Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Grass and Trees Part 8

Xiao Xingchen's smile faltered, frozen in place.

Hearing "Xue Yang" felt like a punch to the gut, leaving him reeling. His already pale face drained of all color, and his lips turned nearly white.

Uncertain, Xiao Xingchen whispered, "...Xue Yang?"

He suddenly snapped out of it. "Ah Qing, how do you know that name?"

Ah Qing blurted out, "That Xue Yang is the guy who's been with us all along! He's a real monster!"

Xiao Xingchen repeated, dazed, "With us? ...With us..."

He shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy. "How do you know?"

Ah Qing replied, "I overheard him killing someone!"

Xiao Xingchen asked, "He killed someone? Who?"

Ah Qing said, "It was a young woman, and I could tell she had a sword. Xue Yang had a sword too, and I could hear them clashing, the sounds of metal ringing out."

Xiao Xingchen murmured, still in disbelief, "But the voice wasn't the same. And..."

Ah Qing, desperate, stabbed her cane into the ground. "He was faking his voice to avoid being recognized!" Suddenly, she jumped up. "Ah, I remember! I remember! He has nine fingers! Daozhang, you must have seen it before, right? Does Xue Yang have nine fingers?"

Xiao Xingchen stumbled.

Ah Qing quickly supported him, helping him sit down at the table. After a long while, Xiao Xingchen asked, "But Ah Qing, how do you know he has nine fingers? Did you touch his hand? And if he really is Xue Yang, why would he let you discover his missing finger?"

Ah Qing took a deep breath and confessed, "Daozhang, I need to tell you the truth—I can see. I’m not blind. I didn’t feel it; I saw it!"

Xiao Xingchen was stunned, his mind reeling from the revelation. "What? You can see?"

Afraid but unable to hide the truth any longer, Ah Qing kept apologizing. "I'm sorry, Daozhang. I didn’t mean to deceive you! I was afraid if you knew I could see, you'd leave me behind. But don’t blame me now; let’s run. He’s gone to buy groceries and will be back soon!"

Suddenly, she fell silent.

The once-pristine white bandages around Xiao Xingchen's eyes now showed two dark stains of blood slowly spreading, becoming more pronounced until they soaked through the fabric, dripping down from his eye sockets.

Ah Qing screamed, "Daozhang, you're bleeding!"

Xiao Xingchen seemed to just notice, letting out a soft "Ah" as he raised his hand to his face, feeling the blood. Ah Qing, trembling, tried to wipe it away, but the blood kept flowing. Xiao Xingchen raised his hand. "I'm fine... I'm fine..."

Before, his eye wounds would bleed if he overthought or became too emotional, but it hadn't happened in a long time, and Wei Wuxian had thought they had healed. Yet, today, they had started bleeding again.

Xiao Xingchen murmured, "But... if it really is Xue Yang, why? Why didn't he kill me right away, and instead stayed by my side for years? How could this be Xue Yang?"

Ah Qing said, "At first, he wanted to kill you! I saw the look in his eyes; it was fierce and terrifying! But he was injured and couldn't move; he needed someone to take care of him. If I had known he was a murderous demon, when he was lying in the grass, I would have stabbed him with my cane! Daozhang, let's run! Please?"

But Wei Wuxian thought, "It's impossible now. If Xiao Xingchen wasn't told, he would continue to live alongside Xue Yang like this. If told, he would never just run away; he'd confront Xue Yang. There's no solution."

Indeed, after calming himself, Xiao Xingchen said, "Ah Qing, you should go."

His voice was slightly hoarse, and Ah Qing, a little afraid, said, "I should go? Daozhang, let's leave together!"

Xiao Xingchen shook his head. "I can't run. I need to uncover his plan. He must have a purpose, and it's likely he's been pretending to be someone else these past few years just to stay by my side and achieve his goal. If I leave him here alone, I'm afraid he'll harm many people in Yi Cheng. Xue Yang has always been like this."

This time, Ah Qing's tearful cries were no longer an act. She threw her bamboo pole aside and clung to Daozhang Xiao Xingchen's leg, saying, "Do you really expect me to leave on my own, Daozhang? How can I leave by myself? I want to stay with you. If you're not leaving, then I'm not leaving either. Even if it means we both die at his hands, so be it. Anyway, I'd eventually die alone and miserable outside. If you don't want that, let's escape together!"

