Reincarnation

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“REJOICE, Wei Wuxian is dead!”

It hadn’t been a day since the Siege of the Burial Mound, and the news had

already flown across the entire cultivation world as if it had sprouted wings.

The speed was only comparable to how fast the flames of war had spread back

then, if not faster.

Suddenly everyone, whether they were prominent clans or rogue cultivators, was discussing this operation of vanquishment that had been led by the four great clans and attended by hundreds of sects both big and small.

“Fantastic, fantastic indeed! Who was the hero who killed the Yiling

Patriarch?”

“Who else could it be? Ain’t it his shidi, the little sect leader Jiang Cheng? The

four major clans fronted the attack: the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng, the Jin Clan of

Lanling, the Lan Clan of Gusu, and the Nie Clan of Qinghe. Crushing family for

the greater good, they destroyed Wei Wuxian’s good ol’ lair, the Burial Mound.”

“I must say, well done.”

Someone immediately clapped and exclaimed in agreement.

“That’s right, well done! If it wasn’t for the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng, who took him in and raised him, then Wei Wuxian would’ve been a no-name street rat in the

countryside—never mind becoming anything else! The former Jiang sect leader

raised him like his own son, eh? But look at him: publicly defecting from the

clan, making himself an enemy of the world. He’s embarrassed the Jiang Clan of

Yunmeng utterly and almost doomed them to the same fate of extermination.

What do you call a traitor? Him!”

“I can’t believe Jiang Cheng allowed that guy to run amok for so long. If it

were me, I wouldn’t have just stabbed him when he first defected, I would’ve

cleaned house! He wouldn’t even have gotten the chance to do all those crazy

things. What does a childhood friendship matter when facing people like him?”

“That’s not what I heard, though? Didn’t Wei Ying’s demonic cultivation

backfire, causing him to be ripped apart and devoured by the ghosts under his

command? I heard he was chewed to pieces while still alive.”

“Ha ha ha ha! That’s what you call karma. I’ve wanted to say this for a long

time now, but those ghost generals he raised were like a pack of unleashed mad

dogs, biting people everywhere. And in the end, he got bit to death himself.

Well deserved!”

“Be that as it may, if the little Jiang sect leader hadn’t been the one to plan

this siege based on the Yiling Patriarch’s weaknesses, then success would’ve

been difficult to guarantee.

Don’t forget what Wei Wuxian had in his clutches, or how over three thousand renowned cultivators were all completely

annihilated that night.”

“Wasn’t it five thousand?”

“Three thousand, five thousand, they’re all the same. Five thousand is more

believable.”

“He really is completely mad…”

“He destroyed the Yin Tiger Tally before he died, so he gets at least some

credit for that. If that evil thing was left to cause harm in the world, his sins

would only deepen.”

The moment the Yin Tiger Tally was mentioned, there was suddenly silence,

as if everyone was wary of something.

A moment later, someone sighed.

“Man…speaking of that Wei Wuxian. He used to be a young master in an

extremely affluent and distinguished cultivation sect back then.

It wasn’t like he had no accomplishments. He gained great success in his youth. How glorious and unbridled he was… How did he end up on this path…?"

The subject changed, and voices were raised again in heated discussion.

“It’s obvious from this case that the path of cultivation must always follow the

righteous way. The demonic path is only glorious for the moment. You think it

looks so glamorous? Heh, look where that got him.”

“Death without a corpse!” a voice replied forcefully.

“It’s not all because of the cultivation path. At the end of the day, it’s still

because Wei Wuxian was someone of bad character. He roused the wrath of

the heavens and the grudges of men. You know what they say: What goes

around comes around; the heavens are watching…”

..............

After Wei Wuxian’s death, judgment of his character was no longer refutable.

The discussions were mostly the same, and any small voice of dissent was

immediately squashed.

However, gloom still firmly enveloped everyone’s minds.

Although the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, had died at the Burial Mound, the

remnants of his soul couldn’t be summoned.

Perhaps his soul had also been ripped apart and devoured by the millions of

ghosts. Or perhaps it had escaped.

The former would naturally be a joyous occasion for the entire world.

However, the Yiling Patriarch had the ability to topple the earth and move

mountains and seas—at least, that was what the legends said. It would be no

great task for him to resist soul-summoning if he desired it.

If his spirit returned in the future…if he took over a body and was reincarnated, then the cultivation world—the entire mortal world, in fact—would be cursed to face even greater vengeance, sinking into an endless storm of darkness and blood.

And so, when the hundred and twenty stone beasts required to seal a mountain were set down at the peak of the Burial Mound, every major clan began conducting frequent soul-summoning rituals. They also strictly monitore for cases of possession, sought far and wide for abnormal occurrences, and heightened their security to the max.

In the first year, all was peaceful.

In the second year, all was peaceful.

In the third year, all was peaceful.

..........

In the thirteenth year, all was still peaceful.

Thus, more and more people finally came to believe that perhaps Wei Wuxian

had not been that amazing after all.

Maybe he really had perished.

Even though he had once turned the world upside down, there had at last

come a day when he was the one overturned.

No one could be worshiped on the divine altar forever. Legends were merely

legends.

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End of Chapter One~

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Guys, Before your start the Book, Know One thing that this book have total 5 Volumes ( Can say 5 season).

If you skip any chapter, You won't understand the nest one, So be patient.

I won't disappoint you all~

___________

Thanks for making it till here~

The Intractable

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WEI WUXIAN had only just opened his eyes when someone kicked him.

A voice thundered in his ears: “PLAYING DEAD?”

He almost coughed up blood from the kick. His head hit the ground, and with

his face turned up, he thought hazily,

'You’ve got nerve, daring to kick me, the

patriarch.'

Wei Wuxian had already lost count of the number of years it’d been since he

last heard a live person speak, never mind such awful caterwauling.

He was dizzy, and the cracked voice of a young man was rattling between his ears.

“Think for a moment whose land you’re living on, whose rice you’re eating,

and whose money you’re spending! So what if I took a few things of yours?

They should’ve been mine in the first place!”

Soon after, there was the clamoring noise of chests and cabinets alike being

ransacked. It was a good moment before Wei Wuxian’s eyes could focus. A dim

ceiling came into view, as did an unfortunate-looking face with a greedy glare.

That face was spraying spittle all over him.

“And you dare go tattle on me!! You think I’m actually afraid of you tattling?!

Do you actually think anyone in this house would take your side?!”

Two large men who looked like servants came over.

“Young master, everything’s smashed!”

“So fast?” The quacking youth questioned.

“There wasn’t much stuff in this broken shack anyway,”

The servant replied.

The quacking youth was extremely pleased. He turned to Wei Wuxian, pointing so hard at the man that he was practically jabbing his finger up his nose and into his brain.

“Go and tell on me, I dare you. Who are you playing dead for? As if anyone

would actually give a crap about all this junk and wastepaper. I’ve smashed everything, let’s see what else you’ve got to go tattle on me with!. Think you’re

all that just because you went to a cultivation sect for a few years?

Well, didn’t you get kicked out like a stray dog anyway?!”

Presently half dead, Wei Wuxian thought to himself, It’s not pretend.

I’ve actually been dead for many years.

Who was this?

Where was this??

When had he ever done something like forcibly possess the body of

another???

After having kicked the man, ransacked the house, and spent all his temper,

the quacking youth strutted out the door along with his two servants, slamming

the door behind him.

He ordered in a loud voice, “Keep proper watch, don’t let him come out to

embarrass people!”

The servants outside the door all heeded. Once the man had gone, silence

settled both inside and out of the house.

Wei Wuxian wanted to sit up, but his

limbs would not obey him, so he lay back down and flipped over. His head

continued to spin as he looked at his strange surroundings and the mess on the

floor.

Next to him was a copper mirror that had been tossed onto the ground, and

Wei Wuxian snatched it up. A dreadfully pale face appeared in the mirror. Two

large blots of red were smeared unevenly on each cheek; if he were to stick out

a long and vividly red tongue, then he’d be the very picture of a hanged ghost.

Wei Wuxian tossed the mirror aside, a little disgusted. He wiped his face and found his hand smeared with white powder.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that this body had been born strange, but rather, the

penchant of the previous owner. A full-grown man with a face heavily caked in

makeup, and sloppily applied at that…

This shocked some energy back into Wei Wuxian, who was finally able to sit

up.

Only then did he notice the circle of a spell array beneath him......

The arraywas scarlet and crooked, seemingly hand-drawn using blood as the medium. It was still damp, emitting a metallic stench. There were warped and crazed spells drawn within the array that had been somewhat smudged by his body, but the remaining shapes and characters were gruesome in their evil intent.

Wei Wuxian had been called by titles such as the Supreme Evil Lord, the

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and whatnot for years, so naturally, he

was very familiar with obviously devious arrays such as these.

It wasn’t that he had robbed anyone of their body—he had been offered one!

The nature of this “sacrificial ritual” was a type of curse.

The caster was to harm themselves with a weapon, making cuts on their body and using their own blood to draw the array and write the spells within. They would then sit in the center of the circle and give up their mortal body to evil spirits, using the

annihilation of their soul as the price to summon a nefarious, malicious ghost.

This was all done in order to request the fulfillment of a wish. Thus, it was the

opposite of “possession.!!”

While both were forbidden magics of ill repute, the difference was that the

former was much less popular than the latter. After all, few wishes were so

strongly desired as to make someone willingly sacrifice everything they had.

This was why the technique had been nearly lost after centuries of disuse.

The examples recorded in ancient books had only a handful of cases that were

backed by reliable evidence, and every single one of them had been for

revenge.

Every malicious ghost summoned by the ritual had fulfilled the caster’s

wishes perfectly, in cruel and bloody ways.

Wei Wuxian refused to accept this.

Since when was he categorized as a “nefarious, malicious ghost”?

While he’d had a fairly poor reputation and died an extremely tragic death, he

didn’t haunt the living, for one, and he’d never sought vengeance, for two. He

could swear there was not a single wandering ghost in this world who was more

decent and honest than hem But the tough thing was, the Sacrificial Ritual followed the will of the caster first and foremost.

So it didn’t matter how much he objected… He was already

inside this body, which was a silent acknowledgement that both parties had

formed a contract. He had to fulfill the wish of the caster, or the curse would

rebound, destroying the possessor’s primordial spirit and extinguishing it forever.

Wei Wuxian yanked his sash loose and raised his arms to inspect them. Sure

enough, both of his wrists had been slashed with a sharp tool, leaving them

covered in crisscrossing lacerations. The bleeding had already stopped, but Wei

Wuxian knew these were not normal injuries.

If he didn’t fulfill the caster’s

wish, then these wounds would be unable to heal, and they would worsen the

longer this dragged on. If the deadline for fulfillment was missed, then he who

had accepted this vessel would be ripped apart in both body and soul alike.

He triple-checked that there was no mistake and cried This is ridiculous!

mentally ten times before finally rising to his feet with difficulty, supporting

himself against the wall.

This house certainly was big, but it was empty and shabby. The bedding was

emitting a sour smell—who knew how many days had gone by since it was lastchanged. There was a bamboo basket for trash in the corner that had been

kicked over earlier, and both trash and wastepaper were strewn across the

floor.

Wei Wuxian noticed there seemed to be ink marks on the crumpled

papers, so he picked one up in passing. He opened it to take a look, and sure enough, it was covered in words. He quickly went around to collect all the balls of paper.

These were probably written by the owner of this body to vent his

frustrations. Some of the sentences were incoherent and disordered, but the

anxiety and nervousness were abundantly clear. Wei Wuxian patiently

examined each sheet, and the more he looked, the more he felt something was

amiss.

Through some guesswork, he figured out a few things. First, the owner of this

body was named Mo Xuanyu, and this place was called the Mo Estate.

Mo Xuanyu’s grandfather on his mother’s side was from a rich family in this

area. The family wasn’t large, and the man was not fated for a son. After years

of trying, he still only had two daughters. The name of the second daughter

wasn’t mentioned, but either way, the eldest daughter was born of the lawful

wife. Thus, they were looking for a husband to marry into their family name.

Although the second daughter was exceptional in appearance, she was born of

a servant, which was why the Mo family had originally planned to marry her out

without giving much thought to the groom.

Who would’ve thought she was fated for a fortuitous encounter?

When she was sixteen, the head of a prominent clan was passing by and fell in

love with her at first sight. The two made the Mo Manor the site of their

rendezvous, and a year later, the second daughter gave birth to a son. This was Mo Xuanyu.

The inhabitants of the Mo Estate would normally have held such an event in

contempt, but people at the time worshiped cultivators. In the eyes of the

mundane folk, cultivation clans that pursued immortality were loved by the

heavens, mysterious and noble. Furthermore, that prominent clan leader would financially support this new outer family branch of his every so often.

So naturally, these circumstances were special. Not only did the Mo family

consider this an honor, but others were extremely envious too.

However, the good days did not last. That wandering clan leader was only

hungry for the novelty of fresh meat, and he was over it after two years, coming

to visit less and less frequently. After Mo Xuanyu turned four, the man never

appeared again.

In those passing years, the Mo Estate’s opinion changed again. The contempt

and mockery returned, now with added disdain and pity. Second Lady Mo

refused to accept this, believing firmly that the prominent clan leader would not

turn a blind eye to his own son. And sure enough, when Mo Xuanyu turned

fourteen, that clan leader sent over a grand party to officially take him back.

Second Lady Mo’s head was held high again.

Although she could not go with them, this event swept away all the grievances she had. Feeling proud and elevated, she proclaimed proudly to everyone she saw that her son would definitely become a leader of cultivation sects in the future—rise to the top and bring glory to the ancestors. Thus, the people of the Mo Estate changed their opinion for the third time.

However, Mo Xuanyu was driven out before he managed to cultivate acclaim

and succeed his father. And driven out in the most shameful way: Mo Xuanyu

was a cut-sleeve, a male homosexual, and he was so audacious as to harass his

fellow peers. With this scandal exposed, and the fact that he possessed only

average talent and no real achievements in cultivation, the sect had no reason

to keep him.

Adding frost to snow, something had upset Mo Xuanyu. When he returned

home, it was as a madman. His mental state had been upended, as if he had

been scared silly.

Having read to this point, Wei Wuxian’s brow twitched a couple times.

The cut-sleeve matter aside, the man was a lunatic too. No wonder he had

smeared enough powder on his face to look like a hanged ghost. No wonder no

one thought it strange that there was such a large, bloody spell array on the

ground. Mo Xuanyu could probably smear blood all over this house, from the

floor tiles up the walls and to the ceiling, and no one would think it weird.

Because everyone knew he was crazy!

After Mo Xuanyu returned to his old home, he was bombarded with ridicule.This time, it seemed, the situation was unsalvageable. Unable to take this blow,

Second Lady Mo was choked to death by her own unappeasable outrage.

At this time, Mo Xuanyu’s grandfather had already passed, and the one

managing the household was First Lady Mo. This Madam Mo had never been

able to stand her little sister, and she scorned that sister’s bastard son. She had

a single son herself by the name of Mo Ziyuan—the one who had just ransacked

Mo Xuanyu’s house.

When Mo Xuanyu first left with such impressive fanfare,

First Lady Mo had felt they now possessed something of a family tie to that

prominent cultivation sect and had hoped the cultivator envoys would bring Mo

Ziyuan along with them too. Of course, she had been rejected, or rather,

ignored.

Duh!, This wasn’t like selling cabbage in the markets: buy one, get one free!

Who knew where this family got its confidence? But they all possessed a

bizarre idea: they firmly believed that Mo Ziyuan had potential, that he had

talent, and that if he were the one who had gone with the cultivators, then he

would have been recognized for his worth for sure, unlike his failure of a cousin.

Although Mo Ziyuan had been young when Mo Xuanyu left, he had been

repeatedly indoctrinated to believe this nonsense without a single doubt. Thus,

he caught Mo Xuanyu every other day to humiliate him, cursing him for having

robbed him of his path to cultivation. Yet he remained enamored with the

talismans, the pills, and the little spiritual devices that had been brought back

from the cultivation sect and would take them all for himself, breaking them as

he willed.

While Mo Xuanyu was often in the throes of madness, he knew when

he was being humiliated. He tried his best to endure it, time and time again, but

Mo Ziyuan’s behavior only worsened, practically emptying the entire house. At

last, Mo Xuanyu had enough. He finally stammered a complaint to his uncle and

aunt, which was why Mo Ziyuan had come knocking today, looking for trouble.

The words on the paper were tiny and cramped.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes were sore

from reading all this, and he thought to himself, What kind of hellish life was he

fucking living?

No wonder Mo Xuanyu had preferred to end it, offering his body to summon malicious ghosts to avenge himself.

After his eyeballs started feeling better, it became his head’s turn to ache.

Technically, the caster of the array had to mentally recite their wish. As the evilspirit summoned, Wei Wuxian should have been able to hear the details of his request. However, this forbidden magic had probably been secretly copied off a book with missing pages; it was incomplete, and Mo Xuanyu had missed that step.

Although Wei Wuxian could guess that he most likely sought vengeance against the Mo family, how exactly did he want it done? To what extent? Take back what was taken? Beat up the family?

Or…wipe them out entirely?

It was most likely wiping out the family, eh! After all, anyone who had been in

the cultivation world would know the words most often used to describe Wei

Wuxian: treacherous, mad.

Was there anyone who better fit the description of “fiendish”? Since the man had dared to summon him by name, his wish was definitely not something easily granted.

