood or brains leaking out, but
wads of blackened cotton.
Wei WuXian easily jerked the corpse’s head
off. With the delicately-crafted dummy head,
he sope, “What is this supposed to mean?
There’s a fake corpse made of cotton and rags
buried in the Chang Clan’s cemetery?"
Having had weighed the corpse in his hands
when he took it, Lan Wangji knew what was
wrong, “Not all of it is fake.”
Wei WuXian felt the corpse from head to toe
and discovered that, aside from its drooping
limbs, only its chest and abdomen felt firm and
real. After he tore off the clothes, as he
expected, he found that only the torso was
real. All of the other body parts were fake.
The head and limbs made from cotton were to
“deceive” the torso, so that it still thought it
was attached to its owner’s body. Seeing from
the skin tone and the part where the left
shoulder cut off, this must be the torso of the
dear friend. The gravedigger was here for this.
Wei WuXian straightened up, “It looks like that
the person who hid the corpse already noticed
that we’re investigating the issue and came to
transfer the torso somewhere else in case we
find it. To come early isn’t as good as to come
in time. We just happened to bump into him.
haha. But,” with a change of tone, he
continued, “Why was the mist-faced
gravedigger so familiar with your sect’s sword
style?”

It was obvious that Lan Wangji was also
thinking about this matter, the coldness on his
face yet to fade. Wei WuXian spoke again, “His
cultivation is quite high, enough to support the
energy used for one Transportation Talisman.
He casted spells on both his face and sword.
It's understandable that he casted a spell on
his face—after all, he wouldn’t have wanted to
be seen. But most lesser-known cultivators
wouldn’t have needed to cast a spell on their
sword to cover it, unless, of course, it was
either somewhat or very famous in the
cultivation world. He’d then have had to cover
it, because if everyone could recognize his
sword glare, his identity would be revealed as
soon as his sword was revealed.”
Wei WuXian asked suggestively, "HanCuang-
Jun, from your fight before, do you think that
he’s someone you know really well?”
It’d be inconvenient for him to be more
specific, such as Lan XiChen or Lan QiRen.
Lan Wangji answered assuredly, “No.”

Wei WuXian was quite confident in Lan
Wangji’s answer. To him, Lan Wangji wasn’t
the kind of person who’d hide or run away
from the truth. If he denied it. that meant it
must have been wrong. He didn’t like to lie,
either. In Wei WuXian’s opinion, if someone
asked Lan Wangji to lie, he’d rather silence
himself and not talk at all. Thus, Wei WuXian
immediately excluded the possibility of the
gravedigger being these two.
Lan Wangji put the torso into another double-
layered Qiankun Pouch and put it away
properly. The two walked around for a while
and wandered back to the street of the liquor
shop.
The young waiter was true to his words. Most
of the other liquor shops on this street had
closed already, but their banner was still up
and their lights were still on. The waiter was
outside, eating from a large bowl. Seeing them,
he beamed, "You’re back! We kept our word,
didn’t we? Did you two see anything?”

Wei WuXian laughed as he answered. With
Lan Wangji, he walked back to the table they
sat during the day.
With liquor jars crowding on the table and by
his feet, he spoke, "Right, what were we talking
about? Suddenly interrupted by the
gravedigger, I still don’t know how Chang Ping
died.”
Lan Wangji continued the explanation with
simple, direct words.
Xue Yang, Xiao XingChen, and Song Lan left
one by one. Some disappearing, some passing
away. Quite a few years after the incident
passed, one day, Chang Ping and the
remainder of his clan’s members died
overnight due to lingchi. Moreover, Chang
Ping’s eyes were dug out.
This time, nobody could find out who the
murderer was. After all, everyone apart of it
had vanished. However, there was one thing
that could be determined.

From the wounds, it could be verified that the
sword that was used to lingchi them had been
Xiao XingChen’s sword, Shuanghua.
The bowl of liquor that Wei WuXian was
holding stopped in front of his mouth. He was
shocked by this turn of events, “He was
lingchi-ed by Xiao XingChen’s sword? Then
was he the one who did it?"
Lan Wangji, "Xiao XingChen had disappeared.
There were no conclusive evidence.”
Wei WuXian, "If he couldn’t be found alive,
then has anyone tried soul-summoning?”
Lan Wangji, "Yes. Nothing was found."
Nothing was found. He either didn’t die, or his
soul had dissolved. As a someone who
specialized in the area, Wei WuXian had to
comment on the matter. “Things like soul-
summoning, you can’t rely on them too much.
Time, place, and person all play a part in it, so
of course it’d sometimes go wrong. I’m
guessing that a lot of people think that it was
Xiao XingChen’s revenge? HanCuang-Jun,
what about you? What do you think?

