TFOD Chapter 130
by VolareLan Sizhui couldn’t help but speak up after listening from the side, saying, “Young Master Qin, this… this is too far from what you said at the beginning. When the two seniors asked you to be clear, why did you hide so much?”
Young Master Qin said, “I thought as long as I had talismans and a precious sword, my family would be at peace. How would I know I had to talk about these rotten sesame seeds and millet matters?”
Wei Wuxian said with fluctuating tone, “No, no, no, this is not rotten sesame seeds and millet, the situation is quite serious, Young Master Qin! Think about it, you’ve scolded and beaten him when he was alive, maybe even broke his leg. What if he didn’t actually sell the jade pendant? Then he died unjustly, who else would he look for but you?”
Young Master Qin immediately said, “He wasn’t killed by me! Nor did he commit suicide! Why should he look for me?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Eh? How do you know it wasn’t suicide? Maybe he really killed himself in a fit of anger, it’s just that someone treated it like an accident. That would be even worse.”
Young Master Qin said, “A grown man, how could he be so angry over such a small thing that he would commit suicide?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Young Master Qin, in our line of work, the biggest taboo is to assume things. Everyone’s thoughts and temperament are different, whether a grown man would be so angry that he would commit suicide because of ‘such a small thing’ is not certain. You have to know, the reason for corpse transformation could be a hatred for the murder of a spouse or child, or it could be some trivial thing like someone not playing in the mud with someone else when they were little.”
Young Master Qin stubbornly said, “It’s absolutely not suicide! If a person wants to commit suicide, they can hang themselves, they can take poison, why would they choose to roll down a hillside as a way of suicide? Whether or not they die is not even certain, it’s definitely not suicide.”
Wei Wuxian said, “What you say also makes sense. But Young Master Qin, have you ever considered that it was precisely because you broke his leg, and he had trouble walking, that he rolled down the mountain and fell to his death? If that’s the case, it’s practically the same as you killing him, wouldn’t that be even worse?”
Young Master Qin said angrily, “What do you mean it’s practically the same as me killing him? If that’s the case, it was an accident!”
Wei Wuxian said, “Are you sure you want to convince someone who died such a miserable death that he died because of an ‘accident’? Since he’s come back, it means that someone has to be responsible for this ‘accident’.”
Young Master Qin would be countered for every sentence he spoke, leaving him with a cold sweat and a pale face. Wei Wuxian then said, “But you don’t have to despair just yet, I’ll tell you one last way to save your life, just do this and that.”
Young Master Qin said, “Do what?!”
Lan Wangji glanced at Wei Wuxian and knew he was going to talk nonsense again, and shook his head.
Wei Wuxian said, “Listen carefully, you must open the main gate and the hall doors that have been broken, and keep them clear and unobstructed. Anyway, you can’t stop that thing even if you don’t open them.”
Young Master Qin said, “Alright!”
Wei Wuxian said, “Get rid of all other irrelevant people in the house, be careful not to hurt the innocent.”
Young Master Qin said, “They’ve almost all left!”
Wei Wuxian said, “That’s good, then find a boy with strong yang energy, and at midnight, put a long bench across the entrance of your bedroom, have him sit there to guard, and block when soldiers come, and stop floods with earth.”
“That’s it?”
Wei Wuxian said, “That’s it. The boy is already here. As for the rest, Young Master Qin can ignore it all and just wait until dawn in peace.”
He was referring to Lan Sizhui. As soon as Young Master Qin heard the last sentence, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he glanced at the elegant-looking young man, saying, “He guards the door, what about you two?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Of course we’re guarding inside the door, accompanying you, Young Master Qin. If we can’t hold the door, and the fierce corpse breaks in, we’ll make other plans.”
Young Master Qin really couldn’t help but say, “Can’t you just ask this young man to help me guard the outer door?”
He was referring to Lan Wangji.
So Wei Wuxian was stunned, and said, “You’re talking about him?”
He almost laughed until he fell to the ground, saying, “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”
Lan Wangji put his arm around Wei Wuxian’s shoulder, preventing him from actually falling to the ground, saying, “Cannot.”
Young Master Qin was quite displeased after being straightforwardly rejected, “Why can’t he?”
Wei Wuxian said seriously, “Did you forget what I just said? It has to be a boy.”
“…” Young Master Qin didn’t believe it, “What, is he not?!”