Wei Wuxian said helplessly, “But you’ve got the wrong person…”

At first, he wanted to wash his face and gaze with reverence upon the dead

countenance that had once belonged to its former owner. However, there was

no water inside this house, not even drinking water. What’s more, Wei Wuxian

figured the only container around was for lavatory purposes and not for washing up.

He tried pushing the door, but it was barred from the outside, probably to

prevent him from running amok. There was not a single thing that could allow

him the slightest bit of joy in being reincarnated!

He might as well meditate for a while and get used to the new body.

An entire day passed this way. When he opened his eyes once more, there

was sunlight seeping into the house through the cracks of the window.

Although he could get up and walk, his head was still spinning, and it didn’t

appear to be getting better. Wei Wuxian was puzzled.

This Mo Xuanyu’s cultivated spiritual power is so minuscule, it might be

completely overlooked. There’s no reason why I can’t manipulate this body. So

why is it so difficult to use?

It wasn’t until a strange noise sounded from his stomach that he realized it

had nothing to do with spiritual power; it was simply that this body, not trainedfor fasting, was hungry. If he delayed seeking food any longer, he might just become the first malicious ghost in history to die of hunger immediately after being summoned.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath and raised his foot. But just as he was about

to kick the door open, there was suddenly the sound of footfalls on the other

side, drawing near. Someone gave the door a kick, which was followed by an

annoyed call:

“Meal time!”

While those were the words, it didn’t appear the door was going to open at

all. Wei Wuxian looked down just in time to see a small bowl be heavily set

down before a small slat at the bottom of the door.

The servant outside then added, “Hurry up! What’s the holdup? Put the bowl

out when you’re done!”

The slat was smaller than a dog flap, not large enough to allow people to go in

and out, but bowls could be passed through. There were two dishes and one

bowl of rice that looked awfully disgusting. Wei Wuxian bitterly stirred the chopsticks that were stabbed into the rice.

The Yiling Patriarch had returned to life—only to be kicked down and yelled

at. The first meal to welcome him back was cold leftovers. Who would believe

him if he told them? What had happened to his bloody reign? His absolute

massacres? His unadulterated annihilation of the sects? Truly, out of the

mountains a tiger can be bullied by a dog, in shallow waters a dragon can be

mocked by a shrimp, and a plucked phoenix is lower than a chicken. Stripped of

their privileges, the strong will be belittled by the weak.

Just then, the voice of the servant outside the door was heard once more. But

this time, it was a laugh that sounded as if it came from a completely different

person.

“A-Ding! Come over here.”

A delicate and frail feminine voice answered from a distance, “A-Tong, did

you come to deliver food for that person in there again?”

A-Tong clicked his tongue. “Why else would I come to this miserablecourtyard?!”

A-Ding’s voice was at the door, much closer now. “You only make deliveries

once a day, and no one scolds you even if you slack off every now and then, so

why are you frowning at being so free? Look at me, so busy with errands that I

can’t even go out to play.”

A-Tong complained, “It’s not like delivering meals is the only thing I do! And

you still dare go out right now? There are so many walking corpses roaming

about that every household has their doors firmly shut.”

Wei Wuxian was crouched down by the door, pushing around the contents of

the bowl in his hand with two chopsticks of different lengths, listening as he

ate.

Seemed like things hadn’t been peaceful here at the Mo Estate. Walking corpses, as per their name, were the walking dead: reanimated corpses that were low-level and commonplace. Their eyes were usually glazed, their movements sluggish. They were fairly harmless. Nonetheless, that was enough to terrify average folks, and their putrid smell alone was enough to make one fill a pot with puke.

However, to Wei Wuxian, they were the easiest to manipulate and the most

obedient of puppets. In fact, it even felt somewhat endearing to suddenly hear

about them.

A-Tong appeared to have winked. “You have to take me along if you want to

go out, so I can protect you…”

A-Ding cut him off dismissively. “You? Protect me? Please. Can you actually

fight those creatures off?”

“If I can’t fight them off, then no one can,” A-Tong grumbled.

A-Ding laughed. “How do you know if other people can’t fight them off? Let

me tell you, delegates from a cultivation sect have already arrived at our Mo

Manor today. I hear they’re from an incredibly prominent clan! The madam is

receiving them in the main hall right this minute. Everyone in town has

gathered to watch, they’re all so curious. You hear that noise? They might order

me around again in a bit. I don’t have time to play with you.”Wei Wuxian listened intently. Sure enough, there was the faint sound of commotion. After a moment’s contemplation, he got up and kicked the bar locking the door, which broke with a crack.

The two servants flirting with each other screamed in surprise when the door

was suddenly flung open. Wei Wuxian tossed the bowl and chopsticks aside as

he stalked out, but the sunlight blinded him. The glare also caused a small,

pinching pain on his skin, so he raised his hand to his brows and closed his eyes

for a moment.

A-Tong had screamed louder than A-Ding a moment ago, but when he looked

closer, he realized it was that lunatic everyone could bully. His courage

returned. Feeling he must regain the dignity he’d just lost, he jumped over and

waved, shooing Wei Wuxian like one would a dog.

He yelled, “Get outta here! Shoo! Go back in! What’re you doing outside?!”

Not even beggars or flies could have received more unsightly treatment. This

was probably how these servants had treated Mo Xuanyu in the past, and they

grew ever more impertinent when he didn’t retaliate.

Wei Wuxian gave A-Tong a light kick, sending him tumbling, and laughed.

“Who are you trying to humiliate, huh?”

With that, he headed east, following the noise. Both the east hall and the east

courtyard were crowded with people, and just as Wei Wuxian stepped into the

yard, he heard a woman whose voice rose louder than the others.

“…We have a junior at home who also had an affinity for cultivation once…”

That must have been Madam Mo, who was trying to build connections with cultivation clans again. Wei Wuxian didn’t bother waiting for her to finish before he languidly squeezed through the crowd, entering the main hall. He waved enthusiastically.

“HERE, HERE, OVER HERE!”

In the main seat of the hall sat a middle-aged woman, well maintained and

sumptuously dressed. This was Madam Mo. The one sitting below was her husband, who had married into the family, and across from him were several white-clad youths with swords on their backs. When a disheveled, unkemptweirdo suddenly emerged from the crowd, conversation came to an abrupt stop.

However, Wei Wuxian seemed to take no notice of the frozen atmosphere.

He said unabashedly, “Who called me just now? The one with an affinity for

cultivation, isn’t that me?”

There was too much powder on his face, and it cracked when he smiled,

flaking as it fluttered off. One of the white-clad youths snorted, almost laughing

out loud, but he restrained himself when another youth who appeared to be

the leader of the bunch shot him a disapproving look.

Wei Wuxian snuck a glimpse at them and was somewhat taken aback. At first,

he had thought “an incredibly prominent clan” was but the exaggerated praise

of an unlearned servant. But the people here really were cultivation disciples

worth their name. Who would’ve thought?

Graceful-sleeved and light, airily sashed, these youths were exceptionally

pleasing to the eyes, transcendent and poised. Judging by their uniforms alone,

it was obvious they came from the Lan Clan of Gusu.

They were disciples with blood ties to the Lan family as well, since every single one of them had a two-centimeter-wide white ribbon patterned with rolling clouds tied around their foreheads.

“Elegance and Righteousness” was the motto of the Lan Clan of Gusu, and this

forehead ribbon symbolized self-restraint. The rolling clouds were the Lan

family’s insignia, and guest cultivators, or sect disciples of outside families affiliated with the prominent clan, were only allowed to wear ribbons without the pattern. Wei Wuxian always cringed every time he spotted someone from the Lan family. He’d often complained under his breath in his previous life that their uniforms looked like funeral clothes, so he knew he wasn’t mistaken now.

It had been a long time since Madam Mo had seen this nephew of hers, and it

took a while before she was able to recover from her shock. After realizing who this heavily powdered person was, she was furious.

But she couldn’t lose her

composure, so she hissed at her husband.

“Who let him out? Get him out of here!”

Her husband responded with an apologetic smile and got up with a glum look,ready to seize Wei Wuxian. All of a sudden, Wei Wuxian dropped down without

warning and latched firmly onto the ground, immovable no matter how he was

pulled or dragged. Not even the servants who were called in to help could do

anything. If not for the outsiders who were present, they would’ve started to

kick him already.

Madam Mo’s face was growing darker and darker, and the husband was

drenched in sweat as well.

He yelled, “You damn lunatic! If you don’t go back right now… Be careful or I’ll

put you in your place!”

Although everyone from the Mo Estate knew there was a young master in the

Mo family who had gone mad, Mo Xuanyu had withdrawn into that gloomy house of his for many years, afraid to see anyone. Now that they saw how both his appearance and his actions resembled those of a raging monster, they started to whisper among themselves, excited to watch this spectacle unfold.

Wei Wuxian spoke up, “I can go back if you want.” He pointed at Mo Ziyuan.

“But you have to make him return everything he stole from me first.”

Mo Ziyuan never thought this lunatic would have the gall. He’d taught the guy

a lesson just a day ago, only to have him turn around and expose him here

today.

His face changed colors as he exclaimed, “YOU’RE LYING! Since when have I

ever stolen anything of yours? Why would I need to steal any of your stuff?!”

“Right, right, right,” Wei Wuxian agreed. “You didn’t steal, you snatched!”

Madam Mo could now tell that Mo Xuanyu had obviously come prepared. His

mind was perfectly clear, and he was bent on humiliating them.

Shocked and livid, she accused him sharply. “You fully intend to wreak havoc

here today, isn’t that right?!”

Wei Wuxian looked confused. “He stole my stuff, snatched it from me, even.

Is asking for it all back considered ‘wreaking havoc’?”

Mo Ziyuan grew agitated, raising his leg to kick Wei Wuxian before Madam

Mo could answer. However, one of the sword-carrying white-clad youthsmoved his fingers slightly, and Mo Ziyuan immediately lost his balance. The kick brushed past Wei Wuxian, missing the mark,and the boy tripped over himself.

However, Wei Wuxian still tumbled and rolled as if he really had been kicked.

He even ripped open his robes, revealing on his chest the footprint left behind

by Mo Ziyuan’s kicks the day before.

The villagers of the Mo Estate were enjoying the show immensely.

Excitement filled the crowd. There was no way Mo Xuanyu could have kicked himself to create that footprint, and no matter what, he was still a member of the Mo

family. What a vicious household. The boy hadn’t been this crazy when he first returned, so it was probably the family’s doing.

Either way, it wasn’t like they

were the ones being beaten, so as long as there was a show to watch, all the

better. This spectacle was truly more interesting than the arrival of the

cultivators!

With so many eyes watching, the youth couldn’t be beaten and he couldn’t be

kicked out. Madam Mo had no choice but to forcibly smooth the whole debacle

over with fury thick in her throat.

She said impassively, “What ‘steal’? What ‘snatch’? Such ugly accusations. We

are family; it’s nothing but borrowing. A-Yuan is your younger brother, so what

if he takes a few things of yours? As an elder brother, will you be this stingy?

Throwing a childish tantrum and embarrassing everyone over such a small matter—it’s not like he wasn’t going to return your things.”

The white-clad youths stared at each other in dismay, and one of them almost

choked on his tea. The disciples who grew up with the Lan Clan of Gusu were

raised in refined elegance, so they had probably never encountered such a

farce, nor heard such brilliance. Today’s events were probably widening their

horizons.

Wei Wuxian laughed maniacally in his mind and extended his hand.

“Give them back, then.”

Of course, Mo Ziyuan couldn’t return anything. All the items were long since

tossed out or torn apart, and even if he could have returned them, he wouldn’t

have done so willingly. Red in the face, he cried out in protest.

“MOM!” He scowled at her. “Are you going to let him insult me like this?!”Madam Mo glowered at him, signaling him not to make this scene any worse

than it was. Unexpectedly, Wei Wuxian spoke up again.

“While we’re on the topic, not only should he not have stolen my stuff, he

shouldn’t have done so in the middle of the night. Everyone knows I like men.

Even if he has no shame, I know not to make myself suspicious.”

Madam Mo drew in a sharp breath and yelled, “What are you spewing in

front of the village folks?! How shameless! A-Yuan is your little cousin!”

When it came to outrageous behavior, Wei Wuxian was an expert. In the past,

he’d had to maintain some form of decorum so people couldn’t accuse him of

having a poor upbringing, but now he was a lunatic anyway, so what did he care

for shame? He could go wild and cut loose to his heart’s content.

He stiffened his neck and said outright: “He knew he was my little cousin, but

he still didn’t observe propriety and keep his distance, so who is the more

shameless one here?! I don’t care if you don’t care about your reputation, but I

still care about mine!! I STILL GOTTA FIND A GOOD MAN!!!”

Mo Ziyuan roared, raising a chair to hurl it Wei Wuxian’s way. Seeing that

he’d finally snapped, Wei Wuxian quickly scrambled up to go hide. That chair

broke into pieces upon impact with the ground. The spectators crowding in and

out of the east hall were waiting with unconcealed delight to watch the Mo

family be disgraced, but they all quickly dispersed once things got violent, afraid

they might be injured.

Wei Wuxian ducked toward the youths from the Lan family, who were completely dumbfounded by what was unfolding, crying as he did so.

“You see! You see!! He’s hitting me even though he stole my stuff—how heartless!”

Mo Ziyuan chased him over, ready to lunge, but the leader of the youths

stopped him. “This… Gongzi, we can talk this out.”

Seeing that the youth intended to protect the lunatic, Madam Mo grew apprehensive. She forced a smile. “This young man is my younger sister’s son.

He’s a little…unstable here. Everyone at the Mo Estate knows he’s crazy. He’s

always saying strange things, so don’t take him seriously. Esteemed cultivators,you mustn’t—”

Before she could finish, Wei Wuxian poked his head out from behind the youth. “Who said I can’t be taken seriously? From now on, if anyone tries to steal my stuff, I’m gonna chop off an arm for every time they do. Just try me!”

Mo Ziyuan was being held back by his father at first, but when he heard this,

his anger flared up again. Wei Wuxian darted out the door like a fish, taunting

him with a la-la-la as he went.

The youth quickly blocked the door right after and changed the topic,

assuming a serious face to talk business.

“Um… Then we will be borrowing your

esteemed west courtyard for tonight. Please remember exactly what I said

earlier. Lock all doors and shut all windows tight after dusk. Do not come out for

any activities, especially not near the west courtyard.”

Madam Mo was shaking with rage, but it wouldn’t have been courteous to

push the youth aside, despite him blocking her. So, she could only reply, “Yes,

yes, thank you, thank you…”

Mo Ziyuan was in a state of disbelief.

“MOM! Are you gonna let that lunatic

get away with slandering me in public?! Didn’t you say yourself that he was only

a mere—”

“Shut your mouth!” Madam Mo cut him off sharply. “Can you not wait until

we’re back inside?!”

Mo Ziyuan had never suffered such a wrong before, nor had he ever been

humiliated this way. He had especially never been scolded by his mother like

this.

He cried furiously, “That lunatic is dead!!”

After Wei Wuxian was done letting loose, he went out the main entrance of

the manor and strolled around the Mo Estate to show his face, scaring

innumerous passersby and enjoying himself while he was at it. He began to

understand the joy of being a madman and was even starting to be pleased

with the hanged ghost makeup, not wanting to wash it off.

It’s not like there’s water around anyway, so I’ll let it be.He fixed his hair and glanced at his wrist. There was no indication the cuts

were fading or healing at all, which meant the trifling revenge of venting anger

on Mo Xuanyu’s behalf was far from enough.

Did he really have to slaughter the entire Mo family?

…To be honest, that wouldn’t have been anything difficult to do.

Wei Wuxian pondered this as he sauntered back to the Mo Manor. As he snuck past the west courtyard with small, quick steps, he noticed the Lan disciples on top of the rooftops and wall eaves, gathered in somber discussion.

He snuck back again with those small, quick steps and looked up, watching them intently.

While the Lan Clan of Gusu was a major part of the coalition that had come to

besiege him in the past, those juniors hadn’t yet been born at the time, or if

they had, would’ve been only a few years old. So that event had nothing to do

with them.

Wei Wuxian stood there and observed, wanting to see how they

planned on handling the situation. As he looked on, he suddenly felt something

amiss.

Why did those black flags being flown on the rooftops and wall eaves look so

familiar?

The flag was called a spirit-attraction flag. If it was stuck on a living person,

then it would attract every dark spirit, every vengeful ghost, every fierce corpse,

and all such manner of evil to attack said person.

Since wearing a flag was akin

to becoming a live target, the flag was also called a target flag. It could also be

stuck on buildings, but said building had to have living persons within, and the

range of the target would increase to include all people within the building.

Since yin energy swirled around the area where these flags were planted like a

black whirlwind, they were also known as black wind flags.

Those youths were setting up the flag formation and had told others not to go near, so they had to intend to lure the walking corpses here to capture them all at once.

As for why the flags looked familiar…how could they not? The creator of the

spirit-attraction flag was this very Yiling Patriarch!

It appeared that, despite how the cultivation world had demanded Wei

Wuxian’s demise, they nevertheless had no qualms about making use of hisinventions.

One of the disciples on the rooftops noticed him watching and chided him.

“Go back, this is not a place you should be.”

Though he was being ordered to shoo, it was done with good intentions, and

the tone of voice employed was also greatly different from that of those Mo

servants. While the youth was off his guard, Wei Wuxian hopped up and

plucked a flag.

Greatly alarmed, that disciple jumped down the wall to chase after him.

“Don’t touch that, it’s not for you!”

Wei Wuxian hollered as he ran, looking completely like a lunatic; his hair

flying loose and disheveled, arms waving and legs skipping.

