As he glanced at it, he was somewhat surprised. The head of the corpse had already been split open. From within the cut, there wasn’t any blood or brains leaking out, but wads of blackened cotton.
Wei WuXian easily jerked the corpse’s head off. With the delicately-crafted dummy head, he sope, “What is this supposed to mean? There’s a fake corpse made of cotton and rags buried in the Chang Clan’s cemetery?”
Having had weighed the corpse in his hands when he took it, Lan WangJi knew what was wrong, “Not all of it is fake.”
Wei WuXian felt the corpse from head to toe and discovered that, aside from its drooping limbs, only its chest and abdomen felt firm and real. After he tore off the clothes, as he expected, he found that only the torso was real. All of the other body parts were fake.
The head and limbs made from cotton were to “deceive” the torso, so that it still thought it was attached to its owner’s body. Seeing from the skin tone and the part where the left shoulder cut off, this must be the torso of the dear friend. The gravedigger was here for this.
Wei WuXian straightened up, “It looks like that the person who hid the corpse already noticed that we’re investigating the issue and came to transfer the torso somewhere else in case we find it. To come early isn’t as good as to come in time. We just happened to bump into him, haha. But,” with a change of tone, he continued, “Why was the mist-faced gravedigger so familiar with your sect’s sword style?”
It was obvious that Lan WangJi was also thinking about this matter, the coldness on his face yet to fade. Wei WuXian spoke again, “His cultivation is quite high, enough to support the energy used for one Transportation Talisman. He casted spells on both his face and sword. It’s understandable that he casted a spell on his face—after all, he wouldn’t have wanted to be seen. But most lesser-known cultivators wouldn’t have needed to cast a spell on their sword to cover it, unless, of course, it was either somewhat or very famous in the cultivation world. He’d then have had to cover it, because if everyone could recognize his sword glare, his identity would be revealed as soon as his sword was revealed.”
Wei WuXian asked suggestively, “HanGuang-Jun, from your fight before, do you think that he’s someone you know really well?”
It’d be inconvenient for him to be more specific, such as Lan XiChen or Lan QiRen.
Lan WangJi answered assuredly, “No.”
Wei WuXian was quite confident in Lan WangJi’s answer. To him, Lan WangJi wasn’t the kind of person who’d hide or run away from the truth. If he denied it, that meant it must have been wrong. He didn’t like to lie, either. In Wei WuXian’s opinion, if someone asked Lan WangJi to lie, he’d rather silence himself and not talk at all. Thus, Wei WuXian immediately excluded the possibility of the gravedigger being these two.
Lan WangJi put the torso into another double-layered Qiankun Pouch and put it away properly. The two walked around for a while and wandered back to the street of the liquor shop.
The young waiter was true to his words. Most of the other liquor shops on this street had closed already, but their banner was still up and their lights were still on. The waiter was outside, eating from a large bowl. Seeing them, he beamed, “You’re back! We kept our word, didn’t we? Did you two see anything?”
Wei WuXian laughed as he answered. With Lan WangJi, he walked back to the table they sat during the day.
With liquor jars crowding on the table and by his feet, he spoke, “Right, what were we talking about? Suddenly interrupted by the gravedigger, I still don’t know how Chang Ping died.”
Lan WangJi continued the explanation with simple, direct words.
Xue Yang, Xiao XingChen, and Song Lan left one by one. Some disappearing, some passing away. Quite a few years after the incident passed, one day, Chang Ping and the remainder of his clan’s members died overnight due to lingchi. Moreover, Chang Ping’s eyes were dug out.
This time, nobody could find out who the murderer was. After all, everyone apart of it had vanished. However, there was one thing that could be determined.
From the wounds, it could be verified that the sword that was used to lingchi them had been Xiao XingChen’s sword, Shuanghua.
The bowl of liquor that Wei WuXian was holding stopped in front of his mouth. He was shocked by this turn of events, “He was lingchi-ed by Xiao XingChen’s sword? Then was he the one who did it?”
Lan WangJi, “Xiao XingChen had disappeared. There were no conclusive evidence.”
Wei WuXian, “If he couldn’t be found alive, then has anyone tried soul-summoning?”
Lan WangJi, “Yes. Nothing was found.”
Nothing was found. He either didn’t die, or his soul had dissolved. As a someone who specialized in the area, Wei WuXian had to comment on the matter, “Things like soul-summoning, you can’t rely on them too much. Time, place, and person all play a part in it, so of course it’d sometimes go wrong. I’m guessing that a lot of people think that it was Xiao XingChen’s revenge? HanGuang-Jun, what about you? What do you think?
Lan WangJi slowly shook his head, “One should not comment without understanding the whole picture.”
Wei WuXian admired his attitude and principles a lot. Grinning as he drank another gulp of liquor, he heard Lan WangJi speak again, “What about you?”
Wei WuXian, “Lingchi is a type of torture. Its meaning involves “punishment”, anyways. Digging out the eyes also makes it quite hard not to associate it with Xiao XingChen, who also dug out his eyes. Thus, there’s nothing wrong with these people guessing that it was Xiao XingChen’s revenge. However,” he thought about how to phrase it, “I think that, in the beginning, Xiao XingChen never asked for Chang Ping’s gratitude when he first stepped in. I…”
Before he finished thinking of what should follow the “I”, the waiter eagerly brought over two dishes of peanuts. Having been interrupted, Wei WuXian didn’t need to continue anymore. He looked up at Lan WangJi and smiled, “HanGuang-Jun, why are you looking at me like this? I’m not saying anything. Just like you, I don’t understand the whole picture, so I’m not going to comment either. You’re right. Before knowing all of the turns and twists, causes and effects, nobody should presume anything about anything. I only ordered five jars, but you bought five more jars for me, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish all of them by myself. How about if you drink with me? This isn’t the Cloud Recesses, so it doesn’t violate anything, right?”
He had already prepared himself to be bluntly rejected, but who knew that Lan WangJi replied, “I will drink.”
Wei WuXian clicked his tongue, “HanGuang-Jun, you really have changed. Before, I drank a tiny jar in front of you, and you got so mad. You even threw me off the wall and hit me. Now, though, you’re hiding jars of Emperor’s Smile in your room and secretly drinking.”
Fixing his collars, he answered in a calm voice, “I did not touch any jar of Emperor’s Smile.”
Wei WuXian, “Why did you hide them if you’re not drinking anything? Saving them for me? Fine, fine. You didn’t touch them. I’ll believe you, okay? Let’s talk about something else. Come. I really need to see just how many cups would it take to make an abstinent disciple of the GusuLan Sect drunk.”