Lan JingYi answered, “I did, but if there are no seniors who can assist us in the area, it would take at least an hour for our people to come here. What should we do now? We don’t even know what it was.”
Of course, it would be impossible for them to leave. If the disciples of a clan only cared about their own well-being when facing evil spirits, it would not only be bringing disgrace upon the clan, they themselves would also be ashamed to face others. The frightened people of the Mo family couldn’t go either, because it was likely that the evil being was among them, so nothing would be gained from going away. Lan SiZhui gritted his teeth, “Wait here, for the reinforcements!”
Now that the signal for help had been sent, other cultivators would come to aid them within a short period of time. To prevent things from getting out of hand, Wei WuXian should withdraw and keep away from the situation. If the persons who came happened to know him or fought with him before, it would be hard to say what was going to happen next.
However, with the curse, he couldn’t leave Mo Village anytime soon. In addition, the being that was attracted here had taken the lives of two people within such a short amount of time, which meant that it must have been extremely vicious. If Wei WuXian left now, when the helpers came, the streets of Mo Village might be packed with corpses who lost their left arms, including a few disciples of blood relations to the GusuLan Clan as well.
After pondering for a moment, Wei WuXian told himself, finish it quickly.
GDC Chapter 5: Aggression—Part Three20 min read
Aggression—Part Three
The boys on the side were all young and inexperienced. However, although they all looked nervous, they strictly stuck to their positions and protected the Mo family’s house, fixing talismans onto the walls. The servant named A-Tong was already carried into the hall. Lan SiZhui felt his pulse with his left hand and supported Madame Mo’s back with his right. He couldn’t save both of them at once, and was in a terrible fix when A-Tong crawled up from the ground.
A-Ding exclaimed, “A-Tong, you’re awake!”
Before her face had the time to light up, A-Tong raised his left hand and clutched his own neck.
Seeing this, Lan SiZhui tapped on a few of his acupoints for three times. Wei WuXian knew that, although they looked gentle, the people from the Lan clan had arm strength that were the opposite of gentle. With a force like this, it would be hard for anyone to move. However, A-Tong seemed like he didn’t feel anything, and his left hand’s grip tightened, his expressions looking more painful and twisted. Lan JingYi proceeded to grab his left hand, but it was like breaking off a chunk of iron, having no effect at all. After a moment, a crack came from his neck, and A-Tong’s head drooped down. His neck was already broken.
He actually strangled himself in front everyone’s eyes!
Seeing the situation, A-Ding’s voice wavered, “… A ghost! There’s an invisible ghost here. It made A-Tong strangle himself!”
Her tone was sharp and her voice was shrill, making everyone’s blood run cold, and so they believed it effortlessly. Wei WuXian’s judgement happened to be the opposite—it wasn’t a ferocious ghost.
He had examined the talismans that the boys chose; all of them were spirit-fending ones, and the East Hall was literally covered with them. If it really was a ferocious ghost, then, as it went into the East Hall, the talismans would have incinerated green flames. Yet, nothing was happening right now.
It was not the group of kids’ fault for reacting too slow, but the creature was indeed cruel. The cultivation world had a strict definition for the category of “ferocious ghosts”—they had to kill at least one person a month and continue the behaviour for at least three months. The criterion was set by Wei WuXian himself, and it was probably still being used. He was the best at dealing with this kind. To him, killing one person in seven days would be considered as a ferocious ghost who killed frequently. This thing killed three people at once, and within such a short period of time. It would be hard for even a capable cultivator to think of a solution immediately, let alone these juniors who had just started their careers.
As he was thinking, the candlelight flickered. A sinister wind passed, and all of the lanterns and candles in the courtyard and the East Hall died out.
The moment the lights were extinguished, screams came from everywhere. Everyone pushed and pulled, wanting to escape as fast as they could, stumbling and falling in the process. Lan JingYi shouted, “Stay where you are and don’t run! I’m gonna catch whoever runs!”
He wasn’t merely saying this to alarm the people. In fact, evil beings loved to cause trouble in the dark and make profits in times of trouble. The worse the crying and chaos, the more likely it was to unknowingly attract danger. At times like this, being isolated or becoming nervous was extremely unsafe. However, everyone was frightened to death, so how could they still have ears for words like this? After a while, the East Hall grew quiet, with only a few light breaths and faint sobs. It was likely that only a few people were left.
Amidst the dark, a fire lit up suddenly. Lan SiZhui ignited a Flame Talisman.
The fire from the Flame Talisman would not be extinguished by sinister winds. He used the talisman to light up the candle again, and the rest of the boys went to comfort the others. Under the light, Wei WuXian casually looked at his wrists. Another cut had healed.
After looking, he suddenly realized that there was something wrong about the number of cuts.
Originally, he had two cuts on each of his wrists. One healed when Mo ZiYuan died, and another healed when Mo ZiYuan’s father died. The death of the servant, A-Tong, healed one more of the cuts. Adding it up, only three cuts should have healed, with the last cut being the deepest and most hate-filled one.
But, right now, no cuts remained on his wrists.
Wei WuXian knew that Madame Mo was definitely one of Mo XuanYu’s targets of vengeance. The longest and deepest cut was probably saved for her. Yet, it had disappeared.
Did Mo XuanYu suddenly reach a point of epiphany and let go of his hate? That’d be impossible. His soul had already been sacrificed as the price for summoning Wei WuXian. Only the death of Madame Mo could heal the wound.
His gaze slowly moved towards the pale-faced Madame Mo, who recently woke up and was surrounded by everyone.
Unless, she was already dead.
Wei WuXian was sure that something was already possessing Madame Mo’s body. If the being wasn’t a spirit, then what was it?
Suddenly, A-Ding cried, “Hand… His hand! A-Tong’s hand!”
Lan SiZhui moved the Flame Talisman to above A-Tong’s body. Sure enough, his left hand had disappeared as well.
Left hand!
With lightning speed, Wei WuXian’s mind became clear, with the being that was wrecking havoc and the missing left arms finally completing the puzzle. He promptly bursted out laughing. Lan JingYi snapped, “You idiot! How can you still laugh in a situation like this?” But, after a second thought, he knew that he was an idiot anyways, so what’s the use of haggling over him?
Wei WuXian tugged at his sleeve, “No, no!”
Lan JingYi was annoyed, pulling his sleeve back, “What ‘no’? You’re not an idiot? Stop fooling around! Nobody has the time to pay attention to you.”
Wei WuXian pointed at the corpses of Mo ZiYuan’s father and A-Tong, which lay on the ground, and spoke, “These are not them.”