Chapter 5 - Aggression

The boys on the side were all young and inexperienced. However, although they all looked nervous, they strictly stuck to their positions and protected the Mo family's house, fixing talismans onto the walls. The servant named A-Tong was already carried into the hall. Lan SiZhui felt his pulse with his left hand and supported Madame Mo's back with his right. He couldn't save both of them at once, and was in a terrible fix when ATong crawled up from the ground.

"Pfft... why do you want to save them both so badly?? They're both pigs." Jin Ling said dismissively. He knew as it said the words though that Sizhui just had this sort of nice character - no matter what he thought about a person, he would always do everything to help them. It was so... insufferable!! Why did he have to be nice to people who don't deserve his attention?

A discordant thought struck him - what if that was the reason Sizhui still talked to him? He thought they were friends, but what did Sizhui actually think of him?

A-Ding exclaimed, "A-Tong, you're awake!" Before her face had the time to light up, A-Tong raised his left hand and clutched his own neck. Seeing this, Lan SiZhui tapped on a few of his acupoints three times. Wei WuXian knew that, although they looked gentle, the people from the Lan clan had arm strength that were the opposite of gentle. With a force like this, it would be hard for anyone to move.

"...really??" Quite a few people shifted around to stare thoughtfully at the Lan sect's people. Their arms were hidden with their layers of long, flowing white sleeves. It was hard to actually see if Wei Wuxian's casual remarks were true or not.

Jingyi resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at the furtive glances sent his way. There was a reason most people didn't know about Lan sect's great arm strength, and that was because there were a lot of rules on the wall about not hitting people out of anger, not provoking violence, no slapping people, etc. If these rules didn't exist, Jingyi was sure half the cultivation world would feel for themselves the Lan sect's arm strength with a punch to the face. Why he had to put up with brainless, sheep-like cultivators all the time, he didn't know...

However, A-Tong seemed like he didn't feel anything, and his left hand's grip tightened, his expressions looking more painful and twisted. Lan JingYi proceeded to grab his left hand, but it was like breaking off a chunk of iron, having no effect at all.

There was a small frown on Lan Qiren's face. He had refrained from appearing too invested in the story starring his most shameless and ridiculous ex-student, but things were getting really bizarre. This being was clearly a lot more dangerous than it seemed... despite him being wary, he still jumped at the nauseating crunching noise-

After a moment, a crack came from his neck, and A-Tong's head drooped down. His neck was already broken. He actually strangled himself in front everyone's eyes!

Multiple parents covered their children's eyes from the gruesome sight of the boy's head hanging at such a sickening angle. Meanwhile, the juniors felt like seasoned veterans, having already seen much more gruesome sights with their own eyes (the fierce corpses in Yi city were in many different states of decay, and their heads had the unfortunate ability to rotate 360° on their necks.

Seeing the situation, A-Ding's voice wavered, "... A ghost! There's an invisible ghost here. It made A-Tong strangle himself!" Her tone was sharp and her voice was shrill, making everyone's blood run cold, and so they believed it effortlessly.

Most of the cultivators present believed it too without a second thought. They were too busy eagerly waiting for the sure-to-come violent battle between the disciples and the evil things (and probably the Yiling Laozu too!). Guo Wanxin however snorted out loud. "As if a ghost could do such a high level of damage on so many people."

Wei WuXian's judgement happened to be the opposite—it wasn't a ferocious ghost. He had examined the talismans that the boys chose; all of them were spirit-fending ones, and the East Hall was literally covered with them. If it really was a ferocious ghost, then, as it went into the East Hall, the talismans would have incinerated green flames. Yet, nothing was happening right now. It was not the group of kids' fault for reacting too slow, but the creature was indeed cruel.

"...Oh. That's true."

"I didn't even notice - "

"I guess that's why he's the Yiling Laozu and we're just ordinary cultivators, huh?"

