Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Wei WuXian left the donkey at the foot of the mountain. He stepped over the remnants of the wall and walked up the mountain path. Soon after, he saw the stone statue of a headless beast. The statue weighed thousands of pounds. It had guarded the mountain path for many years. Vines climbed over it, and moss gathered in its crevices. The beast’s head had been severed by an axe and tossed somewhere nearby. As if to assert dominance, it had been smashed into small pieces. The cut was still fresh, revealing the white interior. Further along, similarly, the next statue they saw had been cleaved in two, from head to toe.

Wei WuXian immediately recognized these as the stone beasts that the sects had placed on the terrain’s acupoints to guard the mountain after his death. The stone beasts were capable of exorcism. They required considerable craftsmanship and were quite expensive to produce. Now, it was likely that all of them had been destroyed. It was truly a waste.

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi walked a few more steps side by side. Unintentionally looking back, he saw Wen Ning had already appeared.

He stood beside the stone beast, head bowed and motionless. Wei WuXian asked, “Wen Ning? What are you looking at?”

Wen Ning pointed at the base of the stone beast.

The stone beast rested atop a short, thick tree trunk. Beside the trunk were three smaller, shorter trunks. They seemed to have been scorched by fire, completely blackened.

Wen Ning knelt on both knees. His fingers dug deep into the dirt, grasping a handful of black earth, and clenched it in his palm, “… Sister.”

Wei WuXian didn’t know what to say. He walked over and patted his shoulder hard.

Throughout Wei WuXian’s life, two periods of time had been extremely difficult to endure. Both occurred here. He never intended to visit such a place again.

And, for Wen Ning, Burial Mound was an even more unforgettable place.

A gust of cold wind swept through. The sea of trees rustled as if tens of thousands of whispers echoed through them. Wei WuXian listened intently. Kneeling on one knee, he bent down and murmured something to the earth beneath him. Suddenly, a bump formed below the surface.

As if a pale flower had sprouted from the black soil, a skeletal arm slowly emerged from the earth.

The portion of the skeletal arm was weakly suspended in the air. Wei WuXian reached out and grasped it. He bent down even lower. His long hair fell from his shoulder, obscuring half his face.

He pressed his lips to the skeletal hand and whispered something. Then he was silent, as if listening for something. After a while, he nodded slightly. The hand formed a flower bud again and retreated into the soil.

Wei WuXian stood up and brushed the dirt from himself, “These days, they’ve taken over a hundred people up here. They’re all at the top, still alive. The people who took them have already descended the mountain, though. I don’t know what they intend to do. In any case, we should be cautious.”

The three continued upward. They encountered several dilapidated shacks along the mountain path.

The houses varied in size. Their construction was simple, even crude. At a glance, it was evident that they had been hastily built. Some were so burned that only bare frames remained, while others had completely collapsed. Even the most intact ones were half-destroyed. Having endured over ten years of rain and wind, with no one to care for them, each looked like dying ghosts in tattered clothing, silently gazing down at those ascending the mountain.

Ever since they had ascended the mountain, Wen Ning’s footsteps had been especially heavy. Now, standing before one of the houses, he could no longer walk.

This was one of the houses he had built himself. Before he left, the house had been intact. Though crude, it had provided shelter from the elements, holding the people he knew and cherished.

In the saying ‘the things remain but the people don’t’, at least ‘the things’ still remained. Facing such a scene, there wasn’t even anything to remind him of the people he missed.

Wei WuXian, “Don’t look any further.”

Wen Ning, “… I knew it would be like this a long time ago. I just wanted to see if anything was left…”

Before his voice faded, a shadow suddenly stirred within one of the dilapidated houses.

The shadow stumbled out of the house. Its half-rotted face was barely visible in the dim daylight. Wei WuXian clapped his hands. The walking corpse seemed oblivious, continuing towards them. Wei WuXian calmly took two steps back, “It’s controlled by the Tiger Seal.”

Corpse puppets who had already submitted to him wouldn’t be controlled by the Tiger Seal. Similarly, corpse puppets who had submitted to the Tiger Seal wouldn’t obey his commands. The rules were simple: first come, first served.

Wen Ning surged forward. With a roar, he severed its head. Immediately, low growls echoed around them. From the black forest emerged nearly fifty corpses. Regardless of gender or age, most were fresh, wearing burial garments. They were likely corpses missing from various regions.

Lan WangJi produced his guqin. With a strum, notes flowed out like ripples. The group of corpses surrounding them immediately knelt in a circle. With both hands, Wen Ning picked up a particularly large male corpse and threw it far away. Its chest had been pierced by a sharp branch, and it struggled, clinging to the branch.

Wei WuXian shouted, “Don’t bother with them, just ascend the mountain!”

He didn’t know how many waves of walking corpses Jin GuangYao had madly summoned in these past few days using the Tiger Seal. One attack followed another. The three repelled the corpses as they ascended the mountain. The closer they got to the summit of Burial Mound, the denser the groups of corpses became. The zither’s notes echoed through the black forest as crows flew away. Almost two hours later, they finally had a moment to rest.

