In the center of the long street, a group of cultivators gathered, talking in serious tones. It seemed as if their opinions differed greatly. Even from afar, Wei WuXian could hear them talking. In the beginning, everything was fine, but they suddenly became agitated.
“… I think that there are no soul-consuming beasts or spirits in the area at all. It’s clear that none of the Compasses of Evil showed anything.”
“If there isn’t, then how did the seven people lose their souls? They couldn’t have all attained the same disease, could they? I, for one, haven’t heard of this disease at all!”
“Even if the Compass of Evil is not showing anything, does it mean that there’s nothing in the area? It can only point out an approximate direction, without any specifics, so it shouldn’t be fully trusted. Maybe there’s something here that can interfere with the pointer’s direction.”
“Do you remember who created the Compass of Evil? I’ve never heard of anything that can interfere with its pointer’s direction.”
“What do you mean? Are you implying anything with that tone of yours? Of course, I know that Wei Ying created the Compass of Evil. But, it’s not as if his creations are flawless. Aren’t we allowed the option of doubt, at least?”
“I never said that you can’t doubt it, much less his creations are flawless, so why accuse me?”
And so, their argument had turned to another direction. Wei WuXian passed them on his donkey, giggling and laughing. He didn’t expect that, after so many years had passed, he was still alive in the cultivators’ conversations. This was the so-called “much ado about Wei.” If there was ever a poll to find out whose popularity was the most lasting in the cultivation world, the winner would be no other than Wei WuXian.
To be honest, the cultivator wasn’t wrong. The Compasses of Evil in use today was the first version that he made, and were, indeed, not specific enough. He was in the middle of making improvements when his “den” was destroyed, so he had to put everyone through the inconvenience of using the imprecise version one.
Anyways, creatures that ate blood and flesh were usually low in level, such as walking corpses. Only the more refined high-level monsters or ghosts were capable of eating and digesting souls. This one ate seven at once—no wonder so many clans had gathered here. Since the prey was by no means a trivial matter, it was inevitable for the Compasses of Evil to make mistakes.
Wei WuXian reined in the rope and hopped off the donkey’s back, holding the apple, which had been ahead of it for the whole journey, in front of its mouth, “One bite. One bite only… Hmph, are you trying to eat my whole hand with that bite of yours?”
He ate a few bites from the other side of the apple, and stuffed it back into the donkey’s mouth, pondering upon how he came down to the point of sharing an apple with a donkey, when, suddenly, someone bumped into his back. He turned around to see a girl. Although she bumped into him, she didn’t acknowledge him at all. Her eyes were dull and she had a smile on her face, staring into the distance without blinking.
Wei WuXian followed her gaze, and saw the dense mountaintop of Dafan Mountain.
All of a sudden, the girl started dancing in front of him without saying anything.
The dance was wild, with her arms flinging about savagely. Wei WuXian was watching the performance with keen pleasure when a woman ran over, lifting her dress slightly. She embraced the girl and cried, “A-Yan, let’s go back, let’s go back!”
A-Yan brushed her off with force, her smile still unfaded, creating a terrifying sort of affection, and continued to dance. The woman had to chase her down the street, sobbing while running. A street vendor on the side spoke, “How awful. A-Yan from Blacksmith Zheng’s family has escaped again.”
“It must be horrible for her mom. A-Yan, A-Yan’s husband, and her husband… All of them were…”
Wei WuXian wandered around, piecing together the strange event that happened here from picking up on different people’s conversations.
On Dafan Mountain, there was a burial ground. Most of the ancestors of the townspeople from Buddha’s Feet were buried here and, sometimes, unidentifiable corpses would also receive a spot and a wooden plaque here. A few months ago, in a dark and stormy night, the wind and the rain caused a piece of land on Dafan Mountain to slide and collapse, which happened to be the burial ground. Many older graves were destroyed, and a few coffins were exposed to the air and struck by lightning, causing both the corpses and the coffins to be charred black.
The townspeople of Buddha’s Feet were extremely uneasy. After a few rounds of prayers, they rebuilt the burial ground again, assuming that everything would be just fine. However, ever since then, people in the town started to lose their souls.
The first one was a sluggard. He was a poor wretch, loafing about and doing no work at all. Because he loved to hike on the mountain and catch birds, he happened to be stuck in the mountain during the night of the landslide. He was frightened to death, but, luckily, he was safe. The peculiar thing was that, after a few days, he suddenly married someone. His wedding was quite large, and he said that he wanted to be charitable from now on and settle down.
On the night of the wedding, he was completely drunken, having never woken up ever since he lay on the bed. The bride didn’t receive an answer as she called him. Only when she pushed him over did she realize that the groom had dreary eyes and a cold body. Aside from being able to breathe, he was no different from a dead person. After a few days of lying on the bed, not eating or drinking anything, he was finally buried. Unfortunately, the bride had become a widow shortly after she married.
The second one was A-Yan, from Blacksmith Zheng’s family. The young girl had just received an engagement when her future husband was killed by a wolf on the second day, while he was hunting in the mountains. After she got the news, she also became like the sluggard. Luckily, after some time, her soul-losing disease was cured on its own. However, after this, she went crazy, cheerfully dancing to other people when she was outside.
The third one was A-Yan’s father, Blacksmith Zheng. Until now, this had happened to seven people.
Wei WuXian considered the situation, and figured that it was most likely a soul-consuming spirit, not a soul-consuming beast.
Although only one word was different between the two, they were completely different beings. A spirit was a ghost, while a beast was a monster. To him, it was likely that the landslide had destroyed an ancient tomb, and, with lightning splitting the coffin open, a resting spirit had been let out. If he looked at the type of coffin and the presence of any seals on it, he could figure out whether or not this was the case. However, the townsfolk of Buddha’s Feet had already buried the charred coffins somewhere else and laid the corpses to rest again, which meant that there wouldn’t be a great deal of evidence left.
To go up the mountain, one had to hike up trail that started in the town. Wei WuXian sat on his donkey and rode up the hill slowly. After a while, a few people walked down with ominous expressions on their faces.
Some of them had scars on their faces, and they were talking all at once. With the darkening sky, they all jumped as they saw a person who looked like a hanged ghost approaching them. After cursing, they walked around him quickly. Wei WuXian turned his head around and thought, maybe they were frustrated because it was a strong prey? He didn’t think too much about it and slapped the donkey’s buttocks, making it jog faster up the mountain.