Lan Wangji slowly shook his head, "One
should not comment without understanding
the whole picture.”
Wei WuXian admired his attitude and
principles a lot. Grinning as he drank another
gulp of liquor, he heard Lan Wangji speak
again, "What about you?"
Wei WuXian, “Lingchi is a type of torture. Its
meaning involves "punishment”, anyways.
Digging out the eyes also makes it quite hard
not to associate it with Xiao XingChen, who
also dug out his eyes. Thus, there’s nothing
wrong with these people guessing that it was
Xiao XingChen’s revenge. However," he
thought about how to phrase it, "I think that, in
the beginning, Xiao XingChen never asked for
Chang Ping’s gratitude when he first stepped
in. I...”

Before he finished thinking of what should
follow the T, the waiter eagerly brought over
two dishes of peanuts. Having been
interrupted, Wei WuXian didn’t need to
continue anymore. He looked up at Lan Wangji
and smiled, "HanGuang-Jun, why are you
looking at me like this? I’m not saying anything.
Just like you, I don’t understand the whole
picture, so I’m not going to comment either.
You're right. Before knowing all of the turns
and twists, causes and effects, nobody should
presume anything about anything. I only
ordered five jars, but you bought five more jars
for me, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish all
of them by myself. How about if you drink
with me? This isn’t the Cloud Recesses, so it
doesn't violate anything, right?”
He had already prepared himself to be bluntly
rejected, but who knew that Lan Wangji
replied, "I will drink.”

Wei WuXian clicked his tongue, "HanGuang-
Jun, you really have changed. Before, I drank a
tiny jar in front of you, and you got so mad.
You even threw me off the wall and hit me.
Now, though, you’re hiding jars of Emperor’s
Smile in your room and secretly drinking.”
Fixing his collars, he answered in a calm voice.
“I did not touch any jar of Emperor’s Smile."
Wei WuXian, "Why did you hide them if
you’re not drinking anything? Saving them for
me? Fine, fine. You didn’t touch them. I’ll
believe you, okay? Let’s talk about something
else. Come. I really need to see just how many
cups would it take to make an abstinent
disciple of the GusuLan Sect drunk."
He poured a bowl for Lan Wangji. Without any
thought. Lan Wangji took it over and drank up.
Wei WuXian was unusually excited, staring at
his face to see when it would turn red. Yet,
even after he stared for a while, neither Lan
Wangji’s face color or expression changed,
staring at him calmly with light-colored eyes.
There wasn’t any change at all!

Wei WuXian was extremely disappointed. As
he was about to urge him for another jar,
suddenly, Lan Wangji frowned and lightly
rubbed at between his brows. After a few
moments, with a hand supporting his
forehead, he closed his eyes.
... He fell asleep?
... He fell asleep!
After most people drank so much liquor, they
should become drunk first, and then sleep.
How could Lan Wangji skip the step of getting
drunk and go to sleep immediately?!
"Drunken” was the part that he wanted to see!
Wei WuXian waved at Lan Wangji, whose
face remained serious even after he was
asleep, then clapped beside his ears. There
was no reaction.
Lan Wangji was surprisingly the type who
collapses after just one bowl.
Wei WuXian didn’t expect this sort of situation
to happen at all. Thinking as he shook his legs,
he put Lan Wangji’s right arm around his arm,
and dragged him out of the liquor shop.

He had already familiarized himself with the
action of fishing things from Lan Wangji. After
taking out the pouch containing money, he
found an inn and asked for two rooms. He
carried Lan Wangji to one of the rooms, took
off his boots, tucked him in, and slipped into
the night.
Stopping at a desolated area, Wei WuXian
took out his flute by his waist, placed it by his
lips, and played a melody. After this, he waited
silently.
In these past few days, Wei WuXian and Lan
Wangji spent their days and nights together.
He didn’t have any alone time, so he couldn’t
summon Wen Ning. Aside from hiding his
identity in the beginning, there was another
reason.
Wen Ning had killed the GusuLan Sect’s
people before. Even if Lan Wangji treated Wei
WuXian well, he couldn’t summon Wen Ning
right in front of him. Or, perhaps, it was
because Lan Wangji treated him well that he
didn’t have the face to summon Wen Ning in
front of him. No matter how thick his face was,
this wasn’t the time to have a thick face.