“Finders keepers! I want this! Mine!”

That disciple quickly caught up with him and grabbed his arm. “Give it back!

Or else I’ll hit you!”

Wei Wuxian clutched the flag tightly, refusing to let go. The leader of the

group that was setting up the flag formation was alerted by the commotion and also came fluttering down from the eaves.

“Jingyi, let it go. Retrieve the flag nicely; there is no need to start a dispute.”

“Sizhui, I didn’t hit him for real!” Lan Jingyi complained. “Look at him, he’s

messed up the flag formation!”

During their push and pull, Wei Wuxian had swiftly finished inspecting the

spirit-attraction flag. The drawn patterns were correct, and none of the spells

were missing either. There were no mistakes, so no mishaps would occur if the

flags were used.

The only issue was that the person who’d drawn the flag was

not very experienced, so the spell could only attract any evil and walking corpses within a two and a half radius at most. But that would be enough.

Lan Sizhui turned to him with a smile.

“Mo-gongzi, it is getting late, and we

will be starting to catch walking corpses here soon. It is dangerous at night.

You’d best hurry back to your chambers.”

Wei Wuxian sized up this youth. The boy was gentle in disposition, refinedand elegant, noble in his bearing with a light grin curving the corners of his lips.

This was a good sprout very worthy of encouragement, and Wei Wuxian mentally gave him a nod of approval. The child had set up the flag formation in a proper and orderly manner, and his upbringing really was quite commendable as well. Wei Wuxian wondered who among that terrifying group full of uptight sticks-in-the-mud known as the Lan Clan had managed to raise such a junior.

Lan Sizhui added, “This flag—”

Before he could finish, Wei Wuxian tossed the spirit-attraction flag onto the

ground and humphed. “What’s so good about this crappy flag? I can draw

better!”

He then took off right after. The juniors who were on the rooftop, watching

the show, burst out laughing at his shameless declaration so riotously that they

almost fell off the roof. Lan Jingyi also laughed in exasperation, then picked up

the flag on the ground, dusting it off.

“What a lunatic!”

“Don’t say that,” Lan Sizhui chided him.

“Let’s go back and help now.”

As for Wei Wuxian, he wandered idly about for a while. It wasn’t until after

dark that he returned to Mo Xuanyu’s little courtyard. The door latch was

snapped, without anyone to clean up the mess. He ignored it and picked a

somewhat clean spot in the room before sitting down and continuing to

meditate.

Yet unexpectedly, it hadn’t reached the morning hours when a noisy

commotion outside pulled him out of his meditative state. A clamor of

footsteps mixed with wailing and screaming was rapidly approaching, and Wei

Wuxian heard these cries repeated:

“…Break in and drag him out!”

“Report him to the authorities!”

“Who cares about the authorities, just beat him to death!”

He opened his eyes just as a number of servants charged in. The entire courtyard was lit up as bright as day, and someone was shouting:“Drag that murdering lunatic to the main hall and make him pay with his

life!!”

Wei Wuxian’s first thought was: Did something go wrong with those youths’

flag formation?

The smallest carelessness in the usage of his inventions could cause disaster,

which was why he had earlier purposely gone to verify whether the spirit-

attraction flag was properly drawn. Thus, when those large hands came to drag

him out the door, Wei Wuxian lay there limply, allowing himself to be dragged

out. It saved him the trouble anyway.

He was dragged to the east hall, where it

was as lively as could be; surprisingly, there were no fewer townspeople gathered than there had been during the day. Many of the servants and close family relations had come, some still dressed in inner robes, not having had time to coif their hair, panic painted on each of their faces. Lady Mo sat slumped in her seat as if she had only just awoken from having fainted. There were traces of tears on the sides of her cheeks, the rims of her eyes still wet.

However, the moment Wei Wuxian was dragged in, her tears instantly

transformed into a baleful glare.

On the ground, there lay something that resembled the form of a human. The

body was covered by a white sheet, and only its head was exposed. Lan Sizhui

and those youths were bent down over it, inspecting the body solemnly and

whispering to each other. Their words filtered into Wei Wuxian’s ears:

“…It hasn’t been one incense time since he was discovered?”

“Right after subduing the walking corpses, we were rushing to the east

courtyard, and the dead body was lying there in the corridor.”

This body was Mo Ziyuan. Wei Wuxian swept a glance over him, then took another look in spite of himself.

This corpse looked like Mo Ziyuan, but at the same time not. While the facial

features were clearly that of his cheap little cousin, the cheeks were deeply

sunken, the eyeballs bulging, and the skin wrinkled. It was as if he had aged

twenty years compared to the previous Mo Ziyuan, who had been in the prime of his youth. It also almost seemed as if he had been sucked dry of his blood and flesh.

He looked like a mere sack of bones dressed in an extremely thin veilof skin. If it could have been said that the Mo Ziyuan from before was simply

ugly, then his corpse now was old and ugly.

Wei Wuxian was just taking a detailed look when Madam Mo suddenly came

charging over. Something shining flashed in her hand. She was holding a dagger! Moving as fast as his eyes saw, Lan Sizhui knocked it out of her hand, but before he could say anything, Madam Mo was already screaming at him.

“My son died a tragic death—I need to avenge him!! What’re you stopping

me for?!”

Wei Wuxian once again ducked behind Lan Sizhui and shot back, “What does

your son’s tragic death have to do with me?”

Lan Sizhui had watched Wei Wuxian make a scene during the day, then later

heard plenty of exaggerated rumors about this illegitimate son from the others.

He felt great pity for this mentally ill person and couldn’t help but try and speak

up for the man.

“Madam Mo, the state of your son’s corpse is clearly the work of evil. Its

blood, flesh, and spirit have been completely sucked out. He could not be the culprit.”

Madam Mo’s chest heaved. “What do you know?! This lunatic’s father is a

cultivator, so he must’ve learned plenty of evil magic!”

Lan Sizhui looked back and took a glance at the seemingly half-witted Wei

Wuxian. “Madam, there is no evidence, so it is still best…”

“THE EVIDENCE IS ON MY SON’S BODY!” Madam Mo pointed at the corpse on

the ground. “Take a look yourselves!! A-Yuan’s dead body has already told me

who his murderer is!”

Without waiting for the others to make a move, Wei Wuxian raced to pull

back the sheet from head to toe. Mo Ziyuan’s corpse had something missing.

His left arm, from the shoulder down, had vanished as if it had sprouted

wings!

Madam Mo added, “You see that? You all heard him today, right? What this

lunatic said? That if A-Yuan touched his things again, he would chop off A-Yuan’s arm!”

After her hysterics had settled, she covered her face and sobbed.

“…My poor A-Yuan never touched anything of this lunatic’s. Not only was he

slandered, he was killed by this maniac…”

Maniac!

It was so endearing. How many years had it been since he’d heard himself

described as such? Wei Wuxian pointed at himself, but he didn’t have the

words to rebuke that particular statement. He didn’t know, either, whether he

really was mental, or if Madam Mo was the one who was ill. After all, he had

boasted about slaughtering entire sects, laying waste to millions, making blood

flow like rivers, and other such things when he was younger.

But that was all talk, most of the time. If he really could do all that, he would’ve tyrannized the world already. Madam Mo wasn’t trying to avenge her son at all. She was only looking for someone to vent her anger on.

Wei Wuxian didn’t want to bother with her. After a moment of thought, he

reached into Mo Ziyuan’s robes and searched, finally digging something out.

When he unfolded that something, it was a spirit-attraction flag.

In that instant, it dawned on him. He muttered under his breath, “Mo Ziyuan

brought this on himself!”

When Lan Sizhui and the others saw the item taken out of Mo Ziyuan’s robes,

they also understood what had happened. Thinking back to the farce that had taken place during the day, it wasn’t hard to deduce what had transpired.

Earlier, Mo Ziyuan had lost considerable face due to Mo Xuanyu’s hysterics,

filling him with hatred. He’d had a mind to settle scores, but Mo Xuanyu had gone out frolicking, nowhere to be found. So Mo Ziyuan intended to wait until nighttime to teach Mo Xuanyu an underhanded lesson.

Yet when night came and he snuck out the door, as he passed by the west courtyard, he saw the spirit-attraction flags planted atop the wall eaves. While there were strict instructions against outings at night—and that the west courtyard was forbidden and that those black flags were not to be touched under any circumstances—Mo Ziyuan thought that was the cultivators purposely scaring people off because they were afraid of others stealing theirprecious spiritual weapons. He was unaware of just how dangerous and ominous the effects of the spirit-attraction flag were, and that once held, a flag would make the bearer a living target. Mo Ziyuan’s hands had never been clean.

He’d grown addicted to stealing the talismans and spiritual tools belonging to

his crazy older cousin. When he saw the magical objects, he couldn’t help but

feel the itch to take them for himself, no matter the cost. Thus, while the

owners of the flags were subduing walking corpses in the west courtyard, he

secretly plucked one away.

The flag formation utilized six spirit-attraction flags, five of which were set up in the west courtyard using those youths from the Lan family as bait. However,

they themselves were protected by the countless spiritual tools carried on their

persons. Although Mo Ziyuan had only stolen the one flag, he didn’t have any

protective tools on him. Go after the weakest, as they say. Naturally, the evil

spirits were lured to him. If it had only been walking corpses, then it wouldn’t

have been a big deal. At most, he’d have been bitten a couple times. It wouldn’t

have resulted in his death.

There would still have been a chance to save him.

Yet it just so happened that this spirit-attraction flag had unintentionally

summoned something more terrifying than walking corpses. And it was

precisely this unknown evil spirit that had killed Mo Ziyuan and robbed him of

an arm!

Wei Wuxian raised his wrist. Sure enough, a cut on his left arm had healed. It

seemed the sacrificial ritual had acknowledged Mo Ziyuan’s death as his doing.

After all, the spirit-attraction flag was Wei Wuxian’s invention, so he’d hit the mark out of pure luck.

Madam Mo was perfectly aware of her son’s little flaws, but she would never

admit Mo Ziyuan had caused his own death. Anxious and aggravated, she picked up a teacup and hurled it at Wei Wuxian’s face.

“If you hadn’t made a scene and framed him in front of so many people

yesterday, would he have gone out in the middle of the night?! It’s all your

fault, you bastard!!”

Wei Wuxian was already prepared and sidestepped to dodge the attack.

Madam Mo then screamed at Lan Sizhui.“AND YOU! You bunch of useless fools!! What cultivators are you, what evil

can you exorcise?! You can’t even protect a child! A-Yuan is so young!!”

Those youths were still green and only had so much experience under their

belt. They hadn’t detected anything unusual in this area, which was why they’d

never thought there’d be such a ferocious evil. At first, they’d been quite sorry

because they felt themselves lacking, but after Madam Mo’s indiscriminate

tongue-lashing, they were growing upset. After all, they came from a

distinguished clan.

No one had ever dared treat them this way. The teachings of

the Lan Clan of Gusu were extremely strict: they forbade raising a hand against

normal folk, and not even rudeness was allowed. Even though they were

irritated, they had to force it down, causing dark expressions to cloud their

faces.

Wei Wuxian couldn’t take it anymore. He thought, After so many years, the

Lan Family still acts this way. What’s the use of all that self-restraint unless

you’re looking to suffocate yourselves? Watch me!

He spat loudly. “Who do you think you’re yelling at? Do you really take them

to be your servants? They came all this way to exorcise evil for free, and now

they owe you? How old is your son again? At least seventeen, right? A ‘child’

still? How old do you have to be to understand human words? Did they not

instruct us again and again yesterday not to go near the west courtyard, not to

touch anything in the formation? Your son snuck out in the middle of the night

to dally about—is that my fault? Or is it his fault?”

Lan Jingyi and the others let out a breath, no longer looking as upset. Madam

Mo was both extremely sad and resentful, and her mind was filled with nothing

but thoughts of death. More specifically, it wasn’t thoughts of herself dying to

accompany her son, but rather thoughts of having everyone in this world die,

especially the ones currently in front of her.

Whenever something happened, she’d always order her husband around, so she shoved him. “Call everyone in! Call everyone in here!”

However, her husband was in a daze. Perhaps the shock of the death of his

only son was too great, but he shoved her back. Knocked down to the ground so

abruptly, Madam Mo was stunned.If this had been before, Madam Mo needn’t have pushed him; as long as she raised her voice a tiny bit, he’d do whatever she said. Yet today he dared fight back!

The servants were all terrified by her expression, and a trembling A-Ding

helped her stand. Madam Mo grabbed her heart, and said with a shaking voice,

“You…you…YOU GET LOST TOO!”

Her husband seemed not to have heard. A-Ding shot A-Tong a number of

looks, and A-Tong quickly dragged his master out. It was chaos within the east

hall. Seeing how the family was finally quieting down, Wei Wuxian went to

inspect the corpse further. However, he had barely glanced at it before another

high-pitched scream pierced through the door.

The crowd inside the hall poured out and were greeted with the sight of two

bodies spasming on the ground in the east courtyard. One was a slumped A-

Tong, alive. The other was collapsed on the ground, its body wrinkled and

withered as if its blood and flesh had been completely sucked dry. Its left arm

was already gone, and there was no blood flowing from the wound. The state of

this corpse was exactly the same as Mo Ziyuan’s.

Madam Mo had just shaken off A-Ding’s supporting hand, but when she saw

that corpse lying on the ground, she was stunned in place. At last exhausted of

the energy to throw more fits, she fainted. Wei Wuxian happened to be

standing near her, so he caught her and passed her to A-Ding as she came

running over. He then took a glance at his right hand. A cut there was gone as

well.

Madam Mo’s husband had only stepped out onto the threshold of the hall. He

hadn’t even entered the yard before he died tragically on the spot. Everything

had happened within an instant.

Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and the others paled, but Lan Sizhui was the first to

compose himself. He questioned the slumped A-Tong.

“Did you see what it was?”

A-Tong was thoroughly horrified, his teeth clenched so hard that he couldn’t

utter a word for the moment, only shaking his head. Lan Sizhui, burning with

impatience, instructed his peers to bring the boy inside before he turned to LanJingyi.

“Did you fire the signal?”

“I did,” Lan Jingyi replied. “But if there are no seniors nearby who can come to

offer assistance, our people will probably take at least an hour before they can

make it here. What do we do? We don’t even know what it is right now.”

It was, of course, impossible for them to leave. If a clan’s disciples only cared

about escape when running into evil spirits, then not only would they

embarrass the clan, but they themselves would be too ashamed to go out again.

The terrified folks of the Mo household could not leave with them either. The

evil spirit was most likely among them, so it would have been useless even if

they fled.

Lan Sizhui clenched his teeth. “Stay on guard until help arrives!”

Since the distress signal was already fired, other cultivators would soon come

to their aid. In order to avoid adding to the present trouble, by all accounts, Wei

Wuxian should have retreated. Best if whoever came was no one he knew. If it

was someone he had crossed paths with before, or had fought with, then it was

hard to tell what would happen.

With the sacrificial ritual’s curse on him, he could not leave the Mo Estate yet.

Besides, if the summoned creature could take two lives within such a short span

of time, then it was abnormally ferocious. If Wei Wuxian dropped everything

and left, then by the time reinforcements arrived, the entire Mo Estate would

have its streets filled with corpses missing their left arms. And surely, some of

those corpses would include the familial disciples of the Lan Clan of Gusu.

After a moment’s deliberation, Wei Wuxian said to himself, Let’s end this

quickly.

Those youths were fledglithis each of them looking nervous. Despite that,

they still scrupulously took their places to protect the Mo Manor and stuck

talismans inside and outside of the hall. The servant A-Tong had already been

carried inside, and Lan Sizhui checked his pulse with his left hand while his right

massaged Madam Mo’s back. He couldn’t treat both at once and was in a sorry

dilemma when suddenly,

A-Tong crawled up from the ground.A-Ding exclaimed, “A-Tong, you’re awake!”

Before any delight could cross her face, A-Tong raised his left hand and seized

his own neck.

Seeing this, Lan Sizhui targeted several of A-Tong’s acupoints with a triple tap

of his hand apiece. Wei Wuxian knew that while the Lan clan appeared gentle

on the surface, their arm strength was not gentle in the least. Using that

method, anyone could be rendered thoroughly unable to move.

However, A- Tong appeared not to have felt a thing. His left hand gripped harder and harder, his face scrunching more and more with pain. Lan Jingyi went over to pull at his left hand, but it was like trying to break off a chunk of iron: immovable.

Moments later, crack. A-Tong’s head drooped down, and only then did the hand let go. But his neck was already broken.

He had actually strangled himself before the eyes of all!

Seeing this, A-Ding’s voice trembled. “…A ghost! There’s an invisible ghost

here, and it made A-Tong strangle himself!”

Her voice was shrill and sad, raising hairs on everyone’s necks.

They all believed her. Wei Wuxian determined it to be the exact opposite, however. This wasn’t a malicious ghost.

He had seen the talismans those youths had chosen, and they were the spirit-

repelling type. They had plastered the entire east hall with them, airtight. If this

really were a malicious spirit, then those talismans would have immediately burned with green flames when it entered the east hall. Things would not be as

quiet as they were now.

It wasn’t that this group of youths was slow to react; it was that the intruder

was truly ferocious in nature. The cultivation sects had strict criteria for

determining whether something was a “malicious ghost”: one was considered

such if it killed once a month for up to three months consecutively. This was a

criterion Wei Wuxian himself had set, and it was probably still in use now.

