Chapter 1 Rebirth

“Wei Wu Xian is dead! What satisfying news!”

The encirclement of the unmarked burial grounds has just finished, and it is not yet the next day. Yet, this news as if bearing wings has already made its round of the cultivation world, spreading faster than the war did. Immediately, whether its is an aristocrat or a recluse monk, everyone is talking about how the four big Xuanmen families had joined hands, how all the small and big families, hundreds of them came together to participate in the hectic siege operation.

“Ancestor Yi Ling is dead? Who could kill him!”

“Who else could it be. His junior brother Jiang Cheng placed righteousness above his personal relations and brought the Yun Meng Jiang, Lan Ling Jin, Gu Su Lan, and Qing He Nie clans to spearhead the attack. The four families wiped out his lair, the unmarked burial grounds.”

“I have to say, they killed well.”

“Good, they killed well! This scourge has finally been plucked, root and all.”

“If not for the Yu Meng Jiang Clan taking him in and training him, Wei Wu Xian would have been a mediocre person who blended into his surroundings. He would never have been able to create the storms he did. Lord Jiang raised him as his own flesh and blood child, yet the kindness was thrown back when he openly defected and made the cultivation world his enemy. Not only disgracing the Jiang family, he also caused the tragic deaths of almost the whole Jiang Clan. A perfect example of a thankless wretch, kicking his benefactor in the teeth!”

“It’s impressive that Jiang Chen let this guy act arrogantly for so long, if it were me, when that fellow Wei defected I would not have stabbed him, instead I would have immediately cleaned out the whole sect, or I would have definitely stopped him from pulling all those insane stunts later. It’s not even worth to bring up all that same sector fellow initiate childhood friends sentiments.”

“Where did you guys come by this gossip? Wei Wu Xian wasn’t killed by Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng only dealt a blow to the main force. It’s the sorcery that Wei Wu Xian was practising himself that backfired on him, he ended up suffering from the eroding bites of his own ghosts and was chewed alive into a fine dust.”

“Hahahaha… It’s retribution, the ghosts he raised were like a group of badly leashed mad dogs, biting people all over the place. It ended up biting himself to death, serves him right!”

“However the suppression this time, if not for Jiang Cheng basing the plan around Wei Wu Xian’s weakness, its success or failure would have been hard to say ne. You all better not forget, Wei Wu Xuan still has an ace up his sleeve, that one night he managed to annihilate more than three thousand famous cultivators.”

“I heard it was more than three thousand, five thousand ba.”

“Really ludicrous…”

“Fortunately before his death he destroyed that monstrous device, if he had left left that thing harming the world, it would have been an even greater sin.”

“Ai… Speaking of this Wei Wu Xian, in those years he was the prestigious son of that respected family, with a good track record. Young, famous, and wild… How exactly did he reach this point…”

“This shows that in the path of cultivation one must stay to the right path. Straying onto the crooked evil path only provides momentary fame, and appears to be really impressive. Hei, in the end what became of him? Dead without even a corpse left.”

“His cultivation practises weren’t the only cause, Wei Wu Xian’s character is truly too bad, angering the gods and causing resentment in the people ah. In the cycle of reincarnation, good and evil will be repaid.”

……

After his death, the coffin is closed and a conclusion drawn. There is a general consensus, and whenever there is a tiny squeak of dissent, it is immediately suppressed.

It is only that pressing on everyone’s minds is one thought they dare not voice.

Wei Wu Xian’s remnant spirit cannot be called. In other words, his soul cannot be found.

Perhaps it became part of the food during the million ghost’s devouring.

Perhaps it escaped.

If the former occurred, it would naturally be to everyone’s delight and satisfaction. Nevertheless, Ancestor Yi Ling has the ability to upheave the heavens, to move mountains and drain the seas, this no one doubts. If the latter occurred, the moment his spirit is restored, and rebirth is seized, then, the cultivation world, even the whole mortal realm, will welcome an even more frenzied revenge and curse, and sink into a world without justice, under a reign of terror.

A hundred and twenty stone beasts from Zhen mountain cover and push down the top of the burial grounds. Each major family starts to hold frequent evocation rituals and thoroughly investigate the surroundings, they gather anomalies from all over the world and stay on high alert.

The first year, the winds were calm and the waves were quiet.

The second year, the winds were calm and the waves were quiet.

The third year, the winds were calm and the waves were quiet.

……

The thirteen year, the winds and waves were still as before, calm.

More and more people believed, that maybe, the spirit of Ancestor Yi Ling truly perished.

Even though he once turned his palm up and gathered clouds to turn it down and create rain, after all, there comes a day where he is the one that is overturned.

No one will forever be raised to an altar, and in the end, a legend is just a legend.

