Lan XiChen replied calmly, “Young Master Wei, perhaps you have seen some things indeed. However, you cannot prove that you saw those things within the secret chamber of Koi Tower.”
Wei WuXian, “Hm. That’s true. Then how about something else? The direct cause of ChiFeng-Zun’s death was a qi deviation, but, Sect Leader Lan, don’t you think that the timing is a bit too much of a coincidence? The doings of the sword spirit might be one of the reasons, but have you ever thought that there might be another cause to it?”
Lan XiChen, “What do you think the cause is?”
Wei WuXian, “The Song of Clarity.”
Lan XiChen, “Young Master Wei, did you know that his Song of Clarity had been taught by me personally?”
Wei WuXian, “Then, Sect Leader Lan, could you please listen if there’s anything strange with the song?”
His flute was right by the bed. Wei WuXian held it up and began to play after a few moments of thought. After the song was finished, he spoke, “Sect Leader Lan, this song really is the one you taught Jin GuangYao?”
Lan XiChen, “It is.”
Wei WuXian was somewhat surprised, but he kept his composure, “What is the name of the song?”
Lan XiChen, “The song is named Cleansing. It is capable of clearing the heart and steadying the mind.”
Wei WuXian, “Cleansing. I’ve heard of many of the cultivational world’s famous compositions. Why don’t I have any memory of either its name or its melody?”
Lan WangJi, “The song is obscure. It is difficult as well.”
Lan XiChen, “Precisely.”
Wei WuXian, “Did Jin GuangYao choose this piece himself?”
Lan XiChen, “That is correct.”
Wei WuXian, “Is it really that difficult? Then why did Jin GuangYao choose this piece instead of something easier?”
Lan XiChen, “Because I have told him that although Cleansing is difficult to master, its effects are excellent. The song is indeed difficult. Young Master Wei, you played one of its sections wrong as well, did you not?”
Hearing this, Wei WuXian felt something click inside of him, “I played it wrong?”
Lan WangJi, “One of its sections is wrong.”
Wei WuXian grinned, “No, no. It’s not that I was wrong. Jin GuangYao is the one who was wrong! When the resentful energy attacked me, this really was how he played it. I can promise that I repeated this song without any mistake at all.”
Lan XiChen seemed to be surprised, “Then he learned it wrong? That… would be impossible.”
Wei WuXian, “That would indeed be impossible. LianFang-Zun is that clever. His memory is uncommonly good, how could he remember the melody wrong? It’s likely that it was on purpose. I’ll play it again. Sect Leader Lan, HanGuang-Jun, this time, please listen carefully to the section that I ‘played wrong’.”
He did play it again. Near the end of the second section, Lan WangJi spoke, “Stop.”
Lan WangJi, “It is the section that has just passed.”
Wei WuXian withdrew the flute from his lips, “It really is this section? But I don’t find this section different at all.”
Lan XiChen, “It does not sound different indeed. However, it definitely is not part of Cleansing.”
If it was a normal mistake, it wouldn’t blend so seamlessly into the other sections of the original song. This melody had to have been purposely polished before it was put in here. And this unfamiliar melody, not part of Cleansing but mixed into it, was likely the key to Nie MingJue’s death.
After a while of thought, Lan XiChen spoke, “You two can follow me.”
As they went out of the house, Wei WuXian was somewhat surprised.
It was a secluded little cottage within some hidden corner of the Cloud Recesses. The Lan Sect’s residence was inside of the mountains. In its bounds, pines grew endlessly. Most of the plants were trees and grasses. It wasn’t that there were no flowers, but that the flowers were mostly pure, elegant varieties like magnolia, gardenia, and white chrysanthemum, and even then only as rare, decorative glimpses. Yet, the area before this house was filled with purple gentians. The buds were small while the color was brilliant, gaining the love of whoever passed. Under the light, it seemed to glow softly, as beautiful as a dream, an illusion.
Wei WuXian knew that this place was definitely different from the rest. However, he only had time to have an overall glance at it. It was already past nine. Most of the people within the Cloud Recesses had rested long ago. It was extremely quiet. Not a single person passed their way as Lan XiChen led them to the Library Pavilion.
The Cloud Recesses had once been burnt down by a fire. The Library Pavilion wasn’t the Library Pavilion from back then. However, after it had been rebuilt, the interior setup was no different from the previous one. They had even planted another magnolia tree outside of the the pavilion. After the three walked inside, Wei WuXian suspected, “Sect Leader Lan, would we be able to find the source of the melody here?”
Lan XiChen, “Not here.”
He walked before a row of books, lowered himself, and flipped over one of the mats on the ground before he took off a piece of wooden board, “We would be able to here.”
Below the wooden board was a secret door.
Lan WangJi, “The room of forbidden books.”
Under the door was a flight of stairs over fifty steps low. The three walked down one by one. What came into Wei WuXian’s eyes was a wide, dry underground room made of stone. The sound of footsteps echoed emptily. Rows and rows of bookshelves stood within the room. Books sparsely rested along the shelves. They were covered in dust, as though nobody had flipped through them in a long time.
Lan XiChen led them to one of the bookshelves, “This section is all books of strange songs.”
There was a desk in the room and only one paper lamp on the desk. Lan WangJi took from the shelves a writing brush and paper that hadn’t been used in years. He wrote down by memory three copies of the melody’s score. The three of them sat around the desk and got to work. Each was responsible for a few dozens of books. They compared the melody to scores copied down onto the books, book by book, page by page, searching for parts that matched.
However, four hours had passed, and none of the three found a score that was the same as the melody. This meant that they didn’t find its source.
Wei WuXian scanned the scores as quick as he could, thinking to himself, Maybe even the song section of the Lan Sect’s room of forbidden books don’t have the melody? But that’s impossible. If even the Lan Sect didn’t collect it, other places wouldn’t have either. Would it be that Jin GuangYao created such a remarkable song himself? If so, then it’d be a pain. The only way to verify that something is wrong with the song would be to get someone to listen to this song for months to experiment. But even though he’s clever, he never had a solid foundation. He couldn’t be so clever as to be able to create…
Wei WuXian stared for quite a while at the tightly-packed characters. His eyes felt somewhat tired. He still had a few books left, so he decided to look at them sometime afterward. Lan WangJi had already finished the stack that he was responsible for. In silence, he took over the books that Wei WuXian left and continued to flip through. Lan XiChen lifted his eyes. Watching the scene, he seemed to stop himself from saying something.