Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Grass and Trees VIII 3

He involuntarily released his grip. Before the oil lamp could fall to the ground, Wei Wuxian rescued it and calmly struck it against the burning fire talisman still in his other hand, lighting it. He placed it on the table and said, "These are all made by you, elder? You have quite the skill."

Only then did everyone realize that the entire room was filled not with real people, but a large group of paper figures.

These paper figures were life-sized, with intricately crafted heads, bodies, and faces. There were men, women, and children among them. The men were "yin soldiers," designed to look tall and strong with fierce expressions. The women were beautiful, some with double buns and others with cloud-shaped hairstyles. Even under their loose paper garments, their graceful figures were evident, and the patterns on the paper clothes were more exquisite than those on real brocade robes. Some were painted in bold colors like red and green, while others remained uncolored, looking pale and stark. Each paper figure had two large blush marks on their cheeks, imitating the complexion of a living person. However, their eyes were blank, entirely white, as if the pupils had not been painted. The more vibrant the blush, the more eerie and sinister they appeared.

There was another table in the main room, with several candles of varying lengths. Wei Wuxian lit them one by one, and the yellow light illuminated most of the room. Apart from these paper figures, there were two large funeral wreaths placed on either side of the room, and a mountain of paper gold ingots, ghost money, and miniature pagodas piled up in the corner.

Jin Ling had already drawn his sword three inches out of its sheath, but upon realizing it was merely a shop selling funeral items, he inconspicuously sighed in relief and sheathed his sword. Even if a cultivator from a prestigious clan passed away, they never engaged in such folkloric, eerie arrangements. The group of clan disciples, having seen little of such things, were initially frightened, but after the initial shock, curiosity got the better of them. The eerie setup gave them chills, but they found it more exciting than a typical night hunt.

No matter how thick the fog was, it couldn't penetrate the house. After entering Yi Cheng, they could finally see each other's faces clearly, which brought a sense of relief. Seeing that they had relaxed, Wei Wuxian asked the old woman again, "Can we use your kitchen?"

The old woman seemed to dislike the light and glared fiercely at the oil lamp. She said, "The kitchen's in the back. Help yourselves." Afterward, she retreated to another room like she was avoiding a plague. The loud sound of her closing the door made them shudder. Jin Ling said, "This old hag is definitely hiding something! You..." Wei Wuxian said, "Alright, enough. I need someone to help me. Who's coming?"

Lan Sizhui quickly said, "I'll come."

Lan Jingyi, still standing straight, said, "What about me?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Just stand there. Don't move unless told."

Lan Sizhui followed Wei Wuxian to the kitchen at the back, where a foul, moldy smell hit them as soon as they entered. Lan Sizhui had never smelled anything so terrible in his life and felt dizzy, but he endured it without running out. Jin Ling, who had also followed, jumped out and fanned the air, saying, "What the hell is that smell?! If you're not going to detoxify, why are we here?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Oh? You're just in time. How did you know I needed your help? Come and assist."

Jin Ling said, "I'm not here to help! Ugh! Did someone kill a person and forget to bury them?!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Jin Ling, are you coming or not? If you are, come in and help. If not, go back and sit, and I'll call someone else."

Jin Ling flew into a rage, "Who is Jin Ling? Watch your tongue!" After a moment's hesitation, he snorted, "I'll see what you're up to." With that, he stormed back in, only to be forced out again when Wei Wuxian opened a box, releasing the foul odor. The box contained a pig's leg and a chicken. The red meat was tinged with green, and white maggots were curled up inside.

Jin Ling, utterly disgusted, handed the box to him and used his handkerchief to wipe his hands, which he then discarded. When he returned to the kitchen, Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui had already drawn two buckets of water from the well in the backyard and were cleaning the kitchen. Jin Ling asked, "What are you doing?"

Lan Sizhui, diligently wiping, said, "As you can see, we're cleaning the stove."

Jin Ling said, "Why clean the stove if we're not cooking?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Who said we're not cooking? We are. You sweep the cobwebs and dust off the above."

He spoke so confidently that Jin Ling automatically started sweeping. The more he swept, the more something felt off. Just as he was about to toss the broom at Wei Wuxian, the other box was opened, and he rushed out again, though fortunately, there was no foul smell this time.