Sitting atop one of the destroyed stone beasts, Wei WuXian sighed, mocking himself, “I’ve always been the one using this to deal with others. Today, it’s finally my turn to have others use it against me. Now I understand just how obnoxious the Tiger Seal is. If I were them, I would have wanted to kill the person who created this damn thing as well.”

Lan WangJi put away his guqin. He drew a sword from his sleeve and handed it to him, “To protect yourself.”

Wei WuXian accepted it. It was Suibian. After the day it had been used to cut the melon, Wei WuXian tossed it aside. Lan WangJi put it away again. He drew the sword, stared at the snowy blade for a moment, then sheathed it, smiling, “Thank you.”

He wore it at his waist, showing no intention of using it. Seeing Lan WangJi’s gaze, he fiddled with his hair and explained, “I haven’t used a sword in so many years. I’m not used to it.” As he spoke, he sighed again, “Alright. The real reason is that my current body is low in spiritual energy. Even a high-level sword wouldn’t be able to be used to its full potential. So, it will be up to HanGuang-Jun to protect the delicate man that I am.”

Lan WangJi, “…”

After the delicate man sat for a while, he finally stood up, bracing a hand against his knees. The three walked further up and finally, at the end of the path, they saw a cave with a dark opening.

The mouth of the cave was about fifty feet high and wide. Before they even approached, they felt a cold breeze and could almost hear the muffled sounds of human groans.

This was the legendary den where the YiLing Patriarch turned humans into his corpses and committed deeds that even the Heavens couldn’t tolerate—the Demon-Slaughtering Cave.

The cave’s ceiling was vast. The three held their breath and crept inside. No one made a sound, but the human voices from the depths of the cave grew louder.

Wei WuXian knew the cave’s terrain like the back of his hand. He walked at the front. At some point, he signaled for them to stop.

The main area of the cave was just a wall away from them. Through the holes in the wall, they could see a large enough space to hold a thousand people. In the center sat around a hundred. Their hands and feet were tightly bound with deity-binding ropes. The one hundred people were quite young as well. Judging from the color of their robes and swords, they were either high-level disciples or direct disciples of clans.

Wei WuXian exchanged a look with Lan WangJi. Before they could begin to discuss, a boy sitting on the ground suddenly spoke up, “In my opinion, I don’t think you should have stabbed him only once. Why didn’t you just slash his throat?”

His voice wasn’t loud, but the cave was rather empty. Echoes vibrated as soon as he spoke. So, even if they weren’t listening intently, they could hear his words clearly. As soon as the boy spoke, Wei WuXian thought he both looked and sounded familiar. It took him a while to remember. Wasn’t this the one who fought with Jin Ling the other day, Jin Chan?

And he looked again—who was the cold-faced boy sitting beside this disciple, if not Jin Ling?

Jin Ling didn’t even look at him, remaining silent. A loud rumbling came from the stomach of a boy beside him, “They’ve been gone for so many days already. What do they want? If they want to kill us, then let us off easy. I’d rather be eaten by a monster on a night hunt than starve to death here!”

The boy rambled on and on. It was Lan JingYi. Jin Chan spoke, “What could he do? He’d definitely do what he did with those Wen-dogs during the Sunshot Campaign, turn us into his corpse puppets and then use us against our families, so that they can’t attack and his enemies can fight amongst themselves.” He clenched his teeth, “That dirty, inhuman Wei-dog!”

Suddenly, Jin Ling spoke, his voice icy, “Shut up.”

Jin Chan was shocked, “You want me to shut up? What do you mean?”

Jin Ling, “What do I mean? Are you deaf or dumb? Can’t you understand human speech? Shut up means for you to stop making so much noise!”

Having been tied up for so long, Jin Chan had been grumpy for a long time. He fumed, “Why should I shut up?!”

Jin Ling, “What’s the use of talking so much nonsense? If you go on, will the ropes break because of you? It’s annoying.”

“You!!!”

Another young voice interjected, “Now that we’re trapped here and none of us know when the walking corpses on the mountain will rush in, even in such circumstances, do you two have to argue?”

The calmest voice was Lan SiZhui’s. Jin Chan protested, “He flipped out first! What, you can call him names but other people can’t?! Jin Ling, hah, who do you think you are? You think that because LianFang-Zun is the chief cultivator that you’ll also be? I’m not going to shut up. I think you…”

With a thud, Jin Chan’s head was suddenly struck. Jin Chan cried out in pain. He cursed, “You want to fight? I’ll take you on! I’m in the mood for it anyway. You son of a nobody!”

Hearing this, Jin Ling was even more unstoppable. He was tied up and couldn’t move his arms, so he used his elbows and knees, slamming them so hard that the others yelped in pain. Yet, he was alone, and Jin Chan had always had groups of people around him.

Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, the boys all shouted, “Let me help you!” All of them crowded over.

Lan SiZhui was sitting nearby. He couldn’t help but get dragged into their fight. At first, he could manage to persuade them to calm down, but after receiving a few elbows, he frowned in pain, his face darkening. In the end, after a cry, he joined the fray as well.

