Chapter 121

Chapter 120: Extra Chapter Four: The Siege of the Door

The incident began three nights ago.

That night, after returning from a social engagement, Master Qin, weary and slightly inebriated, was about to retire when he suddenly heard pounding on the door.

Someone was pounding heavily on the main gate of the Qin residence.

A drowsy household servant mumbled a question, then got up with a lantern to check. Just as he was about to inquire, the person knocking seemed to go mad, began to ram the door frantically.

It was indeed a ram. The door latch groaned under the strain, and it felt as if ten iron claws were simultaneously scratching at the door.

The commotion was too loud, and soon the courtyard quickly filled with servants roused from their sleep. They gathered, a group holding oil lamps, leaning on sticks, and carrying lanterns, looking at each other, until the master, clad only in a robe and carrying a sword, entered the courtyard.

Master Qin drew his sword with a metallic ring and bellowed, "Who's there!"

Immediately, the sound of claws scratching at the door grew louder.

A servant, clutching a broom and cowering in a corner, was pointed at by Master Qin, "You, climb up and look outside."

The servant dared not disobey, his face ashen, hesitating as he climbed, looked back at Master Qin with great reluctance, only to be met with impatient urging.

Finally, trembling with fear, he placed his hands on the eaves, peeked out, and after just one glance, collapsed with a "thud."

Master Qin said, "He said that the one knocking at the door was a monster dressed in burial clothes. Disheveled and covered in blood, not among the living."

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji exchanged glances.

Lan Sizhui then asked, "Master Qin, is there no more detailed description?"

Master Qin, not from the mystical sects, had accidentally found the right people, only knowing that the individuals before him were practitioners of the mystical arts, unaware of their identities. But Lan Wangji, with his icy demeanor and extraordinary presence, Wei Wuxian, with his lively expression, seemed confident and assured, and Lan Sizhui, though young, carried himself with remarkable grace, so he dared not be disrespectful, "No, that foolish servant was too scared, fainted after one look. I had to press his philtrum for a long time to revive him, how could I expect him to see clearly and carefully."

Wei Wuxian said, "Allow me to ask a question."

Master Qin replied, "Please."

Wei Wuxian asked, "Master Qin, at that time, you only had others look, didn't you look yourself?"

"No."

"Pity."

"Why pity?"

Wei Wuxian explained, "According to your description, what came to your door was a fierce corpse. When a fierce corpse comes knocking, nine times out of ten, it's targeting someone specific. If you had looked, you might have recognized an old acquaintance."

Master Qin said, "Perhaps I am that one out of ten. Moreover, even if it's targeting someone, that someone isn't necessarily me."

Wei Wuxian nodded and smiled, "Alright."

Master Qin continued, "That thing kept clawing at the door until dawn. When I went out in the morning to look, my front door was utterly ruined."

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji walked around the entrance.

Lan Sizhui followed them, observing carefully. The Qin residence's front door was riddled with hundreds of ghastly claw marks, eerily grouped in fives, some several feet long, others just a few inches, truly unrecognizable.

Although it was undoubtedly the work of human hands, it certainly didn't look like the fingernails of a living person could have made such marks.

Master Qin said, "To get to the point, since you gentlemen are practitioners of the mystical arts, do you have a way to banish this evil entity?"

Wei Wuxian, however, said, "No need for that."

Lan Sizhui thought it was odd but kept his thoughts to himself. Master Qin also felt it was strange and asked in return, "No need?"

Wei Wuxian affirmed, "No need."

"A house, from the moment it's built and owned, is meant to provide shelter from the elements and protect against outside dangers. The gate acts as a natural barrier, keeping out both people and supernatural beings."

"As the rightful owner, unless you invite evil spirits in, either by word or deed, they can't enter. From the evil aura on your gate, it seems what came here wasn't some rare, powerful ghost or corpse. A single gate is all you need to keep it out."

Master Qin was skeptical: "Is it really that strong?"

Lan Wangji said, "Indeed."

Wei Wuxian stepped on the threshold and said, "Yep. The threshold itself is another barrier. A walking corpse has blocked energy and blood flow, so it moves stiffly. Unless the corpse could jump really high in life, it can't get in, even with the door wide open."

Master Qin still wasn't convinced: "Don’t I need anything else? Like protective talismans or exorcism swords? I’m willing to pay a hefty sum—money isn’t an issue."

Lan Wangji said, "Just replace the door bolt."

"..."

Seeing Master Qin's disbelief, Wei Wuxian said, "It’s your call, Master Qin. If anything else comes up, feel free to ask."

After leaving Master Qin's place, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji walked together, chatting casually as they strolled.

