Wei WuXian pointed to the front. The two walked shoulder to shoulder. A chilling gust of air surged toward them as they saw the large mouth of a cave. After they entered, for a while they had been walking straight before Jiang Cheng knocked something over with his feet. He looked down to find half a compass.
Wei WuXian quickly stopped him, “Don’t kick it. I haven’t finished this one yet. It’s useful.”
Just as he picked it up, Jiang Cheng stepped on something else. It was a crumpled-up flag. Wei WuXian stopped him again, “Don’t break it! This one is useful as well. It’s almost finished.”
Jiang Cheng, “You’re the one who littered them on the ground. It’s not anyone’s fault if they break them.”
Wei WuXian, “I live here alone, so what if I litter a few things around?”
They walked deeper into the cave. All along the path were talismans, stuck to the walls or tossed onto the ground, scrunched into balls or ripped to pieces. It seemed as though somebody lost their marbles and threw a tantrum here. On top of that, the deeper they went, the messier it got.
Jiang Cheng felt like he was suffocating, “You dare mess with Lotus Pier like this, then you can just watch as I burn all of these things!”
After they entered the main area of the cave, there was a person lying on the ground. From head to toe, he was covered entirely in talismans. Only a pair of eye whites could be seen from the outside. This was Wen Ning.
Jiang Cheng glanced at him, “You live here? Where do you sleep?”
Wei WuXian tossed the things he just picked up into a corner. He answered by pointing at a crumpled pile of blankets at another corner, “With those, I can sleep anywhere.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t want to talk about such a thing with him any longer. Looking down with condescension, he examined Wen Ning, who lay motionlessly, “What happened to him?”
Wei WuXian, “He’s a bit too fierce. I’m worried he’ll do something, so I sealed him up so that he can’t move at the moment.”
Jiang Cheng, “Wasn’t he a shy stutterer when he was alive? How’s he so fierce after he died?”
His tone couldn’t be called friendly at all. Wei WuXian glanced at him, “Wen Ning was indeed quite a timid person. But precisely because of this, he hid all of his feelings within him. Hatred, anger, fear, anxiety, pain—these were pent-up for too long, which is why the exploded after he died. You can’t even imagine how powerful they are. It’s the same as how the more nice-tempered someone is, the scarier they are after they lose their temper. The more he was like this, the fiercer he’d be after death.”
Jiang Cheng, “Haven’t you always said the fiercer the better? The heavier the resentful energy is, the greater the hatred is, and the stronger the power is.”
Wei WuXian, “That’s right. But I don’t want to make Wen Ning into this kind of corpse.”
Jiang Cheng, “Then what do you want to make him into?”
Wei WuXian, “I want to awaken his consciousness.”
Jiang Cheng sneered, “Dreaming again, aren’t you? Awaken his consciousness? What’d be the difference between a fierce corpse like this and a human being? In my opinion, if you really succeeded, nobody would need to be a human and nobody would need to cultivate. They could just come to you and ask to be made into a fierce corpse.”
Wei WuXian laughed, “That’s right. I’ve realized as well that it’s too fucking hard. But I’ve already boasted about it a couple of times in front of his sister. Now all of them believe that I can do it. I’ll have to succeed, or else what’ll I do with my face…”
Before he even finished, Jiang Cheng unsheathed Sandu and went straight for Wen Ning’s neck. He seemed as if he wanted to cut his head off in one go. Wei WuXian’s reaction was quicker than most. He struck his arm to move the direction of the sword, shouting, “What are you doing?!”
His words echoed through the Demon-Slaughtering Cave, vibrating incessantly. Jiang Cheng refused to sheathe his sword. His voice was harsh, “What am I doing? I’d like to ask you what you are doing. Wei WuXian, you’ve been quite full of yourself these couple of days, haven’t you?!”
Long before Jiang Cheng came up Burial Mound, Wei WuXian knew that he definitely didn’t come to have a nice, calm chat with him. During their way up, there was a string that had been wound up tightly, connecting both of their hearts. Having chatted as though nothing had happened and suppressed things for so long as though both were at ease, the strings finally snapped.
Wei WuXian, “If not because I’ve got no choice with Wen Qing and the others forcing me, do you think I’d like to be so full of myself?”
Jiang Cheng, “You’ve got no choice because they were forcing you? Well now, I’ve got not choice because you’re forcing me! A few days ago at Koi Tower, countless sects surrounded me, forcing me to give an explanation to this, and so I could only come!”
Wei WuXian, “An explanation? We’re even already. The inspectors beat Wen Ning to death; Wen Ning became a corpse and killed them. A tooth for a tooth, a life for a life—all that is over.”
Jiang Cheng, “All that is over? How could it be possible?! Don’t you know how many eyes are watching you right now? How many are watching your Seal? If this opportunity is in their hands, you wouldn’t be in the right even if you are!”
Wei WuXian, “You said it already. I wouldn’t be in the right even if I am. What else could I do except for jailing myself here?”
Jiang Cheng, “What else? Of course there’s something.”
With Sandu, he pointed at Wen Ning who lay on the ground, “The only way of making up for things is for us to end things before they get the chance to!”
Wei WuXian, “End what?”
Jiang Cheng, “You burn this corpse right now and return to them all these leftovers of the Wen Sect. That’s the only way to make the subject die!” As he spoke, he raised his sword again, preparing to attack.
However, Wei WuXian clenched his wrist, “Are you joking?! If we return Wen Qing and the others to them, they’d meet nothing but a dead end!”
Jiang Cheng, “I doubt you’ll even return all of them. Why do you care what kind of end they meet? A dead end it is, then—what does it have to do with you?!”
Wei WuXian finally lost his temper, “Jiang Cheng! What- What do you think you’re talking about?! Take it back—don’t make me give you a thrashing! Don’t forget. Who was the one that helped us burn Uncle Jiang’s and Madam Yu’s corpses? Who returned to us the ashes that are in Lotus Pier right now? And who took us in when we were chased after by Wen Chao?!”
Jiang Cheng, “I’m the one who fucking wants to give you a thrashing! Yes, they helped us before, but why in the world don’t you understand that right now any remnant of the Wen Sect is a target of criticism! No matter who they are, with a surname of Wen they have committed a most heinous crime! And those who protect the Wen are at risk of being condemned by everyone! All the people loathe the Wen-dogs so badly that the worse they die the better. Whoever protects them is against the entire world. Nobody would speak for them, and nobody would speak for you either!”