When the leaders of prominent cultivation sects went out for night hunts, they often traveled with great fanfare, surrounded by an entourage. However, Lan Wangji had always preferred to go alone. Moreover, this arm was strange and dangerous, and any carelessness could bring harm to others. Therefore, he didn't bring any family disciples or other students, only taking Wei Wuxian along, keeping an even closer eye on him.
Wei Wuxian had originally planned to find an opportunity to escape when they went down the mountain to investigate, but his numerous attempts to flee all ended with Lan Wangji grabbing him by the back of his collar with one hand and bringing him back. He changed his strategy, trying his best to stick close to Lan Wangji, especially at night, unfailingly crawling into Lan Wangji's bed, hoping that Lan Wangji would become so disgusted that he would quickly send him away with a sword strike. But no matter how Wei Wuxian acted up, Lan Wangji remained unmoved. As soon as Wei Wuxian slipped into his blanket, Lan Wangji would gently tap him with his palm, causing Wei Wuxian's entire body to stiffen, then tuck him into another blanket, arranging him in a proper sleeping posture until dawn. Wei Wuxian suffered this treatment several times, waking up with aching waist and legs, complaining bitterly. He couldn't help but think, "This person has grown up and become much less interesting than before. In the past, when I teased him, he at least knew how to be embarrassed, which was quite fun. But now, not only is he unmoved by anything, he's even learned to counterattack. How unreasonable!"
Following the guidance of the left hand, the two traveled northwest. Every day, they played "Rest in Peace" together to temporarily soothe its anger and killing intent. When they reached the vicinity of Qinghe, the arm, which had maintained its pointing gesture for a long time, suddenly changed. It retracted its index finger and clenched all five fingers into a fist.
This meant that whatever the hand was pointing to was nearby.
They walked and inquired along the way, arriving at a small city in Qinghe. It was daytime, and the streets were bustling with people. Wei Wuxian was trudging along behind Lan Wangji when suddenly, a pungent smell of powder and perfume wafted towards them.
Accustomed to the faint sandalwood scent on Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian was startled by this smell and blurted out, "What are you selling? This smell."
The scent was coming from a street vendor dressed in Taoist robes, his face full of cunning. He was carrying a box on his back, selling small trinkets to passersby. Seeing someone asking, he said happily, "I sell everything! Rouge and powder, good quality at low prices. Would you like to take a look, young master?"
Wei Wuxian: "Sure, let's see."
The vendor asked, "Buying for the lady at home?"
Wei Wuxian smiled, "It's for myself."
"..." The vendor's smile froze, thinking to himself, "Is he making fun of me?!"
Before he could react, another young man turned back, his face expressionless, and said, "If you're not buying, don't cause trouble."
This young man was extremely handsome and elegant, dressed in white robes with a white forehead ribbon as pure as snow, light-colored eyes, and a long sword hanging at his waist. The vendor was a fake Taoist, with only a superficial understanding of the cultivation world. Recognizing the Gusu Lan Sect's family crest, he didn't dare to act rashly and hurriedly packed up his box and ran forward. Wei Wuxian said, "Why are you running? I really want to buy!"
Lan Wangji said, "Do you have money to buy?"
Wei Wuxian said, "If I don't have money, you'll give me some, right?" As he spoke, he reached into Lan Wangji's chest. He didn't expect to find anything, but after a few tries, he actually pulled out an exquisite, small, and heavy money pouch.
This was completely unlike something Lan Wangji would carry, but over the past few days, there had been more than one or two incomprehensible things about Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian was no longer surprised and walked away with the money pouch. Sure enough, Lan Wangji let him take it and walk away without a word of complaint. If Wei Wuxian didn't have some understanding of Lan Wangji's character and his commitment to purity, and if Hanguang-jun's reputation hadn't always been frighteningly good, he would have almost suspected that there might have been some complicated entanglement between Lan Wangji and Mo Xuanyu.
Otherwise, why could he endure even after Wei Wuxian had gone to such lengths?!
After walking for a while, Wei Wuxian inadvertently looked back and saw that Lan Wangji was far behind him, still standing in the same spot, looking in his direction.
Wei Wuxian's footsteps involuntarily slowed down.
For some reason, he vaguely felt that he shouldn't walk so fast, leaving Lan Wangji behind like this.
At this moment, someone nearby shouted, "The Yiling Patriarch, five coins for one, ten coins for three!"
Wei Wuxian: "Who?!"
He hurriedly went to see who was selling him, and it turned out to be the same street vendor fake Taoist from earlier. He had put away his low-quality rouge and powder and was now holding a stack of fierce-looking door god posters, chattering, "Five coins for one, ten coins for three, at this price you can't lose! Three is good. One for the main door, one for the main hall, and the last one for the bedhead. Heavy with evil-repelling energy, fight evil with evil, poison with poison, guaranteed to keep all ghosts and monsters away!"
Wei Wuxian said, "What a load of nonsense! If it's really that effective, why are you selling them for just five coins each?!"
The vendor replied, "It's you again? Buy if you want, if not, move along. If you want to pay fifty coins for each, I'd be happy to sell."
Wei Wuxian flipped through the stack of "Yiling Patriarch Evil-Repelling Images," unable to accept that the muscular man with a green face, protruding fangs, and bulging eyes was supposed to be him.
He argued, "Wei Wuxian is known far and wide as a handsome man, what is this you've drawn?! If you haven't seen the real person, don't just draw randomly. You're misleading people."
