WJ Chapter 76

Jiang Youxi (1)

Jiang Youxi, his son returned, yet did not entrust [him].

He did not entrust [him]; later, he regretted it.

——

Guan Wujue’s indifferent words only made Xiao Donghe more astonished, while Wen Huan’s face tensed rigidly. “Protector Daren… what is the meaning of this?”

“Alas,” Guan Wujue leaned casually against the wall, smiling without proper form, “Tomorrow is the Sect Leader’s joyous day. Wujue does not wish to see bloodshed.”

This was obviously an excuse.

And the kind of half-hearted excuse at that.

Upon hearing this, Wen Huan’s brows first sank, then relaxed. After a long silence, he actually calmed down instead, smiling gently and peacefully. “I heard that Madam Lin has been brought to the Punishment Hall? Might you inform Wen Huan what crime Madam Lin has committed?”

“……”

Guan Wujue smiled without speaking, but his fingers suddenly clenched tight. In his heart, he cursed that the current Wen Huan was just like a white fox—the kind that had cultivated for a thousand years and grown nine tails on its rear.

However, upon careful consideration… it wasn’t that difficult to guess.

These silver needles were of extraordinary craftsmanship and were not objects of the Sect. That was precisely why he had brought them to the Left Envoy to examine. And these past few days, aside from going to Zhuiri Valley with the Sect Leader, he hadn’t gone anywhere else. Connecting this with the fact that Lin Wanxia had just been captured and sent to the Punishment Hall, and that Yulin Hall excelled in hidden weapons—the answer was quite obvious.

Wen Huan reached out toward Xiao Donghe again, his expression cold and stern. “Give it to me.”

Guan Wujue’s eyes flickered. He stepped forward and grasped Wen Huan’s wrist. ” Wen Daren, Wujue currently has no internal energy and cannot stop you, but I have become a medicine person and am the only one who can save the Sect Leader. Don’t force me to fight desperately.”

“You!” Even with Wen Huan’s mild temperament, being obstructed and threatened like this five times, anger finally appeared on his face. “Wujue… why exactly are you blocking me?”

Guan Wujue asked, “If I gave it to you, would you report it to the Old Sect Leader?”

“That is natural!”

“Then if the Old Sect Leader learned of this, would he personally kill Lin Wanxia?”

Wen Huan said urgently, “Master would certainly wish to dismember Lin Wanxia into ten thousand pieces. This would also be revenge for the Sect Leader. Why would you—”

“…Uncle Huan,” Guan Wujue suddenly shook his head with a cold sneer, his fingers gripping Wen Huan’s wrist suddenly tightening. “What am I to say to you?”

He lowered his head, the corners of his lips curling up at an angle, his voice suddenly turning into a sinister, icy anger:

“You only think with all your heart about your master wanting revenge and retribution. You refuse to think about my Sect Leader!?”

“Miss was sent away by the Sect Leader! As soon as she left, the Sect Leader captured Lin Wanxia. This is still acceptable—at least she could keep her life. But if Lin Wanxia were truly killed… and by Miss’s own father, personally killing her to avenge the Sect Leader’s mother, what do you think Miss would think?”

Wen Huan was suddenly stunned. He truly hadn’t had time to think carefully about the relationships involved.

But now that Guan Wujue mentioned it… what would Yun Chanjuan think? Need it even be said?

Back then, when Yun Danjing plotted to usurp the position and the Protector acted first and reported later, even though Yun Changliu both punished and expelled him, Yun Chanjuan still felt he was protecting Guan Wujue.

Now that Miss had finally begun to understand and sympathize with her elder brother a bit, if at this time her most beloved mother were gone…

That sibling bond would truly be lost.

“Uncle Huan, I ask you again. If the Old Sect Leader killed Lin Wanxia, would Miss seek revenge?”

She would, naturally she would.

Yun Guyan was excessively biased. His indulgence toward the siblings Chanjuan and Danjing didn’t even amount to one ten-thousandth of what he gave Yun Changliu, while Lin Wanxia devoted herself entirely to doting on this pair of children. Yun Chanjuan’s feelings toward her mother were naturally much deeper than toward her father.

Miss was impulsive and reckless. Upon hearing of her mother’s death, she might very well grab her whip and rush into Yanyun Palace wailing and crying, ready to fight to the death.