Unfortunately, after her secret of not being blind was exposed, playing the pity card no longer worked. Xiao Xingchen said, "Ah Qing, you can see and you're smart. I believe you can live well on your own. You have no idea how dangerous Xue Yang truly is. You can't stay, and you must not get close to him again."

The screams in Ah Qing's heart were so loud that even Wei Wuxian could hear them: "I know! I know how terrifying he is!"

But she couldn't reveal all the truth!

Suddenly, the sound of light footsteps came from afar.

Xue Yang had returned!

Xiao Xingchen became alert and returned to his heightened state of alertness, as if preparing for a night hunt. He quickly pulled Ah Qing close and whispered, "When he comes in, I'll handle him. Take the chance to run away immediately, understand?"

Tears streaming down her face, Ah Qing nodded frantically. Xue Yang kicked the door and said, "What's going on? I'm back, why haven't you left yet? If you're not leaving, open the door. I'm exhausted."

His voice and tone were that of a friendly neighborhood youth, a lively junior brother. Who would have thought that behind that charming smile and handsome face stood a heartless monster, a devil in human form, capable of unspeakable cruelty?

The door was not locked, but it was bolted from the inside. If they didn't open the door soon, Xue Yang would definitely become suspicious. And if he entered with caution, it would be troublesome. Ah Qing wiped her face and cursed, "Exhausted, my foot! You got tired from buying a few groceries? Changing clothes takes time—did that hurt you?!"

Xue Yang sneered, "How many clothes do you even have? You just change back and forth between the same ones. Open the door."

Ah Qing's legs were trembling, but she spoke firmly, "Never! Go ahead and kick it open if you dare!"

Xue Yang laughed, "Alright, don't say I didn't warn you. Daozhang, you'll have to fix the door later, don't blame me."

With that, he kicked the wooden door open, stepped over the high threshold, and entered the house. He was holding a basket full of groceries in one hand and a bright red apple, which he had just taken a bite from, in the other. As he lowered his head, he saw the blade of the Frostmist sword embedded in his abdomen.

The basket fell to the ground, and vegetables, radishes, apples, and steamed buns rolled all over the floor.

Xiao Xingchen whispered fiercely, "Ah Qing, run!"

Ah Qing bolted out of the mortuary, ran for a short distance, then quickly circled back, tiptoeing to her usual hiding spot where she often eavesdropped. This time, she even peeked out, watching the scene inside.

Xiao Xingchen coldly said, "Is this fun for you?"

Xue Yang took another bite of the apple in his hand, chewing slowly before swallowing and saying, "It's fun. Why wouldn't it be?"

He had reverted to his original voice.

Xiao Xingchen asked, "What have you been trying to do all these years by my side?"

Xue Yang replied, "Who knows? Maybe I was just bored."

Xiao Xingchen raised the Frostmist sword, ready to strike, but Xue Yang interrupted, "Daozhang Xiao Xingchen, there's a story I hadn't finished telling you. You don't want to hear the rest now, do you?"

Xiao Xingchen said, "No."

Even though he refused, his sword paused as he slightly turned his head. Xue Yang said, "But I insist on telling you anyway. After I finish, if you still think it's my fault, you can do whatever you want to me."

He casually pressed his hand against the wound to stem the blood and continued, "The child, who had been tricked into delivering the letter, felt both betrayed and relieved. He cried and threw himself at the man's legs, saying, 'The letter was delivered, but the snacks are gone, and I got beaten up. Can you give me another plate of snacks?'

"The man seemed to have just been caught and beaten by a burly man, with injuries on his face. Seeing the dirty, crying child clinging to his legs, he was so annoyed that he kicked him away.

"He got onto the ox cart and ordered the driver to leave immediately. The child got up from the ground and chased after the cart, running desperately. He wanted those sweet snacks so badly and finally caught up, waving at the cart to stop them. The man, irritated by the child's cries, snatched the whip from the driver and lashed it across the child's head, causing him to fall to the ground."

