Vindicated After a Wrongful Death - Chapter 30

Netherfire was a flame that no one could extinguish. Despite every method attempted, those two clusters of fire continued to burn fiercely, completely enveloping Qu Weixian’s body.

The giant dragon watched coldly from the side, with no intention of stopping.

Xiang Lian had already drawn his sword, though he was uncertain of his chances against such a massive draconic form. Left with no choice, he grit his teeth and charged toward Qu Weixian like a moth to a flame. He threw his arms around him, channeling all his spiritual power in a desperate attempt to dispel the Netherfire.

The raging flames flickered and stilled for a brief moment.

Qu Weixian, charred and on the brink of death, was still trying to push Xiang Zhongjing away. His voice was hoarse as he urged, “Zhongjing, go.”

To everyone’s surprise, once Xiang Lian entered the inferno, not a single burn mark appeared on his body, nor did he feel even a hint of heat.

Xiang Lian didn’t have time to wonder why; he reached out and snatched the two fire seeds.

Qu Weixian murmured, “The Netherfire… give it to the peacock.”

Xiang Lian didn’t catch the words. “Who?”

Qu Weixian’s voice grew fainter. “He said if I got the Netherfire, he would set you free.”

Xiang Lian was stunned. “What?!”

Qu Weixian could no longer make a sound, and his consciousness slowly faded away.

Standing within the memory, Xiang Zhongjing’s brow was furrowed tight. He looked at the peacock perched on a nearby tombstone, watching everything with a cold, piercing gaze.

The peacock’s eyes were sharp, fixed intently on the two fire seeds. If it weren’t wary of the evil dragon, it surely would have rushed forward to seize them.

The memory ended there.

The white flower between Xiang Zhongjing’s brows dissipated. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the familiar bed curtains for a long time before murmuring, “So, he stole the Netherfire… for me.”

Qu Weixian was far too easy to deceive. Xiang Zhongjing could guess from just those few sentences that the one who sent Qu Weixian to seize the Netherfire wasn’t the Qu Yi Sect Master, Qu Xing, but the ambitious peacock.

Qu Xing loved Qu Weixian far too much to ever let him go alone into the jaws of an evil dragon for the Netherfire.

For the imprisoned peacock, the fact that he risked using Qu Weixian to steal the fire likely meant the Netherfire was the key to his own freedom.

Poor Qu Weixian had sacrificed his life, only to end up with nothing.

Thinking of Qu Weixian’s current frail and broken state, Xiang Zhongjing felt a tightness in his chest.

Beside him, Gu Congxu sat sulking, hugging his knees in silence.

Even if that were the case, Qu Weixian had still destroyed his master’s remains.

Unforgivable!

Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes dimmed as he whispered, “In the entire Three Sects, he was the only one who treated me well. I shouldn’t have doubted him.”

Gu Congxu was huffing in anger, but seeing Xiang Zhongjing looking so devastated, the hatred that usually fueled his rage failed to ignite.

Xiang Zhongjing raised a hand to touch the two clusters of Netherfire on his earrings. “I must find a way to cure him of the fire poison.”

Previously, if he had heard that Xiang Zhongjing wanted to save Qu Weixian, Gu Congxu would have reacted with a violent outburst to stop him. But now, perhaps because of the guilt and sorrow in Xiang Zhongjing’s expression, the “I won’t allow it” that was on the tip of his tongue couldn’t be spoken.

“Fine, go ahead and cure him,” Gu Congxu snorted coldly. “I’ll wait and see how exactly you plan to dissolve my master’s Netherfire poison.”

Seeing that Gu Congxu didn’t stop him, Xiang Zhongjing looked him up and down in surprise for a long while before whispering, “You haven’t been possessed by someone else, have you?”

Gu Congxu glared at him. “Then don’t cure him.”

Xiang Zhongjing said, “Ah, that’s more like it.”

Gu Congxu: “…”

The evil dragon almost bit him out of sheer frustration.

And so, the matter was settled.

That night, perhaps due to witnessing the Three Poisons Secret Realm within Qu Weixian’s memory, Xiang Zhongjing, who usually slept soundly, surprisingly had a nightmare.

In the dream, he was still sealed inside the stone coffin. No matter how he struggled or screamed, he couldn’t escape that pitch-black space surrounded by cold stone on all sides.

Xiang Zhongjing curled himself into a tight ball, his breathing becoming shallow and ragged.

