Chapter 67 Tenderness—Part Five

The wife spoke again, “I hope he knows who wronged him. If he wants revenge, he can take it out on those farmers. Please don’t come to harm us commoners.”

Her husband, “Who can guarantee that? When he killed over three thousand people in Qishan, I was still very young, but I still remember that back then, not only the cultivating immortals, but even the common people were afraid of him. He was a heartless, bloodthirsty demon.”

Wei WuXian’s smile slowly faded.

He was quite interested in listening to the couple talk about their daily lives. But suddenly, his head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He couldn’t lift it to see Lan Wangji’s expression. He couldn’t hear what the couple said next.

Suddenly, a terrifying roar came from outside the farm. The family in the yard was having dinner, chatting and laughing. Hearing the inhuman roar, they were so startled that one of the bowls fell to the ground. The child began to cry. The young man grabbed the hoe from the side, “Don’t worry! Don’t worry!”

Not only were Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi shocked, but they were also shocked. Lan WangJi was about to stand up when Wei WuXian remembered something and gripped the clothes in front of his chest, “Don’t move!”

Lan WangJi’s eyes widened slightly. That roar definitely came from a dark and cruel creature. If the farm owner personally dealt with it, he likely wouldn’t have returned alive. Despite this, Wei WuXian repeated, “Don’t move.”

Screams rang out from the courtyard, accompanied by terrifying roars that drew closer. He had already entered the door. Lan WangJi couldn’t remain silent any longer. Bichen drew his sword with lightning speed. However, the family of three had already fled, running screaming. The haystack had been tossed about by Bichen. Amidst the rain of straw that fell upon them, something completely black stood in the middle of the courtyard.

His hair was tangled, and his fangs were still visible. The irregular tips growing from his body made him look both terrifying and comical. Lan WangJi had never seen such a monster before. He froze in shock, while Wei WuXian spoke, “Wen Ning, you haven’t opened your throat in years. Your screams are getting louder.”

A human voice came from the dark monster’s mouth, “Young Master… I am indeed a ferocious corpse. All ferocious corpses sound like this… when they scream.”

Wei WuXian patted his shoulder, “What powerful energy.”

Wen Ning glanced at Lan WangJi. Perhaps remembering that the people of the GusuLan Sect disliked people who dressed unkemptly, he smoothed his hair a few times with an embarrassed expression. Seeing the many branches sticking out of his hair, Wei WuXian almost couldn’t resist pulling one out. “Why did you suddenly jump out? And you’re like this. Were you robbed? What’s on your face?”

Wen Ning, “The dust and dirt on the ground… After I saw you two go in and not come out for a long time…”

Wei WuXian, “You’ve been following us?”

Wen Ning nodded. Wei WuXian understood. Wen Ning didn’t dare meet anyone but him. So, after they descended the Cloud Recess, he quietly followed them. When he saw nothing happening for a long time after they entered the farm, he went to listen and heard the couple talking. He felt awkward and wanted to scare them so Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi would come out. Perhaps because he didn’t think his appearance was scary enough, he plastered many strange objects on his face and body.

Wei WuXian laughed so hard he nearly died. With an embarrassed expression on his face, Wen Ning wiped away the mud. Wei WuXian suddenly found his hands covered in blood. “What happened?”

Wen Ning, “Oh, it’s nothing…”

Lan WangJi, “The scent of blood.”

Wei WuXian only then realized that Wen Ning truly smelled blood. His heart skipped a beat. As soon as Wen Ning saw it, he immediately waved his hand, “It’s not blood! No, no, it’s blood, but it’s not the blood of a living human.”

Wei WuXian, “Not the blood of a living human? Have you ever fought with anything?”

Wen Ning had led them for quite some time until they arrived at a patch of forest. Within the forest, there were twenty or thirty fresh graves, with half-finished pits beside them and piles of corpses beside them. He would call them piles, not single corpses, because the corpses were already quite decomposed. Wei WuXian approached to examine them. The fingers of some of the severed arms were still twitching. The jaws of some of the heads were still opening and closing, making a hair-raising sound of teeth grinding. The corpses had transformed.

Wei WuXian, “You’ve shattered them into pieces.”

Wen Ning, “Otherwise, they’ll keep biting people. They can’t be stopped at all. There are corpses like this all along the road.”

Wei WuXian, “All the way? Were you always ahead of us to get rid of these things?”

Wen Ning nodded shyly. His ability to recognize his own people was superior to humans, and he could also recognize them from a greater distance. If that were the case, then that explained why nothing had happened during their journey. Wei WuXian also found it strange. Didn’t people say there was a horde of ferocious corpses heading towards Yiling? Why hadn’t they seen any of them? So Wen Ning had cleared the obstacle in front of them. 

Wei WuXian, “When did you start following us?”

Lan WangJi, “Menara Koi.”

Wei WuXian stared at Wen Ning while Lan WangJi continued, “On the day of the fight with the cultivators, he helped.”

Wei WuXian sighed, “Didn’t I tell you to hide somewhere and not worry about anything right now?”

Wen Ning forced a smile, “But, Young Master… where can I hide?”

Before, he had a place to return to, people he could follow, but now, in this world, besides Wei WuXian, there was no one he knew.

After a moment of silence, Wei WuXian stood up and patted the dust off the bottom of his clothes, “Bury them.”

Wen Ning nodded quickly. He continued digging the half-finished hole. Lan WangJi pulled Bichen out. His sword energy swept out. Soil scattered everywhere, and a crack opened in the ground. 

Wei WuXian, “HanGuang-Jun, you also dug his grave?”

Lan WangJi turned around. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Wen Ning standing behind him. He forced his frozen lips together and smiled, “…Young Master Lan, is there anything you need help with? I’m done with my business.”