Dealing with this type was his specialty, and based on what he’d seen, killing

once every seven days would make this creature a malicious ghost that caused

particularly frequent mischief. However, this thing had just killed three times in

a row, and in a short time span too. Even accomplished cultivators would havebeen hard-pressed to come up with a counter strategy, never mind these novice juniors.

Just as he was thinking this, the firelight flashed. A blast of sinister wind

whipped by, and every lantern and every candle in the entire courtyard,

including the east hall, was extinguished.

Screams erupted the instant the lights went out. The men and women pushed

and shoved, falling and fleeing.

Lan Jingyi shouted, “Stay where you are—don’t run! We’ll arrest whoever

runs!!”

Those were not words spoken without reason—wreaking havoc in the dark

and taking advantage of confusion was the nature of evil spirits. The more the

people screamed and ran amok, the easier it would be to attract trouble

unknowingly. It was extremely dangerous to be left alone or to lose one’s head

at a time like this. And yet it could not be helped that everyone was scared out

of their wits, so how could they possibly pay attention to and heed any

instructions? It didn’t take long before the east hall fell quiet, with only the

sound of light breaths and faint sniffling. Most had probably left.

In the darkness, a firelight suddenly flared. It was Lan Sizhui, who had lit an

illumination talisman.

The flames of the illumination talisman could not be extinguished by the

sinister wind that carried evil, and he used this talisman to relight the candles

anew while the rest of the youths went around to console the others. Under the

light, Wei Wuxian took a nonchalant glance at his wrists. Another cut had

healed.

It was then that he suddenly realized the number of cuts were wrong.

There had been two cuts on his left wrist and two on his right. One cut healed

after Mo Ziyuan’s death, another cut healed after the death of Mo Ziyuan’s

father, and then a third after the death of the servant A-Tong. Tallying that up,

there should have been three healed cuts, leaving only the cut with the deepest

wound and the deepest hatred.

But now there was nothing on his wrists. Not a single cut was left.Wei Wuxian trusted that Madam Mo was most definitely among those whom Mo Xuanyu wished to seek revenge upon. The longest and the deepest gash was likely for her, yet it had surprisingly vanished.

Was it Mo Xuanyu who had suddenly let it go and abandoned his hatred? That

was impossible. His soul had been sacrificed as the price for summoning Wei

Wuxian. In order for the cut to heal,

Madam Mo had to die. Unless…

He slowly moved his gaze from his wrist to Madam Mo, who had recently

roused and was surrounded by the crowd. Her face was white as a sheet.

…Unless she was already dead.

Wei Wuxian was sure something had already possessed Madam Mo. If that

thing was not a spirit, then what could it be?

Suddenly, A-Ding cried, “Hand…hand, A-Tong’s left arm!”

Lan Sizhui moved the illumination talisman over A-Tong’s corpse. Sure

enough, his left arm had also vanished.

The left arm!

In that flash of a second, everything was clear. The creature causing mischief

and the vanishing left arms formed a connection that clicked in Wei Wuxian’s

mind. He suddenly snorted and burst out laughing.

Lan Jingyi huffed. “That dummy, how can he laugh at a time like this?!” But

then he realized that, given the man was a dummy, what was the point of

bothering with him in the first place?

However, Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Jingyi’s sleeve and shook his head. “No,

no!”

Lan Jingyi irritably tried to pull his sleeve back. “No what? Not a dummy? Stop

playing around! No one’s got time for you.”

Wei Wuxian pointed at Father Mo’s and A-Tong’s corpses on the ground.

“That’s not them.”

Lan Sizhui stopped Lan Jingyi, who was about to blow up. He asked, “You said

‘that’s not them.’ What do you mean?”Wei Wuxian replied solemnly, “This isn’t Mo Ziyuan’s dad, and that’s not A-

Tong either.”

With his face smeared in makeup, the more solemn he was, the more it felt

like he really was mentally ill. However, under the haunting candlelight, his

words were surprisingly hair-raising. Lan Sizhui was stunned for a moment, then

questioned him in spite of himself.

“Why is that?”

Wei Wuxian said smugly, “Because of the hand! They’re not left-handed, they

always beat me with their right hands. I know that much at least.”

Lan Jingyi lost his patience and spat, “What are you so smug for? Look at that

pleased face!”

Lan Sizhui, however, had broken out in a cold sweat from the shock. Thinking

back, A-Tong had strangled himself using his left hand, and when Madam Mo’s

husband pushed his wife down, he had also used his left hand.

But during the day, when Mo Xuanyu had been causing a ruckus in the east

hall, those two had been busy trying to chase him out using their habitual right

hands. Surely they couldn’t both have turned into left-handers all of a sudden

right before their deaths.

Although the cause was presently unknown, in order to investigate what was

causing mischief, they had to start with those “left arms.” Having come to this

conclusion, Lan Sizhui sent a bewildered look at Wei Wuxian. Despite himself,

he thought, For him to suddenly say something like that, really…doesn’t seem

like a coincidence.

Wei Wuxian only continued to laugh cheekily, knowing that the hint had been

too conspicuous, but there was no other way.

Thankfully, Lan Sizhui didn’t dig into it, thinking, Either way, since this Mo-

gongzi was willing to call attention to it for me, it most likely wasn’t done out of

ill intent. He moved his gaze from Wei Wuxian, swept it over A-Ding, who had

fainted from weeping, and landed his eyes on Madam Mo.

His eyes traveled down from her face to her hands. Her arms were hanging by

her sides, mostly hidden in the sleeves, revealing only the tips of her fingers.The fingers of her right hand were snow white and slim—truly the hand of a

woman who lived in privilege, without the hardship of labor.

However, the fingers of her left hand were longer and thicker than those of

the right. The knuckles were curled, filled with strength.

How was that the hand of a woman? It was clearly the hand of a man!

“Hold her down!!” Lan Sizhui shouted.

The youths had already twisted Madam Mo’s arm back in a hold. With a “Forgive me,” Lan Sizhui pulled out a talisman. He was ready to slap it down when Madam Mo’s left arm twisted at an impossible angle, aiming for his throat.

The only way for a living human to twist their arm that way would be if their

bones were broken. The hand’s movement was fast, and it would have seized

his neck had it not been for Lan Jingyi tackling Lan Sizhui with a loud “gah!” and

blocking the attack for him.

There was a flash of firelight. That hand had only just grabbed Lan Jingyi’s

shoulder when green flames flared to life at the same spot. It instantly loosened

its grip. Having escaped death, Lan Sizhui was just about to thank Lan Jingyi for

coming to his rescue when he saw that half of Lan Jingyi’s uniform had been

burned to ashes, making him look incredibly unkempt.

Flustered and enraged, Lan Jingyi stripped off the unburnt half of his uniform

as he looked back and yelled, “Why did you kick me?! Stupid lunatic, did you

want me killed?!”

Wei Wuxian scurried away, hugging his head. “It wasn’t me!”

It was most certainly he who had kicked Lan Jingyi. The outer robe of the Lan

family’s uniform was tightly embroidered with spells and incantations inside its

lining to provide protection. However, the effect would have been nullified

after one use when encountering a formidable creature such as this. Under

these dire circumstances, Wei Wuxian could only give Lan Jingyi a kick to make

him use his body to shield Lan Sizhui’s neck.

Lan Jingyi was going to yell some more, but Madam Mo collapsed to the

ground. The flesh and blood of her face had been drained so utterly that only alayer of skin pressed against her skull remained. The man’s arm that did not

belong to her fell off of her left shoulder, yet its fingers could still move as it willed. It was as if it were stretching, the pulsing of its veins clearly visible.

That thing was the evil that had been summoned by the spirit-attraction flag.

Dismemberment was a standard violent death.

It was a little more dignified than the way Wei Wuxian had died, though not by much. Unlike being crushed to ashes, the limbs of a dismembered corpse retained a part of the grudges of the deceased. One would yearn to return to its body, yearn to die a complete corpse. Thus, it would also attempt to seek out the other parts of its body. Once found, the corpse would then perhaps rest in peace and satisfaction, or perhaps wreak greater havoc. If the rest of its original body wasn’t found, however, a limb could only go for the second-best option.

What was the second-best option? Seek out the bodies of living humans and

make do, just as this left arm had demonstrated: devour the left arm of the

living, take its place, and suck out the living human’s spirit, blood, and flesh.

Then abandon the body to continue searching for the next host. This would

continue until all parts of its original corpse were found.

Once this arm attached itself to a body, it was instant death for the host,

though prior to their blood and flesh being completely eaten, the human could

still move normally under the arm’s control, as if still alive. After the arm had been summoned, the first vessel it found was Mo Ziyuan. The second vessel was Mo Ziyuan’s father. When Madam Mo had told her husband to get lost, he’d

acted out of character and pushed her. At first, Wei Wuxian had thought it was

because the man was heartbroken because of his son’s death and that he had

also had enough of his wife’s unreasonable behavior. In retrospect, that had not

been the demeanor of a father who had just lost his son. That had not been the

stupor of despair—it had been stillness. The stillness of the dead.

The third vessel was A-Tong, and the fourth was Madam Mo. The left arm took advantage of the chaos when the lights went out earlier to migrate to her

body. And when Madam Mo was killed, the last cut on Wei Wuxian’s wrist had

also vanished with her demise.

Seeing how the talismans were useless but their clothes were not, all the Lanyouths each stripped off their outer robes and threw them at the left arm,

covering and wrapping it in layers upon layers of robes like a thick white

cocoon. A moment later, this ball of white clothes ignited with a WHOOSH, the

wicked green flames blazing to the skies. Though it worked for the time being, it

would not last long. Once the uniforms were completely burnt, that arm would

break free from their ashes. While no one was paying attention, Wei Wuxian ran straight for the west courtyard.

Over a dozen walking corpses those youths had captured were standing

silently in the yard. A spell had been drawn upon the ground to seal them inside

its boundary, and Wei Wuxian stomped on one of the characters, destroying

the entire array. After two claps, the walking corpses jerked. Their white eyes

opened abruptly, as if they had been shocked awake by an explosion of

thunder.

“Wake up,” Wei Wuxian said. “Time to get to work!”

He never needed any complicated spells or summoning incantations to

control corpse puppets. The most straightforward command would suffice. The

walking corpses at the very front quivered as they struggled to shuffle a few

steps. Then, the moment they approached Wei Wuxian, they fell face-first to

the ground like living humans, as if their legs had grown weak from terror.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry at this, Wei Wuxian clapped twice more,

but much softer this time. However, these walking corpses had probably been

born at the Mo Estate and had died here as well.

They’d never seen the world.

So while they instinctively obeyed the summoner’s command, they were also

terrified of the summoner for some reason, lying on the ground whimpering,

too afraid to get up.

The crueler the evil spirit, the easier it was for Wei Wuxian to manipulate it.

These walking corpses had never gone through his training, so they could not

withstand his direct control. He had no materials at his disposal to immediately

create a device that could ease their fear either, and nothing with which to

improvise. As he watched the blazing green flames from the east courtyard

gradually die down, an idea suddenly came to mind.

Why go out searching to find a cruel and vicious deceased, one steeped inextreme hatred?

The east hall already had one. More than one!

He darted back to the east courtyard. Lan Sizhui’s first plan had come to an

end, so he devised another. The youths all unsheathed their longswords, planting them in the ground to form a fence of blades. The ghost arm smashed about within the enclosure. It was taking all their energy just to hold the hilts in place and prevent them from being expelled by the force; no one had the time to pay attention to who was going in and out of the hall.

Wei Wuxian stepped into the east hall and yanked up the corpses of Madam Mo and Mo Ziyuan, one in each hand. In a low voice, he gave a command:

“Awake yet?”

At the sound of his voice, the souls returned!

An instant later, Madam Mo and Mo Ziyuan opened their white eyes and let

out a shrill shriek unique to malicious ghosts at the moment of their

resurrection.

Amidst the high and low shrieks, another corpse crawled to its feet in

trepidation, calling out feebly with a voice that could not have been any softer.

It was Madam Mo’s husband.

The cries were loud enough, the hatred plentiful. Wei Wuxian was extremely

pleased.

“Recognize that arm out there?”

He smiled.

“Tear it apart,” he ordered.

The three members of the Mo family were like three blasts of black wind,

blowing forth in an instant.

That left arm had broken a longsword. Just as it was about to break out of the

pen, three left-armless fierce corpses came lunging at it.

Even aside from the fear of disobeying Wei Wuxian’s command, these three

carried an intense hatred for the creature that had killed them, and theyunleashed all their fury upon that ghost arm. The one leading the attack was

undoubtedly Madam Mo.

Once reanimated, female corpses were often

particularly ferocious. Her hair was flying wild, her white eyes crawling with red,

and her nails had burst in length exponentially. She was foaming at the mouth,

her shrill cries practically raising the roofs, completely crazed. Mo Ziyuan

followed his mother closely, working in concert with her to both tear and bite at

the left arm while his father trailed behind them, filling in the gaps between the

other two’s attacks.

The Lan youths who had been struggling to hang on earlier were all stunned.

They had only ever heard of such fights between fierce corpses from sundry

books and hearsay. This was the first time they had witnessed such a gory

scene, and they gawked, unable to avert their eyes. They only had one thought

in their minds: This is so exciting!

The three corpses and the one arm were in the throes of battle. Suddenly, Mo

Ziyuan shrieked as he dodged; that arm had swiped at his abdomen, and several

ropes of his intestines drooped from the tear. Madam Mo snarled incessantly at

the sight of this. She pulled her son behind her to shield him while escalating

her attacks, her nails slicing through air as sharply as blades made of iron and

steel. However, Wei Wuxian could tell she was slowly losing against the arm.

Even three freshly dead fierce corpses working together could not subdue this

one arm!

Wei Wuxian watched the battle closely. He curled his tongue slightly, holding

a sharp whistle back between his lips as he hesitated to let it loose. If he

whistled, he could evoke greater hatred within the controlled fierce corpses,

and that would perhaps turn the tables. However, it would be difficult to ensure

no one noticed that he was the instigator.

In the span of a second, that hand moved as fast as lightning, ruthless and

precise as it snapped Madam Mo’s neck. Seeing how the Mo family was being

steadily beaten back, Wei Wuxian was just about to let loose the whistle he

held under his tongue when—right then—two strums from a guqin sounded in

the far distance.

The two notes were skillfully played, ethereal and clear, carrying with themthe tinkling bleakness of windswept pines. The collection of demonic evils that

were in the middle of a brawl all froze.

The youths of the Lan Clan of Gusu immediately beamed as if they had been

resurrected. Lan Sizhui raised a hand to wipe away the blood on his face and

then looked up, calling out in delight:

“Hanguang-jun!”

The moment he heard the cry of that sobriquet and the distant guqin, Wei Wuxian turned to leave.

Another strum. This time, the note was higher pitched, piercing through the

sky like the austere harshness of winter’s first approach. The three fierce

corpses shrank back while covering one ear with their right hands at the same

time.

However, it was impossible to block out the Eradication Tone of the Lan

Clan of Gusu in such a way. They only managed to back up a few steps before

there was the faint sound of cracking in their skulls.

As for that left arm, after engaging in such a ferocious fight, hearing the sound

of the strings now made it suddenly drop to the ground. Though its fingers still

twitched, the arm was already lying limp and silent.

After a short silence, the group of youths couldn’t help but erupt in loud

cheers, the sound filled with the jubilation of having survived. They had

endured a terrifying night, and now that help from the clan had finally arrived,

they couldn’t have cared less if they were harshly punished later for “disgracing

the sect with a breach of etiquette.”

While they waved toward the moon, Lan Sizhui suddenly noticed someone

missing. He tugged at Lan Jingyi.

“Where is he?”

Lan Jingyi was busy being happy and replied, “Who? He who?”

“That Mo-gongzi,” Lan Sizhui replied.

“Huh? Why are you looking for that lunatic? Who knows, maybe he was

scared of getting beaten up by me and ran off somewhere.”

“…”

Lan Sizhui knew that Lan Jingyi was unmindful and straightforward, never

thinking deeply on things or harboring suspicion. He thought to himself, I’ll just

wait until Hanguang-jun is down here, then report to him about that man and

the incident.

The Mo Estate slumbered soundly, though whether that peace was real or

fake was difficult to tell. Even though there had been a bloody corpse fight inthe Mo Manor’s east and west courtyards, no one was getting up in the middle

of the night to watch it. One had to pick and choose the right spectacle to

watch, and a spectacle with such incessant screaming was best avoided.

Wei Wuxian rapidly destroyed any remaining evidence of the sacrificial ritual

array, then ran out the door.

Of all people who could have come, it had to be the Lan family; of all people

to come, it just had to be Lan Wangji!

This was someone with whom he had once crossed paths and fought, so he

retreated in a hurry. Anxious to find a steed, as he passed by a courtyard, he

noticed a spotted donkey tied next to a large millstone, chewing something in

its mouth. It seemed a little surprised when it saw him come dashing over,

giving him a side-eye like a person would.

The instant Wei Wuxian met its eyes,

he was immediately moved by the disdain in its gaze.

He went up to it, yanked off its rope, and started dragging it out. The spotted

donkey loudly complained.

Wei Wuxian cajoled as he dragged, coaxing it in every way possible to move it along. Stepping out in the lightening of dawn,

they clattered onto the main road.

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End of the Chapter~

Thankyou all for making it till here~

Trust me it will get better........

Don't forget to leave a comment of your thoughts.......

Bye-bye(*´︶`*)♡Thanks!

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             𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡

____________

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG before Wei Wuxian discovered that he might have made mistake this spotted donkey that he’d stolen away with was way too hard to

please.