Ancestor Yi Ling is WWX, this is because WWX was born in Yi Ling, and according to my friend who has finished the novel, the location where he becomes OP?

Xuanmen - buddhism, basically the good faction.

righteousness above one’s personal relations - 大义灭亲, valuing justice over family ties

the winds were calm and the waves were smooth - all was calm

turned his palm up and gathered clouds to turn it down and create rain - very powerful and capable

The coffin is closed and a conclusion drawn - You can only judge a person's merits or demerits after death.

Chapter 2 Wild Thrashing

The second Wei Wu Xian opened his eyes, he was kicked by someone.

“Why are you playing dead?!” A voice thundered by his ear.

Being kicked in the chest, Wei Wu Xian nearly spat out blood. His head laid against the ground and his face turned towards the sky. He thought dazedly, ‘To dare kick this ancestor, you sure have guts.’

He doesn't know how many years it's been since he's heard a live voice talk, what's more it's such a loud ringing scolding, that his head spins and his eyes haze over, a buzzing noise sounds by his ear, echoing a voice, “Why don't you think about whose family land you're residing in now, whose rice you eat, and whose money you spend! So what if I take these few things? It's all rightfully mine anyways!”

Aside from the young voice of this male duck, his surroundings are filled by the sounds of chests and cupboards crashing. His eyes gradually clear up.

Within his line of vision, a dusky roof drifts into view, and a face with upturned eyebrows and eyes filled with green is currently spewing spittle above him, “You still dared to complain! Do you think I'm actually scared of you tattling? Do you honestly think anyone in this household will support you?”

Two strong men who appear to be servants circle up and report, “Lord, everything has been smashed!”

“So fast?”

“In this rundown house there were originally not many belongings.”

The lord  is filled with satisfaction and can’t resist sticking his nose up, “You have the guts to complain, who are you playing dead for now? Who would covet your type of junk, I’ve graciously helped you clean the house, let’s see how you report with no evidence! You think you’re so impressive for spending a few years in the cultivation world? In the end you’re just like a stray dog being chased away!”

Wei Wu Xian ponders, in a half dead daze:

I have been dead for many years, it’s honestly not an act.

Who’s this?

Where is this?

When did he ever force his way into someone else’s house?

Having kicked him and smashed his room, the lord has vented enough and brings along the two servants as he swaggers out of the door. Banging the door shut, a loud voice commands, “Watch this prison, don’t him out this month lest he disgrace us!”

Only after the group has gone far enough and silence has settled in does Wei Wu Xian think to sit up.

However his limbs don’t respond to his control, and he lies back down again. He simply rolls his body over to take in this unfamiliar place and the mess all around, head spinning.

On his side there is a bronze mirror that has been thrown to the floor and Wei Wu Xian smoothly picks it up to take a look. A face so white it’s unusual appears in the mirror, two uneven, asymmetrical crimson circles decorate his cheeks. He only needs to stick out a long, blood red tongue and he would be a perfect image of a hanged man’s ghost. Wei Wu Xian throws the mirror aside and touches his face and finds that his hand comes away covered in white powder.

Fortunately, this body does not have a naturally weird appearance, it just that the original owner had a very unique taste. A grown man actually covering his whole face with rouge like a **********, what’s more it’s done so uglily, yi, how can one stand it!

This shock shocked back some of his energy and Wei Wu Xian finally sits up, and realises that under his body is a circular curse array.

The array is a bright scarlet and the ring shape isn’t very circular, it is as if blood was used as a medium and it was drawn by hand. The array is still wet and exuding a fishy smell. In the centre of it a wild distorted incantation is painted and some of the words has been rubbed off by his body. The drawing and words both reveal an evil aura.

In any case, Wei Wu Xian has spent so many years being called some variation of devil practitioner or patriarch of evil that with one glance he is naturally able to tell that this formation isn’t for anything good.

It turns out he didn’t snatch anyone’s home — he was “offered” one!

This is a type of ancient forbidden technique, that is not so much an attacking array, as it is a curse. The user weaponizes self-mutilation and carves wounds on their own body, then, after using their blood to draw out the array and incantation, one will sit in the centre of the ring. Next is the summoning of a heinous, demonic deity and to pray that the summoned evil spirit will fulfill their wish. The price is that one must pay is dedicating their body to the spirit, and returning their own soul back to the earth.

This is the forbidden technique of “offering a home”, the opposite of a “forceful possession”.

Due to its high cost and heavy imbalance in what is traded, there have been few who have dared to try this. After all, there are few in the world who possess a strong enough desire to willingly give their all. Past examples recorded in history show reliable evidence that in these past thousands of years, only three or four people have attempted the technique. Among them, aside from a single exception, all their motives were revenge and the evil spirit summoned always perfectly carried out their wish in a cruel and bloody manner.