These days, the two of them lived a semi-reclusive life. When there was no urgent business, they’d wander aimlessly, sometimes for weeks, other times just a few days. Wei Wuxian had heard of Lan Wangji’s reputation for showing up wherever there was trouble, but he hadn’t thought much of it. But now, tagging along with Lan Wangji, he found it a real test of patience. Not because it was hard, but because it was too easy. In the past, Wei Wuxian loved night hunting in strange, dangerous places, full of adventure and excitement. But Lan Wangji didn’t pick his battles; he acted when needed, which often meant dealing with targets Wei Wuxian found boring. Take this fierce corpse, for example—compared to Wei Wuxian’s past hunts, it wasn’t very exciting. Others might think it was overkill and not worth the effort.

But with Lan Wangji around, even if the job wasn’t exciting, it was still enjoyable.

Lan Sizhui, leading Little Apple, finally spoke up: "Hanguang Jun, Senior Wei, are you sure it’s okay to leave Master Qin’s house like that?"

Lan Wangji said, "It's okay."

Wei Wuxian chuckled, "Sizhui, you think I was just messing with him?"

Lan Sizhui hurriedly said, "Not at all! Ahem, that's not what I meant. I just meant, even if the gate can ward off spirits, it’s falling apart, and you didn’t even give him a talisman. Are you sure it’s fine?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Isn’t that obvious?"

Lan Sizhui: "Oh..."

Wei Wuxian: "Of course, there will be problems."

Lan Sizhui: "Ah? Then why?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Because Master Qin wasn’t telling the truth."

Lan Wangji nodded slightly. Lan Sizhui was slightly surprised: "How did Senior Wei see that?"

Wei Wuxian said, "I only met Master Qin once, so I can't say for sure, but this person..."

Lan Wangji said, "Stubborn and cold-hearted."

Wei Wuxian "hmm"ed and said, "More or less. In any case, he's not a timid or shrinking person. The situation that night was strange, but according to his description, it wasn’t so strange as to scare someone out of their wits. Climbing up to the eaves to look outside—would that be difficult for him?"

Lan Sizhui realized, "But he insisted that he didn’t take a single look..."

Wei Wuxian said, "Right? If your house gate was being frantically knocked on late at night, curiosity is natural for everyone. You're not timid either, so sneaking a peek would be normal. Insisting that he didn’t look—isn’t that strange?"

Lan Wangji said, "I completely agree."

Wei Wuxian said, "Great minds think alike," and then smiled, stroked his chin, and added, "Moreover, the claw marks left by the corpse on the door look terrifying, but the aura of evil and blood is not strong. It definitely didn't come to kill or seek revenge—that much I can confirm. So, we still need to investigate what exactly is going on."

Lan Sizhui said, "In that case, Senior Wei, why not just summon the corpse and ask it directly?"

"No, we're not summoning it."

"Ah?"

Wei Wuxian said matter-of-factly, "Does drawing Zhaoyin Flags not require blood? I'm physically weak."

Lan Sizhui thought he was genuinely too lazy to draw blood and said, "Senior Wei, you can use my blood."

To his surprise, Wei Wuxian burst out laughing.

He said, "Sizhui, that's not really the issue. We're here to train you this time, right?"

Lan Sizhui was stunned, and Wei Wuxian continued, "Of course, I could summon the corpse and make it leave directly. But can you do that?"

Upon hearing this, Lan Sizhui immediately understood.

After experiencing a series of events, he and the younger generation of the Gusu Lan Family had become too reliant on Wei Wuxian. Summoning and questioning, turning corpses into generals—though the fastest method—was not something everyone could use. Since he didn't practice the ghost path, this method wasn't suitable for him to overuse. If Wei Wuxian used his usual quick fixes this time, what kind of training would that be?

This time, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji wanted to take him through the ordinary methods, showing him how to solve the problem using conventional approaches.

Lan Sizhui said, "So, Hanguang Jun and Senior Wei are saying that since Master Qin isn't being honest, we'll just let him be and scare him a little?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Exactly. Just watch, that door latch won't last more than two more days. Your Hanguang Jun suggested he get a new one, which is practical and sincere advice. But Master Qin doesn't seem to care. However, if he's hiding something important, even ten new latches won't help. It will return eventually."

Surprisingly, the latch didn't even last the night. The next day, Master Qin, looking grim, went to visit Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji again.

The prominent cultivation families owned many properties in various locations. The three of them arrived and stayed at a serene, elegant cottage called Xiaozhu Xuan, owned by the Gusu Lan Family. Master Qin arrived very early, just in time to see Lan Sizhui struggling to pull Little Apple away from the bamboo it was gnawing on. When he turned around, he saw Master Qin's mouth twitch at him, and his face turned slightly red. He let go of the rope and invited Master Qin inside.