Just as the vendor was about to speak, Wei Wuxian suddenly felt a gust of wind behind him and dodged.
He managed to avoid it, but the street vendor was knocked away, crashing into a pinwheel stand by the street. People rushed to help him up and pick up the scattered items, creating a scene of chaos. The vendor was about to curse, but when he saw that the person who had kicked him was a young master shining with golden light, obviously rich or noble, his anger subsided; then, seeing the golden stars, snow waves, and white peony embroidered on the young man's chest, he lost all his courage. But still unwilling to take a kick for nothing, he weakly asked, "Why did you kick me?"
The young master was Jin Ling. He folded his arms and said coldly, "Kick you? Anyone who dares to mention the name 'Wei Wuxian' in front of me should be grateful I don't kill them on the spot, and you're here yelling in the street. Are you looking to die?"
Wei Wuxian hadn't expected Jin Ling to appear here, let alone behave so arrogantly. He thought to himself, "What's wrong with this child's temperament? His temper is so fierce, arrogant, willful, and disrespectful. He's learned all the bad traits from his uncle and father, but none of the good ones from his mother. If I don't teach him a lesson, he's bound to suffer greatly in the future." Seeing that Jin Ling seemed unsatisfied and was taking a couple of threatening steps towards the man on the ground, Wei Wuxian interjected, "Jin Ling!"
The vendor didn't dare to make a sound, his eyes full of gratitude. Jin Ling indeed turned towards Wei Wuxian, saying contemptuously, "You haven't run away yet? Good."
Wei Wuxian smiled and said, "Oh my, I wonder who it was that was pinned to the ground and couldn't get up last time, who was it?"
Jin Ling snorted and blew a short whistle. Wei Wuxian didn't understand its meaning at first, but a moment later, a heavy, panting beast-like breathing suddenly came from afar.
He turned to look and saw a black-maned spirit dog, about half the height of a person, turn the corner and charge straight towards him. Screams erupted along the street, growing louder and closer: "A vicious dog is attacking!"
Wei Wuxian's face changed dramatically, and he turned to run.
It's embarrassing to say, but the supposedly invincible Yiling Patriarch was actually a coward when it came to dogs. This was unavoidable; when he was young, before Jiang Fengmian took him in, he had lived on the streets and often had to steal food from vicious dogs. After being bitten and chased several times, he developed a severe fear of dogs of all sizes, for which Jiang Cheng had often mocked him. This fact was not only embarrassing but also hard for many to believe, so it wasn't widely known. Wei Wuxian was almost scared out of his wits when he suddenly saw a tall, jade-like white figure. He desperately cried out, "Lan Zhan, save me!"
Jin Ling, who had chased to this point, was shocked to see Lan Wangji: "Why is this madman with him again?!" Lan Wangji was known for being serious and never smiling, and even many of his peers in the cultivation world felt uneasy around him, let alone the younger generation. His intimidating presence was even greater than Lan Qiren's had been in his day. The dog, which had been well-trained and was quite intelligent, seemed to sense that it couldn't act wildly in front of this person. It whimpered a few times and retreated behind Jin Ling with its tail between its legs.
This black-maned spirit dog was a rare breed that Jin Guangyao had given to Jin Ling. Ordinary people wouldn't dare to treat anything from Lianfang-zun lightly, but Lan Wangji was far from ordinary. He didn't care who the giver was or who was letting the dog loose; he would deal with it as he saw fit, showing no leniency. Jin Ling, caught by him letting a dog chase someone in the street, felt his heart sink, thinking to himself, "I'm doomed. He's definitely going to kill this spirit dog I've worked so hard to train, and then give me a severe punishment!"
Unexpectedly, Wei Wuxian dove under Lan Wangji's arm and hid behind him, as if he wanted to climb up this tall, jade-like figure and into the sky for safety. Lan Wangji seemed to freeze as Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jin Ling blew two short whistles and fled with his black-maned spirit dog.
The vendor on the ground struggled to his feet, still shaken, and said, "The world is getting worse day by day. These young masters from prominent families are really something else! Something else indeed!"
Wei Wuxian, hearing the dog's barking fade away, came out from behind Lan Wangji and casually agreed with his hands behind his back, "Indeed, the world is declining, and people's hearts are not what they used to be."
The vendor now looked at Wei Wuxian as if he were a savior, repeatedly agreeing. To show his gratitude, he tossed the stack of "Yiling Patriarch Evil-Repelling Images" into Wei Wuxian's hands like a hot potato: "Brother, thank you for just now! Take this as a token of gratitude. If you sell them at a discount, three coins each, you could make three hundred in total."
Lan Wangji glanced at the muscular man with a green face and protruding fangs in the image, without comment. Wei Wuxian, seeing that his price was getting lower and lower, said with a wry smile, "Is this really a token of gratitude? If you really want to thank me, draw me more handsome! ... Wait, don't go, I have something to ask. Since you do business here, have you heard of any strange occurrences? Or seen any unusual phenomena?"
The vendor said, "Strange occurrences? You've asked the right person. I've been stationed here for years, known as the All-Knowing of Qinghe. What kind of strange occurrences are you looking for?"
Wei Wuxian said, "For example, demon activities, dismemberment cases, family massacres."
The vendor said, "There's nothing like that here, but if you go about five or six miles ahead, there's a mountain ridge called Xinglu Ridge. I advise you not to go there."
Wei Wuxian asked, "Why's that?"
The vendor replied, "This Xinglu Ridge has another nickname called 'Man-Eating Ridge.' What do you think that means?"