Before he knew it, the eerie jingling noises
sounded again.
With his head lowered, Wen Ning’s figure
appeared from the shadows of the city wall
ahead.
He wore all black, melting into the darkness
surrounding him. Only his pupil-less eyes
were a glaring, hideous white.
Wei WuXian put his hands behind him and
slowly paced around Wen Ning.
Wen Ning shifted, as if wanting to follow his
steps and walk in circles as well. Wei WuXian
commanded, "Stand properly.”
He complied and stopped moving. It seemed
as if his delicate features appeared even more
dejected.
Wei WuXian, "Hand.”
Wen Ning extended his right arm. Wei
WuXian grabbed his wrist and lifted it up,
closely examining the iron cuff and chain
locked onto it.

This wasn’t an ordinary chain. When Wen
Ning flipped out, he became extremely violent,
capable of twisting iron into sludge, so he
wouldn’t have let it drag around like this. It was
likely that this was a set of chains created
especially to restrain Wen Ning.
Turned to ashes?
Trying as hard as they could to restore a
damaged piece of Stygian Tiger Seal, of course
some sects salivated at the Ghost General as
well. How would they have been willing to
turn him to ashes?
With a bitter laugh, he stood by Wen Ning’s
side. After considering for a moment, he
started to press his fingers into Wen Ning’s
hair.

The person who kept and restrained Wen Ning
must have prevented him from thinking on his
own. To make him listen to other people’s
orders, Wen Ning’s sanity must have been
destroyed, which meant that they must’ve
planted something inside his head. As he had
expected, after pushing around a few times,
Wei WuXian found a hard nib on an acupoint
of the right side of his head. He put his other
hand on the left side of Wen Ning’s head and
found the same thing, resembling the end of a
needle.
Wei WuXian pinched both needle ends at the
same time and gradually pulled two black,
long nails from within Wen Ning’s skull.
The two nails buried deep inside of Wen Ning
were around an inch long and as thick as the
red strings used for jade pendants. As soon as
the nails left his head, Wen Ning’s features
quivered faintly. A layer of black lines that
resembled strands of blood climbed across the
whites of Wen Ning’s eyes. It seemed as if he
was trying hard to endure the pain.
How strange was it that, although he had died,
he could still experience feelings of "pain”.

Judging from the intricate, complex lines
carved onto the nails, it must have came from
a unique source. Their creator was fairly
skilled. It’d take quite some time for Wen Ning
to heal completely. Putting them away, Wei
WuXian looked down at the chains on Wen
Ning’s wrists and ankles, thinking to himself
that it’d be a bit inconvenient for them to hang
around and make noise. He’d need to use a
cultivational sword to cut them off.
The first that he thought of was, of course, Lan
Wangji’s Bichen. Although it somewhat
unbefitting to use the sword of someone from
the Lan Sect to cut off Wen Ning’s chains, it
was the best cultivational sword that he could
get his hands on. He really couldn’t let Wen
Ning drag so many burdensome things behind
him.
Wei WuXian thought to himself, Okay. I’ll go
back to the inn first. If Lan Zhan is awake, then
I won’t do anything. If Lan Zhan is still asleep,
I'll quickly borrow Bichen for a while.

Having made his decision, he turned around.
However, what he didn’t expect was that Lan
Wangji was standing right behind him.
Translator’s Notes
Tiger Seal: A tiger seal is a seal shaped like a
tiger, traditionally used when commanding
troops, with one half in the emperor’s hands
and the other in the general’s. Only when both
of them are put together can the general
command the troops.
Daozhang: This is an honorific used to address
Daoist priests or simply cultivators in general.
The character dao means "path”, the same
character from the word Daoist, while zhang
means "leader”. Interesting fact: Daozhang
sounds best when the seme is younger than
the uke, in which case. Xue Yang just so
happens to be. This was one of the first
reasons why a lot of people started to ship the
two.

ZiChen: Song Lan is his birth name (which was
what Xiao XingChen called him by—they were
close), while Song ZiChen is his common
name. Don’t worry. I know that you’re all
thinking “it can’t possibly get any more
complicated", but it does. Luckily, there's a
character and sect guide to prevent memory
loss! As the evil person I am, I refuse to
provide the link because I think you should
exercise your brains in preparation for what
happens later in the story. Angry/sad because
it’s inconvenient? You should exercise your
hearts too, since I’m not sure if you can handle
what’s about to come.
Pailou: A pailou is simply Chinese-style
archway. Since “links don’t work”, search it up
on Google © Don’t worry, I believe in you.
Hand seal: Yes. Pretty much those things in
Naruto (wait, you thought they were from
Japan?). The hand seal, in this case, is used to
command the gravedigger’s sword.