REJOICE, Wei Wuxian is dead!"
It hadn't been a day since the Siege of the Burial Mound, and the news had
already flown across the entire cultivation world as if it had sprouted wings. The
speed was only comparable to how fast the flames of war had spread back
then, if not faster.
Suddenly everyone, whether they were prominent clans or rogue cultivators,
was discussing this operation of vanquishment that had been led by the four
great clans and attended by hundreds of sects both big and small.
"Fantastic, fantastic indeed! Who was the hero who killed the Yiling
Patriarch?"
"Who else could it be? Ain't it his shidi, the little sect leader Jiang Cheng? The
four major clans fronted the attack: the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng, the Jin Clan of
Lanling, the Lan Clan of Gusu, and the Nie Clan of Qinghe. Crushing family for
the greater good, they destroyed Wei Wuxian's good ol' lair, the Burial Mound."
"I must say, well done."
Someone immediately clapped and exclaimed in agreement, "That's right,
well done! If it wasn't for the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng, who took him in and
raised him, then Wei Wuxian would've been a no-name street rat in the
countryside—never mind becoming anything else! The former Jiang sect leader
raised him like his own son, eh? But look at him: publicly defecting from the
clan, making himself an enemy of the world. He's embarrassed the Jiang Clan of
Yunmeng utterly and almost doomed them to the same fate of extermination.
What do you call a traitor? Him!"
"I can't believe Jiang Cheng allowed that guy to run amok for so long. If it
were me, I wouldn't have just stabbed him when he first defected, I would've
cleaned house! He wouldn't even have gotten the chance to do all those crazy
things. What does a childhood friendship matter when facing people like him?"
"That's not what I heard, though? Didn't Wei Ying's demonic cultivation
backfire, causing him to be ripped apart and devoured by the ghosts under his
command? I heard he was chewed to pieces while still alive."
"Ha ha ha ha! That's what you call karma. I've wanted to say this for a long
time now, but those ghost generals he raised were like a pack of unleashed mad
dogs, biting people everywhere. And in the end, he got bit to death himself.
Well deserved!"
"Be that as it may, if the little Jiang sect leader hadn't been the one to plan
this siege based on the Yiling Patriarch's weaknesses, then success would've
been difficult to guarantee. Don't forget what Wei Wuxian had in his clutches,
or how over three thousand renowned cultivators were all completely
annihilated that night."
"Wasn't it five thousand?"
"Three thousand, five thousand, they're all the same. Five thousand is more
believable."
"He really is completely mad…"
"He destroyed the Yin Tiger Tally before he died, so he gets at least some
credit for that. If that evil thing was left to cause harm in the world, his sins
would only deepen."
The moment the Yin Tiger Tally was mentioned, there was suddenly silence,
as if everyone was wary of something. A moment later, someone sighed.
"Man…speaking of that Wei Wuxian. He used to be a young master in an
extremely affluent and distinguished cultivation sect back then. It wasn't like he
had no accomplishments. He gained great success in his youth. How glorious
and unbridled he was… How did he end up on this path…?"
The subject changed, and voices were raised again in heated discussion.
"It's obvious from this case that the path of cultivation must always follow the
righteous way. The demonic path is only glorious for the moment. You think it
looks so glamorous? Heh, look where that got him."
"Death without a corpse!" a voice replied forcefully.
"It's not all because of the cultivation path. At the end of the day, it's still
because Wei Wuxian was someone of bad character. He roused the wrath of
the heavens and the grudges of men. You know what they say: What goes
around comes around; the heavens are watching…"
...
After Wei Wuxian's death, judgment of his character was no longer refutable.
The discussions were mostly the same, and any small voice of dissent was
immediately squashed.
However, gloom still firmly enveloped everyone's minds.
Although the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, had died at the Burial Mound, the
remnants of his soul couldn't be summoned.
Perhaps his soul had also been ripped apart and devoured by the millions of
ghosts. Or perhaps it had escaped.
The former would naturally be a joyous occasion for the entire world.
However, the Yiling Patriarch had the ability to topple the earth and move
mountains and seas—at least, that was what the legends said. It would be no
great task for him to resist soul-summoning if he desired it. If his spirit returned
in the future…if he took over a body and was reincarnated, then the cultivation
world—the entire mortal world, in fact—would be cursed to face even greater
vengeance, sinking into an endless storm of darkness and blood.
And so, when the hundred and twenty stone beasts required to seal a
mountain were set down at the peak of the Burial Mound, every major clan
began conducting frequent soul-summoning rituals. They also strictly monitored
for cases of possession, sought far and wide for abnormal occurrences, and
heightened their security to the max.
In the first year, all was peaceful.
In the second year, all was peaceful.
In the third year, all was peaceful.
...
In the thirteenth year, all was still peaceful.
Thus, more and more people finally came to believe that perhaps Wei Wuxian had not been that amazing after all. Maybe he really had perished.
Even though he had once turned the world upside down, there had at last come a day when he was the one overturned.
No one could be worshiped on the divine altar forever. Legends were merely legends.