TFOD Chapter 23

The clamor came from all directions.

Front, back, left, right, above, below, it was like a vast ocean of whispers, rustling and giggling. There were men and women, old and young, big and small. Wei Wuxian could even make out some isolated words, but they vanished in an instant, making it impossible for him to grasp the exact meaning.

It was simply too noisy.

Wei Wuxian continued to press his temples with one hand while using the other to take out a palm-sized compass from his Qiankun bag. The needle of the compass trembled and spun around twice, gradually gaining speed until it began to spin wildly!

Last time on Dafan Mountain, the compass couldn’t point in any direction, which was already strange. But this time it was spinning automatically without stopping for even a moment. This was even more baffling than the needle remaining completely still.

The ominous feeling in Wei Wuxian’s heart grew stronger. He called out, “Jin Ling!”

They had been walking around inside the stone fortress for a while now but hadn’t seen any sign of living people. Wei Wuxian called out several times, but there was no response. The first few stone chambers were empty, but after going deeper, they found a pitch-black coffin placed in the center of one of the rooms.

The coffin’s presence here was very abrupt. But its wood was dark, the coffin was beautifully crafted, and Wei Wuxian found it particularly appealing. He couldn’t help but pat it. The wood was solid, making a thudding sound, and he praised, “A fine coffin.”

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian stood on either side of it, exchanged a glance, and simultaneously reached out to open the lid.

The moment the lid was opened, the surrounding noise suddenly increased tenfold, engulfing Wei Wuxian’s hearing like a tidal wave. It was as if they had been spied upon by countless eyes, whose owners had been secretly monitoring and discussing their every word and deed, and were now suddenly excited to see them opening the coffin. Wei Wuxian had considered dozens of possibilities and was prepared for a putrid stench, a sudden grab from a demonic claw, a spray of poison water, a cloud of poisonous smoke, a rush of resentful spirits, etc. Of course, what he wanted to see most was Jin Ling. However, nothing happened. Nothing at all.

It was actually an empty coffin.

Wei Wuxian was slightly surprised and somewhat disappointed that Jin Ling wasn’t trapped inside. Lan Wangji moved closer, Bichen automatically extending a few inches out of its scabbard. The cold light illuminated the bottom of the coffin. He then realized that the coffin wasn’t completely empty. The thing inside was much smaller than the corpse he had expected, hidden deep in the bottom of the coffin.

Lying inside the coffin was a long saber.

The saber had no sheath. The handle seemed to be made of gold and looked heavy. The blade was long and slender, with a snow-white edge. It rested on a layer of red cloth at the bottom of the coffin, reflecting a blood-like color and exuding a chilling aura of murder.

A coffin not containing a corpse, but a saber. Every part of this stone fortress on Xinglu Ridge was strange and full of mysteries at every step.

The two closed the lid and continued to walk inside. In some other rooms they found similar coffins. The wood varied in age, but every coffin contained a long saber. Even in the last room, there was still no sign of Jin Ling. Wei Wuxian closed the lid, a slight unease settling in his heart.

Seeing his brow furrowed and his silence, Lan Wangji pondered for a moment, then placed his guqin horizontally on the coffin and lifted his hand. A string of notes flowed from his fingertips.

He only played a short piece, then withdrew his right hand from above the strings, staring intently at the still-vibrating strings.

Suddenly, the strings vibrated and a note sounded automatically.

Wei Wuxian said, “Inquiring the Spirit?”

“Inquiring the Spirit” was a famous melody created by the ancestors of the Gusu Lan Sect. Unlike “Soul Summoning”, it is mainly used for situations where the identity of the deceased is unknown, and there is no medium for communication. The player uses the guqin to pose questions to the deceased, and the deceased’s response is converted into music by “Inquiring the Spirit”, reflected on the strings.

The strings moved on their own, indicating that a wandering soul in this fortress had been invited by Lan Wangji. Next, the two parties would begin to communicate through questions and answers via the guqin.

The guqin language was a unique skill of the Gusu Lan Sect. Although Wei Wuxian was well-versed in many things, he didn’t have the ability to decipher it. He said softly, “Hanguang-Jun, could you ask it, what is this place? What is its purpose? And who built it?”

Lan Wangji was well-versed in the guqin language of Inquiring the Spirit. Without thinking, he smoothly played two or three clear notes. After a moment, the strings sounded twice more on their own. Wei Wuxian quickly asked, “What did it say?”

Lan Wangji: “Doesn’t know.”

Wei Wuxian: “Huh?”

Lan Wangji slowly and deliberately said, “It said, ‘doesn’t know’.”

“…” Wei Wuxian looked at him and suddenly remembered a conversation related to “anything” from many years ago. He touched his nose, feeling utterly bored and thinking, “Lan Zhan is too accomplished. He’s learned to shut me down.”

After one question failed, Lan Wangji played another. The strings responded again, still with those two harsh notes. Wei Wuxian, recognizing the answer was again “doesn’t know”, asked, “What did you ask it now?”

Lan Wangji said, “How did you die.”

Wei Wuxian said, “If someone assassinated them without them knowing, they might not know the reason for their death. Why don’t you ask if it knows who killed it.”

