Chapter 46 Deception—Part One

As if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, the curve of Wei WuXian’s smile instantly froze.

Standing beneath the fallen tree, the tall figure faced Wei WuXian. If there was a head perched on its neck, it would surely be staring at Wei WuXian silently.

By the campfire, the Lan Sect juniors also saw the shadow. The hairs on the back of their necks stood on end. Eyes wide, they immediately drew their swords. Wei WuXian placed his index finger to his lips and gently shushed them.

He shook his head, then looked at them with a gaze that said “no.” Seeing this, Lan SiZhui silently pushed away Lan SiZhui’s half-drawn sword.

The headless man reached for the tree trunk beside him and felt it for a moment, as if he was thinking or trying to figure out what it was.

He stepped forward a little. Wei WuXian could finally see most of his body.

A funeral robe hung from the man’s body, somewhat tattered. It was indeed the robe worn by the corpse buried in the Chang Clan cemetery.

And, by the man’s feet, a pile of torn pieces lay scattered on the ground. Wei WuXian knew they were several torn Qiankun Pouches.

Wei WuXian,  my bad. It seems our good friend has regained consciousness!

Thinking back, after he and Lan WangJi entered Yi City, so many things had happened that they hadn’t had a chance  to rest  for almost two days. During the journey, they had only managed to suppress the fragments. However, since all the corpse’s limbs had been gathered, the attraction between each fragment had only increased. Perhaps they had sensed each other’s resentful energy and their desire to be reunited grew. Now that Lan WangJi was patrolling, they hurriedly rolled to the side, broke free from the Qiankun Pouch that bound them, and assembled them into their own corpse.

Unfortunately, the corpse was still missing one piece. A crucial piece.

The headless man clutched his neck, feeling the clean, crimson wound on it. After a long time of searching and still not finding the object that should have been there, as if enraged by this reality, he suddenly slammed his palm against the tree beside him!

With a “crack,” the tree trunk snapped. Wei WuXian thought to himself, “  What a hothead!”

Lan JingYi held his sword horizontally in front of his body and stammered, “What kind of monster is this?”

Wei WuXian, “You haven’t learned the basics, have you? What’s a monster? This is clearly a corpse, which is categorized as a  ghoul  . How could it be a monster?”

Lan SiZhui whispered, “Senior, you… you’re talking too loud. What if he hears you?”

Wei WuXian, “It’s okay. I suddenly realized that no matter how much we talk, everything will be fine. Since he doesn’t have a head, he doesn’t have eyes or ears, which means he can’t see or hear anything. If you don’t believe me, just try telling him.”

Lan Jingyi was curious, “Really? Let me try.”

After speaking, he did indeed shout a few times. As soon as he finished speaking, the headless man turned and walked towards the Lan Sect juniors.

The boys could almost feel their souls leaving their bodies. Lan JingYi wailed, “But you said everything would be okay!”

Wei WuXian covered his mouth with his hand and raised his voice, “It’s okay, look! I’m talking this loud and my voice can’t be heard, huh? But on your side, it’s not a matter of being loud or not. It’s because there’s firelight! It’s hot! There are so many living people, and they’re all men! The yang energy is too heavy! He can’t see or hear, but he can walk in the direction he thinks is most crowded. Why don’t you just put out the fire? And scatter!”

With a wave of Lan SiZhui’s hand, a gust of wind extinguished the fire. The boys immediately scattered throughout the deserted garden.

Just as Wei WuXian said, after the bonfire died down and the people dispersed, the headless man lost his sense of direction.

He was silent for a moment. Just as the group was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly started moving again. And, without hesitation, he walked straight toward one of the boys!

Lan JingYi started wailing again, “But you said we would be fine as long as the fire was put out and we scattered!”

Wei WuXian didn’t have time to answer. He shouted at the boy, “Don’t move!”

He picked up a pebble from beside his feet. With a flick of his wrist, he threw it at the headless man. It landed right in the middle of his back. He stopped and turned around. After a moment of contemplation, as if realizing this side was more suspicious, he began walking toward Wei WuXian.

Wei WuXian slowly moved two steps to the side, just barely missing the tottering corpse. He continued, “I told you to scatter, not to run around. Don’t run too fast. That ghoul has quite a high cultivation level. If you move too fast and catch the wind, he’ll notice.”

Lan SiZhui, “It looks like he’s looking for something… Maybe it’s… his head?”

Wei WuXian, “That’s right. He’s looking for his head. There are quite a few heads here, so since he doesn’t know which one is which, he’ll pull each one off and place it on his own neck to see if it fits. If it fits, he’ll leave it for a while, and if it doesn’t, he’ll throw it away, so you have to walk slowly. Don’t let him catch you.”