Gu Congxu, who had no desire to share a bed with him, was sitting on the footstool by the bed, meditating. The True Dragon Lord had finally steeled his resolve to practice seriously, but he hadn’t even focused for an hour before he was interrupted by Xiang Zhongjing’s gasps.

Gu Congxu turned around irritably, assuming the lecher who usually spoke nothing but nonsense was having some sort of erotic dream. However, he was met with the sight of Xiang Zhongjing trembling and curled up, his face already covered in tear tracks.

Gu Congxu froze.

Xiang Zhongjing murmured in his sleep, “Sangeng.”

Gu Congxu watched him for a long time before awkwardly standing up and climbing onto the bed. He transformed back into his original form, his long, thick body coiling once around Xiang Zhongjing, encircling his curled-up frame. The dragon rested its head on the tip of its tail, its golden vertical pupils fixed on Xiang Zhongjing’s face.

The cool, sharp aura of the True Dragon completely surrounded Xiang Zhongjing. Surprisingly, even though Gu Congxu hadn’t touched him at all, Xiang Zhongjing, who had been shivering and weeping, seemed to have caught hold of a literal lifeline and stopped trembling.

After a moment, his body slowly relaxed, and the tears on his face stopped.

Gu Congxu breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then gave a huff, feeling strangely smug.

Wasn’t this person usually so arrogant? Now he can’t even sleep without a dragon to accompany him.

He’s far too clingy with dragons.

After his moment of pride, just as Gu Congxu was about to resume his cultivation, the slumbering Xiang Zhongjing suddenly stretched out his arms in a daze and pulled the small black dragon into a tight embrace.

Gu Congxu: “…”

Gu Congxu gave a startled shudder, and the tip of his tail instinctively wrapped around Xiang Zhongjing’s ankle.

Groggy with sleep, Xiang Zhongjing shivered from the contact with the ice-cold dragon scales, but he refused to let go. Just as he usually did with his quilt, he lightly rubbed his cheek against the scales.

Gu Congxu: “!!!”

If Gu Congxu were a little white dragon, he would have turned into a little red dragon on the spot.

Sensing a familiar scent, a dazed smile appeared on Xiang Zhongjing’s face as he murmured, “It’s Sangeng.”

Gu Congxu, who had intended to push him away by force, suddenly found he couldn’t do it.

The result of Gu Congxu’s softheartedness was being held by Xiang Zhongjing all night. By the next morning, even the tip of his tail was stiff.

Once the sun was high, Man Qiuxia came as usual to wake him.

A response came from behind the bed curtains: “Coming.”

Only after hearing Man Qiuxia’s footsteps recede did Xiang Zhongjing lazily prop his head on his arm, looking with a beaming smile at the evil dragon that had turned into a stiff pillar under the quilt.

“The True Dragon Lord is quite the upright gentleman. Last night before sleep, you were saying how you refused to share a bed with me, yet in the middle of the night, you snuck into my covers like a thief to pluck my flowers.”

Gu Congxu’s scales felt like they were burning red. He snapped, “It was clearly you who…”

Xiang Zhongjing didn’t give him a chance to defend himself, cutting him off: “Sangeng, you’re different from the others. If you want to share a bed with me, just say so. I’ll certainly agree.”

He gave a click of his tongue, shifted his leg slightly, and his eyes curved into crescents as he smiled with a hint of wicked mischief. “And you even wrapped yourself around my ankle. Sangeng, don’t you know that in the mortal world, touching someone’s ankle is a plea for intimacy?”

Gu Congxu: “…”

Gu Congxu had no idea about such things. Startled, he tried to unwrap the tip of his tail immediately, but he had been entwined all night and had lost all sensation. In his haste, he miscalculated his strength; instead of letting go, he yanked Xiang Zhongjing’s ankle toward him.

The two were now even closer.

Gu Congxu’s internal world collapsed. Aaahhh!

Xiang Zhongjing kept his toes hooked against the dragon’s body, saying curiously, “A lecherous dragon indeed.”

Gu Congxu: “…”

The lecherous dragon roared, “I. AM. NOT!”

Xiang Zhongjing didn’t care whether he was or wasn’t; he felt quite refreshed regardless.

Because he had previously promised to let Man Qiuxia paint his fill, and because he was about to leave Wujin Road, Xiang Zhongjing adopted a compensatory attitude and allowed Man Qiuxia to paint another “Portrait of a Beauty.”

