Chapter 4
Chapter Summary: [Wei Wuxian, lost in thought, strolled back to the Mo family compound. As he tiptoed past the west courtyard, he saw several Lan disciples standing solemnly on the rooftops and eaves…]
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As Wei Wuxian pondered, he strolled back to the Mo family compound. He tiptoed past the west courtyard and saw several Lan disciples standing on the rooftops and eaves, solemnly discussing something. He tiptoed back and eagerly looked up at them.
Although the Gusu Lan Clan was a major force in the campaign against him, these younger members were either not yet born or only a few years old at the time, so it was none of their business. Wei Wuxian stopped to watch and see how they would handle the situation. As he watched, he suddenly felt that something was amiss.
Why do those black flags standing on the rooftops and eaves, fluttering in the wind, look so familiar?
These flags are called "Summoning Flags." If planted on a living person, they will attract all the spirits, vengeful ghosts, fierce corpses, and evil spirits within a certain range, causing them to attack only that living person. Because the person on whom the flag is planted appears to become a living target, it is also called a "Target Flag." They can also be planted on houses, but there must be living people inside, in which case the attack range will expand to everyone inside the house. Because the area near where the flag is planted is always shrouded in yin energy, like a swirling black wind, it is also called a "Black Wind Flag." These teenagers setting up the flag array in the west courtyard and preventing others from approaching is undoubtedly an attempt to lure the walking corpses there and capture them all.
As for why it looks familiar... how could it not? The creator of the Summoning Yin Banner is none other than the Yiling Patriarch!
It seems that even though the various schools of Taoism are shouting for his life, they will still use whatever they have against him...
Hearing Wei Wuxian's inner grumbling, the faces of the assembled immortal sects turned red, their previous imposing demeanor of cursing the Yiling Patriarch gone.
Xue Yang, standing in the corner, sneered: "Using someone else's things and then criticizing them, how shameless!"
After the siege of the mass grave, each family had salvaged some items, some as spoils of war, and many more for their own members to use during night hunts. They hadn't initially thought there was anything wrong with it, but Xue Yang's bluntness left them speechless, wanting to object but unable to find any, and forced to sit there feeling resentful.
Seeing that Wei Wuxian had not implicated the younger generation because of the siege by the Gusu Lan Clan back then, Qingheng-jun nodded approvingly. Even Lan Qiren, who had always disliked him and was worried that he would cause trouble among the younger generation of the Lan Clan, had to admit that this boy had a good character.
A disciple standing on the roof saw him watching and said, "Go back, this is not a place for you."
Although it was a gesture of dismissal, it was well-intentioned, and the tone was quite different from that of the servants. Taking advantage of their unpreparedness, Wei Wuxian jumped up and snatched a flag.
The disciple was shocked and jumped off the wall to chase after him, shouting, "Don't move! This isn't something you should take!"
Wei Wuxian ran and shouted, his hair disheveled, waving his arms and legs wildly, truly a complete madman: "No! No! I want it! I want it!"
The disciple caught up with him in two steps, grabbed his arm and said, "Aren't you going to give it back? If you don't, I'll hit you!"
Wei Wuxian clung to the flag, refusing to let go. The young man who was leading the group was setting up the flag formation when he was disturbed. He lightly leaped down from the roof and said, "Jingyi, forget it. Just take it back properly. Why bother arguing with him?"
Lan Jingyi said, "Sizhui, I didn't really hit him! Look at him, he's made a complete mess of the flag formation!"
In the midst of the struggle, Wei Wuxian had quickly finished inspecting the summoning flag in his hand. The patterns were drawn correctly, the incantations were complete, and there were no errors or omissions, so it would work without any problems. It was just that the person who drew the flag lacked experience, and the patterns could only attract evil spirits and walking corpses within a maximum of five miles, but that was enough.
Lan Sizhui smiled at him and said, "Young Master Mo, it's getting dark. We're about to capture the zombies here. It's dangerous at night, so you should go back inside."
Wei Wuxian sized up the young man, noting his refined and elegant appearance, and the faint smile on his lips. He saw him as a promising talent worthy of praise and inwardly commended him. The boy's flag formation was impeccably organized; his upbringing was truly excellent. He wondered who in the rigid and unforgiving Gusu Lan Clan could raise such a junior.
Lan Sizhui then said, "This flag..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wei Wuxian threw the Summoning Flag on the ground and snorted, "It's just a tattered flag, what's so great about it! My drawing is much better than yours!"
