The expressions of everyone in the temple changed. Immediately, a somewhat pungent odor drifted outside. As Lan XiChen covered his face with his sleeves, some worry could be seen in his eyes. Soon, two figures staggered outside.
Su She was holding Jin GuangYao up. The two looked pale, while the wails from behind the palace continued. Su She, “Sect Leader, how do you feel?!”
Cold sweat seeped from Jin GuangYao’s forehead, “Fine. Thank you for back then.”
His left hand dangled, unable to be lifted. His entire arm trembled, as though he was suffering extreme pain. With his right hand he took a bottle of pills from his lapels. He wanted to open it, but it was difficult with just one hand. Seeing this, Su She immediately took over the bottle and tipped a pill into his palm. Jin GuangYao lowered his head, gulping it down with a frown. His brows relaxed immediately.
Lan XiChen hesitated for a moment before asking, “What happened?”
Jin GuangYao paused in surprise. Blood finally seemed to have rose to his cheeks as he managed a smile, “An accident.”
He took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it over his hand. An area of red had appeared from the back of his left hand to his wrist. With observation, it could be seen that the skin seemed like cooked meat. The skin was completely ruined. Jin GuangYao tore off a part of his white sleeves, his fingers trembling slightly, “MinShan, wrap it tight around my wrist.”
Su She, “It’s poisonous?”
Jin GuangYao, “The poison is still flowing upwards. It’s not a big deal. The poison can be ejected with some rest.”
Right after Su She treated his wound, Jin GuangYao wanted to return behind the palace to inspect. Su She hurried, “Sect Leader, let me go!”
The pungent smell dissipated gradually. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi got up as well. A tall mountain of dirt could be seen beside a deep ditch. Quite a delicate coffin lay at one side, atop it a pitch-black box. Both of the two had been opened already, and thin, white smoke continued to rise from within. The odor came from the white smoke, which meant it must be some sort of fatal poison. Corpses that belonged to the cultivators who’d been digging so earnestly lay scattered all around the coffin. Right now, they had been burned alive. Even their uniforms and robes and had been corroded to black fragments. It was obvious just how poisonous the white smoke was.
Leading the way, he used his sword energy to repel the remaining smoke. The tip of his blade flicked across the black box. The iron chest fell to the ground. It was empty.
Jin GuangYao finally couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He stumbled towards the edge of the coffin. The blood that had returned to his face immediately faded again. It could be seen just by his expression that the coffin was empty as well.
Lan XiChen approached. After he saw the horror that had become of the palace, he was shocked, “What in the world did you bury here? How could this be??”
Nie HuaiSang only had a glance before he collapsed to the ground, retching. Jin GuangYao’s lips trembled. He couldn’t say anything. A streak of lightning exploded, reflecting against the pale white of his face. His expression was terrifying indeed, sending chills down Nie HuaiSang’s spine. He didn’t even dare vomit too loudly, covering his mouth behind Lan XiChen’s back, shivering whether out of fear or the cold. Lan XiChen turned around and said a few words of comfort to him, while Jin GuangYao didn’t even have the strength to upkeep his kind, gentle front.
Wei WuXian, “ZeWu-Jun, now you’re doing wrong to Sect Leader Jin here. He wasn’t the one who buried the things here at all. Even if he buried something in the beginning, it should be long since someone switched them with something else.”
Su She pointed at him with his sword, his voice cold, “Wei WuXian! Is this a trick of yours?!”
Wei WuXian, “I’m not trying to brag, but if I were the one who pulled a trick on you, an arm might not be all that’s wounded on your sect leader. Sect Leader Jin, do you still remember the letter Qin Su brought you, back on Koi Tower?”
Jin GuangYao’s eyes slowly moved towards him.
Wei WuXian, “The one who told Qin Su the good things you did was Madam Qin’s previous maid, BiCao. But when BiCao suddenly decided to expose everything, did you really believe nobody was pushing things forward from behind? And Maiden SiSi, the one you locked up. Who saved her? Who was the one that told her to go to the YunmengJiang Sect with BiCao and expose your secrets in front of everyone? If they could find out every single one of those hidden secrets of yours, Sect Leader Jin, what’s so hard about coming here beforehand and switching what you wanted to dig up with poisonous smoke to give you when you came?”
Suddenly, a monk spoke, “Sect Leader, there are signs of displacement in the dirt here. Somebody’s dug in from the other side before!”
As expected, someone was here first. Jin GuangYao turned around, slamming his fist on the empty coffin. Nobody could see his expression, but all could see his trembling shoulders.
Wei WuXian grinned, “Sect Leader Jin, have you ever thought that perhaps tonight you’re a mantis, yet there’s an oriole* behind you? The one who’s been watching you might be hiding in the dark this exact moment, observing your every move. No, maybe, it’s not a person…”
TN: The full saying is “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind”.
The storm muffled the thunder. As he heard the words ‘not a person’, for a split second, something that could be described as fear flashed across Jin GuangYao’s face.
Su She sneered, “Wei WuXian, stop with the empty intimidation…”
Jin GuangYao raised his right hand to stop him. The fear on his face went as soon as it came. All of his emotions were quickly under control. He spoke, “Don’t waste your energy on arguing. Treat the injury on your body. After I remove the poison, gather the rest of the people at once and prepare to depart.”
Su She, “Sect Leader, what about the thing that’s been dug out?”
Jin GuangYao’s lips were a bit pale, “If it’s been dug out already, it’s definitely be impossible to take back. We shouldn’t stay here for long.”
Su She, “Yes!”
Back when Su She fought with Fairy, he’d been wounded in many places by its claws. His clothes were ripped both at his arms and his chest, and at his chest especially, the wounds dug deep into his flesh. Blood seeped through the white robes. If the wounds weren’t treated properly, he might not be able to face whatever emergency situations that happened, as time went on. Jin GuangYao took out a pouch of medicine from his lapels and passed it to him.
Su She received it with both hands, “Yes.”
Indeed, he stopped talking to Wei WuXian as he turned around and took off his clothes to treat his wounds. Jin GuangYao still couldn’t move the hand burned by the poisonous smoke. He could only sit on the ground and concentrate on expelling the poison. The remaining cultivators held their swords as they walked back and forth inside Guanyin Temple, keeping guard. As he saw these glaring blades, Nie HuaiSang’s eyes went straight ahead. He had no guards beside him, so he didn’t even dare let out a loud breath. Shrunken against the corner behind Lan XiChen, he let out quite a few sneezes.
Wei WuXian thought, To other people, Su She’s quite sarcastic, and to Lan Zhan, he’s even more resentful. But he’s sure quite respectful towards Jin GuangYao.