Before either Meifeng or Wangji went on to further discover the truth about the severed body parts, they inspected each of the bodies that had been left behind to see whether or not a corpse had been fake body parts to quell any angry spirits; sure enough, two legs were found after partially stripping the bodies.
Huiasang looked as if the whole ordeal would cause him to faint in embarrassment, having heard Meifeng offer to take off the dead men's clothing before Wangji himself stopped her to do it himself. The Nie clansman, of course, was left to explain a few details concerning the bodies. "When my brother p-passed away at such a young age, he didn't have e-enough Qi, so I helped choose what corpses would be buried with him. Usually the past sect leaders chose them when they are still alive, but I only kept whichever corpses were complete with their limbs. I have no idea how they got here."
During this long investigation, tracking down the severed body, it was very likely they would only know the whole truth once they pieced the body parts together with the soul; aside from the fact they knew the limbs belonged to a man with a tall physique and an equally muscular body, there was nothing else that could point them to the identity of the corpse.
Thankfully, due to the left arm pointing their way due Southwest, they were able to follow the hands direction towards an average sized town called Yueyang.
Entrance into the city was easy enough, portraying themselves to the men at the front gate as wandering Cultivation partners. Meifeng had, since they began walking the main path through town, had been speaking of where they would start their search for what had happened to their poor 'friend' when Wangji interrupted her long conversation. "Meifeng, how is the curse mark?" His narrowed gaze landed on her left leg, where the previously agitated curse had previously climbed up to her upper thigh. The amount it had claimed in such a short while had honestly panicked him a lot, and Meifeng's dismissive attitude about it 'fading a bit' did not help. "How much is 'a bit'?"
Meifeng often felt comforted by how protective and caring Wangji was of her, having the man constantly hover over her as if she were made of glass and break at the slightest touch, but it did get annoying at times. Wei Meifeng might've come back incarnated into another's body, but she was still the same woman she had been alive the first time who wouldn't think twice in punching someone in the face because she could.
So, thanks to his drama, she would put him through living hell and tease him until all the Lan clan's teachings left Lan Wangji due to the strain. Putting on her best 'innocent-maiden' expression, Meifeng batted her eyes at him while teasingly pulling at her shirt. "Should I take my clothes off and show you, Hanguang-Jun?"
This did not have the effect she expected, with Wangji actually agreeing she did so once they could return to their room in the inn, causing Meifeng's whole face to burn in embarrassment. This must've been another way Lan Zhan had changed; before she had to try as hard as she could to disgust the honorable Lan Wangji to get away with things, but now all her efforts were actually being accepted with open arms.
Their travel through town was quiet once again, only speaking up as they spoke about who could be behind this mess, and so far they both came up with two groups. The first, their identity unknown, were the people responsible for the arm that had attacked Mo Village and killed all those people. The second, also unknown, was responsible for sewing the limbs they had found thus far to fake bodies to perhaps throw off anyone who pursued the issue; the trouble both had gone through to prevent themselves from being found out was too high for the culprit being someone who didn't know what they were doing, as well as seemed to know more than they should.
Their mission now would be, according to Wangji, to find the Cultivational sect of the area and ask them if anything suspicious had happened recently.
"My honorable Hanguang-Jun, you're just saying that because you think I want to purposefully shame you, yet can't do without me handling these sorts of situations. If you really want to ask around like that, I'd be surprised if you managed to find something out on your own." At Meifeng's playful teasing, the lower orbs of Wangji's ears turned a shade of pink, indicating he was embarrassed. "How about we go there!" Following the direction her finger was pointing at, Wangji saw she was looking at an establishment that offered wine. His eyes must've betrayed his reluctance to go into a place selling alcohol, as Meifeng jabbed him slightly in the ribs. "Believe it or not, the waiters that are young and hardworking make the best informants, hearing all the juicy gossip and stories without having to leave their job from the customers they serve. Nothing escapes them."
"...You just want to drink."
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The busy restaurant did not disappoint the two, being served good wine by an excellent waiter who seemed to have all the information they needed once given a good tip in exchange for buying several jars of the alcohol. A little prodding from Meifeng also asked into any strange things happening in the area concerning the types of going-ons they were in search of, landing in such luck when something had happened ten years ago as their waiter told them in detail.
"Not too far away from here, there's a place that was called the Chang Clan's residence. People came from miles around just to see it too, but something awful happened there a decade ago that many say the people who lived there were all scared to death! I only heard about it from someone else, but one night a terrible noise kept the whole town up, sounding like something was beating on the door from within the residence as people claimed they could also hear screaming. Everyone who tried to see what was going on couldn't open the doors either, as it had been closed from the inside! Finally, the wailing stopped, so people went back to their homes thinking it was nothing until that next morning. When the doors suddenly opened by themselves and everyone inside was dead. Even a few nights after it had happened, people could still hear that wailing and beating inside the place whenever they walked by, yet nothing would be there when the doors would open on their own."
The tale was as eerie as it was interesting, piquing her curiosity that this place would be an excellent start before she and Wangji had to talk to the Cultivation sect in this area. Paying the waiter more money for another several jars in exchange so he could finish the story, they listened.
