The Corrupted Heart and A Sinless Path

Chapter 2

"Well, at least I have Emperor's Smile to quench my thirst," Wei Ying panted heavily for climbing to the highest mountain after he retrieved the lost invitation card back at the town.

After taking a big gulp of wine to pleasure himself with the burning inside his body, he heard a clomp coming from the forest beside him. He glared at the jar and then the sky, wondering if it was an illusion of a meteor crashing down that the tree shook violently. Suddenly, a cough was heard and pretty sure he hadn’t drunk yet, there was no way a meteor had lungs to accidentally vacuum the dust. His face hardened with body stayed low as he scanned through the darkness.

Squirming through the dense bushes while carrying his wines with a sword, he spotted the Sakura Lady through the thick fog blanketing the forest, short of breath on all fours trembling. The hanfu tore until the pieces of fabric dangled, exposing various lengths of bright red cuts planted on her skin. Blood completely drenched her hands and hanfu until it dripped through the hem. He spotted black tattoos branching crazily like roots fading backward to the tip of her eyes. Not only that but also black tentacles wriggling to her forearm and poof vanished. 

He blinked constantly, afraid the effect of wine had taken in to play a trick on his mind. He couldn't figure out what she fought against, causing her to lose all strength. The sound of dried leaves lying on the ground cracking and the swishing of wind became clearer; however, they couldn’t find where the creature was. Not until a zombie leaped high into the sky, mimicking a jaguar with claws ready to slash its prey. 

"WATCH OUT!" Wei Ying shouted, causing the Sakura Lady to weakly raise her chin and realize death had come upon her till she shut her eyes.

Clang! The woman opened her eyes with tears rolling down her cheek to see Wei Ying standing in front of her. He blocked the zombie who was gripping the sword he drew across his chest and gritted his teeth at the zombie’s remarkable strength. By knocking him with an elbow punch to send him flying, Wei Ying immediately rushed to embrace the woman into his arms who slowly lost consciousness. Her vision became blurry and the voice of anxious Wei Ying became distant; couldn’t manage to make out the words from his lips. Another hazy figure became larger and larger as it came to the frame. 

She then pointed her crooked finger after breaking their eye contact and the zombie sprinting, leaving only a few inches between them. Wei Ying guarded themselves as he hugged her tightly, waiting for the painful impact she experienced to be received. Suddenly, a piercing musical note restrained the zombie’s movement and immediately chained him up with rope twirling itself before surrendering himself. The savior, Twin Jades of Lan, showed up with their disciples behind them rushing to the scene. Lan Zhan who struck the string of guzheng hovered his hand above it to make it disappear before joining his brother in checking up on the woman.

"Bring them in and take the creatures to the master's study room," Zewu Jun, the eldest brother and a leader of the Gusu Lan Sect ordered his disciples.

•••••

"Everything happened so quickly, Master Lan. We can't track those zombies due to the dense fog. Not even a silhouette," the disciple reported to his master before being dismissed, bowed to four masters, and walked backward out of the room with a heavy heart. 

"I'm sorry Uncle for letting you down," Lan Zhan apologized to Lan Qiren who examined the zombies lying on the table.

Lan Qiren opened the eyelids of each of the zombies and only one of them still had white-shaded pupils. Wei Ying after stating the incident, claimed that the zombies returned to human form but unfortunately, their lives had been plucked out as he examined further. Not only that but also stated the zombie could only move under the control of a master as if they were puppets employing dark magic. The word ‘black magic’ composed the hatred painted on Lan Qiren’s face.

"We have to leave this investigation on the other day then. It's already late, " he said while swinging his hand to let a white cloth fly to cover the bodies. 

Zewu Jun noticed Wei Ying's troubled face when he bid them goodnight and made his way up with a heavy weight on his head pulling him down to their own Jiang Sect's stays. Both of their thoughts weren't identical. Zewu Jun thought Wei Ying was concerned about the serious injuries of the Sakura Lady and she had to be hospitalized at his place. Since there were no women disciples and the existing ones were still too young to take care of the unknown woman, he had to treat her on his own. 

Twisted the coating red towel to let its liquid rain into a contaminated basin and set it aside to obtain another new batch. Cleaning the blood with care he flipped the hanfu over one after another before changing it to the fresh one belonging to his sect. She didn’t wince or have any reaction when he gradually poured the medicine seeping through the awful cuts to allow the flesh to stitch itself. Despite the metallic smell exposed to air, the sweet fragrance still overpowered it. Once he was done, he lit up an incense burner on the nightstand and crossed the other room to play guqin to calm his exhausting body including the woman’s.

On the other hand, Wei Ying had three thoughts that kept him awake as he helplessly stared at the ceiling. Was he hallucinated to see the eerie tattoos on Sakura Lady’s face by the effect of the Emperor’s Smile? How did the two zombies have been eliminated from the sorcery so easily that could corrupt both the mind and soul of the exterminator? Usually, fog blanketed the entire land but why does it only occur in a certain space of the forest during the incident back there? 

"How is the woman, brother?" Lan Wangji asked Zewu Jun the next morning as they climbed down the path with hands behind their back. 

"The injuries were terrible. Let’s just hope she will recover soon," he replied with an assured smile as always. 

The day of welcoming the students went well today, presenting extraordinary gifts from each of the three Greatest Clans to Lan Qiren who would be their teacher for the class. However, an unexpected guest of the Qishan Wen Sect suddenly interrupted Yunmeng Jiang's greeting. Jiang Cheng got swiped away to his seat as Wen Chao restlessly stood in front of Teacher Lan ruthlessly to present the brother and sister as his pupils. 

"Young master Wen, you can't simply cut the line. My brother is just about to introduce our clan," Wei Ying spoke without an attitude.

"Who dares to interrupt my conversation?" Wen Chao turned his head toward Wei Ying with eyes full of rage. 

"You’re the first one who interrupted us." 

"Never thought a dog could talk back without knowing their positions."

A commotion then occurred as the Qishan Wen Sect drew their sword at the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. Everyone in the hall halted their breath and stepped away from the vicious Wen as they were being treated. However, Master Lan and Zewu Jun reacted calmly to the situation and warned Lan Zhan with his eyes to not get involved with the mess or else, there would be consequences. He could only stand, curling his fist while coldly staring at the Qishan Wen Sect just a few inches in front of him.

Then, blackthorn branches silently wiggled inside as low as death to chain the ankle of the Wen and vigorously dragged them outside. Their mind went blank as their thick skull hit the ground and after realizing what happened, they dug their fingers into the ground, to avoid being eaten. They hung upside down by the monster that stirred their bleeding limbs nervously into the sky. By observing closely, black mist wrapped around the branches causing it to be colored black as soon as the audience witnessed the scene. Black magic. 

"Apologize for the rudeness… Or not but it's so nice to meet you," a deep, monstrous voice came out from nowhere. 

The Twin Jades of Lan swayed their hands to make the guqin belong to Lan Zhan whereas the flute belonging to Zewu Jun appeared magically. Playing a musical note to attack the mist at all sides didn't affect them until they frowned their faces. Even Wei Ying’s talisman didn’t work as it flew to attach to the branches and immediately burned into nothing. The three Greatest Clans were scared to see Wen Chao screaming maniacally as they didn’t hear anything except their struggle.

"Who's there?!" Wen Chao's face became white pale as a corpse and his eyes shook. 

"Don't you worry honey. I will introduce myself to you and your fellow greatest clans at the perfect time."