Wei Wu Xian is annoyed.

How on earth did he get classified as a “heinous, demonic deity”?

It can be said that his reputation is a little bad and his death was barbaric, but firstly, he doesn’t haunt people and secondly, he never seeked revenge, in fact he dares to swear to heaven and earth that you will never be able to find a more calm and virtuous wandering ghost!

The most difficult thing is that once the spirit has been invited into the host body, it is taken that a contract has been accepted between both parties. The spirit has to fulfill the summoner’s wish, or risk the curse backfiring and having their soul destroyed, never to be reincarnated!

Sure enough, when he raises his hands to take a look, the two wrists are interweaved by a number of wounds. Tearing off the belt, underneath the black shirt, he sees on his chest and abdomen are more injuries made by a sharp weapon. The wounds have already stopped weeping blood, but Wei Wu Xian knows that these aren’t ordinary cuts. If the possessor doesn’t achieve the body’s desire, the wounds will never heal. The longer he delays, the worse it will become. Over a period of time, this will result in him who received this body, both flesh and soul,  being ripped apart alive.

Wei Wu Xian triple  checks to confirm, then repeatedly yells out in his heart, “What nonsense!”, before he finally, reluctantly, uses the wall as a support to stand up.

While this room can be said to be big, it is empty and cold, and the cotton bedspread seems to have gone an unknown number of days unwashed. There is a basket in the corner that was used to collect trash, and when it was kicked just now crushed paper rolled out and covered the floor. Wei Wu Xian looks around and picks up one of the paper balls, opens it up, and find that it is chock full of tiny words. Hurriedly, he gathers all the paper balls on the ground.

The words on the papers should have been written by this body’s owner when he was feeling depressed as a way of venting. Some words, sentences, and paragraphs are incomprehensible and jumbled up. The author’s anxiety and tension through the wobbly letters blow through. Wei Wu Xian holds onto his patience and reads the pages one by one, yet as he reads on, something begins to feel off.

Making a few assumptions, he roughly sets a few things in order.

It turns out that the owner of this body was called Mo Xuan Yu, and this place is Mo Village.

Mo Xuan Yu’s maternal grandfather is the rich landlord of this region. The population of the clan was thin, and he had no sons in his life, his many years of diligent farming only giving him 2 daughters. The second daughter’s name is taboo and isn’t mentioned. Anyways, the eldest daughter is a lawfully wedded first wife and the husband she caught was one who came to live with her family. Although the second daughter had outstanding looks she was born from a servant, and so originally, the Mo Family had planned to marry her away without consideration. Unexpectedly, she would have a fortuitous encounter. At sixteen, the master of a family that was part of the cultivation world passed by, and with a glance, began liking her.

The society then worshipped cultivators, the xuanmen family the cultivator from was in the eyes of the people blessed by the gods, and they possessed a mysterious and noble air. Originally the people of Mo Village held despise towards this sort of worship, however that clan head often times helped them out financially, and the benefits the Mo Family received were undeniable. The winds changed, and under the envious gaze of everyone else, the Mo Family became proud of this attention. The Mo Family’s second lady soon gave birth to a child, this was Mo Xuan Yu.

Of course, good things never last. That family head had been greedy for something fresh and went for some wild game, and after only a few short years of eating, he had grown tired of this. When Mo Xuan Yu turned four, his father never dropped by again.

Gradually, the mouths of the Mo Village changed again, the original despise and ridicule came back, this time with a greater disdain towards mercy.

Although the second lady was unhappy, she firmly believed that that clan head would not turn a blind eye towards his own son. Sure enough, when Mo Xuan Yu turned fourteen, that master sent people to fetch him back.

The second lady held her head up high again. The entire family began proudly proclaiming that her son would in the future rise to become the sect’s head, acheive meteoric success and bring honor to his ancestors. For the third time, talk rose up in Mo Village and the prevailing attitudes shifted again.

However, before Mo Xuan Yu achieved any success in his cultivation, or inherited his father’s position, he had already been driven out.

To add salt onto the wound, he had been chased out for an extremely ugly reason.

It was because Mo Xuan Yu was a cut sleeve, who had the guts to openly harass members of his sect. The public breaking of this scandal, paired with his lack of achievements in cultivation, led to there being no more reason for him to remain among the family clan.

To make matters worse, Mo Xuan Yu seemed to had received some unknown shock. Upon his return he had become mad, there were good days and bad days, as if he had been scared silly.

At a loss for words, Wei Wu Xian’s eyebrows twitched twice.

Not only was he a madman, he was a gay madman.

