Jiang FengMian, “This is your mom’s Zidian. Zidian knows its masters. I don’t think it’d let me…”
As he spoke, he touched Zidian with his hand. However, just as he came into contact with it, Zidian retracted obediently. It immediately turned into a ring and wrapped itself around one of his fingers.
Jiang FengMian froze at once.
Zidian was Yu ZiYuan’s best weapon. Yu ZiYuan’s intention was its most important command. Zidian could recognize multiple masters, but there was an order. Madam Yu was undoubtedly the primary master of Zidian. Her command was to tie Jiang Cheng up until he was safe, which was why even though Jiang Cheng was also its master, he couldn’t struggle out of its constraint.
Nobody knew when, but Jiang FengMian had been recognized as the secondary master of Zidian. In front of him, Zidian determined them to be safe, and thus it loosened.
But Madam Yu had never said that she let Zidian recognize Jiang FengMian as its master as well.
Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian had finally broken apart. They collapsed to each side. Jiang FengMian asked, “What is going on? Why would you two be tied onto a boat by Zidian?”
As though he saw something that could save them, Jiang Cheng clutched him, “Today the Wen Sect’s people were at our sect. Mom had an argument with them and started fighting with the Core-Melting Hand! Mom might be at a disadvantage. Later, there might be even more enemies. Father, let’s go back and help her! Let’s go!”
Hearing this, all of the disciples looked shocked. Jiang FengMian asked, “The Core-Melting Hand?!”
Jiang Cheng, “Yes, Father! We…”
Before he could finish, a purple light flashed, and Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian were tied up again. In the position that they had been, the two collapsed onto the smaller boat. Jiang Cheng’s face was blank, “… Father?!”
Jiang FengMian, “I’ll go back. You two leave. Don’t turn in any way. Don’t return to Lotus Pier. After you reach the shore, try to go to Meishan as soon as possible to find your sister and your grandmother.”
Wei WuXian, “Uncle Jiang!!!”
As the shock passed, Jiang Cheng kicked the side of the boat furiously. The boat kept on shaking. “Father let me go! Let me go!”
Jiang FengMian, “I will go back to find Third Lady.”
Jiang Cheng glowered at him, “We can go back and find her together, can’t we?!”
Jiang FengMian stared into his eyes. Suddenly, he reached out. Only after pausing in the air did he finally touch Jiang Cheng’s head, slowly, “A-Cheng, be well.”
Wei WuXian, “Uncle Jiang, if anything happens to you, he won’t be well.”
Jiang FengMian turned his eyes to him, “A-Ying, A-Cheng… you must look after him.”
He returned to the larger boat. The two boats brushed against each other before parting and drifting farther and farther away. Jiang Cheng shouted in despair, “Dad!!!”
The boat drifted down the current.
They didn’t know how long had passed before Zidian loosened. It became a silver ring around Jiang Cheng’s finger.
The two had been shouting for the whole ride. Their throats were already hoarse. After they had been unbound, they didn’t say anything and began to sail back. They didn’t have oars, so they paddled with their hands, against the flow of the river.
Madam Yu said that the lashes he had received wouldn’t heal in less than a month. However, right now, Wei WuXian felt that although where he had been whipped still burned and tingled, it didn’t affect his ability to move too much. With the determination of somebody on the verge of death, the two of them paddled as though their lives depended on it. Two hours later, using nothing but their hands, they finally returned to Lotus Pier.
It was already late into the night.
The gates of Lotus Pier were tightly shut. Outside, lights glowed brightly. Fragments of moonlight flowed along the crystalline water. Dozens of large lanterns in the shape of nine-petaled lotuses floated by the dock in silence.
Everything was the same as before. Yet, it was because of how everything was the same as before that it tormented the heart.
The two stopped when they arrived at the middle of the lake. Poised in the water, they felt their hearts thump loudly. Neither dared approach the dock and rush upshore to see what exactly was going on inside.
Tears swirled within Jiang Cheng’s eyes. Both his arms and his legs were shivering. A while later, Wei WuXian spoke, “… Let’s not enter from the gates right now.”
Jiang Cheng somehow managed to nod. Without making a noise, the two paddled the boat onto the other side of the lake. An old willow tree grew there. Its roots were buried inside the dirt of the shore, but its broad trunk grew sideways along the surface of the lake. Its branches dipped into the water. In the past, the boys of Lotus Pier often walked down the trunk of the willow tree all the way until its tip to sit there and fish.
After the two docked the boat behind the boughs of the willow, they went ashore under the cover of the branches and the darkness of the sky. Wei WuXian had always been used to flipping over walls. He tugged at Jiang Cheng and whispered, “This way.”
Jiang Cheng was both shocked and scared. He had almost no sense of direction as he walked against the wall behind Wei WuXian. After they had moved for a while, hiding themselves, they stealthily climbed up one of the walls. A row of beast heads lined the top of the wall, making it rather easy to peek inside. Back then, it was always the people outside who peeked at them. Now, they were the ones peeking inside.
Wei WuXian raised his head and looked within. His heart sank at once.
On the training field of Lotus Pier, rows and rows of people were standing.
All of them wore robes of the blazing sun. The flame patterns on their collars, lapels, and sleeves were in such a crimson shade that it hurt the eye more than blood did.
Aside from those who stood, there were also those who lay. All of the people collapsed on the ground had been moved to the northwest corner of the field, piled together without any order. One person stood with their back to the two of them. Head lowered, he seemed to be examining the people of the Jiang Sect. They didn’t know whether they were alive or dead.
With much fervor, Jiang Cheng was still searching with his eyes for the figures of Yu ZiYuan and Jiang FengMian. Wei WuXian, however, felt his eyes tear up at once.
Among the people, he saw many familiar silhouettes.
His throat was both dry and in pain. His temples felt as if they had been stricken by iron hammers, while his entire body was cold. He didn’t dare think about Jiang FengMian and Yu ZiYuan any longer. Just as he was about to take a closer look at whether or not the thin boy lying on top was his youngest shidi or not, the person standing at the northwestern corner with his back to them seemed to have picked up on something and turned around.
Wei WuXian immediately lowered his head along with Jiang Cheng’s.
Although he ducked in time, he still saw what the person looked like.
It was a boy about the same age as them. He had a slender physique and delicate features, though his pale complexion contrasted against his deep-black eyes. Although he was wearing the sun-and-flames robes, he didn’t have that imposing of a demeanor. He seemed a bit too gentle. Looking at in which rank his sun patterns placed him, he was probably a young master of the Wen Sect.