Flowers to Lotus Pier || Wei Wuxian x Reader

Chapter 24: Bird's-Foot Trefoil

*warning: you may find the this chapter disturbing*

| 3rd Person POV |

Over at the Supervisory Office in Yiling, Wen Qing was thrown into the dungeon with Wen Ning. Wen Ning was beaten as he had dirt marks on his face and cuts.

Later at night, a soldier came to report to Wen Chao. "The Indoctrination Bureau has fallen?" Wen Chao questioned. "How can it fall?"

The soldier replied. "Yes. It has indeed fallen. His excellency requests you return to Qishan immediately."

"Didn't he get another right-hand man? Why would he make me return to Qishan?"

A faint flute started playing in the distance.

In the bedroom, Wang Lingjiao covered herself with her blankets. "I will not die. Not with that unreliable man." She ran to lock her door and back to get her treasure. "Shameless bastard, ugly toad. I don't want to waste my time on you anymore. You're going to die sooner or later." She ridiculed. She opened her box of treasures and saw two eyeballs staring at her. Her eyes widened in fear and flipped the box. She scrambled backwards and started crying. "Ghost!" She screamed. The wind started blowing. She looked around in terror and trembled. She ran to her door and opened it. She took the talisman that was hung above the door and placed it on herself. She breathed heavily and walked to the corner. She took the coat hanger and hit it against her chest. She lifted the chest up as her treasures spilled. She threw the coat hanger to the side and crawled over, collecting the jewelry. In the corner of her eyes, she saw the two eyeballs again and screamed.

As she started seeing things, she took her hot iron and started swinging it violently. She smashed the items on the tea table and swung at the curtains. "I'm sorry!" She screamed. "I was wrong! Forgive me!" She stopped and put down her hot iron. She reached over to the broken shard of the teapot before scarring her face. A silky white fabric was then sent and dangled against the beams. A silhouetted figure appeared at the window, playing a flute. Wang Lingjiao dropped the tea pot shard and looked at the fabric. She stood up and walked towards the silk and hung herself.

In the throne room, Wen Chao saw his doors fly open. Wang Lingjiao's figure lifelessly walked towards him. He looked at her in fear. "Stay away! I told you to leave me alone!"

"Please help me." Her figure said.

Wen Chao stabbed her and pulled his sword out. She fell to the floor. She started crawling towards him. Wen Chao tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground as well. Wang Lingjiao crawled more as Wen Chao screamed and backed away. Her figure then disappeared. Wen Chao stared in horror. He went on his knees and elbows and started pleading. "I didn't kill you! Wen Zhuliu killed you! Stay away! Please forgive me! Not me! Please spare me!" Wen Zhuliu ran inside and picked up Wen Chao before running away from the Supervisory Office in Yiling. The silhouette in the window then lowered the flute and the sound came to a halt. The silhouette ran off to follow Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu.

A few moments later, Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arrived at the Supervisory Office in Yiling. Jiang Cheng signaled the disciples to ready their swords.

"There's a strong malign energy and the smell of blood." Lan Wangji started. They opened the door as the disciples ran in. Bodies of the Wen Clan soldiers littered the floor. Everyone started checking the Wen Clan soldiers and how they died.

"He bled from all the holes in his head." Jiang Cheng said as he checked one of the soldiers.

"This one didnt." Lan Wangji said when he checked another soldier.

"Hanged, burned, drowned, poisoned, whipped. They all died of different causes. It seems the mission today was finished by something unknown." Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji looked at each other.

A disciple then ran out. "All the bodies have been checked. They all died in different ways." He said. "And a woman hanged herself inside a room."

"A woman?" Jiang Cheng asked. The disciple nodded. Jiang Cheng then walked into the inner rooms of the Supervisory Office. He entered the room where Wang Lingjiao hung herself. He unsheathed his sword and stabbed her multiple times before she fell to the ground.

Lan Wangji waited outside the room and examined a talisman that was hung on the wall. "Additional strokes." He said. Jiang Cheng then took the talisman and examined it. "This talisman was reversed. Normal talismans are supposed to ward off evil spirits, but this one summons evil spirits."

"Summon evil spirits? Talismans can summon evil spirits? I never heard of that." Jiang Cheng said.

"That's what's unusual. But according to this situation, the talismans didn't have reversed functions originally. There were 4 strokes added. Judging by the smell, they were added by human blood."

"Who could it be? Among the gentry families, no one is known for being able to do this. But whoever it is, it's not a problem if we have the same goal."

A disciple ran to the stairs from the dungeon. "Clan leader, there is a survivor in the dungeon." Jiang Cheng then walked down the dungeon and saw Wen Qing on the floor. He commanded his disciples to leave before he took off the chains on Wen Qing. "I never thought we could see each other again." Jiang Cheng said.

"Where is he?" Wen Qing asked. She was talking about Wei Wuxian.

"From what Lan Wangji and I got when we went to Qishan, Wei Wuxian was thrown into Burial Mounds. It seems you don't know where he is either." Jiang Cheng turned away. "Lady Wen, leave the Wen Clan. The four main clans have allied to bring down the Wen Clan. Wen Ruohan and the Wen Clan are doomed to fail. Although there is a deep hatred between the Wen Clan and me, you saved me."

"Ning, he was taken by them." Wen Qing said. "He's still in Qishan."

"Leave the Wen Clan. I can-"

Wen Qing cut him off. "Young Master Jiang. What can you do?" Jiang Cheng stayed silent. "I have my brother and a family to look after. You can save me, but you can't save them all. You have saved me and I have saved you. We're even." Wen Qing slightly bowed and started leaving.

"Wen Qing!" Jiang Cheng called after her. He pulled out a hair comb from his hanfu. "Lady Wen. Take this comb. If anything happens to you in the future, come to me and I will help you." He then placed it on the table and left to join Lan Wangji outside the Supervisory Office.

"Let's go." Lan Wangji said.

"Where?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Qishan."

"You mean Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu escaped?" Lan Wangji nodded. "It's no use staying here. Let's chase them using our swords."

"Agreed."

They then traveled towards Qishan. As they walked along a path, soldiers of the Wen Clan laid dead on the floor. All dying in different ways.

Jiang Cheng started, "We tracked Wen Chao all the way, but this person is always one step ahead. Who could it be?"

"This person has strong wicked energy." Lan Wangji said. "We should be careful."

"Is there anyone more wicked than the Wen Clan? He's not an enemy if we have the same goal. Let's go, we need to hurry."

A disciple ran down the path to us. "We received track of Wen Zhuliu near the Yunmeng courier station." The group started heading over the direction of the location in Yunmeng.