He carefully knocked on the seniors' bedroom door to inform them. Seeing Lan Wangji, fully dressed, silently open the door and shake his head, he knew that Senior Wei wouldn't be up for a while. Lan Sizhui was in a difficult position and, in the end, had to break the family rule of "not lying" and told Master Qin that the seniors were unwell and still resting. Otherwise, he couldn't very well say, "Senior Wei is still asleep, and Hanguang Jun said you should wait."

Wei Wuxian slept until the sun was high in the sky and was finally coaxed awake by Lan Wangji after much cuddling. While washing up with his eyes closed, he accidentally put on Lan Wangji's inner robe, causing the sleeves of his outer robe to hang several inches longer, rolled up several times, looking very improper. Fortunately, Master Qin didn't have the time to notice whether he looked proper or not and dragged the three of them away.

The gate of the Qin residence was tightly shut. Master Qin knocked on the door ring, skipping the pleasantries, and said, "After receiving guidance from the two immortals yesterday, I felt a bit more at ease, but I still couldn't sleep. I stayed in the main hall, reading with the doors closed, keeping an ear out for any movement outside."

Soon, a household servant opened the gate and welcomed the three into the courtyard. As soon as they stepped down the stairs, Wei Wuxian was slightly startled.

Large, bright red footprints were scattered across the courtyard, a shocking sight to behold.

Master Qin said gloomily, "Last night, that thing came again. It was clawing and banging at the gate for nearly half an hour. I was getting quite annoyed by its noise when suddenly, I heard a crack, and the latch was broken."

The moment he heard the latch break, the hairs on Master Qin's back stood on end.

He rushed to the door and peered through the crack in the wooden door of the main hall.

The moonlight was dim, and in the distance, he saw the gate wide open, with a figure standing in front of the Qin residence gate, bouncing around like a wooden stake with springs attached to its feet.

It bounced for a while but still hadn't managed to get in. Master Qin breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that, as Wei Wuxian had said during the day, this thing indeed had blocked meridians, was stiff all over, and couldn't bend its legs, so it definitely couldn't jump over the high threshold of his gate.

However, before he could fully relax, he saw the figure bouncing at the gate suddenly leap high into the air—and in one bound, it jumped into the gate!

Master Qin turned sharply, pressing his back tightly against the door.

The undead creature leaped over the gate, entered the courtyard, and lurched straight forward. Thump, thump, thump—it didn’t take long before it reached the main hall’s door.

Master Qin felt the wooden door behind him shake and realized that the thing was now just a door away from him. He quickly backed away to escape.

Master Qin said, "The shadow of that creature was cast on the paper window by the moonlight. It couldn’t get in, so it circled around the hall. All the footprints in this courtyard were left by it! Sirs, it’s not that I don’t believe your words, but you clearly said that this thing couldn’t leap over."

Wei Wuxian stepped on the threshold and said, "Master Qin, generally speaking, a stiffened corpse indeed cannot leap over. The dead have no circulating blood, so naturally, they cannot bend their knees or feet. You can ask any prestigious clan in any region, and they will tell you the same."

Master Qin opened his hands, as if to show the courtyard full of bright red footprints, and said, "Then how do you explain these footprints?"

Wei Wuxian replied, "It can only be explained that the creature that entered your gate is not ordinary. Master Qin, think about it. When you spied on the corpse last night, did you notice anything unusual?"

Master Qin thought for a while with a grim expression before saying, "Now that you mention it, the way it jumped seemed unusual."

Wei Wuxian asked, "How so?"

Master Qin said, "It seemed like..."

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji had already walked around the courtyard and returned to Wei Wuxian’s side, calmly saying, "It was limping."

Master Qin immediately agreed, "Exactly!" Then he asked suspiciously, "How did you know, Hanguang Jun?"

Lan Sizhui was also wondering about this, but since he had always believed that Hanguang Jun knew everything, he was merely curious and not doubtful, waiting quietly for an explanation.

Lan Wangji said, "The footprints on the ground are uneven."

Wei Wuxian crouched down, and Lan Sizhui followed suit, carefully examining the footprints. After a quick glance, Wei Wuxian looked up at Lan Wangji and said, "A single-legged corpse?"

Lan Wangji nodded. Wei Wuxian stood up and said, "No wonder it could leap over. These footprints are all uneven—one deep, one shallow. This corpse has a broken leg."

He pondered for a moment and added, "Do you think it was injured before or after death?"

Lan Wangji said, "Before."

