Chapter 76 (1/2)
Chapter 76
Chapter 76: Nightfall—Part One
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
(Reminder: Please do not post spoilers! Your comments will be deleted if it contains one)
Inside of the largest Treasure Pavilion in Lanling City
Within the well-arranged shelves of treasure rested countless pieces of spiritual jade and weapons of high qualityMany cultivators were choosing a and craftsmanshi+p of eachThose with the spare time would come chat for a while
One of the sects have been arguing over this for the past whileHave they come to a conclusion yet?”
“What is there to argue about? We can’t be a heap of loose sand, a group without a leader forever, can we? To set a cultivator atches over all of the sects—I don’t see anything wrong with that”
“It’s not that good, is it? What if another QishanWen Sect…”
“How could that be the same? The Chief Cultivator is elected by all the sectsThey’re different, they’re different”
“Hah, they say it’s an election, but everyone knows in their heartsNo , isn’t it? Is there any space for others?”
“ChiFeng-Zun is quite against it, isn’t he? He’s tried to stop Jin GuangShan so many times, i ti over it”
“And there can be only one person who sits in the position of Chief CultivatorIf it really passed, whom exactly the person should be would take another few years of arguing over, I suppose”
“It’s the worry of those who sit at the top, anywaysNone of our businessIt’s not like little shrimps like us could have any control over it even if anted to”
Soed the subject, “Did any of you attend the completion ceremony of the Cloud Recesses’ Library Pavilion? Well, I wentI stood there and looked, and it was the exact sa indeed”
“Yeah, very difficultIt was such a huge cultivational residence, an ethereal realm of hundreds of years old—how could it be rebuilt in a short amount of time?”
“Speaking of it, there’s been a lot of joyous occasions these days, hasn’t there?”
“You mean the seventh-day celebration of Jin ZiXuan’s son? There’s a whole pile of colorful things, and the kid didn’t like any of themCried so hard that the roof of Glales like that whenever he sees his dad’s SuihuaHis parents were so happyThey all said he’s going to be a wonderful swordsrows up”
Not far away, a person in white was holding a jade tassel pendant in his hand, exa this, he smiled
The voice of a female cultivator caiven up on rising into iood fortune in this life”
Her companion replied, “Looks like it’s true that noas you have a good backgroundShe’s clearly just so-so…”
The person in white frowned slightlyFortunately, the somewhat sour coJin Sect really does deserve its reputationEven a baby who’s just been born a few days gets such a grand display”
“Don’t you remember whom the baby’s parents are? Could they really be sloppy over it? It was not only that Young Madam Jin’s husband refuses to be sloppyIf the display was just a tad bit ser brother—which of the tould’ve allowed it? In the full-month celebration a few days later, it could only be even ant”
“Speaking of it, have you heard of how it’s said that to this full-month celebration… a certain somebody was invited?”
“Who is it?”
“Wei WuXian!”
A momentary silence suddenly fell upon the Treasure Pavilion
Soht that was only rumorWas he really invited?!”
“Yes! It was confir”
SoJin Sect think it was doing? Have they forgotten about the nuqi Path?”
“Who’d dare go to Jin Ling’s full-month celebration now that such a person is invited? Anyways, I definitely won’t go no matter what”
After this, quite many of the crowd secretly h to be invited, and now you’re worried about going or not?
The person in white raised his browsAfter he had chosen, he walked out of the Treasure Pavilion
A few strides later, he walked into a s Master, are you done with the purchase?”
Wei WuXian tossed to hi caught it and opened it to see a tassel pendant that hung a piece of white jadeThe jade was translucentIn it, soft light flowed as though it was alive
He beamed, “It’s so pretty!”
Wei WuXian, “The pretty little thing wasn’t cheap at allYour sister’sthis after a new outfitI don’t have a single coin left anywaysI’ll just wait for the scolding e get back”
Wen Ning hurried, “No, noYoung Master is buying a present for Maiden Jiang’s childSister won’t scold you”
Wei WuXian, “Mark your wordsWhen she scolds me, remember to help out a bit”
Wen Ning nodded before adding, “Young Master Jin Ling would definitely like this gift a lot”
However, Wei WuXian replied, “It’s not like this is the present I’s in the Treasure Pavilion—what do they have except for looks?”
