After he fled Koi Tower and left Lanling City, Wei WuXian lost his direction yet again. He roamed around in a blur, his mind clouded. He didn’t make a single stop. He didn’t know how many cities he’d passed when he suddenly saw a group of people crowd around a city gate. They were holding a heated, passionate discussion.
Wei WuXian intended on ignoring these people, but as he walked past, he happened to have heard the words ‘Ghost General’. He immediately stopped in his track, focused on the conversation.
“The Ghost General really is fierce… Said he was there to give himself in, but then he suddenly flipped out. He slaughtered again, this time in Koi Tower.”
“Good thing I didn’t go that day!”
“He was a dog trained by Wei WuXian. No wonder he bites everyone in his path.”
“Wei Ying, though, he shouldn’t have made him if he can’t control it. Created a mad dog and he didn’t leash it. Sooner or later, he’s gonna be faced with a qi deviation. With the way things have been, I doubt the day is that far away.”
Wei WuXian listened quietly. The muscles on his face and fingers twitched slightly.
“How unfortunate for the LanlingJin Sect.”
“Things were even worse for the GusuLan Sect! Over half of the thirty-or-so people were from their sect. They were clearly only there to help calm things down.”
“Good thing the Ghost General was finally burned. Or else, just thinking about how such a thing was roaming around outside, flipping out now and then, would be enough for me to have nightmares.”
Someone spat, “That’s the end all Wen-dogs should meet!”
“The Ghost-General was almost burned to crumbs. This time, Wei WuXian should know what’s up, huh? I heard many of the sect leaders going to the pledge conference have spoken already. How terrific!”
The longer Wei WuXian listened, the colder his expression grew.
He should’ve understood long ago. No matter what he did, not a single good word would come out of these people’s mouths. When he won, others feared; when he lost, others rejoiced.
He was cultivating the crooked path either way, so what exactly did the years of persistence mean? What exactly were they for?”
However, the colder his eyes were, the brighter the raging fire within his heart burned.
One of the group gloated, as though he had made a great contribution to this, “Yeah, terrific! It’ll be fine if only he obediently huddles inside of that damn mountain from now on. If he dares show his face outside again? Ha, as soon as he’s out, I’ll…”
“You’ll do what?”
The people, in the middle of their heated conversation, paused in unison. They all turned around.
The saw a pale, black-robed youth standing behind them, two dark circles below his eyes, his voice cold, “If he dares come out, you’ll do what?”
Those with sharp eyes saw the flute with the bright red tassel hanging by the youth’s waist. They immediately jolted, exclaiming, “Chenqing, it’s Chenqing!”
The YiLing Patriarch, Wei WuXian, had really come out!
Within the instant, a large circle had formed with Wei WuXian in the center. The people fled everywhere. As Wei WuXian let out a shrill whistle, the people suddenly felt their bodies sink. They all collapsed onto the ground. As they shakily turned around, they realized that everyone, including themselves, had on their backs various dark, bloody spirits!
Among the scattered, disabled crowd, Wei WuXian walked patiently, talking as he walked, “Huh, what’s wrong? Weren’t you all quite the cultivators when you were talking about me behind my back? Why is it that, now that you’re in front of me, you can do nothing but lie on the ground?”
He walked beside the person whose words were the harshest and ground his foot against the person’s face, laughing, “Talk. Why aren’t you talking anymore? Mr. Hero, just what are you going to do to me?!”
The person’s nasal bones had broken from the force, bleeding and screaming uncontrollably. Many cultivators were watching from on top of the city gate. They wanted to help, but they didn’t dare approach the scene.
One of them shouted from afar, “Wei… Wei Ying! If you’re really that strong, why don’t you go find those sect leaders participating in the pledge conference? What could you prove by picking on us low-level cultivators with no power to fight back?”
Wei WuXian let out another short whistle. The cultivator who shouted felt as a hand suddenly tugged him down. He fell off the city gate, breaking both of his legs, and began to scream.
Amid the wails, Wei WuXian’s expression didn’t change at all, “Low-level cultivators? Do I have to tolerate you, just because you’re low-level cultivators? If you dared say those things, you had to dare shoulder the consequences. If you knew that you were insignificant pieces of scum as filthy as ants, how come you didn’t know to think before you speak?!”
Everyone was as pale as ash, making not a single noise. A moment later, when Wei WuXian didn’t hear any more chatter, he continued in satisfaction, “Yes, that’s the spirit.”
Just as he finished, he kicked again, knocking out half a mouthful of teeth from the person who was spreading the made-up tales the most!
Blood splattered all over the ground. Everyone shuddered as they watched, while the person had already passed out from the pain. Wei WuXian looked down and pressed his foot against the ground, leaving behind a few bloody footsteps.
He thought for a while before speaking up again, his voice emotionless, “But, you scums were right about one thing. There’s not really much meaning in wasting time with you people. You wanted me to find those bigger sects? Fine. I’ll be on my way right now, to clear up a few things with them.”
He looked up and saw the large announcement stuck over the city gate. The crowd had been chatting around this announcement.
At the top of the announcement was the words ‘Pledge Conference’. The contents told that the four leading sects—the LanlingJin Sect, the QingheNie Sect, the YunmengJiang Sect, and the GusuLan Sect—were going to scatter the ashes of the Wen Sect’s remnants atop the ruins of the QishanWen Sect’s abandoned residence—the Nightless City. At the same time, they’d take the pledge that they’d be forever opposing the YiLing Patriarch, who had occupied Burial Mound.
A pledge conference at the Nightless City?
Chapter 78: Nightfall—Part Three
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
These people had thought that they’d definitely die a terrible death at the hands of the YiLing Patriarch before they became walking corpses under his control. All of them seemed to be scared out of their wits. However, Wei WuXian wasn’t interested in bothering with them any longer. After he finished reading the announcement, he left the group on the ground and walked away, hands behind his back.
He didn’t retrieve all those dark spirits. On the ground, those who groaned continued to groan, those who writhed continued to writhe. None of them were able to get up.
Sometime later, they suddenly saw a blue sword glare sweep by. They immediately felt their backs lighten up. Someone exclaimed, “I can move!”
A few of them got up and saw the sword glare return into a person’s sheath.
It was a handsome man of very young age. Wearing white robes and a forehead ribbon, he bore a solemn expression on his face, in which there seemed to be a suppressed strand of worry. He came at a high speed, but he didn’t seem to be hurrying at all. Not even the corners of his robes wavered.