Chapter 103 One Hundred and Three
Chapter Summary: [The post station had two floors, with the stables right next to it. When Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng arrived, they just happened to see…]
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The inn had two floors, with the stables right next to it. When Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng arrived, they saw a tall figure rush into the building and lock the door. Wary of Wen Zhuliu's "Melting Core Hand" technique, and not wanting to alert him, they didn't enter through the door but instead climbed onto the roof. Jiang Cheng, suppressing the overwhelming hatred in his chest, gritted his teeth and stared intently at the cracks in the tiles, peering down.
Wen Zhuliu, covered in dust from his journey, carried a figure in his arms and shuffled up to the second floor. He placed the person on the table, then rushed to the window and pulled down all the curtains, making it completely airtight. Only then did he return to the table and light the oil lamp.
The dim light illuminated his face, still pale and cold, with two dark lines beneath his eyes. The other person at the table, completely wrapped up, even his face hidden in a cloak, shivered and panting like a fragile cocoon, and suddenly said, "Don't light the lamp! What if he finds out!"
Lan Wangji raised his head and exchanged a glance with Jiang Cheng; both of them had the same look of doubt in their eyes.
This person must be Wen Chao. But how did Wen Chao's voice change to this? It's so high-pitched and thin, it doesn't sound like Wen Chao at all.
Wen Zhuliu looked down and rummaged through his sleeves, saying, "Does he think he won't notice if we don't light the lamp?"
Wen Chao gasped, "We've run so far, we've run for so long, he... he shouldn't be able to catch us now!"
Wen Zhuliu said indifferently, "Perhaps."
Wen Chao angrily retorted, "What do you mean 'maybe'! If you haven't escaped, why don't you run now!"
Wen Zhuliu said, "You need to take the medicine. Otherwise, you're doomed."
As he spoke, he suddenly lifted Wen Chao's cloak. The two people on the rooftop were both startled by this action.
Beneath the cloak was not Wen Chao's arrogant, domineering, and somewhat greasy handsome face, but a bald head wrapped in bandages!
Wen Zhuliu peeled off the bandages layer by layer, revealing the bald man's skin. His face was covered in uneven burns and scars, making him look as if he had been boiled, grotesque and hideous, completely unrecognizable as the person he once was!
"Oh my god."
Behind them, cultivators kept expressing their amazement.
Although Wen Chao was not exactly handsome, he was still a man with regular features. However, his appearance in the current shadow made everyone feel that he was no less terrifying than the ghosts they had seen in the mass grave.
Even so, no one in the entire space felt sorry for him; they only thought he deserved it.
"Heh, I went too lightly."
Seeing Wen Chao in this state, Jiang Cheng still felt unsatisfied and snorted coldly while touching Zidian.
The other Jiang brothers also let out a hum of deep satisfaction.
Wen Zhuliu took out a medicine bottle, gave him a few pills, and then applied ointment to the burns on his head and face. Wen Chao whimpered in pain, but Wen Zhuliu said, "Don't cry, otherwise the tears will cause the wounds to fester and hurt even more."
Wen Chao could only force back his tears, unable even to cry. Beside a flickering firelight, a bald man with a face covered in burns bared his teeth, uttering strange, indistinct sounds. The firelight was dim and yellowish. The scene was truly terrifying beyond compare.
Just then, Wen Chao screamed, "Flute! Flute! Is that a flute?! I heard him playing the flute again!"
Wen Zhuliu said, "No! It's the sound of the wind."
However, Wen Chao was so frightened that he fell to the ground and howled, and Wen Zhuliu picked him up again. It seemed that there was something wrong with Wen Chao's leg, and he could not walk on his own.
After applying the medicine, Wen Zhuliu took out a few steamed buns from his pocket, handed them to him, and said, "Eat up. After you finish eating, we'll continue on our way."
Wen Chao shakily picked it up and took a bite. Seeing this, Jiang Cheng recalled the miserable state he and Wei Wuxian had inflicted on their escape, when they couldn't even get a bite of dry rations. This situation truly seemed like karmic retribution!
He was overjoyed, his lips curled up, and he burst into silent, wild laughter.
Suddenly, Wen Chao seemed to bite into something, revealing an extremely terrifying expression. He threw the bun away and screamed, "I won't eat meat! I won't eat! I won't eat! I won't eat meat!"
Wen Zhuliu handed over another one, saying, "This one isn't meat."
Wen Chao said, "I'm not eating anymore! Take it away! Get out of here! I need to find my father. When can I go back to my father's place!"
Wen Zhuliu said, "At this rate, there are still two days left."
He spoke with absolute honesty, never exaggerating or lying. This honesty, however, caused Wen Chao immense pain. He croaked, "Two days? Two days?! Look at me now! What will I be like in two more days?! Useless thing!"
