Chapter 55 Courage—Part Five

*Warning: this chapter may cause discomfort for certain people, especially those who are eating  .

After a pause, Wei WuXian added, “But even though it’s hibernating, it doesn’t need to sleep for four hundred years, right? You said Xuanwu Massacre ate living humans—how many has it eaten?”

Lan WangJi, “The book records that back then, every time he appeared, the number of people he devoured ranged from hundreds to entire villages and towns. Over the few times he went on a rampage, he devoured at least five thousand people alive.”

Wei WuXian, “Oh, so it’s too late.”

The animal seems to enjoy stuffing entire humans into its shell, perhaps hoarding them to slowly devour them. It’s possible that four hundred years ago it stuffed too much food into its shell at once, and even now it hasn’t digested it all.

Lan WangJi didn’t respond. Wei WuXian continued, “Speaking of eating, have you practiced inedia? People like us can probably survive three or four days without eating or drinking. But if after a few days, no one comes to save us, our energy, strength, and spiritual power will probably start to decline.”

It wouldn’t be so bad if Wen Chao and his men chose to remain silent and ignore them after they escaped. If they waited three or four days, reinforcements from the other sects might arrive in time. What they feared was that the Wen Sect’s people would not only not help them, but would instead add fuel to the fire. The YunmengJiang Sect and the GusuLan Sect would be the only ‘other sects’. If the Wen Sect obstructed them, the ‘three or four days’ might have to be doubled.

Wei WuXian took back the branch and drew a map on the ground, connecting several locations. “The distance from Dusk River Mountain to Gusu is slightly shorter than from Dusk River Mountain to Yunmeng. Your sect’s people will most likely arrive first. Let’s just be patient. Even if they don’t come, we’ll have to wait a day or two at most before Jiang Cheng arrives at Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng is quite smart. The Wen Sect’s people won’t stop him. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Lan WangJi’s eyes were downcast. He looked tired as he whispered, “They won’t come.”

Wei WuXian, “Hm?”

Lan WangJi, “The Cloud Recesses have already caught fire.”

Wei WuXian asked, “…Is everyone still there? Your father, your brother?”

He thought that even though the Lan Sect leader, Lan WangJi’s father, was seriously injured, Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen might still be there to control the situation. However, Lan WangJi’s voice was monotonous, “Father is almost dead. Brother is missing.”

The tree branch that Wei WuXian used to scribble on the ground froze.

As they climbed the mountain, the disciple had mentioned that the Lan Sect leader was seriously injured, but he had never imagined that the injuries were so severe that the leader was “near death.” Lan WangJi himself had probably only learned about this in the past few days, after receiving news that his father was dying.

Although the Lan Sect leader practiced solitary meditation most of the time, not thinking about anything outside of his own world, he was still Lan WangJi’s father. Coupled with Lan XiChen’s disappearance, it was no wonder Lan WangJi seemed so gloomy and irritable today. Wei WuXian immediately felt awkward and didn’t know what to say.

However, as he turned around amidst the chaos, Wei WuXian felt his entire body become paralyzed.

The light from the bonfire reflected off Lan WangJi’s face as if it were made of warm jade. The light also illuminated, with great clarity, the streaks of tears streaming down his cheeks.

Wei WuXian was shocked speechless, thinking to himself,  Oh no!

People like Lan WangJi, in their entire lives, would probably only experience a few moments where they cried. And, this time, he happened to experience one of those moments. He was someone who couldn’t stand seeing others cry. He couldn’t stand seeing women’s tears. Every time he saw them cry, he wanted to go over and joke around to make them laugh. However, the tears of men were something he absolutely couldn’t stand. He always felt that experiencing a moment where a normally strong man suddenly cried was even more terrifying than accidentally seeing a pure maiden bathing. The problem was, he couldn’t even comfort her.

Under the blow of his residence being burned, his sect being persecuted, his father dead, his brother missing and himself injured, all kinds of consolation will be pale and powerless.

Wei WuXian didn’t know what to do, so he turned his face away. A few moments later, he said, “Eh, Lan Zhan.”

Lan WangJi replied coldly, “Shut up.”

Wei WuXian tutup mulut.

The fire was lit.

Lan WangJi spoke softly, “Wei Ying, you are truly a bad person.”