He spoke each word clearly, "And then, the wheels of the cart rolled over the child's hand, crushing each finger one by one!"

Whether Xiao Xingchen could see or not, Xue Yang raised his left hand to him, "At just seven years old, his entire left hand was shattered, and one finger was reduced to nothing more than a bloody mess! That man was none other than Chang Ping's father."

"Daozhang Xiao Xingchen, when you captured me and brought me to Jinlin Terrace, you were so righteous and stern! You condemned me for wiping out an entire family over a small grudge. Do you think you wouldn't feel the pain if it were your own finger? That you wouldn't know what a heart-wrenching scream from your own mouth sounds like? Why did I kill his entire family? Why don't you ask him why he thought it was okay to play with me like a toy?! The Xue Yang of today is thanks to the Chang Cian'an of the past! The Chang family of Liyang is simply reaping what they sowed!"

Xiao Xingchen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Even if Chang Cian'an cut off your finger back then, if you sought revenge, you could have just cut off one of his fingers in return. If you really couldn't let it go, you could break two of his fingers, or even ten! Or, if you were truly resentful, you could chop off one of his arms! But why did you have to kill his entire family? Does your one finger really demand the lives of over fifty people for revenge?"

To Xiao Xingchen's astonishment, Xue Yang actually thought about it seriously, as if he found the question strange. "Of course. A finger is my own, while lives belong to others. No number of lives can compensate for a finger. Fifty people? How could they compare to even one of my fingers?"

Xiao Xingchen was so infuriated by Xue Yang's self-righteous attitude that his face turned even paler. He demanded, "And what about the others?! Why did you slaughter the people of Baixue Temple? Why did you blind Daozhang Song Lan?!"

Xue Yang shot back, "Then why did you stop me? Why did you interfere with my business? Why did you stick up for that trash from the Chang family? Who were you helping? Chang Cian'an? Or Chang Ping? Hahaha, wasn't Chang Ping once grateful to you? And later, didn't she beg you to stop helping her? Daozhang Xiao Xingchen, from the very beginning, you were in the wrong. You shouldn't have gotten involved in other people's right and wrong, their grudges and debts. As an outsider, can you really judge who's right or wrong? Or maybe you shouldn't have gotten involved at all. Your master, Sanren of Baoshan, was wise. Why didn't you listen to her and stay on the mountain to cultivate the Dao and seek enlightenment? If you can't understand the ways of the world, then you shouldn't have gotten involved!"

Xiao Xingchen could no longer bear it and said, "...Xue Yang, you are... truly... disgusting..."

Hearing this, the fierce light that hadn't appeared in Xue Yang's eyes for a long time suddenly returned.

He let out a few cold chuckles and said, "Xiao Xingchen, this is exactly why I hate you. What I hate the most is people like you, who think they’re so righteous and pure. You're the kind of fool who believes that doing a few good deeds will make the world a better place. You find me disgusting? Well, do you think I care if you're disgusted by me? But tell me, do you even have the right to find me disgusting?"

Xiao Xingchen was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Ah Qing and Wei Wuxian felt their hearts racing, as if they might leap out of their chests.

In an intimate tone, Xue Yang said, "We haven't been going out at night to kill zombies lately, have we? But two years ago, weren't we going out every few days to kill piles of them?"

Xiao Xingchen's lips trembled slightly, a hint of unease creeping in. "What do you mean by bringing this up now?"

Xue Yang replied, "It's nothing. I just feel bad that you're blind and have gouged out your own eyes, so you couldn't see the zombies you killed. When you ran them through the heart with your sword, they were so terrified and in so much pain. Some even knelt, tears streaming down their faces, begging you to spare their families. If I hadn't cut out their tongues, they would have been screaming 'Daozhang, spare us' at the top of their lungs."

Xiao Xingchen began to tremble all over.

After a long while, he struggled to say, "You're lying. You're trying to deceive me."

Xue Yang said, "Yes, I lied to you. I've been lying to you all along. Who would have thought that the lies you believed, but the truth you refuse to accept?"

Staggering, Xiao Xingchen swung his sword at Xue Yang, shouting, "Shut up! Shut up!"

