Lan WangJi answered with honesty, “Yes.”
Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi went on back and forth, speaking as though nobody was around. More and more people realized that they weren’t only mocking Su She, but rather taking something apart. Thus, they began to listen more carefully.
Next, Wei WuXian slowed down, “… And that means, even when a section of the battle melodies that the MolingSu Sect played when killing corpses on Burial Mound was wrong, the GusuLan Sect wouldn’t find it unusual, and only think that they made a mistake because of their inferior techniques and remembered the sheet music wrong, not taking the time to notice whether it was an accidental mistake or a mistake on purpose. Is this the case?”
Hearing the last question, Su She’s pupils shrunk. The hand he placed on the hilt of his sword was suddenly lined with veins. The blade of the sword was already half-an-inch unsheathed. On the other hand, Lan WangJi lifted his eyes at the same time. Both Wei WuXian and he saw the sense of understanding in each other’s eyes.
He stated one word at a time, “This is the case.”
Su She unsheathed his sword with a clang. Wei WuXian moved the blade of the sword to the side with two fingers and smiled, “What are you doing? Don’t forget. You’ve lost all your spiritual powers. Would threatening me like this do anything?”
Sword raised in his hand, Su She could neither attack nor put it down. He clenched his teeth, “Aiming at me for so long—just what are you trying to imply?”
Wei WuXian, “Was I understating things so much that you thought I was implying? Then I’ll be a bit clearer. Everyone here lost their spiritual powers because they did one thing in common. What was it? Killing the corpses. When killing the corpses, Sect Leader Su of the MolingSu Sect came up along with you all. He pretended to be using his guqin to fend of the corpses, but without anyone noticing, he had already changed a section of the battle songs to be another melody, one that’d cause people to lose their spiritual powers temporarily. You fought in the bloodbath, but while he fought with you on the surface, behind his back, he…”
Su She, “This is slander!”
Wei WuXian, “Many of the GusuLan Sect’s guqin cultivators are here, right? Back when you were coming up the mountain, there were mistakes in the battle melodies that the MolingSu Sect played, weren’t there?”
The GusuLan Sect’s guqin cultivators had the greatest right to answer such a question. They answered in unison, “Yes, there were!”
Wei WuXian continued, “Sect Leader Su, you knew that many of the GusuLan Sect’s people were filled with scorn toward you and the MolingSu Sect, and so you used this scorn to your advantage. Dark songs can be used to harm others, but they have requirements as to the spiritual powers of the person who plays them. If you were alone, of course you wouldn’t be able to perform it to the degree that almost a thousand people lost their spiritual powers. And thus, you brought with you all of the guqin cultivators of the MolingSu Sect so that they could play with you! Amongst the sects present here, only the GusuLan Sect would be able to notice what was wrong, but they held scorn towards you. Even if they noticed that you played the battle songs wrong, they’d only think you were so unskilled that you even taught your disciples wrong!”
Nie HuaiSang’s mouth hung gaping, “Is there really such a dark song in the world that could make whoever heard it lose their spiritual powers?”
Wei WuXian, “Why not? The sounds of the guqin can fend off evil, so why can’t they summon evil instead? There’s a song collection from Dongying called Collection of Turmoil. The songs collected inside are all dark songs around the region of Dongying. There were even songs that could be used to kill someone, so why couldn’t there be a song that makes someone temporarily lose their spiritual powers? Senior Lan QiRen is right here with us. Ask him—is there such a book inside of the Room of Forbidden Books in the GusuLan Sect’s Library Pavilion?”
Collecting himself, Su She sneered, “Even if such a song exists, back when I was studying in Gusu, I wasn’t at all able to go into the Room of Forbidden Books, and so I couldn’t have seen it. Afterward, I haven’t walked a single step inside the Cloud Recesses either, and I’ve never even heard of such a book! You, on the other hand, are so familiar with Collection of Turmoil, and you’ve been abnormally close with HanGuang-Jun too. Compared to me, you have a greater chance of gaining contact with this book, don’t you?”
Wei WuXian laughed, “Who said that you have to go inside the Room of Forbidden Books? Wouldn’t it be fine as long as your master can go in at will? The methods of tampering with the sheet music—he was probably also the one who taught you that, right?”
A person of power free to travel in and out of the Cloud Recesses at will. There was no need to say out loud whom Su She’s master was. Everyone knew—it could only be LianFang-Zun!
Wei WuXian, “It was an idea of you two to capture the disciples of all the sects and attract so many people to Burial Mound. The mantis preys on the cicada, while the oriole on the mantis—he used his injuries as an excuse to avoid rousing suspicion and collaborated with you from the outside. One of you played a dark song to diminish the people’s spiritual powers, while the other used the Tiger Seal to control the corpses on the mountain. In the end, thousands of people are annihilated at my place. Nobody would believe it if I said I wasn’t the one who did it, right? You weren’t afraid that you ran into me either. After all, Wei WuXian’s infamous name is known by everyone. With hatred both new and old, the excited crowd wouldn’t listen to my protests at all. Perhaps it’d even stir up my killing intent and I’d slaughter everyone, sparing you all the work.”
Su She, “How laughable. LianFang-Zun is already the chief cultivator who leads the entire world of cultivation. It’s not like he needs power or name. What benefit is there to him, making so many people come to their deaths? Not only did you slander me, you dare slander LianFang-Zun as well!”
Wei WuXian, “If you say that I’m slandering you with such conviction, then do you dare play the battle song that the MolingSu Sect played to fend off the corpses on your way up the mountain, here in front of everyone?”
All of the GusuLan Sect’s guqin cultivators were here. If Su She played different from before, he’d be exposed at once!
Within the Demon-Slaughtering Cave, the crowd had been moving slowly away from the MolingSu Sect’s people, leaving quite a large area empty, isolating them in the middle. Wei WuXian took advantage of the opportunity, “No? Sure, that’s no problem. Why don’t you check out what this is?”
He took out two yellowed sheets of paper from within his lapels and waved it, allowing everyone barely to see that they were two pieces of sheet music, “Did you really think we returned with nothing in our hands during our trip to Koi Tower? Inside of the secret chamber behind the bronze mirror in the Palace of Fragrance, Jin GuangYao hid two torn-off pages from Collection of Turmoil. We found it already. As soon as I take it to Senior Lan QiRen to see if the melody that you just played was inside, the truth will come to light!”
Su She sneered, “You’re lying. How do I know that these aren’t sheet music you randomly made up to slander me?”