The cultivation world had a strict definition for the category of "ferocious ghosts"—they had to kill at least one person a month and continue the behaviour for at least three months. The criterion was set by Wei WuXian himself, and it was probably still being used. He was the best at dealing with this kind. To him, killing one person in seven days would be considered as a ferocious ghost who killed frequently. This thing killed three people at once, and within such a short period of time. It would be hard for even a capable cultivator to think of a solution immediately, let alone these juniors who had just started their careers.

Jingyi scribbled notes hastily on his palm. This was the sort of quality information he'd been secretly wanting to ask Senior Wei - he'd never learn it from the Cloud Recesses!

The Lan disciples from that night suddenly felt a lot better about themselves - Wei Wuxian's words strangely worked well to reassure them.

The moment the lights were extinguished, screams came from everywhere. Everyone pushed and pulled, wanting to escape as fast as they could, stumbling and falling in the process. Lan JingYi shouted, "Stay where you are and don't run! I'm gonna catch whoever runs!" He wasn't merely saying this to alarm the people. In fact, evil beings loved to cause trouble in the dark and make profits in times of trouble. The worse the crying and chaos, the more likely it was to unknowingly attract danger. At times like this, being isolated or becoming nervous was extremely unsafe. However, everyone was frightened to death, so how could they still have ears for words like this?

"Oh!! I wondered why you said that, it sounded a bit weird at the time." said a Lan disciple who was laughing nervously. Jingyi was pretty sure his name was Lan Dai, the youngest Lan family disciple. He usually liked to hang out with Sizhui because they had similar gentle personalities, but he rarely spoke to Jingyi.

Lan SiZhui ignited a Flame Talisman. He used the talisman to light up the candle again, and the rest of the boys went to comfort the others. Under the light, Wei WuXian casually looked at his wrists. After looking, he suddenly realised that there was something wrong about the number of cuts. Originally, he had two cuts on each of his wrists. Adding it up, only three cuts should have healed, with the last cut being the deepest and most hate-filled one. But, right now, no cuts remained on his wrists. Wei WuXian knew that Madame Mo was definitely one of Mo XuanYu's targets of vengeance. The longest and deepest cut was probably saved for her. Yet, it had disappeared. Only the death of Madame Mo could heal the wound. His gaze slowly moved towards the pale-faced Madame Mo, who recently woke up and was surrounded by everyone. Unless, she was already dead.

A sense of great discomfort and unease rippled through the audience. Already dead?? But her eyes were open and she looked very alive-

Wei WuXian was sure that something was already possessing Madame Mo's body. If the being wasn't a spirit, then what was it? Suddenly, A-Ding cried, "Hand... His hand! A-Tong's hand!". Sure enough, his left hand had disappeared as well. Left hand! With lightning speed, Wei WuXian's mind became clear, with the being that was wreaking havoc and the missing left arms finally completing the puzzle. He promptly bursted out laughing.

Sizhui watched in admiration. "I never understood how you connected the dots so fast, Senior Wei!"

"Wei Ying is good. The best."

Everyone turned around to stare at Hanguang Jun, who in turn was gazing earnestly at his husband.

Wei Wuxian felt his face heat up. He fanned his face and gave a laugh, looping his arm through Lan Zhan's.

Lan JingYi snapped, "You idiot! How can you still laugh in a situation like this?" But, after a second thought, he knew that he was an idiot anyways, so what's the use of haggling over him? Wei WuXian tugged at his sleeve, "No, no!" Lan JingYi was annoyed, pulling his sleeve back, "What 'no'? You're not an idiot? Stop fooling around! Nobody has the time to pay attention to you."

Jingyi flinched every time he said the word 'idiot'. If he could go back in time, he would slap himself and tell himself that he is the real idiot.

Wei Wuxian burst out laughing as the blood drained out of Jingyi's face. Luckily for Jingyi, Hanguang Jun was still sufficiently distracted by his husband that he didn't reprimand him.