No wonder the makeup all over his face was painted like some terror, no wonder the huge array dripping fresh blood did not incite any sense that something was wrong. Even if Mo Xuan Yu painted the entire room from the floor to the walls to the roof in fresh blood, he was afraid that no one would find it strange. Because as everyone knows, his brain is sick!

Crestfallen, he returned home to a barrage of ridicule, with no apparent room to salvage the situation. The Mo Family’s second lady could not withstand such attacks and a mouthful of resentment lodged itself in her chest, choking her to death.

At this time Mo Xuan Yu’s grandfather passed away, leaving the household in the hands of the eldest daughter. This Lady Mo probably rarely met her sister since young and even held a sort of disdain towards her sister’s bastard child. She had a single scion, that is, the one who had just charged into loot the room, called Mo Zi Yuan. When Mo Xuan Yu was brought away by his father, the first Mo Lady was envious. She felt that she herself could easily create familial ties with the cultivation world, and had counted on the cultivators sent over to bring Mo Zi Yuan along to join the sect.

Naturally, she was rejected, or rather, she was ignored.

This wasn’t some ‘Buy one get one free’ wet market stand where you could bargain back and forth!

Confidence from an unidentifiable source filled the family, and they all had this strange belief that Mo Zi Yuan definitely had the caliber, the natural talent, and if it had been him who went at the start, the acknowledgement of the sect would have been easily won. Nothing like the disappointment his cousin turned out to be. After Mo Xuan Yu left, although Mo Zi Yuan was still young irrational ideas had been repeatedly imparted onto him, and he was left unquestioningly convinced in these teachings. Twice every three days, he would hound Mo Xuan Yu and make a pass at humiliating him. He scolded Mo Xuan Yu for stealing his own cultivation path, and towards those talismans, cultivation pills and small devices brought back from the sect, Mo Zi Yuan loved them so much he could not bear to put them down. He treated them all as his own belongings, what he wanted to take he took, what he wanted to break, he broke.

Although Mo Xuan Yu’s mental capacities often failed him, he knew that he was being insulted, and beared with it again and again. Despite this, Mo Zi Yuan’s behaviour intensified and to all appearances cleared out his whole house. His limits reached, Mo Xuan Yu went before his aunt and uncle to lay the situation bare. Hence, today Mo Zi Yuan came knocking on his door again.

The words on the paper are small and dense, Wei Wu Xian feels his eyes hurt from looking at them. He wonders what kind of shit days this person had.

No wonder Mo Xuan Yu was willing to use this forbidden technique of offering  a home, and invited malicious spirits and gods to enter his body and revenge him.

Finally done abusing his eyes, Wei Wu Xian’s head starts to hurt next. Logically speaking, upon using this forbidden technique, the user has to repeat in heart his wish, and as the spirit that was called, Wei Wu Xian should be able to hear the request in detail.

But this forbidden technique, he had the fear that Mo Xuan Yu brought back an extract of a fragmented book from some unknown place, and thus did not learn it in full, hence he missed that step. Although Wei Wu Xian was able to roughly guess that he wanted revenge against people from the Mo Family, but exactly how did he want his revenge to be carried out? To what event did he want him to go to? To snatch back the things that were taken from him? To beat up the Mo Family?

Or is it… To wipe out their entire family?

More often than not the request is to exterminate the whole family! As long as one has mixed with the cultivation world before, you would definitely know which phrases are used most during evaluations. To forget a favor and return it with ingratitude, cruelty without reason, self-centred and indifferent to the plight of one’s own family, behaviour that even the Heaven’s can’t tolerate, all of them wonderful, brilliant and varied. Is there anyone more in line with “devils and monsters” than him to choose? Since Mo Xuan Yu dared to pick and call him by name, the wish will definitely not be easy to accomplish.

Helplessly, Wei Wu Xian says, “You came looking for the wrong guy…”

-------

upturned eyebrows and eyes filled with green - angry eyebrows and eyes filled with rage/envy/jealousy, all connotations of green.

cut sleeve - gay

some terror - 老吊爷 I have no idea what this means

twice every three days - practically everyday

To forget a favor … behaviour that even the Heaven’s can’t tolerate - the author just threw out a whole bunch of idioms. Read them here.

Question: Does gay or cut sleeve sound better? The term in chinese sounds way classier than gay so I’ve been debating with myself.

Please point out if any terms sound weird.

I localized some sentences to flow better while still bearing the overall chinese feel and intention. Can you spot them? :’)

I actually considered this chapter 1 and the prev chapter the prolougue so if you read my novel updates review the action does start in 'chapter 2', or rather, the next chapter

and hope you like it cuzz these is my first bl hahahahah

Aggression—Part One

Wei WuXian wanted to wash his face to have gaze upon the face of his body’s owner after death, but there wasn’t any water in the room, not even for drinking or washing.

