Unrestrained Heart

Chapter 8

Wei Wuxian walks purposely towards the cave entrance. There is something he needs to do and the thing in this cave will help him achieve his goals, all of them.

He glances back and sees that the fierce ghost child is still following him. He is not sure why this spirit, of all that he has encountered, has attached itself to him but he doesn't mind. He feels almost an affection towards the spirit. Maybe when his goals are achieved, he will be able to cleanse the little spirit of its resentment so it can move on and someday be reborn into this world.

The entrance of the cave has been blocked by boulders, but Wei Wuxian easily shifts enough aside to enter. He is immediately assaulted by the stench of rot but after his time on the burial mounds it's nothing to him. The corpse of the Xuanwu of Slaughter is still at the edge of the lake. He finds what he is looking for still inside the shell although it has fallen from the creature's heart and is half buried in the rotten flesh ground. He had once used this sword to save someone he cared about. He tries to remember who and for a moment he seems to smell a faint scent of sandalwood.

Back at the burial mounds he melts the sword and molds the metal into two halves of a rounded tally. In the back of his mind an uneasiness forms. He can feel the power of this thing, it feels like it will be wild and uncontrollable. He wonders if he should try to destroy this thing instead.

The sly voice that had told him that he needed this thing and how to form it now tells him that without this thing in his possession he will be like a fly trying to take down a dragon. He needs it.

"Hmm, it needs a name," He shakes off the doubts and says to the spirit who is watching him from the corner of the cave. "What about Yin Tiger Tally?" This particular spiritual weapon truly is like holding a tiger by the tail, so he thinks the name suits it. The spirit only stares at him solemnly.

He stores the two pieces into a qiankun bag he made himself. He changes into the robes he had picked up in Yiling then considers the red hair ribbon. It's looking slightly ragged but once washed it will still serve its purpose. He seems to remember that this ribbon is important to him for some reason. For a minute he thinks he can hear a voice calling "Wei Ying," but it's faint.

Finally he picks up the flute he carved from the black bamboo of the burial mounds. He attaches a red tasseled talisman to one end that will help amplify the spiritual energy of the flute, then slides the flute into his belt. Ready to go he motions for the spirit to follow him, as if it would do anything else.

Wen Chao reads the letter in disbelief, rage coursing through him. His brother was dead. Not only killed by Nie Mingjue but the man had actually dared to hang his head outside the gates of Lotus Pier.

Wen Chao has never doubted his family's right to rule over the cultivation world, but everything has gone wrong since the symposium. It was all that Wei Wuxian's fault. First Wen Chao had lost the archery contest to him. After that he had been attacked by that Lan bastard when he had honored the omega with an offer of being his concubine.

When they brought the students to Qishan to educate them properly, Wei Wuxian had been a constant troublemaker. Even in the cave of that Yao beast, the one that was supposed to be Wen Chao's crowning glory, all the students had gathered around to protect the omega and defy Wen Chao. It was all too much.

Here in Yiling, once he was sure Wei Wuxian wouldn't ever be able to cause more trouble, he had discovered his cousins' treachery. It was only because his father depended on Wen Qing's medical treatments that he didn't have them both executed on the spot, but instead had them arrested and taken to the dungeons of Nightless City.

Now there was this so-called Sun Shot campaign. The loss of Lotus Pier, Cloud Recesses, and the education center. Wen cultivators and soldiers stationed nearby were being killed by some unknown force. Rumors were running wild that everything going wrong was Wei Wuxian making good on his threat to haunt the Wen Clan.