Wei WuXian, “Oh…”

He thought,  With so much happening to him, Lan Zhan is in a bad mood right now, but I still passed by him. So that’s why he’s so angry. He doesn’t have the energy to hit me because his leg hurts, so he can only bite me… I guess I should give him some peace of mind.

He held it for a moment, then added, “It’s not that I want to bother you… I just wanted to ask if you were cold. The clothes are dry. You can wear  the underwear  . I’ll keep the robe.”

It was the underwear he wore close to his body. It was definitely inappropriate for Lan WangJi to wear. However, his robes were already extremely dirty. Everyone in the GusuLan Sect was a stickler for cleanliness. Giving such clothes to Lan WangJi felt a bit offensive. Lan WangJi didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at him, so Wei WuXian tossed the dried white underwear to him. He put on the robes himself and left in silence.

The two of them waited for three full days.

There was no sun or moon inside the cave. They only knew that it had been three days because of the Lan Sect’s eerie sleeping pattern—they fell asleep and woke up unconsciously when the time came. Thus, time could be calculated based on how many times Lan WangJi slept.

After three days of conserving energy, Lan Wangji’s leg injury hadn’t worsened and was slowly recovering. He was able to sit in the lotus position to meditate soon after.

For the past few days, Wei WuXian hadn’t appeared in front of him. After Lan WangJi calmed down and adjusted his mood, he returned to his usual, straight-faced Lan Zhan. Wei WuXian finally returned to his usual self, pretending with a straight face that he hadn’t seen or heard anything that night. He also carefully avoided teasing him. Their interactions were bland, albeit peaceful.

During that time, the two had scouted around the pond several times. The Xuanwu of Slaughter had dragged all the corpses into its shell. The massive black shell floated in the water like a giant, impenetrable warship. Initially, heavy chewing sounds could be heard frequently from within. However, later, those sounds stopped, replaced by a sound that sounded like sleep and snoring. The snoring was like rumbling thunder.

The two of them briefly considered sneaking into the water while the monster was asleep to find a hole they could escape from. However, they only managed to wander around in the water for thirty minutes before the monster noticed their movements. Despite searching several times, they couldn’t find the hole Jiang Cheng had mentioned. Wei WuXian suspected that the hole might have been blocked by the monster’s body parts. Although he wanted to lure it out of the water again, the monster seemed exhausted after the commotion and didn’t want to move anymore.

They gathered all the arrows, bows, and iron rods scattered on the beach and brought them back to count. There were over a hundred arrows, about thirty bows, and a little over ten iron rods.

It’s already the fourth day.

Lan WangJi took the bow with his left hand, carefully examining its material. His right hand plucked the bowstring. Somehow, he managed to produce a melodious metallic clang.

This was a weapon used by the cultivation world to hunt beasts and demons. The materials used for the bow and arrows were not ordinary. Lan WangJi severed all the bowstrings and tied them together from top to bottom into a long string. With both hands, he stretched the bowstring and flicked his wrist. The bowstring shot out like lightning. A flash of white light flashed, and a boulder ten feet away shattered into pieces.

Lan WangJi took the bowstring. The bowstring snapped with a loud sound in the air.

Wei WuXian, “Murder Chord?”

Chord Killing is one of the GusuLan Sect’s unique techniques. It was created and passed down from the sect founder Lan An’s granddaughter—the third sect leader, Lan Yi. Lan Yi is also the only female leader of the Lan Sect to practice the guqin. Her guqin has seven strings that can be connected and removed in a matter of minutes. The seven strings are arranged from thinnest to thickest. One moment she plays a beautiful melody with her delicate and delicate fingers, and the next, the strings can slice through flesh and bone as if they were slicing through mud, transforming into a deadly weapon in her hands.

Lan Yi originally created the Chord Assassination to assassinate dissidents, thus drawing frequent criticism. The GusuLan Sect has also been quite ambivalent in their comments about the sect leader. However, undeniably, the Chord Assassination is one of the GusuLan Sect’s strongest and most versatile fighting techniques.

Lan WangJi, “Breaking through from within.”

The turtle’s shell was as strong as a fortress. Its surface was incredibly hard, seemingly impenetrable. However, the stronger it was, the weaker the parts hidden within the shell became. Wei WuXian had been pondering this for the past few days. He knew what Lan WangJi meant.

