Jinlin Tai - the Jin Sect's residence in Lanling

'Sect Leader Jin!'

'What were the creatures?'

'Is it over? Will they leave us alone for good?'

As Jin Ling flew back to Jinlin Tai from Yunmeng, he was greeted by a group of frantic townspeople running down the golden steps. The moment they saw him, they threw themselves at him, begging him to help them. They had clearly been chased away by the guards. One of them was collected enough to explain they had heard strange corpse noises again last night. Though no spirits entered their houses – as no ordinary corpse should have, with the talismans he'd given them – one teenage girl had been scared to death curiously peeking out of her bedroom window.

Without bothering to talk to the seniors, Jin Ling took Fairy to investigate the area around the outskirt of Lanling City. Townspeople were not very accurate at describing noises made by creatures, but he assumed they were hearing growling corpses. After walking around the area for two hours, he still couldn't find signs of corpses – no corpse blood, no corpse powder, no corpses themselves. His compass led him in no direction, and Fairy couldn't find clues either. He checked the local graveyard for signs of grave disturbance, but there was nothing to be found there either. There weren't many other creatures he could imagine lurking around that part of Lanling. The moment he returned to their village, townspeople swarmed him with questions he could not answer.

'No,' Jin Ling admitted, equal parts annoyed and disappointed. 'I do apologise for the distress this has caused. I promise I will do everything I can to sort this out within the next few days. For now, please stay indoors at night; the talismans on your doors should protect you.'

Saluting them farewell, Jin Ling made his way back to Jinlin Tai, Fairy at his side.

Jin Ling knew it was more than likely nothing. The noises they heard were probably entirely unrelated to any strange creature, and people did report 'scared to death' far more often than justified. It was ridiculously unlikely something unusual was going on – no one should have been able to raise and manipulate corpses given one of his first tasks as Sect Leader was sending disciples to burn demonic manuscripts both in Jinlin Tai and Xue Yang's corpse training ground. But a part of him hoped this was a real issue he could solve for the townspeople. He didn't want to wait, hoping the issue would resolve itself and his promise would fulfil itself. He wanted this to be his opportunity for townspeople to finally start respecting him as a Sect Leader, to finally stop whispering about the child who failed to rule.

But what could he do? Call another meeting with the seniors? The only new event was a teenage girl who was allegedly scared to death. He could already imagine them roaring in laughter, throwing around the same misogynistic comments about irrational women he'd heard at Jinlin Tai growing up. Besides, if he and Fairy couldn't turn up anything, there was no guarantee they'd turn up anything even if they took the task seriously. And if they didn't turn up anything, they'd certainly come back to mock him for pushing an investigation into what they'd deduce to be a non-issue.

He thought about his uncle, but he quickly dismissed the thought. His uncle led the YunmengJiang Sect like many other large sects, refusing to lend a hand to troubled townspeople unless people were killed by the spirits. His uncle certainly wouldn't take the 'strange noises' and 'scared to death' seriously. He didn't need another lecture about 'practicalities'.

But who else could he ask? Hanguang-Jun was the only cultivator known to 'be wherever the chaos is', but what would people say? He'd grown up hearing the way the world gossiped about Sect Leader Nie, the good-for-nothing Sect Leader who ran to the 'mummy' GusuLan Sect with every trivial problem. He didn't want to fall down that slippery slope.

What about Wei Wuxian? The LanlingJin seniors would be livid if he invited the Yiling Patriarch into Lanling, let alone asked him for help. But if there was anything to turn up with this case, he was confident Wei Wuxian could do it. What if he didn't tell anyone? He was sure Wei Wuxian could sneak in and out of Lanling undetected.

But how could he ask Wei Wuxian for such a favour? To fly 500km into a land on which he was blatantly not welcome, to help solve a problem that should have been his to solve? He could include a few coins, but Wei Wuxian wasn't short on money as Hanguang-Jun's partner. If anything, he would probably try to give the money back. There was no favour Wei Wuxian could possibly need him to do for him either. Was there anything Wei Wuxian could possibly want, that he could give him?

Actually... Jin Ling wrote the letter and enclosed in the envelope a small silver bell. A talisman sent the letter on its way.

-x-

Wei Wuxian stuck to the shadows as he moved through Lanling, watching to ensure he didn't run into anyone of the Jin Sect.

