cw; physical/mental abuse
“How is it coming along?”
Wu Lingtian’s hand froze over the cooling corpse. He glanced back at the woman, who had just returned. A languid, self-satisfactory smile lingered on her face as she sauntered closer. She peered over Wu Lingtian’s shoulder and chuckled.
“You’re doing a number on her. Are you sure you really don’t like doing this sort of thing?”
Wu Lingtian turned away again.
Rong Meihua’s brows furrowed irritably. “Answer me.”
“I do not like doing this sort of thing,” Wu Lingtian said.
“I don’t believe you,” Rong Meihua scoffed. She settled down in a chair nearby. She glanced at the slumped bodies in the corner of the dungeon. “What about those few over there? Are they scraps?”
Without looking up, Wu Lingtian snapped his fingers. In a moment, the previously silent corpses began to twitch to life. Their eyes shined with an intelligent glow and, when they saw Wu Lingtian standing at the operation table, they huddled together with fear lingering in their eyes.
“Very realistic,” Rong Meihua said in fascination. She looked at Wu Lingtian with ravished hunger. “It was a good choice to let you help me instead.”
Wu Lingtian pulled back from the corpse’s spiritual sea. He stared blankly at the face of the dead woman beneath him. Her skin was beginning to warm again and color was slowly returning to her face. Wu Lingtian looked away and worked to sew her abdomen back together before the puppet woke up.
“If I could change one thing, then it’s the fact that you don’t talk. I’m not even the one working on these puppets, but I feel lonely just watching you,” Rong Meihua said. After a minute of silence, she frowned. “Answer me.”
“I would be crazy if I spoke while I operated on dead people,” Wu Lingtian said.
“I suppose that’s true. After working on these things for so many decades, I guess it isn’t surprising you’re becoming more like them,” Rong Meihua said. She stood, walking behind Wu Lingtian, and placed hand on his chest. “And you’re not very different from them, are you? After all, you have this thing.”
Wu Lingtian glanced at the hand on his chest and felt a rare bout of emotion—disgust. He cringed, but it wasn’t enough for him to shift away. In the back of his mind, however, he knew that if he was normal, he would be resisting the urge to vomit.
Sometimes, the dampened emotions really worked to his advantage.
Rong Meihua glanced at his cold side-profile and clicked her tongue. “You really hate answering me, don’t you?”
Wu Lingtian’s nimble fingers finished off the stitching. He stepped back to look at his handy work and turned to the basin beside him to wash his hands. The water had long been dyed with blood. When he withdrew his hands from it, the stains were gone, but his skin was still tinged red.
“Answer me,” Rong Meihua demanded, irritation peppering her voice.
“I hate you,” Wu Lingtian said.
As soon as the words left his mouth, a heavy blow landed to the side of his head. It forced Wu Lingtian’s body to turn, but he didn’t fall. A thin line of blood left his lips. He blinked calmly and wiped the blood with his already red sleeves.
“You know the Song family, don’t you?”
Wu Lingtian resituated himself as Rong Meihua sat down again.
“Kill them for me.”
She glanced at Wu Lingtian. The man merely nodded his head and lifted Yu Lan from the table beside him. He had one foot out the door when she spoke again.
“You’re not going to ask me why?”
Wu Lingtian’s hand remained limply against the doorframe. “Since Shizun told this disciple to do something, this disciple should not question Shizun.”
After a while, a low hum reached Wu Lingtian’s ears. The man made his way up the stairs and left the sect.
“We were falsely accused!”
“Please, just search the sect one more time, we truly have nothing to do with demonic cultivation!”
“Lord Yu Lan, please spare us!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The disciple beside Wu Lingtian glanced at the pleading crowd. He hesitantly turned to Wu Lingtian. “Lord Yu Lan, what do w—”
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The entire process took about two hours. It was significantly faster than eliminating a large sect. There was little struggle, since only a few people in the Song family were adept at cultivation. The majority were the elderly and children.
It began to rain as they were leaving, but no one bothered searching for cover or even putting up a spell. It was the same whenever it rained. This was a small punishment from Heaven that they craved.
“What did they even do?” someone finally asked.
“Lord Yu Lan, what did they even do?” someone else echoed.
Wu Lingtian walked down the muddy path, even as the disciples stopped. He walked past the enraged and saddened faces of the disciples that were assigned to him. When he made it to the front of the group, he didn’t turn to look at them, but he stopped.
“If you cannot stomach this, you can leave. Do not return to the sect. I cannot guarantee what would happen to you,” Wu Lingtian said, his voice nearly drowned out by the rain.