Since Gu Congxu couldn’t leave his side, Xiang Zhongjing had no choice but to bring him along.

The moment Man Qiuxia saw Gu Congxu, he immediately turned his head and said succinctly, “Ugly!”

Gu Congxu: “…”

Gu Congxu said grimly, “Eat him?”

Xiang Zhongjing said hurriedly, “No, definitely not.”

After stopping the dragon’s sudden appetite, he looked at Man Qiuxia. “Just wear a veil.”

“I won’t,” Man Qiuxia sneered. “This is my manor; there is no logic in the master wearing a veil. Either tell him to get out, or tell him to crawl.”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Gu Congxu said coldly, “I want to eat him!”

Xiang Zhongjing was caught in the middle. Finally, out of desperation, he had Gu Congxu transform into his small dragon form and wrap himself around his arm.

Only then were both of them satisfied.

Xiang Zhongjing leaned back in a rocking chair. On the small side table nearby was a pile of obscure, illustration-free sword manuals that Man Qiuxia had scavenged for him. He picked one up at random, cross-referencing the characters he didn’t quite know with the sword techniques in his memory—a rather unorthodox way of learning to read.

Gu Congxu didn’t know what he was plotting, but seeing an entire page of dense text, he immediately felt that someone who could understand such things must be a remarkable person, just like his master.

The small dragon crawled out of his sleeve, transformed into a human-sized form, and leaned over Xiang Zhongjing’s shoulder to look at the words.

When Gu Congxu wasn’t paying attention, his tail would habitually reach out for Xiang Zhongjing’s calf. He wasn’t even aware of the gesture, and Xiang Zhongjing, who was focused on his reading, naturally didn’t mind.

Man Qiuxia had been dutifully painting a portrait of a beauty reclining in a rocking chair, but seeing this scene, his brow suddenly twitched.

Used to being painted, Xiang Zhongjing acted as if Man Qiuxia didn’t exist, focusing intently on the book. Occasionally, when Gu Congxu asked about a word, he would read it aloud with a practiced, dignified air, usually earning a look of admiration from Gu Congxu.

Man Qiuxia’s brush moved like a soaring dragon. Half a day later, he said “Ah” and remarked, “Song Youqiu came by last night and delivered a coffin.”

Xiang Zhongjing had just finished a sword manual. Hearing this, he looked up. “What coffin?”

Man Qiuxia tilted his head back, gesturing with his chin toward the bottom of the side table. “There, a stone coffin. Supposedly it’s a Soul-Settling Coffin.”

Xiang Zhongjing stopped the rocking chair. Just as he was about to lean down and look under the table, his eyes met the dragon tail wrapped around his calf.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Gu Congxu: “…”

The surroundings were deathly quiet.

Gu Congxu discreetly let go of the tail, acting as if nothing had happened.

Xiang Zhongjing shot him a teasing, half-smiling glance.

Embarrassed and angry, Gu Congxu flicked the tip of his tail against Xiang Zhongjing’s calf and snapped, “Go look at your coffin!”

Having teased him enough with his eyes, Xiang Zhongjing leaned down and picked up the palm-sized stone coffin from under the table.

It was indeed the Soul-Settling Coffin, shrunk countless times by Song Youqiu.

Gu Congxu asked, “What do you want this coffin for?”

Gu Congxu had assumed Xiang Zhongjing would have psychological trauma from being imprisoned and wouldn’t want to see it.

Xiang Zhongjing squinted as he examined the coffin from all angles, saying absently, “Do you know how many times I was plagued by malicious ghosts sixty years ago?”

Gu Congxu: “Hmm?”

Man Qiuxia chimed in casually, “You’ve been plagued by ghosts since you were a child, who could even count the number of times? Didn’t you hate coming to the Wujin Building back then precisely because too many people have died here?”

Gu Congxu looked at Xiang Zhongjing in surprise.

As far as he knew, ever since Xiang Zhongjing left the secret realm, he hadn’t encountered a single ghost.

Xiang Zhongjing smiled and said faintly, “That’s why I suspect this Soul-Settling Coffin can keep my soul stable.”

Gu Congxu gasped.

“Since leaving the secret realm, I’ve only felt my soul become unstable once while riding the Sumeru Tower, though it recovered quickly.” Xiang Zhongjing tapped the stone coffin lightly. “If it were sixty years ago, a single trip on the Sumeru Tower would have been enough for malicious ghosts to possess me a hundred times over.”