Wei WuXian pointed at the corpses of Mo ZiYuan's father and A-Tong, which lay on the ground, and spoke, "These are not them." Lan SiZhui stopped the fuming Lan JingYi and asked, "What do you mean by 'these are not them'?" Wei WuXian stated solemnly, "This is not Mo ZiYuan's dad, and this is not A-Tong either." Surrounded by the dim candlelight, his words sent chills up everyone's backs. Lan SiZhui stared for a second, and asked in spite of himself, "Why?" Wei WuXian exclaimed proudly, "Their hands. None of them were lefthanded. I'm sure of this, because they'd always hit me with their right hands." Lan SiZhui broke into a sweat. Thinking back, A-Tong had used his left hand to strangle himself, and Madame Mo's husband also used his left hand to push his wife. Although he didn't know why, in order to figure out what the creature was, they had to think in the direction of "left hands." After Lan SiZhui realized this, he felt surprised and looked at Wei WuXian. He couldn't help but to think, suddenly saying this... It doesn't seem like a coincidence . Wei WuXian only smiled. He knew that the hint was too deliberate, but he couldn't have helped it. The good thing was that Lan SiZhui didn't think too much about it either, and thought, anyways, if Young Master Mo was willing to remind me of it, he probably didn't mean any harm.

"Aww Sizhui, your thoughts are so cute!!" exclaimed Wei Wuxian.

"Thank you Senior Wei for the hint! I didn't think too much of it before, but I can see now it was very important!" Sizhui replied enthusiastically.

The cultivators who heard made disgusted faces at the obviously overly father-son relationship between the Yiling Patriarch and the head disciple of the Lan sect.

His eyes moved away from him, passing A-Ding, who fainted from crying too much, and landed on Madame Mo. The fingers on her left hand were much longer than the ones on her right. They were also thicker. The knuckles were bent, full of power. The hand isn't that of a woman's—it was a man's hand! Lan SiZhui commanded, "Take hold of her!" A few boys grabbed Madame Mo. Lan SiZhui said "excuse me" and was prepared to slap down a talisman when Madame Mo's left hand suddenly twisted in an absurd way, aiming for his throat.

Jin Ling choked. "Did you actually say 'excuse me' ?? I know your sect is all about manners and whatever, but who says excuse me in a situation like this??"

Lan Xichen gave a small smile. It did seem a bit ridiculous up on display for everyone to see, but he was proud of Sizhui regardless. Wangji really did raise him well - and Uncle Qiren definitely tried his hardest to instil the Lan principles in all the junior disciples lest anyone like Wei Wuxian resurfaces ever again. It worked on Sizhui, perhaps, but definitely not on Jingyi...

Xichen felt a great fondness for them all nonetheless.

She attacked quickly, and was extremely close to grabbing onto his neck, when at the same time, Lan JingYi shouted "hey" and threw himself in front of Lan SiZhui, blocking the hand for him. A flash passed, and as soon as the arm grabbed Lan JingYi's shoulder, green flames ignited on his arm, making it loosen its grip. Lan SiZhui escaped death, and was about to thank Lan JingYi for it, when he saw that half of the latter's uniform had already been burnt to ashes, looking quite awkward. Lan JingYi took off the other half of his uniform and scolded, fuming with rage, "Why did you kick me, you lunatic? Did you want to kill me?" Wei WuXian scampered away like a frightened rat, "It wasn't me!" It was him.

The stark contrast between what Wei Wuxian said and what he was thinking was so matter-of-fact that most couldn't help but laugh or snort. They eagerly glued their eyes to the board, watching with rapt attention to the long-awaited fight.

Jingyi sulked a little bit on the side. He already knew that Senior Wei favoured his own child of course, even before he knew that Sizhui was his A-Yuan, but he still felt a bit dejected thinking about how quickly Senior Wei shoved him in danger to get hit rather than Sizhui.

Inside of the Lan clan's uniform jacket, there were compact stitchings of incantations using thin threads of the same colour, included for protection. However, against strong ones like this, it could only be used once before it became invalid. During the emergency, he could only kick Lan JingYi and use his body to protect Lan SiZhui's neck.

Jingyi immediately felt better. Of course it was better that his uniform got a bit damaged rather than Sizhui getting his neck snapped. The very thought of that happening made him shudder.

"How did you even know about the incantations stitched into their uniform??" muttered Jin Ling, "Even if you studied there, that's such a random piece of information to have..."

