| 3rd Person POV |
In a span of 7 days, Wen (Y/N) met with Lan Wangji before going to the Cloud Recesses to take it back. As the flag fell, they entered the gate. The Wen Clan soldiers guarding the Cloud Recesses were eventually all killed. Over at Qinghe, the soldiers were killed by the Nie Clan. Wen (Y/N) brother, Wen Xu, was beheaded and his head hung like a trophy in front of the gate of the Unclean Realm. She ordered to have Wen Xu's hairpin as they later sent it to Gusu for Wen (Y/N) to save for later.
After the Cloud Recesses was stabilized, Wen (Y/N) left to go visit her mother's grave before going to search for Wei Wuxian.
Concurrently, Wei Wuxian awaited for Jiang Cheng to come down the mountain and meet him.
| Wei Wuxian POV |
I waited almost 7 days for Jiang Cheng, but he still has not come. I sat on the curb waiting for him. I weakly stood up and limped towards a tea house. The waiter then came up to me, "What would you like?"
I took off my hat and looked around to see people in black cloaks. I turned back to walk away but Wen Zhuliu pushed me back and the cloaked figures all stood up. As Wen Zhuliu moved to the side, Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao walked in. I stood up only to be kicked to the ground by one of the Wen Clan soldiers. Wen Chao then stepped on my hand.
"Why can't you get up?" Wen Chao taunted. "Weren't you an arrogant brat in the cave of Tortoise of Slaughter? Try that again!" I struggled to pull my hand from under his shoe. He took his foot off my hand as the soldiers lifted me up. Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao sat on the seats as I was surrounded by their soldiers. "Just give it up. Where's Jiang Cheng?" I stayed silent. "You don't want to talk? You can't save him even if you stay silent. Jiang Cheng is a waste. He's no more than livestock. The Jiang Clan of Yunmeng is hopeless." He then stood up. "I'm in a good mood today. All you need to do is lie on your stomach and crawl three rounds. I'll let you go. Deal?" I looked away from his face ignoring him.
Wang Lingjiao stood up. "Young Master Wen told you to kneel. Didn't you hear him?"
I finally said, "Sorry about that, I just heard a dog barking. I didn't hear a man's voice. Did you?"
Wen Chao became furious and kicked me. "Beat him!" The Wen Clan soldiers started kicking me on the ground.
Wang Lingjiao wrapped onto Wen Chao's arm. "You promised we'll chop off his arm. He still owes us an arm."
Wen Chao said, "No. Chopping off an arm will make him die too quickly. It wouldn't be fun. Stop." The soldiers moved away before two picked me up again. "I will ask Wen Zhuliu to crush his golden core first. See if he is going to scream like Jiang Cheng."
"Great! Let's crush his golden core and then chop off his arm."
I laughed. "Use whatever torture techniques you have. The crueler, the better. After I die, I will turn into a ferocious ghost and curse you all. I'll haunt the Wen Clan of Qishan day and night."
"Disciples of the gentry clans have received soul-calming ceremonies. You can't turn into a ferocious ghost. Don't listen to his crap."
"You're so wrong. I haven't grown up with the Jiang Clan since birth. I am the son of a myrmidon. I did not have a chance to go through the ceremony."
"You shut your mouth. There is no such thing. People die and become a skeleton underground." Wang Lingjiao said. She looked towards Wen Chao. "Young Master Wen, we've been trying to catch him for so long. Aren't we going to punish him more? Don't tell me you are going to let him go just because of his nonsense."
"Of course not." Wen Chao said. "Putting on an act to fool me?" He kicked me as I fell.
Wang Lingjiao walked in front of me with her hot iron. "That Wen (Y/N). Did you know what she did after I scalded her?" She paused for a bit before screeching. "She scalded me as revenge with my own hot iron! Now I have a permanent scar above my chest! But fortunately, Wen Chao still loves me the same." I laughed. "I can't say the same about Wen (Y/N). Did you know she went missing after the battle of Lotus Pier? She even failed to protect your parents and Jiang Cheng. It almost seemed like she didn't even try seeing that she failed for the first time."
"What do you know about her?" I scoffed.
She then started pressing the hot iron against my chest. I felt the searing pain on my chest as I tried not to look like I was in pain. A Wen Clan soldier then hit my back as I fell.
"Wei Ying." Wen Chao said. "You really think you are not afraid of anything? You think you're so brave and glorious, don't you?"
"I didn't know you could speak human language." I mocked.
"Showing off your speech again. I'd like to see just how much longer you can keep your backbone. Wen Zhuliu, pick him up." Wen Zhuliu picked me up as two soldiers put me on their sword. We flew up somewhere and stopped above fogged mountains. Wen Zhuliu then signalled to halt. "You know where we are? We are in Yiling. This place is called Burial Mounds." I then realized the name of the place and scanned the area. "It's a mountain of corpses, an old battlefield. Countless nameless corpses are wrapped up and dropped here. Can't you tell the resentful energy here is thick? Even the Wen Clan weren't able to repress it. We prevented people from going in. This is only daytime. Wait until night when you can see marvelous things. When a living person goes in, they never come back. The body and soul are all gone. There's no getting out of it. Let's see if you're still smiling after this." He pushed me off as I fell down to the mountains and screamed. "You're going to be trapped here for eternity!" He yelled after and cackled.
I felt the resentful energy lift me up before releasing me. I fell down to the mountain floor and got knocked unconscious. A few moments later, I woke up to people screeching. "Wei Wuxian." "Young Master Wei." "Wei Wuxian." "Wei Wuxian." "Young Master Wei." I looked around. It was dark and windy and under a light was a sword with black smoke swirling around it. I crawled towards it as the screaming continued. I then heard, "Wei Wuxian, do you want revenge? Wei Wuxian, let's be together. Do you want to stay?" Voices kept calling my name. I reached for the sword. "Wei Ying, stay. Wei Wuxian. Do you want revenge? Let's be together." It kept repeated as I gripped on the handle. I then struggled to pull out the sword. "Vengeance is ours." It said as i finally pulled the sword away and raised it before slamming it to the ground.
I then heard a few footsteps walk towards my way. I looked over to see Wen (Y/N) and a purple laser coming from her hand. Zidian. Am I hallucinating? I started feeling drowsy before falling unconscious. Before my eyes closed, Wen (Y/N) ran to me and lifted me up.