The three of them worked quickly, and soon the kitchen was refreshed, finally showing signs of life instead of looking like an abandoned haunted house. There was chopped firewood in the corner, which they stacked under the stove and lit with a fire talisman. They placed a large cleaned pot on top to boil water. Wei Wuxian poured out a pile of sticky rice from the second box, rinsed it, and put it into the pot.

Jin Ling said, "Making porridge?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Yes."

Jin Ling threw down the rag. Wei Wuxian said, "Look at you, getting angry after doing a little work. Look at Sizhui; he's working the hardest and hasn't said a word. What's wrong with porridge?"

Jin Ling said, "What's good about porridge? It's bland and watery! No... I'm not angry because of the porridge!"

Wei Wuxian said, "It's not for you anyway."

Jin Ling became even angrier, "What did you say? After working for so long, there's none for me?!"

Lan Sizhui said, "Mr. Mo, can porridge help neutralize the corpse poison?"

Wei Wuxian smiled and said, "It can, but it's not the porridge that detoxifies the corpse poison—it's the glutinous rice. It's a folk remedy. Generally, you apply the glutinous rice to the wounds caused by bites or scratches. If you encounter such a situation in the future, you can give it a try. It will hurt, but it's incredibly effective—almost like magic. However, they weren't bitten or scratched, but inhaled the corpse poison, so they can only drink a bowl of glutinous rice porridge."

Lan Sizhui suddenly realized and said, "No wonder you insisted on going into the house, and specifically a house where people live. A place where someone resides might have a kitchen, and there might be glutinous rice in the kitchen."

Jin Ling said, "Who knows how long this rice has been sitting here? It might not even be edible anymore. Besides, this kitchen hasn't been used for at least a year; it's full of dust, and the meat has gone rotten. How could that old woman have gone without eating for a year? She can't possibly know how to fast, so how is she surviving?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Either this house has been uninhabited all along, and she's not the owner. Or, she doesn't need to eat."

Lan Sizhui said in a low voice, "If she doesn't need to eat, then she's one of the undead."

Wei Wuxian casually stirred the porridge with a spatula and various things from bottles and jars and said, "By the way, you haven't finished telling me yet. Why did you all come to Yi Cheng? It couldn't be a coincidence that you found us, right?"

The faces of the two young men immediately became serious. Jin Ling said, "I, some people from the Lan family, and a few from other families, are chasing something. I've been chasing it from Qinghe." Lan Sizhui said, "We've been chasing it from Langya."

Wei Wuxian asked, "What is it?"

Lan Sizhui shook his head and said, "We have no idea. It hasn't shown itself, and we don't know if it's a person, an object, or even an organization."

It turned out that a few days earlier, Jin Ling, having tricked his uncle and let Wei Wuxian escape, was worried that Jiang Cheng might actually break his legs this time. So, he decided to disappear for a few days until Jiang Cheng's anger subsided. He handed the Purple Lightning to one of Jiang Cheng's trusted subordinates and ran off. He reached a small town near the edge of Qinghe and was looking for his next night hunting location when he rested in a large inn. That night, while he was reciting spells in his room, Xianzi suddenly barked at the door. It was already late at night, and Jin Ling scolded the spirit dog, but then he heard a knock on the door.

Although Xianzi stopped barking, she became extremely restless, scratching the ground frantically and growling low in her throat. Jin Ling became alert and asked who was there, but when no one answered, he ignored it. However, half an hour later, the knocking resumed.

Jin Ling climbed out of the window with Xianzi, circled around, and came up from below to make a surprise attack from behind, hoping to catch whoever was causing trouble. But he found nothing and quietly waited for a while, yet still saw no one in front of his door.

He remained cautious, leaving Xianzi to guard the door, ready to attack anyone who came, but nothing happened that night. The only thing he kept hearing was a strange sound, like the dripping of water.

The next morning, there was a scream outside his door. Jin Ling kicked the door open and stepped into a pool of blood. Something fell from above the door, and Jin Ling had to dodge to avoid being hit.

A black cat!

Someone had nailed a dead cat's body above his door. The strange dripping sound he had heard that night was the blood from the cat dripping down.

Jin Ling said, "It was the same in several inns. So, I decided to chase after it. Whenever I heard of a place where a dead cat's body mysteriously appeared, I went to check it out, determined to find out who was behind it."

Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Sizhui and asked, "Was it the same for you?"