"Aiya, Jin Ling, my nephew, maybe I got curious and researched the Lan sect a bit in my own time, did you think of that?"

"WHy-would you..." Jin Ling spluttered into silence as he realised the very obvious answer.

Madame Mo fell onto the ground, with all of the blood and flesh on her face being drained until only a thin layer of skin was left on the skull. The male arm that didn't belong to her had fallen off her shoulders. This was the evil being that the Phantom Attraction Flag had attracted. Being dismembered was a classic example of a distressing death. It was only somewhat more dignified than the way Wei WuXian died. Unlike the situation of being crushed to powder, the limbs and parts of the corpse would be tainted with some of the resentment of the person who died, and it would want to reunite with the other parts and die with a whole corpse.

"P-powder?" It was hard to imagine a worse death than dismemberment, but of course Wei Wuxian had lived a life of great extremes - extreme power, and an extreme death. Jin Ling wondered why he found the thought of Wei Wuxian being reduced to powder so horrifying. Before, he imagined such scenarios with relish, but now, having actually met Wei Wuxian, such memories of how he used to think made him feel sick.

While nobody was looking, Wei WuXian ran towards the West Courtyard. The ten-or-so walking corpses that were subdued by the boys stood silently in the courtyard, sealed by the incantations drawn on the ground. Wei WuXian kicked one of the symbols, destroying the entire formation. He clapped twice. Suddenly, with a jolt, the whites of the walking corpses' eyes all turned upward, as if they were woken up by a bolt of thunder. Wei WuXian spoke, "Wake up. It's time to work!" The walking corpses in front of him moved a few quivering steps.

The Lan disciples gaped, shocked, at the scene. "Senior Wei, what are you doing??"

Meanwhile, the other cultivators were delighted with their opportunity to see the Yiling Laozu use his demonic powers in person. The ability to make the dead do you bidding just by clapping your hands twice... such a power made them shiver with fear, but also with thrill.

But, as they approached Wei WuXian, their legs grew weak and they collapsed onto the ground, as if they were real humans. Wei WuXian found it both funny and annoying. He clapped his hands again, this time lighter. However, these walking corpses were probably born in Mo Village and died here as well, not having experienced life fully. They instinctively followed the summoner's commands, but were also horrified at the summoner, lying on the ground and afraid to get up.

Most of the audience had to agree it was a funny sight, seeing the scary-looking walking corpses wobble like reeds of grass and flop over on the ground, so terrified of Wei Wuxian that they lay at his feet.

Wei Wuxian's obvious impatience and irritation with them was also entertaining, though they wondered why Wei Wuxian didn't try to forcibly make the corpses stand up or else destroy them.

The crueler the being was, the better Wei WuXian could control it. These walking corpses hadn't been trained by him and couldn't withstand direct manipulations from him. He didn't have any materials on him, which meant that he couldn't immediately make tools to ease the walking corpses. He couldn't even muddle and assemble bits and pieces.

"What do you mean , 'muddle and assemble bits and pieces?!" Jingyi looked nauseated. "You don't mean putting body parts together??"

Wei Wuxian gave his most sinister laugh, "Heheheh... you see this fingers?" He wiggled his long, slender fingers at Jingyi. "These fingers... they've been places you'd never even imagine-"

Lan Zhan gave a cough, cutting him off before Jingyi could topple over in revulsion.

The soaring green flames in the East Courtyard gradually grew dimmer. Suddenly, Wei WuXian found a solution. He ran back to the East Courtyard.

As Lan SiZhui's first solution failed, he found a second one. The disciples pulled out their swords and stuck them into the ground, making a sword fence.

"They really are like father and son, they even both come up with solutions at the same time, hahaha..." laughed Guo Wanxin.

Lan Xichen tried to refrain from seeming too delighted with Sizhui's performance so far - showing preference was definitely not allowed at all.

