Suddenly, his foot stepped on something. He looked down, but couldn’t tell what it was. Wei WuXian grasped Lan WangJi’s hand firmly so that he didn’t go off on his own, bent down, and squinted. A head with a pair of glaring eyes ripped through the fog, jumping into his sight.
The head had the face of a man with thick brows, large eyes, and two smudges of rouge that stood out acutely.
When Wei WuXian stepped on the head, he almost sent it flying, so he knew how heavy it weighed. Being so light, this definitely wasn’t a human head. He picked it up and squeezed it. A large part of the man’s face sunk in. Some of the rouge was also smudged.
It was a head made from paper.
The paper head was skillfully crafted. Although the makeup was overly dramatic, the features were rather delicate. Yi City’s specialty was burial goods, so of course the technique of crafting paper mannequins was decent. Among the paper mannequins, there were substitute mannequins, which the people believed that, if burned for the deceased, would suffer in hell in place of them; there were also maidservants and beautiful girls, which would attentively care for the deceased in the nether world. Of course, these were really only made for the living to feel some relief. This paper head was probably a “Nether Brawler”.
Like its name, a “Nether Brawler” was a fighter, said to be able to protect the deceased from the bullying of other ghosts or tricky Judges; the paper money that the juniors burned wouldn’t be stolen away by other souls either. The paper head definitely had a large, sturdy body also made of paper to go with it. Someone had probably pulled the head off and thrown it onto the streets.
The strands of hair on the paper head were jet-black and quite glossy. Wei WuXian touched it. The hair was firmly attached to the scalp, as if the head really grew the hair. He thought to himself, It really was crafted skillfully. Did they take real, human hair and glue it on?
Suddenly, a thin shadow swept past him.
The shadow was extremely bizarre. It ran past, brushing against his shoulder, and instantly disappeared into the thick fog. Bichen unsheathed on its own, chasing after the figure, but quickly returned to its sheath.
The thing that slipped by him ran too quickly—a human definitely couldn’t have reached that speed!
Lan WangJi, “Pay attention. Be careful.”
Although it only brushed past, it was difficult to say that the next time it came, it wouldn’t do something else.
Wei WuXian straightened up, “Did you hear that?”
Lan WangJi, “Footsteps and a bamboo pole.”
He was correct. During the moment, aside from hurried footsteps, they heard another strange noise. The ta-ta sounded rather clear, as if someone was quickly tapping a bamboo pole on the ground. Wei WuXian didn’t know why the noise was present.
In front of them, from within the fog, came another series of footsteps.
This time, the footsteps were light, slower, and greater in number. It seemed as if a group of people were carefully approaching, but not saying anything. Wei WuXian fished out a Gloom-burning Talisman and tossed it forward. If anything surrounded by resentful energy was in front of them, it would burn up, and the fire would probably somewhat light up the area.
The people in front also noticed that something had been tossed at them. They immediately attacked.
A multitude of differently-colored sword glares rushed over. Bichen unsheathed calmly and drifted in front of Wei WuXian, fending off all of the glares. On the other side, the people fumbled in confusion. Hearing the shouts, Lan WangJi immediately sheathed Bichen. Wei WuXian called out, “Jin Ling? SiZhui!”
As he expected, he hadn’t heard wrong. Jin Ling’s voice sounded through the white fog, “Why’s it you again?!”
Wei WuXian, “Well, actually, I want to know why it’s you again!”
Lan SiZhui tried to contain himself, but his voice sounded delighted, “Young Master Mo, you are also here? Then is HanGuang-Jun here as well?”
Hearing that Lan WangJi might also be here, Jin Ling shut his mouth immediately, as if he had been silenced again. He was probably scared that he’d be punished again. Lan JingYi also shouted, “He definitely is! The glare before was from Bichen, right? It was Bichen, right?!”
Wei WuXian, “Yep. He’s here, right beside me. You should come over.”
As soon as the boys knew that the ones in front of them were friend instead of foe, they immediately let out a few sighs of relief and scurried over. Aside from Jin Ling and some of the Lan Sect’s juniors, there were also seven or eight boys wearing clothes of different sects, who still acted hesitant. They were probably also disciples from distinguished backgrounds. Wei WuXian asked, “Why are all of you here? With such an attack, it’s lucky that I have HanGuang-Jun by my side. What if you hurt ordinary people?”
Jin Ling retorted, “There isn’t any ordinary people here—there isn’t any people here at all!”
Lan SiZhui nodded, “It is daylight, but there is fog everywhere. And there is not a single shop open.”
Wei WuXian, “This won’t matter for now. How did you guys run into each other? Don’t tell me that you arranged to night-hunt together.” Jin Ling saw everyone as an eyesore and wanted to fight with everyone. And, since he already had an unpleasant interaction with the Lan Sect’s disciples, how would it be possible that they wanted to night-hunt together? Lan SiZhui obediently explained, “That would be a long story. We were originally…”
Suddenly, a series of clucks and taps, the unusually ear-piercing noise of a bamboo pole knocking on the ground, came from within the dense fog.
The juniors’ faces changed at once, “It’s here again!”
Chapter 34 Grasses—Part Two
The sudden peculiar noises of a bamboo pole knocking on the ground sounded loud then soft, far then near, making it so that it was impossible to determine where or what exactly was making it.
Wei WuXian, “All of you, come over. Huddle close. Don’t move and don’t attack.”
Amid the fog, if the juniors all withdrew their swords and attempted to attack, it’d be possible for them to hurt themselves instead of the enemy. After a moment, the noise stopped. Having waited in silence for a few seconds, one disciple spoke under his breath, “It’s that again… Just how long is it going to follow us for?!”
Wei WuXian, “It’s been following you?”
Lan SiZhui, “After we entered the city, because the fog was too thick and it would be easy to wander off, we decided to walk closely together. Then, we suddenly heard the noise. At the time, it was not as fast. It went quite slowly, one knock at a time. Through the fog, we also managed to see a short shadow walk past, right in front of us. But when we chased over, it disappeared. The noise has been following us ever since.”
Wei WuXian, “How short?”
Lan SiZhui gestured at his chest, “Very short. Very small.”
Wei WuXian, “How long have you been here for?”
Lan SiZhui, “Around fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes?” Wei WuXian asked, “HanGuang-Jun, how long have we been here for?”
Lan WangJi’s voice sounded from behind the hazy fog, “Around thirty minutes.”
“Look, “Wei WuXian continued, “We’ve been here for longer than you did. How is it possible that you ended up in front of us, and only ran into us after you turned around?”