ATAVID CH2: Lunatic

Jiang Qunyu had a good memory and quickly recalled the corresponding point in time in the original book.
At this moment, Wei Xun’s meridians had been destroyed, and his cultivation had plummeted.

Although the Wei family was a famous aristocratic family in the cultivation world, Wei Xun was a child brought back from the mortal realm by the family head, Wei Lan, years ago. No one ever knew who his birth mother was.
After Wei Lan returned to the Lingxiao Sect, he married the sect leader’s daughter, Jiang Yunxi, and the following year she gave birth to his second son, Wei Miao.

Under these circumstances, with his birth mother unknown and Wei Lan showing him no favoritism, Wei Xun naturally did not have a smooth journey in the Lingxiao Sect.
Fortunately, he was a rare prodigy, even capable of rivaling Lan Yuanzhou, the direct disciple of Immortal Venerable Shen of the Xuantian Sect.
The sect was willing to pour its efforts into cultivating him.

Thus, one could imagine that ever since Wei Xun’s cultivation was completely destroyed with no hope of recovery, the Lingxiao Sect’s expectations for this former prodigy completely turned into abandonment.
What followed was the increasingly undisguised contempt and bullying from the disciples within the sect.
However much the Lingxiao Sect disciples used to look up to Wei Xun in the past, that was how much they despised him now.
Overwhelming malice swept over him, and he became an existence that anyone could trample on.

And the scene before his eyes originated from an incident a year ago when an elder detected the aura of the demon race in the forbidden area of the back mountain.
The First Elder’s head disciple testified that he had seen Wei Xun near the forbidden area, and the other disciples also chimed in, saying Wei Xun often wandered around the back mountain around the time of the curfew.

In a flash, Wei Xun became a target for all.
After a joint discussion, the elders of the Lingxiao Sect decided to lock him up in the water dungeon. On the surface, they claimed it was a temporary detention to investigate the traces of the demon race.
But Jiang Qunyu, who had read the original book, knew very well that this was entirely a trap set by Wei Miao and the Jiang family.
The Lingxiao Sect wouldn’t really investigate any demons, nor would they let Wei Xun out.

He would be locked up here forever.
Until he died.
Yes, until death.
Wei Xun died.

After being imprisoned in the water dungeon for a year, Wei Xun’s name became a taboo in the Lingxiao Sect.
Wei Miao replaced everything he had, whether it was the status of the Sword Venerable’s direct disciple or his marriage agreement with the Rong family’s second young master, Rong Wangshu.
And on the day of Wei Miao and Rong Wangshu’s grand wedding, Wei Xun died silently at the bottom of the freezing water dungeon.

From then on, his inner demon was born, his vengeful soul entangled him, and he became a half-demon, half-ghost monster rejected by the three realms.

Jiang Qunyu was still recalling the original book’s plotline.
Suddenly, a voice rang in his ears without any warning.
Very low, very deep.
Like it had floated up from the deep bottom of the water, carrying a certain inhuman coldness.

“Who are you?”

The voice was as hoarse as sandpaper, and falling into Jiang Qunyu’s ears, it made him feel an urge to shudder.
Jiang Qunyu blinked.
He wasn’t entirely sure right now if Wei Xun was dead at this point in time.
He looked toward the sound.

In the dim light and shadow, the man looked like a gorgeous ghost crawling out of the water. A few strands of his jet-black hair stuck haphazardly to his face due to the damp mist in the water dungeon, and his porcelain-pale face was stained with mottled blood.
Those beautiful phoenix eyes stared straight at Jiang Qunyu, the pupils frighteningly dark.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t answer immediately.
After a long time, the man slightly curled his lips. His tone was incredibly strange, as if he suddenly realized something. “Oh, I forgot. You are my inner demon.”
He said it so casually, as if stating the most ordinary matter.

But countless thoughts flashed through Jiang Qunyu’s mind in an instant—it seemed this wasn’t the first time Wei Xun had noticed the existence of his inner demon.
Wei Xun merely treated him as just one of those inner demons.

Jiang Qunyu tried his best to maintain a calm facade, but in reality, his heart was beating as fast as a drum.
Calm down! Calm down!
Just pretend you really are Wei Xun’s inner demon!

To be honest, if he hadn’t been bound together with Wei Xun as soon as he transmigrated, he definitely wouldn’t be willing to have any interaction with him.
Whenever he thought of how this person would murder like flies and act crazed and bloodthirsty in the future, he couldn’t stop a chill from running down his spine.
Even though the Wei Xun before his eyes looked pale, weak, and on the verge of death.
But Jiang Qunyu still couldn’t help being afraid.

