Author's Note: I apologise for the long wait for this update. A lot of things in my life have been piling on me and it has pulled me away from my story for a while but now, I am good and back on track with this chapter. I also am sorry if this one seems rushed but again, thank you for your patience with the update and I will hear from you all soon in the next update ❤️
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"A-Li...is still...waiting for...you."

Wei WuHui watched as Jin ZiXuan's body finally slumped over with the large hole in his stomach continuing to bleed out as his body hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Ah..." Wei WuHui released a shaky breath as her trembling hands reached up to cupped her face.

"Mèimei!" Her body then stiffened as her eyes snapped up to the sky and saw Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi racing toward her on their swords. Her brother's face expressed only concern to his sister.

"Gēge..." Wei WuHui breathed out as her brother and his lover landed on the ground.

"Jin-Gongzi!" Lan WangJi gasped, his eyes immediately pinpointed the still body of Jin ZiXuan's.

"What happen? Mèimei, tell me what's going on here?" Wei WuXian urged as he stopped in front of his trembling sister and grasped her shoulders as he gave a soft shake, trying to snap her out of it.

Meanwhile, Lan WangJi rushed to Jin ZiXuan and put two fingers at his neck, sagging in relief when he felt a pulse. But only slightly. "Wei WuXian, Jin-Gongzi needs urgent medical treatment." He called out.

Wei WuXian looked back to his fiance with a contemplating expression before turning to his sister, who was still in a state of shock, as he made his final choice.

"Wen Ning, take Mèimei back to the Burial Mounds." Wei WuXian ordered firmly as he then turned to the fierce corpse, who luckily returned back to his normal state.

Wen Ning immediately nodded before going over to the maiden as he picked her up and giving a one last look to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi, he then sped away.

'Mèimei, I pray that you don't blame yourself for this' Wei WuXian thought sadly as he watched the figures fade away into the forest. 'Be strong, Mèimei...please'

———

"How is Wei Gu-Niang?"

Is what she could manage to hear around her as her eyes kept opening and closing. Only managed to recognise Wen Qing and Uncle Four that looked down at her with worry and sympathy.

"The overwhelming shock made her delirious..."

Before everything went black again.

"Didn't you say you knew what you were doing?"

Words from her own voice began to filled her head.

"Didn't you say you could control everything?"

"Didn't you say everything would be fine?"

"That nothing would go wrong?"

Her eyes fluttered open again but a new figure stepped into her vision...it was Wen Ning, who noticed that she was conscious. "Wei Gu-Niang, you're awake–."

A hard slap made contact with Wen Ning's face before he could finish his sentence, sending the fierce corpse to the ground.

Wei WuHui stormed over to the fierce corpse, grabbing his lapel. "Do you know...DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'VE INJURED?!" She burst out, shaking him roughly. "You could've hurt anyone else. Why Jin ZiXuan? Why him?!"

Wen Ning just stared at the hysterical maiden in guilt.

"Now that you've hurt him, what is Shijie supposed to do? What is her son supposed to do? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Wei WuHui then slowed down as she was at a loss. "What should I do..." she finally let go of Wen Ning and staggered back onto the stoned platform.

"Māma..." her daughter, Lan Mei, whimpered as she and her twin brother watched their mother began to break down bit by bit from the arms of Granny Wen as Wen Yuan sniffled in Xue Yang's embrace, who in rare instances, was quiet.

"I...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Wen Ning lamented.

Meanwhile, Wei WuHui began to laugh emotionlessly as she put a hand to her face.

"It's all my fault..."

"A-Hui! I am getting married. Come, have a look!"

A vision of back when Jiang Cheng, Wei WuXian and Jiang YanLi came to Yiling as the latter spun around in her beautiful red wedding robes. Her gentle eyes looked back at Wei WuHui with pure joy.

"Jin RuLan. A perfect name."

Then, it skipped to when Jin Ling, the first son of Jin ZiXuan's and Jiang YanLi's, as the couple stood together with the baby in Jiang YanLi's arms. Their faces expressing only love and happiness to their growing family. Until a droplet of liquid dripped onto the image.

Wei WuHui let out a mixture of laughter and crying as she then said in a small confused voice. "Someone tell me...what do I do now?"