The three outside couldn’t watch this any longer. Wei WuXian leaped onto the stairs leading to the cave first, “Hey! Everyone, look here!”

His shout echoed through the empty cave, almost thunderous. The tangled boys looked up. Lan SiZhui saw a familiar figure beside him and beamed, “HanGuang-Jun!”

Lan JingYi yelled even louder, “HanGuang-Jun ahhhhhhhh!”

Jin Chan was terrified, “What are you happy about? They’re… They’re on the same side!”

Wei WuXian stepped into the cave. He drew Suibian and casually tossed it back. A shadow flashed out and caught the sword. It was Wen Ning. The disciples began to shriek again, “The G-G-G-Ghost General!”

Wen Ning raised Suibian and swung it towards Jin Ling. Jin Ling clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. However, he felt himself loosen. The deity-binding ropes had been severed by Suibian’s sword’s aura. Following this, Wen Ning walked around the cave, severing the deity-binding ropes. The disciples he freed could neither run nor stay. Inside were the YiLing Patriarch, the Ghost General, and the traitorous HanGuang-Jun, while outside were countless walking corpses waiting to be fed. Yet, everything was bright on Lan SiZhui’s side, “Senior Mo… Senior Wei. Are you here to save us? You weren’t the one who had people take us here, were you?”

Although it was a question, his face was full of complete trust and delight. Wei WuXian felt his heart warm up. He squatted down and rubbed Lan SiZhui’s head, messing up the hair that had somehow stayed neat throughout the past few days, “Me? It’s not like you don’t know how broke I am. How could I have gotten enough money to hire people?”

Lan SiZhui nodded quickly, “Yes. I knew it! I knew that, Senior, you really are very broke!”

“…”

Wei WuXian, “Good boy. How many people do they have? Is there an ambush around here?”

Lan JingYi shook off the ropes and struggled to answer, “They have quite a few people! All of them had black mist on their faces, so we couldn’t see who they were. They didn’t do anything after they threw us here, like they didn’t care if we were dead or alive. Oh, oh, oh, and there are many walking corpses outside here! They kept on howling!”

Bichen unsheathed and severed the deity-binding ropes around them. Lan WangJi immediately returned his sword to its sheath and turned to Lan SiZhui, “Well done.”

It meant that Lan SiZhui had done well, maintaining composure and believing in them. Lan SiZhui hurried up, standing with his back straight at Lan WangJi. Before he could smile, Wei WuXian grinned, “Yeah, well done, SiZhui, you even know how to fight now.”

Lan SiZhui’s cheeks flushed red at once, “T-That was… I acted out of impulse…”

Suddenly, Wei WuXian felt someone approaching. Turning around, he saw Jin Ling standing behind them, limbs frozen.

Lan WangJi immediately stood in front of Wei WuXian, while Lan SiZhui stood in front of Lan WangJi, speaking carefully, “Young Master Jin.”

Wei WuXian walked out from behind the two, “What are you doing? It’s like you’re making a human pyramid.”

Jin Ling’s face looked rather strange. His palms loosened and squeezed, squeezed and loosened. It was as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t open his mouth. He could only use his eyes to look at the spot on Wei WuXian’s stomach where he had stabbed him. Lan JingYi seemed deeply frightened, “Y-Y-You! You do not want to stab him again, do you?”

Jin Ling’s face froze. Lan SiZhui hurried, “JingYi!”

JingYi on the left and SiZhui on the right, Wei WuXian wrapped his arms around both children, “Alright, let’s hurry out of here.”

Lan SiZhui, “Yes!”

The other boys were still huddled in a corner, not daring to move. Lan JingYi, “Aren’t you going? Do you want to stay here longer?”

One of the boys stuck his neck out, “There are so many walking corpses outside. You want us to go out… to meet our deaths?!”

Wen Ning, “Young Master, I’ll go outside and chase them away.”

Wei WuXian nodded. Like a gust of wind, Wen Ning immediately swept outside. Lan SiZhui spoke, “The deity-binding ropes have already been loosened. If worst comes to worst, we can fight our way out together. If you don’t go, what if after we leave the corpses flood inside? With the shape of the cave, wouldn’t it be a sure catch?”

After he finished, he grabbed Lan JingYi. Along with a few of the Lan Sect’s juniors, the two of them left first, following behind Wen Ning. The rest of the boys stared among themselves.

Quickly afterward, one of the boys spoke up, “SiZhui-xiong, wait for me!” He followed, and left as well.

This boy was the little ‘seed of sentiment’ who burned paper money and cried emotionally over A-Qing, back in Yi City. The others called him ZiZhen. He seemed to be the only child of the BalingOuYang Sect’s clan. Soon, a few more boys followed as well, all familiar faces from the Yi City incident. The rest of the boys had been hesitant. But, as they looked around, they saw Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi staring at them. They felt nervous no matter which of the two stared at them, and they could only pass around them and leave as well, the back of their heads tingling. The last one was Jin Ling.

As the group of boys, pulling and dragging, almost reached the mouth of the