Chapter 28 - Dew

After entering the city, the two walked side-by-side through the bustling crowd. All of a sudden, Lan WangJi asked, "How is the Curse Mark?"

The smooth transition from the last scene of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in the inn to them suddenly already in Yueyang was greatly appreciated by most of the audience. It wasn't that they didn't enjoy leisurely listening to the tea about the prominent cultivators, but they were quite impatient to get to the bottom of all this dismembered corpse business.

Wei WuXian, "Jin Ling was buried too close to our dear friend and got stained with quite a lot of resentful energy. It faded a bit, but it's not completely gone. The chances are we can only find a way to remove it after we find the whole corpse or at least the head. It doesn't really cause much trouble anyways."

"Hmm. I suppose I was right, then. " commented Wei Wuxian. "The Curse Mark vanished right after I found Ni- that is, um, the corpse's head in Carp Tower."

"Oh..." the juniors nodded. Sizhui suddenly frowned. "Wait, why in Carp Tower?? Was it something to do with... Jin Guangyao?"

Wei Wuxian pulled a face. He didn't know how much to tell the juniors. Half because he wanted to see how long it would take them to realise the identity of the corpse, and half because he didn't want to disrespect Nie Mingjue's memory. It would be quite humiliating to have one's body parts on display in front of the whole cultivation world.

The "dear friend" was none other than the man that had been cut to pieces. Since they didn't know who he was, Wei WuXian suggested that they referred to him as a "dear friend". Lan WangJi didn't say anything after hearing it, but he didn't object to it either, which could be interpreted as a silent approval. Of course, he himself wouldn't ever use the word.

The cultivators chuckled. Somehow the words 'dear friend' coming out of Wei Wuxian's mouth in such a solemn tone sounded just as ridiculous to them as the idea of Lan Wangji ever saying them.

Lan WangJi, "How much is 'a bit'?" Wei WuXian indicated with his hands, "A bit is just a bit. How do I explain it? Should I take my clothes off and show you?"

"...a-a-and he's back at it." a cultivator groaned.

"Doesn't he ever take a break from being shameless?" grumbled another. They had to admit, though, it was beginning to grow on them. At least they could rely on one thing in the world: no matter what situation, there would always be Wei Wuxian, shamelessly flirting with Lan Wangji or messing around in general.

Lan WangJi's brows shifted slightly, as if he was actually worried that Wei WuXian would strip right here and right now. He replied with an indifferent tone, "Take them off after we return."

"Ooh, what a bold thing to say, Hanguang Jun." Wei Wuxian teased, fluttering his eyelashes.

Choked coughing noises came from the audience. Wei Wuxian really had corrupted the previously pure Hanguang Jun, hadn't he?

Wei WuXian laughed, whirled around, and walked a few steps facing backward. Before, in order to escape as soon as possible, he desperately tried to disgust others, from feigning madness to purposely losing face. Now that his identity was revealed, if he were anyone else, he would've felt extremely ashamed remembering all those things he did. Only someone with a face as thick as Wei WuXian would carry on as if he wasn't involved in anything.

The audience laughed darkly to themselves at the absolute truth of this statement. Sizhui reflected amusedly to himself that he had never, not even once, seen any emotion akin to embarrassment or shame, ever,  on his father's face.

Speaking of it, if he were anyone else with at least some face, he would never have done ridiculous things such as climbing into someone's bed at night, insisting on sharing a bathtub together, and asking if he looked pretty after putting on makeup.

Jiang Cheng winced. Why did he have to be xiongdi with such a ridiculous person?? He almost felt sorry for Lan Wangji for having to stoically endure such torment from Wei Wuxian. if he had been in that situation, he'd either have just laughed at Wei Wuxian for the whole evening or thrown him bodily out of the room.

Since he pretended that he didn't remember anything, Lan WangJi naturally refrained from bringing up the subject, the two acting as if nothing had happened. Today was the first time he made such a joke again after his identity was no longer a secret.

"Yeah, why are you still making such jokes now that you know that he knows who you are? Surely there's no point in pretending to be a crazy cut-sleeve now?" wondered a young cultivator.

"He's not pretending. He is  a crazy cut-sleeve." snorted Jiang Cheng.

While Wei Wuxian gasped in feigned outrage, the young cultivator said "Ah, I see." and turned back to the board.