Wei Wuxian replied, "Hmm. If it were after death, an injury wouldn’t affect it."

They continued their conversation seamlessly, but Lan Sizhui couldn’t keep up and had to interrupt, saying, "Wait, Hanguang Jun, Senior Wei, let me sort this out. Are you saying that this corpse, with one broken leg, limping, is actually more capable of leaping over this high threshold than a... uh, two-legged corpse?"

Master Qin was clearly thinking the same thing and said, "Did I hear you correctly?"

Lan Wangji said, "You heard correctly."

Master Qin looked incredulous, "Are you saying that a one-legged person can run faster than someone with two legs?"

While the two were deep in discussion, Wei Wuxian took a moment to smile at him and said, "You’re misunderstanding. But if I put it this way, maybe you’ll understand. Some people lose one eye, so they become more protective of the remaining one. Thus, even though they’ve lost one eye, their sight might not be impaired compared to someone with two eyes—it might even be better. Similarly, if someone loses their left hand and has to rely on their right hand, over time, their right hand might become exceptionally powerful, capable of matching the strength of two hands..."

Lan Sizhui finally understood, "So this corpse, having lost a leg in life, has been moving on one leg for years after death, and thus its jumping ability is stronger than that of a two-legged corpse?"

Wei Wuxian happily said, "Exactly."

Lan Sizhui found this quite interesting and made a mental note of it. Master Qin, however, was agitated and said, "It’s my fault for arguing with my wife yesterday and dealing with household matters until late. I didn’t have time to reinforce the gate. I’ll go strengthen it now—I’ll make it as solid as an iron fortress!"

However, Lan Wangji shook his head and said, "It’s useless. 'Precedents cannot be set.'"

Master Qin was startled, sensing that this wasn’t a good thing, and asked, "What does 'precedents cannot be set' mean?"

Wei Wuxian explained, "He’s referring to a saying in our line of work. It means that against evil spirits, some defensive measures can only be used once. The second time, they won’t work. If you had reinforced the gate yesterday, it might have held for a while. But once it has entered your gate, it will always be able to enter freely from now on."

Master Qin was both shocked and regretful: "Then! What should I do?"

Lan Wangji said, "Just sit still."

Wei Wuxian said, "Don't freak out. It can breach the main gate, but it won't get past the second gate. Your residence is like a fortress; only the first gate has been breached so far. There are still two more gates behind it."

"Two more gates? Which ones?"

Lan Wangji said, "The gate for guests, the gate for privacy."

Wei Wuxian said, "Your main hall, your bedroom."

As they spoke, the group had already passed through the courtyard and entered the main hall to sit down. Surprisingly, no one came to serve tea for a long time, and the household servants were nowhere to be found. Master Qin shouted angrily before someone finally came up, and he kicked the person away. After venting his anger, Master Qin's expression slightly improved, but he was still unwilling: "Can't you give me some protective talismans to suppress it? Please rest assured, gentlemen, the reward is really not a problem."

He didn't know that these people went out for night hunting and didn't care about any rewards. Wei Wuxian said, "That depends on how you want to suppress it."

"How so?"

Wei Wuxian began.

He said, "Suppression is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one. If you just want to keep the malevolent spirits from entering, that's manageable. Replace the talisman every fortnight, but it can still come to your house to knock on the door and scratch the wood. I bet you'll end up replacing your gate more often than the talismans. If you want the dark entities to stay far away, then you'll need to change the talisman every seven days. These talismans are a pain to make and cost a fortune. Moreover, the longer you suppress it, the more its resentment will grow..."

Lan Wangji sat silently, listening to Wei Wuxian's ramblings without a word.

It's true that suppression is not a good strategy, but the creation and use of warding and banishing talismans are not as laborious and complicated as Wei Wuxian made it out to be. But when it comes to this, no one can spin a yarn like Wei Wuxian. Even the studious Lan Sizhui, listening nearby, was nearly taken in. Hearing how troublesome it all sounded—like choosing suppression would bring endless woes—Master Qin couldn't help but have his doubts. He kept glancing at Lan Wangji, who was sitting beside him drinking tea with his head down. But since Lan Wangji's face never showed any sign of "he's full of it," Master Qin had no choice but to believe it and said, "Isn't there a lasting fix?!"

Wei Wuxian changed the subject, "Whether it's possible or not depends on you, Master Qin."

Master Qin said, "How does it depend on me?"

Wei Wuxian said, "I can craft a unique talisman for you, but only if you're willing to answer my questions honestly."

"What questions?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Did you know this person before they became a corpse?"

After a lengthy pause, Master Qin finally admitted, "Yes."