When the Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Role Picks Up the Script - Chapter 128

“Run!”

After figuring out what’s going on, Yun Peiran lets out a laugh, takes two steps to catch up to the short figure ahead, grabs the person with one hand, tucks them under his arm, and before Yun Zhuoran can squirm and struggle, he’s already running out.

But just as they reach the doorway, Yun Peiran suddenly stops, turns around, and runs back into the High Priest’s courtyard.

“What are you doing?!” Yun Zhuoran demands.

Yun Peiran’s expression is taut. “Yun Tianfeng!”

Yun Zhuoran looks up at the dark night behind Yun Peiran. Before he can see Yun Tianfeng’s figure, the loud sound of the outer wall collapsing comes, followed by an angry roar.

“Yun Peiran… Yun Peiran!” Yun Tianfeng steps out of the smoke, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot. Like a headless fly, he shouts Yun Peiran’s name as he charges into the courtyard.

Not far ahead, the high priest who has broken free from the vines waits expressionlessly.

Yun Peiran mutters in a dilemma, “It’s over. Wolves in front, tigers behind…”

Yun Zhuoran breaks free from his arms and silently looks at the two in front and behind him.

The high priest sneers, “Why are you back again?” He looks at Yun Tianfeng rushing over and says meaningfully, “I told you—Yun Tianfeng always shows up at the critical moment.”

Yun Peiran frowns and tells Yun Zhuoran, “I’ll handle them. Find a chance to run.”

Seeing Yun Peiran really about to rush in, Yun Zhuoran grabs his clothes. “Wait.”

Yun Peiran’s face fills with anxiety. “What are you waiting for?”

Yun Zhuoran takes a small wooden sculpture from his sleeve pocket and stuffs it into Yun Peiran’s hand. “Put it on Yun Tianfeng.”

The high priest hears this clearly and shouts angrily, “You dare!”

Why wouldn’t Yun Zhuoran dare?

Before Yun Zhuoran can speak, Yun Peiran suddenly lifts him and flies to the roof—it turns out Yun Tianfeng has already charged at them, and a heartbeat later, the spot they were just standing on is blasted into a large crater. Yun Peiran sets Yun Zhuoran down on the roof, tosses him a quick line—

“Take care of yourself!”—then leaps back down with sword in hand.

Yun Zhuoran stands up from the roof. Yun Peiran is already fighting Yun Tianfeng. The high priest, fearing they will put the wooden sculpture on Yun Tianfeng, also joins the fray, even taking a moment to glare at him.

In the years to come, Yun Peiran will indeed grow formidable—at his peak, two years before his disappearance, he’s already at the late stage of Great Ascension. Gu Shenshu once says that if he were to fight Yun Peiran then, he might not win.

But right now, Yun Peiran is only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He has yet to acquire the highest-level techniques, and no matter how gifted, before the High Priest and Yun Tianfeng, he’s but an ant.

Yun Zhuoran takes a deep breath, determination shining in his eyes. “Weiran, go help him.”

“I… Brother, be careful.” The shadow hesitates a moment before finally drifting downward.

Yun Zhuoran doesn’t wait on the roof. He takes out a piece of talisman paper and quickly folds a small paper crane. He bites his fingertip, squeezes out a drop of blood, and smears it on the paper crane. The crane immediately grows larger. He jumps on it and flies deep into the high priest’s courtyard.

At this moment, the high priest has taken back the wooden sculpture from Yun Peiran’s hand. Seeing Yun Zhuoran trying to run, he hurries after him. In the blink of an eye, he appears in front of Yun Zhuoran and waves his palm, destroying the paper crane Yun Zhuoran is riding.

Yun Zhuoran’s feet give out, and his thin body begins to fall like a kite with a broken string.

Yun Peiran and the heart demon, tangled with Yun Tianfeng, shout his name in unison. The shadow pounces and swallows Yun Tianfeng’s shadow, giving Yun Peiran a chance to escape.

Yun Peiran can’t understand why Yun Tianfeng suddenly stiffens and becomes motionless. In a hurry, he flies over with his sword, trying to catch Yun Zhuoran before the high priest can.

Unfortunately, Yun Peiran arrives too late. The high priest has already grabbed Yun Zhuoran’s wrist and hangs him in the air. Looking down at him, he finally smiles again.

“An ant is still an ant—you can’t escape.”

Dangling in midair is far from pleasant. Yun Zhuoran’s face is pale, but his expression stays neutral as he says lightly, “I’m not trying to run.”

At this moment, the child remains calm. The high priest, seeing no fear in his eyes, is curious but dares not let the child play with him. He begins to fear the child might really kill him.

His smile vanishes in humiliation and anger. Yanking Yun Zhuoran upward, he grasps the boy’s slender, fragile neck.

Though he doesn’t use his full strength, Yun Zhuoran finally shows pain on his face.

The high priest looks at him and slowly laughs, “Now that’s more like a child.”