The only basin-like container was probably, he suspected, for lavatory purposes instead of cleansing.

He pushed the door, but it was fastened with a latch, probably to prevent him from wandering outside.

None of these things made him feel the joy of reincarnation at all!

He figured that he might as well sit in the Lotus position* and get used to his new home. Time flew by, and the day had passed. When he opened his eyes, sunlight seeped inside from the gaps of the door and windows. Although he could stand up and walk around, his still felt lightheaded.

Wei WuXian was puzzled, Mo XuanYu’s amount spiritual powers are insignificant enough to be ignored, so there shouldn’t be a reason as to why I can’t control this body properly. Why doesn’t it work?

Then, a noise came from his stomach, and he realized that this wasn’t related to his spiritual powers at all. In fact, it was because this body had not practiced inedia, and felt hunger. If he didn’t scavenge for food, he might become the first villainous ghoul who starved to death upon arrival.

Wei WuXian lifted his foot and was about to kick the door open, when suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps appeared. Someone stomped on the door and grunted, “It’s mealtime!”

Nonetheless, there was no indication of the door being opened. Wei WuXian lowered his head and saw a miniature door on the bottom of this one opening, with a small bowl set in front of it.

The servant outside shouted again, “Chop-chop! What are you waiting for? Take the bowl out after you finish!”

The door was slightly smaller than the kind for dogs to crawl through—it didn’t allow the passage of humans, but bowls could be easily taken inside. There were two dishes and one serving of rice, which looked quite unpleasant.

Wei WuXian played with the pair of chopsticks that were stuck into the rice, feeling quite bitter.

The YiLing Patriarch had just returned to the mortal world, but the first thing he came upon was a kick and a scolding, not to mention the leftovers that served as his welcoming-meal. Where were the blood and gore? The ruthless slaughter? The absolute destruction? Who would believe him? He was like the tiger in a flatland, the dragon in shallow water, the phoenix without feathers, losing his advantage and belittled by those weaker than him.

Then, the servant outside spoke again, but with laughter this time, “A-Ding*! Come here!”

*The prefix “A” (pronounced “ah”) can often be found in front of the names of servants.

The sweet voice of a girl answered from a distance, “A-Tong, are you delivering the meal to the one in there again?”

A-Tong clicked his tongue, “Why else would I come to this ominous courtyard?”

A-Ding’s voice sounded closer, as if she was in front of the door, “You just deliver one meal a day, and nobody cares if you’re lazy. This is such an idle task, yet you think it’s ominous. Look at me. I’m busy to the point that I can’t even go outside to play.”

A-Tong complained, “Delivering his meal is not the only work I do! How can you dare to go outside these days? With so many walking corpses* out there, everyone’s locking themselves in their houses.”

Wu WuXian squatted by the door and listened while eating.

It appeared to be that, ever since a while ago, the Mo Village hadn’t been peaceful. Walking corpses, like their name, were dead people who could move, a type of low-level altered corpse*. Unless the deceased person held strong resentment, they were usually dull-eyed and sluggish. They weren’t overly dangerous, but they were enough to alarm the average person, especially their vomit-inducing stench.

However, to Wei WuXian, they were the most obeying puppets. When he heard them being mentioned, he even felt a sense of familiarity.

A-Tong seemed to be making a face, “If you want to go outside, you’ll have to take me so that I can protect you…”

A-Ding replied, “You? Protect me? Stop bragging. Are you sure you can defeat those things?”

A-Tong said bitterly, “If I can’t defeat them, other people can’t either.”

A-Ding laughed, “How do you know that other people can’t defeat them? Let me tell you—today, some cultivators came to Mo Village. I heard that they were from a very prominent clan! The madam is talking to them in the main hall, and everyone in town is watching. Can’t you hear the noise? I don’t have time to play around with you; they might give me more work afterwards.”

Wei WuXian listened attentively. Sure enough, the faint bustling sounds of people came from the east. He pondered for a moment, stood up, and kicked the door. It cracked with a clank.

At the moment, the two servants, A-Ding and A-Tong, were flirting with each other, and screamed when the door suddenly flung open. Wei WuXian threw away his bowl and walked outside, flinching from the glare of the sunlight. He brought his hand to the tip of his brow and closed his eyes for a moment. Just now, A-Tong screamed even louder than A-Ding, but as he took a closer look and realized that it was Mo XuanYu, the person whom everyone could humiliate, his courage came back to him. He figured that he probably lost face in front of A-Ding, and wanted to make up for it, so he jumped over and waved his hands like he was reproaching a dog, “Shoo! Shoo! Go away! Why did you come out?”

