Chapter 1350: Wei Zhilan: A Hero’s Journey Through the World
"Miss, please come down quickly, I’m begging you—if something happens to you, the lady won’t spare me!"
A maidservant dressed in green, with a delicate and pretty face, stomped her feet anxiously, watching the little girl who had climbed up the plane tree swaying her two white legs.
The little girl’s face bore a naughty and willful expression as she sneered, "Lüluo, as my maidservant, you’re so cowardly, it’s truly disappointing to me."
Whoosh!
She leaped down from the tree and landed steadily on the ground, scaring the maidservant named Lüluo to a deathly pallor, almost collapsing right then and there.
"So boring."
Muttering to herself, Wei Zhilan ran off on her own.
As the daughter of the Northwestern Commissioner, the world-renowned Wei Langyi, Wei Zhilan had been the center of love and affection since she was young. Coupled with her intelligence and cleverness, she naturally developed a stubborn, arrogant temperament, thinking herself above all others.
The youthful girl believed in her heart that everyone in the world should revolve around her. She could wrong others, but no one could wrong her.
On her eighth birthday, her father suddenly went to Yuan Mountain Temple to meet a very important friend. Out of curiosity, Wei Zhilan secretly followed, but was easily caught red-handed.
However, her father didn’t scold her but took her along. In a side room of the temple, Wei Zhilan met someone she should never have been able to meet.
The Martial Emperor!
Only then did she learn that the legendary martial artist who led the Righteous Path to defeat the Devil Path six hundred years ago was actually a close friend of her father’s.
Now that was something to boast about!
Wei Zhilan was over the moon and even had the cheek to ask the Martial Emperor to teach her martial arts. The Martial Emperor left behind a secret manual and departed as if carried by the wind.
After practicing martial arts for a year, Wei Zhilan’s skill had grown markedly, and she had grown tired of the constraints of the Commissioner’s residence, yearning for a glimpse of the Martial World. She had heard there were many heroes and heroines, bandits, and devilish figures, and perhaps she could make a name for herself too.
Taking advantage of her father’s secret trip to Qingxue State on official business, Wei Zhilan entered the outside world for the first time.
She found the people outside to be even dumber than the servants in her residence; with little effort, she could play them like pawns in her hand.
On this clear and sunny day, Wei Zhilan concocted a plan to send Uncle Fu away and witnessed a wealthy young master bullying a beggar by the roadside. She couldn’t help wanting to take up for the latter.
So, she used the martial arts she had learned to steal five hundred thousand silver notes from the young master and distributed them to the beggars at the street corner.
Unsurprisingly, her actions were exposed, and the wealthy young master followed her all the way to a tavern, intending to get rough. Out of desperation, she had no choice but to quickly devise a scheme, blaming the theft on a young man in blue not far away.
The reason she blamed that person was completely instinctive.
Upon reflection, she might have just wanted to get to know that young man at the time. But the wilful her didn’t realize how much trouble her actions would cause him.
Sure enough, the young man clashed with Xue Tianmu, but with his remarkable martial skills, he managed to fend off the furious Xue Tianmu.
She was just about to praise him when he dared to scold her and say something about it being a one-time thing—absolutely outrageous!
Later, she and Uncle Fu followed the young man, learned his name, and witnessed his various conflicts with the Xue family.
Finally, when he and a woman named Charming Fox fled Moyun City, she couldn’t help but step in, alerting the local City Lord to eliminate the troubles for him.
Hmph, acting all high and mighty. In the end, didn’t you have to rely on me to fix things? Shi Xiaole, just you wait. Once I perfect my martial arts, I’ll stand before you and make you admit you were wrong that day.
Years passed.
In the blink of an eye, Wei Zhilan was eighteen, and against her parents’ strong objections, she stepped into the Martial World.
But she never imagined how wonderful fate could be. The young man she had once framed had grown into a genius, not only dominating Qingxue State but also entering Xuanwu State alone. At the Linjiang Immortal Meeting, he swept through all challengers.
The latest Martial World chronicles even hailed him as the greatest genius in the history of the eight states.
I will definitely catch up to you!
Wei Zhilan thought so, but that young man was too powerful. Others might spend years to break through a minor realm, but he could break through several in just one year, and his combat power at the same level was terrifying.
Almost every so often, she would hear news about him defeating another peerless genius and setting new records for the fastest breakthrough.
She went from being full of confidence to not even being able to see the back of the young man’s shadow. Only then did she realize how great the gap was between them.
Weathered by the trials and tribulations of the Martial World and the tumult of human affairs, Wei Zhilan gradually curbed her wilful nature. Fundamentally a good person and because she liked to stand up for justice, she slowly became a somewhat renowned heroine in the Martial World.
She also made many friends, shared her admiration for Shi Xiaole with them, and discussed everything about him. Later, they even went together to Endless Risky Peak to watch him defeat the imposing Yao Mie Sheng, cheering her heart out.
At that time, she so wanted to come forward and personally apologize to the young man for her past impulsiveness and seek his forgiveness. But he was so radiant that even the three other great demons of the four were reduced to mere foils.
He probably didn’t even remember her anymore.
Time passed by, and suddenly one day, the Outer Heaven Demons invaded, threatening to occupy East Victory! She and a few friends set off immediately and, along with countless warriors of East Victory, rushed to the South Sea Abyss.
