Chapter 123: Don't You Come Any Closer!

"You say..." Lu Wei yawned, feeling a sense of ease he had never known before.

After all, seeing a fanatical devotee follow their cult leader through a lifetime of turmoil is not an uncommon sight. But what if that leader ran off halfway, leaving the devotee alone to face storms the likes of which had never been seen?

Lu Wei spent his days sleeping beside Wen Jing'e's corpse. Being a soul, he had no need for food. The others—those things that were not quite human—still required sustenance. At first, Wen Xueshan was afraid he might run away, but upon realizing Lu Wei had no such intention, he stopped paying him any mind.

"How many days has it been?" Before even opening his eyes, Lu Wei knew by the sound of the footsteps that it was Wen Xueshan.

The leaves on the ancient ginkgo tree remained a vibrant crimson. New shoots were emerging, but the leaves they bore were not green; they were red.

"Half a month."

"Where exactly is this place?" Lu Wei remembered that when he was alive, he had never even heard of any places beyond the Dian Mountains. Could this be a geographical name from some later era?

"In any case, it does not exist in the human realm."

"Then, was your ancestor surnamed Wen?" Each day away from Wen Jing'e, he discovered something new to appreciate about her. At the very least, when she was still around, he had never become the chatterbox he was now—so tiresome that even he found his own incessant rambling annoying. No one else would pay him any heed; only Wen Xueshan would occasionally respond to him.

"It has been so long, I have forgotten." Wen Xueshan sighed, gazing at the tree for a long while. He stroked the trunk with great reverence. "I was waiting here when this tree was but a sapling. Now, five men could not wrap their arms around it."

"That is quite a long time." He nodded in agreement, then tucked the small blanket around Wen Jing'e. He also found it strange; she had been dead for so long, and her blood had long since drained away. Yet, she remained fresh, as if she were merely asleep.

"Will something happen if she is left like this?"

Wen Xueshan opened his mouth, looking as if he had been stunned by the question. "What could happen?"

"Snakes, insects, rats, ants."

"No." He shook his head. "The Ancestor is the Master of the Mang, a god. Her body carries the blessings of ten thousand devotees; her physical form will not decay, and no vermin can violate it."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Then when will the Heavenly Ladder descend?"

Wen Xueshan looked up at the ginkgo tree. Its trunk had never been pruned, and it kept climbing upward, its height far surpassing any ordinary tree, as if it had already reached into the heavens.

"I... do not know..." He looked lost. He suddenly recalled that when he had performed these rituals on behalf of the Ancestor in the past, he had been terrified the first time. He had died, and at that time, the Mang had said the Heavenly Ladder had descended... Later, for reasons unknown, he had awakened the day before the ritual, and in the days that followed, he had repeated the fate of being killed, falling into a deep sleep, and being killed again. He had never seen the true Heavenly Ladder.

Wen Xueshan’s figure wavered. He reached out and grabbed the nearest black-robed man, pointing at the ancient ginkgo tree and demanding, "Did you see the Heavenly Ladder? Did you see it? The ladder? Has it appeared?"

The black-robed man nodded, then shook his head, and finally broke free and ran away in fear. Wen Xueshan began to run, chasing after the black-robed figures, asking, "Did you see it? The ladder! Has the Heavenly Ladder appeared?"

"I think..." Lu Wei rubbed his face, feeling quite distressed. "I have become as annoying as you. For no reason at all, I’ve driven someone mad."

He poked Wen Jing'e’s cheek; it was still soft, as if it held warmth. He reached out with his other hand, which had been tucked into his sleeve. With both hands, he poked at her cheeks, as if he had discovered some great amusement.

"Sigh! You know, your face really is quite soft. If only you were this easy to talk to when you were alive. What a pity..."

As her head rolled slightly, Lu Wei sheepishly withdrew his hands. It was as if he had only just realized she was dead. He looked at his empty hands and said in a low tone, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

He retrieved her head and gently wiped the dust from her face with his sleeve, but the more he wiped, the more smeared it became. He said with a touch of irritation, "Look at you, you can't even rest in peace after death, still needing me to take care of you."

"Didn't see it, I didn't see it, didn't see it..."

Wen Xueshan had returned at some point. He looked utterly devastated, his state of mind clearly fractured. Had he been crying? No, he was crying right now.

"Liars! Liars! You are all liars!" He stood beneath the ancient ginkgo tree, kicking it again and again. But the tree was far too massive; the harder he kicked, the more he hurt himself. "All liars..."

"Hey!" Lu Wei did not look up, busy carefully wiping Wen Jing'e's face with water. "I saw your arms get chopped off, and then—snap!—they were reattached. Tell me, if she had cut off your heads back then, would you have been able to reattach those too?"

Wen Xueshan watched him in silence. Just as Lu Wei began to feel unnerved by the stare and was forced to look up, he saw Wen Xueshan draw his blade.

"Hey! No, no, you can kill me if you must; I know I’ve been too rowdy lately." Lu Wei raised the cloth in his hand. "Your Ancestor, your Ancestor's face is dirty. Can you wait until I finish cleaning her before you kill me?"

Lu Wei’s eyes widened. Without a word, Wen Xueshan slashed his own throat.

The cloth fell from Lu Wei's hand with a soft sound. In the distance, the black-robed figures suddenly turned to look in their direction, as if collectively summoned.

"You, you stay back! If you come any closer, I’ll throw your Ancestor at you!"

Wen Xueshan, lying on the ground, blinked as if he wanted to say something, but he could not; he was dead. Like Wen Jing'e, his death was sudden.

Lu Wei looked at the person and the head in his arms, then at the person and the head on the ground. Before the half-human, half-ghost crowd could reach him, he snatched up the Demon Zither Sword from the ground. "This isn't right! Are heads really that easy to cut off? Or is this sword just incredibly sharp?"

He leaned Wen Jing'e against the tree and raised the sword, holding it horizontally against his own neck.

"Mani Mani Hum! Overwhelming Force!"

Lu Wei felt his body jolt. Wood chips flew as he was nearly knocked off his feet by a shockwave. Wen Jing'e's body was sent flying, and he lunged to catch it, only to find that the body had turned into fine powder.

Lu Wei: ...

"You love me that much?" An annoying voice rang out from behind him. He spun around.

Wen Jing'e approached him cautiously, snatching the Demon Zither Sword from his hand before he could react. "What's this? Wait until we finish the formalities—it won't be too late for you to be buried with me then!"

"Wen Jing'e!"