Loyal, Brave & True

Chapter 41

The room was dark inside and from what Wuxian could see from the faint light coming from outside, that room was where the woman made the funeral dolls. He found her behind a desk, trying to put a threat through a needle.

"Madam, why don't you light a candle?" he asked but the woman did not reply, only struggled to do the simple task. "Allow me," he said right after and helped her by placing the threat into the needle and then handing it to her. "Can we borrow your kitchen?"

"The kitchen...at the rear end...help yourself..." she said in her usual hoarse weak voice.

"Thank you," Wuxian said and gave a bow with his hands forward.

As he lifted his body, his eyes fell upon the exposed neck of the shopkeeper. Immediately, he took notice of the black branching veins covering the majority of her skin there and he immediately understood.

At that moment, his mind drifted to the distant look Jia had and his warning. Whatever she had sensed or heard, was not unjustified. She was right all along and he could not help but wonder, how?

He understood that gathered wicked energy, especially in big amounts like the blade shrine of the Nie clan or the possessed sword ghost but why zombies? His mind went back to those weak zombies that had appeared not so long ago, their sheer number having some effect on her.

He swallowed in silence and slowly retreated from the room, but not before glancing one last time at the woman. If Jia could sense the wicked energy behind this curse, then that meant most likely the woman could have sensed it too.

This meant that either by instinct, she would eventually turn on them and most likely on Jia, or others would find them before Wangji could deal with the ghost-pretender and that troublesome fog.

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Jia and the other of the disciples waited in silence, wondering what Wuxian was doing. The waiting, while small, made most of them uneasy and Jin Ling more than once had tried to enter but the Lan Heiress had spread her hand and held him back.

Surprisingly, he did not argue but he did pout his lips faintly like a child.

Eventually, Wuxian came out but there was this new seriousness in his eyes. Jia could see it and it made her wonder, what he saw or found out that made him change his attitude so much and in such little amount of time.

"Do not go in there" Wuxian said, his hands behind his back as he slowly walked their way. "Though there's no danger in it, the place is full of weirdness. We better behave ourselves..." he glanced at Jin Ling. "When we are in other people's domain" he continued and his nephew only scoffed and looked to the side. This amused him faintly and he looked at all the disciples. "I need someone to help me. Any Volunteers?"

Immediately, Shizui took a few steps forward, a smile on his face. "I do want to help, Young Master Mo"

This pleased Wuxian, who had started to take a liking to him. His eyes went to his niece, who had also taken a few steps forward; clearly volunteering to help.

"Not you...Lan Xiong..." he said, almost forgetting to call her with her formal name. "I am putting you responsible for everyone else. Make sure they do not do anything until I am done" he explained.

There were a few faint groans in the background by some disciples from other clans and that seemed to harden her look. She wiped her head and glared at them above her shoulder, silently challenging them to repeat those noises.

Suddenly, the boys froze in shock and quickly adverted their eyes to the ground.

Wuxian tried hard to remain serious in the situation, seeing too much of Wangji at that moment and his mind drifted to him for a moment; wondering how he was doing.