Lan Sizhui nodded and said, "Yes. A few days ago, we were night hunting in Langya. During dinner one evening, we fished a skinned cat head out of the soup... At first, we didn't know if it was aimed at us, but when we changed inns that day, we found another cat corpse in the bedding. It continued for several days, and when we reached Liyang and met Jin Ling, we realized we were investigating the same thing and decided to act together. Today, we reached a village near a stone tablet and asked a hunter, who pointed us towards the road to Yi Cheng."

Wei Wuxian thought to himself, "A hunter?"

The younger cultivators passed through the village by the stone tablet after Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, and at that time, they didn't see any hunter, only a few shy farm girls feeding chickens, who said the men of the house had gone out to transport goods and wouldn't be back for a long time.

The more Wei Wuxian thought, the more concerned he grew.

From their account, apart from killing cats and dumping their bodies, there were no other actions. Although it sounded and looked terrifying, they hadn't suffered any actual harm. These incidents had only piqued their curiosity and desire to get to the bottom of it.

Moreover, the place where this group of younger cultivators met was Liyang, and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had just traveled south from Liyang to eastern Shu. It was as if someone was deliberately guiding these naïve youngsters and the two of them to meet.

Leading a group of naïve young cultivators to an unknown and dangerous location to face the highly aggressive residue of a fierce corpse—this was exactly the same pattern as the incident at the Mo family estate!

But that wasn't the most complicated part. What Wei Wuxian was more wary of at the moment was... the Yin Tiger Tally. It was possible that it was now in Yi Cheng.

Though Wei Wuxian didn't want to believe it, this was the most logical explanation. After all, there were people who could restore fragments of the Yin Tiger Tally, and even though they were supposedly eliminated, who knew who had gotten their hands on the restored Yin Tiger Tally?

Just then, Lan Sizhui, squatting on the ground fanning the firewood, looked up and said, "Senior Wei, the glutinous rice porridge looks ready!"

Wei Wuxian snapped out of his thoughts, stopped stirring the porridge, took a clean bowl that Lan Sizhui had washed earlier, scooped a spoonful to taste, and said, "It's done. Bring it out, and those who are poisoned should each have a bowl. Feed it to them."

However, as soon as it was taken out and someone took a bite, Lan Jingyi spat it out and exclaimed, "Is this poison?!"

Wei Wuxian said, "What poison? This is the antidote! It's glutinous rice porridge."

Lan Jingyi said, "Regardless of why glutinous rice would be the antidote, I've never had glutinous rice porridge this spicy before!"

The others who had tasted it nodded, all with teary eyes. Wei Wuxian scratched his chin. He was from Yunmeng, a place known for its love of spicy food. Wei Wuxian's tolerance was especially high; whenever he cooked, it was so spicy that Jiang Cheng would throw down his bowl and curse that it was inedible. But he could never resist adding more spices, and this time was no different. Lan Sizhui, out of curiosity, took a sip of the porridge. His face turned red, and he clenched his mouth shut to avoid spitting it out. His eyes were bloodshot as he thought, "This taste... feels eerily familiar..."

Wei Wuxian said, "A little spice makes you sweat and helps you recover faster. After all, medicine is always a bit toxic."

The younger cultivators all went "Eww" in disbelief but still forced the porridge down with bitter expressions. In no time, everyone was flushed and sweating profusely, suffering as if they were in torment. Wei Wuxian couldn't help but say, "Really? Hanguang Jun is from Gusu, and he can handle spicy food too, so why are you all being so wimpy?"

Lan Sizhui covered his mouth and said, "No, Senior, Hanguang Jun prefers light flavors. He never eats spicy food..."

Wei Wuxian was stunned for a moment and said, "Is that so?"

But he remembered that in his previous life, after he had betrayed the Yunmeng Jiang family, he had met Lan Wangji once in Yiling. At that time, although Wei Wuxian was heavily criticized, it wasn't to the point where he was universally despised. So, he had the nerve to invite Lan Wangji to have a meal and catch up. Lan Wangji had ordered dishes full of Sichuan pepper, so he had always assumed that Lan Wangji had a similar tolerance for spice.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember if Lan Wangji had even touched those dishes. He had forgotten that he was supposed to pay for the meal, so it was no surprise he didn't remember who settled the bill.

"...Senior Wei, don't space out!"

"Hmm?" Wei Wuxian finally came to his senses. Lan Sizhui whispered, "That old lady's door... has opened."

