Chapter 103: Hatred (Part Six)

Sect Leader Jiang’s words were always laced with ridicule. But this time, the one he was mocking was no one but himself.

Suddenly he said, “Forgive me.”

Wei WuXian hesitated for a moment, “…You don’t need to apologize.”

At this point, it’s impossible to determine who should apologize to whom.

Wei WuXian continued, “Just think of this as my repayment to the Jiang Sect.”

Jiang Cheng looked up. His eyes were glassy and red, and his voice was hoarse, “…Revenge for my father, mother, and my sister?”

Wei WuXian massaged his temples, “Forget it. It’s all in the past. Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

It wasn’t something he wanted to reminisce about. He didn’t want to be constantly reminded of how it felt to have his core cut off or the price he had to pay. If this had been revealed in the past, he would most likely have laughed and consoled Jiang Cheng, “It’s no big deal anyway. Look at me all this time. Without my core, I can still survive, right? Defeating everyone I want to defeat, killing everyone I want to kill.” But now, he simply didn’t have the strength to feign such confidence and nonchalance.

From the bottom of his heart, he knew she wasn’t that indifferent to it.

Is it really that easy to forget something like that?

Of course not.

In fact, when Wei WuXian was seventeen or eighteen, his self-esteem wasn’t much lower than Jiang Cheng’s. He once possessed powerful spiritual power, more talented than others. No matter how hard he played around, no matter how much he stayed up all night playing pranks on others, he was still far superior to his hardworking classmates.

However, every time he tossed and turned at night, realizing that he would never reach the stars the right way, realizing that he would never wield his sword with the prowess that would have captivated so many eyes, he wondered, if only Jiang FengMiang hadn’t brought him back to Lotus Pier, perhaps he would never have encountered cultivation in his entire life. Then he would never have known that such a beautiful path existed in this world. He would have been just a headless beggar wandering the streets, running away at the first sight of a dog, or perhaps herding cows and stealing other people’s crops in the countryside, playing the flute to pass the time. He would never have known how to cultivate, and he would definitely never have had the chance to form a core. With such thoughts, he felt much better.

Think of it as retribution, or as redemption. Just pretend he never received the golden core in the first place.

After explaining things to himself like that again and again, it was as if he was really as confident and indifferent as he showed on the surface, and along the way he could even praise himself for such a state of mind, whether he was lying or not.

But that was only in the past.

Wei WuXian, “Eh, I think you should… stop thinking about it too. I know you’ll always be thinking about it, but, how should I put it…” He held Lan WangJi’s hand, saying to Jiang Cheng, “Right now, I really think… it’s all in the past. It’s been too long. There’s no need to bother with it anymore.”

Jiang Cheng wiped his face roughly, drying his tears. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

At this point, still wrapped in Lan XiChen’s robe, Nie HuaiSang slowly woke up. With a low groan, he managed to crawl to his feet, still with his eyes glazed over, “Where am I?”

However, as soon as he woke up, he saw Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi sitting side by side on the same mat. The YiLing Patriarch was actually sitting on HanGuang-Jun’s lap. He immediately groaned, as if he was about to faint again. At the same time, a series of strange sounds came from behind the Guanyin Temple, as if something was gushing out. A moment later, the cultivators who were digging also began to groan.

Everyone’s expressions in the temple changed. Suddenly, a rather pungent aroma wafted in from outside. As Lan XiChen covered his face with his sleeve, worry flashed in his eyes. Shortly after, two figures staggered out.

Su She was holding Jin GuangYao. Both of them looked pale, while the wailing from behind the palace continued. Su She asked, “Sect Leader, how are you feeling?!”

Cold sweat dripped down Jin GuangYao’s forehead, “Alright. Thank you for your time.”

His left hand hung limp, unable to lift it. His entire arm trembled, as if he were in excruciating pain. With his right hand, he took a bottle of pills from his collar. He wanted to open it, but it was difficult with one hand. Seeing this, Su She immediately took the bottle and poured the pills into his palm. Jin GuangYao lowered his head and took a sip with a frown. His brows immediately relaxed.

Lan XiChen hesitated for a moment before asking, “What happened?”

Jin GuangYao froze in shock. Blood finally seemed to rush to his cheeks as he managed a smile, “An accident.”

He took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it on his hand. A red area appeared from the back of his left hand to his wrist. Upon closer inspection, he saw that his skin looked like cooked meat. It was completely damaged. Jin GuangYao tore off a piece of his white sleeve, his fingers trembling slightly. “MinShan, wrap it tightly around my wrist.”

Su She, “Is it poisonous?”

Jin GuangYao, “The poison is still flowing upwards. It’s okay. The poison can be expelled with rest.”

Just after Su She treated his wounds, Jin GuangYao wanted to go back to the back of the palace to check. Su She rushed over, “Sect Leader, let me go!”

The pungent smell slowly dissipated. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi also rose to their feet. A tall pile of dirt lay beside the deep ditch. A rather fragile coffin lay to one side, atop which sat a pitch-black box. Both had been opened, and thin white smoke continued to billow from within. The smell came from the white smoke, which meant it must be some kind of deadly poison. The corpses of the cultivators who had been diligently digging lay scattered around the coffin. By now, they had been burned alive. Even their uniforms and robes had corroded into black shreds. It was clear how poisonous the white smoke was.

