[Forget Envy] Short Story - The Bell of the Soul

"Left...upper left! Jingyi is careful that there are branches on her head!"

The wind howled, the wind roared loudly, and the whole forest became a living weapon. The tree body was blown tottering by the wind, like ghosts raging, and every branch and leaf on the tree carried a dangerous message.

The torrential rain was raging, and the bean-sized rain poured down from the dark clouds, hitting the ground to make a pattering sound, swallowing all other sounds except the sound of rain.

Ren Wei Wuxian yelled loudly again to be careful, but the person who was called was still smacked hard by the sweeping branches, crying out in pain again and again.

Lan Jingyi almost fell from the spirit sword, and the side of his face was completely red from the beating. He stroked the sore spot and said with a mournful face, "Senior Wei, please remind me earlier, please?"

Wei Wuxian sighed, "I've reminded you, wait a minute, look ahead, it's still left."

This time Lan Jingyi saw it, and hastily bent over to dodge, barely avoiding it.

Looking at the disciples of the Lan family walking through the forest, Wei Wuxian murmured, "It seems that there are still not enough people, and their adaptability is not high enough. Should we consider changing to a team of two? No...two people The group is indeed safer, but the efficiency is too low."

The wind and rain show no signs of stopping, and there are even harbingers of thunder. Under such a bad environment, more than a dozen children of Gusu Lan's family are busy rescuing villagers trapped by landslides and floods, but those who can fly with swords are also dispatched. There were only eight of them, and the others were searching and rescuing people who were covered by mud on the ground. Such work day and night in the rain had worn down people's energy and concentration to the lowest point.

Gusu itself is a water town, but the heavy rain lasted for more than ten days, and the water level soared, mixed with the mud and swamp on the mountain, flowing for thousands of miles, flooding several villages and towns, and burying many people's lives. The disaster was very serious It can be described as a once-in-a-hundred-year natural disaster in the history of Gusu.

Wei Wuxian was standing under a big tree. Even though he was wearing a special oil raincoat and a bamboo hat, his whole body was still soaked through, and he looked no better than the others.

In this operation, Wei Wuxian was in charge of commanding, because he has very good eyesight in the dark, and even a slight disturbance could not escape his eyes and ears.

Wei WuXian yelled loudly, "A villager has been injured. Hurry up and take him to a safe place to treat his injuries. Those who saved people just now come back to rest. Those who have rested enough are dispatched. Don't be negligent."

When Lan Wangji was not around, Wei Wuxian became their elder, and he was responsible for the entire rescue operation, but the adaptability of this group of juniors is really poor, especially in this harsh environment On the road, if there is an unexpected incident, it will be chaotic.

In addition, there is another thing that bothers him.Wei Wuxian turned his eyes slightly to the river bank, and he called all the walking corpses nearby, but the number seemed to be a bit small, with so many villages and towns, it is impossible for the number of corpses to be so small.

Moreover, although the subdued corpse puppets followed the instructions and sent the big stone sandbags to the river bank to pile up and slowly guide the mountain torrent to flow, but the walking speed of the corpse was too slow. Even with Wen Ning's help, I still don't know when the work will be completed. .

While thinking about it, a white figure caught in the corner of Wei Wuxian's eyes, he turned his head and saw Lan Wangji standing silently behind him, his eyes were still fixed on the disaster in front of him, he didn't even look at Wei Wuxian .

Although he knew that the situation was serious, but he didn't take a look at it, Wei Wuxian was a little dissatisfied, and wanted to call him, but suddenly sneezed.

Lan Wangji finally turned his head to look at Wei Wuxian, took a step forward, and gently hugged his waist. Although the two of them were also soaked through, when Lan Wangji approached, a burst of warm body temperature spread immediately. To Wei Wuxian.

This kind of touch feels familiar. Wei Wuxian leaned on Lan Wangji's shoulder with his drenched body and tightly wrapped waist, and said with a bad idea, "I'm sick. Brother Lan, you have to coax him when you go back." Poor me."

"..."

