Wei Wuxian exchanged a look with Lan Wangji. Before they could start quietly discussing their options, one of the youths sitting on the ground suddenly started speaking.
“If you ask me, you shouldn’t have stabbed him just once. Why didn’t you just decapitate him?”
His voice wasn’t terribly loud, but the Demon-Quelling Cave was empty and cavernous; the moment he opened his mouth, the echo resounded everywhere. As such, there was no need to eavesdrop, since they could hear everything quite clearly.
The moment the boy spoke, Wei Wuxian realized he both looked and sounded familiar. It took a while to recall that he was the boy who’d gotten in that tussle with Jin Ling the other day—Jin Chan.
He took another look at the frosty, gloomy-looking youth beside the aforementioned boy. Who else could it be, if not Jin Ling?
Jin Ling didn’t even spare a look at Jin Chan, but kept his head down and said nothing. A loud rumble gurgled from the stomach of another boy sitting beside him.
“They’ve been gone for days,” the boy complained. “What do they even want from us?! If they want to kill us, to chop us to bits, they could at least make it quick. I’d rather be gnawed to death by a monster during a Night Hunt than starve to death here!”
The one blabbering on and on was Lan Jingyi.
“What else could they want?” Jin Chan shot back. “They must be planning to do the same thing he did to the Wen dogs during the Sunshot Campaign. They’ll turn us into his corpse puppets, then…then use us against our families so they can’t bring themselves to attack. They want to let their enemies do the work of killing each other off!” Through gritted teeth, he growled, “That despicable, inhuman Wei dog!”
All of a sudden, Jin Ling icily cut him off. “Shut up.”
Jin Chan was stunned. “Shut up? What do you mean ‘shut up’?”
“What do I mean?” Jin Ling echoed mockingly. “Did you go deaf or stupid, so you can’t understand human speech? Shut up means stop making such a racket!”
Having been tied up for a while, Jin Chan was in quite a cantankerous mood. “Who are you to tell me to shut up?!” he raged.
“What’s the use of spouting all that crap?” Jin Ling spat back. “Will the ropes break just because you keep going on and on and on? It’s so annoying to have to listen to you!”
“You!”
“We are trapped here,” another young voice interrupted. “There are countless walking corpses outside, and we have no idea if or when they will decide to charge in. Do you really still want to bicker at a time like this?”
The calmest voice of the bunch was, of course, Lan Sizhui.
“He started it!” Jin Chan objected. “What? You can cuss people out but won’t let them return the favor?! Heh—Jin Ling, who do you think you are? You think just because Lianfang-zun is the Cultivation Chief now, you will be one day? I won’t shut up. The way I see it, you…”
A thud echoed through the cave as Jin Ling slammed his head into Jin Chan’s. Jin Chan cried out in pain and cursed.
“You want a fight, bring it on! You’ve pissed me off now, you motherless, ill-bred brat!”
Jin Ling was absolutely livid when he heard this. He couldn’t throw punches with his arms bound, so he pummeled Jin Chan with his elbows and knees until the latter was yelping in pain. But Jin Ling was just one person, and Jin Chan always had a posse to back him up. The moment his cronies saw Jin Chan was at a disadvantage, they immediately yelled, “We’ll help!” and came swarming over.
Lan Sizhui, sitting nearby, was helplessly swept up into the melee. With great difficulty, he managed to urge the others to “calm down, all of you, calm down,” at first. But as he continued to get accidentally whacked again and again by flying elbows, his brows furrowed in pain and his face grew increasingly dark. In the end, he too joined the scuffle with a frustrated cry.
The three on the outskirts couldn’t watch any longer. Wei Wuxian took the lead, leaping onto the stone stairs before the Demon-Quelling Cave and hollering at the crowd.
“Hey! Everyone look here!”
His shout reverberated deafeningly through the Demon-Quelling Cave. The tussling youths all looked up. Seeing the familiar figure beside Wei Wuxian, Lan Sizhui loudly cried out in delight.
“Hanguang-jun!”
Lan Jingyi screamed even louder. “Hanguang-juuunaaaaaaaaah!”
“What’re you guys so happy about?” Jin Chan was seized with terror. “They’re…they’re accomplices!”
Wei Wuxian strode into the Demon-Quelling Cave. He pulled Suibian out of its sheath and offhandedly chucked it behind him. The sword was caught in freefall by a shadow that darted forward—it was Wen Ning.
The group of juniors screamed and shrieked again. “The G-G-G-G-Ghost General!”
Wen Ning raised Suibian and slashed the sword down toward Jin Ling. Jin Ling gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, but contrary to his expectations, he felt the Immortal-Binding Rope’s hold on him slacken as Suibian severed it. Wen Ning walked around the cave, slicing free all the Immortal-Binding Ropes. The juniors he set free could neither flee nor stay. Inside the cave was the Yiling Patriarch, the Ghost General, and, Hanguang-jun, who’d betrayed the orthodox way. But outside lurked countless walking corpses braying for food.
Caught on the horns of a dilemma, all they could do was shrink back into a corner and stare fixedly at the stoic Wen Ning as he busied himself around the cave.
Lan Sizhui, however, was beaming brightly. “Mo…Wei-qianbei. You’re here to rescue us, right? You weren’t the one who had us captured and brought here, right?”
Although it was a question, his expression spoke of complete trust and delight. Wei Wuxian felt his heart grow warm. He squatted down to ruffle Lan Sizhui’s hair, which had somehow stayed neat over the past few trying days, and mess it all up.