Leading the way, he used his sword energy to dispel the remaining smoke. The tip of his sword flicked the black box. The iron box fell to the ground. It was empty.

Jin GuangYao finally couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He staggered toward the edge of the coffin. The blood that had returned to his face quickly faded. Judging by his expression, the coffin was already empty.

Lan XiChen approached. Upon seeing the horror unfolding in the palace, he was shocked, “What did you bury here? How could this have happened?”

Nie HuaiSang only glanced at him briefly before he collapsed to the ground, vomiting. Jin GuangYao’s lips trembled. He was speechless. A bolt of lightning flashed, reflecting off his pale, pale face. His expression was terrifying, sending shivers down Nie HuaiSang’s spine. He didn’t even dare to vomit too loudly, covering his mouth behind Lan XiChen’s back, shivering from either fear or cold. Lan XiChen turned around and said a few words of comfort, while Jin GuangYao didn’t even have the energy to maintain his gentle and kind demeanor.

Wei WuXian, “ZeWu-Jun, you’re wronging Sect Leader Jin now. He wasn’t the one who buried the things here at all. Even if he did, it should have been a long time since someone swapped it out for something else.”

Su She pointed at him with his sword, his voice cold, “Wei WuXian! Is this your trick?!”

Wei WuXian, “I don’t mean to brag, but if I were the one to play you, perhaps your sect leader’s arm wouldn’t be injured. Sect Leader Jin, do you still remember the letter Qin Su brought you back at Koi Tower?”

Jin GuangYao’s eyes slowly moved towards him.

Wei WuXian, “The one who told Qin Su about your kindness was Madam Qin’s former servant, BiCao. But when BiCao suddenly decided to expose everything, do you really believe no one pushed her from behind? And Miss SiSi, whom you imprisoned. Who saved her? Who told her to go to the YunmengJiang Sect with BiCao and expose your secrets in front of everyone? If they could find out every hidden secret of yours, Sect Leader Jin, what was the trouble of coming here beforehand and exchanging what you wanted to dig up for some poisonous smoke to give you when you arrived?”

Suddenly, a monk said, “Sect Leader, there are signs of displacement on the ground here. Someone dug in from the other side before!”

As expected, someone had already been here. Jin GuangYao turned around and slammed his fist into the empty coffin. No one could see his expression, but everyone could see his trembling shoulders.

Wei WuXian grinned, “Sect Leader Jin, have you ever thought that perhaps tonight you’re a praying mantis, but there’s an oriole behind you? The person watching you might be hiding in the darkness right now, observing your every move. No, perhaps, it’s not even a human…”

TN: The full phrase is “the praying mantis stalks the cricket, unaware of the oriole behind it.”

The storm drowned out the thunder. Upon hearing the words ‘nobody’, for a moment, something that could be described as fear flashed across Jin GuangYao’s face.

Su She sneered, “Wei WuXian, stop your empty intimidation…”

Jin GuangYao raised his right hand to stop him. The fear on his face vanished as quickly as it had appeared. All his emotions were quickly brought under control. He said, “Don’t waste your energy arguing. Treat your wounds. Once I’ve removed the poison, gather the rest of the people immediately and prepare to leave.”

Su She, “Sect Leader, what about the things that have been excavated?”

Jin GuangYao’s lips were a little pale, “Once it’s been dug out, it’s definitely impossible to get it back. We shouldn’t stay here for too long.”

Su She, “Ya!”

Back when Su She was fighting Fairy, he had been wounded in many places by her claws. His clothes were torn on his arms and chest, especially on his chest, the wounds cutting deep into his flesh. Blood seeped through his white robes. If his wounds weren’t properly treated, he might not be able to face any emergency that arose as time went on. Jin GuangYao took out a medicine bag from his collar and handed it to him. 

Su She accepted it with both hands, “Yes.” 

Indeed, he stopped talking to Wei WuXian as he turned around and took off his clothes to treat his wounds. Jin GuangYao still couldn’t move his arms, which were burned by the poisonous smoke. He could only sit on the ground and concentrate on expelling the poison. The remaining cultivators held their swords as they paced back and forth inside the Guanyin Temple, keeping watch. As he saw the dazzling blade, Nie HuaiSang’s eyes went straight ahead. He had no guards beside him, so he didn’t even dare to breathe a sigh of relief. Crouching in a corner behind Lan XiChen, he sneezed a few times.

Wei WuXian thought,  To others, Su She was quite sarcastic, and to Lan Zhan, he was even more so. But he had quite a bit of respect for Jin GuangYao.

As he thought of this, he couldn’t help but glance at Lan WangJi, just in time to see a flash of ice flash before his eyes.

In a cold voice, Lan WangJi spoke to Su She, “Turn around.”

Su She lowered his head, applying medicine to the scratch marks on Wei WuXian’s chest, facing him sideways. Hearing Lan WangJi’s almost irrefutable command, he subconsciously turned around. As he turned, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling’s eyes widened. The smile on Wei WuXian’s face vanished.

He could hardly believe it, “…It’s you!”