He threw it and ran off. Several teenagers still leaning against the roof watching the commotion laughed so hard they almost fell off the eaves. Lan Jingyi also laughed in anger, picked up the summoning flag, dusted it off, and said, "What a madman!"
Lan Sizhui said, "Don't say that. Come back and help."
"Lan Jingyi!!"
Lan Qiren shouted angrily, and Lan Jingyi was so frightened that he immediately sat up straight and stammered:
"Sir, I understand, I understand. The family rules are repeated three times... no, five times."
Seeing his expression, Madam Lan nudged Qingheng-jun beside her with her elbow. Qingheng-jun smiled helplessly, patted Lan Qiren's shoulder, and said:
"Alright, everyone can speak freely today, there's no need to be too reserved."
“Brother…” Lan Qiren hesitated.
"Thank you, Lord Qingheng." Lan Jingyi quickly bowed and thanked him, afraid that Lord Qingheng would regret it.
Lan Sizhui felt a warmth in his heart as he watched Wei Wuxian's actions, and whispered, "So Senior Wei was helping us check the Summoning Banner back then."
"It seems we should thank Wuxian for helping the juniors check the Summoning Banner," Lan Xichen said with a smile. Ever since Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji became Daoist partners, Lan Xichen's way of addressing Wei Wuxian changed from 'Young Master Wei' to 'Wuxian'.
Lan Qiren was speechless for a moment after hearing Lan Xichen's words.
Wei Wuxian, meanwhile, continued to loiter around for a couple of hours before finally returning to Mo Xuanyu's small courtyard that evening. The door latch was broken, and the ground was a mess, but he ignored it, choosing a relatively clean spot on the ground to continue meditating.
Unexpectedly, before dawn even arrived, a commotion outside pulled him out of his meditative state.
A flurry of footsteps, cries, and screams approached rapidly. Wei Wuxian heard several phrases repeated over and over: "...rush in and drag them out!" "Report to the authorities!" "Report to what authorities? Beat them to death!"
He opened his eyes to find several servants bursting in. The entire courtyard was ablaze with light, and someone shouted, "Drag this murderous madman to the main hall and make him pay with his life!"
Not to mention Wei Wuxian, everyone in the Heavenly Realm was completely bewildered.
What happened? What did he do?
Wei Wuxian's first thought was that perhaps the flag formation set up by those teenagers had gone wrong.
The things he made could easily lead to disaster if used carelessly, which was why he had specifically checked the drawing of the Summoning Banner beforehand to ensure it was correct. Therefore, when several large hands dragged him out, Wei Wuxian simply let them drag him along, saving himself the trouble of walking. When they arrived at the East Hall, it was quite a scene; the number of people was no less than the townspeople of Mo Family Village gathered during the day. All the servants and relatives had come out, some still in their undergarments, their hair uncombed, all looking terrified. Madam Mo lay slumped in her seat, as if she had just woken from a faint, tear stains still visible on her cheeks, tears still welling in her eyes. However, the moment Wei Wuxian was dragged in, her tearful gaze instantly transformed into a cold, resentful light.
Lying on the ground was a humanoid creature, its body covered by a white cloth, only its head visible. Lan Sizhui and the other youths, their expressions grave, were bending over to examine it, conversing in hushed tones. Their voices reached Wei Wuxian's ears:
"...and you realized less than an incense stick's time has passed?"
"We just subdued the walking corpse and are rushing from the west courtyard to the east courtyard. The body is on the corridor."
The humanoid figure was none other than Mo Ziyuan. Wei Wuxian glanced at it, then couldn't help but look at it a few more times.
The corpse resembled Mo Ziyuan, yet it wasn't quite Mo Ziyuan. Although the facial features clearly resembled his adopted cousin, the cheeks were deeply sunken, the eye sockets and eyeballs bulged, and the skin was wrinkled. Compared to the once youthful Mo Ziyuan, it seemed to have aged twenty years. It was as if its flesh and blood had been drained, leaving only a skeleton covered with a very thin layer of skin. If the original Mo Ziyuan was merely ugly, then this corpse was both old and ugly.
Wei Wuxian was examining the weapon closely when Madam Mo suddenly rushed over. A cold glint flashed in her hand; she was holding a dagger. Lan Sizhui reacted swiftly, knocking it away. Before he could speak, Madam Mo shrieked at him, "My son has died tragically! I must avenge him! Why are you stopping me?"
