Jin Ling’s face froze. Lan SiZhui hurried, “JingYi!”
JingYi on the left and SiZhui on the right, Wei WuXian wrapped his arms around both of the children, “Alright, let’s hurry out of here.”
Lan SiZhui, “Yes!”
The other boys were still balled-up in a corner, not daring to move. Lan JingYi, “Are you not going? Do you want to stay here for longer?”
One of the boys stuck his neck out, “There are so many walking corpses outside. You want us to go out… to meet our deaths?!”
Wen Ning, “Young Master, I’ll go outside and chase them away.”
Wei WuXian nodded. Like a gust of wind, Wen Ning immediately swept outside. Lan SiZhui spoke, “The deity-binding ropes have been loosened already. If worst comes to worst, we can fight our way out together. If you do not go, what if after we leave the corpses flood inside? With the shape of the cave, would it not be a sure catch?”
After he finished, he grabbed Lan JingYi. Along with a few of the Lan Sect’s juniors, the two of them left first, following behind Wen Ning. The rest of the boys stared among themselves.
Quickly afterward, one of the boys spoke up, “SiZhui-xiong, wait for me!” He followed, and left as well.
This boy was the little ‘seed of sentiment’ who burnt paper money and cried emotionally over A-Qing, back in Yi City. The others called him ZiZhen. He seemed to be the single child of the BalingOuYang Sect’s clan. Soon, a few of the boys followed as well, all of them familiar faces from the Yi City incident. The rest of the boys had been hesitant. But, as they looked around, they saw Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi staring at them. They felt nervous no matter which of the two stared at them, and they could only pass around them and leave as well, the back of their heads tingling. The last one was Jin Ling.
As the group of boys, pulling and dragging, almost arrived at the mouth of the cave, a shadow was suddenly thrown inside, creating a deep, human-shaped dent in the wall.
Dust and rocks showered down. The cries of a couple of juniors came from the front, “The Ghost General!”
Wei WuXian, “Wen Ning? What happened?!”
Wen Ning managed, “… Nothing.”
He fell from the dent, stood up, and quietly yet roughly attached the broken arm back onto his body. As Wei WuXian looked, he saw a young man in purple stand before the cave, arm dangling. Zidian sizzled and sparked below his hand. This was the whip that had thrown Wen Ning into the cave.
Jiang Cheng.
So that was why Wen Ning had no intention of attacking.
Jin Ling, “Uncle!”
Jiang Cheng’s ordered coldly, “Jin Ling, come here.”
From the dark forest behind him slowly walked out a group of cultivators from different sects, wearing uniforms of different colors. The group grew larger and larger. In estimation, there were almost two thousand, a large black blanket that surrounded the cave. These cultivators, including Jiang Cheng, all bathed in blood, their faces tired. All of the boys rushed outside the cave, shouting, “Dad!” “Mom!” “Brother!” They were embraced into the crowd.
Jin Ling looked left and right, as though he still hadn’t decided yet. Jiang Cheng’s voice was harsh, “Jin Ling, why are you so slow? What are you taking your time for? Do you want to die?!”
Lan QiRen stood before the crowd. He seemed much older. Strands of white even began to grow at his temples. He called, “WangJi.”
Lan WangJi’s answered in a low voice, “Uncle.”
But he still didn’t stand to his side.
Lan QiRen understood more than anyone. This was Lan WangJi’s answer, firm, resolute. With a disappointed expression, he shook his head. He didn’t try to persuade him any further.
A woman in white robes stood forward, her eyes filled with tears, “HanGuang-Jun, just what is wrong with you? You… You are not you anymore. In the past, you clearly could not even stand the YiLing Patriarch. Just what technique did Wei WuXian use to bewitch you for you to stand on the side opposite to us?”
Lan WangJi didn’t pay attention to her. Having not received a reply, the woman could only add in pity, “If so, then how undeserving of your name!”
Wei WuXian, “You people are here again.”
Jiang Cheng’s voice was cold, “Of course we are.”
Su She had on his back his seven-stringed zither. He was standing amid the crowd as well, his tone unconcerned, “If not for how the YiLing Patriarch so blatantly dug out corpses and captured people as soon as he returned, as if he was almost scared that the world didn’t welcome him, I don’t think that we would’ve had to grace your den so soon either.”
Wei WuXian, “I clearly saved these disciples. Why don’t you thank me and instead of accusing me?”
Quite a few people tittered. Some even shouted directly ‘the thief calls another thief’. Wei WuXian knew that all of his arguments would be useless. He wasn’t hurried, either. With a slight grin, he spoke, “But your size this time looks a bit miserly. Two important persons seem to be missing. Allow me to ask, everyone, why haven’t LianFang-Zun and ZeWu-Jun come to such a grand event?”
Su She sneered, “Hah, yesterday LianFang-Zun was attacked by an unidentified individual in Koi Tower. He was heavily injured. ZeW-Jun was still using all his effort to heal him. Why did you ask if you knew?”
Hearing that Jin GuangYao was ‘heavily injured’, all of a sudden, Wei WuXian recalled his grandeur of when he had pretended to have committed suicide when sneaking up on Nie MingJue. He couldn’t hold it back and bursted with a pfft. Su She’s brows sunk, “What are you laughing about?”
Wei WuXian, “Nothing. I just think that LianFang-Zun gets injured quite a lot.”
At this point, a small voice suddenly spoke up, “Dad, I feel that maybe he really didn’t do it. Last time, in Yi City, he was the one who saved us. This time, he seem to be here to save us as well…”
He followed the voice. The person who spoke was OuYang ZiZhen. However, the father immediately scolded the son, “Children shouldn’t talk so carelessly! Do you know what situation we’re in? Do you know who that is?!”
Withdrawing his gaze, Wei WuXian spoke calmly, “Now I understand.”
He had known from the start that no matter what he said, nobody would listen to him. What he denied could be forced; what he admitted could be twisted.
Lan WangJi originally had quite a lot of weight in his words. But, now that he was with him, he was most likely a target of the people as well. He had thought that with at least Lan XiChen among the sects, they could discuss for a while, but Lan XiChen and Jin GuangYao weren’t even present.
Back then, during the first siege of Burial Mound, Jin GuangShan led the LanlingJin Sect, while Jiang Cheng led the YunmengJiang Sect; Lan QiRen led the GusuLan Sect, while Nie MingJue led the QingheNie Sect. The former two were the main forces, the latter two could’ve gone without. Now, the LanlingJin Sect’s leader hadn’t arrived at, having only sent people for the GusuLan Sect to command; the GusuLan Sect was still led by Lan QiRen; Nie HuaiSang replaced his brother’s position, shrunken within the crowd, his face still full of ‘I don’t know about anything’, ‘I don’t want to do anything’, and ‘I’m just here for the numbers’.