Xue Yang covered his abdomen and snapped his fingers with his left hand, calmly stepping back. His expression was no longer human-like, and his eyes even began to glow green. His small canines, visible when he smiled, made him look like a living demon. He shouted, "Fine! I'll shut up! If you don't believe me, then ask the one behind you to confirm. Ask him if I'm lying!"

As the sword wind came, Xiao Xingchen instinctively raised Frostmist to block. When the two swords clashed, he froze.

It wasn't just a momentary pause; he turned into a withered, stone-like statue.

Xiao Xingchen asked very cautiously, "...Is it Zichen?"

There was no response.

Song Lan's corpse stood behind him, seemingly gazing at Xiao Xingchen, but his eyes lacked pupils. He held a long sword, clashing with Frostmist.

The two of them must have often sparred in the past, because just by the strength behind the swords, they could recognize each other. But Xiao Xingchen didn't seem certain. He slowly turned around, his trembling hand groping the blade of Song Lan's sword.

Song Lan didn't move. Xiao Xingchen traced along the blade until he finally felt the engraved words 'Fuxue' on the hilt.

Xiao Xingchen's face turned whiter and whiter.

In a daze, he traced Fuxue's blade, not even noticing when the sharp edge cut into his palm. His whole body shook, and his voice cracked, "...Zichen… Song Daozhang… Song Daozhang… is that you…?"

Song Lan stood there silently, not saying a word.

The bandages over Xiao Xingchen's eyes were soaked with blood, stained with dark, ominous stains. He wanted to reach out to the figure holding the sword but didn't dare. His hand moved out, then back. Ah Qing's chest felt like it was tearing apart, her breath catching, tears gushing out uncontrollably along with Wei Wuxian's.

Xiao Xingchen stood there, lost and desperate. "What’s happening? Say something..."

He completely collapsed, shouting, "Can someone say something?!""

Xue Yang, as if granting him a twisted favor, sneered, "Do you need me to tell you who the corpse you killed yesterday was?"

With a sharp clang, the Frostmist sword clattered to the ground.

Xue Yang burst into laughter.

Xiao Xingchen knelt before the motionless Song Lan, clutching his head and sobbing uncontrollably, his heart shattered beyond repair.

Xue Yang laughed until tears appeared in his eyes and viciously said, "What's wrong! Two old friends meeting again, so moved that you're both crying! Why don't you just hug each other!"

Ah Qing clamped her hand over her mouth, stifling her sobs, not letting even a whimper escape. Inside the funeral parlor, Xue Yang paced, cursing in a tone that was both furious and manic. "Saving the world! That's hilarious! You can't even save yourself!"

Wei Wuxian felt a sharp, piercing pain in his head, but this time, it wasn't from Ah Qing's spirit—it was from the weight of the past crashing down on him.

Xiao Xingchen knelt miserably on the ground, at Song Lan's feet, curling up into a small, frail ball, wishing he could disappear from the world. His once pristine white robes were now stained with blood and dirt. Xue Yang shouted at him, "You're a failure, utterly defeated, and you have no one to blame but yourself!"

At that moment, Wei Wuxian saw himself in Xiao Xingchen.

A defeated, blood-stained failure, unable to do anything, scolded and accused by others, powerless to change the world, only able to cry out in despair.

The white bandages were completely soaked in red, Xiao Xingchen's face covered in blood, no longer able to cry tears, only bleed. Deceived for years, mistaking enemies for friends, his kindness trampled upon, thinking he was eradicating demons, only to have his hands stained with the blood of innocents, having killed his own friend.

All he could do was choke out a broken plea, "Have mercy on me."

Xue Yang said, "Just now, didn't you try to stab me with your sword? Why are you begging for mercy now?"

He knew full well that Song Lan's corpse was protecting him, and Xiao Xingchen could no longer lift a sword.

He had won again. A complete victory.

Suddenly, Xiao Xingchen grabbed the Frostmist sword from the ground, reversed it, and placed the blade against his neck. A clear, silver light flashed across Xue Yang's dark, bottomless eyes, and Xiao Xingchen let go, as crimson blood slid down the blade of the Frostmist sword.

With the sound of the long sword clattering to the ground, Xue Yang's laughter and movements came to an abrupt halt.