“But Lord Yu Lan, what about you?” another disciple asked. “You obviously hate it as much as the rest of us, so w—”
“Hate it?” Wu Lingtian echoed. He looked at the slippery dirt path in front of them as the mystical fire continued to roar behind them, despite the heavy rain. “I don’t even remember what that means anymore.”
The group fell silent.
“Leave if you want; stay if you do not care. I never saw anything. I left before the massacre was finished,” Wu Lingtian said. “That’s what is to be reported.”
“But Lord—”
Before the disciples could protest any further, Wu Lingtian had already taken to the skies. Despite the pouring rain and his weighed down robes, Wu Lingtian flew until he made it to a city further away. The city was small, but it was well-populated. There was a cozy atmosphere that surrounded it, as if nothing bad would ever happen to this little place.
Wu Lingtian landed somewhere outskirts of the city borders.
Seeing how bright and lively everything was, Wu Lingtian suddenly felt his chest clench. He watched the people a while longer, until they gave him weird looks and walked faster when they passed by him. Their smiles and carefree laughter seemed to wrap around him, like a warm blanket after a snowstorm. He wanted to approach them, but he couldn’t bring himself to. The moment his foot lifted, he stopped himself.
Was he worthy of it? Of course not.
He turned, his head lowered and hair still wet, and began to leave.
“Lord Yu Lan?”
The voice made him freeze. He remained where he was until a pair of slim, black boots entered his line of sight.
“What brings you to WuYe City?” the cheerful voice asked.
Wu Lingtian blinked silently. Although his clothes had dried during the flight, his hair was still wet and had become somewhat frizzy. The remaining water droplets rolled down his nose, splattering on the dirt between the two men.
“…Lord Yu Lan?” Fan Yi frowned, belatedly noticing that something was wrong with Wu Lingtian. He glanced at the younger man’s red robes, but saw nothing out of the ordinary aside from how wet he was. “You look cold. Do you want to come to my sect to warm up?”
Wu Lingtian’s fingers curled into his palms. He felt the moistness of blood slowly pooling at his fingernails, but he only pressed harder.
“I did not realize this was WuYe City,” Wu Lingtian said monotonously.
“…I see.”
“I seem to have interrupted Sect Leader Fan’s nightly stroll,” Wu Lingtian said. “I should not bother you any longer.”
Wu Lingtian shifted to the side and began to walk around Fan Yi. Just as he walked past him, he felt a gentle grip catch the tips of his fingers. The strength used was negligible, but Wu Lingtian didn’t break away. He felt the coldness of the other man’s fingertips and refused to acknowledge the fire it reignited in his heart.
“You smell like blood.”
“It isn’t mine,” Wu Lingtian said.
From beginning to end, Wu Lingtian hadn’t looked up at Fan Yi once. Fan Yi pursed his lips. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard rumors of Rong Meihua’s crusades, but they were so perfectly veiled in lies, that no one was strong enough to question them. At the center of it all was Lord Yu Lan.
Fan Yi looked down at the hand in his. It remained so docilely against him. It didn’t flinch away and it didn’t grip him any harder. As if the thing holding his hand was fragile, Wu Lingtian remained perfectly still.
Fan Yi unconsciously tightened his grip. “Come to Screeching Sparrow Sect.”
“I should not bother Sect Leader Fan for something so trivial,” Wu Lingtian said.
Fan Yi laughed. “How could it be trivial? You may be a cultivator, but catching a cold is still a big deal! You wouldn’t want to be sick, would you?”
Wu Lingtian chose silence.
“Your hands are cold,” Fan Yi shifted, taking Wu Lingtian’s hand into both of his. “They’re usually so warm too. This is a sure sign that you’re getting sick. Just come up, take a bath, and change your clothes. That’s all you need to do.”
Wu Lingtian felt his eyes sting. “Thank you, Sect Leader Fan, but I should not.”
Fan Yi glanced at Wu Lingtian’s back. He gently turned his hand over. “You’re bleeding here. If you don’t want to go to my sect, then how about an inn?”
“…Sect Leader Fan is too kind. It’s a kindness I dare not accept,” Wu Lingtian said. He tugged his hand away and pressed it to his side.
Fan Yi looked at the back of Wu Lingtian’s head. He smiled teasingly. “Did I offend you the last time we met? I haven’t seen you in so long that it feels like you’ve been avoiding me. You keep thanking me for my kindness, but you haven’t even looked at me once.”
