Black Lotus

11

Wei Lin hurried over to his brother to make sure he was ok and then did the same for Su She, who was confused but grateful for his concern.

Lan XiChen shook his head, "Then, this is going to be difficult."

As they heard the name "waterborne abyss", Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng understood immediately. The scariest part about Biling Lake wasn't water ghouls, but the water which flowed in it.

Because of reasons such as terrain or currents, some rivers or lakes often encountered sinking ships and drowning people. As time went on, the area of water would develop a personality. It was like a spoiled young mistress who couldn't tolerate a shortage of the luxurious lifestyle. If no boats of goods or living humans sunk into the water as sacrifices, it would stir up trouble and obtain them on its own.

The people of the Caiyi Town area were all familiar with water, so sunken boats and drowning deaths rarely happened. It was impossible for a waterborne abyss to grow out of here. Now that one had appeared here, there was only one possibility—that it had been chased here from somewhere else.

Once a waterborne abyss emerged, it meant that the whole body of water was turned into a monster. It was extremely hard to get rid of, impossible to remove unless every single drop of water was taken out, all of the people and goods which sunk were fished up, and riverbed was exposed to strong sunlight for a few years. Nevertheless, there was a method that could solve the immediate problem at the expensive of others—to chase it to another river or pond and let it wreck somewhere else.

Lan WangJi asked, "Recently, has there been any place which suffered from a waterborne abyss?"

Lan XiChen pointed at the sky.

He was pointing at nothing else but the sun.

The Wei twins  and Jiang Cheng looked at each other, understanding it perfectly,

It's the QishanWen Sect.

Among the cultivation world, there was a countless number of sects and clans, exceeding even the number of stars in the sky. And, among these, there was a titan which stood above the others without a doubt—the QishanWen Sect.

The Wen Clan used the sun as the motif of their clan, signifying that they could "compete with the sun for radiance, match the sun in longevity". Its sect residence was quite large, almost comparable to a city. It was named the Nightless Sky, also called the Nightless Celestial City, because it was said that there was no nightfall in the city. It could be described as a titan for the fact that no matter in terms of the number of disciples, power, land, or magical tools, there were no other families which could compare to it. A great deal of cultivators took being a foreign disciple to the Wen Sect as a supreme honour. Based on the Wen Sect's style of doing things, it was highly possible that the waterborne abyss in Caiyi Town was chased here by them.

Although they knew where the waterborne abyss came from, everyone grew silent.

If it was done by people of the Wen Sect, then there would be no result no matter how hard they accused or criticized. First of all, the sect wouldn't admit it, and second, there wouldn't be any compensation either.

One disciple complained, "Caiyi Town will be seriously harmed with that sect having chased the waterborne abyss over. If the waterborne abyss grows larger and expands onto the river paths in the town, all those people's lives would be up to the monster. This is so..."

If it became responsible for the problem passed to them by someone else, the GusuLan Sect would definitely face countless troubles. Lan XiChen sighed, "Let it down. Let it down. Let us go back to the town."

They boarded new boats at the crossing point and paddled toward an area of town where a lot of people gathered.

After passing the arch bridge and entering the river paths, Wei WuXian started to go at it again.

Abandoning his paddle, he put one foot on the side of his boat and looked into his reflection in the water, examining if his hair was messed up. As if he didn't just catch tons of water ghouls and escaped from the mouth of the waterborne abyss, Wei WuXian assuredly threw a series of charming winks at both sides of the path, "Sisters, how much for half a kilogram of loquats?"

His age was young, and his appearance was handsome. With such high spirits, it really was a scene of frivolous peach blossoms pursuing the running stream. One woman lifted her bamboo hat, smiling with her head raised, "Young beau, you needn't pay. How 'bout I can give you one for free?"

The Wu dialect was soft, sounding refreshing and sweet. The speaker's lips moved melodiously, and the listener's ears would be enveloped in fragrance. Wei WuXian cupped his hands together, "If it's given to me by Sister, then I definitely want it!"

The woman put her hand into the basket, and threw him a round, golden loquat, "You needn't be such polite. It's for how handsome you look!"

The boats moved at a fast speed. As the two boats met, they immediately passed each other. Wei WuXian turned around, perfectly catching it, and grinned, "Sister looks even prettier!"

As he passed on his boat, a young boy around the age of him and Wei Wuxian handed Wei Ziyou one as well. Wei Lin blushed and thanked him.

As Wei Wuxian showed off and flirted on the side, Lan WangJi was staring straight ahead, appearing quite virtuous. Wei WuXian smugly tossed the toquat in his hand, and suddenly pointed at him, "Sisters, do you think that he looks handsome?"

Lan WangJi didn't expect Wei WuXian to suddenly talk about him at all. Just as he was unsure of how to respond, the women on the river spoke in harmony, "Even more handsome!" Amid this, there seemed to be the laughter of a few men.

Wei WuXian spoke, "Then, does anyone want to give him one? If you only give me and not him, I'm afraid he might be jealous when we go back!"

Chirp-like laughter echoed through the whole river. Another woman came from in front of them, standing on her boat, "Okay, okay, you get two. Heads up, young beau, catch!"

After the second one also landed in his hand, Wei WuXian shouted, "Sister, you're not only pretty, but you're nice as well. The next time I come here, I'm gonna buy a whole basket!"

The woman's voice was vibrant, and she was more daring than the other. She pointed at Lan WangJi, "Get him to come as well. You all can come here and get them!"

Wei WuXian held the loquat in front of Lan WangJi's eyes. Lan WangJi didn't move his gaze, "Move."

And, so, Wei WuXian moved it away, "I knew that you definitely wouldn't accept it, so I never intended to give it to you. Jiang Cheng, catch!"

Just then, the boat which Jiang Cheng was on whirred past. He caught the loquat with one hand, a slight smile appearing on his face, but immediately snorted, "You're being all flirty again?"

Wei WuXian smirked, proud of his success, "Get lost!" Then, he turned around and asked, "Lan Zhan, you're from Gusu, so you know how to speak in this dialect, right? Teach me. How do you swear in the Gusu dialect?"

Lan WangJi threw a "pathetic" at him, and got on another boat. Wei WuXian didn't expect him to really answer. He just wanted to tease him, after hearing the amusingly soft Gusu dialect and thinking that Lan WangJi undoubtedly also spoke this dialect when he was young. After raising his head to swallow another gulp of the rice wine, he carried the plump, jet-black jar in one hand, picked up the paddle, and charged over to beat up Jiang Cheng.

Meanwhile, Wei Ziyou was pondering the loquat in his hand. He couldn't figure out why the boy had given it to him. Looking at his reflection in the water, he did look a bit feminine. His features had always been softer. Perhaps he was mistaken for a girl again?

He sighed, picking at the skin of the loquat but he eventually just shoved it into his coat for further consideration later.

On the other hand, Lan WangJi stood side by side to Lan XiChen. This time, even their expressions were similar. Both looked as if they were preoccupied by troubles as they thought about things such as how to deal with the waterborne abyss and what to say to the mayor of Caiyi Town.

An extremely heavy boat came from in front of them, filled with buckets of large, golden loquats. Lan WangJi took one glance at it, and continued to look straight ahead.

Yet, Lan XiChen spoke to him, "If you want to eat loquats, should we buy one basket?" "..."
Lan WangJi went off with a flick of his sleeves, "I do not!"

He went to stand on another boat.