Wen Ning paused in surprise, “Then Young Master, what gift did you prepare?”
Wei WuXian, “The will of the Heavens shall not be grasped by mortals”
Wen Ning, “Oh”
He really did stop askingHowever, after holding it in for a while, Wei WuXian couldn’t take it any longer hi with utmost curiosity and persistence? How could you really stop asking after just an ‘oh’? Don’t you want to knohat the present is???”
Wen Ning stared at hiift did you prepare?”
Wei WuXian finally took out small wooden box fro and s, “What an impressive bell!”
The ‘impressive’ didn’t refer to the intricacy of its craftsh the purity of its silver and the strikingly vivid nine-petaled lotus carved onto its body could almost be considered the peak of perfection in their craftWhatexclaim, however, was the amount of power held inside of such a small bell
Wen Ning, “Young Master, is this what you’ve beenyourself in the Cave on days upon end?”
Wei WuXian, “That’s rightAs long as that nephew of le creature whose level is just a bit too low can even think about getting close to himYou can’t touch itIt’ll probably leave you affected for some time as well if you do”
Wen Ning nodded, “I can feel it”
Wei WuXian took the tassel pendant and hung it to the silver bellThe then put together, looked extre to the eyeHe was quite satisfied with it
Wen Ning, “But, since you’ll be attending Young Master Jin Ling’s fullMaster, you have to hold it back when you see Maiden Jiang’s husbandDon’t clash with him…”
Wei WuXian waved his hand, “You can relax about thisI knohat to do and not doFor the sake of Jin ZiXuan having invited me, I won’t badmouth him for the entire year”
Wen Ning scratched his head, e Master Jin told people to present you with the invitation at the bottoht that it had to be a trapAnd then it happened to be aIt really was unfair to hi Master Jin is a nice person as well…”
At noon, the two passed Qiongqi Path on their way
After its re-establishqi Path was renaht now eitherIt seemed that others couldn’t remember either, and so qi PathAt first, neither of the two noticed anything differentBut when they reached thewas not quite right
There shouldn’t be so few passerbys
Wei WuXian, “Is anything wrong?”
Wen Ning rolled out his eye whitesA ain, “NoIt’s so quiet”
Wei WuXian, “It really is a bit too quiet”
He couldn’t even catch a single sliver of the inhuman noises that he had always been able to hear
Wei WuXian was instantly alaro!”
Just as he turned around, Wen Ning raised his hand to catch so
It was a fletched arrow that caht for the middle of Wei WuXian’s chest!
Wei WuXian abruptly looked upMany people e corners on both sides of the valleyThere were over three hundred of theh some wore other uniforms as wellAll of them carried bows on their backs and swords at their waists, clad in arilanceWith the mountains and other people as defense, the tips of all swords and arroere pointed at himThe fletched arrow that was the first to co the crowdThe e build and darkish skinHis handsome features seemed somewhat familiar
Wei WuXian, “Who are you?”
Theshot the arrowHowever, with such a question, he forgot about all that at once, fu, “You dare to ask who I am? I am Jin ZiXun!”
Wei WuXian immediately rememberedThis was Jin ZiXuan’s cousinHe’d seen him a couple of times before
His heart had been sinking for a long ti on his way to attend the full-ht now, all of the joy dissipated, clouded over by a shadowStill, though, he refused to think about it too uess at why these people made an ambush here
Jin ZiXun raised his voice, “Wei WuXian, I’ht now, and I can pretend like nothing happened and let you off the hook”
Wei WuXian paused in surpriseEven though he knew it’d be taken as denial, he still had to clear things up, “What curse?”
As he expected, Jin ZiXun thought that he was asking even though he knew, “You’re still pretending like you don’t know anything?” He tore his lapels open, roaring, “FineI’ll let you see just what an evil curse it is!”
Jin ZiXun’s chest was covered entirely in holes of all sizes!
The ser ones were as large as soybeansThey were spread out on his body evenly, in a hair-rising sort of way
Wei WuXian only took one glance at him, “Hundred Holes?”
Jin ZiXun, “That’s right! Hundred Holes indeed!”
