Jin GuangYao hurried, “ZiXun!”
Jin ZiXun was at the peak of his anger. Without a second thought, he flung away the cup of liquor that was turned down, directly towards Jin GuangYao’s chest. A splash of liquor immediately sprouted on top of the Sparks Amidst Snow blooming passionately over the white robes. It was more than embarrassing, but because of how chaotic the state of the hall was, nobody really minded the act of great misconduct.
Lan XiChen was the only one who exclaimed, “Brother!”
Jin GuangYao, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Brother, please be seated.”
It was unsuitable for Lan XiChen to comment on Jin ZiXun, so he took out a snow-colored handkerchief and passed it to him, “Go retire and change your clothes.”
Jin GuangYao took the handkerchief, wiping away as he forced a smile, “I can’t leave, can I?”
He was the only one left to clean up the mess. How could he leave the scene? He reassured the crowd as he ranted, completely exhausted, “Young Master Wei really is too impulsive. How could he speak in such a way in front of so many sects?”
Lan WangJi spoke coldly, “Was he wrong?”
Jin GuangYao paused almost unnoticeably. He immediately laughed, “Haha. Yes, he’s right. But it’s because he’s right that he can’t say it in front of them, correct?”
Lan XiChen seemed as if he was deep in thought, “Young Master Wei’s heart really has changed.”
Hearing this, pain flashed across the light pair of eyes under Lan WangJi’s knitted brows.
Having left Koi Tower, Wei WuXian turned one corner after another until he arrived at an alley, “I know where he is. Let’s go.”
Wen Qing had been sitting on pins and needles within the alley. Hearing him, she rushed out at once. Her body was still fairly weak. Head spinning, she felt her ankle twist before Wei WuXian propped her up with one hand. He suggested, “Do you want me to take you somewhere to rest? It’s fine if I go alone. I’ll definitely bring back Wen Ning.”
Wen Qing immediately clung to him, “No! No! I’ll go, I have to go!”
After Wen Ning went missing, she ran from Qishan to Yunmeng with almost no rest on her way. She hadn’t closed her eyes in days. When she saw Wei WuXian, she urged him and begged him as if she was mad. Right now, with pale lips and blank eyes, she was worn to a shadow. Seeing how she seemed like she couldn’t hold out any longer, with there being no time for her to eat slowly, he bought a few steamed buns from a vendor for her to eat on the go. Wen Qing knew too that she was almost at her limit and that she had to eat. With tangled hair and red eyes, she bit into the bun. What she looked like reminded Wei WuXian of how he and Jiang Cheng were like when they were on the run.
He promised again, “It’s fine. I’ll definitely bring back Wen Ning.”
Wen Qing sobbed as she ate, “I knew I shouldn’t have left… But I had no choice. They forced me to go to another city. When I came back, Wen Ning and the entire group was gone! I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone!”
Wei WuXian, “He’ll be alright.”
Wen Qing was breaking down, “He won’t! A-Ning’s been a skittish one ever since he was young. He’s both cautious and timid. He doesn’t even dare hire the more quick-tempered people to be his subordinates—they’re all a bunch of mice like him! He has no idea of what to do when in an emergency when I’m not there with him!”
When Wei WuXian, with Jiang Cheng on his back, said goodbye to Wen Qing, this was what she said, ‘No matter what the result of this campaign turns out to be, from now on, we owe each other no more. It’s all settled.’
Wei WuXian could still see in his mind’s eye her proud expression. Yet, last night, she refused to let go of his hand, almost kneeling in front of him as she begged, ‘Wei WuXian, Wei WuXian, Young Master Wei, please help me. I really can’t find anyone else to help me. You really have to help me find A-Ning! I have no other choice other than you!’
None of the pride from before remained.
Qiongqi Path was an ancient path that ran through a valley. According to legend, the path was where the founder of the QishanWen Sect, Wen Mao, rose to fame in just one battle. Hundreds of years ago, he fought a divine beast for an entirety of eighty-one days, taking its life in the end. The divine beast was the Qiongqi, a divine beast of chaos known to punish the good and encourage the evil, to devour the loyal, the righteous and to award the malicious. Of course, whether the legend was actually true or if it was exaggerated by the succeeding sect leaders of the QishanWen Sect would be impossible to determine.
Hundreds of years later, this valley had turned from a rift of danger to a scenery of praise and of tourism. After the Sunshot Campaign, the sects divided up the area that the QishanWen Sect used to hold, and Qiongqi Path was taken by the LanlingJin Sect. Originally, all of the tall walls of the valley were carved with life stories of the founder Wen Mao. Now that the LanlingJin Sect had taken over, of course it couldn’t let the QishanWen Sect’s glorious past continue to exist. It was in the middle of reconstruction, meaning that all of the reliefs on both sides would be chiselled down and new ones would be carved. Naturally, in the end, it’d be given a new name that’d emphasize the LanlingJin Sect’s gallantry.
Such a large-scale undertaking would need many laborers for sure. And, as for these laborers, of course there were no better candidates than the Wen Sect’s prisoners of war, who had become homeless dogs after the Sunshot Campaign.
When the two reached Qiongqi Path, it was already nighttime. Against the dark veil, cold strands of rain quivered in the air. One step after another, Wen Qing followed Wei WuXian closely, trembling as though she was cold not from the outside but from the inside. Wei WuXian had to help her a little every once in a while. Before the valley was a row of shacks built temporarily for the prisoners of war to spend their nights. Leading Wen Qing, Wei WuXian saw an old, bent-over figure from afar. Cloaked in rain, the figure walked slowly, carrying a large flag. When it walked nearer, it became clear that the person carrying the flag was a wobbly old woman. She carried on her back a young toddler who paid attention to nothing but nibbling his fingers, fixed into position by a few cloth rags. The old and the young walked to and fro across the road. The old woman found the flag to be quite difficult to carry. She had to rest after walking for just a few steps, putting down the flag.
Seeing this, Wen Qing yelled with red eyes, “Granny! It’s me!”
The old woman probably couldn’t see or hear well. She couldn’t tell by sight or by hearing who the person was. All she knew was that someone approached and shouted something at her. She hastily took up the flag again, her face full of fear, as though she was scared that she’d be found out and scolded.
Wen Qing ran over and grabbed the flag from her, “What is this? What are you doing?”
A large sun, crest of the QishanWen Sect, was painted over the flag. However, it a blood-red cross was plastered on top of it. The flag itself was torn to bits as well. From when the Sunshot Campaign ended until now, countless people were labeled ‘leftover Wen-dogs’. Countless methods were used to torture them too, even called the euphemism ‘self reflection’. Wei WuXian knew it was likely because she was too old and couldn’t be a laborer like the others that the leader here came up with such a way to torment her. She had to carry the Wen Sect’s tattered flag and walk around in self humiliation.