When he finished laughing, Wei WuXian immediately put on a serious face, "HanGuang-Jun, do you think that the people who set our dear friend's hand in Mo Village and made it attack your juniors, and the people who sewed his legs on another corpse and buried them in the wall, are the same group of people?"

"Oh, are we back to talking about the chopped up corpse now?" huffed Jin Ling. "It's hard to keep track."

The cultivators in the audience had to think for a bit to rewind their brains back to the strange events regarding the ghost arm and, now, legs. Surely the two events at Mo Village and Xinglu Ridge must be connected, so the person/s behind it must also be the same?

Both in the past and the present, in his mind, he directly called Lan WangJi by his first name, but he got used to the last few days of calling him by his title. Besides, him calling this name created a tone of exaggerated seriousness, sounding unexplainably funny. Thus, when they were outside, he continued to call him in such a semi-earnest way.

"You spoke too early, Jin Ling." a Jin junior giggled. "Senior Wei's just gone back to thinking about Hanguang Jun."

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "What can I say? My subconscious mind gravitates towards him naturally, I can't control it."

Lan WangJi, "There are two groups."

Wei WuXian, "Well, I agree. Taking such pains to sew the legs to another corpse and hide them in a wall obviously meant that they didn't want the limbs to be discovered. If so, they wouldn't have purposely tossed out the left hand to attack the GusuLan Sect's people, since it would definitely have caused attention and investigation. One went to great lengths to hide everything, while the other attacked rashly, almost as if it wanted to be discovered. They're probably not the same group of people."

With this reasonable explanation, everyone felt assured that Wei Wuxian was right in his analysis. Having more people involved in the situation made everything a lot more complicated. How could they tell who were enemies and who were allies? Both groups seemed quite dangerous.

Everything that needed to be said had been said. Lan WangJi seemed like he didn't have anything else to say anymore, but responded with an approving "mnn" anyway. Wei WuXian turned around, speaking as he walked, "The people who hid the legs knew about the QingheNie Sect's Saber Hall tradition, while the people who let the left hand loose knew about the GusuLan Sect's plans. I don't think any of them have simple intents. There are more and more secrets."

Lan WangJi, "One step at a time."

Wei WuXian, "How did you recognize me?"

Lan WangJi, "Think for yourself."

Wei Wuxian asked his questions and Lan Wangji answered them, both of them so rapid they barely seemed to be taking a breath. And so, the audience didn't at first register Wei Wuxian's attempt to wheedle the truth out of Lan Wangji - who clearly had a faster mind than them annd didn't fall for the trick.

Wei WuXian originally wanted to wait until Lan WangJi was not paying attention and make him blurt out the answer to the last question. Even though he still didn't succeed, he wasn't discouraged at all and continued to switch the topics of their conversation at a quick pace, "I've never been to Yueyang. Before, I've always had other people to inquire about things for me. This time, I'm gonna take a break and you can go ask around. Would you mind, HanGuang-Jun?"

Jingyi groaned. "Jin Ling, you're right. Senior Wei has no idea how to stick to either a serious or non-serious conversation. It's so confusing!"

Sizhui raised his eyebrows. Jingyi and Jin Ling agreeing on something? That was certainly new. Personally, he liked his dad's way of communicating his ever-changing thoughts - his non-linear way of thinking about things didn't bother him in the slightest, nor Hanguang Jun, his other dad.

Lan WangJi turned around and got going at once. Wei WuXian immediately interrupted, "Wait. HanGuang-Jun, may I ask where you're going?"

Lan WangJi looked back, "To find the cultivational sect of this area."

Everyone looked confused. Did Wei Wuxian not just ask Lan Wangji to ask around? Why had he already back? Perhaps it was another joke of his.

Wei WuXian tugged at his sword tassel and dragged him in the opposite direction, "Why would you find them? This is their area; even if they know, they wouldn't tell you. They either couldn't deal with it and hid it so that they didn't lose face, or tried as hard as they could since they didn't want other people to meddle with things. My honorable HanGuang-Jun, it isn't that I want to purposely shame you, but you really can't do without me when handling things outside. If you ask around in such a manner, I'd be surprised if you actually managed to get results."

