Black Lotus

22

Lan WangJi took out money to pay.
The three walked inside the shop. Inside, there were wooden tables and chairs for the customers to rest and chat. One of the other waiters in the shop saw how Lan WangJi looked and figured that he wasn't the average person. Not daring to slight him, he only directed them to a table after he wiped the table and chairs for a long while. With two jars by his foot and another in his hand, Wei WuXian chatted with the waiter for a few moments, then cut to the chase, asking again for any strange things that had happened in the area. The waiter was also a talkative person. He rubbed his hands together, "What sort of strange things?"

"Haunted houses, deserted cemeteries, corpses that were cut apart and so on."

The waiter's eyes darted back and forth between them, "Hmm... What do you do for a living? You three.

Wei WuXian, "Haven't you guessed it already?"
The waiter understood, "Of course. It's easy to guess. You three must be one of those cultivators who fly around in the clouds and Heavens. Especially the one next to you. Among average folks, I've never seen such a... such a..."

Wei WuXian grinned, "Such a pretty person."
The waiter laughed, "If you say this, the young master next to you will be displeased. Strange things, wasn't it? They did happen. Not now, but ten years ago. Walk in this direction. After you leave the city, walk for around two miles, and you'd see quite a lovely residence. I don't know if their signboard is still there or not. It's the Chang Clan's residence."

Wei WuXian, "What's wrong with the residence?"

"The entire clan died!" The waiter said, "You asked for strange things, so of course I'm telling you the strangest of things. The entire clan was wiped out, and I heard that they were frightened to death!"

Hearing this, Lan WangJi was absorbed in thought, appearing as if he remembered something. On the other hand, Wei WuXian didn't notice anything, "Is there any cultivational sects stationed around the area?" It must have been an extremely cruel being if it was able to frighten all members of an entire clan to death. Not every sect was like the QingheNie Sect, having difficulties that it couldn't mention. Most sects would never tolerate the appearance of something like this in their area. The waiter replied, "Yes. Of course there is."

Wei Ziyou asked leaning forward against the table just a bit, "Then how did they deal with the situation?"

"Deal with the situation?" The waiter, his face tinged pink with both confusion and attraction to the younger twin, swung the cleaning rag onto his shoulder and also sat down, revealing the secret that he had been keeping in for so long, "Young Master, do you know what the surname of the cultivational sect in Yueyang was? It was Chang. The clan who died was their clan! If everyone died, who would there be to deal with the situation?"

The Chang Clan that was wiped out had been the cultivational sect stationed in this area?!
Wei WuXian had never heard of some YueyangChang Sect before, meaning that it definitely wasn't a prominent sect, but the fact that a whole clan had been wiped out was definitely a significant event. He immediately asked, "How was the Chang Clan wiped out?"
The waiter, "This is what I've heard. One night, the noise of slamming on doors suddenly came from the Chang Clan's residence."

Wei WuXian, "The noise of slamming on doors?"

"That's right! The slamming was so loud that it almost reached the Heavens. In it, there came screams and cries as if everyone was locked inside, unable to come out. Strange, isn't it? The door was bolted from within, so if you were on the inside and you wanted to get out, you could've just just opened it. Why would you slam on the doors? Even if you slam on them, the people outside wouldn't be able to get you out. Besides, if you couldn't get out from the doors, couldn't you climb over the walls?

"The people outside were quite confused. Everyone knew that the Chang Clan was very powerful in the area because the people there cultivated. The head of their clan, Chang Ping, I think, had a sword that could fly and have him stand on it as it flew! Say, something really happened inside and even his own clan couldn't take care of it, if ordinary people went over, wouldn't they have been searching for their own deaths? This was why nobody built any ladders or climbed over the walls to peek inside. Just like this, the night passed, and the wailing inside grew quieter and quieter. On the next day, as the sun came out, the doors of the Chang Clan opened on their own.
"Within the house, among the men and women, ten-or-so masters, and a few dozens of servants, some sat, some lay, vomiting their bladders out. All of them were frightened to death."

The owner of the liquor shop turned around and scolded, "You're gonna die! Why are you not doing work and telling old tales about people dying?"

Wei WuXian, "Five more jars, please."
Lan WangJi paid the price for ten jars. The owner beamed at once, warning the waiter, "Look after the customers properly. Don't go running around!"

Wei WuXian, "You can continue."

Without anything else to worry about, the waiter tried as hard as he could and continued the story in an animated voice, "After then, for a long time, anyone who walked by the Chang Residence at night could hear the noises of slamming on walls coming from the inside!
"Think about it. People like them who fly in the skies have seen countless ghosts and monsters before, yet they were frightened to death. How frightening would that have had to be? If you're often out at night, you'd definitely bump into some ghosts. Even after they were buried, you can hear them slamming on their coffins! Although the head of their clan, Chang Ping, was away from home and survived..."
Wei WuXian, "Didn't you say that the whole clan died?"