Lan WangJi glanced behind him. There were rows of black holes, and the dirt piled high and neatly beside them. Wen Ning maintained his smile as he added, “I do this kind of thing often. I’m experienced. And I’m fast.”

As for who often makes him ‘do this kind of thing’, no explanation is needed.

After a moment of silence, Lan WangJi finally spoke, “No need. You can help…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly realized that Wei WuXian hadn’t moved at all. He had been squatting to the side, watching them. When he left the orchard, he had casually carried a melon, and now he seemed to be contemplating how to open it. 

Staring at Lan WangJi, he protested, “HanGuang-Jun, don’t look at me like that. I have nothing in my hands, and my spiritual power is low, right? It’s true, in every field there are professionals. Digging graves, he’s the fastest. How about we talk about how to eat that melon? Bichen has already gone underground, and we won’t be able to use it for now. Does anyone still have knives, swords, or anything like that?”

Wen Ning shook his head, “Sorry, I didn’t bring anything.”

Wei WuXian, “HanGuang-Jun, eh, apakah Suibian bersamamu?”

Lan WangJi, “…”

Finally, he took out Suibian from his Qiankun sleeve. With a melon in one hand and a sword in the other, he displayed his sword technique and sliced ​​the small watermelon into eight pieces. After finishing, he crouched on the ground, watching them diligently dig the grave while eating the melon.

On the other side, within half an hour, Wen Ning had dug a row of holes of exactly the same size. He placed the corpses he had destroyed inside, babbling, “Everyone, I’m truly sorry. I can’t tell which corpse belongs to whose anymore. If I’ve buried the wrong person, please forgive me…”

After finishing the melons and burying the remaining corpses, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi set off again.

A few days later, the two arrived in Yiling.

The Burial Mounds were less than three miles from the city ahead of them. Although they didn’t know what awaited them there, Wei WuXian had a feeling it wouldn’t be anything good.

However, Lan WangJi was beside him. His steps were steady and his gaze calm. Wei WuXian felt no anxiety at all. Seeing such a person, he felt no nervousness no matter what. Walking through Yiling City, the accent of his hometown lingered around him. Feeling refreshed by the familiarity, even though he wasn’t going to buy anything, he couldn’t help but chat with the street vendors in their local accents. 

After feeling satisfied with what he had said, he finally turned around, “HanGuang-Jun, you remember this city, right?”

Lan WangJi nodded lightly, “I am ready.”

Wei WuXian grinned, “I know your memory better than mine. In this city, we met once. You happened to be out night hunting in Yiling, and I said I needed to treat you to a meal. Do you remember that, too?”

Lan WangJi, “Ya.”

Wei WuXian, “But what a shame. After all, you’re the one paying, haha!”

He sat on the donkey with his legs crossed. He swayed while pretending not to care, “By the way, HanGuang-Jun, are you planning to retire?”

Lan WangJi was silent for a moment, as if thinking. Wei WuXian struck the iron while it was still hot, “Have you thought about what you’ll do after retirement?”

Lan WangJi looked at him, “Not yet.”

Wei WuXian thought to himself,  “It’s good that you haven’t thought of anything yet! I’ll think about it for you.” 

He would find a beautiful, sparsely populated place and build a large house there. He could also build one for Lan WangJi next door. Every day there would be two dishes and one soup. Of course, it would be best if Lan WangJi cooked, or they would have to eat his cooking. It would also be better if Lan WangJi was in charge of their finances. Before his eyes, the image of Lan WangJi, dressed in coarse cloth, with patches on his chest and knees, sitting expressionlessly at a handmade wooden table, counting coins one by one. After finishing counting, he would pick up a hoe and go to work. And, on the other hand, he would… he would… he would do what?

Wei WuXian thought seriously about what he would do. People often said that to earn food, one had to plow the fields or spin cloth. Since there were people plowing the fields now, there must be people spinning cloth as well. Just the thought of him crossing his knees and shaking his legs in front of the loom was enough to make him wince. He would rather pick up a hoe. It would be more suitable for Lan WangJi to spin cloth. During the day, they would fish and plow the fields, while at night, they would pick up swords and hunt beasts and demons in the night. If they got bored, they could pretend they never retired, and it would be fine for them to return to the world. But, as he thought, they were missing one small thing…

Lan WangJi suddenly spoke, “What is small?”

Wei WuXian, “Hah?”

Suddenly, he realized he had said the last sentence. He immediately realized, “I mean, Little Apple lost a little friend.”

Little Apple turned around and spat loudly. Wei WuXian slapped the donkey’s head. Pulling its long ears, it laughed, but suddenly, it couldn’t laugh anymore.

Not because of anything special, but simply because he remembered. At that time, he really did have a small child by his side. If he had lived until now, he would have been almost fifteen years old.

Burial Mound is located in the depths of the Yiling Mountains.

The world calls Burial Mounds a mountain of corpses. On the hill, if one dug a shovel into the ground, they would be able to dig up a corpse. This was not wrong. Burial Mounds was once an ancient battlefield. Over the years, people habitually placed nameless corpses within it, causing a dark and resentful energy to permeate it year-round. Ultimately, it became a nightmare for everyone in the Yiling area.

As if stained with the energy of resentment, within the forest of the mound, all the leaves and branches were as black as death. From the very bottom of the mountain, a wall tens of feet high rose. Engraved on the wall were dense spells, preventing both the living and the dead from passing through. The spell wall surrounding the entire burial mound was originally built by the third sect leader of the QishanWen Sect. However, because they couldn’t purify the powerful spirits that resided here, they could only choose the second best option: isolating them with a wall. Wei WuXian had once torn down this wall. What stood here now was a new wall rebuilt and reinforced by the people of the LanlingJin Sect.

However, when they arrived, they found that a long section of the wall had collapsed again.