Black Lotus

20

Lan WangJi, "The details, please."

Sitting down, his polite words were almost as powerful as a threat. Nie HuaiSang finally started his explanation.

He began, "HanGuang-Jun, you know that we, the Nie Sect, are different from the other sects. Because our sect's founder was a butcher, the other sects cultivate using swords, while our sect, on the other hand, cultivates using sabers."

This was known by everyone and was by no means a secret. Even the sect motif of the QingheNie Sect was the vicious head of a beast that resembled a dog or a pig. Nie HuaiSang continued, "Because our cultivation method was different from those of the other sects' and our founder was originally a butcher, it was only natural for blood to be shed. The sabers of our past sect leaders were all heavy with hostile energy and killing intent. Almost every single sect leader met a sudden death from a qi deviation explosion. Their irritable tempers also had a lot to do with this."

Wei Ziyou raised a brow, "Now, this is getting quite close to demonic cultivation."

Nie HuaiSang quickly defended, "It's different! Demonic cultivation is only demonic cultivation because it uses human lives. But, instead of human lives, our sect's sabers use the lives of those evil spirits and beasts. Throughout their whole lives, they've been killing such things, so if they aren't able to kill them any longer, they'd cause trouble and disrupt the sect. A saber spirit only deems one person as its master, allowing nobody else to use it. It's not like we later generations can melt the sabers. First, it'd be disrespectful to the ancestors; second, it's possible that even melting them won't solve the problem."

Wei WuXian commented, "Quite full of themselves, aren't they?"

Nie HuaiSang, "Indeed. The sabers who fought and cultivated alongside our ancestors are indeed in a position to be full of themselves."
He continued, "As the generations went on, the sect leaders had higher levels of cultivation, and the problem also worsened. That is, until the sixth sect leader came up with a solution."

Wei WuXian asked, "To build the Man-Eating Castle?"

Nie HuaiSang, "No, no. Although they are connected, this solution only appeared later. The sixth sect leader did this: he built two coffins for his father's and his grandfather's sabers, then dug a tomb. Inside the tomb, instead of any valuable treasures, he put hundreds of corpses that were about to transform."

Lan WangJi frowned slightly. Nie HuaiSang immediately blurted, "HanGuang-Jun, I can explain! They weren't killed by our sect's people! We had to gather them from place to place! We also bought a bunch of them at high prices. The sixth sect leader said that, if the saber spirits wanted to fight with evil beings, then give them evil beings for them to fight forever. The pre- transformation corpses were buried along with the sword-containing coffins, like they were burial goods for the saber spirits. The saber spirits would suppress the transformation of the corpses and, at the same time, the corpses would calm the sword spirits' desire and fury. The situation would go on as they were, with the two sides keeping each other in check. Only by this method did the future generations attain peace."

Wei WuXian asked again, "Then why was a stone castle built afterward? Why were the corpses buried inside the walls? And, didn't you say that it did eat a few people?"

Nie HuaiSang answered, "These questions are actually the same question. I guess... you can say that it did eat people. But it wasn't on purpose!!! Our sixth sect leader constructed the saber tomb in such a way that it looked like the average tomb, and the future generations followed how he did it. But, about fifty years ago, the tomb was dug up by some grave robbers."

Wei WuXian made an "oh" sound. He silently exclaimed, What a case of waking the sleeping lion.

Nie HuaiSang, "For an event as big as building a tomb, no matter how cautious and discreet one can be, it's impossible for everything to stay hidden. The grave robbers pried into the matter and firmly believed that there was a huge tomb from past dynasties in the Xinglu Ridge. They planned this out a long time ago and came prepared. Among the unruly group of people, there were actually one or two who had true skills, allowing the mob to locate the orientation, pass the maze array, and find our saber tomb. They've seen enough dead people in their lives, so, after digging a hole and entering the tomb, they weren't really scared of the corpses. But they searched everywhere for gold and treasures, breathing next to the corpses, and, even worse, they were youthful men in the prime of their lives, filled with yang energy. Remember, the corpses lying inside were all about to transform!
"It wasn't hard to figure out what happened. Ten-or-so corpses transformed immediately.