Wei Wuxian snickered, rubbed against Lan Wangji twice and said, "Does that sound familiar? I remember that we were also wet at the bottom of Xuanwu Cave."

Lan Wangji wanted to speak, but Wei Wuxian spoke up first, and said solemnly, "Stop playing! How is your brother's situation? There are enough people, the rescue should have been completed, right?"

Lan Wangji said, "...um! It's done!"

Wei WuXian put his hand under his chin, carefully thinking about what to do next, and said, "That's it! The work of flood control must be completed quickly, and there is no delay in channeling the water, otherwise the next wave of floods will be too late. I hope God will let us go!"

"nothing."

Wei Wuxian's nose was itchy, and he sneezed again involuntarily. Lan Wangji reached out and took his hand and said, "Your hands are cold."

Wei Wuxian said, "Anyone who is exposed to the wind and rain for a whole day will be cold, it's not a problem."

Because it was raining all the time, there was nowhere to hide, Lan Wangji wanted him to dry his body, but he couldn't do it and said, "This is not possible, how about..."

Don't let him say anything wrong, coming and going will definitely make him go back to Yunshen, Wei Wuxian took his eyes away from Lan Wangji's fuselage, looked at the river bank to monitor the progress of the corpse puppet's work, and said: "I'm fine, I'm no longer Mo Xuanyu's weak body, it's just that my hands got cold and I sneezed."

Lan Wangji didn't allow him to underestimate his own situation: "This is already very serious."

A disciple came over: "Hanguang-jun! The Orion who was rescued just now said that there is an abandoned righteous temple three miles away. It is a flat place and can be inspected from a high place. Senior Wei can go there to rest!"

Lan Wangji nodded, put his arms around Wei Wuxian's waist and walked forward, saying, "Let's go!"

Wei Wuxian struggled and said, "Wait, wait, I still need to monitor the progress."

Lan Wangji didn't let him say more, and dragged away: "You need to keep warm!"

"My lord, I'll watch over here for you, you can go and rest." Even Wen Ning didn't stand by his side, Wei Wuxian had no choice but to follow Lan Wangji and follow him.

Lan Wangji led him along with his sword, and soon arrived at the Temple of Justice shown by Orion.

It is a small temple built on the mountain, facing Gusu due west. If the weather is ideal, it will be a good place to enjoy the most perfect sunset in Gusu. However, the Yi Temple is hidden by the big trees in the mountains and forests. No one knew of the existence of this temple, who went up to the mountain to work every day, not even the disciples of the Lan family who often inspected with Yujian.

Ironically, this temple happened to be opposite to Yun Shen's unknown location.

Wei Wuxian said, "This temple is weird!"

The mountain road is actually gentle and easy to walk, and there are quite a lot of flat areas. However, this temple was not built in a conspicuous place, but hidden among the big trees. The exterior decoration is simple but decent, and the materials are mainly black. Yin Temple.

The Temple of Yin, as its name suggests, is a temple for worshiping ghosts and gods. Most of them were built by some out-of-the-ordinary industries or upstarts. There are very few traces of it, and it should have only been ignited at the moment of completion, and then it has been abandoned.

Wei WuXian thought to himself: "If you don't show respect like this, no ghosts or gods will stay here. What is the use of this temple?"

Wei WuXian was always attracted by the Temple of Justice until Lan SiZhui came up to him and said, "HanGuang-Jun! Senior Wei! The fire has risen for warmth."

Lan Wangji pushed Wei Wuxian into the temple. The first thing they saw was a stone enshrined on the main altar. The stone was very ordinary, without any carving or decoration, and there was no name or rune engraved on it. , It's like picking it up and putting it on the ground.

Wei Wuxian looked at it fascinated: "It's a weird temple, but I don't feel evil, what's going on?"

Lan Sizhui led them towards the fire and said, "According to what Orion said, this righteous temple was built more than ten years ago by several people from other places, and they said it was to honor their benefactors. I don’t know, because no one has ever come to make offerings or worship, and the hunters only regard this place as a shelter from the rain.”

