Chapter 110 - Concealment (Part Four) (1/2)
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Wei WuXian, “Coffins are used to hold corpses, of course. I’m guessing that what had been buried here was the corpse of Jin GuangYao’s mother, Meng Shi. He came here tonight likely to retrieve his mother’s corpse and travel to DongYing with her.”
Lan XiChen said nothing. Nie HuaiSang exclaimed with an ‘ah’, “Oh, yeah. It sounds very reasonable.”
Wei WuXian asked, “What do you think the person would do after they dug out the corpse of Jin GuangYao’s mother?”
Nie HuaiSang, “Wei-xiong, why do you keep on asking me? No matter how much you ask, I don’t know anything.” With a pause, he continued, “But…” Slowly, Nie HuaiSang brushed together his storm-drenched hair, “I think that if this person hates Jin GuangYao so much, they’d probably be entirely merciless towards something he cherishes more than his life.”
Wei WuXian, “Like cutting apart his corpse and keeping his limbs at different places, like what happened to ChiFeng-Zun?”
Nie HuaiSang jumped, stumbling backwards, “Th-Th-That’s… That’s a bit too much, isn’t it…”
Wei WuXian stared at him for a while before finally averting his gaze. Conjectures were conjectures, after all. Nobody had evidence.
Perhaps the confusion and helplessness on Nie HuaiSang’s face right now was all pretense. He didn’t want to admit that he used others as pawns, treating human lives as nothing. Perhaps this wasn’t the entirety of his plan. He had to hide his true colors to do more things, reach higher goals. Or, perhaps it wasn’t at all so complicated. There was someone else who sent the letter, killed the cats, and pieced together Nie MingJue’s head and body. Perhaps Nie HuaiSang was a complete, authentic good-for-nothing.
Maybe the last words Jin GuangYao said was a last-minute lie after his intention of attack was seen through by Nie HuaiSang, so that Lan XiChen’s thoughts would be disrupted while Jin GuangYao dragged them towards the same death. After all, Jin GuangYao was a big liar with countless past offenses. It wouldn’t be strange no matter when he lied or what he lied about.
As for why he changed his mind at the last moment, and pushed Lan XiChen out of the way, who could know just what exactly he was thinking?
Veins suddenly lined the back of the hand in which Lan XiChen placed on his forehead. His voice sounded muffled, “… Just what does he want to do? I once thought I knew him well, and then I realized I did not. Before tonight, I thought I knew him well once more, but now I do not.” Nobody could give him an answer. Lan XiChen repeated in frustration, “Just what does he want to do?”
Yet, as even he who was closest to Jin GuangYao didn’t know, it was impossible that others had an answer.
After a while of silence, Wei WuXian spoke, “Let’s stop standing around for nothing. Get a few people to go find assistance. Save a few to stand by here and watch the thing. The coffin and the guqin strings won’t be able to seal ChiFeng-Zun for long.”
As though to verify his judgement, loud noises echoed within the coffin again, along with a nameless fury. Nie HuaiSang shivered. Wei WuXian glanced at him, “You see? You have to switch to a firmer coffin right now, dig a deep ditch, and bury it once more. You won’t be able to open it in at least a hundred years. If you do, it’s guaranteed it’ll continue to haunt, resulting in endless consequences…”
Before he could finish, a loud, clear bark came from afar.
Wei WuXian’s face changed at once, while Jin Ling managed to gain some energy, “Fairy!”
The thunder had died and the pouring rain had become a sprinkle. The darkest part of the night had already passed. Light could be seen.
Sprinting, the soaking-wet dog flew in like a black wind, throwing itself at Jin Ling. Its round eyes were damp as it stood up on its hind legs, clinging to Jin Ling’s lap and whimpering. Wei WuXian watched as its crimson tongue extended from its white, sharp teeth and licked Jin Ling’s hand. His face paled and his eyes glazed over. As he opened his lips, he felt that his soul was about to become a wisp of green smoke and fly to the Heavens through his mouth. Quietly, Lan WangJi placed himself in front of him, blocking the line of sight between him and Fairy.
Immediately, hundreds of people surrounded the Guanyin Temple, each looking alarmed with swords unsheathed as though they were ready for a big fight. However, after those who rushed into the temple first saw the scene before their eyes, they all hesitated in surprise. Those lying on the ground were all dead; those who didn’t die were half-lying, half-standing. In summary, corpses and general chaos were plastered all over the floor.
Of the two who were at the foremost position, the left was the chief manager of the YunmengJiang Sect, while the left was Lan QiRen. Lan QiRen still had on a face full of shock and doubt. Before he even opened his mouth to ask, the first thing he saw was Lan WangJi, so close to Wei WuXian that they were practically one person. Within the blink of an eye, he’d forgotten everything he wanted to ask. Rage surged onto his face. Brows knitted together, he huffed and puffed, sending his mustache flying into the air.
The chief manager immediately went forth to help Jiang Cheng up, “Sect Leader, are you alright…”
While Lan QiRen raised his sword and shouted, “Wei…”
Before he even finished a few white-clothed figures rushed out from behind his back, all of them shouting, “HanGuang-Jun!”