Even long after Lan Sizhui sent Young Master Qin out of the small bamboo house, Wei Wuxian was still laughing uncontrollably.
Lan Wangji looked at him, suddenly pulled Wei Wuxian over and pressed him onto his lap, and said in a low voice, “Are you done laughing?”
Wei Wuxian said, “No!”
He sat on Lan Wangji’s lap, saying, “Hanguang-Jun, your face is really good at deceiving people, everyone says you’re a man of pure heart and few desires, noble and upright, and as pure as jade. I feel wronged.”
Lan Wangji supported him a bit, making Wei Wuxian sit higher, the two of them closer, and said, “Wronged?”
Wei Wuxian said, “It’s simply outrageous. You tell me, you’re clearly not a boy anymore, but when others see your face, they irrationally say that you are. In my past life, apart from saving people, I never even touched a girl’s hand, but no one believed I was still a boy.” He counted them off, saying, “When I was in school and hunting at night! Everyone spread rumors that I was a playful flirt; when I was in the Burial Mounds! Everyone spread rumors that I was a chaotic pervert. It’s really hard to speak of the bitterness I felt, and I had nowhere to seek justice.”
Lan Wangji calmly held one of Wei Wuxian’s hands tightly, the ripple of a barely perceptible smile spreading in his eyes.
Wei Wuxian said, “You’re still laughing, you really have no sympathy, a cold and heartless man. I was also ranked fourth on the list of young masters of noble families, but in that lifetime I only kissed someone once. I always thought that some beautiful fairy had secretly fallen in love with me, thinking that my life as Wei Ying was not in vain, who knew it was actually you…”
Hearing this, Lan Wangji finally couldn’t sit still.
He pushed Wei Wuxian onto the couch, saying, “Am I not good?”
“What are you nervous about? Hahahahahahahahaha…”
When the time came, Lan Sizhui stood in the yard with Little Apple, waiting for a long time, before Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji slowly came out of the house.
He originally wanted to remind him, Senior Wei, you’re wearing Hanguang-Jun’s clothes again, but after thinking about it, he silently swallowed it.
After all, they would wear each other’s clothes wrong every two or three days, and if he reminded him every time, wouldn’t he be exhausted?
Moreover, every time Senior Wei would just go with it because he didn’t want the trouble, so it felt like there was no point in reminding him, it was better to just pretend he didn’t see it.
Wei Wuxian mounted Little Apple, took out an apple from the pouch, and took a crisp bite. Lan Sizhui looked at the apple and felt it was very familiar, and after hesitating for a moment, said, “Senior Wei, isn’t that the fruit that Young Master Qin brought?”
Wei Wuxian said, “That’s right.”
Lan Sizhui said, “…The fruit brought by the fierce corpse, oh?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Precisely.”
Lan Sizhui said, “Is it okay to eat this?”
Wei Wuxian said, “It’s fine. It just fell on the ground, and can be eaten after washing it.”
Lan Sizhui said, “The fierce corpse’s apple, will it be poisonous…”
Wei Wuxian said, “I can answer that question for you: no.”
Lan Sizhui said, “How does the senior know?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Because I’ve already fed Little Apple five or six of them… Little Apple, stop kicking! Don’t buck!!! Lan Zhan, save me!!!”
Lan Wangji grabbed Little Apple’s reins, and with his other hand, he took the apple from Wei Wuxian’s mouth and said, “Don’t eat it. I’ll buy some tomorrow.”
Wei Wuxian held onto his shoulder, and after finally regaining his balance, said, “I just wanted to save Hanguang-Jun some money.”
Lan Wangji said, “There is no need ever.”
Wei Wuxian scratched his chin, smiling. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he casually said, “Oh, right, Sizhui, are you a boy?”
He asked so naturally, but Lan Sizhui immediately “pffft” sprayed out his mouthful.
This behavior was not very Gusu Lan-like, and Lan Sizhui noticed that Lan Wangji was looking at him, so he quickly straightened his demeanor. Wei Wuxian said, “Don’t be nervous, earlier I was just talking nonsense to that Young Master Qin, sometimes it’s true that rituals can only be performed by boys, but since you’re using a sword to slay fierce corpses, whether or not you’re a boy really doesn’t matter. But if you’re not, I’ll be very surprised…”
Before he could finish speaking, Lan Sizhui’s face was already red, and he said, “I, I, I, of course, I am!!!”
In the middle of the night, the empty Qin mansion was indeed wide open, and Young Master Qin had been waiting for a long time.