Wen Zhuliu suddenly stood up, startling Wen Chao, who shrank back in fear, thinking he was trying to escape alone. All the guards had died tragically before his eyes; only Wen Zhuliu was his strongest and last reliance. He quickly changed his words, saying, "No, no, no, Wen Zhuliu, Brother Wen! Don't go! You can't abandon me! Just take me back to my father, and I'll have him promote you to the highest-ranking guest elder! No, no, no, you saved me, so you're my brother! I'll have him acknowledge you as a member of our sect! From now on, you're my brother!"
Wen Zhuliu stared in the direction of the stairs and said, "No need."
"Hmph, a lackey of the Wen family."
Yu Ziyuan despised Wen Zhuliu's sycophantic behavior. Even if he was grateful for her kindness, it didn't mean she should help evil people do evil, which was unworthy of the name of a cultivator.
But it is also pitiful for him, trapped by this small favor of being recognized and appreciated, he has forever lost his true self and become a subject under someone else.
Not only he heard it, but Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng also heard it. It was the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs of the post station.
A person is climbing the stairs, step by step.
Wen Chao's face, covered in burns, instantly lost its excess color. Trembling, he reached out from under his cloak and covered his face with his hands, as if overwhelmed by fear and desperately trying to protect himself by covering his eyes. And these hands were completely bare, without a single finger!
Thump, thump, thump.
The man slowly walked upstairs, dressed in black, with a slender figure and a flute at his waist, his hands behind his back.
Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, both on the rooftop, placed their hands on the hilts of their swords.
However, when that person leisurely walked up the stairs, smiled and turned around, Lan Wangji saw that handsome face and his eyes widened in disbelief.
His lips trembled, and he silently uttered a few words. Jiang Cheng almost stood up on the spot.
It's Wei Wuxian!
Not to mention Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji in Tianying, even the people in Tianjing who watched Wei Wuxian struggle out of the Burial Mound bit by bit had never seen Wei Wuxian like this.
Wei Wuxian was clearly a spirited and strikingly handsome young man, his eyes and brows always brimming with laughter, and he never walked properly. This other person, however, was shrouded in a cold, gloomy aura; handsome yet pale, his smile laced with a chilling intent.
Wei Wuxian, leading a vast and sinister army down the mountain, possessed a resolute determination to seek revenge, and even a hint of anticipation. At least for that moment, they could still see a trace of spiritedness and fearlessness in this young man who had just escaped death, ready to embark on his path of vengeance. But now…
All they could see was the chilling aura of killing intent emanating from Wei Wuxian.
Even with a smile on his face, he appeared as a harmless young man.
But everyone knows that a person who has been tempered and reborn in purgatory is no longer a living person; he is a god of death, a god of death from hell.
The scene before them was too unexpected, and the situation was unclear, so they could not act rashly. Even though the two people on the roof were extremely shocked, they did not rush in. Instead, they lowered their heads and got closer to the gaps in the tiles.
Inside the room, Wei Wuxian, dressed in black, slowly turned around. Wen Chao covered his face, his voice barely audible: "Wen Zhuliu... Wen Zhuliu!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Wuxian's eyes and the corners of his mouth slowly curved up, and he said, "Even today, do you still think calling him will make a difference?"
He took a few steps toward this side and kicked a white thing at his feet. Looking down, he saw it was the meat bun that Wen Chao had just thrown out.
Wei Wuxian raised an eyebrow and said, "What, are you picky about food?"
Wen Chao collapsed off the stool, screaming in anguish, "I won't eat! I won't eat! I won't eat!"
He howled and wailed as he crawled on the ground with his fingerless hands. His trailing black cloak slid down his lower body, revealing his legs. These legs hung beneath him like cumbersome decorations, wrapped in bandages and unusually thin. Due to his violent movements, gaps appeared between the bandages, revealing the stark white bones still clinging to them with streaks of bright red blood and flesh.
The flesh on his legs had been sliced off. And, it seems... he ate it all himself!
"Ugh...!"
Overwhelmed by empathy, everyone could smell the strong stench of blood, and the sound of gagging filled the entire space.
Disgusted and terrified, the cultivators who had heard of the Battle of Nightless City and the horrific events of the siege of the Burial Mound slowly began to conjure up an image of the fearsome Yiling Patriarch in their minds.
More than the fear of death, they must have been more afraid of the torment of their flesh and blood disappearing without them even noticing, and the silent deaths of those around them in various ways.
This fear even made them forget to think about why Wei Wuxian killed people in the first place, and who he killed.
People back then had only one thought in their minds.
It means killing the person who posed the greatest threat.
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