His tone was between hot and cold. It was as if he wasn’t angered, but rather thinking about something. The inspector at the head thought that he still had a chance, answering in denial, “Young Master Wei, you mustn’t say such a thing. We wouldn’t dare kill a single person here. He’s the one who wasn’t careful while working, fell off the valley walls and died.”
Wei WuXian, “Nobody would dare kill a single person? Is that true?”
The inspectors swore in unison, “Absolutely!”
“Not a single one!”
Wei WuXian smiled, “Oh. I understand.”
Immediately after, he continued calmly, “It’s because they’re Wen-dogs, and Wen-dogs aren’t people. So even if you killed them, it doesn’t count as having killed people. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
This was exactly what the lead inspector was thinking when he said it. With his thoughts read, his complexion paled. Wei WuXian added, “Or did you really think I wouldn’t know how someone died?”
All of the inspectors were speechless. As if they finally realized that the situation wasn’t in their favor, they looked like they were shrinking backward. Wei WuXian maintained his smile, “It’s best if you admit everything honestly. Who’s the one that killed him? Step forward on your own. Or else, I’d prefer killing the wrong people over letting them go. Killing all of you would make sure that no one is let off.”
The group felt their scalps tingle and their blood run cold. The head inspector stammered, “The YunmengJiang Sect and the LanlingJin Sect have been getting along with each other. You mustn’t…”
Hearing this, Wei WuXian glanced at him, his tone amused, “You’re quite brave. Are you threatening me?”
The head inspector hurried, “Of course not, of course not.”
Wei WuXian, “Congratulations to you for successfully draining all my patience. Since you don’t want to speak up, let’s let him answer on his own.”
As though it’d been waiting for his words for a long time, Wen Ning’s frozen corpse suddenly moved, raising its head. Before the two nearest inspectors could even scream, each of their throats was clenched by a hand as firm as iron.
Expressionless, Wen Ning raised up the two short-legged inspectors high in the air. The empty circle around them grew larger and larger. The head inspector shouted, “Young Master Wei! Young Master Wei! Please go easy on us! Doing this in the heat of the moment would lead to irreversible consequences!”
The rain fell heavier and heavier. Drops of water trickled incessantly down Wei WuXian’s cheeks.
He suddenly spun around, putting his hand on Wen Ning’s shoulder before shouting, “Wen QiongLin!”
As if a reply, Wen Ning let out a long, thundering roar. The ears of everyone within the valley ached.
Wei WuXian spoke one word at a time, “Whoever caused all of you to be like this, let them meet the same end. I give you the right to do so. Settle everything!”
Hearing this, Wen Ning immediately crashed the two inspectors that he was holding together. Like exploding watermelons, the two heads immediately let out a loud bang, sending red and white flying everywhere.
The scene was hauntingly grotesque. Screams sounded all throughout the valley. Horses neighed and prisoners fled—it was more than chaotic. Wei WuXian took up Wen Qing in his arms. As if nothing happened, he crossed the panicking crowd and held up the reins of a horse. As he was about to turn around, a slight-figured prisoner called him, “… Mr. Wei.”
Wei WuXian turned to look at him, “What?”
The prisoner’s voice quivered slightly as he pointed in a certain direction, “There’s… There’s a house on that side of the valley. They use it to… lock people inside and beat them up. Anyone who dies would be dragged outside and buried. Some of the people you’re looking for might be over there…”
Wei WuXian, “Thank you.”
He followed the direction that the person pointed and indeed saw a shed that seemed like it was only temporarily built. Holding Wen Qing in one hand, he kicked the door open. In a corner of the room sat around a dozen people, all of them bruised and bleeding. They flinched from the shock of him kicking the door open so crudely. When a few of them saw Wen Qing, lying in Wei WuXian’s arms, they rushed over, ignoring their heavy injuries, “Maiden Qing!”
One of them seethed, “Who… Who are you? What did you do to Office Leader?”
Wei WuXian, “Nothing. Who are the cultivators under Wen Ning? Cut the nonsense and step out now!”
The group stared among themselves, but Wei WuXian had already left, Wen Qing in his arms. They could do nothing but force themselves to follow, helping one another up. As soon as they left the house, before they could even tell what the chaos within the valley was all about, Wei WuXian ordered, “Get the horses. Hurry up!”
A middle-aged man protested, “No, our Young Master Wen Ning…”
Suddenly, a severed head flew across his sight. The people turned around just in time to see Wen Ning crash a corpse the limbs of which were still twitching onto the ground. With bare hands, he grabbed for the internal organs.
Wei WuXian shouted, “Enough!”
Low growls came from Wen Ning’s throat, as though he still wasn’t satisfied. Wei WuXian whistled and said again, “Get up!”
Wen Ning could only stand up. Wei WuXian, “What are you waiting for? Mount the horses! Don’t tell me you’re waiting for me to find you swords?”
One of the group remembered that an elderly was here. He hastened to bring the old woman and the toddler along, helping them onto a horse. Holding the still-unconscious Wen Qing, Wei WuXian himself mounted his horse as well. The dozens of people found a single dozen horses amid the pandemonium. Around two or three people took one horse despite the discomfort. The old woman couldn’t ride one by herself and she had to somehow carry the child with her.
Seeing this, Wei WuXian stretched out his hand, “Give him to me.”
The old woman shook her head many times. The child hugged his granny’s neck tightly as well, on the verge of sliding off. There was an unconcealable fear within the two’s eyes. With a reach, Wei WuXian lifted the child up and tucked him under his arm.
The old woman was scared to death, “A-Yuan! A-Yuan!”
Although the child called A-Yuan was still quite young, he already knew fear, but still he didn’t cry. He only continued to nibble at his fingers as he snuck a few glances at Wei WuXian.
Wei WuXian shouted, “We’re going!” His legs struck against the horse’s back and led the group. Around a dozen horses followed behind him, dashing into the night rain.
Translator’s Notes
Him: In Chinese, there actually is no way of telling whether this refers to a man or a woman. At this point, Lan XiChen is still unable to tell that his younger brother wants to lock another man up.
Square-shaped: To anyone who’s been following the donghua, Jin GuangYao is described quite differently as compared to how he’s portrayed in the donghua. I’m surprised by the handsome man in the donghua as well, but then again, all three of Jin ZiXuan, Jin GuangYao, and Jin Ling inherited his genes…
Side note from Addis, the editor of GDC and creator of ExR. I know you guys reading this novel are super excited for it and want it to be finished as quickly as possible to quench your thirst, however, what I think many of you don’t understand is the length of the GDC chapters. Each chapter ends up at around 6000 to 9000 English words. If you are an avid follower of novels, you would know that the normal length of a light novel chapter is around 2000 English words. Due to the length of the chapters, it is as though K is translating three to even five chapters at a time, for only one chapter. This is why there is only one chapter released every week, each chapter is the length of 3.5 chapters currently. So please wait patiently for our translations. Do not try to make us feel guilty by posting “sincere” comments asking for another update as soon as possible. Truthfully, these comments are aggravating and make it harder to want to finish the chapters. Thank you for reading. Release is set at only one chapter a week until further notice.