Yun Zhuoran rasps, “You don’t dare kill me.”

The High Priest’s expression shifts, anger and a trace of fear flashing together. “You do know me well.”

Yun Zhuoran smiles faintly. “Keeping me alive is useful to you.”

The High Priest’s tone hardens. “Clever for your age. Here’s some advice—don’t try to guess my mind. You won’t figure it out. Even if you die, it doesn’t mean I can’t take what I want.”

Yun Zhuoran smiles without answering.

The high priest looks ugly. “What are you laughing at?”

Yun Zhuoran thinks to himself: because he knows what will happen in the future, and if the high priest could kill him, he would have done so long ago.

He says nothing more. A talisman slips from his hand, glowing in the darkness, floating down, swaying, and landing in front of the closed door diagonally below.

The high priest’s heart beats faster, thinking it’s Yun Zhuoran’s move against him.

Finally, watching the talisman fall and the light extinguish, the high priest laughs low and sarcastic: “Out of strength already? Then next… it’s the High Priest’s turn to act.”

Yun Zhuoran nods cheerfully. “It is.”

The high priest doesn’t know what Yun Zhuoran is laughing at but feels something is wrong. A gust of wind blows below. He looks down and sees dazzling fire flare up in his dark eyes.

In the yard below, the door suddenly opens, revealing surging fire inside. This is not the Taiyin True Fire in Yun Zhuoran’s body but the Li Fire in the formation.

The high priest stares in astonishment. His residence is set up with a formation, but he doesn’t know it. Moreover, the eyes of the formation are the statues he carved and treasured most.

The wooden sculptures that should have been treasured in the secret box, illuminated by the statues’ holy light, are now hanging in the room, burned mercilessly by the fire.

“My statues… No!”

The high priest panics, lets go of Yun Zhuoran, and flies straight into the burning house.

Yun Zhuoran, previously hanging in the air only by the high priest, naturally falls but is quickly caught this time.

Yun Zhuoran looks up and sees Yun Peiran. He also sees the small black shadow jumping on Yun Peiran’s shoulder—his heart demon. Despite the soreness in his neck, Yun Zhuoran presses his lips into a smile.

“Still smiling?” Yun Peiran wears a stern face and looks at the high priest, who dives into the sea of fire regardless of everything. “Is he crazy?”

Yun Zhuoran rubs his neck. Though he can’t see it, he guesses from the burning pain that his neck is swollen. “He’s a very devout believer.”

Yun Peiran frowns. “We’re leaving.”

Yun Zhuoran asks, “What about Yun Tianfeng?”

Yun Peiran looks at him thoughtfully. “He’s dead. Bleeding from all seven orifices, no shadow.”

He has, in fact, seen the shadow drift over from Yun Zhuoran’s side to help him, and he knows Yun Tianfeng’s death is the work of that shadow. That’s why his gaze toward Yun Zhuoran grows even deeper and more complex. But he doesn’t want to press any further.

No matter how his brother has changed, he is still his brother—Yun Peiran accepts him as he is.

“Let’s get out of here—”

Before Yun Peiran finishes speaking, a heart-wrenching roar suddenly comes from the sea of fire. It sounds like the high priest.

Yun Peiran tilts his head and sees a person on fire running around in the flames but unable to escape. The screams send chills down his spine, and he is very confused.

“He… what happened?”

Yun Zhuoran says, “I copied most of the formation he wanted to use on me and gave it back to him.”

Yun Zhuoran is no longer the innocent Yun Weiran. He has studied hundreds of formation diagrams to understand this evil formation. Even if it’s broken, he knows its most important parts. Now he returns them all to the high priest who created the formation, making him suffer the pain that little Weiran had endured.

“He can’t get out.”

Yun Peiran is stunned by Yun Zhuoran’s calm conclusion. He never imagines that Yun Tianfeng and the high priest—who have oppressed the two brothers for so many years—would both die tonight. Their deaths are so sudden that Yun Peiran isn’t sure if he should feel happy.

Suddenly, his shoulder sinks under a weight. Snapping out of his thoughts, he sees the boy in his arms with his eyes tightly shut, resting quietly against him—fainted.

Both he and the shadow on his shoulder are shocked. Ignoring the high priest’s screams from inside the formation, they quickly leave the city lord’s mansion with Yun Zhuoran in his arms.

The fire in the high priest’s residence burns through the night and slowly dies down by noon the next day. It’s said someone finds a corpse clutching a piece of black charcoal burned beyond recognition.

Yun Tianfeng’s death causes a commotion in Yun City but is dealt with by the clan elders within half a day.

When Yun Zhuoran wakes up, he sees Yun Peiran sitting on the edge of the bed holding a medicine bowl.

If he had woken later, Yun Peiran would have given him medicine.

Yun Peiran takes a moment to react, then throws down the bowl and carefully helps him sit up.

“Finally awake. You slept a whole day… How do you feel? Where does it hurt?”