Wei Wuxian rubbed his hands in front of the fire and said, "That benefactor is really pitiful. After being put on the altar, he was abandoned."

Lan Sizhui smiled bitterly and said, "It can't be helped, because at that time, all the people of the aristocratic family were busy arresting suspicious people in order to find the soul of Senior Wei, and the person who built this temple should not be the same person. Bifengtou was arrested and tortured.”

Hearing this, Wei WuXian looked at Lan Sizhui with a helpless expression, "Why is it my fault again?"

Lan Sizhui hurriedly shook his head: "No, it's not."

Wei Wuxian sighed, looked back at the flames in the fire and said, "Understood, it was my fault, so there is no need to refute it."

Lan Wangji didn't say much, but silently grabbed Wei Wuxian's hand, sending him spiritual power bit by bit.

Wei Wuxian said, "It's useless, you save some spiritual energy for rescue."

Lan Wangji didn't go all out, he stubbornly continued to lead him to keep warm. In fact, even if there is no golden core in his body for storage and operation, the spiritual power can still flow through the whole body, but Wei Wuxian didn't want Lan Wangji to waste his spiritual power on such a situation. matter.

But since he couldn't beat the stubborn Lan Wangji, there was nothing he could do. He changed the subject and said, "If I had Qingxiang in my hand, I would really like to make an offering to this temple. After all, it was because of me that there would be no more." People come to offer incense."

Lan Wangji said calmly, "I'll come back after the rain stops."

"Hmm!" Wei Wuxian began to talk to himself again: "Without dead souls, is it useful to burn incense? And I don't know the name..."

After his body warmed up a little bit, Wei Wuxian was embarrassed to stay in front of the fire, and after giving up his seat to other juniors, he took a look at Lan Wangji who was in front of the door, listening to his disciples report on the situation. Will be busy too.

As he walked, he walked around the Yi Temple curiously. He always felt that the decoration style seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember seeing it there.

Wei Wuxian's gaze was attracted by a copper bell placed in front of the altar. He carefully inspected the inside of the copper bell. There were no spell patterns engraved on the copper body, no spiritual light, and no evil spirit, but it didn't feel like an ordinary bell. The bronze bell used to ward off evil spirits was raised and shaked twice, but it did not make any sound. It may be because it is not made of pure copper, and it has deteriorated after being ravaged by wind and rain for too long.

At this time, a black figure jumped into the temple, it was Wen Ning.

As soon as he came in, he was the same as Wei Wuxian, he was attracted by the stone and stared blankly for a while, until he heard Wei Wuxian calling him, then he slowly walked in front of Wei Wuxian and said: " Young Master, the water flow has turned smoothly, and the water in the village has shown signs of receding."

Wei WuXian put down the brass bell in his hand, looked at Lan WuJi, saw him nodding slightly, then slapped his palms in the direction of the fire and said, "Listen everyone, now just make sure that the water flow doesn't change and affect other villages , we can go back."

After finishing speaking, the juniors in the Yi Temple cheered together, and the happy laughter began to fall one after another.

Hearing the cheers and responses, Wei Wuxian smiled smugly, acting as if he was amazing, let his corpse puppet do the things that living people think are dangerous, and it can be done perfectly, not to mention evil ways. Not safe.

Wei Wuxian looked at the stone on the altar and thought, "This temple is auspicious! This temple is auspicious! I will definitely come back to worship."

A group of disciples began to leave the Yimiao with a lot of chatter. After Wei Wuxian made sure that the fire had been completely extinguished, he followed behind them. Suddenly, a bell rang in his ear.

ding ding......

"Eh!?" Wei WuXian moved his eyes to the copper bell in front of the altar. The bell is tightly attached to the bell wall, so it is impossible to make a sound. After thinking about it, he shook his head, thinking that it might be his own illusion. After all, there was too much wind and rain, and too many noises.

Seeing him standing still, Lan Wangji called softly, "Wei Ying?"

Wei Wuxian responded, "Come on! Come on!"

to be continued

☆, strange feeling