Lan Sizhui stood in front of Young Master Qin’s door, without armor or helmet, but he looked quite calm and reliable. Young Master Qin saw that he still had some of the energy of a fearless newborn calf, and his brows were not as tightly furrowed, but after all, he was still not at ease. After entering the bedroom, he closed the door, turned around, and said, “Is it really okay to have this young man guard the door? What if the exorcism fails, and my family ends up with one more death…”
The two of them were already sitting peacefully at the table, and Wei Wuxian said, “There won’t be any deaths. Young Master Qin, think about it, how many days has that fierce corpse been causing trouble? Has your mansion really had a death?”
Young Master Qin also sat down. Wei Wuxian put a fierce corpse’s pear on the table, saying, “Eat a piece of fruit to calm your nerves.”
Under the pressure of the past few days, Young Master Qin was already somewhat delirious, so he picked it up and put it to his mouth. Just as he was about to speak, he heard “thump thump,” “thump thump”, strange sounds coming.
In an instant, it seemed like a cold air current swept into the room, the candle flame on the table flickered.
The pear in Young Master Qin’s hand fell down, rolled away, and his right hand went to the sword hilt at his waist.
“Thump,” “Thump,” “Thump.”
The strange sound grew louder and closer. Each time it sounded, the candle flame would tremble, as if afraid.
Outside the door, there was a clear sound of a long sword being unsheathed, a faint black shadow flashed past the paper window, and the strange sound disappeared in an instant, replaced by sounds of soaring and flapping, and the loud crash of broken wooden furniture.
Young Master Qin’s face turned green, “What’s going on outside?!”
Wei Wuxian said, “They’re just fighting. Don’t mind it.”
Lan Wangji listened for a moment, and said, “Too much.”
Wei Wuxian understood, his meaning was that, judging from the sound of the sword and steps, Lan Sizhui’s sword was fast and sharp, but it lacked composure and wasn’t steady enough. It wasn’t that his power wasn’t strong, but it did not match the tenets of the Gusu Lan sword style. If his essence, qi, and spirit could not be unified, or if his path was too fragmented, when he cultivated to higher levels, he may have disagreements that would make it difficult to make progress.
He said, “He’s already pretty good. Sizhui is still young, he can’t control his strikes. When he gets older, and fights with people more, he’ll understand.”
Lan Wangji shook his head, and after listening for a little longer, suddenly looked at Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian was also slightly surprised. He could also hear it, just now, some of Lan Sizhui’s sword strikes were not the Gusu Lan sword style, but the Yunmeng Jiang sword style.
But he had not taught the Gusu Lan juniors this, so he guessed, “Sizhui and Jin Ling often go out to hunt at night together, so he probably remembered them unintentionally when they were sparring.”
Lan Wangji said, “Not proper.”
Wei Wuxian said, “Then are you going to punish him when you go back?”
Lan Wangji said, “Punish.”
Young Master Qin said, “What are you talking about?”
Wei Wuxian picked up the pear from the ground and placed it back in his hand, saying, “It’s nothing. Eat something to calm your nerves, don’t be so nervous.” He then smiled at Lan Wangji, “But, Hanguang-Jun, you’re so amazing. It’s one thing that I can hear that it’s the Yunmeng sword style, but how could you also hear it?”
Lan Wangji seemed to pause for a moment, before saying, “I’ve sparred with you several times, I just remembered it.”
Wei Wuxian said, “That’s why I said you’re amazing, I only used the Yunmeng Jiang sword style against you a few times, more than ten years ago, and you can still remember it, and hear it right away, is that not amazing?”
As he spoke, he pushed the candle closer to Lan Wangji, wanting to see if his earlobes were red, but Lan Wangji saw through his malicious intention, firmly covering the hand that Wei Wuxian was holding the candlestick with, and pushed it back. As the candlelight flickered back and forth, it seemed drunk, illuminating Wei Wuxian’s smiling eyes, and the curved corners of his mouth, which made Lan Wangji’s Adam’s apple move slightly.
Just at this moment, the two of them both paused, and Wei Wuxian said “huh” in surprise. Young Master Qin said in alarm, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with this candle?”
After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian said, “No, this candle is very good. It would be even better if it were brighter.”
He said to Lan Wangji, “These few strikes that Sizhui made were the most beautiful. But they don’t sound like your family’s sword style, nor mine.”