Wei Wuxian hid behind Lan Sizhui again, squatted down and said, "What does your son's tragic death have to do with me?"
During the day, Lan Sizhui watched Wei Wuxian cause a ruckus in the East Hall. Later, he heard many exaggerated rumors about this illegitimate son from others. He felt great sympathy for this sick man and couldn't help but speak up for him: "Madam Mo, the shape of your son's body, with all his blood, flesh and essence drained, clearly indicates that he was killed by an evil spirit. It shouldn't have been him."
Madam Mo's chest heaved: "What do you know! This madman's father is a cultivator, he must have learned a lot of evil arts too!"
"What do you mean by evil magic?! How can we compare to someone like Wei Wuxian?!"
Someone immediately shouted, but in an instant received cold stares from Lan Wangji and the Jiang family.
Jiang Cheng snorted coldly. He couldn't stand being told this by this ignorant country woman. If he were to hear the same taunts and insults that Wei Wuxian had received back then, wouldn't these people go crazy?
Some people didn't pay attention to Madam Mo's words, but were horrified by Mo Ziyuan's miserable death, yet they had no idea what could have caused someone to become like this overnight.
Lan Sizhui glanced back at Wei Wuxian, who seemed dazed, and said, "This, Madam has no evidence, so..."
"The evidence is on my son!" Madam Mo pointed to the corpse on the ground: "Look for yourselves! A-Yuan's body has already told me who killed him!"
Without anyone else lifting a finger, Wei Wuxian quickly lifted the white cloth from head to toe. Something was missing from Mo Ziyuan's corpse.
His left arm, from the shoulder down, had vanished without a trace!
Madam Mo said, "Did you see that? You all heard it here today, didn't you? What did that madman say? He said that if A-Yuan touches his things again, he'll cut off A-Yuan's arm!"
After the initial shock subsided, she covered her face and choked back tears, saying, "...It's just a pity that my A-Yuan never even touched anything of this madman's. Not only was he framed, but he also took his life because of his insane cruelty..."
frenzied!
It had been so many years since he'd heard this assessment applied to him; it felt so familiar. Wei Wuxian pointed to himself, speechless. He didn't know if it was him or Madam Mo who was insane. He'd uttered plenty of harsh words in his youth about wiping out entire clans, leaving millions of corpses and rivers of blood, but most of the time it was just talk. If he could actually do what he said, he would have already dominated the Hundred Clans. Madam Mo wasn't really seeking revenge for her son; she just wanted someone to vent her anger on.
"Hmph, tell me? Hasn't he wiped out enough sects?"
Immediately, someone snorted coldly, and others around echoed his sentiment.
Lan Wangji suddenly spoke up: "Sizhui, well done."
His words immediately silenced everyone around him. Lan Sizhui was also taken aback, but then he understood what Lan Wangji meant.
Lan Wangji ignored the others and instead felt the helplessness in Wei Wuxian's heart, which made him even more heartbroken.
Even the word 'inhuman' feels familiar; that must be how...
Wei Wuxian didn't argue with her any longer. After a moment's thought, he reached into Mo Ziyuan's robes, searched around, and pulled out something. Unfolding it, he found it was a summoning flag.
In an instant, everyone, like Wei Wuxian, thought to themselves, "Those who do evil will not live."
Many people thought they could get evidence of Wei Wuxian's massacre of his family, but they were disappointed to find it was such a farce.
Xiao Niangui, who had concealed his presence, glanced at the various expressions on the faces of the immortal sects and aristocratic families, and snorted coldly. This is nothing compared to what's to come; once they see what happens next, they won't even have time to cry. Hmph.
When Lan Sizhui and the others saw what Mo Ziyuan had taken out of his arms, they understood what had happened. Considering the farce that had occurred earlier that day, the cause and effect were not hard to guess: Mo Ziyuan had been humiliated by Mo Xuanyu's outburst during the day, and he was filled with resentment and wanted to settle the score with him. However, Mo Xuanyu had gone out and wandered around for a long time without showing up. So Mo Ziyuan planned to take advantage of Mo Xuanyu's return at night to teach him a lesson in a dirty trick.