Imagining their heads being severed by a headless corpse and gruesomely tied around its own neck, the boys shivered in fear. Simultaneously raising their hands above their heads, they began to slowly “run away” around the garden. It was as if they were playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with the ghoul. Whoever the ghoul caught had to hand over their head. As soon as he noticed a boy, Wei WuXian would throw a pebble and draw his attention to himself.

With his hands behind his back, Wei WuXian moved slowly, walking while observing the corpse’s movements.  Our friend’s posture is a bit odd, isn’t it? He keeps waving his arms with his fists loosely clenched. This kind of movement…

While thinking, Lan JingYi couldn’t stand it anymore, “Are we going to keep walking like this? How long are we going to keep walking!?”

Wei WuXian pondered for a moment before answering, “Of course not.”

Just as he finished, he started screaming, “HanGuang-Jun! Oh, HanGuang-Jun! HanGuang-Jun, are you back? Help us!”

Seeing this, the others also began to scream. Because the corpse was headless and unable to hear anything, each scream echoed more passionately, more heartbreakingly than the last. Moments later, the soft, flowing notes of the xiao rang out in the night. Followed by the clear echo of strings.

Hearing the xiao and guqin, the juniors were so happy that they almost cried, “HanGuang-Jun! ZeWu-Jun!”

Two slender figures passed by the worn garden door. Their postures remained as jade-like, with snow-white shadows. One held a xiao and the other a guqin, walking side by side. Seeing the headless figure, both of them paused for a moment.

Lan XiChen’s expression was one of shock, almost of surprise.  Liebing’s  voice trailed off, but Bichen had already drawn his sword. Feeling the cold, powerful gaze of the sword coming at him, the headless man raised his hand and waved again. Wei WuXian exclaimed inwardly, ”  That move again!”

The man was also quite agile. Avoiding Bichen’s sharp gaze by jumping, he grabbed it with his backhand. With this, he managed to grab the hilt of Bichen’s sword!

He held Bichen in his hand and lifted it, as if trying to examine what he had just held despite his lack of eyes. After the juniors saw the man somehow stop Bichen in midair, their faces all paled. However, Lan WangJi looked as calm as ever. He took out his guqin, bent down, curled his fingers, and plucked a single string. Like a shapeless arrow, the sound whistled as it shot toward the corpse. The headless corpse slashed with its sword, shattering the string to pieces. Lan WangJi plucked downwards. The seven strings vibrated, singing with even greater power. At the same time, Wei WuXian took out his bamboo flute and accompanied him with an unusually shrill tune. It was as if sharp blades and sabers were raining down from the sky!

The headless corpse lunged again. Lan XiChen finally came to his senses. Lifting the Liebing to his lips, he began to play. Wei WuXian didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but as soon as the soft, calm notes of the xiao appeared, the corpse’s movements stopped. For a moment, it seemed to stand still and listen, then turned around, as if wanting to see who was playing the music. However, without eyes or a head, it couldn’t see anything. Still under the powerful assault of the flute and guqin, it seemed as if it had finally lost all its energy, giving up on the three instruments. Staggering, it fell to the ground.

More accurately, he didn’t fall, but rather fell apart. His arms, legs, and body were broken and scattered across the dry leaves.

Lan WangJi put away his guqin and recalled his sword. Together with Wei WuXian, he walked towards the branches, bowed his head, and took out five new Qiankun Pouches. The juniors surrounded them, still in a state of panic. First, they saluted ZeWu-Jun, but before they could chirp and chirp, Lan WangJi said, “Rest.”

Lan JingYi was confused, “Huh? But HanGuang-Jun, it’s not even nine o’clock yet.”

Lan SiZhui, on the other hand, pulled him away and replied respectfully, “Yes.”

After that, he didn’t ask any more questions. Leading the other young men, he went to another area of ​​the garden, preparing to relight the fire and go to sleep.

Only three people remained among the pile of corpses. Wei WuXian nodded respectfully to Lan XiChen. He crouched down and began sealing the corpses inside the Qiankun Pouch again. Just as he was about to put his left hand into the pouch, Lan XiChen said, “Wait a moment.”

At that moment, when Wei WuXian saw Lan XiChen’s expression, he knew something was wrong. Sure enough, Lan XiChen’s face was ashen as he repeated, “Please… wait a moment. Let me see the body.”

Wei WuXian stopped, “ZeWu-Jun, do you know who this person is?”

Before Lan XiChen could answer, Lan WangJi had already nodded slowly.

Wei WuXian, “Alright, then I know who he is too.”

He lowered his voice, “He’s ChiFeng-Zun, right?”

As they “played hide-and-seek,” the headless corpse kept repeating the same motion—with loosely clenched fists, waving its arms and slashing at the air. It appeared to be brandishing some kind of weapon.

