His Excellency: The Untamed

25. Tricked into Soul Cleansing

"Master Wei? Are you sleeping? They could be here any moment." 

Despite Wen Ning's words, Wei Ying kept his eyes shut and lay against the tree, breathing evenly, having too much fun messing with the other.

"Master Wei. I can hear them now."

He had been able to hear Lan Zhan's party for some distance now but he started snoring instead. This time Wen Ning caught his shoulder and shook slightly.

Wei Ying turned his head and opened his eyes to see Lan Zhan, leading the party, looking directly at him, expression unusually neutral. Behind Lan Zhan, ZeWu Jun also caught sight of him. He shook off Wen Ning's hand and shifted his position behind the tree to hide from view. Wen Ning hid beside him. What was ZeWu Jun doing here? Did Lan Zhan call for his brother overnight?

He shooed Wen Ning away, having already discussed everything beforehand. He too moved further into the thin line of trees. The sounds in the early morning forest covered his. As soon as he hit the line where the village chief had taken them last, he felt the qi again. The intensity of the qi hadn't lowered at all. If the Yang creature was absent from here, the intensity should be lowered but it wasn't. His theory was looking more and more plausible. They'd have to tread carefully. He moved further uphill, inside the border of the mountain's excess qi area, so as both his qi were thrown into disarray.

But he didn't pause, he walked in further, feeling the golden core pulsate and expand as if absorbing fuel and the other cultivation in his body, thickening in a swell, solidifying like smoke to liquid and liquid to ice. He paused where him and Jingyi had stopped last time. This was a thicker part of the forest, just up the base of the mountain, perfectly hidden from view but just right to catch any conversation before they hit the starting point. As soon as he stood still, the energy from all around him tried to overwhelm his senses. Even the chirping of birds sounded like an angry mob of squawks to his ears. The dark cultivation was close to solid now, hurting his meridians but he knew for a fact it wouldn't kill him. The golden core was just as strong. He used it to push out the resentment from his body as it came out of his ears and eyes as smoke. It hurt, pushing this out like pulling a needle through his body.

He had to find something else to concentrate on. Thanks to the extra qi, he could hear the whole party's footsteps further than possible for Master Mo's body and defective ear. There were multiple footsteps and he wondered who else was with them. The more smoke from his body pushed out, the weaker he felt but keeping his ears elsewhere helped ignore the pain.

"Good cultivator, I now remember where we have met. You came to visit the wish mountain before," he smirked despite his pain, knowing Master Mo would have to fumble around.

"Ah! I didn't want to bother you by making you remember good chief. But yes. I did. Now you know why I brought a party with me this time."

"Yes. Yes. I can understand. But forgive my wonder for you are the first one to visit again. It is truly a miracle for what you are willing to give up for a better world."

Wei Ying gritted his teeth knowing the chief's words would alert Master Mo. He was also right in his assessment of Wish mountain. The chief herded people into the mountain without knowing who they were. those who went in greedily ended up dying. He was the first to survive and come back.

He peered around the mountain and Lan Zhan met his eyes, widening in alarm at his charred smoky state. In his body, Master Mo was paused just a few meters away from the baseline, looking in the other direction, at the chief hidden from view. Lan Zhan understood what was happening to Wei Ying in Master Mo's body was Wei Ying's final plan.

"Wei Ying's cultivation has peaked. It will not affect those whose cultivation has peaked." Just as it soothed Master Mo, it surprised the village chief greatly. Zewu Jun was the only one who caught the urgency in Lan Zhan's voice and looked over. Wei Ying wanted to smile but simple tasks like leaning and smiling were more and more painful now. He was lightly surrounded by resentment hanging around him.