"After a few years, the clan's head who had been the only survivor, Chang Ping, died in a horrible way with a sword! It was so sudden too, having only just survived his clan's massacre since he had been away on business." Both Wangji and Meifeng could agree the man had some bad luck, going out like that, so they thought they would change the subject by asking what the cultivational sect stationed in this area thought of the ordeal and got an alarming revelation. "Didn't you know? The Chang clan that got wiped out was the only cultivational sect around these parts. A lot of us thought the clan must've been targeted by some rival sect or someone with a grudge against them; it's common enough if they had some treasures, or something right? I mean, that woman, oh what was her name- oh, I remember! Her name was Wei Meifeng, and everyone seemed to hate hearing her being mentioned and-" Wangji stood up at the table, walking away in a manner that could almost be called rude as he gave the blabbering man a stern glare. "What was that for? Did I say something that upset him, Young Mistress?"
Meifeng had been watching Wangji storm off for a minute before turning her attention to the young man who had given them their information. "No. My good friend was just brought up in a strict house, so he hates it when people are too comfortable with him. It's strange, I know, but true." The younger man laughed at her little sigh, his shoulders jumping with the movement as he commented that the way Wangji had looked at him was like the young man had put an arm around his wife or something. This actually caused Meifeng to blush a little, remembering her words to Wangji not too long ago, but of course her reaction was taken out of context.
"Wait, are you two together!? Oh, I am so sorry if I was being too forward. What was I thinking, being friendly with another man's wife?!" There was nothing she could possibly do to calm the kid down as he bowed in apology to her, gaining his superior's attention no doubt from the looks he was giving the table she had been sitting at. "Please Young Madam, what is your name so I can apologize properly!" He wanted to know her last name? Well, since he already believed she and Wangji were married....
"My name is Lan.... Lan Mei."
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Chasing Lan Zhan after parting ways with the waiter was not fun, and nor was the conversation she had with him concerning the annoying fact everyone believed every bad thing was the Yiling Matriarch's fault, even though the killings had indirectly been her fault by relation. According to Wangji, there were two connections to her. The first was a famous cultivator by the name of Xiao Xingchen, who was a fellow student of the master that taught Meifeng's mother at the same sect that was helped by another Cultivator take down a notorious murderer twelve years ago. This murderer was in fact Xue Yang, a boy who at fifteen years old was already a delinquent that was known far and wide for his radiant smile and merciless personality. Once Xue Yang had been caught apparently by the cultivation partners, he was brought before a public trial to be held accountable for his crimes. Yet only one spoke out for his freedom because of the second connection to Wei Meifeng.
It was all because of the Stygian Tiger Seal, the monstrous amulet brought to life by Meifeng that she only used twice due to how overwhelmingly powerful it was. While Meifeng had no problem controlling her undead army, the Tiger Seal gave whoever possessed it undeniable control over the undead. If ever in the wrong hands, it would be too incredible to break away from its control. It had been for this exact reason, on the day of her death, that Meifeng had used the last moments of her life to destroy half of the Amulet so that if it did fall into enemy hands, its power would be greatly lessened and become just a scrap of metal, though this did not seem to be the case. Upon falling into this Xue Yang's possession, he somehow recreated the other half of the seal and added to Wei Meifeng's terrible legacy by doing all sorts of wrong in her name.
When Xue Yang had been captured again after putting the common folk through hell by the famous Cultivator duo, along with the Nie and Jin clans, Nie Mingjue had suddenly suffered Qi deviation and died six days later. The events did not add up as coincidence no matter how you looked at it.
After the startling death of a clan leader, the Lanling Jin sect had pressured Chang Ping into taking back what he had previously said about Xue Yang and that he was not being behind the massacre of the Chang sect, only for Xue Yang to exact his revenge on the Baixue Temple where Xiao Xingchen's friend grew up, thus poisoning his eyes. Not leaving his friend to suffer, he brought him back to Baoshan Sanren's home to cure his sight, only for Xingchen to be seen a week later unable to ever see the light again.
It was bad luck on top of bad luck, and it all focused around that troublesome youth who would now be in his late twenties by Meifeng's mental count.
Suddenly aware of their surroundings, they had come to a large estate with a faded sign that read, 'Cheng residence' in black ink; the place definitely looked like no one had lived here for a whole decade, with paint chipping slowly off the large columns and nature reclaiming parts of the walls. An incessant banging could be heard beyond the structure, sounding just like it had been described to them of the previous residence's pounding away at the solid door like they were still alive and trapped within their own home as something killed them one by one even though nothing had since been heard from the locals.
Why had the noise been triggered seemingly by their very presence?
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Whew! That was a long chapter to write. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments.
Now for the teaser concerning chapter 27....
As Meifeng had spoken, his memory had played over his fight with the gravedigger. While people could come to recognize the fighting style of the Lan clan, it was nearly impossible to learn how to block unless one had proper teachings from someone or personally knew someone. Yet Wangji could not recollect anyone outside of his clansmen and Wei Meifeng who could know him, and none that he previous encounters with could be the person he had fought this night.
Wangji had, on top of his many skills, an excellent memory for the people he aquaintanced himself with. Seeing that Wangji was no closer to having an answer, Meifeng gently took his hand in hers and pulled him to follow her. "Alright then, let's head back to the inn and let ourselves mull over this tomorrow."