What he knew more clearly was their current situation. After three days of rest, their physical condition had just reached its peak. However, if they waited any longer, their condition would begin to decline. And now, the fourth day had passed, and help still hadn’t arrived.

Rather than waiting for death, it was better to fight one more time with all their might. If the two of them could kill the Xuanwu of Slaughter together, they would surely be able to escape from the pit beneath the pond.

Wei WuXian, “I agree. We should attack from within. But from what I’ve heard about your sect’s Chord Killing technique, it won’t be very useful in the confined environment of the shell. And your leg injury hasn’t healed yet. It probably won’t be as effective as usual, right?”

That was the reality, and Lan WangJi understood. Both of them understood that forcing themselves to do things they were incapable of would be futile, except for bringing others down.

Wei WuXian, “Listen to me.”

A small half of Xuanwu’s shell was still above the water surface.

Its head, tail, and four limbs were shrunken inside. There was a large hole in the front, and five smaller holes lined up around it. It looked like an island or a small mountain, its body black and uneven, covered in moss and even long, dangling dark green algae.

Silently, carrying a bundle of arrows and an iron rod on his back, Wei WuXian dove into the area in front of the Xuanwu of Slaughter’s head hole as if he were a thin, silver fish.

The smaller part of the hole was submerged in the pool water, so Wei WuXian swam with the current. After passing through the hole, he tumbled into the shell. Wei WuXian landed on his feet with a thud  ,  as if he’d stepped on a thick layer of rotting mud mixed with water. The stench was so strong that he almost cursed.

It smelled foul, though very sweet and disgusting. It reminded Wei WuXian of a fat, dead rat he had once seen on the shores of one of Yunmeng’s lakes. He pinched his nose, ”  What a horrible place… It’s a good thing I didn’t let Lan Zhan in here.” With such a dislike for even  the water used for washing clothes  , wouldn’t he have vomited the moment he smelled it? If not, he would have fainted.

A soft snore came from the Xuanwu of Slaughter. Wei WuXian walked while holding his breath, his feet sinking deeper and deeper. After three steps, the mud-like liquid had risen above his knees. Within the mud and water, there were also some lumps. Wei WuXian bent down slightly and felt around. His hand suddenly touched something furry.

It looks like human hair.

Wei WuXian withdrew his hand. He knew this was probably one of the people dragged away by the Xuanwu Slaughterer. After some more searching, he found a boot. Half the foot inside the boot had rotted away, leaving only half flesh and half bone.

The beast seemed completely unconcerned with hygiene. Leftovers of food it either didn’t finish or couldn’t finish leaked out from between its fangs and into its shell. The more it ate, the more it left over. Over hundreds of years, the food had accumulated into a thick layer. And, at that moment, Wei WuXian stood right in the middle of a corpse-like mess of broken limbs.

After crawling for the past few days, his body was so dirty it was painful to look at. Wei WuXian didn’t care at all that he was getting dirtier. He carelessly wiped his hands on his pants and continued walking.

The beast’s snoring grew louder. The air currents grew stronger, and the mud beneath his feet grew thicker. Finally, his hand touched the beast’s rough hide. He felt around as he slowly moved forward, tracing its skin. As he had expected, scales covered its head and neck, but beneath them lay a thick, uneven surface. The deeper he went, the thinner and smoother the skin became.

By now, the mud was already up to Wei WuXian’s waist. Most of the corpses here were still unfinished, the remaining ones still in larger pieces. It shouldn’t be called a corpse mud anymore, but rather a pile of corpses. Wei WuXian reached behind him, preparing to pull out the arrows and the wooden poles, but suddenly realized that the pile of wooden poles seemed to be stuck on something and couldn’t be removed.

He gripped the handles of the rods tightly and finally pulled them out, using all his strength. At the same time, the front of the rods pulled something out of the mound, making a  soft clanging sound  .

Wei WuXian immediately froze.

A few moments passed, and there was no sound around him. The beast didn’t attack either. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief.  The rods seemed to be stuck in something. Judging by the sound, it was made of iron too? And it was quite long. Let’s see if it’s useful. I’m lacking something to use as a weapon. It would be great if it were a high-grade spiritual sword!

He reached out and felt the object. It was long, though dull and rusty.

As he reached for it, a shrill scream rang in Wei WuXian’s ears.