When he replied to that top comment back then, he had already said it: if he actually met a lunatic like Wei Xun in real life, he would run faster than anyone else.

Jiang Qunyu steadied his breathing, stood unmoving in place, and deliberately kept his voice flat. “Since you already know, why bother asking?”
Wei Xun’s pitch-black eyeballs slowly turned. His gaze was tired and unfocused, yet it carried a tone that brooked no refusal.
“Come here,” he said.

The two were separated by a distance.
Naturally, Jiang Qunyu wasn’t willing to go over.
He looked at Wei Xun from afar, wondering if he could take the opportunity to go outside and check the situation.
After all, he didn’t expect Wei Xun to obediently answer his questions.

Jiang Qunyu’s first impression of Wei Xun really couldn’t be considered good.
Wei Xun had a heavy, eerie, ghostly aura about him.
The gaze he used to stare at Jiang Qunyu was as cold and gloomy as a hibernating venomous snake, waiting for a chance to strike.

Jiang Qunyu glanced at Wei Xun twice, turned around, and walked toward the outside.
Unlike Wei Xun, he had no physical body; he was merely an existence born by relying on the other’s demonic energy.
He could easily leave this water dungeon.

But Jiang Qunyu hadn’t gone far before he faintly felt a formless restriction.
He felt there must be a certain set of rules hidden within this, and he didn’t dare to rashly go any further away.
He was afraid that if he went too far from Wei Xun, he would be forcibly pulled back into Wei Xun’s body, and then he would truly become a turtle trapped in a jar.

Jiang Qunyu tentatively floated out of the water dungeon.
Until he completely passed through that heavy dungeon door, his hands and feet remained clear and did not become transparent due to being away from Wei Xun.
He felt slightly relieved.

The guards outside the water dungeon were exceptionally lax. There were only two disciples leaning against the wall with lazy expressions.
He didn’t know if it was because these two disciples had extremely high cultivation bases or if some kind of restriction was placed over the water dungeon.
For the Lingxiao Sect to feel so reassured as to dispatch only two disciples to guard a water dungeon imprisoning hundreds of demons or disciples who had committed serious crimes.

Soon, Jiang Qunyu found the answer from their conversation.

“Today is Junior Brother Wei Miao and Second Young Master Rong’s grand wedding. All the other outer disciples went to watch the excitement, and only we are still guarding here. What awful luck,” the blue-robed disciple said.
The other disciple couldn’t help chiming in, “Can’t be helped. Who told us to be so unlucky as to be on duty tonight?”
The blue-robed disciple scoffed and lowered his voice: “Besides, around this water dungeon is a barrier set up by the combined efforts of several elders. Unless the Sword Venerable comes in person, even the sect leader would have a hard time breaking it. What difference does it make whether you and I guard it or not?”
The other person heard the implied meaning in his words and took the opportunity to suggest, “Then why don’t we two go have a cup of wine first before coming back?”
“…”

After listening to this, Jiang Qunyu finally understood why, in the original book, Wei Xun was able to leave the water dungeon without anyone discovering him.
Because absolutely no one was there to see it.
It was just that he seemed to have missed a crucial piece of information.

Before Jiang Qunyu could react, a wave of dizziness suddenly hit his brain.
Damn it!
In the last moment before his consciousness was yanked back to Wei Xun’s side, Jiang Qunyu suddenly remembered.

Today was the day Wei Miao and Rong Wangshu got married.
Then wasn’t that the first day of Wei Xun’s death?
And naturally, it was also the exact moment when Wei Xun crushed his inner demon to sacrifice to his sword for the very first time.

The back of Jiang Qunyu’s neck turned cold: “…”
Was it still not too late for him to apply for reincarnation right now?

Inside the gloomy water dungeon, a faint light slanted in from a small window high above, illuminating the dust floating in the air.
Wei Xun leaned his back against the wall, iron chains hanging from his pale wrists and ankles. Due to not seeing sunlight for nearly a year, his face was so pale it was almost transparent.
As for Jiang Qunyu, his entire body was sprawled out against Wei Xun’s chest.

He blanked out for a second.
It wasn’t until Wei Xun furrowed his brows tightly, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and threw him aside like some dirty piece of trash that Jiang Qunyu barely snapped back to his senses.
Before he could speak, Wei Xun acted as if he had touched something disgusting, suddenly turning sideways and beginning to dry heave violently.