Man Qiuxia nodded. “True. But your soul is incomplete, after all. If you leave Wujin Road and don’t have me around to stabilize it for you immediately, you still shouldn’t go near the Sumeru Towers.”

Xiang Zhongjing set the coffin down and arched an eyebrow. “You know I’m leaving Wujin Road?”

Man Qiuxia: “Since you have important business to attend to, you won’t linger in one place for long. I expected as much.”

Xiang Zhongjing had thought Man Qiuxia would go mad knowing he was leaving, but he hadn’t expected him to be so calm.

However, in the next heartbeat, Man Qiuxia tilted his head, applying paint as he said nonchalantly, “Wherever you go, I’ll just move the Wujin Building there. I have plenty of money.”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing was expressionless. “That is entirely unnecessary.”

Man Qiuxia didn’t respond; clearly, he had made up his mind.

Xiang Zhongjing sighed, completely defeated by Man Qiuxia.

In all the Nine States, no one but Man Qiuxia would do so many crazy things for the sake of a face.

After the painting session ended, Xiang Zhongjing rose from the rocking chair and walked over to examine Man Qiuxia’s work for the day with interest.

Man Qiuxia was a madman, and his paintings were often incomprehensible, yet his skill was undeniably superb. Every time, Xiang Zhongjing would go to see what he had painted, despite knowing better.

However, this time, Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes darkened the moment he looked.

Gu Congxu, coiled around Xiang Zhongjing’s wrist, also poked his head out to look at the painting. With just one glance, the dragon’s entire body became hotter than Netherfire.

This time, Man Qiuxia hadn’t painted a beauty or a cat. Whatever had sparked his inspiration, he had painted a series of “Entwined by the Evil Dragon” portraits.

The beauty in the painting had his robes half-undone, with a black dragon coiled messily around him. Even though nothing inappropriate was being done, a single look was enough to make one’s heart race and face flush.

Xiang Zhongjing, Gu Congxu: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing radiated a cold aura. Netherfire flared up, slowly burning the painting in his hand into ash. He then turned his gaze toward the satisfied Man Qiuxia.

Below the Wujin Building, Yun Yanli was sharing a candied hawthorn skewer with the small phoenix on his shoulder. As he walked, he grumbled, “Sigh, what am I supposed to do? To open the Luochuan Road, I have to find that brat who was kidnapped by the people of the Nine States. I’ve suffered so much because of him. If I find him, I’m definitely going to give him a beating first! I don’t care if we’re brothers, I won’t go easy on him!”

The small phoenix chewed and spat out two hawthorn pits, saying in a tiny, high-pitched voice, “Young Lord, you’re not the Sect Master yet.”

Yun Yanli said impatiently, “With the meager and filthy spiritual energy of the Nine States, even if he trains like his life depends on it, his cultivation realm definitely won’t match mine. The position of Sect Master will be mine sooner or later. If you keep talking, I’ll roast you.”

The small phoenix shut up, thinking to itself: The man with the veil was much more gentle. I really want him to hold me again.

Just then, a loud bang echoed from the Wujin Building. A person fell from the upper floors and, amidst the gasps of the crowd, landed flat on their face right in front of Yun Yanli.

Yun Yanli: “…”

Yun Yanli silently retracted the foot he was about to step forward with.

The person who landed on the ground was Man Qiuxia.

Man Qiuxia acted as if it were nothing. He climbed up, brushed off his sleeves, and shouted up at the person on the floor above: “Be careful! Don’t get your face dirty!”

Yun Yanli and the small phoenix looked up.

High on the Wujin Building stood a person in brilliant red robes, surrounded by red and blue flames that partially veiled his face. He looked down at Man Qiuxia with an aura of undisguised, icy killing intent.

If one looked closely, they would notice the man’s ears were so red they looked as if they were bleeding.

He was the one who had just knocked Man Qiuxia down.

Sensing the gaze of Yun Yanli and the phoenix, the expressionless Xiang Zhongjing turned his head. A pair of indifferent eyes peered through the gaps in the flames, looking coldly down at them.

Yun Yanli: “…”

Small Phoenix: “…”

The small phoenix suddenly shivered and timidly huddled closer to Yun Yanli’s neck.

The aura on this person… why was it so similar to the Sect Master?

It was terrifying.

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