The Founder of Diabolism

Under the blows of his residence being burned down, his sect being persecuted, his father dying, his brother going missing and he, himself, being injured, any sort of comfort would be pale and powerless.

Wei WuXian didn’t know what to do, so he turned his head the other way. A while later, he spoke, ”Um, Lan Zhan.”

Lan WangJi responded with coldness, ”Shut up.”

Wei WuXian shut up.

The fire cracked.

Lan WangJi spoke quietly, ”Wei Ying, you really are an awful person.”

Wei WuXian, ”Oh…”

He thought to himself, With so many things that have happened to him, Lan Zhan’s mood is at its worst right now, but there’s still me flashing around his sight. So that’s why he’s so angry. He didn’t have the energy to hit me because his leg is hurt, so he could only bite me… I guess I should leave him some peace and quiet.

He held it in for a while, then added, ”It’s not that I want to annoy you… I just wanted to ask if you’re cold or not. The clothes have dried. You can have the undergarments. I’ll keep the robe.”

The undergarments were what he wore next to his body. It never would’ve been suitable for Lan WangJi to wear. However, his robe was already hideously dirty. All of the GusuLan Sect’s people loved to be clean. Giving such an item of clothing to Lan WangJi seemed to be a bit offensive. Lan WangJi didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at him either, so Wei WuXian tossed the white, dried-out undergarment toward him. He donned the robe himself and left in silence.

The two waited for an entire three days.

There was no sun or moon within the cave. They only knew that it had been three days because of the creepy sleep pattern of the Lan Sect’s people—sleeping and waking involuntarily when the times came. Thus, it was be possible to calculate the time from how many times Lan WangJi had slept.

With the past three days of conserving energy, the injury on Lan WangJi’s leg didn’t worsen and was slowly healing. He was able to sit in the lotus position to meditate soon afterward.

Within these days, Wei WuXian hadn’t been flashing before his sight. After Lan WangJi returned to a calm state of mind and adjusted his mood, he was the poker-faced Lan Zhan once more, and so Wei WuXian finally returned as though nothing had happened, pretending with a thick face that he had seen and heard nothing on that night. With much discretion, he didn’t tease him anymore either. The two’s interaction were lukewarm, though peaceful.

During the time, the two had scouted around the pool a couple of times. The Xuanwu of Slaughter had already dragged all of the corpses into its shell. The large, black shell floated in the water like a huge, impenetrable warship. In the beginning, heavy chewing noises often came from within. Later on, though, the noises ceased, replaced by what sounded like it was asleep and snoring. The snores were like roars of thunder.

The two had thought about sneaking underwater while the beast was asleep to find the hole where they could escape. However, they could only roam underwater for thirty minutes before their movements were noticed by the beast. And, although they had searched a few times, they couldn’t find the hole that Jiang Cheng had mentioned. Wei WuXian suspected that it might be covered up by a part of the beast’s body. Though he wanted to lure it out of the water again, the beast seemed as though it became tired after the big ruckus and didn’t want to move anymore.

They gathered all of the arrows, bows, and iron rods that lay scattered on the shore and took them back to count. There were over a hundred arrows, around thirty bows, and a little over ten iron rods.

This was already the fourth day.

Lan WangJi picked up a bow with his left hand, attentively examining the material. His right hand strummed across the bowstring. It somehow managed to create the sonorous clang of metal.

This was a weapon used by the cultivational world to hunt down beasts and demons. The material used for the bows and arrows were nothing of the norm. Lan WangJi broke off all of the bowstrings from the bows and tied them from top to bottom into a long chord. With both hands he stretched the chords taut and immediately flicked his wrists. The chord shot out as though it was lightning. A flash of white light flared across and a rock ten feet away was smashed into pieces.

Lan WangJi retrieved the chord. The bowstring broke with a sharp cry through the air.

Wei WuXian, ”Chord Assassination?”