A low "oooh" drifted through the room. That was a pointed attack from Wei Wuxian! There was clearly no malice or even mockery in his face though - just sincerity and fondness. Everyone knew quite well by now that all of Wei Wuxian's teasing to Lan Wangji was not the cruel kind - it was just childish playing around usually.

The audience was curious to see what Wei Wuxian's alternative was - if not the nearest cultivational sect, who else was there that was qualified or knowledgable in affairs to give the answers they need? If he was claiming to know something that Lan Wangji didn't, it was sure to be something interesting - and possibly a bit illegal.

Although these words were a bit rude, tenderness pooled within Lan WangJi's eyes. Again, he spoke in a low voice, "Mnn." Wei WuXian laughed, "What did you 'mnn' for? That's not how you should've responded."

Meanwhile, in his heart, he commented gleefully, "Mnn" is the only thing he knows to say. He's still so stuffy!

Wei Wuxian's glee drew amusement from the audience. He always seemed so boyishly excited when he realised he could still get one up on Lan Wangji, like in the old days of their childhood.

His glee made Lan Wangji in turn feel even more fond. He decided to say 'Mn' a lot more than usual from now on, if it made Wei Ying this happy.

Lan WangJi, "Then, how should I ask?" Wei WuXian pointed to the side, "Go over there, of course."

He pointed toward a wide street. Bright red banners of all shapes and sizes hung on both sides of the street, fluttering in the wind. Every single shop opened its doors widely, with round, black jars placed from within to outside the entrance. There were also waiters holding trays of small liquor bowls, recommending their shops to the passerby. The strong scent of liquor drifted throughout the street. No wonder Wei WuXian walked slower and slower. He stopped altogether when they arrived at the next street corner, and even dragged Lan WangJi to a halt.

"...that's a liquor shop." Jiang Cheng said in a deadpan voice. Snorts of laughter from various cultivators sounded from all around him.  "Wei Wuxian, I've told you so many time, you can't fix your problems with alcohol."

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. "Firstly, yes I can. Secondly, you're missing the point. Liquor shops really are the best place to collect information."

Wei WuXian put on a serious face, "The waiters here are usually young and hardworking. With so many customers a day and so many mouths spreading gossip, nothing strange going on around the area would escape their ears and eyes." Lan WangJi replied with a "mnn", but it was written all over his face that "you just want to have a few drinks, don't you?"

Nearly everyone was straight-up laughing at this point. Who did Wei Wuxian think he was kidding? Even Lan Wangji thought he was completely transparent.

Wei WuXian pretended as if he couldn't understand Lan WangJi's expression. Continuing to pull on the other's sword tassel, he stepped into the street of liquor shops with beaming eyes. At once, the waiters from five or six different shops came over, each more enthusiastic than the next, "Would you like a taste? The He family's liquor is well-known all around the area!"

"Young Master, have a taste of this. You don't have to pay. If you enjoyed the liquor, then come to our shop."

"This one doesn't smell strong, but wait until you drink it up!"

"If you can still stand after you finish this, I'll adopt your surname!" Hearing this, Wei WuXian responded, "Very well!" He took over the liquor bowl that waiter held, drank it up, and showed him the emptied bowl with a grin, "Adopt my surname?"

"Can't resist the urge to show off or to beat a challenge?" asked Guo Wanxin knowingly.

"Or free alcohol, more like." interjected Jiang Cheng.

"That poor waiter has no idea who he's talking to." snickered another cultivator near her.

Surprisingly, the waiter wasn't scared. Sticking his chin up, he looked even more confident, "I meant if you drink a whole jar!"

Wei WuXian, "Then, give me... three jars."

"..."

Normally the cultivators would use that time to criticise Wei Wuxian's overconfidence - did he really think he could finish 3 jars and still be sober? Because Lan Wangji was most certainly not going to touch the liquor - but they knew Wei Wuxian well enough by now to know that 3 jars would vanish down his throat in 5 minutes flat.

The waiter was more than delighted and rushed back inside the shop. Wei WuXian turned to Lan WangJi, "We're doing business here, aren't we? First we help their business, then we talk about other things. After we pay, it'll be easy to get them talking."

Lan WangJi took out money to pay.