But when night fell, he secretly went out and passed by the west courtyard, where he saw the Summoning Banner stuck on the eaves. Although he had been repeatedly warned not to go out at night, not to go to the west courtyard, and especially not to touch these black banners, Mo Ziyuan thought it was just a scare tactic to prevent the theft of his rare magical treasures. He had no idea how ominous the Summoning Banner's effects were; once he carried it in his pocket, he would become a sitting duck. He was always thieving, addicted to stealing his mad cousin's talismans and magical artifacts. Seeing such a strange object made him itchy to get his hands on it. So, while the owners of the banners were subduing the walking corpses in the west courtyard, he quietly took one.
The flag formation used a total of six summoning flags, five of which were set up in the west courtyard, using the Lan family youths as bait. However, these youths were protected by countless magical artifacts from various immortal sects. Mo Ziyuan, though he only stole one flag, had no defensive artifacts on him. By targeting the weakest link, the evil spirits were naturally drawn to him. If it were just a walking corpse, it wouldn't be so bad; even if bitten a few times, it wouldn't kill him immediately and could be saved. Unfortunately, this summoning flag unintentionally summoned something far more terrifying than a walking corpse. It was this unknown evil spirit that killed Mo Ziyuan and took one of his arms!
Wei Wuxian raised his wrist, and sure enough, the wounds on his left hand had healed. It seemed the sacrificial pact had implicitly attributed Mo Ziyuan's death to him. After all, the Summoning Banner was originally created and passed down by Wei Wuxian; it was a twist of fate, a lucky accident.
Many people sighed that the Yiling Patriarch was truly lucky, managing to break the self-sacrifice curse even in this situation; indeed, his wickedness has lasted for a thousand years.
But no one cared why it was such a coincidence that evil spirits came knocking right after the Yiling Patriarch was resurrected. Why did such ferocious evil spirits appear without any warning?
Madam Mo was well aware of her son's minor flaws, but she absolutely refused to admit that Mo Ziyuan's death was his own doing. Overwhelmed with anxiety and shame, she grabbed a teacup and threw it at Wei Wuxian's face: "If you hadn't made a scene and framed him in front of so many people yesterday, would he have gone out in the middle of the night? It's all your fault, you bastard!"
Wei Wuxian, already on guard, dodged in a flash. Madam Mo then shrieked at Lan Sizhui, "And you! You bunch of useless things, what kind of immortals do you cultivate and exorcise evil for? You can't even protect a child! A-Yuan is only a teenager!"
These young men were still quite young and had only ventured out a few times for training. They hadn't detected anything unusual about this place and never imagined there would be such a ferocious evil spirit. They initially felt guilty for their oversight, but after being berated by Madam Mo without any explanation, their faces turned slightly pale. After all, they came from a prestigious family, and no one had ever dared to treat them like this before. The Lan Clan of Gusu had extremely strict discipline, forbidding them from attacking ordinary people who couldn't fight back, and even being impolite was unacceptable. Therefore, although they were unhappy, they forcibly suppressed it, their faces turning ugly with suppressed rage.
Wei Wuxian couldn't stand it anymore. He thought to himself, "After all these years, the Lan family is still the same. What's the point of that pathetic self-restraint? They'll just suffocate themselves. Watch me!"
He spat heavily and said, "Who do you think you're cursing? Do you really think they're your servants? They came all this way to exorcise demons and monsters without taking a penny, and you think they owe you something? How old is your son? He should be seventeen this year, still a 'child'? A child that young can't understand human speech? Didn't I repeatedly tell him yesterday not to touch anything in the formation and not to go near the west courtyard? Your son went out in the middle of the night to steal chickens and dogs, is that my fault? Is it his fault?"
"Senior Brother's scolding was truly excellent!" Sixth Junior Brother exclaimed once again. Lan Jingyi and the other junior members of the Lan family clenched their fists, giving him another heartfelt compliment. It had been satisfying to hear it back then, and it still felt satisfying to hear it now.
Hearing him disdainfully criticize the Lan family's manners, Lan Qiren was furious and wanted to drag Wei Wuxian out of the frame. "Is this what you call manners?! Do you even know what manners are?!"
However, objectively speaking, although the Lan family is very well-mannered, they are slightly at a disadvantage when faced with the ignorant remarks and attitudes of some rural farmers and women. Therefore, Lan Qiren is considering whether to change the Lan family's teaching methods.
However, he thought again that if it were Lan Wangji or Lan Xichen who went, there probably wouldn't be these problems. It's just that these juniors lack experience. Hmm, they still need more experience.
The younger members of the Lan Clan, who were listening to Wei Wuxian's domineering retort, had no idea that their patriarch, Master Lan, had already planned out their future night-hunting life...