A-Tong treated him even worse than he treated a beggar or a fly. Most of the time, all of the servants of the Mo family treated Mo XuanYu like this because he never resisted. Wei WuXian gave A-Tong a light kick, knocking him over, and laughed, “How daring of a mere errand-running child to humiliate others like this.”

With that, he headed towards the commotion in the east. Quite a lot of people crowded in and around the East Hall. Just as Wei WuXian stepped into the courtyard, a woman spoke in a voice a few pitches louder than the others’, “A member from the younger generations of our family use to be a cultivator as well…”

It must have been Madam Mo trying to make connections with the cultivation family again. Wei WuXian didn’t wait for her to finish speaking, and quickly hustled through the crowd, into the hall, and grinned, “I’m coming, I’m coming. Right here!”

A middle-aged lady sat in the hall, with well maintained health and wearing extravagant clothing. She was Madam Mo. Her husband sat below her, and the opposite side sat a few white-robed boys*. Because of how an unkempt freak just appeared from within the people, all of the chatter came to a halt, but Wei WuXian spoke shamelessly, as if he did not notice the motionless atmosphere at all, “Who was calling me earlier? I am the only one who use to be a cultivator!”

*In this case, the word “boys” refers to older youths in their teenage years.

There was too much powder on his face, and as he smiled, the powder sprinkled off. A younger cultivator was on the brink of laughing, letting out a pfft sound. His face grew serious again as another one, seemingly the leader of the group, gave him a disapproving look.

Wei WuXian followed the voice and scanned over. He thought that the servants were being ignorant and exaggerated the situation, but he was surprised to see that they were really disciples of a “prominent clan”.

The boys wore robes with drifting sleeves and flowing belts, appearing to be ikemen and doubtlessly a treat to the eyes. Looking at the uniform, it was obvious that they were from the GusuLan clan. They must have also been younger generations of blood-relationship to the Lan family, as they all wore white forehead ribbons around a finger’s width, with cloud patterns sewn onto them.

The motto of the GusuLan clan was “righteousness”. The forehead ribbon implied to “conduct oneself well”, and the cloud pattern was the official pattern of the Lan family, of which cultivators who came from other families did not have the right to wear. Wei WuXian got toothaches whenever he saw anybody from the Lan clan. In his past life, he had always thought of his clan’s uniform as “mourning clothes”, which was why he would never mistake it.

Lady Mo hadn’t seen this nephew of hers in a while, and only got over her dismay after a long time, when she realized who the heavily-makeuped person was. She was furious, but she didn’t want to lose her temper and discompose herself, so she lowered her voice at her husband, “Who let him out? Get him back there!”

Her husband promptly smiled to calm her and walked over with an irksome look, ready to pull him out of here. However, Wei WuXian suddenly dropped to the ground, his limbs tightly clinging to the floor. Nobody could get him up, even after more servants were called to help. As Lady Mo’s face darkened bit by bit, her husband was also sweating. He scolded, “… You… Damn madman! If you don’t go back now, wait and see how I’ll punish you!”

Although everyone in the Mo Village knew that the Mo family had a young master who lost his marbles, Mo XuanYu had already hid in that dark room for a couple of years, scared to come outside. After seeing how both his face and actions were like those of a monster’s, the people whispered among themselves, looking forward to a good show to watch. Wei WuXian spoke, “I could go back if you wanted me to,” he pointed at Mo ZiYuan, “But tell him to return the things that he stole from me first.”

Mo ZiYuan did not expect that the good-for-nothing lunatic had the guts to cause trouble here, even after his disciplining yesterday. His face grew pale, “That’s nonsense! When did I ever steal your things? Would, would I need to steal anything from you?”

Wei WuXian said, “Yeah, yeah. You didn’t steal, you robbed!”

Madam Mo didn’t say anything yet, but Mo ZiYuan was furious, raising his foot to kick him. However, a white-robed boy carrying a sword moved his finger slightly, and Mo ZiYuan’s feet slipped, falling to the ground with his foot only scraping him. Even so, Wei WuXian still rolled on the ground, as if he was really kicked over, and pulled open the front of his robe, showing the footprint that Mo ZiYuan made yesterday.

The others thought that, obviously, Mo XuanYu couldn’t have kicked himself. Along with the fact that Mo ZiYuan had always been imprudent and arrogant, who else could have done it? No matter what, the Mo family had been being too ruthless to their own blood relative. It was plain to see that, when he first came back, he wasn’t this insane, and so it must have been worsened by the people of this family. Nevertheless, all is well as long as there was a good show to watch. This one was much more interesting than the cultivators!

Before this, Madam Mo ignored him, as she didn’t bother to argue with a sick person. She ordered the others to take him out. Now she knew—Mo XuanYu had definitely come prepared. His head was completely clear and deliberately disgraced them. She felt both shock and hatred, “You made a big scene on purpose, didn’t you?”