It was a mere donkey, but all it would eat was fresh, tender grass that dripped with dew, and it would refuse to eat if the tip of the grass had yellowed even a little bit. When they passed by a farmhouse, Wei Wuxian stole a bit of straw to feed it after only chewing a couple of bites, it spat it out in disgust, and the sound of it was louder and clearer than when a human spat. If it didn’t eat well, then it would refuse to walk, throw tantrums, and kick its legs.

 Wei Wuxian himself was nearly walloped many times. On top of that, its braying cry was remarkably horrible.

As a steed or as a beloved pet, it was utterly useless!

Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but miss his sword, which was most likely now hanging on some major clan leader’s wall as a trophy.

Pulling and dragging the donkey for all he was worth, he traveled down the rambling road.

He finally came to pass the large paddy field of a village. The sun was scorching. Next to the field ridge was a large locust tree, and the area beneath the tree was thick with green shade. There was also an old well, and the villagers had placed a bucket and a scoop next to it to provide relief to the thirst of passersby.

When the spotted donkey reached this place, it refused to walk a step farther. Wei Wuxian hopped down and patted its esteemed derriere.

“Well, aren’t you a pampered and noble little steed? And even harder to please than I am.”

The donkey snorted at him.

As they mucked around, a group approached from the crisscrossing paths in the distance.Those people carried handwoven bamboo baskets and wore cloth shirts and

straw shoes. They exuded the rustic air of the country from head to toe. There

was a round-faced young girl among them, somewhat delicately beautiful, but hardly notably so.

Perhaps they had also trekked for too long under the scorching sun, as they also wanted to come over for a drink of water and to stand under the shade. However, when they saw a kicking and screaming

spotted donkey tied to the tree,

accompanied by a disheveled, loose-haired

lunatic smeared with rouge and white powder, they didn’t dare come over.

Wei Wuxian had always considered himself a man who cherished beauty, so when he noticed their hesitation, he moved from his spot to give them space and went to bother the spotted donkey.

When that group saw he was harmless, they relaxed and walked over. Each of them was drenched in sweat and red in the face, fanning themselves and drawing water as they needed.

The girl sat by the well, and, seeming to know that Wei Wuxian had purposely yielded space, she smiled softly at him.

One of the men was holding a compass in his hands, and he gazed far into the

distance before looking back down, confused.

“How come the needle still won’t move,

even though we’re almost at the foot

of Mount Dafan?”

The carvings on that compass and its needle were both quite peculiar. It was

no ordinary compass: a Compass of Ill Winds wasn’t used to pathfind but rather to point out the whereabouts of nearby nefarious creatures.

 Wei Wuxian knew that this meant he had come across one of the small, downtrodden clans of the countryside. Outside of the elite, affluent clans, there were also quite a number of these small, independent clans. Wei Wuxian thought perhaps that they had traveled here from the countryside to seek refuge with a large clan with which they had some familial relation. Or maybe they were out here to go on a Night Hunt.

The middle-aged man who was the group’s leader told the other man to go for his drink and commented,

“Is that compass of yours broken? I’ll give you a new one later. Mount Dafan is less than five kilometers away, so we can’t rest for too long. We’ve traveled all this way. It won’t be worth it if we slack off now and fall behind the others.”

It was a Night Hunt, as expected. Many cultivation clans, in their appreciation for refined elegance, called the act of traveling the world to exorcise evil

“hunting expeditions.” And because said evils often appeared at night, such activities were thus called Night Hunts.

There were numerous cultivation clans that had come and gone, and only a handful that had been able to make a name for themselves.

If an ordinary clan—one without generations of accumulated reputation to stand on—wanted to join the higher ranks and become famous, wanted to gain prestige and respect among the cultivation world, then they had to show tangible achievements.

Only when they hunted down ruthless

monsters or disaster-bringing malicious fiends did their words gain any weight.

These Night Hunts had originally been Wei Wuxian’s expertise, but he had been constantly on the move the past few days and had only managed to hunt down a handful of little devils from the few graves he’d broken into. He was in need of a band of tyrannical ghost generals to do his bidding, so he, too, decided to head to that “Rice Mountain” to try his luck. If there was one that proved useful, he’d capture it for his own use.

That group had finished their break and was ready to be on their way as well.

Before they left, the round-faced girl took out a half-green, barely red apple from the basket on her back and handed it to Wei Wuxian.

“For you.”

Wei Wuxian extended his hand to receive it with a happy grin, but the spotted donkey raised its head and bared its teeth to bite for it, so Wei Wuxian quickly snatched it up instead. Seeing how the donkey drooled for the little apple, an idea came to him. Upon finding a long branch and some fishing thread, he dangled the apple in front of the donkey. The spotted donkey smelled the sweet fragrance of the apple and craved it. With its head raised, it chased after that apple that dangled just barely out of reach. It ended up becoming faster

than all the renowned steeds Wei Wuxian had seen before, leaving them all in

the dust!

The donkey ran without stopping, and Wei Wuxian arrived at Mount Dafan before dark. It was only when he reached the foot of the mountain that he learned the “fan” in “Dafan” did not mean “rice” but instead “Brahma.” Seen from a distance, the shape of the mountain resembled that of a short, carefree,and content Buddha, hence its name. There was a small town at the foot of the mountain, and so it was called Fojiao Town, meaning “Buddha’s Foot.”

There were more cultivators gathered here than he imagined. It was an assembly of all sorts, a confusion of colors caused by the different uniforms of various clans and sects walking down the streets. For some reason, everyone appeared tense. Even at the sight of his wacky looks, no one seemed like they could spare a moment to mock him.

At the center of the long street, there were a bunch of cultivators gathered in

a serious discussion. It sounded like they were having quite a difference of opinions

Wei Wuxian could hear them far down the street. It was all right at first, but it somehow grew more and more heated.

“…I do not believe there are soul-eating beasts or fiends at all. There was clearly no activity on any azimuth of the Compass of Ill Winds.”

“If there aren’t, then how did seven townspeople lose their souls? They couldn’t possibly have all contracted the same disease? I’ve never heard of such an illness before!”

“Just because the Compass of Ill Winds doesn’t show something doesn’t mean

it’s not there! The most it can do is point in a general direction anyway. It’s not accurate enough to be fully trusted. Maybe there’s something nearby that’s

obstructing the needle?”

“Why don’t you think about who invented the Compass of Ill Winds? I’ve

never heard of anything that can interfere with the needle.”

“What are you trying to say, huh? What are you implying? Of course I know

the Compass of Ill Winds was created by Wei Ying, but it’s not like his creations

are perfect, so why are you stopping people from questioning it?”

“I didn’t say you can’t, and I didn’t say his creations are perfect either! No need to slander!”

And so their argument swerved in a different direction. Wei Wuxian giggled

and laughed as he rode past on his donkey. He wouldn’t have thought that, after so many years, he still stood strong and unfailing as a topic in cultivators’ verbal battles. He had a Wei of starting conflict, you might say. If there was evera vote on who had the most enduring popularity amongst all the clans, then he was the sure winner.

In all fairness, that cultivator wasn’t wrong. The Compass of Ill Winds that was in common use now was only an early version, so it was indeed not accurate

enough. He had started on refining it, but it wasn’t his fault that his good ol’ lair

had been toppled before that was done, so everyone would just have to deal

with it and continue using the fallible first edition.

Anyway, creatures that consumed flesh were mostly low-level—walking corpses, for example. Only refined, high-level monsters or spirits could consume and digest souls. Seven souls had been eaten in one go too, so it was no wonder many clans had assembled here. Since this Night Hunt’s prey was hardly insignificant in strength, it couldn’t be helped that the Compass of Ill Winds would run into issues.

Wei Wuxian pulled on the reins and hopped off the donkey, then grabbed the apple that had been dangling in front of it this entire way and tugged it down to its mouth.

“One bite. Only one bite… Bah! Are you trying to eat my entire hand in one

bite?!”

He took a couple of bites from the other side of the apple, then stuffed it back

into the spotted donkey’s mouth. As he was reflecting on how he’d fallen so low

as to share a single apple with a donkey, someone suddenly bumped into his back. He turned his head and saw it was a girl.

While she was the one who had bumped into him, she took no notice of him at all. Her eyes were unfocused as she gazed, fixated, in a certain direction with a smile on her face.

Wei Wuxian followed the azimuth of her gaze. In that direction was a dense

mountaintop. It was Mount Dafan.

All of a sudden, without warning, the girl started dancing in front of him.

This dance was feral and threatening, her arms flailing.

Wei Wuxian was taking great pleasure in watching the show, but just then, a woman came dashing over with her skirt lifted. She wailed as she hugged the girl.

“A-Yan, let’s go back, let’s go!”A-Yan fought her off.

The smile on her face, never having faded, carried a hair-raising sense of maternal affection, and she danced and pranced while that woman continued to chase after her around the streets, weeping as she went.

A street vendor on the side commented, “What a sin. A-Yan from Blacksmith

Zheng’s house escaped again.”

“It’s truly sad for her mom. A-Yan, A-Yan’s husband, and her own husband as

well… It’s not right at all.”

Wei Wuxian sauntered about, and from snatches of overheard conversation

on the streets, sorted out the strange affair that had happened here.

There was an old graveyard on Mount Dafan, and most of the ancestral graves of Fojiao Town’s people were located there. Sometimes, they also dug graves and placed wooden markers for unnamed corpses. Many months ago, there had been a stormy night where lightning crashed and thunder drummed, and after a night of being battered by torrential rain, a piece of land from the mountain slid and collapsed. This piece of land, more specifically, was the

graveyard.

Many of the old graves were destroyed, and several coffins were expelled from the earth. Then lightning struck, sending the coffin lids flying and charring black both the corpses and their coffins.

The people of Fojiao Town felt very uneasy at all this. They prayed for good

fortune and rebuilt the old graverrd in the hopes that would settle things.

Despite their efforts, since then, cases of people losing their souls began to frequently crop up in Fojiao Town.

The first one was a deadbeat.

This man was a penniless good-for-nothing,

spending his days in idleness. But since he always loved catching birds up on the

mountain, it just so happened that he got trapped on Mount Dafan the night of the landslide. He was scared half to death, but at least he was still alive.

The curious thing was that it didn’t take long after his return for him to suddenly get married. The wedding was conducted with great fanfare, and he declared his intent to do good from that day onward, to accumulate good fortune, and to live the rest of his life in peace.On his wedding night, he got blackout drunk and never got up after lying down in bed. The bride called to him, but he wouldn’t respond. It was only after pushing him that she discovered the groom had an empty stare, his body cold.

Aside from his breathing, he was no different than the dead. He lay like this,

neither eating nor drinking, for many days, then was finally buried in peace.

Pitiful was the bride who had only just been married, to be turned into a widow.

The second one was A-Yan from Blacksmith Zheng’s family. The girl had just gotten engaged when, the very next day, her future husband was killed by a jackal while hunting on the mountain. After learning of this, she was struck by the same affliction as had descended upon that deadbeat. Fortunately, she recovered from the soulless disease on her own after some time. However, it also caused her to become deranged, giggling as she danced outside in front of others.

The third one was A-Yan’s father,

Blacksmith Zheng. To date, there had now

been seven people who had fallen victim consecutively.

Wei Wuxian mulled this over. This was most likely a soul-eating fiend, not a

soul-eating beast.

Even though the difference was but one word, they were completely distinct

creatures. Fiends belonged to the ghost category, while beasts were of the

monster category. In his opinion, all this might be the fault of the old graveyard

that had collapsed from the tremors of the landslide. Once lightning struck

open the coffins, any ancient fiends that were resting within would be unleashed.

He’d be able to determine if this was really the case once he took a look at what the coffins were made of—and there were any remnants of seal talismans. However, the people of Fojiao Town must surely have reburied the charred coffins a long time ago, and also reburied the corpses anew, so there definitely wouldn’t be much evidence left.

He would have to take the trail that started from Fojiao Town in order to

properly scale the mountain, so Wei Wuxian leisurely treaded up the hill on his donkey.

After a while, he ran into a few people descending the mountain with gloomy

expressions. Some of them carried injuries on their faces, and they were talkingall at once. They all jumped in surprise when they ran into this donkey-rider with a face caked in hanged ghost makeup under the darkening skies, and they cursed as they went around him to hurry down the hill.

Wei Wuxian turned his head and wondered Could it be that the prey was too difficult to handle, and they were going back empty-handed? He slapped the donkey’s hip after a moment’s thought and trotted up the mountain.

That group groused and complained after his departure:

“I’ve never met anyone so unreasonable!”

“Why would the clan leader of such a big clan come here just to fight us over

a soul-eating fiend? He already killed plenty of those when he was younger, I’m

sure!”

“What can you do? He’s the sect leader. Of all the clans to offend, you don’t

offend the Jiang Clan, and of all the people to offend, you never offend Jiang

Cheng. Let’s just write it off as our bad luck, pack up, and get outta here.”

A torch would be necessary to continue into the mountain forest if the sky got

any darker. Wei Wuxian walked for a while and was quite surprised to not run

into many cultivators. Of all the clans that came, could it really be that half are

arguing theory in Fojiao Town, while the other half are like that group from

earlier? Trying, failing, and going back empty-handed?

Suddenly, a cry for help came from ahead.

“SOMEBODY!”

“HELP!”

There were both male and female voices, their cries full of panic and helplessness. It didn’t sound fake—even though nine times out of ten, cries for help in the wild were evil spirits out causing mischief, luring the ignorant into a trap.

Wei Wuxian, however, was thrilled.

The eviler the better! It had better be evil enough!

He urged the donkey to run toward where the voices were coming from, but when he arrived, there was nothing in sight. When he looked up, rather than any evil spirits or monsters, he saw the independent countryside clan he hadrun into previously by the field ridge. They were hanging from a tree, caught in a massive, shimmering gold net.

That middle-aged man had led the group to patrol and scout the forest area at first, but they hadn’t run into the prey they were hoping for. Instead, they stepped into the net trap some rich folk had set up and ended up hanging from the tree as they cried their grievances. They perked up when they saw someone had come but were immediately greatly disappointed to realize it was the lunatic. While the threads of this immortal-binding net were thin, the material was of the highest grade, durable and indestructible. Once caught, it didn’t matter if you were a human or a god, a ghost or spirit—you’d be trapped a

good while.

Unless, that is, the net was cut with an immortal device of an even higher grade. It’d be pointless to expect this lunatic to help them down. He probably didn’t even know what the net was.

Just as they were going to try to ask him to find help, there came the sound of

agile steps crinkling leaves, approaching swiftly. From within the pitch-black

woods there emerged a youth dressed in a light-colored jacket.

There was a vermillion mark dotted between the brows of this little young

master, and his features were so fine they were almost harsh. He was extremely

young—around the same age as Lan Sizhui, a mere adolescent. On his back, he

carried a quiver of arrows and a longsword shimmering with gold, and in his hand, there was a longbow. The embroidery on his robes was indisputably exquisite, swirling together into extraordinary white peonies.

The golden threads twinkled delicately in the night.

Wei Wuxian marveled inwardly. Rich!

This had to be a young master belonging to the Jin Clan of Lanling. Only this clan used the white peony as their insignia. By comparing themselves to the king of flowers, they implied they were kings among immortals. Dotting one’s forehead with cinnabar symbolized the conviction to open the doors to wisdom, allowing the vermillion light of eternity to shine upon the world.

This little young master had been about to shoot, but when he saw the immortal-binding net had only captured humans, disappointment flashed on his face, and he lost his patience.

“It’s you stupid idiots every time. Over four hundred immortal-binding nets, but it’s always the same: before they manage to catch any prey, dozens of them get wrecked by you lot!”

The same thought was still foremost in Wei Wuxian’s mind: Rich!

An immortal-binding net was already considerably expensive, and he’d still set up over four hundred of them in one go. As expected of the Jin Clan of Lanling—an even slightly smaller clan would have been reduced to poverty and ruin. However, to abuse the immortal-binding net like this to hunt indiscriminately was not a Night Hunt. This was clearly an act of driving others out in order to hoard the spoils. It appeared that the cultivators who retreated previously hadn’t done so because the prey was difficult but because these prestigious sects weren’t ones to be offended.

During the days he’d spent strolling along, and on account of his ravenous eavesdropping earlier in Fojiao Town,

Wei Wuxian had heard plenty of gossip

about the rises and falls within the cultivation world. As the final victor of the tangled war between cultivation clans that had spanned over a hundred years,

the Jin Clan of Lanling now led the clans and sects; the head of their clan was

even respectfully addressed as “Cultivation Chief.”

 The Jin clan had always been haughty and enjoyed extravagance. In the span of years spent presiding high above the others, the clan had prospered and grown powerful, and their disciples were raised to dominate others without scruple. Inferior clans, no

matter how much they were humiliated, had no choice but to swallow it down.

Such a small cultivation house from the countryside could afford even less to offend them. This was why, although the boy’s words were harsh and the people hanging in the net turned red in the face at the abuse, they still didn’t dare argue back.

The middle-aged man said subserviently,

“Will the young master grant us the

favor of lowering us down?”

The youth was frustrated that his prey still hadn’t shown itself, so this country bumpkin was a perfect secondary target for venting his anger. He crossed his arms.

“Stay hanging there so you don’t wander around and hinder me again! Once Icatch the soul-eating beast, I’ll let you guys go, if I remember.”

If they really hung from that tree the entire night, unable to move, there

would be nothing they could do but have their souls sucked out if the thing

wandering Mount Dafan came upon them.

The round-faced girl who had given

Wei Wuxian an apple was terrified and wept out loud. Wei Wuxian was sitting cross-legged on the back of the spotted donkey, but when the donkey heard

her crying, its long ears twitched.