Wu Lingtian remained silent. He heard Fan Yi shift closer.
“Not looking at someone when you’re speaking to them is rude, you know,” Fan Yi said.
Wu Lingtian swallowed the lump in his throat. He slowly turned around and lifted his head. His red-rimmed eyes met Fan Yi’s gaze. The unnamable emotion clawed at his chest, but like a beautifully built dam, there was no release.
Fan Yi was good at hiding his surprise. His lashes trembled only slightly before he stepped forward and pulled Wu Lingtian into a tight hug. The younger man’s head laid limply against his shoulder.
“My offer still stands.”
“I cannot.”
“I know that’s how you feel now,” Fan Yi said, his voice gentle but firm, “but I’m simply reminding you. Whether it was then or now, if you ever feel like leaving, Screeching Sparrow Sect’s doors are always open to you.”
“I understand.”
Fan Yi patted Wu Lingtian’s back. “It doesn’t even have to be permanent. If you feel tired like you do today, you can come sit for a while, have a cup of tea. Just treat me like you would an old friend.”
“…You are my old friend,” Wu Lingtian murmured.
Fan Yi chuckled. “I’m honored to hear that.”
For a moment, Wu Lingtian allowed himself to fantasize what it would have been like if he hadn’t stumbled upon Rong Meihua and Li Ran, almost a century ago. If he hadn’t done so, he would already be by Fan Yi’s side. He wouldn’t have had to show such a pitiful display like he did right now.
Fan Yi was abruptly shoved back. He stared at Wu Lingtian, but didn’t reprimand him.
“I should go.”
“Alright. I won’t keep you then.”
Wu Lingtian pulled out Yu Lan. He mounted it, but didn’t take off. He could feel Fan Yi’s gaze on his back. He wanted to tell this man everything, even if it meant he would be hated. It had always been like this. Around Fan Yi, Wu Lingtian always felt the most vulnerable. For someone who was raised like him, it was a rare and special occurrence.
In Heixue Town, there was a saying: “If you find someone that makes you feel human, then you should never let them go. They’re your last path back to the human world.”
But it was too late. If Heixue Town was a hideous purgatory, then Wu Lingtian had already fallen into hell. He couldn’t take the path back to the human world anymore. It wasn’t a place for something like him.
“Lord Yu Lan?”
“…Farewell, Sect Leader Fan,” Wu Lingtian muttered.
After a century of experimentation, corpses and the shrill screams of puppets no longer made Wu Lingtian nauseous. However, as he stood again in the pouring rain, as he listened to Rong Meihua’s nonsensical blabber, as he stared at the corpse of a person he knew and was close to, Wu Lingtian truly felt like he was on his last leg.
“Shut. Up.”
Rong Meihua stopped. She looked at Wu Lingtian. “What did you just say to me?”
“I said,” Wu Lingtian turned to Rong Meihua with reddened eyes, “shut up.”
“You—”
A powerful surge of energy threw Rong Meihua back. She slammed into a nearby tree and dropped to the ground. A mouthful of blood threatened to spill out, but she managed to keep it back in. She had been too comfortable the past century—she almost forgot she was raising a wolf beside her.
“You promised me,” Wu Lingtian said. His voice was leaking with emotion that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He marched towards Rong Meihua, his hand clutching Yu Lan. “You. Promised. Me!”
“And you believed it?” Rong Meihua scoffed. She glanced behind Wu Lingtian, at the lifeless corpse. “It just goes to show how naïve you a—”
A sharp sword light danced across Rong Meihua’s eyes. She suppressed a scream as blood flowed down her face. She held her head in her hands as she felt the gash opening wider and wider.
“If I did everything you told me to do, you wouldn’t harm him,” Wu Lingtian said, his voice trembling. “That’s what you promised! I killed for you, I tortured people for you, I broke the laws of heaven for you and you still—you still killed my da-shixiong! Why?! Why?!”
Rong Meihua was lifted from the ground by the front of her clothes and slammed against the tree. She choked, but still looked at Wu Lingtian with amusement.
“I was getting a little bored,” Rong Meihua said, her hand gripping Wu Lingtian’s wrist tightly. “You were getting a little too complacent.”
“You wanted absolute obedience,” Wu Lingtian said. “That’s what you wanted. I gave you absolute obedience! I never spoke back to you once in the past hundred years! I carried out your orders—I cut off everyone I’ve ever cared about because you told me to. I just wanted to protect one person. Just…one…person, but you…”
Wu Lingtian’s grip grew slack. Rong Meihua fell to her feet. She watched Wu Lingtian with a twisted satisfaction as his tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Now you’re…telling me it was because I was too complacent? I…I was too complacent, so you killed Da-shixiong,” Wu Lingtian said.