It felt like hundreds of thousands of people wailing in despair in his ears. Instantly, a chill ran up his arm, spreading throughout his body. Trembling, Wei WuXian withdrew his hand, “What is this? The resentment energy is so strong!”

Suddenly, his surroundings lit up. A bright orange light radiated from Wei WuXian’s shadow, illuminating the pitch-black iron sword in front of him. At an angle, the sword pierced through his shadow’s heart.

This is the inside of the Xuanwu Slaughter shell—how could there be light?

Wei WuXian turned around. As he expected, a pair of large golden eyes were just inches away from him.

He just realized that the thunderous snoring had disappeared, while orange light shot out directly from Xuanwu’s pair of eyes!

The Xuanwu of Slaughter bared its crisscrossed fangs, a black and yellow array, and roared through its open mouth.

Wei WuXian stood right between its fangs. Struck directly by the roar, his ears felt like they were about to explode, and his entire body began to ache. Watching the creature lunge at him, Wei WuXian shoved the bundle of iron rods into its mouth. His timing and position were perfect. Not a second too far or an inch too low, he locked the creature’s upper and lower jaws!

When the beast couldn’t close its mouth, Wei WuXian stabbed a bundle of arrows into the most delicate part of its skin. Although the arrows were thin, Wei WuXian had tied five arrows into a bundle and stabbed them so deeply into the beast’s flesh that even its feathers were buried. It was as if the arrows were poisoned needles. Under the excruciating pain, the Xuanwu forced its mouth shut, causing all the iron rods between its fangs to bend. The half-dozen straight rods were instantly compressed into hooks by its powerful bite. Wei WuXian stabbed several more bundles of arrows into its soft skin. Since its birth, the beast had never been in such a vulnerable position. It was in excruciating pain. Its snake-like body writhed furiously within its shell, and its head was also shattered into pieces, causing the mound of corpses to shake with the force of a landslide. Wei WuXian was almost completely submerged in the rotting branches. The Xuanwu of Slaughter widened its eyes, magnifying the ghastly yellow. Its mouth opened, as if it wanted to swallow everything. The mound of corpses rushed into its mouth like a flood. Wei WuXian was struggling, swimming against the current, when he suddenly grabbed an iron sword. His heart sank. The shrill wails rang in his ears again.

Wei Wuxian’s body had already been sucked into the Xuanwu’s mouth. Seeing the beast about to close its mouth with the sword in hand, Wei Wuxian used the same technique again and stabbed it into the beast’s jaw.

The organs in a beast that is hundreds of years old like this are usually easily eroded. If swallowed, they will immediately melt into a puff of smoke!

Wei WuXian gripped the sword tightly. Like a pickaxe, he was stuck in the blade’s mouth, unable to move. The Xuanwu of Slaughter was stunned for a moment. It couldn’t swallow the pickaxe no matter what, couldn’t close its mouth, but it didn’t want to loosen it either. Finally, it burst out of its shell!

He was afraid of Wei WuXian’s sting while inside his shell. As if trying to escape, he tried his best to squeeze his body, so hard that the delicate flesh hidden under his armor was exposed. And Lan WangJi had placed the string in front of the hole in his head. He had been waiting for a long time. As soon as Xuanwu rushed out, he pulled the string tightly and plucked it. The bowstring vibrated and sliced ​​his flesh!

The beast couldn’t get in or out, suppressed by the attacks of both. It was a deformed beast and not truly divine. It didn’t have much intelligence to begin with. Under the pain, it went completely mad, flailing its head and tail as it rampaged through the dark water. It fell into a massive whirlpool, churning up crashing waves. However, no matter what it did, one of the two held it tightly over its mouth, preventing it from eating anything, while the other used a rope to strangle its thin, slicing part, inch by inch. As the wound deepened, its bleeding became more severe!

Lan WangJi pulled the rope tightly, refusing to let up for even a second. He held on for six hours.

Six hours later, the Xuanwu of Slaughter finally stopped moving.

The monster’s vital organs were nearly severed from the rest of its body by Lan WangJi’s stab. Due to overexertion, its own palms were also covered in blood and wounds. A shell-sized Titan floated atop the water. The pool had been dyed a purplish red visible to the naked eye. The stench of blood was so thick it could be mistaken for a pool of purgatory.

