The Bai* residence was so well-known around the area largely due to the White Room.
*TN: The character bai means white.
It was called the White Room, first of all, of course because it was white. When it was built, white paint was spread all over its walls before the owner prepared for decorations. Everything went smoothly in all the other parts of the residence. Only when it came to the room at the western courtyard did strange things begin to occur. The process could only be set aside for the time. Up until today, the White Room still created stark contrast against the rich ornamentation of the rest of the Bai residence, so white that it seemed ghastly.
"The one room is closed off by three locks and three door bolts. No matter how hot the summer is, cold air always surrounds it, almost as if it were made entirely of ice. According to the owner of the Bai residence, when his father was playing with a ball once, the ball rolled before it finally stopped at the entrance to the room. When he went to pick it up, he couldn't control his curiosity, and took a single peek through the door slit."
Straight-faced, Jin Ling continued, until he saw Wei WuXian over at the side stick his hand into the coffin, as though he was opening the corpse's eyelids. He immediately choked.
Hearing his pause, Wei WuXian turned around, "And took a single peek through the door slit?"
The group of Lan juniors behind him also turned their eyes toward him in unison. Jin Ling hesitated before he went on, "... and took a single peek through the door slit, before he froze there like he was struck dumb, unable to walk away even after a long while. When his family found out, they dragged him away and he passed out with a high fever that left almost no memories behind. After this, he never dared approach the place again.
"Past midnight, nobody is allowed to leave their room and walk around, especially not near the White Room. This is a firm rule of the house. However, a few hours after midnight, even though nobody is inside, people can still hear the old, wooden floor creak with footsteps. There's also this."
Jin Ling lightly clenched his fists and made a gesture full of killing intent.
"A noise that sounds like a hemp rope slowly being tightened, to strangle something."
A few days ago, one of the Bai residence's servants passed the White Room on his morning cleaning duty. He discovered that a hole the size of a fingertip was poked through the thin, paper windows on the White Room's wooden door. And on the ground before the door lay a man.
It was a stranger that none of the Bai residence had seen before. He was around forty, his face dark and lined with veins. Fingers digging into his chest, he had long since gone.
The servants were scared to death. The owner was also scared to death. After some struggle, the local officers came to a conclusion-this was an unfortunate thief who just so happened to have barged into the Bai residence's forbidden area. He saw something that triggered a heart disease, and was literally scared to death right then and right there. As for what exactly that 'something' was, they tore down all of the seals and locks on the White Room, yet remained confused about it even after extensive searching.
But now that a life had been lost, the head of the Bai clan knew that he couldn't keep making do, pretending as though nothing at all was inside of the White Room.
If this matter persisted, there would be endless repercussions. Clenching his teeth, he bravened up and climbed Koi Tower, pleading the LanlingJin Sect to conduct a night-hunt.
This was the backstory.
Holding the coffin lid, Lan JingYi complained in despair, "Senior Wei, are you ready yet... He has been dead for so many days already... Even the smell of a walking corpse would not be so..."