He really wanted to bring Lan Zhan with him. Boring cases like corpse noises and scared townspeople were far more enjoyable with his company. But how could he ask the esteemed Hanguang-Jun to remove his forehead ribbon, don a nondescript robe, and stick to the shadows with him? Besides, Lan Zhan's face turned heads everywhere he went, and most cultivators would recognise him anyway.

Even on his own, Lanling was annoying to have to walk through unidentified. In most towns, people only recognised him when his famous flute hung at his waist. In Lanling, he had no idea who Mo Xuanyu had run into back when he lived at Jinlin Tai. Cultivators – even juniors – were guaranteed to recognise him.

As he moved, he couldn't help but glance at the small bell hanging from his waist, running his fingers over the nine-petalled lotus carved into its silver body. He never thought he'd have one in his hands again. He knew he couldn't ever wear it where people might recognise it, but for now, he relished the way the weight of the small bell gave him a sense of balance he hadn't known he was missing.

Thankfully, the area to be investigated was at the sparsely populated outskirt of Lanling City. Figuring Jin Ling had already checked the local graveyard and moved through the usual checklist, Wei Wuxian decided to stroll further away from the city. He didn't need to walk too far before he was met with wilderness. Bringing his flute to his lips, he hummed a few notes. As expected, a whisper replied.

He followed the whisper through the field to a row of long, black houses. Before the houses was a square, enclosed by steel fencing as high as his chest. The fences were accessorised with red and yellow talismans.

The closer he moved to the square, the more his suspicions were confirmed – someone had been raising corpses.

Wei Wuxian climbed over the fence and made his way to a door to a house. An ordinary person would have fainted terrified; an ordinary cultivator would have scanned the place, tightly gripping the hilt of his sword. Wei Wuxian however, did not bother to be on the alert. If there was anyone here, they were no one Wei Wuxian needed to be concerned about. They weren't a high-level swordsman; people who wielded strong spiritual powers had no need for a scorned method known to harm one's body. They weren't a strong demonic cultivator; Wei Wuxian had torn through the poorly-established wards like tissue paper, and judging by the looks and sounds of the place, whoever had been here was yet to figure out how to control the corpses they'd raised.

In the middle of the room was a broken-down desk. On the desk was a stack of manuscripts; most of them looked at least ten years old. The oldest ones couldn't have been more familiar to him. He flipped through the unfamiliar manuscripts; they detailed methods for transforming live humans into living corpses, and the forgery of the Yin Tiger Seal. Xue Yang, he realised with a sickening turn of his stomach. This must have been the corpse training ground the LanlingJin Sect built for Xue Yang to study demonic cultivation. There were annotations on the manuscripts, in a different handwriting and much more recent ink. A-Ling, how many times did I tell you to send people burn these papers?

The last page was more confusing. Judging by the brushstrokes and the freshness of the ink, they were written – or rather drawn – by the same person who had annotated Xue Yang's manuscript. Was it a strategy map? If so, it was the most senseless strategy map he had ever seen. The single creature they were intending to hunt was a stick-figure human – were they after a single corpse? Or, a human?

At the last thought, Wei Wuxian gathered the papers and stored them in his chest. He needed to take them to Jin Ling.

It wasn't an emergency. Judging by the incomplete manuscripts with erroneous annotations, the person could raise corpses but could not hope to control them. Even in the most insane worst-case scenario where a lunatic was planning to murder someone with a corpse army, there was no chance they would succeed. It certainly wasn't urgent enough to justify showing his face at Jinlin Tai. He could wait until he saw Jin Ling tomorrow for training in Yunmeng.

As he stepped out of the building into the night, he cursed. Damn it. He had lost track of time. Even if it wasn't already past curfew in the Cloud's Recesses, he had no chance of getting back on time.

Could he break curfew just this once? It wasn't like he hadn't broken curfew countless times before. But in this life, he was living there as Lan Zhan's partner. Well, it does mean I probably wouldn't be punished. Oh wait… Lan Zhan's pedantic uncle retained the authority to punish him, and he did not want Lan Zhan to have to speak to his uncle for him.

He would have to stay in an inn tonight. But he was not in the mood for showing his face in Lanling and more likely than not bumping into hostile disciples from the Jin Sect. After considering his options, he decided to fly into Yunmeng where he would be meeting Jin Ling and Master Hu tomorrow. After all, street breakfast in Yunmeng had always been his favourite.