Chapter 86: Loyal Heart

"Do you have any proof for what you're saying?"

Sisi hesitated. "No. But if I tell a single lie, may my corpse rot without even a mat to wrap it in!"

Yao Sect Leader jumped in immediately. "The details she gave are so clear—she's absolutely not lying!"

Lan Qiren's brows knit tight. He turned to the other woman. "I think I've seen you before."

The woman looked terrified. "We... we probably have."

The onlookers froze. Sisi was a street prostitute—was this woman one too? How could Lan Qiren have seen her?

The woman said, "When the Le Ling Qin Clan held their symposium, I was often at my mistress's side."

"Le Ling Qin Clan?" a Female Cultivator asked. "You're a maid of the Le Ling Qin Clan?"

A sharper-eyed Female Cultivator called out the name directly: "You're... Bicao, Madam Qin's personal maid Bicao! Right?"

The "Madam Qin" she meant was Qin Cangye's wife—Qin Su's birth mother, Jin Guangyao's wife. The woman nodded. "But I'm no longer with the Qin Family now."

Yao Sect Leader was thrilled. He slammed the table and stood. "You have something to tell us too, don't you?"

Bicao's eyes reddened. "What I have to say happened earlier—twelve, thirteen years ago.

"I served my mistress for years. I watched our young Miss Asu grow up. The madam always doted on Miss Su, but in the days before Miss Su's wedding, the madam was in a terrible mood. She had nightmares every night, and sometimes she'd suddenly burst into tears during the day. I figured she was just sad her daughter was getting married, so I kept comforting her—saying the groom, Lianfang Zun Jin Guangyao, was young and promising, gentle and devoted, the most faithful man there was, and Miss Su would have a wonderful life. But every time I said that, the madam only looked more miserable.

"When the wedding was almost here, one night the madam suddenly told me she needed to go see her future son-in-law—right then—and told me to come with her quietly. I said, you can just summon him here, why sneak out in the middle of the night to meet a young man? People will talk, and not nicely. But she was absolutely set on it, so I went along. But once we got there, she told me to wait outside and not go in. So I didn't hear a thing—I don't know what she said to Jin Guangyao. All I know is, a few days later, the wedding date was set. The moment the madam saw the invitation, she fainted. And after Miss Su was married, the madam stayed low and unhappy. She grew sicker and sicker. At the very end, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She told me everything."

Bicao wept as she spoke. "Lianfang Zun Jin Guangyao and our young miss—they were never husband and wife. They were brother and sister..."

"What?!"

Not even a thunderbolt exploding inside Trial Sword Hall could have hit harder than that line. Wei Wuxian saw Qin Su's pale face flash before his eyes. Bicao went on: "My mistress was so unlucky... that old Jin clan leader wasn't human. He lusted after her looks, and once, drunk outside, he forced himself on her... She couldn't fight him off, and she didn't dare make a sound. My master was loyal to Jin Guangshan to the bone, and she was terrified. Jin Guangshan couldn't remember whose daughter Miss Su was, but my mistress could never forget. She didn't dare go to Jin Guangshan. She knew Miss Su was in love with Jin Guangyao. After struggling with it for a long time, she went to him secretly before the wedding, told him some of the truth, begged him to find a way to call it off—never let this disaster happen. But who would have thought... who would have thought Jin Guangyao knew Miss Su was his own sister, and he married her anyway!"

Worse still—not only did he marry her, they had a child together.

This was truly a scandal of the century.

The discussion surged louder and louder. "Qin's old clan leader followed Jin Guangshan for how many years, and Jin Guangshan still went after his old subordinate's wife. That Jin Guangshan!"

"There's no wall without a crack in this world, after all..."

"Jin Guangyao needed Qin Cangye as a solid father-in-law backing him to keep his footing in the Lanling Jin Sect. How could he possibly give that up?"

"When it comes to sheer madness, he's truly unmatched in this world!"

Wei Wuxian murmured to Lan Wangji, "No wonder he told Qin Su in the secret room, 'Asong must die.'"

Others in Trial Sword Hall had the same thought. Yao Sect Leader said, "Looking at it that way, I dare to guess his son probably wasn't killed by someone else at all. He did it himself."

"How so?"

Yao Sect Leader analyzed: "A child born to blood-related siblings is almost always going to be simple-minded. Jin Rusong was only a few years old when he died—right at the age when a young child starts to learn. When the child is small, nobody notices anything off. But once he grows up, the fact that he's different from everyone else would come out. Even if no one suspected the parents' blood relation, producing a simple-minded child would still invite gossip about Jin Guangyao—people pointing fingers, saying it was because he carried a Whore's Son's dirty blood that the child turned out this way..."