Wen Qing watched the maiden with guilt before she sighed as she gestured to Uncle Four and Granny Wen to leave the cave with the children, leaving only her, Wen Ning and Wei WuHui as she turned to the latter. "There is still a way."

Wei WuHui, hearing the woman spoke, looked up to hear what she meant before gasping softly as something pricked at her neck, causing her to slump over when her body suddenly went still. Wei WuHui realised that it was one of Wen Qing's acupuncture needles.

"Stay in the Burial Mounds for the next three days. Uncle Four and the others will take care of you." Wen Qing stated.

"What...are you going to do?" Wei WuHui questioned.

Wen Qing didn't answer as she and Wen Ning stepped forward, both giving each other a knowing gaze, before they performed a salute simultaneously.

"What the hell are you going to do?!" Wei WuHui repeated.

But all Wen Qing could give back to her was a smile that felt like it would be the very last time she would see it on the doctor's face.

'No...' Wei WuHui's eyes widened as tears began to swell up once again.

"While you were unconscious, the Lanling Jin Sect gave us an ultimatum," Wen Qing began with a heavy heart. "If the two leaders of the Wen Sect's remnants, the Ghost General in particular, surrender themselves, they will pardon us for the Hundred Holes curse and the incident at Qiongqi Road."

"Jiejie and I have agreed to surrender ourselves at the Golden Carp Tower." Wen Ning added.

"Shut up!" Wei WuHui exclaimed, shaking her head in protest. "The Hundred Holes curse wasn't my doing! That curse always leaves scars on its caster. I didn't–."

"The real culprit no longer matters," Wen Qing interrupted sternly. "What does matter is that A-Ning had indeed severely injured Jin-Gongzi and killed over 100 cultivators at Qiongqi Road."

"Wen Ning was nothing but a blade in my hand." Wei WuHui protested through gritted teeth in frustration. "I was the real murderer! I should be the one begging for their forgiveness!"

"Wen Ning is a blade. A blade that intimidates them, but also a weapon that they will gladly attack you with. Without this blade, they will no longer have an excuse. Then, perhaps the dust will finally settle..." Wen Qing explained. "And maybe, you'll be able to live in peace with the children."

A sob escaped from her lip as Wei WuHui stared up at the Wen siblings. "This is wrong...it shouldn't be this way!"

"There's no should or shouldn't. We should have died already. It's only thanks to you that we have been able to live this long." Wen Qing said.

"No!" Wei WuHui sobbed before gasping lightly as Wen Qing flicked at her forehead warmly before turning her back toward her. "All right, we've said our farewells. Goodbye, then"

"No, please don't go!" Wei WuHui continued to plead as tears streamed down her face. "Please!"

"There are some words that I've never said to you before. But at this point, I must. After today, I won't have another chance. I'm sorry...and thank you." Wen Qing spoke as she gave one last smile to the maiden before the effect of the acupuncture needle kicks in as Wei WuHui's consciousness began to wane.

'No stop...don't go...' She weakly reached out to the Wen siblings as their backs began to become smaller and smaller, and black spots began to appeared in her vision.

———

Wei WuHui was lying on the cold stoned slab for three days.

Wen Qing's calculations turned out to be accurate. Three exact days. Not a moment early, not a moment too late. After three days, she was able to move.

First it was her fingers, then her limbs, her neck and then her whole body. Once she felt her blood began to flow inside of her once more, Wei WuHui immediately leaped up from the slab and rushed out of the Demon-Slaughter Cave.

"Māma!"

"Māma!"

Cries from her babies halted her tracks as weights suddenly appeared on her legs with tiny arms wrapping around each of her leg.

"A-Bao, A-Mei." Wei WuHui breathed out as she looked down at her children, her heart breaking a bit as their innocent eyes stared back at her with love.

"Māma go away?" Lan Mei muttered.

Wei WuHui sniffled as she just pulled her children in a tight hug, not having the strength to answer her daughter's innocent question as her tears dripped on top of their heads.

"Māma won't be long, my babies. Māma will try to come back in time for dinner." Wei WuHui then put on a shaky smile as she pulled back to looked at her twins' faces for maybe...one last time. As she wiped a dirt stain on Lan Bao's cheek before giving each twin, a kiss on the forehead.