A moment later, Lan Wangji frowned and said, “Perhaps, it’s the Wen’s.”
Wei Wuxian understood, saying, “It’s most likely that Wen Ning taught him. That’s good too.”
As they spoke, the sounds outside continued, getting louder and louder, and Young Master Qin’s face became increasingly pale. Wei Wuxian also felt it was a bit too much, and shouted outside, “Sizhui, we’ve said over a dozen sentences inside here, even if you were demolishing a house, you should be done by now, right?”
Lan Sizhui replied from outside, “Senior Wei, this fierce corpse is dodging extremely fast, and also, it keeps avoiding me!”
Wei Wuxian said, “Is it afraid of you?”
Lan Sizhui said, “No, it can fight, but it doesn’t seem like it wants to fight me!”
Wei Wuxian said in surprise, “It doesn’t want to hurt unrelated people?”
He said to Lan Wangji, “This is interesting, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fierce corpse that’s so reasonable.”
Young Master Qin said anxiously, “Is he alright? Why hasn’t he taken it down yet?”
Before Wei Wuxian could speak, Lan Sizhui said again, “Hanguang-Jun, Senior Wei, this fierce corpse’s left hand is a claw, but its right hand is a fist, it seems like it’s holding something!”
Hearing this, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji exchanged a glance inside the room. Wei Wuxian nodded slightly, and Lan Wangji said, “Sizhui, sheath your sword.”
Lan Sizhui said in surprise, “Hanguang-Jun? I haven’t seen what’s in its hand…”
Wei Wuxian got up, saying, “It’s okay! Sheath your sword, there’s no need to fight anymore.”
Young Master Qin said, “No need to fight anymore?”
Outside the door, Lan Sizhui said, “Yes!” and actually sheathed his sword with a “clang” and jumped away. Inside the door, Young Master Qin said, “What’s going on? That thing is still outside and hasn’t left!”
Wei Wuxian got up and said, “There’s no need to fight anymore, because things are almost resolved, and only the last step is left.”
Young Master Qin said, “What step?”
Wei Wuxian kicked the door open, saying, “This step of mine!”
The two wooden doors “bang” bounced open, a dark figure stood stiffly at the door, disheveled and with a dirty face, only a pair of upturned white pupils were abnormally hideous.
Upon seeing this face, Young Master Qin’s face changed drastically, and while drawing his sword, he retreated quickly, but the fierce corpse swooped in like a black wind, its left hand clutching his neck.
Lan Sizhui strode in from outside the door, surprised to see this scene. He was about to save him when Wei Wuxian stopped him. Lan Sizhui thought that although Young Master Qin’s personality was stubborn and not very likeable, he absolutely did not deserve to die. He was sure that the two seniors wouldn’t just stand by and watch this fierce corpse kill him, so he calmed himself.
He saw that the dead servant’s fingers were like iron hoops, Young Master Qin’s face was purple and his veins were bulging, a sword had long since stabbed countless holes in this fierce corpse, but it was as if stabbing a piece of white paper with no reaction.
The fierce corpse slowly raised its right fist and moved it towards Young Master Qin’s face, as if wanting to punch him into a colorful, brain-splattering mess. The other three people in the room were all closely watching this scene, and Lan Sizhui was about to lose his grip on his sword.
Just when he thought that Young Master Qin was about to have his head explode, he saw that the fierce corpse’s right hand loosened its fingers, and a flat round object slipped out from its fingers.
This object was connected by a black thread at the end, and the fierce corpse slipped it over Young Master Qin’s neck.
Young Master Qin: “…”
Lan Sizhui: “…”
It took three times for it to barely fit over Young Master Qin’s head. This difficult action was excessively clumsy and stiff, it was really… hard to make people feel threatened.
Seeing that it did not make a move to kill, nor did it seem like it was trying to strangle Young Master Qin with this thin thread, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Who knew that they hadn’t quite finished breathing that sigh of relief when the fierce corpse launched a punch that was swift as lightning, heavy and vicious, causing Young Master Qin to cry out, his nose and mouth flowing with fresh blood, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The fierce corpse, after hitting the person, turned around, seemingly ready to leave. Lan Sizhui was watching in astonishment, and upon seeing this, put his hand on his sword hilt again, but he felt this scene was inexplicably comical, so acting too serious seemed even more comical, and he didn’t know whether or not he should make a move. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, was already half-dead from laughing, and waved to Lan Sizhui, saying, “Don’t bother, let it go.”