Wei Wuxian's logic was perfectly sound - though why it had  to be a liquor shop, they didn't know. But from experience, people were certainly more open to talking when there was money involved. Wei Wuxian's assumption that Lan Wangji's money was his money too was funny - because back then, they weren't really married or living together - but of course, they might as well have been, considering how they were practically inseparable ever since Dafan mountain.

The two walked inside the shop. Inside, there were wooden tables and chairs for the customers to rest and chat. One of the other waiters in the shop saw how Lan WangJi looked and figured that he wasn't the average person.

"Deduction of the century." Jingyi muttered sarcastically. "How on earth could he have guessed that?"

Not daring to slight him, he only directed them to a table after he wiped the table and chairs for a long while. With two jars by his foot and another in his hand, Wei WuXian chatted with the waiter for a few moments, then cut to the chase, asking again for any strange things that had happened in the area. The waiter was also a talkative person. He rubbed his hands together, "What sort of strange things?"

"Haunted houses, deserted cemeteries, corpses that were cut apart and so on."

"You jumped to the point quite quickly, haha." Zizhen laughed nervously. "You weren't cautious that you might be revealing too much about what you know about the ghost arm and legs incidents?"

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. "Zizhen, I can tell when a person is a normal waiter in a normal tavern, and when they're actually a spy for a violent group that dismembers corpses. It's a skill you pick up when you're older, don't worry."

The waiter's eyes darted back and forth between them, "Hmm... What do you do for a living? You and him." Wei WuXian, "Haven't you guessed it already?" The waiter understood, "Of course. It's easy to guess. You two must be one of those cultivators who fly around in the clouds and Heavens. Especially the one next to you. Among average folks, I've never seen such a... such a..."

Wei WuXian grinned, "Such a pretty person."

Lan Wangji's ears felt hot again. Wei Wuxian always showered him with compliments, but each one never ceased to make him flustered. He really ought to compliment Wei Ying back more, but expressing his feelings in words didn't come naturally to him. He couldn't just say that he thought Wei Wuxian was in fact the prettiest person he knew - he tended just to use actions to demonstrate his adoration - which was a shame because Wei Ying was notoriously deaf and blind to his love behind these actions.

The waiter laughed, "If you say this, the young master next to you will be displeased. Strange things, wasn't it? They did happen. Not now, but ten years ago. Walk in this direction. After you leave the city, walk for around two miles, and you'd see quite a lovely residence. I don't know if their signboard is still there or not. It's the Chang Clan's residence."

A hush fell among the room. They were expecting this ever since Wei Wuxian had said that they were headed for Yueyang. It was apparent that every cultivator, even the juniors, were watching unblinkingly and hanging onto every word so that they didn't miss any important information about the Chang Clan massacre.

After all, while they now vaguely knew that Xue Yang had some role to play in the massacre, it was quite the sensational event, and the public was very eager to know more.

Wei WuXian, "What's wrong with the residence?"

"The entire clan died!" The waiter said, "You asked for strange things, so of course I'm telling you the strangest of things. The entire clan was wiped out, and I heard that they were frightened to death!"

The cultivators rolled their eyes. They knew this. Why was Wei Wuxian acting dumb, like he hadn't heard of the massacre before? Or- the realisation chilled the bones of many - did Wei Wuxian genuinely not know, because he had been dead while the massacre had happened?

Hearing this, Lan WangJi was absorbed in thought, appearing as if he remembered something. On the other hand, Wei WuXian didn't notice anything, "Is there any cultivational sects stationed around the area?" It must have been an extremely cruel being if it was able to frighten all members of an entire clan to death. Not every sect was like the QingheNie Sect, having difficulties that it couldn't mention. Most sects would never tolerate the appearance of something like this in their area.

The cultivators in smaller sects puffed up their chests. That was right, such an injustice would never go unaddressed if it were to happen in their regions! Unless, obviously, they were the targets, like the unfortunate Chang sect...

The waiter replied, "Yes. Of course there is."

Wei WuXian, "Then how did they deal with the situation?"

"Deal with the situation?" The waiter swung the cleaning rag onto his shoulder and also sat down, revealing the secret that he had been keeping in for so long, "Young Master, do you know what the surname of the cultivational sect in Yueyang was? It was Chang. The clan who died was their clan! If everyone died, who would there be to deal with the situation?"