After a moment of silence, he walked over to Xiao Xingchen's unmoving corpse, lowered his head, and the twisted arc at the corner of his mouth slowly fell, as red veins crawled into his eyes. It almost seemed like his eyes were slightly red, though it might have been a mistake to think so.

Then, he viciously gritted his teeth and said, "You forced me!"

After that, he sneered coldly and muttered to himself, "Better that you're dead! The dead are more obedient."

Xue Yang checked Xiao Xingchen's breathing and pinched his wrist, as if he thought he hadn't died stiffly enough. He stood up, went into a side room, brought out a basin of water and a clean cloth, and wiped the blood off Xiao Xingchen's face, even carefully wrapping new bandages around his head.

After setting up the formation and placing Xiao Xingchen's body inside, he finally remembered to tend to his own wound.

He probably believed they would meet again soon, and his mood grew increasingly pleasant. He picked up the fallen vegetables and fruits, neatly arranging them back in the basket, and even cleaned the house thoroughly, laying a thick layer of new straw in Ah Qing's coffin. Finally, he took out the candy Xiao Xingchen had given him the previous night from his sleeve.

Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, he thought better of it and put it back on the table, resting his chin on his hand, bored and waiting for Xiao Xingchen to sit up.

But he never did.

As the sky grew darker, Xue Yang's expression became increasingly gloomy, his fingers impatiently tapping on the table.

When night fully descended, he kicked the table and cursed, then lifted his robe and knelt down beside Xiao Xingchen's lifeless body, checking the formation and spells he had drawn earlier. After confirming they seemed correct, he frowned and thought for a moment before erasing them and redrawing everything.

This time, Xue Yang sat on the ground, patiently watching Xiao Xingchen, waiting for a long while. Ah Qing's feet had gone numb three times, tingling with a painful, crawling sensation as if tiny insects were gnawing at her skin. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her vision was a bit blurry.

After waiting another hour, Xue Yang finally realized that things had spiraled out of control.

He placed his hand on Xiao Xingchen's forehead, closed his eyes to examine his spirit, and suddenly opened his eyes wide in shock.

Wei Wuxian knew that what he must have detected was only a few weak remnants of a fragmented soul.

A soul shattered like this could not be used to create a corpse.

Xue Yang, who always wore a smile, was completely unprepared for this unexpected turn. For the first time, his face went blank.

Without thinking, he belatedly tried to press his hand over the wound on Xiao Xingchen's neck. However, the blood had already drained away, and Xiao Xingchen's face was as pale as paper, with large patches of dark red, dried blood caked around his neck. It was too late to stop the bleeding; nothing could be done now.

Xiao Xingchen was dead, thoroughly dead.

Even his soul was shattered.

In Xue Yang's story, the child who cried because he couldn't get his hands on some pastries was so different from the person he had become. At this moment, Wei Wuxian finally saw a glimpse of that lost, confused child in Xue Yang's eyes.

Xue Yang's eyes suddenly turned bloodshot. He sprang to his feet, clenching his fists tightly as he rampaged through the mortuary, crashing into things, causing loud noises as he destroyed the room he had just tidied up.

At that moment, his expression and the sounds he made were even more deranged than any of his previous acts of madness.

After smashing the room, he calmed down and crouched back to where he was. In a low voice, he called, "Xiao Xingchen."

He said, "If you don't wake up, I'll make your good friend Song Lan kill people.

"I'll kill everyone in this entire city of Yi Cheng and turn them all into living corpses. You've lived here for so long; can you really just ignore it?

"I'll strangle that little blind girl Ah Qing to death, leave her body in the wilderness, and let the wild dogs tear her apart."

Ah Qing shivered involuntarily.

No one responded, and Xue Yang suddenly roared in rage, "Xiao Xingchen!"

He grabbed the collar of Xiao Xingchen's Daoist robe, shook him a few times, staring at the dead man's face in his hands.

Suddenly, he pulled on Xiao Xingchen's arm and threw him over his back.

Carrying Xiao Xingchen's body on his back, Xue Yang walked out the door, muttering to himself like a madman, "Lock spirit bag, lock spirit bag. That's right, I need a lock spirit bag, lock spirit bag, lock spirit bag..."