“Senior Wei!”
“Senior Patriarch!”
The last boy bumped into Lan QiRen so hard he almost tipped over. He fumed, “No running! No making clamor!”
Apart from Lan WangJi, who turned to him and called, “Uncle”, nobody paid him any attention.
Lan SiZhui grabbed Lan WangJi’s sleeve with his left hand and Wei WuXian’s arm with his right, beaming, “This is great! HanGuang-Jun, Senior Wei, what a relief that both of you are fine. With how anxious Fairy was, we thought you came into something truly difficult.”
Lan JingYi, “SiZhui, really? How could there be a situation HanGuang-Jun cannot deal with? Told you you were worrying too much.”
“JingYi, were you not the one who was worried the entire way here?”
“Go away! Stop speaking nonsense.”
Lan SiZhui saw Wen Ning, who was finally able to get up from the ground, out of the corner of his eye. He immediately dragged him over as well and stuffed him into the circle of boys, who explained what had happened, all chirping at once.
After Fairy bit Su She, it sprinted all the way towards a dependent sect of the YunmengJiang Sect’s that was located around this town, barking unstoppably at its door. As the young sect leader saw the special collar at its neck, including a golden sign and a crest, he knew that this spiritual dog was probably of important background. With blood all over its body, it was clear that it had been in battle, with its owner having likely come across danger. Afraid of mishandling this, he immediately mounted his sword and brought it to Lotus Pier to notify the real sect presiding over the area, the YunmengJiang Sect. The chief manager at once recognized that this was the spiritual dog, Fairy of Young Master Jin Ling, and sent assistance immediately.
At the time, the GusuLan Sect was also about to leave Lotus Pier. Lan QiRen, however, was stopped by Fairy. It hopped up, tore off a thin white fabric from the hem of Lan SiZhui’s robe, and used his paws to shove it onto its its head, as if it wanted to make the white cloth into a circle around its forehead. It then lay on the ground and pretended to be dead. Lan QiRen had no idea what was happening, but Lan SiZhui had a moment of epiphany, “Mr. Lan, does it not seem like it is imitating the forehead ribbon of our sect? Does it want to tell us that either HanGuang-Jun or someone from the Lan Sect is also in danger?”
And so, the YunmengJiang Sect, the GusuLan Sect, and a few other sects that hadn’t left yet finally gathered everyone and came to assist them together.
Lan JingYi clicked his tongue, “We keep on calling it ‘Fairy’ this, ‘Fairy’ that, but who would have known it really is a spiritual dog!”
But no matter how spiritual, how magical it was, it was still a dog, the scariest creature in this world, to Wei WuXian. Even with Lan WangJi in front of him, he still shivered from his head to his toes. Ever since the Lan Sect juniors came, Jin Ling kept on sneaking glances at them, watching how they surrounded Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi in chatter.
Seeing Wei WuXian’s complexion grow even paler, he slapped Fairy’s butt and whispered, “Fairy, you go outside first.” Fairy shook his head and his tail, continuing to lick him. Jin Ling scolded, “Get out. Not listening to me anymore?”
Fairy gave him a pitiful state and jogged out of the temple, tail wagging. Wei WuXian could finally let out a sigh of relief. Jin Ling wanted to go over, but he felt somewhat embarrassed. Just as he was hesitating, Lan SiZhui suddenly saw what was at Wei WuXian’s waist. He paused for a moment, “… Senior Wei?”
Wei WuXian, “Hm? What?”
Lan SiZhui seemed to be in a trance, “Could… Could you let me take a look at your flute?”
Wei WuXian took it off, “What about the flute?”
Lan SiZhui received the flute with both hands and frowned a bit, some confusion on his face. Lan WangJi looked at him, while Wei WuXian looked at Lan WangJi, “What’s wrong with your SiZhui? He likes my flute?”
Lan JingYi exclaimed, “What? You finally lost that bad, out-of-tune flute of yours? This new one seems quite good!”
But he didn’t know that this new, ‘quite good’ flute was the spiritual tool he’d always wanted to take a look at—the legendary ghost flute ‘Chenqing’. He only beamed in his heart, Great! Now at least he will not lose face for HanGuang-Jun when he plays a duet with HanGuang-Jun. Heavens! The flute he had was ugly to both the eye and the ear!
Lan WangJi, “SiZhui.”
Lan SiZhui finally snapped out of it. He gave Chenqing back to Wei WuXian with both hands again, “Senior Wei.”
Wei WuXian took the flute. Remembering that Jiang Cheng was the one who brought it, he turned over there and commented casually, “Thanks.” He waved Chenqing, “I’ll… be keeping this?”
Jiang Cheng glanced at him, “It was yours in the first place.”
After a moment of hesitation, his lips moved slightly, as though he wanted to say something else. However, Wei WuXian had already turned to Lan WangJi. Seeing this, Jiang Cheng remained silent.
Of the people here, some were cleaning up the scene, some were solidifying the seal on the coffin, some were thinking about how to move it safely, and some were feeling angry. Lan QiRen raged, “XiChen, what in the world is wrong with you?!”