Black Lotus

22

After entering the city, the three walked side-by-side through the bustling crowd. All of a sudden, Lan WangJi asked, "How is the Curse Mark?"

Wei WuXian, "Jin Ling was buried too close to our dear friend and got stained with quite a lot of resentful energy. It faded a bit, but it's not completely gone. The chances are we can only find a way to remove it after we find the whole corpse or at least the head. It doesn't really cause much trouble anyways."

The "dear friend" was none other than the man that had been cut to pieces. Since they didn't know who he was, Wei WuXian suggested that they referred to him as a "dear friend". Lan WangJi didn't say anything after hearing it, but he didn't object to it either, which could be interpreted as a silent approval. Of course, he himself wouldn't ever use the word.

Lan WangJi, "How much is 'a bit'?"

Wei WuXian indicated with his hands, "A bit is just a bit. How do I explain it? Should I take my clothes off and show you?"

Lan WangJi's brows shifted slightly, as if he was actually worried that Wei WuXian would strip right here and right now. He replied with an indifferent tone, "Take them off after we return."

Wei WuXian laughed, whirled around, and walked a few steps facing backward. Before, in order to escape as soon as possible, he desperately tried to disgust others, from feigning madness to purposely losing face. Now that his identity was revealed, if he were anyone else, he would've felt extremely ashamed remembering all those things he did. Only someone with a face as thick as Wei WuXian would carry on as if he wasn't involved in anything. Speaking of it, if he were anyone else with at least some face, he would never have done ridiculous things such as climbing into someone's bed at night, insisting on sharing a bathtub together, and asking if he looked pretty after putting on makeup. Since he pretended that he didn't remember anything, Lan WangJi naturally refrained from bringing up the subject, the two acting as if nothing had happened. Today was the first time he made such a joke again after his identity was no longer a secret. When he finished laughing, Wei WuXian immediately put on a serious face, "HanGuang- Jun, do you think that the people who set our dear friend's hand in Mo Village and made it attack your juniors, and the people who sewed his legs on another corpse and buried them in the wall, are the same group of people?"

Both in the past and the present, in his mind, he directly called Lan WangJi by his first name, but he got used to the last few days of calling him by his title. Besides, him calling this name created a tone of exaggerated seriousness, sounding unexplainably funny. Thus, when they were outside, he continued to call him in such a semi-earnest way.

Lan WangJi, "There are two groups."

Wei WuXian, "Well, I agree. Taking such pains to sew the legs to another corpse and hide them in a wall obviously meant that they didn't want the limbs to be discovered. If so, they wouldn't have purposely tossed out the left hand to attack the GusuLan Sect's people, since it would definitely have caused attention and investigation. One went to great lengths to hide everything, while the other attacked rashly, almost as if it wanted to be discovered. They're probably not the same group of people."

Everything that needed to be said had been said. Lan WangJi seemed like he didn't have anything else to say anymore, but responded with an approving "mnn" anyway.

Wei WuXian turned around, speaking as he walked, "The people who hid the legs knew about the QingheNie Sect's Saber Hall tradition, while the people who let the left hand loose knew about the GusuLan Sect's plans. I don't think any of them have simple intents. There are more and more secrets."

Lan WangJi, "One step at a time."

Wei WuXian, "How did you recognize me?"

Lan WangJi, "Think for yourself."