On the other hand, Lan WangJi turned to Lan QiRen, “Uncle, have you received any news about Brother?”
After a moment of silence, Lan QiRen answered, “No.”
Wei WuXian, “Maybe ZeWu-Jun is still under Jin GuangYao’s control as of right now. Mr. Lan, the more people there is, the more help there is. Even if you’re worried about me, at least let HanGuang-Jun participate in your next plans. It’s his brother, after all.”
“…” Lan QiRen’s face was full of fatigue. He turned to Lan WangJi, “Come if you want to.”
The rest of the people immediately looked at Jiang Cheng. Among the three sect leaders of the highest status, Lan QiRen had taken a stand and it didn’t matter if Nie HuaiSang took a stand or not, so now it was all up to Jiang Cheng. At the side, Jiang Cheng was trying out his spiritual powers and testing them on Zidian. Although it switched between bright and dark, at least the light didn’t go out anymore. Purple light reflected against Jiang Cheng’s face, giving it an air of mystery. Everyone knew that Sect Leader Jiang, the one whom Wei WuXian turned against, hated him the most. They all thought that their negotiation would fall through.
Yet, he only let out a bitter laugh, “So you dare go back to Lotus Pier?”
After the short sentence, he stopped talking. Nobody knew what this meant, unsure if he allowed it or not. But when they set off, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi joined the group, and he didn’t give them a single glance. They took it that he neither allowed it nor didn’t.
When the group arrived at the bottom of the mountain, it was already nighttime. As they returned to the town, the lights had already been blown out, and everything was quiet. Everyone was tired, both in body and in spirit. Even their square arrays looked uneven and disorganized. Fortunately, when they conjured up the energy to count the heads, they realized that there wasn’t a big difference at all. Because most people’s spiritual powers hadn’t recovered yet and couldn’t mount their swords, water paths were the quickest way to get to Lotus Pier. The group, consisting of over a thousand people, then set off toward the pier nearest to Yiling.
However, because of their hurried decision, they couldn’t gather so many boats in such a short amount of time. The sect leaders could only rent all of the boats at the pier, no matter the size, no matter the use. Crowded with the disciples from all those sects, the boats traveled along with the water.
Around a dozen disciples were crammed into the same boat. Almost all of these boys grew up in comfortable environments. They’d never had to ride in such old, broken down fishing boats before, the corners of which were piled up with dirty nets and barrels, emitting the rotten odor of fish as its wooden boards creaked. Winds were high at night. The boats rocked back and forth. A few of the boys from the North were quite seasick. After they tried for a while, they truly couldn’t hold it back any longer. They rushed outside the cabin and retched before they collapsed, dizzy-eyed, on the deck.
One of the boys commented, “Heavens, it’s so shaky that it feels like there’s a storm in my stomach. Hey, SiZhui-xiong, you’re throwing up as well? Aren’t you from Gusu? It’s not like you’re from the North. Why are you even more seasick than I am?!”
Lan SiZhui waved his hand, his face the color of ash, “I… I do not know why either. I have been like this when I ride in boats ever since I was four or five… Maybe I was born this way.”
As he spoke, he felt the revolting feeling come upon him again. He stood up, holding onto the rail. Just as he was about to throw up some more, he suddenly saw a dark silhouette hanging onto the part of the boat below the rail, half of its body submerged inside the river’s water, staring straight at him.
Lan SiZhui was so scared that he immediately gulped back the things he was about to throw up. Just as he pressed down onto the hilt of his sword, he looked carefully and exclaimed, “The Ghost…”
Inside of the cabin, as Jin Ling heard this, he immediately rushed out with his sword, “A ghost? Where? I’ll kill it for you!”
Lan SiZhui, “Not a ghost—the Ghost General!”
All of the boys hurried to the deck and looked in the direction that Lan SiZhui pointed at. As expected, the silhouette clinging to the side of the boat, looking up from below, was none other than the Ghost General, Wen Ning.
Right after they left Burial Mound, Wen Ning had disappeared. Yet, who knew that he was clinging to the fishing boat so quietly. They didn’t know how long he’d been there, either.
Although back on Burial Mound, Wen Ning was fighting alongside them. There were many people then, and lots of seniors as well. In the middle of the night, especially on water, Wen Ning’s strange, sudden appearance still gave the boys a good shock. They stared at him for a few moments.
OuYang ZiZhen was the first one to shrink back, taking a seat on the deck, “Why did the Ghost General come to find us alone?”
Someone mumbled, “So that’s why I felt this boat was going so slowly. A person is hanging on the bottom. It’s so heavy.”
“Why… Why is he clinging there?”
“Definitely not to harm us. Or else, he wouldn’t have protected us back in the day.”
“But there’s no danger right now anymore. Why did he come find us again…”
“Pfft!”
“JingYi, what are you laughing about?”
Lan JingYi, “Look at him. He is clinging onto the boat without moving at all, almost like a big, oblivious sea turtle!”
Now that he said it, some people felt that he indeed did look like one. But before they began to laugh, OuYang ZiZhen exclaimed, “He’s coming up!”
Just as he said, Wen Ning’s body emerged from the water. Hands grabbing onto a hemp rope hanging off the deck, he began to crawl slowly up. The boys scattered themselves at once. A few of the more timid ones ran in circles on the deck as they panicked, chirping, “He’s coming up, he’s coming up! The Ghost General is coming up!”
Lan JingYi, “What is there to be scared of? It is not like you have not seen him before!”
“What do we do? Should we call someone over?!”
When Wen Ning flipped over the rail, dripping with water as he landed heavily on the deck, the entire boat seemed to shake with his landing. The boys were as nervous as possible, almost all squishing to the other side of the deck. Their hearts raced, but they were too embarrassed to face him with their swords.
Wen Ning stared at Lan SiZhui’s face as he walked toward him. Lan SiZhui noticed that he was here for him. He steadied himself as Wen Ning asked, “Wh-What is your name?”
Lan SiZhui hesitated for a second before he stood up straight and answered, “I am a disciple of the GusuLan Sect. My name is Lan Yuan.”
Wen Ning, “Lan Yuan?” Lan SiZhui nodded. Wen Ning, “Do… Do you know who g-gave you this name?”
Dead people had no expressions, but Lan SiZhui was under the illusion that he thought he saw Wen Ning’s eyes light up.
He also thought that Wen Ning was feeling very excited, so excited that he stammered as he spoke. He himself began to feel excited as well, as though they were about to reveal a secret hidden for years.
Lan SiZhui answered carefully, “My name was of course given by my parents.”