“If Miss sought revenge, would the Old Sect Leader retaliate?”

This answer was also certain.

With Yun Guyan’s proud nature, would he stick out his neck and let a young girl kill him?

Wen Huan gritted his back teeth, his expression growing increasingly ugly. He already understood what kind of cruel situation this was.

“If the Old Sect Leader made a move, Miss would certainly die. Tell me, which side should the Sect Leader help?”

Wen Huan only felt bitterness in his throat and could no longer say anything. This kind of situation would destroy an entire generation even if it befell an ordinary family, let alone someone like Yun Changliu with his deeply emotional nature. If he had to watch helplessly as his father and younger sister became separated by a blood feud and fought to the death, he would likely never know peace for the rest of his life.

Xiao Donghe, standing beside them, had heard the entire back-and-forth exchange between the two. Now he just wanted to bash his head against the wall—just how many love-hate entanglements were all tangled together? How could such vexing matters exist in this world!

He hadn’t even finished being distressed when he heard Guan Wujue casually raise his head and say indifferently, “Uncle Huan, Yun Danjing didn’t die.”

“—What did you say!?”

Xiao Donghe nearly thought his ears were malfunctioning. His eyes widened to perfect circles, his finger pointing at Guan Wujue trembling constantly, looking as if he was about to faint. “Who didn’t die?… Yun Danjing? Didn’t die!?”

…Fortunately, the Left Envoy had had the foresight to dismiss everyone from the Punishment Hall earlier, so the surroundings were now empty and quiet. Otherwise, with everyone shouting like this one after another, no secret could be kept.

Guan Wujue cast a “stay calm” look at the Left Envoy and said softly, “Didn’t die. I didn’t kill him. Back then, that charred corpse was swapped with another dead person. Wen Feng performed the autopsy.”

Xiao Donghe felt like his brain was about to explode. In this short evening, in this sudden storm, everything had suddenly turned upside down, terrifyingly and completely reversed.

He no longer knew what to do. In such circumstances, outsiders could hardly intervene anymore.

The Left Envoy could only continue listening with a stern face to what Guan Wujue had to say, to see what other shocking things he could reveal.

“…As for our Young Master Danjing, although he’s an ungrateful wretch—arrogant and proud, rash and impetuous, without brains and without self-awareness, spending his days sitting in a well watching the sky, even delusionally thinking he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sect Leader…”

The Four Directions Protector’s tone was light and airy as he thoroughly mocked and ridiculed Yun Danjing from every angle before finally changing tack. “—But he’s not completely beyond salvation either.”

“A year ago, I found the deployment orders he prepared for the uprising in Jiaoyang Hall. The first directive was not to harm the Sect Leader. Seeing that this little bastard at least had a tiny bit of conscience remaining, I didn’t actually kill him.”

“I’ve never really liked this pair of young master and miss from the start.”

Under the silent gaze of Wen Huan and Xiao Donghe, Guan Wujue murmured thoughtfully in a low voice, “However… as long as the Sect Leader likes them, that’s good enough.”

His thoughts stirred, and somewhere in the Protector’s heart suddenly grew warm and soft. He whispered quietly to himself: Whatever the Sect Leader wants, whatever I can give… I’ll give it all to him.

Thinking this way, his voice unconsciously melted from its icy tone. Looking at Wen Huan, he slowly said, “Once the Fengchun Sheng poison is resolved, the Sect Leader can reunite with his younger siblings. Wouldn’t it be better to just end the grievances of the previous generation like this?”

Wen Huan sighed heavily, his handsome brows tightly knitted, clearly troubled in heart. “But… but this debt of vengeance—should it just be swept aside like this? The Lady and the Old Sect Leader were in mutual love yet suffered cruel poisoning. The Sect Leader lost his mother at birth and endured twenty-five years of Fengchun Sheng pain. These things—”

Guan Wujue firmly interrupted. “These things are already in the past! Things that are past… cannot be retrieved.”

“Even if we killed Lin Wanxia, the Sect Leader would still have lost his mother at birth, would still have been lonely in childhood, would still have suffered all these years… However, the past is gone, but the future can still be pursued. I only ask that the Sect Leader’s future days be free from suffering.”

“The Fengchun Sheng poison can still be resolved with medicine person blood. But the poison of hatred… the more blood that’s poured in, the deeper it spreads and the more painful its onset.”