With  a plop  , Lan WangJi jumped into the water and swam towards his head. Xuanwu’s eyes were wide open. His pupils had dimmed, but his mouth was still tightly clenched.

Lan WangJi, “Wei Ying!”

No sound came out of the animal’s mouth.

Lan WangJi immediately reached out, grabbed the two rows of fangs, and pulled them apart. Swimming in the water with nothing to support himself, he only managed to pry them open after a long struggle. Inside, he saw a black iron sword stuck in the beast’s mouth. Both the tip and the hilt had been stabbed deep into its flesh. The blade had been forced to curve.

Wei WuXian’s entire body curled up like a shrimp. His head was lowered, his hand still gripping the sword’s not-so-sharp blade. He nearly slipped through the Xuanwu’s throat. Lan WangJi immediately grabbed his collar and pulled him out. As soon as the Xuanwu’s jaws went slack, the iron sword slipped into the water and sank to the bottom.

With his eyes tightly shut, Wei WuXian lay limply on top of Lan WangJi, one arm wrapped around his shoulders. Holding his waist, Lan WangJi floated atop the bloody water with him, “Wei Ying!”

His hand trembled slightly. Just as he was about to touch Wei WuXian’s cheek, Wei WuXian suddenly shivered and woke up, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Is he dead? Is he dead?!”

He lowered himself slowly, causing both of their bodies to sink deeper into the water. Lan WangJi’s arms gripped his waist tightly, “That’s right!”

Wei WuXian’s gaze was blank, as if he was having trouble comprehending what was happening. He only answered after a moment of thought, “Dead? Dead… Great! Dead. He kept screaming, screaming, rolling around, and then I fainted. Oh right, the hole! The hole underwater. Quick, let’s go. Let’s get out through that hole.”

Lan WangJi felt his behavior was strange, “What’s wrong?”

Wei WuXian suddenly perked up, “Nothing! Let’s get out of here as soon as possible. There’s no time to waste.”

There was indeed no time to waste. Lan WangJi nodded, “I’ll take you.”

Wei WuXian, “No need…”

However, Lan WangJi’s right arm was still wrapped around his waist like an iron belt, saying in an undeniable tone, “Breathe in.”

Diving in such a dazed state might not be the best idea. Wei WuXian also didn’t like to force himself, and nodded. The two took a deep breath and dove into the water.

A moment later, two jets of water erupted from the purple-red water. They both slipped out again.

Wei WuXian spat out the bloody water and wiped his face, covering it in a purplish red. His face looked even worse than before, “What’s wrong?! Why aren’t there any holes?!”

Jiang Cheng had indeed mentioned a hole at the bottom of the pool that could fit six people at once, and the other disciples had indeed escaped through it. Wei WuXian had initially thought the hole was hidden by Xuanwu’s body, but Xuanwu’s body was already elsewhere, and the hole where his body had been was still missing.

Water dripped down Lan WangJi’s wet hair. He didn’t answer. The two of them stared at each other, both contemplating a terrifying possibility.

Most likely… Under the intense pain, when the Xuanwu of Slaughter swung its limbs wildly, it shook the underwater rocks or kicked somewhere, coincidentally causing the only hole they could escape from… to become blocked.

 Wei WuXian struggled to free himself from Lan WangJi’s embrace. He dove into the water. Lan WangJi followed him. However, after searching for a long time, they still couldn’t find a single hole. Not even a single hole that could fit through one person.

Wei WuXian, “What should we do now?”

After a moment of silence, Lan WangJi replied, “Let’s go up first.”

Wei WuXian waved his hand, “…Let’s go up.”

Both of them were exhausted. They swam slowly toward the shore. When they emerged from the water, both of them were covered in purple blood. Wei WuXian took off his clothes. Wringing them dry and throwing them into the air, he couldn’t help but curse, “Are we being played or something? I thought that if no one came to help, we wouldn’t be able to kill him even if we wanted to, and that’s why I did it. And now, we finally killed him, and that bastard made the hole collapse. Damn it!”

Hearing the word ‘damn’, Lan WangJi’s eyebrows twitched. He wanted to say something, but he held it back.

Wei WuXian threw his clothes around, cursing. Suddenly, his legs gave out. Lan WangJi lunged forward just in time to catch him. Leaning on his hands, Wei WuXian said, “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve used up all my strength. Oh, right, Lan Zhan, did you see me holding the sword in his mouth? Where did it go?”