A cold yin wind blew from somewhere, opening a crack in the door of the small room, which kept opening and closing intermittently. The room was pitch-black, with only a faint outline of a hunched figure seated at the table. Wei Wuxian signaled them not to move and walked into the room.

The oil lamp and candlelight from the main room illuminated the scene. The old lady was bowing her head, seemingly unaware that someone had entered. She had a piece of cloth on her lap, stretched on a frame, as if she was doing embroidery. Her hands were stiff and pressed together as she tried to thread a needle.

Wei Wuxian also sat at the table and said, "Why isn't the old lady lighting a lamp to thread the needle? Let me help."

He took the needle and thread and passed the thread through in one go, then handed it back to the old lady. He then casually walked out of the room, closed the door, and said, "Don't go in."

Jin Ling demanded, "Did you check if that old woman is dead or alive?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Don't call her an old witch, that's rude. This old lady is a living corpse."

The younger cultivators looked at each other. Lan Sizhui asked, "What's a living corpse?"

Wei Wuxian said, "From head to toe, she has the characteristics of a corpse, but she's alive. That's what a living corpse is."

Jin Ling exclaimed, "You mean she's still alive?!"

Wei Wuxian asked, "Did you look inside?"

"Yes."

"What did you see? What was she doing?"

"Threading a needle."

"Did she manage to thread it?"

"...No."

"Exactly, she couldn't. A dead person's muscles are stiff and can't perform complex actions like threading a needle. The spots on her face aren't age spots; they're livor mortis. And while she doesn't need to eat, she can still breathe and is alive."

Lan Sizhui said, "But, Senior, many elderly ladies have poor eyesight and can't thread a needle themselves."

Wei Wuxian said, "That's why I helped her. But did you notice that she hasn't blinked since the door opened?"

The younger cultivators blinked repeatedly. Wei Wuxian said, "Living people blink to prevent their eyes from drying out. Dead people don't need to. And did anyone notice how she looked at me when I took the needle and thread?"

Jin Ling said, "Her eyes didn’t move… only her head did!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Exactly. When someone looks in a different direction, their eyes usually move a bit, but a dead person can't do that because they can't perform such delicate movements. They can only turn their head and neck."

Lan Jingyi muttered, "Should we be taking notes on this?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Good habit. But during night hunting, there's no time to flip through notes. Keep it in your heart."

Jin Ling gritted his teeth. "Walking corpses are creepy enough—why do we need living corpses on top of that?!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Living corpses don’t just happen—they’re usually created by people. That’s the case here."

"Created?! Why would anyone do that?!"

Wei Wuxian explained, "Dead people have many flaws: stiff muscles, slow movements, and so on. But there are also advantages to a dead body: they don't fear pain, can't think, and are easy to control. Some people thought they could enhance these qualities and create the perfect puppet-like corpse. That's how living corpses came to be."

The young nobles didn't say it out loud, but their faces clearly read: "It has to be Wei Wuxian!"

Wei Wuxian felt both amused and exasperated, thinking, "Though it did sound like something I’d do… I’ve never made anything like that!"

He said, "Ahem. Alright, Wei Wuxian was the one who started this, and he successfully refined Wen Ning, also known as the Ghost General. Actually, I've always wanted to ask who came up with that nickname. So stupid. Others tried to copy him but failed, straying into evil practices, and started experimenting on living people to create living corpses." He concluded, "A failed imitation."

Upon hearing Wei Wuxian's name, Jin Ling's expression turned cold. He snorted, "Wei Ying was always on the wrong path."

Wei Wuxian said, "Yes, and those who create living corpses are even worse."

Lan Sizhui asked, "Senior Wei, what should we do now?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Some living corpses may not realize they’re dead. I think this old lady is unaware of her situation, so for now, we should just leave her be."

Just then, the abrupt sound of a cane tapping against the ground startled them.

The sound came from right next to a window. The window had been sealed with black wooden planks. The faces of all the young nobles turned pale. Since they entered the city, this sound had been haunting them, making them tense up every time they heard it. Wei Wuxian motioned for them to stay quiet, and they held their breath as they watched Wei Wuxian approach the window, peering outside through a tiny slit in the wooden planks.

As Wei Wuxian looked through the slit, he saw a white figure and initially thought it was the thick white fog outside obscuring his vision. But suddenly, the white figure rapidly retreated.

He had seen a pair of ferocious white eyes glaring through the gap. The white he saw earlier wasn’t fog—it was the eye, devoid of a pupil.