Transcendent

Chapter II: Inheritance

"Young Master over there, would you like to buy some souvenirs? They're all handmade and can only be found here."

"Fresh fruits! Fresh fruits straight from the farm!"

"Hey, did you hear? They said Young Lady Qin is going to get married soon."

"Gege, wait for me!"

"You brats, stop running around! Come back here!"

Many, many voices, men and women, young and old, loud and soft were speaking on top of one another, from the left and right, from every side and every corner of the street. Street vendors were opening their stalls, each trying to outdo the others with bright, colorful decorations. Children were playing and running around in small groups, laughing and shouting until an adult would come and scold them.

It was a small town, but it lived and prospered just as bigger, more famous cities did.

Lan Wangji passed through the gate of the little town. Robe as white as snow, patterns of cloud adorning his attire, a white forehead ribbon flowing behind him like a gentle wave as he walked, his beautiful, immaculate figure was enough to momentarily silenced the chattering townspeople as they could not help but gaze in awe at his magnificence. They did not know who he was, but even a young child could tell that he was no ordinary person.

Some time had passed since he parted ways with the two wandering cultivators at Dafan Mountain. At first, he had thought of returning straight to Gusu. There were nothing but small, barely inhabited villages scattered around the mountain's foot, but when he noticed a lively town nearby, he thought it would be best to check while he was around the area in hope that there might be more information he could obtain.

"Lanzhan!"

A voice called out to his name in an overly familiar way. Lan Wangji did not turn around at first. Not many people called him by his birth name as far as he could remember. He could even barely recall if there were people aside from his close relatives who addressed him by his courtesy name. Furthermore, this was his first time visiting this place, and the townspeople themselves did not seem to know who he was. It was very unlikely that he would run into an acquaintance here.

Perhaps he heard it wrong.

"Lanzhan! Lan Wangji! Hanguang-jun!"

At this second call, the Second Young Master could not help but halt his steps. He finally looked back, and at that moment, a smile as bright as the sun entered his sight. It took him a second to realize that it was one of the wandering cultivators he met at the mountain; the one donned in black and red attire who had also shouted his name back in the cave.

Weiying, Wei Wuxian. He remembered that this was that person's name.

"Aah, I finally caught up to you," Wei Wuxian sighed upon reaching his side, briefly catching his breath, "Second Young Master Lan, are you here to gather information?"

"Yes. Why are you here?" Lan Wangji asked him.

"Oh, me? I'm also here to find more clues since I couldn't find any in the tiny villages back there. Who would've thought that you'd be here, too, huh?" Wei Wuxian grinned.

"What of your brother?"

"J-- Yuan Dao and I thought it would be best if we split up and look for leads individually. That way, we can visit more areas and share our findings when we meet up again later."

A shameless lie being told so shamelessly once again, but for Wei Wuxian it was an easy feat. Lan Wangji still appeared unsure, nonetheless, and the half blood demon had no choice but to attempt harder at persuading him.