As though somebody dumped a bucket of cold water over his head, the curvature of Wei WuXian's smile froze at once.
Standing below the dead tree, the tall figure faced Wei WuXian. If a head sat atop his neck, he'd be staring silently at Wei WuXian for sure.
By the bonfire, the juniors of the Lan Sect saw the shadow as well. Each of them felt their hair stand up. With widened eyes, they went for their swords at once. Wei WuXian put his pointer finger in front of his lips and softly shushed them.
He shook his head, then looked at them with eyes that said "no". Seeing this, Lan SiZhui noiselessly pushed back Lan SiZhui's half-unsheathed sword.
The headless man reached for the tree trunk beside him and felt it for a while, as if he was thinking or trying to figure out what it was.
He walked a small step forward. Wei WuXian could finally see most of his body.
A burial robe hung over the man, somewhat tattered. It was indeed the one that the torso buried in the Chang Clan's cemetery had been wearing.
And, by the man's feet, a pile of shreds lay scattered on the ground. Wei WuXian could tell that this was a couple of torn-up Qiankun Pouches.
Wei WuXian, My mistake. It seems that our dear friend has pieced himself together!
Now that he thought about it, after he and Lan WangJi entered Yi City, so many things had happened that they hadn't played Rest for almost more than two days. During the time that they spent travelling, they only barely managed to suppress the parts again. Yet, since all limbs of the corpse had been collected already, the attraction between each part multiplied. Perhaps they had felt one another's resentful energy and their desire to be put back together grew, now that Lan WangJi was out patrolling, they hurriedly rolled off to the side, barged out of the Qiankun Pouches that had bound them, and pieced into a corpse by themselves.
Unfortunately, however, the corpse still lacked a part. One most important part.
The headless man put a hands to his neck, feeling the clean, crimson cut at his throat. After he had been at it for quite some time and still couldn't find the object that was supposed to be there, as though enraged by such a fact, he suddenly slammed his palm into the tree beside him!
With a crack, the trunk broke at once. Wei WuXian commented in silence, What a temper!
Lan JingYi held his sword horizontally in front of his body and stammered, "W-what sort of monster is this?"
Wei WuXian, "You haven't been reviewing the basics, have you? What's a monster? This is obviously a corpse, categorized as the ghoul type. How can it be a monster?"
Lan SiZhui whispered, "Senior, you... you are talking so loudly. What if he hears you?"
Wei WuXian, "It's alright. I suddenly realized that it'd be fine no matter how loud we talk. Because he doesn't have a head, he doesn't have eyes or ears, which means that he can't see or hear anything. If you don't believe me, give him a shout."
Lan JingYi was curious, "Really? Let me try."
After he spoke, he indeed shouted a couple of times. As soon as he had finished, the headless man spun around and walked in the direction of the Lan Sect's juniors.
The boys could almost feel their souls escaping their bodies. Lan JingYi wailed, "But you said that it would be alright!"
Wei WuXian cupped his hands over his mouth and raised his voice, "It really is alright, look! I'm talking in such a loud voice and it's not coming over, is it? But over on your side it's not a matter of being loud or not. It's because there's firelight! It's hot! There's a lot of live humans and they're all male! The yang energy is too heavy! He can't see or hear, but he can walk in the direction where he feels is the most crowded. Why aren't you putting the fire out already? And scatter around!"