The ghost hand crashed into the fence, and they spent all their energy compressing their hilts so that it didn't break out, paying no attention to who was entering and leaving. Wei WuXian strode into the East Hall and grabbed Madame Mo and Mo ZiYuan's corpses, one on each hand, and spoke in a low voice, "Wake up!" In a split second, Madame Mo and Mo ZiYuan's eye whites turned up, and started making the shrill and powerful shrieks that ferocious ghosts made after they came back to life. Amidst the shrieks, another corpse trembled and crawled up, making the lowest and faintest shriek. It was Madame Mo's husband. The shrieks were loud enough and the resentment was strong enough. Wei WuXian smiled, feeling quite satisfied, "Do you recognize the hand outside?" He commanded, "Tear it apart."

Jiang Cheng snorted, "Look at you smiling. Seems like once you have some cruel corpses to order around, you're happy again."

Wei Wuxian looked confused. "Well...yes? It's not like they mind, do they? Hahahaha...."

The three members of the Mo family whipped out like three clouds of black wind. The left arm fractured one of the swords, and was about to break out, when three cruel corpses without left arms came at it. Aside from being unable to defy Wei WuXian's command, the family also loathed the creature that killed them, and let out their anger on the ghost hand.

The struggling boys were stricken dumb with amazement. They had only seen these battles between multiple fierce corpses in books and hearsay, and they all gaped as they saw the gore-splattered scene for the first time, unable to avert their gazes. They all thought that it was... Absolutely thrilling!

Chuckles echoed around the room. The Lan disciples involved blushed now, seeing their naive selves from a year or so before.

The three corpses and the hand were in the middle of a tough battle, when Mo ZiYuan abruptly moved out of the way. His abdomen area was attacked by the hand, causing a few chunks of his intestines to spill out. As Madame Mo saw this, she screamed incessantly and shielded her son behind herself.

Seeing this, the opinions of many of the audience towards Madame Mo softened considerably. At the end of the day, she was just a mother who loved her son, albeit a bit of a violent and cruel one.

Her attacks were more violent, the strength of her fingers almost comparable to that of steel and iron weapons. But,Wei WuXian knew that she was gradually being overpowered. Even three cruel corpses who recently died couldn't subdue this single arm! Wei WuXian was watching the battle attentively.

"You're just standing there, watching!" Jin Ling said, affronted.

"What else do you want me to do? I'm not a fierce corpse, you think my nails are as good as hers??" Wei Wuxian shot back.

However, at that moment the board showed that Wei Wuxian was indeed, trying to help.

His tongue was slightly curled, suppressing a sharp whistle inside of his lips, preparing it to be let out. The whistle would be able to evoke even more hostility in the cruel corpses, which might turn the tables. Then, however, it would be difficult to ensure that nobody knew that it was his doing.

Many cultivators in the audience made mocking noises. Of course, Wei Wuxian wouldn't sacrifice his identity to help out a few Lan disciples! Wait...or would he??

In the blink of an eye, the hand moved like lightning, ruthlessly and precisely breaking Madame Mo's neck. Watching as the Mo family grew closer to defeat, Wei WuXian prepared to blow the whistle that he suppressed under his tongue. At the same time, the echoes of two strums on a stringed instrument came from far away. The sound seemed to have been played by a human. The timbre was ethereal and clear, carrying the bleak chills of windswept pines . The creatures battling in the courtyard all stiffened as they heard the sound.

Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to poke fun at his shixiong. "I never knew you had such poetic language in your thoughts, Wei Wuxian. Why don't you quit being a demonic cultivator and just become a poet? I'd pay good money to see that."

Wei Wuxian didn't honour his comment with a reply.

Instantaneously, the boys from the GusuLan clan started beaming, as if they were born again. Lan SiZhui wiped the blood off his face and raised his head, happily exclaiming, " HanGuang-Jun!"

Wei Wuxian's heart melted again, seeing how delighted they were to see their Hanguang Jun, his husband. He knew that every time he saw Lan Zhan, he felt the same way. Wei Wuxian leaned forwards, eager to see the picture depiction of his husband and try to judge how accurate it was.

