A few days later, carrying Nie MingJue’s recommendation letter, Meng Yao set off toward Langya.
After he left, Nie MingJue switched to another deputy. Wei WuXian, however, felt that the new one was always a few beats slower. Meng Yao was an unusually clever talent. He could understand what wasn’t said, and perform to the best with the simplest orders. He was efficient and never slacked. Anyone used to him wouldn’t be able to refrain from comparing him with others.
Some time later, the LanlingJin Sect in Langya was on the verge of collapse, having already been barely managing. Lan XiChen just happened to be assisting another area. Jin GuangShan asked for help from Hejian, and Nie MingJue arrived shortly afterward.
As the battle finished, Jin GuangShan came to express his thanks, still in a terrible state. Nie MingJue talked with him in a curt manner, then quickly began, “Sect Leader Jin, what’s Meng Yao doing nowadays?”
Hearing him mention the name, Jin GuangShan replied, “Meng Yao? Uh… Sect Leader Nie, I don’t mean any offense, but who is he again?”
Nie MingJue’s brows immediately furrowed. Back then, the story that Meng Yao was kicked down Koi Tower passed around for quite a long time. Even others had known of such a farce, so there was no way that the person involved couldn’t remember the name. Only someone with the thickest of faces would be able to play dumb in such a situation. It was just that, however, Jin GuangShan just so happened to be such a person.
Nie MingJue spoke coldly, “Meng Yao is my past deputy. I wrote a letter for him to bring.”
Jin GuangShan continued to pretend as though he didn’t know a thing, “Really? But here I’ve never seen such a letter or such a person. Oh well. If I had known that Sect Leader Nie sent over his deputy I would definitely receive him well. But did any accidents happen along the journey?”
He simply equivocated, saying that he couldn’t remember if he had heard of the name or not. Nie MingJue’s face grew colder and colder. He felt that something must be wrong, so he left without the slightest hesitation. After asking the other cultivators, he still found nothing. Nie MingJue chose a few places and started to walk around.
On his way was a small forest. The forest was rather quiet, rather secluded. It had just been through a surprise attack, and the battlefield hadn’t been cleaned up yet. Nie MingJue walked along the path. All throughout the path were cultivators’ corpses, wearing the Wen Sect’s, the Jin Sect’s, and a few other sects’ uniforms.
Suddenly, from in front of him came noises of tch, tch.
Nie MingJue put his hand on the hilt of his saber and approached furtively. Across the branches and leaves, he saw Meng Yao standing amid piles of corpses. Twisting his wrist, he pulled a long sword out of a cultivator’s chest.
His expression was absolutely calm. Attacks both fast and steady, he was also careful, letting not even a droplet of blood stain his clothes.
The sword wasn’t his own sword. The hilt had iron embellishments in the shape of flames—it was the sword of a Wen Sect cultivator.
The sword techniques were also those of the Wen Sect’s.
And the one who died under his sword wore a robe of Sparks Amidst Snow. He was a cultivator of the LanlingJin Sect.
Nie MingJue saw all of the scene. Without saying a word, he unsheathed his saber by an inch. A sharp ring pierced through the air.
Hearing the familiar sound of unsheathing, Meng Yao immediately trembled. He spun around, his soul almost evaporating, “… Sect Leader Nie?”
Nie MingJue pulled all of his saber out of its sheath. The body of the sword glared brightly, yet the blade itself vaguely glinted in the red shade of blood. Wei WuXian could feel the billowing anger from him, along with emotions of disappointment and hatred.
Meng Yao knew Nie MingJue’s character more than anyone else. He dropped the sword with a clang, “Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Nie! Please wait, please wait! I can explain!”
Nie MingJue shouted, “What do you want to explain?!”
Meng Yao threw himself over, half rolling and half crawling, “I had no other choice, I had no other choice!”
Nie MingJue fumed, “What other choice did you not have?! What did I say when I sent you here?!”
Meng Yao kneeled before his feet, “Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Nie, just listen to me! I joined the LanlingJin Sect’s force. This was my superior. During my time here, he always despised me. He often humiliated me and beat me…”
Nie MingJue, “So you killed him?”
Meng Yao, “No! Not because of this! What humiliation can’t I put up with? What couldn’t I endure, if it was only beatings and scoldings? It was just that everytime we took over one of the Wen Sect’s strongholds, I strategized with every single drop of my energy, I fought as well as I could, yet with just a few flimsy words, just a few light brushstrokes he’d make it his credit, saying that it had nothing to do with me. This isn’t the first time. It was every single time, every single time! I reasoned with him, but he couldn’t care less. I turned to others, but nobody was willing to hear me out. Just now he said that my mother was, that my mother was… I really reached my limit—the accident only happened since I was momentarily outraged!”
Under the shock and the terror, he spoke as though his words flew, fearing that Nie MingJue might start chopping before he could even finish his explanation. Despite this, his explanation still had clear logic. Every sentence was highlighting how horrible the others were, how poor he himself was. Nie MingJue snatched his collar and lifted him up, “You’re lying!”
Meng Yao shuddered. Nie MingJue stared into his eyes, speaking one word at a time, “You reached your limit and were momentarily outraged? Would any outraged person kill someone with the expression that you had on? Would they purposely pick the discreet forest that had just been through a battle? Would they kill them with the Wen Sect’s sword, the Wen Sect’s technique in disguise as a Wen-dog’s stealth attack to put the blame on someone else? You’ve clearly been deliberately planning this out!”
Meng Yao raised his hand in assurance, “I’m telling the truth! Each and every sentence!”
Nie MingJue raged, “Even if it’s true, you still souldn’t kill him! It was only some trivial achievements! Do you care about such a handful of glory that much?!”
Meng Yao murmured, “Some trivial achievements?” He spoke in a shaking voice, “…What do you mean, some trivial achievements? ChiFeng-Zun, do you know how much work I put into such trivial achievements? How much I suffered? Glory? Without the handful of glory I have nothing!”
Nie MingJue looked at him, who shivered as tears gleamed in his eyes. The contrast between the scene and how he calmly killed someone was too stark. The impact was so great that the image still hadn’t faded from his mind. He spoke, “Meng Yao, let me ask you. The first time I saw you, did you purposely act for me in that pitiful way, so that I’d come to your rescue? If I didn’t, would you have done what you did today and killed all of those people?”
Meng Yao’s Adam’s apple bobbed, where a drop of cold sweat rolled off. Just as he was about to speak, Nie MingJue ordered, “Don’t lie in front of me!”
With a quiver, Meng Yao swallowed the words he was about to say. Kneeling on the ground, his entire body shook. The fingers of his right hand dug deeply into the dirt.