"Hey Old Hag." Wei WuHui then looked up, seeing Xue Yang and Wen Yuan, who immediately ran to her as the latter wrapped his arms around her hip. "Hui-Jiejie." His small voice mumbled by her robes.

"Xiao-Yang, A-Yuan." Wei WuHui smiled solemnly, patting the child's head gently.

"Are you going after Qing-Jie and Ning-Ge?" Xue Yang asked.

Wei WuHui nodded wordlessly.

The boy just stared at the woman with zero emotions on his face as rain began to pour down onto their heads.

"You better come back alive, Old Hag. Don't you fucking leave us too." Xue Yang glared fiercely.

Wei WuHui's eyes widened in bewilderment before chuckled lightly. "I don't make promises, you brat but I will sure try. And don't swear, you'll influence the little ones."

This got her a middle finger, which sparked another burst of laughter from her.

"Stay with the others, ok?" And with that, giving each child a kiss on the forehead, she then set off toward the Golden Carp Tower...even though she knew it would be...too late.

———

"Hey Shijie, Jin ZiXuan still haven't woke up?" Wei WuXian asked as he walked into the room that his martial sister and her husband shared. Jiang YanLi was sitting right beside a pale Jin ZiXuan, who had bandages covering his entire upper body.

"Not yet, A-Xian." Jiang YanLi weakly smiled at the man as exhaustion covered her face. It was a miracle that Jin ZiXuan managed to be stabilised just in time after Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian brought him in, right as an injured Jin ZiXun crashed the banquet with a declaration that her beloved Shimei "attacked" her husband.

Uproars immediately went up in the banquet as all the cultivators expressed their rage and hatred toward Wei WuHui, which could only increased by the lies spouted from her father-in-law's mouth in an act of revenge. Even she and Wei WuXian can barely utter a word before they were intercepted by multiple cultivators.

"Where is A-Cheng?" Jiang YanLi asked, noticing the missing presence of her younger brother.

Wei WuXian looked away with a frustrated look as his hands clenched tightly. "He went to Nightless City along with the other fools that followed Jin GuangShan. He prohibited me coming along with him, saying how I will only cause more troubles for him and the Sect."

Jiang YanLi frowned solemnly. "A-Xian...what will happen to A-Hui?"

"I..." Wei WuXian began hesitantly as he looked at loss. "I don't know. I just hope that she'll stay safe and low for the time being."

"IT'S WEI WUHUI! WEI WUHUI IS HERE!"

Both of them gasped as they looked toward the door after hearing loud commotions and a shout coming from the outside. They then rushed to an opened window as they looked out, their eyes managing to caught a glimpse of white and black for a split second before it disappeared into the night.

"Mèimei?" Wei WuXian muttered before glancing to Jiang YanLi, who glanced back at him with a worried gaze as he then turned back to the spot where they spotted his sister. 'Mèimei, don't be reckless and die by the hands of those bastards'

———

Wei WuHui walked aimlessly through the pouring rain as civilians ran past her for shelter. Wen Qing's words echoing in her mind like a broken record.

"There are some words that I've never said to you before. But at this point, I must"

"After today, I won't have another chance"

"I'm sorry..."

"And thank you"

Wei WuHui froze as the final words from Wen Qing repeated in her head before she collapsed on the wet ground. The rain wetting her entire body.

"Those little brats Wei Ying and Wei Yang! Stirring up trouble wherever they goes!"

"So the Yunmeng Jiang Sect's discipline is nothing more than this"

"Wei WuHui! You're only the daughter of a servant! How dare you be so arrogant"

"Wei WuHui, the ghost path harms the body and the heart"

All those words that was said to her flowed through her mind. Each hitting her like stones. Then, she spotted a paper in front of her as it displayed both of the Wen siblings' faces on it.

'No matter, I must keep going' Wei WuHui thought as she stared at those faces before closing her eyes. 'So the children and everyone else can live peacefully' and when she opened her eyes, it glows bright red as resentful energy engulfed her entirely and she disappeared from the streets in a swirl of black fog.

'If they want a villain...then I will become the very villain that they had asked for'

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(Please correct my translation if I'm wrong and the GIFs and pictures used in this chapter does not belong to me, but their rightful owners)