No.
It shouldn’t be.
Something must’ve went wrong somewhere.
Wen Ning took out the hand that he used to pierce through Jin ZiXuan’s chest, leaving behind a gaping hole.
Jin ZiXuan’s face twitched in pain, as though he felt that the wound wasn’t anything big, that he could still stand up. Yet, his legs finally gave out as he kneeled on the ground.
Screams of fear sounded from all around him.
“The… The Ghost General has gone mad!”
“He killed, he killed him. Wei WuXian made the Ghost General kill Jin ZiXuan!”
Jin ZiXun yelled, “Release! What are you waiting for?! Release the arrows!”
However, as he turned around, a black silhouette approached him with the stealth of the inhuman. He felt his throat tighten as a large, pale hand, lined with blue veins, clenched around his neck.
“Ahhhhhhh…!!!”
Wei WuXian stood helplessly where he was, unmoving.
No.
That wasn’t it.
He was clearly controlling Wen Ning properly.
Even though he activated Wen Ning’s rampage mode, he should still be able to control him.
He’d clearly always been able to control him perfectly.
He didn’t want to kill Jin ZiXuan at all.
He never had the intention to kill Jin ZiXuan at all! It was just that moment. He didn’t know why, but all of a sudden he wasn’t able to control it… He had suddenly lost control!
Jin ZiXuan’s body finally couldn’t hold up any longer, leaning forward. With a slam, he collapsed on the ground.
He’d been arrogant and self-satisfied throughout his whole life, regarding with importance his appearance and mannerisms. He liked to be clean to the point that he was almost somewhat mysophobic. Right now, however, with the side of his face landing on the ground, he had fallen into the dirt in a most undignified way. The spots of blood on his face and the mark of vermilion between his brows were of the same color.
Staring at the light that slowly faded from his eyes, Wei WuXian’s mind was in complete shambles. Everything around him had become an ocean of blood and screams, but he couldn’t hear anything any longer.
The only thing he could hear was a voice inside him that questioned him over and over again:
Didn’t you say you know what you should and shouldn’t do?
Didn’t you say you could control it?
Didn’t you say that there couldn’t possibly be a problem, that nothing could possibly ever happen?!!
Wei WuXian’s head was blank. He didn’t know how long had passed when his eyes finally shot open again.
What he saw was the dark ceiling of the Demon-Slaughtering Cave.
Both Wen Qing and Wen Ning were inside.
Wen Ning’s pupils had fallen into the whites of his eyes again. He was already out of his rampage, appearing to be conversing with Wen Qing in a low voice. Seeing that Wei WuXian opened his eyes, he kneeled to the ground in silence. Wen Qing, on the other hand, said nothing with her red eyes.
Wei WuXian sat up.
After a while of silence, waves of hatred suddenly whirled within his heart.
He stepped onto Wen Ning’s chest, kicking him to the ground.
Wen Qing jolted. She clenched her hands, but still looked down, her mouth shut.
Wei WuXian roared, “Who did you kill? Do you know who you killed?!”
At this point, with a grass butterfly on his head, Wen Yuan ran in from outside, beaming, “Brother Xian…”
He was originally going to show Wei WuXian the butterfly that he painted in new colors. Yet, when he came in, he saw a demon that was Wei WuXian and Wen Ning curled up on the ground. At once, he was shocked speechless. Wei WuXian spun around. He hadn’t held back his emotions yet, his eyes almost frightening. Wen Yuan was so scared that his entire person jerked. The butterfly fell from on top of his head and onto the ground. He began to wail at once. Stooping, Uncle Four hurried in and carried him away.
After having been kicked over, Wen Ning climbed up again and kneeled down properly, saying nothing. Grabbing his collar, Wei WuXian lifted him up and shouted, “You could’ve killed anyone—why did you have to kill Jin ZiXuan?!”
Wen Qing watched from the side. She seemed as if she wanted to rush up and protect her brother, but forced herself to hold back. Tears of sorrow and fear rolled down her cheeks.
Wei WuXian, “With him dead, what is Shijie supposed to do? What is Shijie’s son supposed to do?! What am I supposed to do?! What about me?!”
His shouted echoed throughout the cave, spreading outside. Wen Yuan cried even more.
With the child’s cries coming to his ears from afar and the scared siblings who were at a complete loss as to what to do in his eyes, Wei WuXian felt his heart sink lower into darkness. He asked himself, Just why have I been locking myself up on Burial Mound all these years? Why do I have to go through all this? Why did I choose to walk this path in the beginning? Why did I make myself like this? What do others see me as? Just what have I gained? Have I gone mad? Have I gone mad? Have I gone mad?!
If only he didn’t choose this path in the beginning.
Suddenly, Wen Ning whispered, “… I’m… sorry.”
This was a corpse, expressionless, eyes unable to feel warmth, tears unable to fall. However, at this very moment, on the corpse’s face was genuine pain.
He repeated, “I’m sorry… I-It was all my fault… I’m sorry…”
Listening to him stutter as he apologized over and over again, all of a sudden, Wei WuXian felt extremely ridiculous.
It wasn’t Wen Ning’s fault at all.
It was his own fault.
When on a rampage, Wen Ning was nothing more than a weapon. The person who created the weapon was him. The things it listens to were his orders as well.
At that time, with all the tension and the killing intent on top of how Wei WuXian had never hesitated to show enmity toward Jin ZiXuan in front of Wen Ning, when he was unconscious, Wen Ning recognized Jin ZiXuan as an ‘enemy’ when he attacked, carrying out the order of ‘exterminate’ without a second thought.
He was the one who couldn’t control such a weapon. He was the one who grew to confident in his own abilities. He was also the one who ignored all of the ominous indications that had happened up to now, with the belief that he could suppress any loss of control.
Wen Ning was a weapon, but did he come to be a weapon out of his own will?
Could such a timid, stuttering person have been happy, killing all those people under Wei WuXian’s orders?
Back then, he received a bowl of lotus root soup that Jiang YanLi gave him. He took it all the way up Burial Mound, not letting a single drop spill. Although he himself couldn’t drink it, he watched someone else finish it with content, even asking what it tasted like as he tried to imagine it in his mind. Could he possibly be feeling anywhere near fine, having killed Jiang YanLi’s husband with his own hands?
He not only took all of the faults as his own, but was also apologizing to him.
Clenching Wen Ning’s collar, Wei WuXian looked at his pale, lifeless face. Before his eyes suddenly appeared Jin ZiXuan’s smeared face, covered in dirt and blood. They were the same paleness, the same lifelessness.
He also remembered Jiang YanLi, who finally married the person she loved after overcoming so many difficulties. He remembered the son of Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi, A-Ling, the child who received his courtesy name from him. He was still so young. Just seven days after he was born, he knew to laugh whenever he saw his father’s sword. Both of his parents were ecstatic. His full-month celebration was just a few days later.