However, the Outer Heaven Demons were too powerful, after several battles, friends left one after another, and the East Victory world was suppressed from top to bottom, without a glimmer of hope in sight.
"Yuzhen, please, don’t fall asleep, you are my best friend!"
Wei Zhilan cradled a blood-covered woman in her arms.
"Zhilan, I, I can’t make it, you must hold on, our East Victory, will surely win, evil shall never overcome the righteous..."
Her voice grew weaker, and Wei Zhilan wept bitterly, feeling heart-wrenching pain for the first time.
She and Lin Yuzhen met while chasing a notorious womanizer, strolled together in the sunset, rowed together on Pear River, traveled the Martial World with swords in hand, and chatted beneath dim lamplight under a cozy blanket about Shi Xiaole’s tales of love and hate.
They had even said they would get married together.
Wei Zhilan fought even more desperately in the subsequent battles, fully prepared to perish with the enemy, venting her sorrow and rage.
If death was certain, she wanted to take down as many Outer Heaven Demons as she could.
In a critical moment, it was again Shi Xiaole whose swordsmanship had reached a divine level, even the so-called unbeatable Wansheng Madman under the Supreme Lord, was no match for him.
The great war ended.
Wei Zhilan dragged her weary body back home, only to discover, to her shock, that her father had poisoned himself days before.
Because the king he supported was branded a traitor by the Flying Horse Emperor, and as a key figure in the king’s camp, Wei Langyi had no choice but to die.
After her father passed away, her mother committed suicide too, determined to follow him.
"Why, Father, why did you have to do this! With your relationship with Uncle Martial Emperor, couldn’t your life have been spared? And Brother Gui Nanyan, he was good friends with Shi Xiaole, why didn’t he ask for his help?"
Wei Zhilan felt as if the world were collapsing, wanting to seek long-missed warmth at home, only to step into an even colder abyss; she saw not a single ray of light.
"The master said, the king owed him a life-and-death favor, and he had no other way to repay it. He also told me to tell the young lady that he has arranged everything for you, you need not worry about being harmed, from now on, miss, you may do whatever you wish, he only wants you to find real happiness."
The old servant Uncle Fu’s voice trembled.
Wei Zhilan felt a pain that nearly suffocated her.
That night, the Wei residence erupted in flames, claiming everyone within, including Uncle Fu, in the inferno. Wei Zhilan stared at the raging fire, her nails digging into her flesh, silently swearing vengeance.
She trained in martial arts frantically and sought adventures relentlessly. As if fate was on her side, she indeed discovered a secret manual called "Nine Extreme Divine Skill" in a hidden sanctum.
Having perfected her skills, she quickly contacted the remnants of the Demon Blade clan, as well as the king’s and Zuo King’s subordinates, and they agreed to assassinate the Flying Horse Emperor.
Regrettably, except for the leader of the Demon Blade clan, who was killed in a pit, the clan’s elites almost entirely emerged because these years, they were greatly weakened, almost suffocated by the Flying Horse royalty.
The operation was a failure. Wei Zhilan thought she would die in Sky City, but at the crucial moment, Uncle Martial Emperor saved her.
"Child, leave. With your strength, you cannot avenge this. The Flying Horse Emperor is wounded and won’t live long."
Months later, Wei Zhilan heard the news of the Flying Horse Emperor’s death.
It was said that before he died, the emperor had sought help from Little Brother, but at that time, Little Brother was away, not on Nine Heavens Mountain. Wei Zhilan kneeled in front of her parents’ spirit tablets, shedding tears and sharing her feelings.
All grudges dissipated like smoke.
Since then, Wei Zhilan set off alone on the long and arduous road of the Martial World, upholding justice with the sword in her hand, righting wrongs. However, this time behind her, there was no longer a warm home waiting for her return.
Sometimes, she would stay in a place, sometimes she would pass through hastily; she had thought about finding a kindred spirit to accompany her, but her cold heart, riddled with scars, made it difficult to trust others.
On one serendipitous occasion, she saved a man named Shi Leixi, somehow ended up revealing the reason she intervened, and even surprisingly shared her real name, finding it inconceivable upon reflection.
And yet, strangely, once she had walked away, she felt a lightness in her body, and a joy and warmth she had not felt in a long time welled up in her heart.
Even more curious, a few days later, she found herself in Moyun City, the very city she first visited when she was nine years old.
Wei Zhilan bought a courtyard house there and gradually fell in love with the peaceful life. In her free time, she would visit the tavern from her past, listening to Martial World folks at the neighboring table tell stories of Shi Xiaole.
"Miss, you are here too."
A sincere voice rang out, and Wei Zhilan looked up to see a handsome face blushing bashfully. He lived next door, and judging by his concealed aura, he was likely a formidable master.
"Miss, it’s raining outside, would you like me to share my umbrella?"
The young man seemed afraid Wei Zhilan might misunderstand, and quickly held up his umbrella, pointing towards the rain outside while his face turned redder.
"Pfft!"
Seeing his earnest yet awkward gaze, Wei Zhilan couldn’t help but laugh. After observing the young man for a moment, as his expression grew more convoluted, she stood up and said, "I was just about to go home, so then, I will trouble the young master."