Lan Jingyi and the others breathed a sigh of relief, their faces finally no longer turning green with suppressed anger. Madam Mo was heartbroken and filled with resentment, her mind consumed by the thought of death. Not just death to accompany her son, but death for everyone in the world, especially these people before her. She constantly ordered her husband around, shoving him and yelling, "Call them in! Bring them all in!"
Her husband, however, remained expressionless. Perhaps the shock of their only son's death was too great, for he actually shoved her. Caught off guard, Madam Mo fell to the ground, stunned.
In the past, he wouldn't have needed Madam Mo to push him; he would have obeyed as long as she raised her voice a little. Today, however, he actually dared to fight back!
The servants were terrified by her expression. A-Ding shakily helped her up, while Madam Mo clutched her chest, her voice trembling as she said, "You...you...you get out of here too!"
Everyone: ...They were so angry they laughed. What the hell was this?!
Although village women are generally not to be trifled with, Madam Mo's behavior, as if her son were the best in the world and everyone had to revolve around him, is truly baffling. Where does she get such confidence?
Her husband seemed oblivious. A-Ding gave A-Tong several meaningful glances, and A-Tong quickly helped the male head of the household out. Chaos erupted inside and outside the east hall. Wei Wuxian, seeing that the family had finally quieted down, prepared to continue examining the body, but before he could even take a second look, another high-pitched scream burst through the courtyard.
People rushed out of the hall. On the ground in the east courtyard, two people were convulsing. One, Atong, was slumped and alive. The other, lying on the ground, seemed to have had all his flesh drained, wrinkled and withered; his left arm was gone, and no blood flowed from the wound. The state of the corpse was exactly the same as Mo Ziyuan's.
Madam Mo had just shaken off A-Ding's support when she saw the fallen corpse. Her eyes widened, and finally, she lost all strength and fainted. Wei Wuxian happened to be standing nearby. He helped her up and handed her to A-Ding, who rushed forward. Looking at her right hand, the wound was gone.
They had barely stepped out of the hall, not even out of the east courtyard, when Madam Mo's husband was brutally murdered on the spot—all in the blink of an eye. Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and the others also turned pale. Lan Sizhui was the quickest to regain his composure, pressing the slumped A-Tong for answers: "Did you see what it was?"
A-Tong was terrified, his jaw clenched, unable to utter a single question for a long time, only shaking his head repeatedly. Lan Sizhui was extremely anxious and had his fellow disciples lead him into the house, then turned to Lan Jingyi: "Did you send the signal?"
Lan Jingyi said, "The signal has been sent, but if there are no seniors nearby who can come to our aid, it will probably take at least half an hour for our people to arrive. What should we do now? We don't even know what it is."
They certainly couldn't leave. If any family member encountered an evil spirit and only cared about their own escape, it would not only bring shame to the family, but they themselves would also be ashamed to face others. These terrified Mo family members couldn't follow either, because the evil spirit was most likely mixed among them; leaving would be pointless. Lan Sizhui gritted his teeth and said, "Stay and wait for them to come!"
Having already sent out a distress signal, other cultivators would soon arrive to provide assistance. To avoid further trouble, Wei Wuxian should retreat. It would be fine if the person who arrives was a stranger, but if it happens to be someone he has dealt with or fought with before, who knows what might happen.
But with the curse binding him, he couldn't leave Mo Village right now. Moreover, the thing he had summoned had taken two lives in such a short time, and its ferocity was extraordinary. If Wei Wuxian were to leave now and wait for reinforcements to arrive, the entire Mo Village might be filled with corpses missing their left arms, and there might even be several relatives and disciples of the Gusu Lan Clan among them.
After a moment's thought, Wei Wuxian decided, "Let's finish this quickly."
Not to mention Atong, even those who were watching every screen closely couldn't see what it was.
Everyone immediately got goosebumps. What on earth was this?
While Qingheng-jun and Madam Lan were worried, they breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Wei Wuxian's final thoughts, and their goodwill towards Wei Wuxian increased even further.
When facing a powerful enemy, everyone would want to protect themselves. But Wei Wuxian did not. Despite being reborn, despite having participated in the siege of Burial Mound, and despite his low spiritual power and lack of Chenqing and Yin Tiger Seal, he still stayed to clean up the mess for these juniors. With such a character, how could he become the bloodless demon that everyone talks about?
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