Chapter 3: Aggression—Part One

Wei WuXian wanted to wash his face so that he could gaze upon the face of his body’s

owner, 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, most likely 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 of spiritual power is so insignificant that it

could 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 footsteps approached. 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 with a small bowl set in front of it on the bottom of this one

opening.

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 pushed 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 things he came

upon were 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 have believed 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 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 so 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 as he ate.

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

14

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 with 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

sect! The madame 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 on the door. It cracked with

a clank.

At that moment, the two servants, A-Ding and A-Tong, were flirting with each other, and

they screamed as 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 treating a beggar or a fly. Most of the time, all of the

Mo family’s servants 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 toward 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 used to be a cultivator as well...”

It must have been Madame 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 Madame 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 crowd,

all of the chatter came to a halt. Despite this, 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!”

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.

15

Wei WuXian followed the voice and scanned the hall. 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 sect”.

Wearing drifting sleeves and flowing belts, the boys were doubtlessly a treat to the eyes.

Looking at the uniform, it was obvious that they were from the GusuLan Sect. They must

have also been younger generations of blood-relationship to the Lan Clan, as they all wore

white forehead ribbons of around a finger’s width, with a cloud motif sewn onto them.

The motto of the GusuLan Sect was “righteousness”. The forehead ribbon implied for the

disciples to “conduct oneself well”, and the cloud motif was the official motif of the Lan

clan, of which cultivators who came from other clans did not have the right to wear. Wei

WuXian got toothaches whenever he saw anybody from the Lan Sect. In his past life, he had

always thought of that sect’s uniform as “mourning clothes”, which was why he would never

mistake it.

Madame Mo hadn’t seen this nephew of hers in a while and only got over her dismay after a

long time, after 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 in 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 Madame 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 hidden 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.

Wei WuXian spoke, “I could go back if you want me to,” he pointed at Mo ZiYuan, “but tell

him to return the things 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? W-would I need to steal anything from you?”

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

Madame 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 slipped, falling to the ground with his foot only scraping him. Even so, Wei WuXian

still rolled on the ground, as if he really had been 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 was 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 was well as long as there was a good

show to watch. This one was much more interesting than the cultivators!

Before this, Madame 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 he disgraced them on purpose. She felt both

shock and hatred, “You’re making the scene on purpose, aren’t you?”

Wei WuXian replied blankly, “He stole my belongings, and I’m here to retrieve them. Does

that also count as making a scene?”

16

With so many pairs of eyes staring, Madame 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, it’s not as if he won’t return them.”

The boys from the Lan Sect stared speechlessly at one another. These young boys grew up

in a cultivation clan, exposed to splendor and that only. They had probably never seen

farces like this before 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 were 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?

Madame 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

wasn’t ashamed, I know to not look suspicious.”

Madame 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 had to keep his status in mind. But, now, he was a lunatic anyway,

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 to swing 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

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 toward 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 came close to pouncing on him when the leader of the boys

hurriedly stopped him, “Please calm down. Words are more powerful than weapons.”

Madame Mo saw that the boy was deliberately protecting the lunatic, and pulled a wary

smile, “This is my younger sister’s son. He’s not so bright up 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 in 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.”

Madame Mo was shaking from anger, “Yes, yes, please...”

17

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...”

Madame 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 was not 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 solemn looks on their

faces.

Although the GusuLan Sect 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?

These types of flags were called the “Phantom Attraction Flags”. If one was set on a living

person, it would attract all of the spirits, ghosts, moving corpses, or evil beings within a

certain area, so that they would only attack that person. Since the flag-bearing person

would have been turned into a living target, it was also called the “Target Flag.” It could also

be set on a house, but the house needed to have living humans inside of it. Then, the attack

range expanded to include everyone inside the house. Due to 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 the Phantom Attraction Flags was none other than the YiLing Patriarch!

It seemed that, although the cultivation world hated him on the surface, they still used the

inventions that he came up with.

A disciple standing on the roof saw him lingering around and spoke, “Please go back. This

is not a place someone 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 as he ran 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.”

18

Lan JingYi complained, “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

weren’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 beings and moving

corpses from within twenty-five hundred meters. 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, within 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 their laughter, after hearing his ridiculous words. Lan

JingYi also chuckled from the 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 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 come 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!”

Translator’s Notes

Lotus position: A cross-legged position for meditation purposes.

A-Ding: The prefix “A” (pronounced “ah”) can often be found in front of the names of

children or servants.

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

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

Sect: A sect is an organization for cultivation that may or may not be related by blood, while

a clan is a cultivation family related by blood. This means that GusuLan is a sect, with the

Lan clan being the leaders of the sect. This is what Wei WuXian referred to as he was

talking about the uniforms of the disciples who came—only those part of the clan are

allowed to wear cloud patterns, excluding the common members of the sect.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***