He stumbled backwards and dragged himself to the limp corpse. He collapsed to his knees and brought the cold body to his chest.
“Did he…even mean anything to you?” Wu Lingtian asked.
“What could Li Ran have ever meant to me? From beginning to end, he was a pawn,” Rong Meihua said, smirking as she approached Wu Lingtian. “You’re the one I wanted to toy with. Honestly, you shouldn’t feel too bad. He would have died ages ago if it weren’t for—”
Yu Lan protruded from Rong Meihua’s chest. She looked down at the white sword and then back to its owner. The eyes that had been dull and dead for centuries had regained a new light of hatred.
“I want to kill you,” Wu Lingtian declared, through gritted teeth. “I want you to suffer just as much as Da-shixiong suffered before I cast you into the hell you belong to.”
“You can try,” Rong Meihua said cheerily. “I’d like to see that.”
She glanced at Li Ran. “Besides, I didn’t torture him. As you said before, for the sake of our master and disciple relationship, I killed him swiftly. I even gave back all his memories before I did so, so he wouldn’t be a confused ghost in death. In fact, I was quite merciful. I even—”
“Do you know what’s worse than death?” Wu Lingtian asked.
Rong Meihua frowned. She didn’t like that Wu Lingtian interrupted her, but she hadn’t seen this side of him in decades. It made her feel an odd thrill, so she decided to indulge him.
“What?”
“Realizing the person you love isn’t who you thought they were. Betraying their trust and stomping on their feelings,” Wu Lingtian said. “Realizing that even if they wanted to kill you, you would just let them. You love them too much. You don’t want to hurt them, so you’ll just let them hurt you instead.”
Rong Meihua was beginning to grow impatient. “What the hell are you even talking about? I—”
“He told me not to tell you. Maybe because he didn’t want you to feel any guilt,” Wu Lingtian said. “But I don’t think you will. He was thinking too much. You never cared about him to begin with.”
She felt antsy. She glared at Wu Lingtian and slapped him across the face. “Speak normally! What the hell are you trying to say!?”
“Da-shixiong loved you,” Wu Lingtian said. “He’s probably the only person who will ever love you. And you killed him. Just for you stupid little game.”
In the fight that ensued, Wu Lingtian nearly lost his life. He managed to get Li Ran’s sword, but he didn’t manage to retrieve his body. He would come to regret this for the months following, especially after he saw what Rong Meihua had done to him.
But after he returned to take revenge again, he was quickly subdued. He returned with just one goal in mind, but without his sword that contained his memories, and without any backup, he was only recaptured. He was recaptured, brainwashed, and then set up to play a new game.
It had always been like this. Rebellion meant more punishment, but this would be the last time.
When Wu Lingtian had timed a pigeon to be sent to Fan Yi, he hadn’t expected much. Maybe Fan Yi would think Wu Lingtian was playing a prank on him. Maybe after their last encounter, Fan Yi had come to despise Wu Lingtian. No matter what it was, Wu Lingtian didn’t care. At the very least, he got to write to Fan Yi one last time.
If Fan Yi had hung onto the letter a little longer or gently soaked it in water, he would have seen the real letter. The riddle had been written across it, containing memories that he and Fan Yi shared. If Wu Lingtian died, the truth would have been uncovered anyway. Even if he died, even if he was unable to uncover his memories or the truth of Li Ran’s death and the conspiracies that surrounded Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect, at least Fan Yi would be there.
That’s how much faith he had in Fan Yi. Fan Yi was his last resort.
But it turned out Fan Yi cared about him. It turned out that, when Wu Lingtian screamed for help, there was still someone there to answer. It turned out that Wu Lingtian had never been alone.
From the very first time I read the synopsis, I was hooked to Fan Yi going to grap Wu Lingtian from his lowest. This chapter makes it hit so much harder with more context. Thanks for the chapter!
Yes – the memories and the truth about who Li Ran was before, and everything Wu Lingtian did to protect him – it all adds to the impact of Fan Yi being there for him.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa thank you for reading 🥺
What a horrible, evil person to have so much power and authority! Her biggest mistake was failing her end of their agreement so Wu Lingtian was no longer bound by it. I love going back to the first chapter and now we know how he got there.
her breaking their agreement gave him the strength to fight back 😔 she was too confident in her own abilities and thought she already broke him lol– thanks for reading 😀
T-T