“The Sect Leader has already endured enough pain. If anyone dares to touch him again…”

Guan Wujue blinked and smiled with pursed lips. His words seemed playful, but the cold killing intent within was clearly not false. “…I’ll go kill that person.”

“…” Wen Huan was momentarily shocked by the Protector’s words. He gazed at Guan Wujue with stunned and dazed eyes, his heart surging ceaselessly.

He was somewhat advanced in years and had accompanied the Old Sect Leader in observing the jianghu for decades. He was not unaware that—hatred was the most difficult poison in this world to resolve.

Perhaps at certain times… love was too.

Guan Wujue continued to persuasively counsel, “Let it go, Uncle Huan. Look at me—you’ll know that letting go isn’t such a difficult thing. Actually, the Old Sect Leader should let go too. You should advise him more as well.”

This was indeed true. When it came to the ability to let go of the past, truly no one could compare to the Protector.

Wen Huan nodded, his expression vaguely mixing the two normally incompatible emotions of bitterness and relief, saying:

“No need to say more… Wen Huan understands. This matter I will… temporarily conceal from the Old Sect Leader for now.”

What Wen Huan said was “temporarily.” Guan Wujue understood he was ultimately still unwilling—unwilling to watch helplessly as Yun Guyan, for the sake of Lan Ningcai, turned himself into such a decadent and obsessive wretch for over twenty years, neither human nor ghost, yet ultimately couldn’t even strike down his enemy.

They were both people who held a master in their hearts. Putting himself in Wen Huan’s shoes, that Wen Huan could agree to “temporarily” was already enough for Guan Wujue to be grateful.

The atmosphere finally eased somewhat at this point. Guan Wujue and Xiao Donghe then walked Wen Huan out of the Punishment Hall together. Along the way, the Protector said again, “I asked the Left Envoy to examine this needle originally to investigate more carefully whether this thing was privately made by Lin Wanxia or an object of Yulin Hall.”

“I was thinking… if it’s the latter, holding it would also count as leverage. In the future, if conflict arises with Yulin Hall, we’d have justification and could occupy the moral high ground. But looking at it now, we must investigate and verify thoroughly. Wen Daren, please leave this silver needle with the Left Envoy.”

“Very well. Otherwise, if I took it to see the Old Sect Leader, I would truly feel guilty.”

Wen Huan nodded in agreement, his expression still somewhat heavy and gloomy.

Seeing that the main gate of the Punishment Hall was already close at hand, only then did he remember, forcing himself to summon a warm smile. “Ah, look at how I forgot. Feng’er said your medicine blood has formed. The Old Sect Leader asked me to come check on you in his stead.”

“Tomorrow is the Sect Leader’s wedding. I must see this through before I can rest in peace,” Guan Wujue nodded happily, naturally interpreting “check on you” to mean “check when you plan to extract the blood.” “The day after tomorrow I’ll set out for Wanci Manor. Once I obtain the medicine, I’ll return to the Sect to extract the blood.”

Xiao Donghe was both shocked and angry. He could bear it no longer and suddenly gripped Guan Wujue’s shoulder. “You—with your body in such a state, you still want to leave the Sect!?”

Guan Wujue didn’t answer, but didn’t deny it either.

In fact, this was tacit acknowledgment.

—If the Fengchun Sheng poison couldn’t be completely eradicated, the curse binding Yun Changliu couldn’t be lifted.

He would still have to remain within Xifeng City, isolated from worldly joys. He would still have to control his emotions, living blandly while steadying his mind. He would still have to guard against the poison that could erupt at any time, yet ultimately would inevitably endure the pain of the poison’s onset again after a few years…

And at that time, there would no longer be such a medicine person to extract blood and resolve the poison for him. Yun Changliu would ultimately still be tormented endlessly by the fierce poison until he exhausted his last bit of strength, depleted his last bit of spirit, and struggled to stop breathing in the most despairing agony.

What Guan Wujue sought had never been this kind of life-prolonging that was worse than death. He wanted the Sect Leader to live healthily and peacefully for a hundred years.

To this end, the sacred medicine of Wanci Manor—he absolutely had to obtain it. With such a rare and once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough opportunity, the Protector had absolutely no reason to give up.

Seeing the Protector’s stubborn, unrepentant appearance, Xiao Donghe wanted to scold him thoroughly but didn’t know how to begin. In the end, he could only turn his head away in angry helplessness.