The crowd found this very convincing. "Yao Sect Leader, you're sharp!"

Yao Sect Leader went on: "And the person who poisoned Jin Rusong happened to be the clan leader who'd opposed building the Lookout Tower. What a coincidence that is." He laughed coldly. "Either way, Jin Guangyao had no reason to keep a son who was probably an idiot. Kill Jin Rusong, frame the clan leader who opposed him, then use avenging his son as the perfect excuse to openly punish any family that wouldn't fall in line—cold and ruthless, but two birds with one stone. Lianfang Zun really knew what he was doing!"

Suddenly Wei Wuxian turned to Bicao. "That night at the Jinlin Pavilion Symposium—did you see Qin Su?"

Bicao blinked. Wei Wuxian said, "That night in Fangfei Hall, Qin Su and Jin Guangyao had an argument. She said she'd gone to see someone, and this person told her some things and gave her a letter, and this person would never lie to her. Was she talking about you?"

Bicao said, "Yes."

Wei Wuxian said, "You kept this secret for so many years. Why did you suddenly decide to tell her? And why bring it out in the open now?"

Bicao said, "Because... I had to let Miss Su see what kind of man her husband really was. I didn't want to make it public either, but Miss Su killed herself at Jinlin Pavilion for no reason. I have to expose this beast in human clothing and get justice for my mistress and Miss Su."

Wei Wuxian smiled. "But didn't you think about what kind of blow telling her would deal? Or did you really not know? It was because you told Qin Su first that she killed herself."

Bicao started, "I—" Yao Sect Leader cut in, unhappy. "I can't agree with that. Is hiding the truth really the right thing to do?"

Someone immediately backed him up: "Can't blame anyone else. Sigh. Jin's wi—Qin Su was just too fragile."

A few older Female Cultivators said, "Poor Qin Su."

"I used to envy her back then. Thought she was so lucky—good family, good husband, the undisputed lady of Jinlin Pavilion, a husband with his heart set on her alone. Who knew, tsk tsk."

One of the wives put on an air of detachment. 'So things that look beautiful on the surface are usually riddled with the Thousand Wounds Curse underneath. Nothing to envy, really.'

Wei Wuxian thought: "Qin Su probably killed herself because she couldn't stand all these whispers that sounded like sympathy but were really people gloating."

He looked down and noticed Bicao was wearing a jade-and-gold bracelet on her wrist—excellent quality, definitely not something a maid could afford. He smiled. "Nice bracelet."

Bicao hurriedly pulled her sleeve down and lowered her head, silent.

Nie Huaisang blinked blankly. "But... but the person who delivered these two women here today—who exactly are they?"

Yao Sect Leader said, "Why get hung up on that! Whoever it is, one thing's for sure—they're a righteous person, absolutely on our side."

Immediate chorus of agreement: "Exactly!"

Wei Wuxian said, "The one who saved Miss Sisi is no simple character—got money and free time. But a righteous person? That's not certain."

Lan Wangji said, "Many doubts."

If Wei Wuxian had said that, few would have listened. But the speaker was Lan Wangji, so the room immediately quieted. Lan Qiren said, "Where are the doubts?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Plenty. For instance, Jin Guangyao's so ruthless—why kill twenty people but keep Sisi alone? We've got witness testimony now, but where's the physical evidence?"

He'd been raising different voices the whole time, sticking out like a sore thumb in all the outrage. Some people were already annoyed. Yao Sect Leader said loudly, "That's what they call heaven's net is wide, and nothing slips through."

Wei Wuxian gave a small smile and said nothing more.

He knew no one was listening to him right now, and no one would think carefully about his doubts. If he pushed it further, people might start coming after him again. Ten-plus years ago, he wouldn't have cared—said whatever he wanted, take it or leave it. But now, Wei Wuxian had no interest in stealing the spotlight.

So inside the hall, the waves of denunciation began to swell:

"Can't believe the man is this ungrateful, this mad!"

"Ungrateful" and "mad" had been tied to Wei Wuxian for over a decade. Hearing them, he thought they were aimed at him again. A beat later he realized—they were the same people, the same words, but the target had changed. A little disorienting.

Then another person spoke: "Back then, Jin Guangyao climbed his way up by sucking up to Chifeng Zun and Zewu Jun. Otherwise, as a Whore's Son, how could he have gotten where he is today? And he actually poisoned Chifeng Zun! Zewu Jun is still at his place—I just hope nothing happens to him!"