Lan WangJi, “That thing sank underwater. Is there something wrong?”

Wei WuXian, “Drowning? Forget it.”

As he gripped the sword, he heard a continuous stream of screams beside his ear. His body felt cold and his head spun. That iron sword must be something special. The Xuanwu of Slaughter had devoured at least five thousand people. When those people were dragged into its shell, with their bodies still intact, there must have been some who were still alive. The sword probably belonged to a cultivator who had been eaten. It had been hidden for at least four hundred years within the mound of corpses in that shell. Stained with the pain and resentment of countless humans, both living and dead, it had heard their screams.

Wei WuXian wanted to put the sword away and carefully inspect the metal. However, since the sword had already sunk, and they were trapped here, unable to escape, it seemed best to let the matter slide. If he brought it up too much and Lan WangJi realized his intentions, they would be at odds again. Wei WuXian waved his hand, “  Isn’t there any point in this?”

He continued dragging his feet forward. Lan WangJi followed behind him silently. A few steps later, Wei WuXian’s legs gave out again.

And Lan WangJi caught him again. This time, he placed a hand on his forehead. After a moment of contemplation, he said, “Wei Ying, you’re… so warm.”

Wei WuXian also pressed his hand to his forehead, “Lan Zhan, you are very warm too.”

Lan WangJi pulled his hand away, speaking in a lukewarm tone, “That’s because your hands are cold.”

Wei WuXian, “I think I feel a little dizzy.”

About four or five days ago, he had applied all the herbs in the perfume sachet to Lan WangJi’s leg. He had only rubbed the brand mark on his chest a few times. He hadn’t gotten much rest in the past few days, and had been digging around in the mound of corpses and the pond water. His wounds had worsened.

Wei WuXian demam.

After a while, Wei WuXian felt increasingly dizzy. He couldn’t walk anymore, so he decided to just sit there, pondering, “How could I catch a fever so easily? I haven’t had a fever in years.”

Lan WangJi didn’t feel the need to express his opinion on the ‘so easy’ part of his words, “Lie down.”

Wei WuXian did as he was told. Lan WangJi took his hand and began channeling his spiritual energy.

Although Wei WuXian had been lying down for a while, he quickly sat back up. Lan WangJi said, “Lie down properly.”

Wei WuXian pulled his hand back, “You don’t need to give me anything. You don’t have much money left yourself.”

Lan WangJi took his hand again and repeated, “Lie down properly.”

A few days ago, Lan WangJi was drained of energy and was both intimidated and mocked by him. This time, it was Wei WuXian’s turn to be so drained that he could do whatever he wanted.

However, even while lying down, Wei WuXian hated being alone. Soon, he began to complain, “It’s too hard, too hard.”

Lan WangJi, “What do you want?”

Wei WuXian, “I want to lie down somewhere else.”

Lan WangJi, “Where do you want to lie down, in a place like this?”

Wei WuXian, “Can I borrow your lap for a moment?”

Lan WangJi spoke with an expressionless face, “Stop messing around.”

Wei WuXian, “I’m serious. My head is spinning. You’re not a woman; why can’t I borrow it for a while?”

Lan WangJi, “Even though I’m not a girl, you can’t just lie.”

Seeing him start to frown, Wei WuXian replied, “I’m not messing around. You’re the one who should stop messing around. I refuse to accept this. Lan Zhan, tell me, why?”

Lan WangJi, “What’s wrong?”

Wei WuXian managed to roll over and lie face down on the ground, “Out of all the people, there’s no one who doesn’t secretly like me even though they say I’m annoying. Why is it that whenever you’re around, you never give me a good look? We’ve already passed through death together, right? You won’t even lend me your lap to lie on, and you’re lecturing me again. Are you an old man or something?”

Lan WangJi replied in a thin voice, “You are talking in your sleep.”

Maybe he was delirious. Not long after, Wei WuXian fell asleep.

As he slept, he felt like his sleeping position wasn’t so bad. It felt like he was actually lying on someone’s lap. A cool hand touched his forehead. It felt quite comfortable. Luckily, he tossed and turned as he pleased, and no one scolded him. When he rolled to the ground, his head was even gently stroked before being lifted back into his lap.