Only after walking a considerable distance did Ah Qing dare to move.

She couldn't stand steadily and rolled to the ground. After struggling for a while, she managed to get up, took a few steps, and as her limbs loosened, she walked faster and faster until she broke into a run.

Running for a long time, leaving Yi Cheng far behind, she finally let out the cry she had been holding in her belly, "Daozhang! Daozhang! Wuwuwu, Daozhang!..."

The scene shifted to another place.

By this time, Ah Qing should have been on the run for some time. Walking in a strange town, she pretended to be blind with her bamboo stick, asking everyone she met, "Is there a powerful clan nearby?" "Is there a powerful cultivator around here? A cultivator who practices immortality."

Wei Wuxian thought, "She's looking for someone who can help avenge Xiao Xingchen."

Unfortunately, no one took her inquiries seriously, often brushing her off after a few perfunctory words. Ah Qing wasn't discouraged, asking persistently again and again, only to be waved away. Seeing that she couldn't find any leads here, she left and took a small path.

She walked and asked all day, exhausting herself. Dragging her heavy feet, she reached a small stream, cupped her hands to drink, and took a few sips to soothe her parched throat. Looking at her reflection in the water, she saw a wooden hairpin in her hair and reached up to take it off.

This hairpin was originally very rough, like an uneven chopstick. Xiao Xingchen had smoothed the body of the pin, making it sleek and slender, and even carved a small fox at the end of the pin. The fox had a sharp face and large eyes, smiling. When Ah Qing received the pin, she touched it and said happily, "Oh! It looks just like me!"

Looking at the hairpin, Ah Qing pouted and felt like crying again. Her stomach growled, and she reached into her bosom to pull out a small white pouch she had stolen from Xiao Xingchen. From the pouch, she carefully pried out a small piece of candy, licked it gently, and then put it back after tasting the sweetness.

This is the last piece of candy Xiao Xingchen left for her.

Ah Qing lowered her head to put away the money bag, and as her eyes casually swept around, she suddenly noticed another figure behind her in the water’s reflection.

Xue Yang was smiling at her from the reflection.

Ah Qing screamed in fright and crawled away in panic.

Xue Yang had somehow already stood behind her. He was holding Frostmist in his hand and spread his arms in an embracing gesture, saying happily, "Ah Qing, why are you running? It's been a long time since we've seen each other. Don't you miss me?"

Ah Qing screamed, "Help me!"

However, this was already a secluded mountain road, and no one would come to save her.

Xue Yang raised his eyebrows and said, "I went on an errand to Liyang and happened to run into you asking around in the city. It seems fate has brought us together, whether you like it or not. By the way, you're really good at pretending. You even managed to deceive me for so long. Impressive."

Knowing that she couldn’t escape and was doomed to die, after the initial extreme fear, Ah Qing thought that since she was going to die anyway, she might as well vent her anger before dying. A defiant spirit surged within her, and she jumped up and spat, "You beast! Ungrateful bastard! You’re worse than pigs and dogs! Were your parents mating in a pigsty when they gave birth to a bastard like you? You were raised in filth, you worthless piece of trash!"

Having grown up in the streets, she had learned all sorts of foul language, and now all sorts of dirty insults poured out of her mouth. Xue Yang listened with a smile and said, "You really can curse. Why didn't I ever hear you act so defiant in front of Daozhang before? Got more?"

Ah Qing cursed, "Go to hell! How dare you mention Daozhang? That's his sword! You’ve defiled his things!"

Xue Yang raised his left hand holding Frostmist and said, "Oh, this? Now, it's mine. Do you think your Daozhang was that pure? In the end, he'll be mine..."

Ah Qing said, "You fart! Dream on! How dare you say Daozhang was impure, you're just a mouthful of disgusting phlegm! Daozhang was unlucky to have been tainted by you, and it's you who's dirty!"

Xue Yang's face finally darkened.

After fleeing in terror for so long, Ah Qing finally felt a strange sense of relief in this moment.

Xue Yang said with a sinister chill, "Since you like pretending to be blind so much, you can become a real blind person."

He waved his hand, scattering some powder that hit Ah Qing’s eyes. Her vision was instantly filled with blood-red before turning to darkness.