Suddenly, it leapt forth. It even let out a long bray when it did, and if not for that uniquely horrible sound, it would’ve appeared irresistibly heroic. It wouldn’t be idle flattery to call it a mighty young colt. Caught off guard, Wei Wuxian was thrown off its back and nearly broke his skull from the fall.

 The spotted donkey’s broad head charged toward the youth, apparently convinced

that it could send the boy flying with a headbutt. The youth’s arrow was still

nocked in his bow, so he was ready to shoot it down.

Wei Wuxian didn’t want to go find a new ride so soon, so he pulled at the reins with all his might.

That youth took a glance at him and briefly appeared stunned before his

expression immediately turned into scorn. He pursed his lips.

“So, it’s you.”

That tone was two parts surprise and eight parts revulsion, making Wei Wuxian blink in confusion.

“What, you went crazy after getting kicked back to your old home? Look at

that ghastly painted face, I can’t believe they let you out!”

What was this incredible thing he’d just heard?!

Could it be…? Wei Wuxian slapped his own thigh. Could it be that Mo Xuanyu’s father was not some random small-time clan leader but the infamous

Jin Guangshan?!

Jin Guangshan had been the previous head of the Jin Clan of Lanling and had

long since passed on. This was a character with a long story. He’d had a fiercely

strict madam wife from an illustrious family and been notoriously afraid of her, but scared as he might’ve been, he still incessantly played around with other women. No matter how strict Madam Jin was, she couldn’t follow him aroundtwenty-four hours a day. He was relentless in his affairs, bedding women from distinguished ladies above to wild prostitutes below. And, while he loved womanizing and had a great number of illegitimate children, he was extremely fickle in love.

Once he grew tired of a woman, she’d be cast from his mind without any thought to responsibility. Of his many illegitimate children, only one had been outstanding enough to be recognized and taken back, and that was the current family head of the Jin Clan of Lanling, Jin Guangyao.

Furthermore, even the way Jin Guangshan died was an embarrassment. Old, but fully confident he was still robust, he’d fooled around with a bunch of women at once in order to challenge himself. However, he unfortunately overestimated his vitality and died during the orgy. This was simply too

embarrassing to speak of, so the Jin Clan of Lanling unanimously declared that the old sect leader had passed due to overexertion, and the rest of the clans, in

tacit understanding, all pretended not to know the full truth of the statement.

In any case, that was the real reason for his infamy.

Back during the Siege of the Burial Mound, Jin Guangshan’s contributions to the effort had come second only to Jiang Cheng’s. Now that Wei Wuxian had overtaken his illegitimate son’s body, he really didn’t know how this score should be settled.

The youth saw him zone out and grew annoyed.

 “Get outta here! Just seeing

your face disgusts me. Damn cut-sleeve.”

In terms of seniority, Mo Xuanyu might have been this boy’s uncle or some

other elder. And yet he had to suffer such humiliation from a junior. Even if it

wasn’t for himself, as he was currently in Mo Xuanyu’s body, Wei Wuxian felt

he had a responsibility to humiliate the boy back.

So, he countered, “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

Raging flames of fury flashed in the youth’s eyes. He pulled the longsword

from his back and glowered.

“What…did you say?”

The sword shimmered gold. It was clearly a rare, high-quality weapon that

would be out of many clans’ reach even if they hustled their entire lives.

Wei Wuxian studied it, fixated, and felt the sword appeared rather familiar. But he’dseen plenty of high-quality swords that glowed golden, so he didn’t think too deeply on it. He only twirled a small pouch in his hand.

This was a spirit-trapping pouch that he’d thrown together haphazardly a few days ago, using scraps of fabric he found.

The youth lunged at him, brandishing

his sword, and Wei Wuxian took a small piece of paper cut in the shape of a

human from the pouch. He dodged the attack, then slapped the paper onto the

other’s back.

The youth was already swift, but Wei Wuxian had plenty of experience in

tripping people and slapping talismans onto them, so he was faster. The youth felt his back go numb and heavy, then fell forward onto the ground involuntarily. The sword dropped to his side with a clang. He couldn’t get up, no matter how hard he tried; it was as if Mount Tai was sitting on top of him. More specifically, it was a ghost that had died of gluttony that clung to his back, crushing the breath out of him. While the little ghost was weak, it could easily take care of a brat like this.

Wei Wuxian picked up that sword, weighed it in his hand, and then swung at the immortal-binding net, snapping it.

The cultivation family dropped to the ground in sorry confusion, then ran away in a hurry without a word.

The round-faced girl seemed to want to

express thanks, but her elder dragged her away, afraid that the young master Jin would hold an even deeper grudge should she say one more word.

The youth on the ground yelled angrily,

“Damn cut-sleeve! Lookit you, going down the demonic path just because your spiritual power is too weak to cultivate into anything worthwhile. You watch yourself! Do you know who’s here today?! I’m gonna…”

Wei Wuxian clutched his heart insincerely. “Ah! I’m so scared!”

The cultivation method he’d employed in the past was denounced by the public. It harmed the cultivator’s constitution after prolonged practice, but it allowed for speedy success and was unrestricted by one’s innate spiritual prowess and natural talent, which was why it was an extremely tempting path.

There was never a shortage of people who craved shortcuts in their training, and so this youth also thought Mo Xuanyu had strayed from the right path afterbeing driven out of the Jin Clan of Lanling. It was a perfectly logical suspicion, and it saved Wei Wuxian from further unnecessary trouble.

The youth tried to push off the ground but still couldn’t get up after several

attempts. His face was flushed, and he clenched his teeth.

“If you don’t remove this thing, I’ll tell my uncle, and you’ll be dead!”

Wei Wuxian asked curiously, “Why is it your uncle and not your dad? Who’s your uncle?”

There was suddenly a voice behind him, grave and intensely frigid.

“I am his uncle. Do you have any last words?”

At the sound of that voice, every drop of blood in Wei Wuxian’s body seemed to surge to his head but then immediately drained away again. Thankfully, his face was already a mess of ghastly white, so it didn’t look strange when he went a little paler.

A man in purple attire strode over. He was dressed in a narrow-sleeved light robe, with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. A silver bell dangled from his waist, yet there was no sound when he walked.

This young man had fine brows and almond eyes, with a chiseled handsomeness to his features. His eyes were deep and intense with a hint of aggression, his gaze like two streaks of cold lightning. He stopped and stood three meters away from Wei Wuxian. His expression was like that of a nocked

arrow on a bow, ready to shoot, and even his composure was suffused with arrogant pride.

He furrowed his brows. “Jin Ling, why have you dawdled for so long? Do I need to come and invite you back? Look at the terrible state you’re in. Get the hell up.”

After the initial numbness in his brain had passed, Wei Wuxian quickly snapped out of it. He beckoned with his fingers inside his sleeve, withdrawing the paper doll. Jin Ling felt the weight disappear off his back and immediately scrambled up, grabbing his sword back and scurrying to Jiang Cheng’s side.

He pointed at Wei Wuxian and yelled, “I’LL BREAK YOUR LEGS!”When the two stood together, there was a vague resemblance in their looks, much like a pair of brothers.

 Jiang Cheng moved his finger, and the paper doll swiftly slipped from Wei Wuxian’s fingers and flew into his hand. He took a

glance at it, and a wave of resentment flared in his eyes. He clenched his fingers

and the paper was set ablaze, the ghost shrieking as it was burned to ashes.

Jiang Cheng said darkly, “Break his legs? Haven’t I told you that when you run

into heretics, you should kill them outright and feed them to your dog?!”

Wei Wuxian hastily backed away, leaving the donkey behind too. No matter how much Jiang Cheng hated him, he had thought the feeling would’ve dispersed somewhat after so many years. Who would’ve thought it wasn’t that easy? Not only was the hate still there, but it had thickened with time, like a jug of aged wine. And that rage was taken out on every cultivator who imitated

him!

There were people behind them standing guard, and this time, Jin Ling attacked with greater ferocity. Wei Wuxian slipped two fingers into the spirit- trapping pouch, but just as he was about to move, a streak of blue flashed.

 It was the glare of a sword clashing with Jin Ling’s sword, and it shattered the

golden shimmer of this high-quality blade in an instant.

It wasn’t that the other sword was superior but rather that the difference in ability between the two wielders was too great.

Wei Wuxian had had the timing figured out at first, but the radiance of this incoming sword disrupted his steps, and he stumbled, falling flat on the ground before a pair of snow-white boots.

He froze for a moment, then slowly looked up.

The first thing that entered his vision was a long and slender blade, as crystalline as ice.

This sword was famous in the cultivation world, and Wei Wuxian had had the honor of experiencing its power directly on multiple occasions, both fighting alongside and against it. The hilt was forged from pure silver that was refined by a secret method, and the blade was extremely thin, clear, and transparent. It emanated the frigid air of ice and snow, yet it could cut through iron as if it were mud. Thus, while the sword appeared light, agile, and transcendentally airy, it was extremely heavy, and no ordinary person could possibly swing it.

It was the sword Bichen!

The blade reversed, and above Wei Wuxian’s head there came the clang of the sword being sheathed. At the same time, Jiang Cheng’s voice came from the distance.

“I was wondering who it was. So, it’s Lan-er-gongzi.”

The pair of white boots unhurriedly took three steps forward, walking around Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian looked up and got to his feet.

When he brushed past the person, the two locked eyes for a brief second, seemingly accidentally.

The newcomer was cloaked in soft, white moonlight. He carried a seven- stringed guqin on his back. The body of the instrument was narrower than the usual standard and ebony-black in color, but soft in the luster of its wood.

A cloud-patterned ribbon was fastened around this man’s forehead.

The man was exceptional in both looks and elegance: his skin was fair, and his features were as refined as smoothed jade. The color of his eyes was abnormally light, almost like colored glaze, and it made his gaze appear overly cold.

There was a frostiness to his expression, which was stern enough to appear stiff. Even when he saw Wei Wuxian’s currently ridiculous-looking face, he appeared unperturbed.

From head to toe, he was scrupulous and immaculate, without a single foot placed incorrectly. Even so, two words still jumped out in Wei Wuxian’s mind:

Funeral clothes!

Those were funeral clothes, and that couldn’t be denied, no matter how much

the other clans proclaimed the uniforms of the Lan Clan of Gusu to be the most

pleasing to the eye and sang their exaggerated praises to the heavens.

Furthermore, no matter how thoroughly Lan Wangji was praised as an unrivaled rare beauty, nothing could help the fact that he looked profoundly embittered, as if he had lost his wife.

In an unlucky year, enemies are bound to clash. Blessings never come in pairs, and misfortunes never come singly.

Lan Wangji stood unspeaking. He faced Jiang Cheng with quiet calm and met his eyes squarely. Jiang Cheng was exceptionally handsome, but he was still a little inferior to the one standing before him and certainly the more impatient of the two. He quirked a brow.

“Hanguang-jun truly lives up to his reputation of appearing where there is

chaos. What brings you here to the deep mountains today?”

Leaders of prominent cultivation clans did not normally care for these low- level evil spirits. However, Lan Wangji was an exception. He was never pickyabout his Night Hunt prey, nor would he refuse to appear if the nefarious creature wasn’t tough enough or if it would not earn him any acclaim.

He would attend as long as there was a plea for help, and it had always been that way, ever since he was young. Thus, “appearing where there is chaos” was how the people appraised Hanguang-jun’s Night Hunt expeditions and praised his character.

 The way Jiang Cheng used the phrase was not complimentary, however, and the juniors attending behind Lan Wangji all felt a little uncomfortable with his tone.

Lan Jingyi was the blunt and outspoken sort.

“Isn’t Sect Leader Jiang here too?”

Jiang Cheng replied coldly, “Tsk. An elder is speaking, who are you to interrupt? The Lan Clan of Gusu pride themselves on being a clan of etiquette.

This is what disciples are being taught?”

Lan Wangji, who didn’t seem to want to exchange any words with him, sent

Lan Sizhui a look. The latter understood: let the juniors speak to each other.

And so, Lan Sizhui stepped forward and turned to Jin Ling to reply.

“Jin-gongzi, the Night Hunts have always been a fair competition among the clans. But Jin-gongzi has set up nets all over Mount Dafan and made it difficult for the cultivators of other houses to tread, for fear of falling into traps. Does this not violate the rules of Night Hunts?”

Jin Ling’s cold expression was cast from the same mold as his uncle’s. “What can I do if they step into traps due to their own stupidity? I must capture my prey, everything else can wait.”

Lan Wangji wrinkled his brow. Jin Ling was about to say more when he suddenly realized he couldn’t open his mouth, nor produce any sound from his throat. He paled in panic.

When Jiang Cheng saw that Jin Ling’s lips were now glued together, unable to part, anger clouded his face and all previous forced civility went out the window.

“You, Lan! What’s the meaning of this? It’s not up to you to discipline Jin Ling.

Release the spell!”This silence spell was what the Lan clan used to punish its disciples.

Wei Wuxian had fallen victim to this little trick on many occasions. While it was not

complex magic by any stretch of the imagination, only those of the Lan family

could undo the spell. If one attempted to speak by brute force, then either their

lips would be torn to shreds by the effort or they’d lose their voice for days. The

penitent one had to keep their mouth shut and self-reflect in silence until the punishment period was over.

Lan Sizhui said, “There is no need to be angry, Sect Leader Jiang. As long as he

does not try to forcibly break the spell, it will be automatically undone in one

incense time.” Jiang Cheng had yet to reply when a man clad in the Jiang Clan’s purple came rushing out of the woods. “Sect Leader!”

When he saw Lan Wangji standing there, however, he appeared hesitant.

Jiang Cheng said derisively, “Go ahead. What other bad news do you have to report?”

The sect disciple said in a small voice, “Not long ago, a flying blue sword

destroyed the immortal-binding nets you arranged.”

Jiang Cheng shot Lan Wangji a look, anger clouding his expression once more.

“How many?”

The sect disciple replied cautiously, “All of them.”

Over four hundred!

Jiang Cheng seethed with anger.

He had never expected such bad luck in this expedition.

 He had originally come to assist Jin Ling: the boy was fifteen this year, the age to make his debut and fight for experience with the juniors from other clans. Jiang Cheng had reviewed the options carefully before deciding on Mount Dafan as the hunting ground.

He had then set up nets everywhere and scared off all the other cultivators, making it so difficult for them to move that they’d be forced to back off—all so Jin Ling would emerge the winner without anyone fighting him for the title. While over four hundred immortal-binding nets were extremely expensive, the price was nothing to the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng.

 However,destroyed nets were a small matter compared to losing face. Lan Wangji’s actions made Jiang Cheng boil with anger, and his fury spiraled higher and

higher. He narrowed his eyes, and his left hand subconsciously stroked the ring

on his right index finger.

This was a dangerous sign.

Everyone knew that ring was a formidable and deadly spiritual weapon. Once the Jiang Clan leader started fiddling with it, it signaled his intent to kill.

However, Jiang Cheng didn’t stroke it for long before he forced his hostility back

down.

Although he was quite unhappy, as the leader of a sect, there was much to

consider. He couldn’t be as impulsive as that brat Jin Ling. Ever since the decline

of the Nie Clan of Qinghe, of the current three great clans, the Jin Clan of

Lanling and the Lan Clan of Gusu had always been close due to the strong

personal friendship shared by their clan leaders. Jiang Cheng ruled the Jiang

Clan of Yunmeng alone, so it could have been said that he was in a state of

isolation.

Hanguang-jun—Lan Wangji—was a distinguished cultivator of great prestige.

 In addition, his elder brother Zewu-jun—Lan Xichen—was the clan leader of the Lan Clan of Gusu, and the two brothers had always gotten along well. Overall, it was best if Jiang Cheng kept things peaceful instead of giving in to his violent urges.

Furthermore, Jiang Cheng’s sword Sandu had never formally crossed with Lan Wangji’s sword Bichen, so no one knew which was the better blade. Although he had on his hand the family heirloom ring Zidian, Lan Wangji’s guqin (also named Wangji) was equally renowned. Jiang Cheng loathed being at a disadvantage in a fight, so unless victory was absolutely certain, attacking Lan

Wangji was not within the realm of consideration.

Jiang Cheng slowly withdrew his left hand, which had been stroking the ring.

It appeared that Lan Wangji had set his mind to interfere in this affair, so

continuing to play the role of the villain would only cause trouble. He would

simply have to remember this, for the time being.

After weighing his options, Jiang Cheng turned his head and saw that Jin Ling

still had his hands covering his mouth angrily.

“Since Hanguang-jun wants to punish you, take the lesson this once. It’s not

easy for him, either, to manage the juniors from another clan.”

His tone was sarcastic, but it was unclear to whom it was directed. Lan Wangji, who never responded to such provocation, ignored him.

Jiang Cheng turned, his voice scathing.

 “What are you standing around for?

Waiting for the prey to run into your sword itself? If you can’t catch the

creature here on Mount Dafan tonight, then you needn’t come to me again in

the future!”

Jin Ling shot Wei Wuxian a death glare but didn’t dare to glare at Lan Wangji, who’d been the one to punish him into silence. He sheathed his sword and bowed to the two elders, then left with his bow in hand.

Lan Sizhui spoke up, “Sect Leader Jiang, the Lan Clan of Gusu will fully recompense all the immortal-binding nets that were destroyed.”

Jiang Cheng sneered. “No need!”

Then he turned in the opposite direction and strode confidently down the mountain.

 The sect disciples behind him all quietly followed with long faces, knowing there’d be an inevitable round of punishment upon their return.