When Wei WuXian first thought of weapons, he immediately thought of swords. However, as someone who had wielded swords and dueled with other swordsmen, he had never seen a master wield their swords in such a manner. The sword was the “master of all weapons.” Anyone who wielded a sword would notice an aura of elegance and dignity. Even an assassin’s sword needed to possess agility amidst its cruelty. In the art of swordsmanship, there were more “strikes” and “thrusts,” and fewer “slashes” and “slices.” However, the headless man’s movements were too heavy. There was a lot of evil intent, and his arm slashes lacked elegance.

But, if what he was holding wasn’t a sword, but a sword—a large sword with strong killing intent—then it would all make sense.

Swords and machetes differ in their use and characteristics. The weapon the man used before his death was most likely a machete. As ferocious as a machete is, it prioritizes power over style. As he searched for his head, he also searched for his weapon. This is why he kept repeating the motion of drawing the machete and even grabbed the Bichen, using it as if it were his weapon.

Furthermore, this corpse had no distinctive markings like birthmarks. And now that he had been dismembered, it was impossible to tell who he was. It was no wonder Nie HuaiSang couldn’t recognize him in the Sword Hall. Even Wei WuXian couldn’t guarantee that if he chopped off his own leg and threw it everywhere, he would be able to recognize whose leg it was. It wasn’t until his body and limbs were temporarily reassembled into a moving corpse by the energy of resentment that Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi finally recognized him.

Wei WuXian, “ZeWu-Jun, HanGuang-Jun already told you about what we saw during the trip, right? Mo Village, the gravediggers, Yi City, and so on.”

Lan XiChen nodded. Wei WuXian continued, “Then, HanGuang-Jun probably already told you. That grim-faced man who tried to carry the corpse at the Chang Clan cemetery knew the Lan Sect’s sword moves like the back of his hand. There are only two possibilities. First, he’s from the Lan Sect and has been practicing the Lan Sect’s moves since childhood; second, he’s not from the Lan Sect, but he’s very familiar with your sect’s moves. Either he often duels with the Lan Sect’s people, or he’s so intelligent that he can remember the moves as long as he’s seen them.”

Lan XiChen remained silent. Wei WuXian added, “He fought for the corpse because he didn’t want others to know that ChiFeng-Zun had been dismembered. If ChiFeng-Zun’s corpse were to be put back together, things would be very difficult for him. He’s someone who knows the secrets behind the Nie Sect’s Sword Hall. Someone quite close to the GusuLan Sect. Someone who has a rather complicated history… with ChiFeng-Zun.”

Without having to say who this person was most likely, everyone already understood.

Even though Lan XiChen’s expression was serious, he still replied quickly, “He wouldn’t do something like that.”

Wei WuXian, “ZeWu-Jun?”

Lan XiChen, “Your incidents of investigating the corpse parts and meeting the gravedigger all happened within this month. During this month, he had discussions with me every night. We planned the Discussion Conference to be held next month at the LanlingJin Sect a few days ago. He couldn’t have gone anywhere else. The gravedigger couldn’t have been him.”

Wei WuXian, “What if he uses a transportation talisman?”

Lan XiChen shook his head. His tone was gentle yet firm, “One must master a transportation technique to use a transportation talisman. This technique is rather difficult to cultivate. He hasn’t shown any signs of mastering it yet. Similarly, one must expend a great deal of spiritual power to use this technique, but we went night hunting together a few days ago. His performance was excellent. I’m sure he’s never used a transportation talisman before.”

Lan WangJi, “He doesn’t have to go alone.”

Lan XiChen still shook his head. Wei WuXian continued, “Sect Leader Lan, you know who the most suspicious person is. You just refuse to admit it.”

The light of the campfire cast unchanging shadows across the three faces. All were still in the abandoned garden.

After a moment of silence, Lan XiChen replied, “I understand that for some reason, the world has many misunderstandings about him. But… I believe in what I have seen over the years. I believe that he is not that kind of person.”

It wasn’t hard to understand why Lan XiChen would defend this person. Honestly, even Wei WuXian himself didn’t have a bad opinion of the person they were suspicious of. Perhaps because of his background, he always treated others with kindness and humility. He was the type of person who never offended anyone, the type who could make everyone around him feel comfortable talking to him, let alone ZeWu-Jun, who had been friends with him for years?

The period before Nie MingJue’s death was precisely the peak of the QingheNie Sect’s progress toward becoming the LanlingJin Sect. Who would benefit from Nie MingJue’s death?

Death due to qi deviation in front of the public eye… It seems like a natural and inevitable regret, but is the truth that simple?

Translator’s Notes

Ghoul  : Previously called  a ghost  . This term has been changed because ghosts do not have a physical form, while ghouls sometimes do.

Liebing  : Literally translates to “cracked ice”.