Now that the old one is gone, the young one can be easily taken care of! Wei WuXian quickly climbed up, beaming as he put on his boots, “A lucky strike, indeed, almost as if Heaven is blessing me with its clouds.”
Jiang Cheng stood on the side, carefully cleaning his sword, and threw cold water on this notion, “When he comes back, you’re still gonna get your punishment.”
Wei WuXian responded, “Why would a living person worry about what happens after they die? I’ll just live freely as long as possible. Let’s go. I refuse to believe that I can’t find any pheasants on this mountain of the Lan Sect.”
The three walked together, passing through the reception room of the Cloud Recesses. Suddenly, Wei WuXian stopped in his tracks and exclaimed, “There are two lil’ fuddy… Lan Zhan-s!”
A few people walked out of the room. Of the two youths at the front, both looked as if they were carved out of ice and jade, both wore the same snow-white robes, and both had sword tassels which swayed in the breeze, alongside ribbons on their clothes. The only differences were their ambiences and facial expressions. Wei WuXian could tell at once that, if the one with a stern face was Lan WangJi, the gentle one must be the other Jade of the Lan Sect—ZeWu-Jun, Lan XiChen.
As Lan WangJi saw Wei WuXian, he scrunched his brows, giving him a glare in an almost “glowering” fashion. As if he would be tainted if he looked a moment longer, he moved his gaze away and stared into the distance. On the other hand, Lan XiChen smiled, “And you are…?”
Jiang Cheng showed his respect with a salute, “Jiang WanYin of Yunmeng.”
Wei WuXian followed, “Wei WuXian of Yunmeng.”
Lan XiChen returned the salute. Nie HuaiSang whispered in the volume of a gnat, “Brother XiChen.”
Lan XiChen turned to him, “HuaiSang, a while ago, as I returned from Qinghe, your brother asked of your studies. How is it? This year, will you be able to pass?”
Nie HuaiSang replied, “Generally speaking, yes…” He seemed like a wilted cucumber, looking at Wei WuXian in a helpless way. Wei WuXian grinned, “ZeWu-Jun, what are you two going out for?”
Lan XiChen, “To exterminate a water ghoul. We were short of hands, so I came back to find WangJi.”
Lan WangJi spoke coldly, “Brother, we do not need to engage in small talk. This matter permits no delay; it is time for us to depart.”
Wei WuXian hurried, “Wait, wait, wait. I know how to catch water ghouls. ZeWu-Jun, why don’t you take us along?”
Lan XiChen smiled without words. Lan WangJi declared, “It is against the rules.”
Wei WuXian, “How is it against the rules? We used to catch water ghouls all the time in Yunmeng. Besides, we don’t have classes these days anyways.”
Yunmeng was abundant in lakes and water, so it teemed with water ghouls. It was true that people of the Jiang Sect were adept at this, and Jiang Cheng also wanted to make up for the face which the YunmengJiang Sect lost during this stay at the Lan Sect, “That’s right. ZeWu-Jun, we’d definitely be of help.”
“It is not necessary. The GusuLan Sect is also…” Before Lan WangJi finished talking, Lan XiChen spoke while smiling, “Sure, then. Many thanks for your help. Do some preparations, and we can depart together. HuaiSang, are you coming as well?”
Nie HuaiSang also wanted to join in, but he had been reminded of his older brother as he met Lan XiChen. Cringing silently, he didn’t dare to have fun, “I’ll pass and go back so that I can review…” With this act, he hoped that Lan XiChen would put in some good words for him to his brother. Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng went back to their rooms to prepare.
Lan WangJi looked at them from behind, his brows knitted with confusion, “Brother, why did you decide to bring them? Exterminating ghouls is not suited for joking around.”
Lan XiChen answered, “The head disciple and only son of Sect Leader Jiang are quite well-known in Yunmeng. It is likely that they know more than joking around.”
Although Lan WangJi didn’t express his opinion, the phrase “I beg to differ” was written all over his face.
Lan XiChen spoke again, “And, also, you wish for him to go as well, do you not?”
Lan WangJi was stunned.
Lan XiChen, “I only agreed because you looked as if you wanted the head disciple of Sect Leader Jiang to come with you.”
A silence fell upon them, as if the air was frozen solid.
Only after a while did Lan WangJi finally respond, speaking with great difficulty, “There was no such thing.”
He wanted to defend himself further, but Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng already grabbed their swords and headed over, so Lan WangJi had to shut his mouth. The group mounted their swords[1] and set off.
The place where the water ghouls haunted was named Caiyi Town, about ten kilometers away from the Cloud Recesses.
Caiyi Town was connected with paths of water. It was either a net of rivers densely covering the town, or dwellings packed on either sides of the web-like water paths. The houses had white walls and grey roofs, and the rivers were filled with boats of baskets and people. On the banks, they sold flowers, fruits, bamboo crafts, pastries, tea, and silk.
Gusu was in the Jiangnan area, and all the voices one could hear were soft and gentle. As two boats crashed into each other, and a few jars of rice wine were spilled, even the arguments of the two boatmen sounded like chirps of the oriole. Although Yunmeng had many lakes, there weren’t a lot of small towns with so much water. Wei WuXian found it quite interesting. He bought two jars of rice wine and gave one to Jiang Cheng, “Gusu people talk in such a sugary way. How is this arguing? If they see how Yunmeng people argue, they might be scared to death… Why are you looking at me, Lan Zhan? It’s not that I’m too stingy to buy you any—aren’t people from your sect prohibited from drinking alcohol?”
Having only stayed for a short time, the group boarded ten-or-so narrow boats, and rowed toward where the water ghouls gathered. Gradually, the number of houses on the banks decreased, and the river path became quieter as well. Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng each had a boat, competing who could row faster while listening to events in the area that concerned water ghouls.
This water path led to a large lake ahead of them, named Biling Lake. Caiyi Town hadn’t been haunted by water ghouls ever since tens of years ago, yet, for the past few months, people had started to fall into this path and Biling Lake. Boats which carried goods also sunk without any reasons. A few days ago, Lan XiChen casted a few nets over this area. He expected to catch one or two water ghouls, but got about a dozen instead. He cleaned the corpses and carried them to a nearby part of the town, only to find that some corpses were not familiar to any of the local people, and remained unclaimed. Yesterday, he set up the net formation again, and caught quite a few again.
Wei WuXian spoke, “It doesn’t seem like that the corpses drowned somewhere else and floated here either. Water ghouls are picky about their area. Most of the time, the only place they settle on is the place they drowned at, and they usually don’t leave there.”
Lan XiChen nodded, “That is correct. This was why I thought that it was no trivial matter, and asked WangJi to come along, in case something happens.”
Wei WuXian asked, “ZeWu-Jun, water ghouls are really clever. If we use the boats and take our time like this, isn’t it possible that they’ll hide underwater and not come out? Won’t we have to keep on searching forever? What if we can’t find them?”