After they had gone, Lan Jingyi posed a general question: “Why is Sect Leader

Jiang like that?!”

Then he remembered his Lan family upbringing and the rules against speaking

behind another’s back. He snuck a scared peek at Hanguang-jun before shrinking back and shutting up.

Lan Sizhui gave Wei Wuxian a light smile and said, “We meet again, Mo-gongzi.”

Wei Wuxian forced a smile, but it was Lan Wangji who spoke instead, his order succinct and clear without any flowery language.

“Do your work.”

Only then did the juniors remember why they were on Mount Dafan. They gathered themselves and respectfully awaited further instructions.

A moment later, Lan Wangji said,

“Do your best, but do not overexert.”

His voice was deep and captivating. If one stood close, it would make the heart flutter. The juniors acknowledged the order politely and headed deeper into the woods, not daring to stay longer.

Wei Wuxian thought to himself that Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan really were two completely different people.

 Even their methods of instructing juniors were irreconcilably opposed.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly saw Lan Wangji give him a nod, curt and almost imperceptible. It made him unconsciously pause.

Lan Wangji had been painfully serious ever since he was young. A principled perfectionist, always so stern and stiff, as if there had never been a time when he was lively. Back then, he’d been extremely against Wei Wuxian cultivating the demonic path.

Lan Sizhui should have already informed Lan Wangji of his suspicious behavior at the Mo Estate, yet the man only nodded at him to give his regards.

 Wei Wuxian figured he was thanking him for helping the Lan juniors out, so he immediately returned the gesture without thinking.

But when he looked up again, Lan Wangji was already gone.

He paused for a moment, then turned to descend the mountain.

It didn’t matter what prey was on Mount Dafan. He couldn’t pursue it anymore.

Wei Wuxian could rob anyone, but not Jin Ling.

He couldn’t believe that was Jin Ling.

There were so many disciples in the Jin Clan of Lanling that he’d genuinely

never imagined he might run into Jin Ling. Had he known, he would never have

mocked Jin Ling with that comment of his,

 “Didn’t your mother teach you any

manners?” If anyone else had said that to Jin Ling, Wei Wuxian would’ve taught

that person what “a loose tongue spells trouble” meant. But the tongue that

said it had been his own.

After a moment of standing in silence, Wei Wuxian raised his hand and slapped himself across the face.

That slap was hard and clear, stinging his right cheek. Suddenly, there was rustling in the bushes nearby, and when Wei Wuxian peered over, a spotted donkey emerged. He dropped his hand, and this time, the donkey voluntarily approached to rub against it. Wei Wuxian tugged at its long ear and smiled

wryly.

“You wanted to save the damsel in distress but made me go act the hero instead.”

The spotted donkey was whining in response when a wave of cultivators came from the distant end of the hill. After the four hundred-plus immortal-binding nets were slashed by Lan Wangji’s flying sword, the hesitant cultivators that had lurked in Fojiao Town now swarmed up the mountain anew. They were all technically Jin Ling’s competition, and Wei Wuxian pondered for a moment on whether to beat them back down. After a moment of thought, he silently moved off the path.

The group was composed of disciples from various clans, dressed in all sorts of different uniforms. They complained as they went.

“That Jin-gongzi! The Jin family and the Jiang family both, they all spoil him.

So young and already so unreasonable and bossy! It’ll be the end of the world if

he takes over control of the Jin Clan of Lanling in the future. We’ll be doomed!”

Wei Wuxian slowed his pace.

A softhearted girl cultivator sighed, “How can they not spoil and pamper him?

Losing both his parents at such a young age…”

“Shimei, it doesn’t work like that. So what if he lost both his parents? There are plenty of people in the world who’ve lost their parents. If everyone acted like him, it’d be terrible!

“That being said, Wei Wuxian really went for it, didn’t he? Jin Ling’s mother

was Jiang Cheng’s blood sister, eh? And what’s more, she was also the shijie

who raised that Wei Wuxian.”

“What an injustice for Jiang Yanli, too, to have raised such an ingrate. And Jin

Zixuan was an even more tragic case. To meet such a horrible end just because

of some quarrel with Wei Wuxian in the past…”

“Why did Wei Wuxian have quarrels with everyone…?”

“Ain’t that just the question? Besides that pack of crazy dogs he kept, who have you ever heard of getting along well with him? He had enemies everywhere. The world despised him. Even Hanguang-jun couldn’t stand the sight of him. They were always at complete odds with each other.”

“Speaking of, thank goodness for Hanguang-jun today…”

After walking for a while, the sound of a trickling creek suddenly flowed into Wei Wuxian’s ears.

This was something he hadn’t heard on his way here. Only then did Wei Wuxian notice he had taken the wrong path down the mountain and forked off onto another road.

He led the donkey down to the side of the creek. The moon had risen, and the

skies above the water were unconcealed by any branches or leaves. The creek was cracked with patches of frosty white.Reflected back at him, Wei Wuxian saw a face that distorted with the flow of the water.

He slapped the water viciously, shattering that absurd, laughable face. He raised his dripping palms and washed away the powder foundation with the creek water.

What the water now reflected was a young man. Incredibly handsome and poised, he was so pristine it was as if he had been washed by the moonlight above, with a beaming face and bright eyes, and lips that curved slightly upwards.

 But when he hung his head to stare at himself, the droplets clinging to his lashes fell relentlessly like tears.

This was a young, foreign face. This wasn’t the Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian, who had once razed the earth and ravaged the world with bloody tempests.

He stared at that reflection for a long time before he wiped his face a few

more times, rubbed his eyes, and sat down heavily by the creek.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t endure talk. After all, he was already well aware of

the path he’d chosen back when he first made his decision. He had already cautioned himself to remember the motto of the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng:

“Attempt the impossible.”

He had truly thought his heart was made of stone. But humans were no stalks

of grass, not unfeeling, and in the end, he was human after all.

The little spotted donkey seemed to know he wasn’t in a good mood right now, and amazingly it did not bray impatiently, only swishing its tail while walking away after a moment of quiet.

Wei Wuxian sat by the creek and didn’treact. It looked back and kicked its hooves. Wei Wuxian still ignored it, so the

spotted donkey returned in a huff and caught Wei Wuxian by the hem with its

teeth, tugging and pulling.

It made no difference to Wei Wuxian whether he stayed or left, so since the

donkey had gone as far as to bite him, he went with it. The spotted donkey led

him to some trees and started circling around a piece of grass.

A qiankun bag sat quietly there. Over it hung a broken golden net, so it must’ve been something an unlucky cultivator dropped when they tried to break free. Wei

wuxian picked up the bag and opened it. Inside was an assortment of items like

a bottle gourd of medicinal wine, talismans, a little yao-reflecting mirror, and so on.

He rummaged through the bag for a bit and casually took out a handful of talismans. A ball of flames was suddenly ablaze in his hand.

What had just ignited was a yin-burning talisman. Like its name, it used yin

energy as fuel and would automatically be ignited upon contact with yin energy.

The greater the yin energy, the bigger the flames. It blazed the instant it was taken out of the bag, meaning there were spirits nearby.

The moment Wei Wuxian saw the firelight, he raised his guard and probed around for the direction with the torch raised. When he turned eastward, the fire died down; when he turned westward, the fire blazed. He had only taken a few steps in that direction when he saw a slumped form in white appear beneath a tree.

The talisman burned out, and remnant embers fell from his fingertips. An elder, with his back facing him, was grumbling under his breath.

Wei Wuxian slowly approached, and the words mumbled from the elder’s lips became clearer.

“It hurts, it hurts.”

“Where does it hurt?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Head, the head. My head,” that elder replied.

“Let me take a look,” Wei Wuxian said.

He circled around to the elder’s side and saw a large, bloody gaping hole on his forehead.

This was a soul of the dead, probably killed by way of some weapon to the head. He was wearing funeral clothes, their material and cut both of high quality, meaning he had already been properly buried. This wasn’t a soul of the living that a human had lost.

But a soul of the dead should never have appeared on Mount Dafan.

Wei Wuxian couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation for this. Feeling uneasy, he hopped onto the back of the donkey, gave it a slap and a shout, and

urged it to chase in the direction that Jin Ling and the others had approached

the mountain.

There were a number of cultivators pacing near the old graveyard, intending to wait for a windfall. Someone had brazenly raised a spirit-attraction flag, only to summon a bunch of wailing souls.

Wei Wuxian pulled the reins, scanned the area, and asked loudly,

“Excuse me, might I ask where the little gongzi of the Jin family and Lan family have gone?”

As expected, there were actually responses now that he’d washed his face. A cultivator answered,

 “They left this place and went to the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden.”

“The Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden?” Wei Wuxian asked.

The family of independent cultivators from the countryside had also snuck back up the mountain after hearing the immortal-binding nets had been destroyed and joined the night patrol. The middle-aged man saw that his clothes, along with that teeth-baring donkey, looked like those of that lunatic

who had rescued them earlier.

Feeling somewhat awkward at the realization, he pretended nothing was the matter, but the round-faced girl pointed the way.

“That way. It’s a stone cave shrine on top of the mountain.”

Wei Wuxian questioned, “Which deity is worshiped in that shrine?”

“I…I think it’s a naturally formed stone statue of a Heavenly Maiden.”

Wei Wuxian nodded. “Thank you.”

Then he urgently dashed in the direction of the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden.

The deadbeat’s marriage, the coffins struck by lightning, the fiancé killed by jackals, the father and daughter who lost their souls consecutively, the extravagant funeral clothes… Bead by bead, everything was being threaded together to form a complete string. No wonder the Compass of Ill Winds couldn’t point in the right direction, and the spirit-attraction flag was even more useless. They had all underestimated the creature on Mount Dafan.

Because it wasn’t what they thought it was at all!

Meanwhile, Lan Sizhui and company had already moved on to the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden in search of clues after coming up empty-handed when investigating the old graveyard.

In Mount Dafan, besides the ancestral graves belonging to the townspeople of

Fojiao Town, there was also a Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden. It was neither

Buddha nor bodhisattvas that were worshiped in the shrine but a “Dancing Heavenly Maiden.”

Centuries ago, a hunter from Fojiao Town traveled deep into the mountains and discovered a strange rock within a cave. It was nearly three meters tall, naturally formed, and looked extraordinarily like a human with all of its limbs posed as if dancing. What was more incredible was that the five features of this stone statue’s face were vaguely recognizable, resembling the smiling face of a woman.

The people of Fojiao Town were greatly amazed. They believed this was a divine rock forged by the gathering of spiritual qi between heaven and earth, and they fabricated many of its related myths themselves. There was one about an immortal lord who was secretly in love with Jiutian Xuannu and carved a statue in her image to alleviate the misery of longing. When the Xuannu discovered it, she was enraged, and the incomplete statue was never heard of again.

There was also another where the Jade Emperor had a beloved daughter who passed early, and his longing for her manifested as this statue. There were all sorts of stories, and all were mind-boggling. Eventually, the townspeople began to truly believe these constructed myths they told each other. And so,the stone cave was renovated into a divine shrine, the stone platform carvedinto a divine altar, and the stone statue was thus worshiped as the “Dancing Heavenly Maiden” with year-round offerings.

The interior of the cave was as spacious as a double-entranced temple, and that statue of the Heavenly Maiden stood in its center. At first glance, it certainly did very much resemble a human. Even the waistline could be said to be wonderfully graceful. However, one began to notice how rudimentary it was upon closer examination. Nonetheless, that a naturally formed object could resemble a human to this degree was already quite the marvel.

Lan Jingyi raised the Compass of Ill Winds high up, then down low, yet the needle was unmoved.

 Upon the altar was a mess of candle wax residue and a thick layer of incense ash, and the smell of rotten sweetness wafted from the offering plates. The people of the Lan Clan of Gusu were all at least a little germophobic, so he fanned the air in front of his nose.

“I hear the locals say prayers made at the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden are very effective, so why is it so run-down? Why isn’t anybody clearing this place?”

Lan Sizhui replied, “Seven people consecutively lost their souls, and rumors

say it’s some fierce fiend that came out of the ancestral graves after lightning

struck, so everyone is scared of coming up the mountain. Since the worshipers

stopped coming, there’s naturally no one to clean up either.”

A disdainful voice sounded from outside the cave: “Nothing but a crappy hunk of rock. Who knows who bestowed it with its divinity and had the audacity to place it here for worship!”

Jin Ling entered with his hands folded behind his back. The silence spell hadn’t lasted long, and his mouth could open once more. However, he had nothing good to say the moment said mouth opened. He humphed, peering at the statue of the Heavenly Maiden.

“These rural villagers. Instead of making a concerted effort on their own when

there’s trouble, all they do is pray to the divine. There are thousands of millions of people in the world, and the deities can barely take care of themselves, so why would they care about them?! Besides, it’s just some nameless rogue deity.

If it’s so efficacious, then can I wish for the man-eating spirit on Mount Dafan to

appear right now in front of me and have that wish be granted?”

A group of cultivators from small clans followed behind him, and at his words,

they immediately agreed, laughing uproariously. The once-silent shrine grew

noisy and crowded all of a sudden with the inpouring of people.

Lan Sizhui shook his head quietly and turned around, his eyes unconsciously

sweeping past the face of the Heavenly Maiden. The visible but indistinct features seemed to be a compassionate, smiling face. But he felt an indescribable sense of familiarity with this smiling face, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Where in the world had he seen it before?

Lan Sizhui felt this was something important. He unconsciously approached

the altar, wanting to examine the face of the Heavenly Maiden in greater detail.

Right then, someone suddenly bumped into him.

A cultivator who had been standing behind him suddenly collapsed noiselessly. The others were greatly alarmed, and everyone instantly raised their guard.

Jin Ling demanded cautiously, “What’s wrong with him?”

Lan Sizhui bent down with his sword in hand to check. The cultivator was breathing just fine, as if he had merely fallen asleep all of a sudden, but he wouldn’t wake no matter how he was slapped or called to. Lan Sizhui stood up.

“This is like…”

But before he could finish, the cave that had been dark was suddenly alight.

Red light filled it, like a cataract of blood washing down the walls. The candles on the altar and in the corners of the stone cave all began to burn on their own.

Clangs resounded in the cave as those who had swords unsheathed them and those who had talismans pulled them out. Right then, someone outside the shrine suddenly rushed inside and splashed the Heavenly Maiden statue with his gourd of medicinal wine. The stone cave was instantly flooded with the thick, choking smell of alcohol. The newcomer took out a talisman and slashed

it through the air, hurling it toward the statue. The altar was immediately set

ablaze, illuminating the cave with the brightness of day.

Wei Wuxian tossed aside the qiankun bag he’d picked up, having used upeverything that was inside it.

He shouted, “Everyone get out! Watch out for that soul-eating Heavenly

Maiden!”

Someone cried out in alarm, “The Heavenly Maiden’s changed pose!”

The divine statue had clearly had both arms raised earlier: one arm pointing to the sky and one foot lifted, her form graceful. Yet in that moment, amidst the vibrant reds and yellows of the blazing fire, it had dropped both arms and legs.

This was absolutely the truth and not a trick of the eye!

In the next second, this divine statue raised one of its legs…and stepped out

of the flames!

Wei Wuxian yelled, “RUN, RUN, RUN! Stop hacking at it! It’s useless!.

Most of the cultivators paid him no mind. The soul-eating monster they’d been searching all over for had finally appeared, so how could they let it go?!

However, even though there were so many spiritual swords attacking, so many talismans being thrown, and many other spiritual devices waving about, none of them stopped the statue from moving. It was nearly three meters high, and when it moved, it was like a towering giant, exceedingly imposing. It picked up two cultivators and raised them to its face. Its stone mouth seemed to open and close, and those two cultivators’ swords dropped to the ground with a clang, their heads bowed. Obviously, they’d just had their souls sucked out.

None of the attacks were effective.

 Finally willing to listen to Wei Wuxian, the others swarmed out of the cave, fleeing for their lives in all directions. With so many people and so many faces, the higher Wei Wuxian’s anxiety climbed, the harder it was for him to find Jin Ling. He rode the donkey out, searching as he

dashed into a bamboo grove. When he looked back, he encountered the Lan juniors, who were also in flight.

Wei Wuxian called after them, “Children!”

“Who are you calling children?!” Lan Jingyi protested. “Do you know whose house we’re from? Do you think you’re our elder just because you washed your face?!”

“Okay, okay, okay, gege,” Wei Wuxian acquiesced. “Set off a signal, call overthat…that Hanguang-jun from your clan!”

The juniors nodded and searched their pockets as they ran. A moment later,

Lan Sizhui admitted aloud:

“The signal flares…were all used up that night at the Mo Estate.”

Wei Wuxian was shocked. “You guys didn’t restock?!”

The signal flare was rarely ever used—maybe once every eight hundred years.

Lan Sizhui replied, feeling ashamed, “We forgot.”

“How could you forget?” Wei Wuxian tried to scare them. “If your Hanguang-jun finds out, you’ll all be sorry!”

Lan Jingyi turned ashen-faced. “Oh no, we’ll be punished to death by Hanguang-jun this time…”

“Good. Rightly deserved! You won’t remember without punishment.”

“Mo-gongzi, Mo-gongzi! How did you know that the creature eating souls wasn’t a fiend or a beast, but that Heavenly Maiden statue?” Lan Sizhui asked.

Wei Wuxian searched for signs of Jin Ling as he ran. “How did I know? I saw.”

Lan Jingyi caught up, and the two sandwiched him, one running on his left and

one on his right.

“What did you see? We saw plenty too!”

