Nie MingJue was in the middle of his rage. He didn’t even have the chance to ask why Lan XiChen was there as he shouted, “XiChen move!”
Baxia’s strikes were so menacing that Shuoyue had to unsheath. Lan XiChen stopped him, half to support his figure and half to block his attacks, “MingJue-xiong, calm down! Why bother?”
Nie MingJue, “Why don’t you ask what he did?!”
Lan XiChen turned around to look at Meng Yao, his face was full of terror. He stammered as if he didn’t dare speak. Nie MingJue, “Back then, after you fled from Langya, I was wondering why I couldn’t find you no matter what! So you became the Wen-dogs’ underling and took sides with the tyrant in the Nightless City!”
Lan XiChen, “MingJue-xiong.”
He rarely interrupted others. Nie MingJue hesitated. Lan XiChen continued, “Do you know who was the one that gave you the QishanWen Sect’s maps of tactical formation these past few times?”
Nie MingJue, “You.”
Lan XiChen, “I was delivering them. Do you know who was the source of all that information?”
Under such circumstances, it wasn’t difficult to see what he had meant. Nie MingJue glanced at Meng Yao, who stood behind him, head hanging low. His brows twitched uncontrollably, as though he couldn’t believe the matter.
Lan XiChen, “There is no need to doubt. Today, as well, I have come here to aid you only after he contacted me. Or else, how would I just happen to appear here?”
Nie MingJue was unable to say anything.
Lan XiChen added, “After incident at Langya, A-Yao felt remorse, but he was afraid he might run into you. He could only manage to sneak into the QishanWen Sect and approach Wen RuoHan, then write me letters in secrecy. At first, I did not know whom the person sending the letters was, either. I only realized whom he was after discovering a few clues from a coincidence or two.”
He turned to Meng Yao, then lowered his voice, “Did you not tell MingJue-xiong of these?”
“…”
Holding the wound on his arm, Meng Yao managed a smile, “ZeWu-Jun, you saw as well. Even if I did say so, Sect Leader Nie wouldn’t have believed me either.”
Nie MingJue remained silent, while Baxia and Shuoyue continued. Meng Yao took a glimpse at the glares from the clashes of the saber and the sword, his gaze full of fear. After a while, however, he still took a step forward. He kneeled to Nie MingJue.
Lan XiChen, “Meng Yao?”
Meng Yao whispered, “Sect Leader Nie, back in Sun Palace, although it was to gain the trust of Wen RuoHan, I did indeed harm you and say inappropriate things. I purposely jabbed at your scar, knowing that the previous Sect Leader Nie hurts you deeply… Although I had no other choice, I’m still truly sorry.”
Nie MingJue, “The one you should be kneeling to isn’t me, but the cultivators that you killed with your own hands.”
Meng Yao, “Wen RuoHan had a cruel character. Whenever there was any disobeyment, he’d act as though he was mad. Since I was pretending to be someone he could trust, how could I sit back when others humiliated him? So…”
Nie MingJue, “Good. Looks like you’ve been doing these things since sometime ago.”
Meng Yao sighed, “I was in Qishan.”
Lan XiChen sighed as well, his attacks persisting, “MingJue-xiong, he was undercover in Qishan, and sometimes there would be some things that… could not have been helped. When he was doing these things, in his heart he was also…”
In his heart, Wei WuXian shook his head, ZeWu-Jun, he’s still… too kind, too pure.
After a second thought, however, he concluded that he was only so guarded toward Jin GuangYao because he had already known about the various suspicions, whereas the Meng Yao in front of Lan XiChen was someone who had gone undercover without a choice, enduring humiliation alone. The two held different viewpoints, so how could their feelings be compared?
A moment later, Nie MingJue still raised his saber. Lan XiChen, “MingJue-xiong!”
Meng Yao shut his eyes. Lan XiChen also tightened his grip on Shuoyue, “Please excuse…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the silver light of the blade slashed down violently, onto a boulder on the side.
Meng Yao flinched from the thunder of the boulder splitting apart. Looking over, he saw that it had been sliced into two halves, from the top to the bottom.
Even in the end, the saber couldn’t fall on him. Baxia unsheathed. Nie MingJue walked away and never turned around.
Now that Wen RuoHan had died, even though remnants of the QishanWen Sect still remained, they were already beyond hope—their defeat was set in stone.
And the sacrificial Meng Yao who had been undercover in the Nightless City for years became famous immediately after the battle.
Wei WuXian had once found it strange as well. Ever since Meng Yao betrayed the QingheNie Sect, the relationship between Nie MingJue and him hadn’t been the same as before. Then why did they later become sworn brothers? From his observations, aside from how Lan XiChen brought it up, having always hoped that the two would reconcile, the most important factor was probably the gratitude of saving his life and writing the letters. To be precise, in his past battles, he had more-or-less depended on the information that Meng Yao sent over through Lan XiChen. He still thought that Jin GuangYao was a talented person whom one would rarely come upon, and intended on leading him back onto the right path. However, Jin GuangYao wasn’t his subordinate anymore. Only after they became sworn brothers would he have the status and the position to urge Jin GuangYao, like how he disciplined his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang.
After the Sunshot Campaign had ended, the LanlingJin Sect set up a flower banquet that lasted for days, inviting countless cultivators, countless sects to come and celebrate together.
On Koi Tower, people came and went. Before Nie MingJue’s high viewpoint, the crowd parted again and again, with both sides nodding at him in respect, calling him “ChiFeng-Zun”. Wei WuXian thought, Such a show of extravagance is going to reach even the heavens. All these people both fear and respect Nie MingJue. There’s quite a few people who fear me, though not a lot who respect me.
Jin GuangYao was standing right beside the base of the palace. Now that he had become sworn brothers with Nie MingJue and Lan XiChen, and been accepted into his clan, he had already painted between his brows the mark of vermilion and donned the white, golden-edged robes of Sparks Amidst Snow. Wearing a gauze cap, he was almost beyond recognition. As handsome as ever, his cleverness was the same, yet his air was calmer than it had ever been.
Beside him, Wei WuXian was surprised to find a familiar figure.
Xue Yang.
At this point in time, Xue Yang was still quite young. Although his features were still childlike, he was already rather tall. He was also wearing a robe of Sparks Amidst Snow. Standing beside Jin GuangYao, it was as though a spring breeze blew over willow trees—he was full of youthful talent. They seemed to be talking about something amusing. Jin GuangYao smiled, gesturing with his hand. The two exchanged a look, and Xue Yang bursted into laughter. With nonchalance, he glanced at the cultivators who walked around. His eyes were filled with casual contempt, as though all of them were walking pieces of trash. When he saw Nie MingJue, he had none of the fear that others had. Instead, he grinned, flashing his canine teeth. Jin GuangShan noticed that Nie MingJue’s expression wasn’t too keen. With hurry, he suppressed his smile and whispered something to Xue Yang. Xue Yang waved his hands, then skipped over to another area.