Wei WuXian replied blankly, “He stole my belongings, and I’m here to retrieve them. Does that also count as making a big scene?”

With so many pairs of eyes staring, Madam Mo could neither hit him nor throw him out. Anger welled up deep inside her, and she could only forcefully compromise the two sides, “Stealing? Robbing? That’s a bit disrespectful, if you ask me. We are all part of one family, and he only wanted to take a look at them. A-Yuan* is your younger brother, so what’s wrong with taking a few of your things? As an older brother, you shouldn’t be reluctant to lend one or two playthings, should you? It’s not as if he won’t return them.”

*The “A” prefix can also be used to refer to someone you’re close to. A-Yuan refers to Mo ZiYuan.

The boys from the Lan clan stared speechlessly at one another. These young boys grew up in a cultivation clan, exposed to splendor and that only. They’d probably never seen farces like this, or even heard of this kind of logic. Wei WuXian laughed hysterically in his mind, and extended his hand, “Then, return them.”

Of course, it was impossible for Mo ZiYuan to return anything, having either thrown them out or disassembled them. Even if he was able to return them, his pride wouldn’t have allowed it. His face turned purple with anger and he shouted, “… Mom!” His glare raged, are you really allowing him to treat me like this?

Lady Mo glowered at him, signaling for him to not worsen the situation. However, Wei WuXian spoke again, “Not only should he not have stolen my belongings, he shouldn’t have stolen them in the middle of the night. Everyone knows that I am into men. Even if he was not ashamed, I knew to not look suspicious.”

Lady Mo gasped and shouted, “What are you talking about, in front of the villagers? How shameless—A-Yuan is your cousin!”

In terms of running wild, Wei WuXian was definitely a master. In the past, if he wanted to run wild, he would have to keep his status in mind, but now, he was a lunatic anyways, which meant that he could do whatever he wanted to, whichever way he wanted. He stiffened his neck and argued defiantly, “Even though he knew that I was his cousin, he chose to not avoid me, so who was more shameless? I don’t care about your reputation, but don’t ruin my innocence! I still want to find a good man!”

Mo ZiYuan let out a loud scream and started swinging a chair at him. As soon as Wei WuXian saw that his anger finally went out of control, he rolled over and climbed up, dodging so that the chair only smashed on the ground, falling apart in the process. The mass of people in the East Hall were originally gloating at the disgrace of the Mo family, but, after the fight started, they’d all fled away. Wei WuXian bolted towards the group of boys from the Lan clan, who all gaped at the scene, and yelled, “Did everyone see that? Did you? The burglar is also beating someone up! How heartless!”

Mo ZiYuan chased him, and was close to pouncing on him, when the leader of the boys hurriedly stopped him, “Please calm down. Words are more powerful than weapons.”

Madam Mo saw that the boy was deliberately protecting the lunatic, and pulled a smile warily, “This is my younger sister’s son. He’s not so bright here; everyone from the Mo Village knows that he is a lunatic, and often speaks strange words that shouldn’t be taken seriously. Cultivator, please…”

Before she finished her sentence, Wei WuXian’s head peeked from behind the boy’s back and glared, “Who said that my words shouldn’t be taken seriously? Next time, try stealing anything from me again. You steal once, and I cut off one of your hands!”

Mo ZiYuan was originally held down by his father, but, after hearing this, he was close to losing his temper again. Wei WuXian lept outside quickly, and the boy blocked the entrance at once, switching to another topic with a serious tone, “Then, we will borrow the West Courtyard for the night. Please remember the things that I’ve talked about—after nightfall, close all of the windows, don’t come outside, or worse, walk toward the courtyard.”

Madam Mo was shaking from anger, “Yes, yes, please…” Mo ZiYuan found it beyond belief, “Mom! The lunatic insulted me in front of so many people, and that’s it? You told me before; you told me that he was only a…”

Madam Mo commanded, “Be quiet. Can’t you wait until we go back?”

Mo ZiYuan had never been at such a disadvantage or been disgraced like this before, with his mother’s scolding making the situation worse. He was full of hatred, and thought, this lunatic is going down tonight!

After Wei WuXian finished flipping out, he walked out the door of the Mo family’s place, and showed his face around the Mo village. Although he surprised countless people, he was, in fact, loving every second of it, and finally realized the delight of being a lunatic. He was even starting to approve of the makeup that resembled a hanged ghost, almost unwilling to wash it away. He fixed his hair and looked at his wrists. The cuts didn’t seem like they were healing at all, which meant that a slight revenge like this would not be approved by the forbidden technique.

Would he really have to eliminate the Mo family?

To be honest, it wouldn’t be too difficult of a task.