“You saw, and then? What’s around the old graveyard?”

“What else is there? Souls of the dead.”

“Exactly, souls of the dead. So it couldn’t be a soul-eating beast or fiend.

That’s obvious. If it were either one of those things, then would it leave all those dead souls floating around and not eat them up? No.”

This time, there was more than one asking questions. “Why’s that?”

“I gotta say, you Lans of Gusu…” Wei Wuxian couldn’t resist anymore. “Can

you focus less on memorizing cultivator etiquette, clan origin history, and all

that stinking, long-winded nonsense? And teach more practical things instead?

What’s there not to understand? Souls of the dead are easier to absorb than

souls of the living. The flesh of the living is like a protective screen, so in orderto devour souls of the living, this screen must be removed. Just like…”

He took a glance at the spotted donkey that was panting and rolling its eyes back as it ran.

“Just like this: if there’s an apple in front of you and another apple locked in a

box, which one would you eat first? Of course, the one in front of you. That

creature only devoured souls of the living, and it has a very particular way of doing so. Which means it’s super picky, and quite powerful too.”

Lan Jingyi was shocked. “Is that how it is? That makes a lot of sense, I think!

Wait! So you’re not actually crazy!”

Lan Sizhui explained as he ran, “We all thought the landslide and the lightning

striking the coffins was how the lost souls came about, so naturally, we thought it would be a soul-eating fiend.”

“Wrong,” Wei Wuxian said.

“What’s wrong?”

“The order is wrong and the cause is wrong. Let me ask you: between the

landslide and the soul-eating business, which came first and which came after?

Which is the cause, and which is the consequence?”

Lan Sizhui replied without hesitation, “The landslide happened first, the soul-eating came after. The former is the cause, the latter the consequence.”

“Completely wrong,” Wei Wuxian explained. “The soul-eating came first and the landslide after. The soul-eating was the cause, and the landslide was the consequence! The night of the landslide, there was a sudden thunderstorm, and

lightning struck open a coffin. Remember that. The first to lose his soul, that

deadbeat, was trapped on the mountain for a night, then got married a few days later.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Lan Jingyi asked.

“Everything!” Wei Wuxian replied. “An idle, penniless good-for-nothing— where did he get the money to host such a grand wedding?”

The boys couldn’t answer. It was no wonder—the Lan Clan of Gusu had never been a family that needed to consider the question of wealth and poverty.

Wei Wuxian continued, “Have you seen all the souls of the dead floating around Mount Dafan? There’s an old man who was killed by a brutal strike to the head. The craftsmanship and material of his funeral garb were both exceptional. To wear such extravagant funeral garb—there was no way his coffin was empty. There must’ve been some accompanying funerary items to

keep his spirit at peace.

The coffin that was struck open by lightning was probably his. The people who came to collect the corpse didn’t discover any funerary items, so they must’ve been taken by that deadbeat, which would explain his sudden wealth. The deadbeat suddenly became rich and got married after the night of the landslide, so something strange must’ve happened that night. It was storming, and he was hiding from the rain in the mountains. Where on Mount Dafan is there shelter from the rain? The Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden. And usually, when people visit a shrine, they always do one thing.”

“Make a wish?” Lan Sizhui said.

“Correct. For example, he might ask to get lucky, hit it rich, have the money to get married or something. The Heavenly Maiden fulfilled his wish and sent forth lightning that struck open the graves, showing him the wealth within the coffins. His wish was granted, and as its price, the Heavenly Maiden descended on his wedding night and sucked out his soul!”

“You’re just guessing, right?” Lan Jingyi said.

“Yes. But if we pursue this train of

thought, then everything can be explained,”

Wei Wuxian replied.

“How do you explain Miss A-Yan?” Lan Sizhui asked.

“Good question,” Wei Wuxian said. “You must’ve asked around too, before you ascended the mountain. A-Yan had only just gotten engaged at that time.

Every young girl who’s just been betrothed must have the same wish.”

Lan Jingyi didn’t quite get it. “What wish?”

“Nothing more than ‘I hope my husband will love and cherish me for the rest of his life, that he’ll only love me,’ or some such,” Wei Wuxian said.

The youths were confused. “Can a wish like that be granted…?”

Wei Wuxian shrugged. “It’s easy. As long as her husband’s life ended soonafter, then wouldn’t he have loved only her for his entire life?”

Understanding dawned on Lan Jingyi, and he exclaimed in excitement, “Oh! So…so…so after Miss A-Yan became engaged, her husband was killed by a jackal in the mountains the very next day, and it’s very possibly because Miss A-Yan went and made a wish at the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden!”

Wei Wuxian struck the iron while it was hot. “Whether it was the jackal or something else that killed him is hard to say. A-Yan has another point of interest: of all the victims, why is she the only one whose soul has returned?

How is she different from the others? The difference is that she has a family

member who also lost his soul. In other words, there was a family member who

replaced her! Blacksmith Zheng, A-Yan’s father, loved his daughter. So when he

saw that his daughter had lost her soul and no medication was working, under such dire circumstances, what was the only thing he could do?”

Lan Sizhui answered quickly this time. “He could only place his last hope in the

heavens, so he also went to the Shrine of Heavenly Maiden to make a wish. The

wish was ‘I hope my daughter A-Yan’s soul will return’!”

Wei Wuxian commended him. “That’s why only A-Yan’s soul returned and the

reason why the third person to lose his soul was Blacksmith Zheng. And although A-Yan’s soul was spat back out, it couldn’t escape being damaged.

Once the soul returned to its rightful place, A-Yan unconsciously began to

imitate the dancing pose of the Heavenly Maiden, including the smile.”

The commonality between those who had lost their souls was clear: they had

most likely all made a wish before the Heavenly Maiden statue, and the price

for their wishes to come true was their souls.

This Heavenly Maiden statue had once been an ordinary rock, but it just so happened to resemble a person, so it had received centuries of worship that led it to gaining spiritual power. However, its greed was insatiable. One single, deviant whim gave it a mind to expedite the elevation of its spiritual powers by way of consuming souls. Offering the fulfillment of a wish in exchange for the devouring of a soul—it operated on the same terms as those wish-makers who offered their own souls up to be devoured. It was a fair trade, by all

appearances. Everyone got what they wanted, which was why the needle of theCompass of Ill Winds did not move and the spirit-attraction flag summoned

nothing. The treasured swords and talismans were all ineffective because the creature on Mount Dafan wasn’t some nefarious being, but instead a god! This was a rogue god, raised up by centuries of worship, so to use devices made for attacking malicious spirits against it was the equivalent of attempting to extinguish fire with fire!

Lan Jingyi exclaimed loudly, “Wait! Just now, inside the shrine, someone else

got their soul sucked out too, but we didn’t hear his wish!”

Wei Wuxian’s heart lurched, and he halted in his step. “Someone had their soul sucked inside the shrine? Tell me every detail of what happened there without leaving out a single thing.”

Lan Sizhui quickly gave a clear account. When Wei Wuxian heard Jin Ling had

said—“If it’s so efficacious, then can I wish for the man-eating spirit on Mount

Dafan to appear right now in front of me and have that wish be granted?”—he

exclaimed aloud.

“Is that not a wish?! That was making a wish!”

The others who had agreed with Jin Ling were tacitly understood to have made the same wish. Since the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden was right before them at the time, the wish had already come true, so what followed had been a collection of payment owed!

All of a sudden, the spotted donkey came to a stop and started running in the

opposite direction. Caught off guard, Wei Wuxian was once again thrown off its

back, but he stubbornly grabbed onto the reins. However, from ahead of them

in the shrubbery there came the crunching and slurping sound of something being eaten. An incomparably gigantic figure was hidden in the bushes, its massive head moving back and forth over the abdomen of a person on the ground. When it heard an approaching noise, its head shot up, meeting their eyes.

The soul-eating Heavenly Maiden’s facial features had originally been unclear,

the shapes of the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth rough. But after she’d devoured

so many cultivators in one go, her five features were now distinct. It was now

the face of a smiling woman. Copious blood dripped from her bottom lip as shegnawed vigorously upon the arm dangling from her mouth.

Everyone immediately followed the spotted donkey and bolted in the opposite direction.

Lan Sizhui cried despairingly, “That’s not right! The Yiling Patriarch said the high-level ones only ate souls, and only the low-level ones ate flesh!”

Wei Wuxian replied helplessly, “What are you blindly believing in him for?

Anything he came up with was utter bullshit! None of the rules are absolute!

Just take her for a baby. When she didn’t have teeth, she could only eat gruel

and soup, but now that she’s grown up, she wants to eat meat. Her spiritual powers just shot up—of course she’ll want to try something new!”

The soul-eating Heavenly Maiden stood up. She was big and tall, and she moved all four of her limbs as she danced crazily, seeming jubilant. Suddenly, a piercing arrow came flying through the air and caught her right in the forehead, the arrowhead penetrating through to the back of her head.

Having heard the strum of the bowstring, Wei Wuxian gazed at where the sound came from. Jin Ling stood upon a tall hill nearby, already nocking the second arrow onto his bow and drawing the string. He let go, and another arrow pierced through her head, its impact so powerful that it forced the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden to stumble back.

Lan Sizhui yelled, “Jin-gongzi! Set off your signal flare!”

Jin Ling ignored him, determined to bring down this monster. Sullenly, he knocked three arrows onto the bow this time.

The soul-eating Heavenly Maiden wasn’t upset in the least, despite having been shot in the head twice. A smile still graced her face as she charged toward Jin Ling. Although she danced as she went, her speed was still terrifyingly fast, and half the distance was covered in an instant. Several cultivators popped out from the sides to fight her, impedingher from moving farther.

Every single arrow Jin Ling shot hit the mark, and he fired nonstop. It seemed

as though he’d made up his mind to empty his quiver before going near the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden for close-range combat. His hands were steady and his aim was precise, but unfortunately, no spiritual devices would work on her!Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were both waiting for news in Fojiao Town. Who knew if they would notice anything amiss and rush over? You needed water to extinguish fire. If spiritual devices wouldn’t work, then how about demonic tricks?!

Wei Wuxian pulled out the sword hanging on Lan Sizhui’s waist, cut down a piece of thin bamboo, and swiftly made a flute. He placed it on his lips and sucked in a deep breath. A sharp flute note pierced through the night sky like a whistling arrow, shooting straight for the clouds.

He shouldn’t have done this unless it was absolutely necessary. But with things as they were, he no longer cared what was summoned, as long as it was murderous enough and vengeful enough. As long as it could rip apart the soul- eating Heavenly Maiden, it was good enough!

Lan Sizhui was completely dumbfounded. Lan Jingyi, however, covered his ears and cried out in dismay.

“What are you doing playing a flute at a time like this?! It sounds horrible!”

Of the group of cultivators engaged in fighting the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden, several had already had their souls sucked away. Jin Ling drew his sword. He was less than six meters away from the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden, and his heart was pounding, hot blood surging to his brain.

If I don’t take her head in one swing, then I will die here. If I die, I die!

Just then, clinking and clanking sounds resounded within the forest of Mount

Dafan.

Clink clank, clink clank. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, the noise came haltingly and reverberated in the deathly silent forest. It sounded like iron chains hitting each other, dragging on the ground. It was coming closer and closer, louder and louder.

For some reason, this sound was oppressively threatening. Even the soul-

eating Heavenly Maiden stopped her dance, her arms raised in the air as she stared blankly at the deep darkness from whence the sound came.

Wei Wuxian put away the flute and stared intently in the same direction.

Although the ominous feeling was growing stronger and stronger, since this creature was willing to answer his summons, then at least it was one that would obey him.

The noise came to a sudden stop, and a silhouette materialized from the darkness.

After seeing the figure and its face clearly, many of the cultivators’ faces

contorted.

Even when facing the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden, who could suck away their soul at any time, they never shrank back, nor did they show any sign of fear.

However, the sound of their screams was now filled with unconcealable terror.

“…The Ghost General, it’s the Ghost General, it’s Wen Ning!”

Like the Yiling Patriarch, the one known by the moniker “Ghost General” was infamous and widely known by all. And the two usually appeared together.

There was only one man whom that name referred to: the number one fierce corpse under the control of Yiling Patriarch Wei Ying, the one who aided his tyrannical rule, fanned the flames of chaos, helped the villain in his evil, and caused havoc in the world. Wen Ning!

Wen Ning’s head was slightly bowed, and his hands drooped by his sides like a marionette waiting for the orders from his puppeteer.

His face was pale and delicate, and as a matter of fact, he had a certain easy

and somewhat melancholic handsomeness. However, there were no pupils in his eyes, only a field of deathly white. With this, plus the numerous black cracks crawling up his neck to his cheeks, that melancholia was transformed into a terrifying gloom. The hems of his long robes and sleeves were tattered and frayed, revealing wrists the same ghastly white as his face. A pair of iron shackles and chains were locked over them, same with the ankles.

The clinking and clanking sound was created while he was dragging himself along, and when he stopped, everything returned to a deathly silence once more.

It wasn’t hard to imagine why the cultivators present were all terrified. Wei

Wuxian wasn’t any calmer than the others, and the tempestuous waves in his heart had already surged past his head.It wasn’t that Wen Ning shouldn’t have shown up here but rather that he shouldn’t have appeared in this world at all. He should’ve been killed and reduced to ashes long before the Siege of the Burial Mounds!

When Jin Ling heard the others say Wen Ning’s name, the sword he was pointing at the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden unconsciously changed directions.

Taking advantage of him being distracted, the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden reached out her long arm in delight and picked him up.

Seeing how she had already opened her mouth wide and was nearing JinLing’s face.

Wei Wuxian no longer had time for his own shock. He raised the bamboo flute once more. His hands were trembling slightly, and the melody he played quivered with him. On top of that, because of how crudely made the flute was, the sound could almost be said to be raspy and awful.

Two notes were played, and Wen Ning began to move.

In the blink of an eye, he shifted and appeared before the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden. Wen Ning struck out with his palm, and the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden’s neck made a cracking sound. Her body didn’t move, but th slap turned her head all the way around. Her face was now facing the same direction as her back, but still that smile remained. Wen Ning struck again,

barehanded, and cleanly chopped off the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden’s right hand, which held Jin Ling in its clutches.

She looked down at the wrist that had been cut so cleanly. She didn’t twist her own head back to the correct position but instead turned so her face and her back were facing Wen Ning.

Wei Wuxian didn’t dare slack off. He took adeep breath and bowed his head, directing Wen Ning to face battle. However, it wasn’t long before he began to feel more and more apprehensive.

Low-level walking corpses could not think for themselves and required his orders as guidance. Even fierce corpses, stronger in attack, were often confused with no consciousness of their own. Wen Ning was different. He’d been refined by Wei Wuxian, and it wouldn’t have been a lie to say he was the strongest fierce corpse in the world. One of a kind. He could think, he could ponder.

Other than his lack of care for injuries, or for fire, cold, poison, and anything the living might fear, he was no different from the living.

But the Wen Ning in this moment clearly had no consciousness of his own!

Just as he was feeling bewildered by this, alarmed cries suddenly sounded from the field. It turned out Wen Ning had beaten down the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden, firmly pinning her on the ground before picking up a boulder taller than a man, raising it over the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden, and heavily bludgeoning her with it. The powerful blow struck the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden’s body like lightning, forcefully crushing her into pieces!

Amidst the white debris of rocks strewn about, a glowing, snow-white pearl rolled forth. This was the core formed by the dozens of souls the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden had devoured, and if collected and carefully managed, the people whose souls had been devoured earlier could still be restored. However, no one had the mind to pick up that pearl at the moment. All the swords that had been previously pointed at the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden earlier had all now turned Wen Ning’s way.

One of the cultivators shouted at the top of his lungs, “SURROUND HIM!”

Some answered hesitantly, but there were more who were wavering, and some slowly backed away. That cultivator shouted again:

“Fellow cultivators, stop him and don’t let him escape! It’s Wen Ning we’re talking about here!”

His words roused the crowd. As if a mere soul-eating monster could be compared to the Ghost General. Although it was unknown why he had come, killing a thousand soul-eating fiends could not compare to capturing one single

Wen Ning! After all, with a bite harder and more fearsome than its bark, this

was the most obedient mad dog of the Yiling Patriarch’s.

Catching him would make one’s name soar across the cultivation world! The only reason they had rushed to attend the Night Hunt at Mount Dafan in the first place had been to fight over nefarious creatures and gain experience, so it couldn’t be helped that there were those who stirred at this thought.

However, the older cultivators, who had personally witnessed the madness of Wen Ning in the past, still didn’t dare to move recklessly, and so that man shouted again:

“What are you all afraid of? It’s not like the Yiling Patriarch is here!”

That was true, when they thought about it. Yeah, what was there to be afraid of? Wen Ning’s master had already been shredded to pieces!

With those words, the swords circling around Wen Ning abruptly closed in.

With a swing of his arm, the heavy black chains swept the circle, knocking all the flying swords away. Then he took a step forward, seized the neck of the person closest to him, and lifted him easily off the ground.

Wei Wuxian knew the melody he had played earlier was too urgent, too aggressive, and it had exacerbated Wen Ning’s ferocity. He had to be neutralized, his emotions calmed, and so Wei Wuxian confidently played another tune.

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End of Chapter Third's Part 1.

It was a long chapter, that took me a long time to translate and edit the things, And also Manga toon doesn't allow more that 15000 words in a chapter, So after completing the chapter, when I was About to save it. It was reported that I'need to delete half of it.........Well, That's ok.

I'll Write 2nd part of Chapter 3~

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Thanks for making it till here~

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To be continued~