However, because he hadn’t eaten for so long, he couldn’t throw up anything. Only his thin shoulders and back trembled slightly from the discomfort.
Jiang Qunyu twitched the corners of his lips. “What are you doing?”
As he spoke, he sniffed himself; there wasn’t any unspeakable, weird smell.

Wei Xun: “Your face, disgusting.”

Jiang Qunyu froze slightly, then instead leaned closer, almost face-to-face with Wei Xun.
In the other party’s bottomless pupils, he clearly saw his own reflection.
“Look closely,” Jiang Qunyu said calmly. “This is your face.”

Wei Xun had absolutely nothing to do with the word “ugly.”
His appearance was aggressively handsome—thin lips, phoenix eyes, and misty black eyelashes with every strand clearly defined. Even though he was a bit thin and weak now from prolonged starvation, he was still breathtakingly handsome.
Based on this face alone, it was no wonder this character received the love of so many readers in the original novel.

Of course, those people did not include Jiang Qunyu.
He admitted that Wei Xun’s face was indeed very bewitching, but he really couldn’t muster any interest in this kind of character who went mad for love.
In any case, it was just spending time with him. Once Wei Xun’s sword path reached great completion, Jiang Qunyu wouldn’t need to feign politeness with him anymore.

Wei Xun’s lips parted in a smile, and changing the subject, he asked, “Where did you go just now?”
Jiang Qunyu copied him and leaned against the wall. It wasn’t comfortable; it was a bit damp. Even though Jiang Qunyu was just a soul body, the chill seeping out from the wall still made him uncomfortable.
He really didn’t know how Wei Xun managed to endure a whole year in a place like this.

Pillowing his hands behind his head, he said, “I went outside and heard your younger brother and your fiancée—or is it fiancé?—got married.”
As a dyed-in-the-wool straight man, he didn’t know whether, when two men got married, the other man should be called a fiancée or a fiancé.
But as long as Wei Xun understood what he meant, it was fine.

Hearing this, a half-smile formed on Wei Xun’s thin, pale lips, and his voice was entwined with a trace of bizarre delight. “Is that so? Then truly, congratulations to them.”
Jiang Qunyu saw that he was smiling sincerely. If he hadn’t known that Wei Xun was about to go slaughter the entire Rong family in a moment, he probably would have genuinely believed he was congratulating them.
Congratulating them with human heads, is it?
What a lunatic.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t want to keep dancing around with him anymore.
In the original book, Wei Xun was bound to kill him once tonight. What must come will come; it was better to take the knife early, die early, and get reincarnated early.
It was better than having a sharp blade hanging over his head, not knowing when it would fall, leaving him in a state of anxious panic.

“When do you plan to kill me?” Jiang Qunyu asked directly.
Wei Xun seemed a bit confused and tilted his head. “Why would I kill you?”
“I’m your inner demon,” Jiang Qunyu reminded him. “Shouldn’t you kill me?”

Wei Xun’s face was half-hidden in the shadows. Jiang Qunyu couldn’t see his expression clearly, but he felt as if those deep black eyes were locked onto him without a single blink.
Wei Xun spoke very softly. His voice was much better than his initial hoarseness. He sighed, “I won’t kill you… I’m so bored. It’s been a long time since anyone talked to me. Even though you are just an inner demon, I still want to keep you around to talk to me.”

He sounded so incredibly pitiful.
Jiang Qunyu wavered for a second. He thought of Wei Xun losing his mother since childhood, growing up only to be betrayed by everyone he knew, and now turning into a half-demon, half-ghost monster. To be honest, it really was quite pitiful.

“What do you want to talk about?”
Wei Xun: “Hmm, perhaps where you come from? What do you want to take from me? You are my inner demon, so do you know what I want the most?”

Wei Xun talked a lot. His questions came one after another, like a tireless student constantly asking Jiang Qunyu.
Jiang Qunyu was still thinking about which question to answer first, entirely failing to notice someone behind him inching closer and closer, bit by bit.
Like a shadow spreading close to the ground, entirely soundless.

He got very, very close, and his ice-cold knuckles caught Jiang Qunyu off guard, gripping the back of his neck.
With a light snap.
Jiang Qunyu died.

In the split second before his vision went completely dark, Jiang Qunyu heard Wei Xun laughing. He laughed so presumptuously, shaking like a branch of flowers, his slender eyelids slightly flushed, laughing so hard that tears came out.

“Idiot, I lied to you.”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”
Fuck you!

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