Wen Huan, however, knew Guan Wujue’s determination better, so he only said before leaving, “Whatever you need Yanyun Palace to do, you may freely ask.”

When Wen Huan walked out through the main gate of the Punishment Hall, the storm that had been flashing with lightning and thunder just a few hours ago had already become quite small.

Guan Wujue and Xiao Donghe watched as that white robe gradually receded into the distance, standing in relative silence for a long while.

Suddenly, Guan Wujue heavily punched the wall at the entrance of the Punishment Hall, startling Xiao Donghe who was lost in confused thought.

The red-robed Protector was trembling minutely all over, his pitch-black, deep eyes suddenly bursting with dazzling cold light—clearly concentrated hatred. “Lin Wanxia…! I thought she still had some self-respect and pride, yet she committed such a despicable act! If the culprit truly is her…”

Xiao Donghe stared in shock. “Wait, wait… didn’t you say to let it go…”

Guan Wujue’s face grew even icier. His knuckles pressed against the wall curved and made soft cracking sounds as he spat out syllables laden with vicious killing intent from between his teeth:

“—How could this debt be swept aside, causing the Sect Leader to lose his mother at birth and endure twenty-five years of Fengchun Sheng pain!?”

Xiao Donghe: “……”

So the words coming from your mouth, Protector Guan, fundamentally cannot be believed, is that it!

Just now you were advising Wen Huan to look at you and learn to let go, but you can only let go of things concerning yourself, yet cannot let go of things concerning the Sect Leader? So this actually depends on who it involves?

Guan Wujue tightened his fingers, his eyes condensing like frost. “I will think of a way that satisfies both sides.”

The Left Envoy immediately asked: “How to satisfy both sides?”

Having listened to this entire string of exchanges between Guan Wujue and Wen Huan, he couldn’t think of any solution that could satisfy both sides. Just as he was about to respectfully hear the Protector’s brilliant strategy, he saw Guan Wujue coldly cross his arms over his chest:

“How would I know? That’s why I said I need to think about it!… Perhaps by the time I return from Wanci Manor, I’ll have thought of something.”

“……”

Xiao Donghe covered his temples, his heart full of exhaustion.

—Fine, fine, as long as the Protector is happy. Anyway, this fellow was already nearly possessed by obsession—no one could stop him.

“…The rain has stopped.”

Suddenly, Guan Wujue raised his head and said softly.

Xiao Donghe startled, instinctively reaching his hand out beyond the eaves to catch the rain. He didn’t feel cool rain threads falling on his palm, so he raised his head to look at the sky.

It was indeed true. The rain had already stopped, and the wind was very, very light. Only the dark clouds still hung overhead, gloomy and heavy, blocking out most of the sunlight.

The Left Envoy sighed. “By the hour, it should be dawn now, but unfortunately the sky hasn’t brightened yet.”

Guan Wujue suddenly lowered his head, hesitating in a low voice:

“I… still want to go… take one look.”

It was dawn—a new day.

On this day, his Sect Leader was getting married.

Getting married meant performing the grand wedding ceremony. The Sect Leader would perhaps wear wedding robes and ceremonial clothes for the bowing ritual.

He couldn’t help but imagine what it would look like when blazing deep red replaced the snow-white robes Yun Changliu always wore. The more he imagined, the more he felt it would surely be extremely beautiful. The more he felt it would be extremely beautiful, the more he yearned to see it with his own eyes.

If the Sect Leader truly didn’t want him present, at worst he would just look once and leave. In a flash, Guan Wujue’s mind was made up. He rarely softened his tone and said to the Left Envoy beside him:

“Xiao Donghe, could you help me… call someone over?”

“Who?”

Guan Wujue pressed his fingers to his own pale-colored lips, smiling with his eyes and brows. “Our Right Envoy Hua, Elder Sister Wan.”

This entire night, apart from the times he’d fainted from pain or exhaustion, he hadn’t closed his eyes to sleep for even a moment.

Already having a constitution that easily lacked energy, after such ordeals his face had barely any color left, his weakness and fatigue obvious at a glance.

The Protector shook his head, smiling with melancholy as he sighed:

“I can’t look this terrible when I go see the Sect Leader. Hasn’t Hua Wan always wanted to apply makeup for me? Today, let her have her wish fulfilled.”