‘Hundred Holes’ was a curse of utmost brutality
Back when Wei WuXian explored the GusuLan Sect’s Library Pavilion when he should be copying scriptures, he once discovered an ancient bookAt the part where this type of curse was explained, an illustration was added to the textThe person on the page was quite calm, as if he felt no pain, but rown on his body
At first, the victiAt herHowever, soon later, the holes would becoer and greater in number the holes would beIt’d proceed until their entire body was covered in holes of all sizes, alrotesque human sieveOn top of that, after the surface of the skin was covered in holes, the curse would begin to extend toward the internal organsIt could either be a ceaseless stoans!
With Jin ZiXun having fallen victim to a curse so repulsive yet so hard to remove, Wei WuXian momentarily felt almost sympathetic toward hiht that Jin ZiXun probably didn’t have a proper brain, “You were cursed with Hundred Holes, but ould you coot to do with me?”
Jin ZiXun glanced at his chest as if he hiusted as wellHe folded his lapels back, “Apart fro crookedon lanced at his chest as if he hiusted as wellHe folded his lapels back, “Apart fro crookedon me?”
Wei WuXian thought to hiht it be that Jin ZiXun actually thought he was popular with others?
But he didn’t want to say it straight out and provoke Jin ZiXun, worsening the situation, “Jin ZiXun, I don’t use such underhanded tricksIf I want to kill someone, I’d let everyone know that this person died in my handsAnd, if I really wanted you to die, you’d be a thousand tiht now”
Jin ZiXun, “You’ve always been quite arrogant, haven’t you? And now you’re not bold enough to admit what you did?”
Wei WuXian, “I’m not the one who did it; why should I admit it?”
Killing intent flashed within Jin ZiXun’s eyes, “Courtesy before force—if you don’t take this chance to turn around, I won’t be letting you off easy either!”
Wei WuXian paused in his steps, “Oh, really?”
What washim off easy’ was really quite clear
There were tays to lift the curse of Hundred HolesApart fro the one who placed the curse cut down their own cultivation and lifted the curse on their own, there was one most absolute method:
To kill the one who placed the curse!
Wei WuXian scorned, “Not let me off easy? You? With just the couple hundreds of people you’ve got?”
Jin ZiXun waved his armAll of the disciples placed their arrows on their bows, ai ere at the botto to his lips as wellThe shrill note of the flute ripped apart the silence of the valley
However, a moment later, no reply had coo, waiting for you to coet any helpers no round that we’ve prepared just for you!”
Wei WuXian laughed coldly, “You’re seeking your own death!”
As he finished, Wen Ning raised his hand and tore off the red string that hung a talisman at his neck
After the string snapped, his body wavered, and the an to twistMarks that resembled black cracks crawled up his neck to his cheeksHe suddenly lifted his head, letting out a long, inhuman roar!
Many cultivators adept at night-hunting were present a in the ambushNone of them had ever encountered a fierce corpse who couldnoiseThey all felt their knees buckleJin ZiXun could feel his scalp tingle as wellHe raised his arm and ordered, “Release!”
The arrows rained down!
Wen Ning broke apart a boulder with his bare hands and lifted it high up in the air, blocking as many arrows as he couldAfter the rain of arrows had ended, around a hundred cultivators leaped down the walls and charged at the two standing in the terrainWei WuXian walked back a few stepsWith a sidestep, he dodged the sneak attack of a sword blade
While Wen Ning was dealing with the hundred people, Jin ZiXun used the chance to attackSeeing that Wei WuXian didn’t carry a sword and only carried a flute that was tehed, “This is the price you’ll pay for your arroganceWithout a sword, let’s see how you resist”
With a flick of his hand, Wei WuXian sent out a row of talis Jin ZiXun’s sword glare as they collidedWith such an attack right after he laughed, Jin ZiXun i for so suddenly flew out of Wei WuXian’s sleeveHis gaze froze as he realized what had happened
It was the present that he prepared for Jin LingSince he cared about it too much, scared that he’d accidentally break it while at the sa to take it out and admire it from time to ti the fight noever, it accidentally slipped out, flying toward Jin ZiXunJin ZiXun thought that it was so the lines of a hidden weapon or soe when he saw the change in expression on Wei WuXian’s faceChanging his ht it at onceIt was a delicate little wooden box with a row of s’s name and date of his birthJin ZiXun paused in surprise before he ca loudly
Wei WuXian’s face darkened, speaking one word at a time, “Give it back”