Her eyes burned with searing pain, and Ah Qing screamed loudly. Xue Yang's voice came again, "Since you talk too much, you don't need your tongue anymore."

A bone-chilling sharp object entered Ah Qing’s mouth. Just as Wei Wuxian felt a sharp pain at the root of his tongue, he was suddenly pulled out.

The clear sound of silver bells rang nearby. Wei Wuxian was still immersed in Ah Qing's emotions and couldn’t snap out of it, feeling dizzy. Lan Jingyi waved his hand in front of him and said, "No response? Did he turn stupid?!"

Jin Ling said, "I told you, getting too involved emotionally is dangerous!"

Lan Jingyi said, "It's not like you were paying attention earlier, you didn't ring the bell in time!"

Jin Ling's expression stiffened, and he said, "I..."

Fortunately, at this moment, Wei Wuxian finally regained his composure and stood up, holding onto the coffin. Ah Qing had already detached from his body and was also leaning against the coffin. The group of young people crowded around like little piglets, chattering, "He's awake! He's awake!" "Great, he's not stupid." "Wasn't he already stupid before?" "Don't talk nonsense!"

With the noisy chatter around him, Wei Wuxian said, "Stop shouting, my head is spinning."

They immediately fell silent. Wei Wuxian lowered his head and reached into the coffin, gently parting the neat collar of Xiao Xingchen's robe. Sure enough, he saw a thin scar at the fatal spot on his neck.

Wei Wuxian sighed and said to Ah Qing, "You've done well."

The reason Ah Qing's ghost was blind but didn’t move like a typical blind person was because she had only become truly blind at the moment of her death. Before that, she had been a lively and agile little girl.

Over the years, she had been hiding alone in the fog-covered Yi City, playing cat and mouse with Xue Yang, scaring away living people entering the city, guiding them out, and warning them. It required immense courage and resolve to carry out such tasks.

Ah Qing leaned against the coffin, pressing her palms together and bowing repeatedly to Wei Wuxian. She then used her cane as a makeshift sword, mimicking the "kill, kill, kill" gestures she used to make while playing. Wei Wuxian said, "Don't worry."

He said to the young scions of the noble families, "Stay here. The zombies in the city won't come to this mortuary. I'll be back soon."

Lan Jingyi couldn't help but ask, "What exactly did you see when you empathized?"

Wei Wuxian replied, "It's too long to tell now; we'll discuss it later."

Jin Ling said, "Can't you just give us the short version? Don't keep us in suspense!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Alright: Xue Yang must die."

Amidst the blinding fog of demonic mist, Ah Qing's bamboo pole clicked ahead, guiding him. The man and the ghost moved swiftly, quickly returning to the place where the fierce battle was taking place.

Lan Wangji and Xue Yang were already engaged in battle outside, the sword lights of Bichen and Jiangzai clashing fiercely. Bichen remained calm and composed, firmly holding the upper hand, while Jiangzai raged like a mad dog, barely managing to hold on. However, the white fog was terrifying, making it difficult for Lan Wangji to see clearly, whereas Xue Yang had lived in this city of the dead for many years and, like Ah Qing, knew the roads as well as if he could see them with his eyes closed. Thus, the fight was at a stalemate. Occasionally, the angry cries of a zither would ring out, repelling the approaching zombie horde. Wei Wuxian had just pulled out his flute when two black figures crashed heavily before him, like two iron towers. Wen Ning pinned Song Lan to the ground, both corpses gripping each other's throats, their joints cracking. Wei Wuxian said, "Hold him down!"

Bending down, he quickly found the tails of the two cranial spikes in Song Lan's hair, feeling relieved: these spikes were much finer and made of different material compared to those in Wen Ning's head, so it should not be difficult for Song Lan to regain his true nature. He immediately grasped the tips and slowly pulled them out. As the foreign objects stirred in his brain, Song Lan's eyes suddenly opened wide, and he let out a low, hoarse growl. Wen Ning increased his grip, preventing him from breaking free. When the cranial spikes were finally removed, Song Lan collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, lying motionless on the ground.

At that moment, a furious roar echoed through the battlefield: "Give it back!"