They hadn't believed Nie Mingjue's death, the dismemberment, or the Wasteland Cemetery corpse siege had anything to do with Jin Guangyao before. Now they suddenly did.

"Not just sworn brothers—even blood brothers couldn't escape. In the years before Jin Guangshan died, Jin Guangyao was busy cleaning up his father's illegitimate sons everywhere, afraid someone would pop up and fight him for the position. Mo Xiyu got off easy—if he hadn't gone crazy and been sent back, he'd probably have 'disappeared' like the others for one reason or another."

"Jin Zixuan's death must have had something to do with him too!"

"Who remembers Xiaoxingchen from back then? Bright moon, clean wind, Xiaoxingchen. And the Liuyang Chang Clan Case—Xue Yang in that case was someone Lianfang Zun personally protected."

"When Daoist Xiaoxingchen first came down the mountain, didn't a lot of clans want to invite him as a guest cultivator? The Lanling Jin Sect invited him to join too, but he politely declined. The Jin Family was on top of the world back then, and getting turned down by a little Daoist made them lose face. So later, when the Lanling Jin Sect wanted to protect Xue Yang, that old grudge was part of it—they just wanted to see Xiaoxingchen suffer."

"Pah! They think they're something special—don't join and they'll make you pay?"

"Sigh, what a shame. Back then I was lucky enough to see Daoist Xiaoxingchen on a Night Hunt. One strike of Frosty Splendor and the whole world watched."

"Jin Guangyao cleaned up Xue Yang later too. Dogs eating dogs."

"I heard back when Jin Guangyao was undercover in the Qishan Wen Sect, he wasn't honest at all. His plan was this: if the Sun-Striking Campaign wasn't going well, he'd keep being a henchman to the Wen Clan Master, flattering Wen Ruohan. If the Wen Clan was about to fall, he'd turn his coat and play the hero."

"Wen Ruohan must be rolling in his grave. Back then he was grooming Jin Guangyao like a trusted confidant. Most of Jin Guangyao's swordsmanship today—seven or eight-tenths of it—Wen Ruohan taught him!"

"That's nothing. I heard the reason Chifeng Zun's surprise attack failed was because Jin Guangyao deliberately sent false intelligence!"

"Let me tell you a secret too. The money and supplies for building the Lookout Tower were all scraped from other clans, right? Every contributing clan put in their share, but I heard he quietly skimmed off... this much."

"Oh my god... that much? Shameless. I actually thought he was sincere about getting things done. All our loyalty fed to the dogs!"

Wei Wuxian found it faintly absurd. He thought: "If it's just a rumor, why rush to believe it? If it's a secret, how do you even know it?"

These rumors hadn't just started today. Back when Jin Guangyao was in power, they'd been suppressed—nobody took them seriously. But tonight, the rumors suddenly became ironclad facts, the bricks and mortar of Jin Guangyao's mountain of crimes, used to prove his madness.

"Looking at it this way, this Jin someone killed his father, his brother, his wife, his son, his lord, his friend... and committed incest. Truly terrifying!"

"The Lanling Jin Sect is overbearing and domineering, and Jin Guangyao is even more autocratic—never listens to anyone. All this arrogance, decadence, and bullying—Jin Guangyao started it all. Did he really think we'd keep swallowing this?"

"He's seen all our clans growing in power these past few years, getting stronger. He felt threatened, scared of being toppled like the Qishan Wen Sect was. So he figured, in for a penny, in for a pound—might as well wipe us all out at once."

Yao Sect Leader laughed coldly. "In that case, let's make his worst fear come true." He slammed the table. "Attack Jinlin Pavilion!"

Amid the hall's cheers and applause, Wei Wuxian thought: "Just today, this terrifying figure was still Lianfang Zun, praised by everyone. In one day, he's become public enemy number one."

Suddenly someone next to him turned. "Mr. Wei, that bastard Jin Guangyao has the Yin Tiger Talisman. We're counting on you for that."

Wei Wuxian said, "Huh?"

He hadn't expected anyone to come talk to him on their own, and so warmly—even calling him 'sir' instead of 'Wei the thief' or 'Wei the dog.' He blinked. Then another clan leader added, "Right! On this path, no one surpasses the Yiling Patriarch!"

"Now Jin Guangyao's kicked an iron board, hahahaha..."

Wei Wuxian was speechless for a moment. The last time people had flattered him like this was during the Sun-Striking Campaign over a decade ago. Although he'd finally waited for someone to take over the title of public enemy of the cultivation world, Wei Wuxian didn't taste much sweetness in it, no feeling of finally being accepted by the world. He just couldn't help wondering: "Back then, did they also gather somewhere like tonight, hold a secret meeting, curse up and down, and then decide to siege Wasteland Cemetery?"