As soon as he heard the two faraway strums of the zither, Wei WuXian turned around and began to leave. The sound of another strum came. This time, the pitch was higher, piercing through the sky with a few degrees of bitterness. The three cruel corpses backed off and covered one ear with their right hands. However, it was impossible to block out the Eradication Tone of the GusuLan clan by means such as this. They had just retreated a few steps, and slight bursting sounds came from within their skulls. Because the arm had just endured a tough fight, after hearing the sound of the strings again, it instantly fell onto the ground. Although the fingers were still flinching, the arm was unable to move.

"That's right! Hanguang Jun is the mightiest!" Wei Wuxian said loudly, giving Lan Zhan a flirtatious wink at the same time. Lan Zhan felt his heart thud a bit faster and he tried not to let his ears go red again.

Wei Wuxian gazed at the elegant figure rising above the roof of the building. He was struck dumb by how beautiful he looked, his white robes fluidly swirling around him, his forehead ribbon drifting tantalising in the wind. His eyes were as cold as ever, but a bit more distant than usual. In other words, the picture was just like the real Lan Zhan.

After a short moment of silence, the boys couldn't help but to cheer loudly, celebrating the joy of surviving the incident. They had struggled through the exhilarating night, and their clan's reinforcement had finally came. Even if they'd be punished because of reasons such as "being discourteous and making noise is harmful to the clan's reputation," they didn't care.

Lan Qiren gave a disgruntled sniff, but he wasn't going to punish the disciples. As rigid as he was, he could see that the children were just happy they'd been saved.

After waving towards the moon, Lan SiZhui suddenly realized that someone had disappeared. He tugged Lan JingYi, "Where is he?" Lan JingYi was absorbed in the act of rejoicing, "Who? Which one?" Lan SiZhui replied, "Young Master Mo."

Lan JingYi said, "Hmm? Why are you looking for that lunatic? Who knows where he ran off to. He's probably frightened by my threats to hit him."

"..."

Lan SiZhui knew that Lan JingYi had always been careless and straightforward, not thinking twice about anything or suspecting anyone. He thought, I'll wait for HanGuang-Jun to come, and then tell him about everything.

"Ahh, of course Sizhui is always loyal to his father and me ~ I'm too lucky to have a kid like you!!"

But Jingyi felt despondent again.

"You think I'm careless??"

Sizhui widened his eyes. "No! I just meant that your personality was more distracted and less focused on the little details, that's not a bad thing?"

"Ah, don't worry, you're probably right, anyway." Jingyi conceded with a sign.

Wei WuXian eliminated all evidence of the sacrificial formation in Mo XuanYu's room as fast as he could, and ran out the door. Unfortunately, the person who came happened to be from the Lan clan, but even more unfortunately, he happened to be Lan WangJi! This was one of the people who had fought with him before, so he should retreat quickly.

Lan Zhan blinked, reminding himself not to feel too hurt. After all, it was his fault that he didn't let Wei Wuxian know earlier that he was on his side, not against him.

Wei Wuxian gazed up at Lan Zhan in apology. "Don't listen to past me! I still didn't know about uh...everything."

"No need to apologise."

He was in a hurry to find a mount, as he passed a courtyard and saw a big millstone inside. A donkey was tied to the handle, chewing on its mouth. When it saw him run over rashly, it seemed like it was surprised, and eyed him sideways as if it was a real person. Wei WuXian made eye contact with him for one second, and was immediately touched by the minuscule amount of contempt in its eyes.

Jingyi exclaimed in triumph. 'Aha!! So that's where you found Lil'Apple! Haha, you two must have bonded at first sight!"

He tried to grab onto the rope and pull it out, but the donkey complained by making a few loud noises. Therefore, Wei WuXian had to use both his words and his strength to deceive it and get it onto the road. As dawn came over the horizon, they went off onto the main path.

Everyone gazed at the fading silhouette of Wei Wuxian with conflicted expressions. They still didn't understand exactly what they were doing here. If it was to condemn Wei Wuxian by revealing all his crimes, they were embarrassed to admit they were having a bit too much fun listening to Wei Wuxian's internal narration. Time would have to tell if there were any more scandalous secrets about to be revealed.