The fierce corpse turned its head, glanced at him, nodded, and then dragging its broken leg, hobbled out the door, jumping along the way.
Watching its retreating back, Lan Sizhui was stunned for a moment before saying, “Senior Wei, is it… is it okay to just let it go like that?”
Lan Wangji bent down to check the blood-covered Young Master Qin, and said, “It is.”
Lan Sizhui’s gaze returned to Young Master Qin, and he finally had the mind to examine the thing hanging on his neck. It was actually a jade pendant.
The red string that was tied to the jade pendant seemed to have been rolling around in the soil for many years and was extremely dirty, so it looked black, but the color of the jade was still smooth and white.
“This is…”
Wei Wuxian said, “The object has returned to its original owner.”
After Lan Wangji confirmed that Young Master Qin was only unconscious and not in mortal danger, the two of them left the Qin mansion with Lan Sizhui.
Before leaving, Wei Wuxian kindly helped Young Master Qin close all three doors.
Lan Sizhui said, “Not easy.”
Wei Wuxian mounted Little Apple, saying, “What? Are you talking about Young Master Qin? Giving that fierce corpse a punch completely resolved everything, it was very easy!”
Lan Sizhui said, “I’m not talking about Young Master Qin, I’m talking about that fierce corpse. In the records I’ve seen in the past, many vengeful ghosts and fierce corpses are resentful due to grudges formed in life over small things, and seek the lives of others after death, and when they cause trouble, they act like madmen. But this fierce corpse…”
Standing in front of the door that was scratched beyond recognition, Lan Sizhui looked back one last time, still feeling a bit incredulous, and said, “It spent the two years after its corpse transformation in the mountains, looking for a jade pendant it lost in life. This is the first time I’ve seen a fierce corpse whose corpse transformation was not for revenge, but for doing such a thing.”
Wei Wuxian took out another apple, saying, “That’s why I said I haven’t seen such a reasonable evil spirit in many years. If it were someone even slightly more vengeful, the least they would do would be cut off Young Master Qin’s leg, and the most they would do would be to slaughter his entire family, which would not be surprising at all.”
Lan Sizhui thought about it, and said, “Senior, Sizhui still has unanswered doubts. Was its leg actually broken by Young Master Qin? Is that why it lost its footing and fell to its death?”
Wei Wuxian said, “Whether it is or not, the fact that it didn’t blame Young Master Qin for it is all that matters.”
Lan Sizhui said, “Mm, then, was it truly satisfied with just one punch?”
Lan Wangji said, “Judging by the looks of it, yes.”
Wei Wuxian took a loud bite of the apple with a “crunch” and said, “Right. The so-called ‘people fight for a breath’, and the reason they can’t rest in peace after death is because that breath is blocked in their chest. It smashed the fruit, returned the jade pendant, and hit the person, once that breath is released, it wouldn’t be blocked anymore.”
Lan Sizhui said, “If every evil spirit was this reasonable, that would be great.”
Hearing this, Wei Wuxian laughed, saying, “What silly things are you saying, child. Even people become unreasonable when they hold resentment, so how can you expect evil spirits to be reasonable with you? You need to know, in this world, everyone thinks they are very wronged.”
Lan Wangji tugged on Little Apple’s reins, and said in a low voice, “Very lucky.”
Wei Wuxian agreed, saying, “That’s true. This Young Master Qin is really very lucky.”
After holding it back for a long time, Lan Sizhui still couldn’t hold it in, and said sincerely, “But I, always feel that one punch was a bit too little…”
“Hahahahahahahaha…”
Whether it was because he hadn’t recovered from the punch by the fierce corpse, or if he had completely lost hope in Wei Wuxian, Young Master Qin did not come to their door in the following days.
However, seven days later, news about him spread to their side from the city.
It was said that one morning, a young corpse wearing tattered burial clothes was suddenly found by the side of the road. It was half-rotted and reeked terribly. While everyone was discussing whether to wrap it in a mat and dig a hole somewhere to bury it, this Young Master Qin took pity and spent money to help collect the bones, and gave him a proper burial, which was praised by everyone for a time.
When Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian left the city, they passed by the Qin mansion. The Qin mansion had already replaced its doors with two brand new, black, shiny, and imposing doors. People were coming and going, and the previous gloomy, desolate atmosphere had been swept away, and the place was back to its prideful state.