It couldn’t be that Jin GuangYao’s cultivation was so high that he could pull things out of thin air, could it?!
Lan WangJi saw it through at one glance, “He hid it inside his body.”
The rest of the people followed his words to see a slowly expanding cluster of red on the white cloth at the side of Jin GuangYao’s waist. The string was red because it was covered in blood. Of course Wei WuXian couldn’t find it earlier on. Jin GuangYao didn’t hide it on him, but instead hid it within his body. With the conversation, Lan XiChen’s emotions were affected while other people’s attention was diverted as well, and Jin Ling even rushed forward to approach him. The time was ripe, and so he caught everyone off guard as he quickly pierced his abdomen with his finger to dig it outside his body.
Who knew that Jin GuangYao could do such a thing to himself in order to keep such a move? Although the string was as thin as possible, it was a piece of metal swimming around in his blood and flesh, after all, so it wouldn’t have felt too pleasant.
Jiang Cheng cried, “A-Ling!” Wei WuXian couldn’t help from moving as well, but immediately someone grabbed him. As he turned around to see that it was Lan WangJi, he finally managed to steady himself and remain collected.
With Jin Ling under control, Jin GuangYao stood up, “Sect Leader Jiang, there’s no need to be so agitated. I watched A-Ling grow up, after all. Same as before, after we walk our own paths for a while, you’ll see a perfectly unharmed A-Ling in some time.”
Jiang Cheng, “A-Ling, don’t move! Jin GuangYao, if you want hostage, it’s the same if it’s me!”
Jin GuangYao answered in all honesty, “No, it isn’t. Sect Leader Jiang, you’re injured. It’s difficult for you to move. You’ll hold me back.”
Wei WuXian felt sweat at his palms, “Sect Leader Jin, didn’t you forget to take something with you? Your loyal subject is still here.”
Jin GuangYao looked towards Su She, who was still being held back with Bichen by Lan WangJi. Su She immediately called, throat hoarse, “Sect Leader, there’s no need to care about me!”
Jin GuangYao immediately replied, “Thank you.”
Lan XiChen spoke slowly, “Sect Leader Jin, you lied again.”
Jin GuangYao, “Just this once. There’ll be no next time.”
Lan XiChen, “This was what you said last time. I can no longer tell which of your words are true.”
Just as Jin GuangYao was about to speak, a thunder of unprecedented volume roared. It was far in the distance, but sounded almost as if it was right next to one’s ear. He couldn’t help but shiver and swallow what he was about to say. Immediately after, three strange thumps bellowed outside the temple’s doors.
Compared to the act of ‘knocking on the door, it had a greater resemblance to ‘crashing into the door.’ It didn’t sound like the slaps of a man’s arm, more like someone held another’s head and smashed it against the door again and again. The thumps got louder as the crack in the door bolt grew in size. The expression on Jin GuangYao’s face became more twisted by each moment.
At the fourth strike, the door bolt finally broke. Dense strands of rain as well as a pitch-black figure whirled through the door.
Jin GuangYao’s figure trembled, as though he wanted to dodge, but soon he stopped the urge. The figure didn’t fly in his direction, but instead in Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi’s. Calmly, the two parted for an instant before naturally standing side-by-side again. Turning around, Wei WuXian called, “Wen Ning?”
Wen Ning crashed into the Guanyin statue within the temple. With his feet above his head, he hung for a while before he plopped down and answered, “… Young Master.”
Seeing him, both Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling grew darkish in their faces. On the other hand, Nie HuaiSang cried, “Brother!!!”
Apart from Wen Ning who flew inside, a taller silhouette stood before the the temple’s doors. His figure was firm, while two blank eyes rested on his ashen face.
It was ChiFeng-Zun, Nie MingJue!
Like a tower of steel, he stood in front of the Guanyin Temple amid the storm, blocking the paths of everyone. His head sat level on his neck. Black, closely-packed stitches could be seen at his throat. Somebody had somehow used a long thread to sew together the head and the headless body!
Lan XiChen, “… Brother.”
Jin GuangYao also murmured, “… Brother.”
Within the temple, three people called Nie MingJue’s corpse ‘Brother’ but the three tones were drastically different. Jin GuangYao’s face was full of a drowning fear. His entire body began to shiver. No matter dead or alive, the person Jin GuangYao was most scared of was none but this sworn brother of his whose temper tolerated no evil. As his body shivered, his hands shivered as well, and the bloody guqin string he clutched tightly in his hand also began to shiver. At this instant, Lan WangJi suddenly unsheathed Bichen and slashed.
In the blink of an eye, he’d flashed before Jin Ling while holding something. While Jin GuangYao felt his arm lighten. With a short pause, he looked down only to finally discover that his right hand was gone. His right hand was cut off from his forearm. What Lan WangJi held was the palm he’d been using to grip the guqin string.
At once, blood spilled everywhere. Jin GuangYao’s face paled in pain. He didn’t even have the energy to scream and only staggered backwards a couple of steps. Unable to hold himself up, he collapsed onto the ground. Su She, on the other hand, began to scream. Lan XiChen seemed as though he wanted to help him for an instant, but in the end he dared not.
Lan WangJi peeled open the fingers of the severed palm. The guqin string loosened, and Jin Ling was finally out of danger. Just as Jiang Cheng was about to rush over to see if he was hurt or not, Wei WuXian moved faster than him and grabbed Jin Ling’s shoulders, examining carefully. After he’d determined that the skin on his neck was unscathed, without a single scratch, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
In the past, whenever Lan WangJi attacked, he always left a few degrees of lenience. But right then, the situation was dangerous indeed. The guqin string was extremely sharp. In the hands of someone who knew the chord assassination technique, it could cut through meat and bone as if through vegetables. On top of that, Jin GuangYao’s hands were shaking. If he shook just a bit more or, with a more frightening possibility, if he forgot that he still had someone on his leash, and ended up making a run for it while holding the string… If Lan WangJi didn’t sever the right hand with which he held the string so decisively, blood might’ve already spewed out of Jin Ling’s severed head and body!
The blood that came from where Jin GuangYao’s hand broke off splashed right onto Jin Ling, drenching over half of his body and a portion of his face. He was still muddled, having not realized what happened yet. Wei WuXian, however, pulled him into a tight hug, “Stand farther away from dangerous people next time, you brat, why did you go so close?!”
If the only son of Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan died in front of his eyes, Wei WuXian would truly be at a loss as to what to do.
Jin Ling wasn’t used to being hugged by someone like this. Blood immediately flushed to his pale face as he pushed away from Wei WuXian’s chest. Grabbing him, Wei WuXian hugged a couple more times, with more force, slapping his shoulder hard before he shoved him towards Jiang Cheng, “Go! Don’t run around anymore. Go to your uncle!”