Wei WuXian strolled back to the Mo family’s West Courtyard. The disciples of the Lan clan were standing on top of the roofs and walls, discussing with a solemn look.

Although the GusuLan clan contributed greatly during the siege on him, at that time, these juniors were either not born yet or still young children. He shouldn’t direct his hate towards them, so Wei WuXian decided to linger around and observe what they were going to do. After a while, he felt like something was wrong.

Why did the fluttering black flags on top of the roofs and walls look so familiar to him?

This type of flags was called the “Phantom Attraction Flag”. If it was set on a living person, it would attract all of the spirits, wronged ghosts, moving corpses, or evil beings within a certain area, so that they would only attack that person. Because the flag-bearing person would be turned into a living target, it was also called the “Target Flag.” It could also be set on a house, but the house must have living humans inside of it. Then, the attack range would expand to include everyone inside the house. Because of how there would always be a sinister energy that surrounded the area in which the flag was set in, as if there was a swirling black wind, they were also called “Black Wind Flags”. Arranging the flag formation in the West Courtyard and not allowing anyone to approach them must have meant that they wanted to lead the Walking Corpses here and capture them in one go.

As for why they looked familiar… How could they have not come across as familiar? The creator of Phantom Attraction Flags was none other than the YiLing Patriarch!

It seemed like that, although the cultivation world hated him on the surface, they still used the the inventions that he came up with.

A disciple standing on the roof saw him lingering around, and spoke, “Please go back. This isn’t where a person like you should come.”

Although he was being driven away, it was out of kindness, and the tone also differed from those of the servants in the Mo family. Wei WuXian caught him off guard and quickly hopped up, grabbing one of the flags.

The disciple was startled and jumped down to chase him, “Do not move. That is not something you should take.”

Wei WuXian yelled while running away, looking like a real lunatic with his hair disheveled and limbs flinging about, “I’m not giving it back, I’m not giving it back! I want this thing! I want this!”

The disciple caught up to him in a few strides and grabbed his arm, “If you are not going to give it back, I am going to hit you!”

Wei WuXian held onto the flag, unwilling to let go of it. The leader of the boys was setting up the flag formation, and lightly hopped off the roof when he heard of the ruckus, “JingYi, cut it out. Do not make a fuss about it and just take the flag.”

Lan JingYi spoke, “SiZhui, I did not actually hit him! Look at him, messing up the flag formation!”

During the tug-of-war, Wei WuXian had already checked over the Phantom Attraction Flag in his hands. The motifs were drawn correctly and the incantations were complete. There wasn’t any errors, so nothing would go wrong while using them. However, the person who drew on the flag was lacking in experience, so it would only attract evil being and moving corpses from within five li*. That should be enough, though. There shouldn’t be any malicious creatures in a place as small as the Mo Village.

Lan SiZhui smiled at him, “Young Master Mo, the sky is growing dark, and we are going to start capturing the walking corpses soon. It will be dangerous at night time, so it would be best for you to return to your room.”

Wei WuXian looked him over. He was fair and refined, with a dignified appearance and smiling faintly. Wei WuXian silently approved of him. The flag formation was set in an organized way, and his mannerisms were also respectful, making him a disciple with astonishing potential. He didn’t know that, at a conservative clan such as the Lan clan, who on Earth brought up such a junior.

Lan SiZhui spoke again, “This flag…” Before he finished, Wei WuXian threw the Phantom Attraction Flag onto the ground and humphed, “It’s just a flag, so what’s the big deal? I can draw way better than this!”

He sprinted off the moment he threw the flag away. The boys who stood on the roof to watch the bustle almost fell off from the laughter, after hearing his ridiculous words. Lan JingYi also chuckled from anger and picked up the Phantom Attraction Flag, “What a maniac!”

Wei WuXian continued to roam around, doing nothing, and finally moved back to the small courtyard that belonged to Mo XuanYu.

He ignored the broken bolt and the mess on the ground, picked a relatively clean spot, and sat in the lotus position again.

However, before daylight came, he was pulled out of meditation by some noise from the outside.

A series of chaotic footsteps quickly approached, along with cries and screams. Wei WuXian heard a few phrases being repeated, “… Barge in and drag him out!” “Notify the officers!” “What do you mean ‘notify the officers’? Beat him to death!”

He opened his eyes to see that a few servants had already came in.

The whole courtyard was set alight with fire. Someone cried out, “Drag the insane murderer to the Main Hall and make him pay for it with his life!”

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Lotus position: a cross-legged position for meditation purposes

*Altered corpse: a corpse that had become alive, usually due to human interference

*The “A” prefix can also be used to refer to someone you’re close to. A-Yuan refers to Mo ZiYuan.

*one li is 500 meters or 1/3 of a mile.