Lan Wangji lifted his hand and plucked the strings. However, the response was still those two harsh notes— “doesn’t know.”

A wandering soul imprisoned in this place who didn’t know where they were, how they died, or who killed them. Wei Wuxian was meeting this type of ‘I don’t know three times’ soul for the first time. With a change of thought, he said, “Let’s try something else. Ask if it’s male or female. It definitely knows that.”

Lan Wangji played the string as requested. After he removed his hand, another string vibrated powerfully. Lan Wangji translated, “Male.”

Wei Wuxian said, “At least we know one thing. Ask it again, if a fifteen or sixteen year old boy has entered this place?”

The answer: “Yes.”

Wei Wuxian asked again, “Where is he now?”

The strings paused, before finally responding. Wei Wuxian quickly asked, “What did it say?”

Lan Wangji’s expression turned solemn. “It said, ‘right here.’”

Wei Wuxian went silent.

“Here” should refer to the stone fortress, but they had just searched it and hadn’t found Jin Ling. Wei Wuxian said, “It can’t be lying, right?”

Lan Wangji: “I am here, it cannot.”

That’s right, the one playing the questions was Hanguang-Jun, and the spirit summoned was under his control. Naturally, it could not lie, and could only answer truthfully. Wei Wuxian began to search everywhere in the room, trying to see if he had missed any secret passages or hidden mechanisms. Lan Wangji thought for a moment and then played two more passages. After receiving the answers, his expression changed slightly. Wei Wuxian, seeing this, quickly asked, “What did you ask it?”

Lan Wangji said, “How old, and from where.”

These two questions were testing the background of the spirit. Wei Wuxian knew he must have gotten an unusual answer, “And?”

Lan Wangji said, “Fifteen years old, from Lanling.”

Wei Wuxian’s face instantly changed.

The soul summoned by “Inquiring the Spirit” was actually Jin Ling?!

He focused his mind to listen, and in the overwhelming noise, he could seemingly hear faint cries from Jin Ling. But he couldn’t be sure.

Lan Wangji continued to play. Wei Wuxian knew that he must be asking for the specific location. He kept a close watch on the strings, waiting for Jin Ling’s answer.

This time, the response was longer. After listening, Lan Wangji told Wei Wuxian, “‘Stand in place, face southwest, listen to the strings. One sound, one step forward. When the sound of the guqin stops, it will be right in front of you.’”

Wei Wuxian said nothing, and turned to face southwest. Seven notes sounded behind him, so he walked seven steps forward. However, there was nothing in front of him.

The music continued, but the intervals became longer and longer, and he walked slower and slower. One more step, two steps, three steps…

Until he walked six steps, the music finally came to a stop, no longer playing.

And in front of him, there was only a wall.

The wall was built with greyish-white bricks, each one fitting together without a gap. Wei Wuxian turned around and said, “…He’s inside the wall?!”

Bichen left its sheath, and four beams of blue light flashed across the wall. A neat square shape appeared on the wall. The two of them moved forward and started to remove the bricks. After removing several bricks, large patches of black earth were exposed.

It turned out that the walls of this stone fortress were double-layered, with earth filling the space between the two solid layers of bricks. Wei Wuxian dug away a large patch of earth with his bare hands. In the black soil, he exposed a face with closed eyes.

It was the missing Jin Ling!

Jin Ling’s face was not buried in the soil. As soon as it was exposed, air rushed into his nose and mouth, and he immediately coughed and gasped. When Wei Wuxian saw he was still alive, he finally felt relieved. Jin Ling had been hanging by a thread. Otherwise, “Inquiring the Spirit” would not have been able to capture his soul, which was about to leave his body. Luckily, he hadn’t been buried in the wall for too long. Otherwise, he would have suffocated to death in just a little longer.

The two hurriedly dug him out of the wall. But, like pulling up a radish brings up the dirt, when Jin Ling’s upper body came out, his sword caught onto something else.

A bare, white bone arm!

Lan Wangji laid Jin Ling flat on the ground, checking his pulse to treat him. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, picked up the sheath of Bichen and skillfully poked and dug around the white bone arm in the soil. After a while, a complete skeleton was in front of them.

This skeleton, like Jin Ling just now, had been buried in a standing position inside the wall. The pale bones and the dark black soil created a sharp and jarring contrast. Wei Wuxian flipped around in the dirt and then removed a few bricks on the side. After some rummaging, he found a second skeleton nearby.

This one wasn’t completely decomposed, with pieces of flesh still attached to the bones. On the skull, there was still long, disheveled black hair. The torn clothing was water-red, so it was clear that this skeleton belonged to a woman. She wasn’t standing either. Her skeleton was bent over. The reason she was bent over was because next to her legs, there was a third skeleton, which was squatting.

Wei Wuxian stopped digging.

He stepped back, and the clamoring in his ears became as vast and rampant as a tidal wave.

He was almost certain. The thick walls of this entire stone fortress were filled with human remains.

Above, below, east, south, west, north; standing, sitting, lying down, squatting…

What on earth was this place?!