However, when he woke up, he was still lying on the ground. Instead of his lap, a pile of leaves rested behind his head, which felt somewhat better than before. Lan WangJi sat a distance away from him. The bonfire had been lit. The light of the bonfire reflected off his cheeks as if they were made of jade, warm and soft.

Wei WuXian thought to himself,  Of course it was a dream.

Their escape route was cut off. Trapped in the cave, they had to wait for the YunmengJiang Sect to rescue them, and it took another two days. During those two days, Wei WuXian kept running a low fever, sleeping, waking, and sleeping again. It was up to Lan WangJi to provide him with spiritual energy to maintain his current condition and ensure it didn’t worsen.

Wei WuXian, “Ugh. So boring.”

Wei WuXian, “This is really boring.”

Wei WuXian, “It’s too quiet.”

Wei WuXian, “Ahhh.”

Wei WuXian, “I’m hungry. Lan Zhan, how about you get up and make me something? Make me some turtle meat.”

Wei WuXian, “Never mind, I’d rather not. The meat of a man-eating beast like this is rotten. Besides, you shouldn’t move.”

Wei WuXian, “Why are you like this, Lan Zhan? You’re so boring. Your mouth is closed and your eyes are closed; you’re not talking to me and you’re not looking at me. Are you a Zen believer or a monk or something? Right, your founder was a monk. I forgot.”

Lan WangJi, “Be quiet. You still have a fever. Don’t talk. Save your energy.”

Wei WuXian, “You finally responded. How many days have we been waiting? Why hasn’t anyone come to save us?”

Lan WangJi, “It’s only been a day.”

Wei WuXian covered his face, “Why is it so difficult? It must be because of me and you. Jiang Cheng should be the one staying. Even arguing with him is more fun than this with you. Jiang Cheng! Where are you?! It’s been almost seven days!!!”

Lan WangJi stabbed a twig into the fire, somehow managing to make it look like a sword. Sparks flew everywhere, dancing in the air. He said coldly, “Get some rest.”

Wei WuXian curled up like a shrimp again, facing him, “Are you serious? I just woke up and you told me to rest. Do you really hate seeing me wake up?”

Taking the branch, Lan WangJi replied calmly, “You think too much.”

Wei WuXian,  nothing worked on him at all. He wasn’t as charming as he had been a few days ago, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, his speech harsh, and he even bit people when he was angry. But don’t expect to see Lan Zhan like that easily. I probably won’t be able to see him again until the end of my life.

He said, “I’m so bored. Lan Zhan, let’s chat. You can start.”

Lan WangJi, “When do you usually sleep?”

Wei WuXian, “Your beginning was so boring. It was so dry, I couldn’t bear to continue. But I’ll give you some face and continue. Let’s put it this way—at Lotus Pier, I never slept before one in the morning. I often stayed up all night.”

Lan WangJi, “Inappropriate behavior. Bad habits.”

Wei WuXian, “You think everyone is like the people of your sect?”

Lan WangJi, “This must stop.”

Wei WuXian covered his ears, “I’m sick. I have a fever,  Brother  , can’t you say something nicer? And make this poor thing feel better?”

Nothing came out of Lan WangJi’s closed mouth. Wei WuXian, “You don’t know what to say? Okay, I should know. Then, if you don’t know what to say, can you sing? How about singing a song?”

It was just a casual remark at first. He was chatting with Lan WangJi to pass the time and hadn’t expected Lan WangJi to agree. However, after a moment of silence, a low but gentle voice echoed softly through the hollow cave. 

Lan WangJi actually started singing.

Wei WuXian closed his eyes, turned around, and stretched his limbs, “Sounds good.”

He asked, “What is his name?”

Lan WangJi seemed to be muttering something. Wei WuXian opened his eyes, “What was it called?”

Translator’s Notes

Underwear  : Just to reiterate, the underwear mentioned here isn’t actual modern underwear. It’s more like a nightgown worn under an outer robe. They don’t share underwear (although perhaps they will someday).

Water used for washing clothes  : This comes from the Chinese saying ‘not touching spring water’, meaning someone is too concerned with cleanliness or wealthy enough not to touch the cold water of early spring when washing clothes.

Brother  : ‘Second Sister Lan’ is really not interesting.