Surprised, the old woman first flinched. When she could finally tell who it was, her jaw dropped.
Wen Qing asked, “Granny, where’s A-Ning? Where’s Fourth Uncle and the rest? Where’s A-Ning?!”
The old woman looked at Wei WuXian, standing beside her, and didn’t dare say anything. She only looked in the direction of the valley. Unable to do anything else, Wen Qing sprinted over.
Torches were set up on both sides of the valley. The flames flickered now and then within the faint strings of rain, but their blaze nonetheless illuminated the hundreds of heavy silhouettes on the path.
The prisoners were all ghastly pale, their steps dragging. They weren’t allowed to use spiritual powers or any other instruments, not only by the LanlingJin Sect’s precautions against them, but also because it had to be punishing. Over a dozen inspectors, bearing black umbrellas, rode on horseback through the rain as they scolded. Wen Qing rushed into the rain, her eyes scanning frantically across every tired, grime-covered face.
One of the inspectors noticed her, raising a hand and shouting, “Where did you come from? Who let you run around here?”
Wen Qing urged, “I’m here to find someone, I’m here to find someone!”
The inspector approached, pulling something from the side of his waist and waving it about, “I don’t care if you’re looking for someone or not—leave! If you don’t…”
At this point, he saw that a black-robed man walked over from behind the young woman. As if his tongue had gotten tied, his voice trailed off.
The young man bore handsome features, but his eyes were rather cold. He couldn’t help but shiver under the gaze. Soon, he realized that the young man wasn’t staring at him, but instead the iron brand that he brandished.
The iron brand within the inspector’s hand was the same kind as what the QishanWen Sect’s servants used. It was only that the shape of the brand at the top was changed from the sun crest to the peony crest.
As Wei WuXian took note of this, cold light flashed within his eyes. Many of the inspectors recognized him. They stopped their horses quietly, whispering among each other. Nobody dared stop Wen Qing any longer, and she shouted as she searched, “A-Ning! A-Ning!”
No matter how desolate her voice was, no one answered her. She saw no trace of her brother even after she searched through the entire valley. If Wen Ning were here, he would’ve rushed toward her long ago. Stealthily, the inspectors dismounted their horses. The entire group stared at Wei WuXian, as though hesitating about whether or not to greet him.
Wen Qing rushed over and asked, “Where are the Wen cultivators sent here just a few days ago?”
The people looked at one another. After some dawdling, an inspector who looked quite honest spoke up, his tone friendly, “All of the prisoners here are the Wen Sect’s cultivators. New ones are sent here every day.”
Wen Qing, “It’s my brother, sent here by Jin ZiXun! He… He’s about this tall. He doesn’t talk much, stammers whenever he talks…”
The inspector, “Hey, Maiden, look. There are so many people here. How could we remember if any of them stammers or not?”
Wen Qing stomped her feet in anxiety, “I know he has to be here!”
The inspector was round and chubby. He gave an obsequiously apologetic grin, “Maiden, don’t worry. Actually, it happens a lot that other sects come to us for cultivators. Maybe somebody else took him during the past few days? When we do roll calls, we’d sometimes find that someone ran away as well…”
Wen Qing, “He wouldn’t have ran away! Granny and the others are all here. My brother wouldn’t have ran away on his own.”
The inspector, “Then, would you like to take your time searching for him? All of the people are here. If you don’t find him, then we can’t do anything about it either.”
Suddenly, Wei WuXian spoke up, “All of the people are here?”
As he spoke, all of their faces froze for an instant. The inspector turned toward him, “That’s right.”
Wei WuXian, “Fine. For the time being, I’ll take it that all the living ones are here. Then, what about the rest?”
Wen Qing’s figure wobbled.
The ‘rest’ as compared to the ‘living’ could only be the ‘dead’.
The inspectors quickly replied, “That’s not the way to talk. Although it’s all Wen cultivator’s here, we’ve never dared do anything fatal.”
As though he heard nothing, Wei WuXian took out the flute at his waist. The few prisoners who were beside him, trudging forward, screamed before they threw off the heavy objects on their backs and fled. Within the valley, a large circle of space formed immediately, him in the center.
In truth, the prisoners didn’t recognize Wei WuXian’s face, for the Wen Sect cultivators who ran into Wei WuXian on the battlefield of the Sunshot Campaign only met one end—utter annihilation. Thus, most of the Wen cultivators who recognized his face became fierce corpses in his army, for him to command. However, the flute made of dark wood, decorated with a crimson tassel, and the young man in black who controlled it had already become their nightmares.
From everywhere, people exclaimed, “It’s the ghost flute Chenqing!”
Wei WuXian put Chenqing to his lips. The shrill sound of the flute first ripped through the night sky and across the curtains of rain with the force of an arrow. Immediately after, its residue echoed through the entire valley. Only one note, and Wei WuXian placed Chenqing back. He stood with his arms hanging down, a cold grin at his lips, letting the drops of rain dampen his hair and clothes.
Soon, someone suddenly spoke, “What’s that sound?”
Yelps of surprise suddenly came from the far side of the crowd. Scrambling, the people soon emptied out an area of the circle with which they surrounded him. In the area stood slantingly around a dozen tattered figures, tall and short, men and women. Some of them gave off the stench of rotting flesh. The one who stood at the front was Wen Ning, whose eyes were still open.
His face was as pale as wax and his pupils were dilated. The blood at the corner of his lips had already dried into a dark brown. Although his chest didn’t rise and fall at all, it was obvious to see that half of his ribcage had collapsed. Nobody who saw such a scene would think that he was still alive, but Wen Qing still didn’t give up, grabbing for his pulse with trembling hands.
Holding onto him for a few moments, she finally broke into tears.
She’d been both scared and anxious, running as though she was mad, but she was still too late. She couldn’t even see her brother one last time.
Wen Qing cried as she touched Wen Ning’s ribs, as if she wanted to piece them back together. In vain hopes, she clung onto the nonexistent possibility. Her sweet features were wrung distorted, becoming unsightly, ugly, even. But, when someone was in the deepest of their sorrows, they’d never be able to cry with grace.
In front of the stiff corpse of her only younger brother, not a fragment was left of the pride that she tried so hard to upkeep.
The shock that Wen Qing received was too strong. Finally, she couldn’t hang on any longer and passed out. Standing behind her, Wei WuXian caught her without saying anything, letting her lean onto his chest. He closed his eyes, opening them a short while later, “Who killed him?”