Yun Zhuoran feels no discomfort, but is full of energy. Faintly, he senses his heart demon nearby. He looks around and finally finds his shadow beside the pillow.

Yun Zhuoran smiles. “It’s okay.”

“What are you smiling about?” Yun Peiran hesitates, thinks for a moment, and brings the medicine over. “Take your medicine first.”

Yun Zhuoran waves his hand. “No.”

He doesn’t need medicine now. All signs of weakness in his body have disappeared, and he feels relaxed.

Touching his neck, which is no longer swollen, Yun Zhuoran lifts the quilt and gets out of bed.

“I’m going out for a walk.”

Yun Peiran thinks of his disobedient brother, who has just killed Yun Tianfeng and the high priest—the two evils—and swallows the refusal on his lips. He takes the initiative to put a coat on him.

“I’ll accompany you.”

Yun Zhuoran doesn’t refuse. In a blink, he grabs the moonstone at the head of the bed, holds it in his arms, and goes out with his shadow, seeming in good spirits. Yun Peiran scratches his head and follows, feeling helpless and confused.

Without Yun Tianfeng and the high priest, Yun City feels much livelier and more comfortable.

As they walk out of the yard, they bump into Yun Tianqing and Yun Fushuang.

Yun Peiran greets them and takes Yun Zhuoran around the city. Unknowingly, they come to the city gate, which is wide open.

Yun Zhuoran stands before the city gate, quietly watching the rolling green mountains outside, his shadow reflected behind him, silently guarding.

Looking at the quiet mountains and rivers beyond, Yun Peiran’s tense body and mind finally relax. “Before, with Yun Tianfeng and the high priest around, I wanted to take you out for treatment but couldn’t. Now it’s good—those annoying things are finally gone. I see your body has recovered well. Let’s set off for Lingshan Sect in the next few days. I heard the best medical practitioners in the world are there—they’ll definitely cure you. Those words about you not living past ten years are just nonsense from quack doctors in the city.” Yun Peiran starts chatting about the arrangements for leaving Yun City. “It’s just the two of us going. Yun Duo is gone, and I don’t think she’ll come back. Brother, is there anything you want to take with you? Or any place you want to go? We can stop to shop along the way. I want to go to Tiandao Sect. I heard their leader is the strongest person under Tiandao. I think his name is Gu Shenshu? I guess he must be an old senior with a fairy-like temperament…”

Hearing Yun Peiran describe Gu Shenshu like that, Yun Zhuoran can’t help but laugh. “I’m not going.”

Yun Peiran’s expression freezes.

Yun Zhuoran looks at him and says, “I have to go.”

The yearning smile on Yun Peiran’s face fades, and he asks, “Where are you going?”

“I’m not Yun Weiran. I’m Yun Zhuoran.” Yun Zhuoran sighs softly and lowers his eyes. “I haven’t remembered anything from my childhood for a long time. This place isn’t where I belong. Yun Peiran, this is only my past—or rather, my heart’s knot. A dream I longed to fulfill during my greatest suffering…”

Yun Zhuoran looks at the shadow. “This place is good. It has you. But it doesn’t have my Weiran.”

Yun Peiran looks at him steadily, frowning in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“I only understand it now,” Yun Zhuoran says.

From beginning to end, it isn’t only Yun Zhuoran who has to make a choice—Yun Peiran does, too.

Perhaps because, in those years of hurt, Yun Peiran never came, the helpless little Weiran formed a heart knot at the height of his pain. That knot has remained deep within Yun Zhuoran, even after he’s long forgotten the past.

This is an illusion Yun Zhuoran set for himself, and only he can trap himself in it.

He can now choose to linger in the past and be with the past Yun Peiran in the illusion, but there is no heart demon here.

“Yun Peiran, take care.”

Yun Zhuoran gently places the moonstone he likes most during this time into Yun Peiran’s hand, then walks out of Yun City with his shadow. He naturally feels nostalgia and is a little reluctant to let Yun Peiran go, but he has to leave.

Yun Peiran still holds the moonstone in a daze, and subconsciously calls out, “Little Weiran.”

Yun Zhuoran pauses but doesn’t look back. Step by step, he walks away from Yun City, raises his eyes to the clear sky as pure as water, and suddenly remembers to ask his heart demon, “Weiran, are you still there?”

The shadow follows closely by his side, clear even in broad daylight. Whenever Yun Zhuoran looks back, he will see that he is always there.

The heart demon mutters quietly, “Brother, how could I not be by your side.”

Yun Zhuoran smiles faintly. “It’s my fault.”

He exhales lightly, looks ahead, and his heavy steps grow brisk.

At the gate of Yun City, Yun Peiran watches the young boy and his shadow walk away, standing still for a long time.

He seems to understand that his once sick and simple brother has grown up, and no matter how high the sky is, his brother can walk alone.

And he… will forever remain in this old Yun City, where their youthful memories lie sealed.