After the meeting ended, the Yunmeng Jiang Clan's banquet hall was finally ready. But once the feast began, two figures were missing from the seats. A clan leader said, surprised, "Why are Wei... the Yiling Patriarch and Hanguang Jun missing?"

Jiang Cheng sat at the head seat and asked the guest cultivator next to him, "Where are they?"

The guest cultivator said, "After the two of them left the inner hall, they went to change clothes. Said they wouldn't join the banquet, just going out for a walk, and they'd be back later."

Jiang Cheng laughed coldly. "Same as always. No manners."

That seemed to insult Lan Wangji too. Lan Qiren's face showed displeasure. If even Lan Wangji could be called unmannerly, then manners didn't exist in this world. Thinking of that, he gritted his teeth at Wei Wuxian again. Jiang Cheng adjusted his expression and said politely, "Please, everyone, eat first. I'll go invite the two of them back in a bit."

Outside Lotus Pavilion, in front of the Wharf, Lan Wangji let Wei Wuxian lead him along, not asking where they were going, walking leisurely.

There were still a few snack stalls at the Wharf. Wei Wuxian walked over, grinned. "Good call skipping dinner with them. Lan Zhan, come on, this pancake's good. My treat! Two, please."

The stall owner wrapped two pancakes in oil paper with a big smile. Wei Wuxian was about to take them when he suddenly remembered—he was broke. What was he treating with? But Lan Wangji had already taken them and paid with one hand. Wei Wuxian said, "Ah. Sorry. How does this keep happening? Seems like every time I try to treat you to something, it never works out."

Lan Wangji said, "No matter."

Wei Wuxian took a bite, head down. "Back when I was a kid grabbing food at the Wharf, I never had to pay. Grab and go, eat while walking. After a month, the stall owners would naturally go to Uncle Jiang to settle the bill."

Lan Wangji left a tiny crescent bite mark on the round pancake in his hand and said quietly, "You don't have to pay now either."

Wei Wuxian said, "Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

He finished his in a few bites, crumpled the oil paper into a ball, tossed it in his hand, looked around. "No other stalls. Back in the day, no matter how late it was, this place was packed with stalls selling all kinds of food. Because people from Lotus Pavilion came out for late-night snacks a lot. Lots of boats too—not less than Caiyi Town on your side."

He added, "Way fewer now. Lan Zhan, you came too late. You missed the best, liveliest time here."

Lan Wangji said, "Not late."

Wei Wuxian laughed. "When we were studying at Cloud-Deep Unknown Place, I told you over and over to come visit Yunmeng, and you ignored me every time. I should've been more forceful and just dragged you over. Why are you eating so slowly? Not good?"

Lan Wangji said, "No talking while eating."

He always chewed slowly. If he had to talk, he'd make sure his mouth was completely empty first. Wei Wuxian said, "Then I won't talk to you. Eat up. Thought you didn't like it—was gonna ask if I could have the rest."

Lan Wangji said to the stall owner, "One more, please."

In the end, when Wei Wuxian had finished his third pancake, Lan Wangji was still slowly nibbling his first. Wei Wuxian had already led him further and further from Lotus Pavilion, pointing things out along the way.

He really wanted to show Lan Wangji every place he'd grown up, played, and rolled around in—tell him about the trouble he'd caused here, the fights he'd picked, the pheasants he'd caught—and then watch Lan Wangji's tiny expression changes, waiting for every reaction.

Wei Wuxian said, "Lan Zhan! Look at me, look at this tree."

Lan Wangji had also finished his pancake, folded the oil paper into a neat little square, held it in his hand, and looked where Wei Wuxian pointed. It was just an ordinary tree—straight trunk, spreading branches, must have been there for decades. Wei Wuxian walked to the tree, circled it twice, patted the trunk. "I climbed this tree."

Lan Wangji said, "Every tree on the way here, you said you climbed."

Wei Wuxian said, "This one's different! This was the first tree I climbed after coming to Lotus Pavilion. Climbed it in the middle of the night. My shijie Jiang Anli came out looking for me with a lantern, scared I'd fall, stood under the tree to catch me. But her arms were so skinny—what could she catch? I still broke a leg falling."

Lan Wangji glanced at his leg. "Why climb a tree in the middle of the night."

Wei Wuxian bent over, laughing. "No reason. You know me—I like sneaking out at night. Ha."