Black Lotus

15

Wei WuXian replied, "Huh, so there's an evil being that eats humans there?"

Having heard of at least thousands of legends like this and killed at least hundreds of them with his own hands, he found it somewhat boring. The charlatan continued, his voice rising and falling, "That's right! It is said that, in the ridge's forest, there is a 'man-eating castle' with monsters that feed on the humans living inside it. The monsters will devour anyone who ventures inside it without leaving a single crumb behind. No corpses could be found—there wasn't a single exception! It's scary, isn't it?"

No wonder Jin Ling also came here. Unable to suppress the soul-consuming goddess at Dafan Mountain, he definitely came for the monster in the Xinglu Ridge again. Wei WuXian exclaimed, "Scary indeed! But, if nothing was left behind, and no corpses could be found, how can it be known that they were eaten?"

After a pause, the charlatan answered, "Of course someone saw it."

Wei WuXian expressed his admiration, "But, before this, didn't you say that anyone who ventures inside it would be devoured without any crumbs being left behind, no exception? Then, who on Earth could have started this legend? How powerful would they have to be, having lived to tell the tale after seeing this kind of scene?"

"..." The charlatan, "That's how the legend goes. How would I know?"

Wei WuXian, "Then, do you know how many people were eaten in the Xinglu Ridge? When were they eaten? Their ages? Their gender? What their names were? Where they lived?"

The charlatan, "I don't know."

Wei WuXian, "Qinghe's know-it-all? Huh?"

The charlatan picked up his basket in a fury, "The legends didn't have this kind of information!"

Wei WuXian laughed, "No, no, don't go yet. Let me ask you something else. Is the Xinglu Ridge a part of the Qinghe region? Isn't Qinghe the Nie Sect's area? If there really are monsters roaming around Xinglu Ridge, why are they ignoring it?"

To his surprise, this time, the charlatan didn't answer "I don't know" again. Instead, a smudge of disdain appeared on his face, "The Nie Sect? If it were the Nie Sect from back then, it definitely wouldn't be ignored. Before the second day of the legend's appearance, the Nie Sect would have raided where the monsters roamed at once, in the most resolute way possible. But, isn't the sect leader of the Nie Sect now, heh, that 'head shaker'?"

The leader of the QingheNie Sect used to be ChiFeng-Zun, Nie MingJue. After his father, the last sect leader, was outraged to death by the leader of the QishanWen Sect, Wen RuoHan, he took over the Nie Sect before he even reached twenty, doing everything in a direct, forceful fashion. He was also sworn brothers with ZeWu-Jun, Lan XiChen, and LianFang-Zun, Jin GuangYao. After the Sunshot Campaign, the Nie Sect was quite powerful with him in the lead, its influence almost reaching that of the LanlingJin Sect's. But, after a qi deviation, he died in front of the public's eyes, and so, the next person in line for the sect leader position must have been his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang. Wei WuXian inquired, "Why is he called the 'head shaker'?"

The charlatan, "Don't you know the story behind it? No matter what other people ask Sect Leader Nie, if he doesn't know it, he won't say anything; if he does know it, he's too scared to say anything. If you ask too harshly and force him, he'd shake his head again and again, saying as he cries, 'I don't know, I don't know, I really don't know!' He'd then beg the other to let him go. Isn't it obvious why he's called the 'head shaker'?"

In the past, Wei WuXian and Nie HuaiSang studied together, so there were a few things he could comment about this person. Nie HuaiSang wasn't an unkind person. It wasn't that he was not clever, but that his heart was set somewhere else and used his smarts in other areas, such as painting on fans, searching for birds, skipping classes, and catching fish.