Chapter 8 (2/2)

It wasn’t as if he couldn’t withstand the words of attack. After all, back when he made the decision, he fully understood the situations that he had to face. Ever since then, he had reminded himself of the YunmengJiang Sect’s motto—do it even if it was impossible.

However, although he thought that his heart was like a stone, in the end, he was still human, not some emotionless grass or plant.

The donkey seemed as if it knew that he wasn’t in a great mood, and for once, it wasn’t being loud out of impatience. A moment of silence passed, and it turned around to leave. Wei WuXian sat by the stream, not responding at all. It turned around to look, throwing its hooves onto the ground, but Wei WuXian still paid no attention to it. The donkey had to come back sulkily, biting and tugging on the corner of Wei WuXian’s collar.

He could choose to go, and he could choose to not go. Seeing that the donkey had went as far as to use his mouth, Wei WuXian decided to follow him. The donkey took him to a few trees and circled around an area of grass. In the grass, there lay a qiankun bag, with a ragged golden net hanging above it. It probably fell off as an unlucky cultivator struggled their way out. Wei WuXian picked up the bag and opened it. There were quite a few items in it, such as gourds of medicinal liquor, talismans, miniature demon-reflecting mirrors, and so on.

He fished around for some time and happened to pull out a talisman. Immediately, a ball of fire appeared in his hand.

The burning item was an gloom-burning talisman, which, like its name, used dark energy as fuel. It would burn automatically if it made contact with dark energy. The more energy there was, the stronger the flame was. It lit up as soon as it was taken out, meaning that there was a spirit not far away from Wei WuXian.

Seeing the light of the fire, Wei WuXian held it to detect the spirit’s direction, watching attentively. When he turned to the east, the fire weakened; when he turned to the west, the fire suddenly intensified. He walked a few steps toward the direction, and saw a white, stooping figure appear under a tree.

The talisman had finished burning, and the ashes fell from his fingertips. An old man was sitting with his back to him, speaking in faint murmurs.

Wei WuXian slowly approached. The words that the old man murmured became clear.

“It hurts, it hurts.”

Wei WuXian asked, “Where does it hurt?”

The old man answered, “Head. My head.”

Wei WuXian replied, “Let me take a look at it.”

He walked a few steps to the side of the old man, and saw a bloodied, large hole on his forehead. This was a ghost, probably killed with a weapon which was smashed onto his head. He was dressed in a burial robe made with fine material and craftsmanship, meaning that he had already been en-coffined and buried properly. This wasn’t the soul that a living human had lost.

However, ghosts like this shouldn’t have appeared on Dafan Mountain.

Wei WuXian did not find an explanation to this implausible scenario. Feeling quite worried, he jumped onto the donkey’s back, slapped it with a shout, and rode toward the direction of where Jin Ling came up the mountain.

Around the area of the ancient tombs, there were a lot of cultivators who wandered around, in hope of a hare crashing into the tree trunk. Somebody dared to hold a spirit-attraction flag, but only attracted a bunch of dark spirits who wept despairingly. Wei WuXian pulled on the reign, scanned around, and asked in a loud, clear voice, “Excuse me and sorry for the interruption, but where did the young masters from the Jin Clan and the Lan Clan go?”

Sure enough, after washing his face, people actually acknowledged him. One cultivator answered, “They left here, for Goddess Temple.”

Wei WuXian spoke, “Goddess Temple?”

The rural clan from back then had sneaked up the mountain again and joined the group of night-hunters, after hearing that all of the deity-binding nets were destroyed. The middle-aged man recognized his clothing and the grimacing donkey, realizing that he was lunatic who’d saved them earlier. He felt quite awkward, and pretended that nothing had happened. Nonetheless, the round-faced girl showed him the path, “Over there. It’s a divine temple in a cave on the mountain.”

Wei WuXian inquired again, “Which deity is the temple built for?”

The round-faced girl spoke, “I, I think it’s a natural stone statue of a goddess.”

Wei WuXian nodded, “Thank you.”

After the conversation, he immediately ran toward the direction of Goddess Temple.

The sluggard’s marriage, lightning that destroyed coffins, the fiance eaten by wolves, the father and daughter losing their souls, the extravagant burial clothes… It was as if a string was being pulled through all of the beads, tying everything into one perfect strand. No wonder the compasses of evil didn’t pick up anything, and the spirit-attraction flags didn’t work either. Everyone had underestimated the creature in Dafan Mountain.

It wasn’t at all what they thought it was!

Sandu: This literally translates to “three types of poison”.

Whose hands would the deer die on: This proverb means that it is impossible to determine who’s more powerful and who will win, if a match happens between the two of them.

Zidian: This literally translates to “purple lightning”.

Wangji: The two Chinese characters of the zither’s name are exactly the same as Lan WangJi’s name. The term is a Daoist phrase that means to “get rid of a heart of deceit”. It usually refers to finding pleasure in tranquility, forgetting about material matters, and being at peace with the world. The name does, indeed, reflect WangJi’s personality (that is, until the uke starts flirting with him).

Lan Zhan: This is Lan WangJi’s birth name. The “Lan” surname means the colour blue, and “Zhan” is an adjective that is often used to describe an azure blue. This also implies that, by calling him with his birth name, Wei WuXian used to be very close with him.

Qiankun bag: Qiankun means “Heaven and Earth”. A qiankun bag is basically a dimensional bag, holding a lot of items although it looks tiny.

Gourds: Ancient Chinese people liked to carry everything around in gourds, from the average liquor to level-enhancing elixirs that help with cultivation.

A hare crashing into the tree trunk: This proverb originated from a story of a farmer who didn’t want to do actual work and waited for a rabbit to kill itself by crashing into a tree. It describes the act of waiting.