Wei Wuxian's expression was about as surprised as they'd ever seen it. While the waiter was pretty good at storytelling - his voice was animated and rose and fell dramatically - he clearly liked telling this story, and was relishing the look on Wei Wuxian's face.

The Chang Clan that was wiped out had been the cultivational sect stationed in this area?! Wei WuXian had never heard of some YueyangChang Sect before, meaning that it definitely wasn't a prominent sect, but the fact that a whole clan had been wiped out was definitely a significant event. He immediately asked, "How was the Chang Clan wiped out?" The waiter, "This is what I've heard. One night, the noise of slamming on doors suddenly came from the Chang Clan's residence." Wei WuXian, "The noise of slamming on doors?"

The cultivators leaned forwards. Here was the new juicy information they had been waiting for!

Jingyi's lips trembled. He somehow just knew the following description would either be too gory or too scary for him to keep listening - but all his friends looked interested, so he feigned cool indifference too.

"That's right! The slamming was so loud that it almost reached the Heavens. In it, there came screams and cries as if everyone was locked inside, unable to come out. Strange, isn't it? The door was bolted from within, so if you were on the inside and you wanted to get out, you could've just just opened it. Why would you slam on the doors? Even if you slam on them, the people outside wouldn't be able to get you out. Besides, if you couldn't get out from the doors, couldn't you climb over the walls?"

Some cultivators shivered, imagining being trapped in their houses, unable to open the front door or escape. How had that evil Xue Yang have managed to seal up the house so strongly that 50 cultivators couldn't break out? How powerful was he?

"The people outside were quite confused. Everyone knew that the Chang Clan was very powerful in the area because the people there cultivated. The head of their clan, Chang Ping, I think, had a sword that could fly and have him stand on it as it flew! Say, something really happened inside and even his own clan couldn't take care of it, if ordinary people went over, wouldn't they have been searching for their own deaths? This was why nobody built any ladders or climbed over the walls to peek inside. Just like this, the night passed, and the wailing inside grew quieter and quieter. On the next day, as the sun came out, the doors of the Chang Clan opened on their own. "Within the house, among the men and women, ten-or-so masters, and a few dozens of servants, some sat, some lay, vomiting their bladders out. All of them were frightened to death."

Jingyi went pale imagining such a scene. Dead people sprawled around with terrible twisted expressions still on their face - no thanks! He was happy staying with fighting small hudous and perhaps the occaisional fierce corpse during a night hunt.

The owner of the liquor shop turned around and scolded, "You're gonna die! Why are you not doing work and telling old tales about people dying?" Wei WuXian, "Five more jars, please." Lan WangJi paid the price for ten jars. The owner beamed at once, warning the waiter, "Look after the customers properly. Don't go running around!"

The tense and fearful atmosphere softened slightly at this short break from the horror story. Wei Wuxian really did have a valid point when he said that paying people was the best way to get them comfortable with talking to you.

Lan Xichen shook his head disapprovingly. "Wei gongzi, that is too much alcohol, even for someone with a high tolerance, like you."

Wei Wuxian gave a light, slighly guilty laugh, but didn't reply. Lan Xichen probably wouldn't want to hear about how he tried to finish off the 5 jars - by asking Lan Zhan to drink with him.

Wei WuXian, "You can continue." Without anything else to worry about, the waiter tried as hard as he could and continued the story in an animated voice, "After then, for a long time, anyone who walked by the Chang Residence at night could hear the noises of slamming on walls coming from the inside!

"Think about it. People like them who fly in the skies have seen countless ghosts and monsters before, yet they were frightened to death. How frightening would that have had to be? If you're often out at night, you'd definitely bump into some ghosts. Even after they were buried, you can hear them slamming on their coffins! Although the head of their clan, Chang Ping, was away from home and survived..."

Wei WuXian, "Didn't you say that the whole clan died?"

"Oh, an inconsistency!" several cultivators said in triumph. "There's definitely something wrong about his story, then."

"Hopefully we'll get the full, real version." other cultivators said hopefully, secretly hoping to themselves, 'the gorier, the better'.

Luckily, Wei Wuxian was quite adept at asking the right questions to extract all the details and investigating to get the full story - as they'd all seen for themselves with the interrogation of Sect Leader Nie. They'd just have to sit tight and wait for the truth to inevitably come to light.