Hearing his shouts, the people suddenly realized, hesitating as to whether or not to go. With a wave of his hand, Wei WuXian let down a rain of talismans, “Dying outside is dying, dying inside is dying too. You’re dying anyways, and you can at least put it off a bit if you come inside. Why are you hurrying all these people to die sooner?”
Although his words made quite a lot of sense, because he was the one saying them, the people were even more scared to go in. Still hesitating, the continued their hard fight with the fierce corpses. Others were able to manage for a while with their spiritual powers stripped away, but Nie HuaiSang couldn’t. Everyone knew that he was both timid and untalented. He wasn’t ambitious either, and didn’t work hard as a cultivator. He was caught off-guard by the sudden change of events and didn’t receive any wounds only from his personal guards’ protection.
Seeing that the corpses grew larger and larger in number with no end in sight, he hurried, “Are you all going to go in or not? If you don’t, I’ll go in first. Excuse my absence. Quick, quick, quick—everyone, come in!”
Before he even finished speaking, Nie HuaiSang led the QingheNie Sect’s disciples into the Demon-Slaughtering Cave with quick decisiveness. He really was as anxious as a dog that had lost its owner, as scared as a fish that had escaped the net. Others were immediately shocked speechless by his straightforwardness.
At this point, OuYang ZiZhen shouted as well, “Dad, stop killing them! Trust me, come in! We just went in the cave sometime ago. There aren’t any traps inside!”
A few of the other boys shouted as well, “Yeah, there really is a big array on the ground!”
Jin Ling, “Uncle, come in!”
Jiang Cheng lunged with Sandu, which had lost its glare as well, threatening, “You can shut up!”
After his shout, however, blood dripped down from his mouth and nose again. Jin Ling dashed down the stairs and began to drag him toward the Cave.
Right now, having lost his spiritual powers and spent half the day fighting, Jiang Cheng was exhausted, and somehow successfully pulled into the cave by Jin Ling. The Jiang Sect’s cultivators hurried to follow their leader too.
At the same time, Nie HuaiSang’s beaming voice echoed from within the empty cave, “Everyone, come in! It’s quite big inside! Could a senior come in and help mend the array on the ground? I can’t! I don’t know how to mend it!”
Hearing his last sentence, three large words appeared in everyone’s mind, “Good-for-nothing!”
Lan WangJi’s fingers didn’t leave the strings of his guqin as he looked up, “Uncle!”
In the first place, Lan QiRen didn’t want to go inside the Cave. He’d rather battle here outside until his last moment. Yet, right now, he wasn’t alone. He was responsible for many Lan Sect cultivators and the Jin Sect cultivators who’d been left to his command. The main force of the battle wasn’t him, either. He didn’t want to ignore the lives of these disciples, willing to catch any hope that there was.
He didn’t look at Lan WangJi, raising his sword and ordering, “Proceed with caution!”
Until now, the LanlingJin Sect, the GusuLan Sect, the QingheNie Sect, and the YunmengJiang Sect had all gone inside already. With them in the lead, the rest of the people immediately decided not to continue the struggle either. If there really was some beast or demon within the cave, there were four tall pillars blocking it for them. They hastened inside as well. In the end, the MolingSu Sect’s people were the only ones who hadn’t moved.
Wei WuXian, “Huh? Sect Leader Su, aren’t you going in? Very well, then you can stay outside. But everyone’s out of spiritual powers, right? If you stay outside, won’t you been seeking your own death? Such commendable courage.”
Su She gave Wei WuXian a sideway glance. Although his darkened face twitched uncontrollably, he led his disciples inside as well.
The Demon-Slaughtering Cave successfully held all of the over a thousand people. The breaths and whispers of these people echoed endlessly within the main area of the cave. Lan QiRen approached Nie HuaiSang as soon as he entered and went to examine the smeared parts of the array on the ground under his eager, expectant gaze. The array was indeed quite old. At once, he cut his palm open and mended the array with his blood. Wen Ning guarded the stairs, throwing away the corpses that were the nearest. As soon as the array was mended, the corpses seemed as though they were blocked out by an invisible barrier, temporarily unable to come in.
Wei WuXian waited until Lan WangJi put his guqin away before walking into the Cave with him. As the cultivators who had just let out sighs of relief saw the two walk down the stairs, one in black and the other in white, they became worried once more.
Nobody expected that this would be the case. They were supposed to be here to join in a siege on the YiLing Patriarch, yet now it seemed like they were the ones facing a siege. They even had to hide in the YiLing Patriarch’s cave to live on just a bit longer. Lan QiRen finished mending the array on the ground and stood before the crowd, blocking the two’s path. He held his chin high, almost wanting to block them with his arms, as if he’d fight Wei WuXian until the end of his life if he dared make a move.
Lan WangJi, “… Uncle.”
The sense of disappointment hadn’t left Lan QiRen’s heart yet. As of the moment, he still didn’t want to look at the disciple whom he was so proud of, having taught him throughout all those years. He only looked at Wei WuXian, speaking coldly, “Just what do you intend on doing?”
Wei WuXian sat down on the stairs, “Nothing. But since you’re here already, why not have a chat…”
Yi WeiChun shouted, “There’s nothing for us to chat about with you!”
Wei WuXian, “How could there be nothing to chat about? I’m not buying it—don’t you want to know how you’ve suddenly lost your spiritual powers? From the bottom of my heart, I’m not so powerful as to have done something to all of you without anyone noticing.”
Just as Yi WeiChun spat, he heard Nie HuaiSang respond, “Yeah, I think he makes a lot of sense.”
Everyone glared at him.
Wei WuXian continued, “I’m guessing that before you came here for the siege, you didn’t have the time to gather up and have a meal together, so you shouldn’t be under any sort of poison.”
Lan SiZhui, “It is definitely not poison. I have never heard of a poison that could dissolve one’s spiritual powers so suddenly. Or else, it would definitely be sought after by many cultivators at high prices, and the rumors would be an uproar.”
Many medics were among the cultivators who came. They grabbed a few people and felt for their pauses. The people asked, “How is it? How is it? Is the disappearance of our spiritual powers temporary or permanent?!”
The question immediately attracted the attention of many people. They didn’t have the spare time to take precautions against Wei WuXian any longer. After all, if their spiritual powers had disappeared forever, eternally, they’d be more-or-less useless. That’d definitely be a more agonizing end than dying here.
The medics had a short discussion before they spoke, “Everyone, your golden cores are unharmed. There’s no need to worry! It should be temporary.”
Hearing that it was temporary, Jiang Cheng finally let out a secret sigh of relief. He took over the handkerchief that Jin Ling was passing to him and wiped off the blood on his face. He began, “Temporary? How long is temporary? When should we recover?”