Chapter 194 — Footprints

Zeng Shuyan drew a deep breath, looked around, then said in a low voice, "Senior Sister Lu, tell me honestly—is the sect's Ancient Sword of Immortal Slaying truly damaged?"

Lu Xueling's face went white in an instant; a keen light flashed in her eyes as she stared at Zeng Shuyan. Even the Tianxuan Divine Sword in her hand—that autumn-water pale blue radiance—seemed to give off a formless humming, stretching forth in an instant, then slowly withdrawing again.

Zeng Shuyan's expression shifted slightly; he felt that the white-robed woman before him had been ice a moment ago and was now in an instant a needle of the most acute and terrible sharpness. He could not help stepping back and smiled bitterly in a low voice. "Senior Sister Lu, there's no need for that."

Lu Xueling stared at him coldly. "What do you mean by asking that?"

Zeng Shuyan smiled faintly. "I am, after all, a disciple of Qingyun. How could I not care about such a thing? Senior Sister Wen Pei turned back to the mountain at short notice—I doubt it was for anything but to report this matter to our elders, no?"

Lu Xueling said nothing, only watched him coldly. Zeng Shuyan nodded. "All right, all right, Senior Sister Lu—you see, I mean no ill. It's only that certain things here are deeply suspect, and there's been little chance along the way. Now is as good a time as any to speak of them."

Lu Xueling glanced at him. "What things?"

Zeng Shuyan coughed once and lowered his voice. "What sort of man do you take Yun Yifeng, Valley Master of Fenxia Valley, to be?"

Lu Xueling's brows knitted. "What do you mean?"

Zeng Shuyan smiled faintly. "Put it this way—do you take Valley Master Yun for a simple-minded man? Or else a man who hates evil as his enemy, who takes the righteous path of the world as his own charge, and who therefore keeps not the slightest guard against Qingyun disciples, who are of that same righteous path?"

Lu Xueling gave a hum and said nothing, but the scorn on her face was plain, showing she wholly rejected Zeng Shuyan's propositions. Zeng Shuyan was not offended; he had clearly expected such a reaction long before, and went on: "Since we both know Valley Master Yun is neither a man of warm-hearted zeal nor a simpleton, then for him to have so abruptly put the question of the Immortal Slaying's damage to the three of us there in the Shanhe Hall—isn't that very strange?"

Lu Xueling drew a deep breath and watched Zeng Shuyan without a word. Zeng Shuyan looked a little awkward. "Well, I know it's hardly proper to speak so of a revered elder behind his back, but look—when you think it over carefully, these things really are strange—"

"There's nothing improper about it," Lu Xueling cut in flatly, her voice clear and cold, as though she could not be bothered with Zeng Shuyan's slightly gaping mouth. "Say what you mean to say—what is there to scruple over? From Canglan Mountain to now, I've seen nothing to suggest he's a good man!"

"Uh—" Zeng Shuyan was both startled and amused, and for a moment could not speak. Never in his dreams had he imagined that Lu Xueling, ever the model of propriety, would outdo him and come right out with contempt for a revered elder. But on reflection, between this matchlessly beautiful woman and that revered elder and his disciples, there did seem to be no small store of grievances.

Looking at Lu Xueling's face, Zeng Shuyan felt a chill at the back of his neck for no reason, and a suspicion crossed his mind that he might have stirred up a hornets' nest unawares. He coughed and hastily changed the subject. "This—er—well, let's set aside his character for now. What I mean is, in this matter, Valley Master Yun has at least several points that are quite out of the ordinary—"

"How did he come to know the news that the Ancient Sword of Immortal Slaying was damaged? That is the first," Lu Xueling cut in, her face unchanged, but a glimmer showing in her eyes like dazzling crystal. "Second, having learned it, why tell us? He knew full well that once the words left his mouth, we would surely report them to the elders of the Canglan Sect—and then would not trouble at once arise between Fenxia Valley and the Canglan Sect?"

Zeng Shuyan nodded again and again. "I knew that with Senior Sister Lu's keenness, you could never have missed the crucial connections here." He paused, then went on, "Thinking it over thus, Valley Master Yun's case admits of only two possibilities. First, the Canglan Sect has a traitor who passed him word—a secret kept so tightly that even a Qingyun disciple like me was kept in the dark, and yet he knew it, which shows the traitor's standing cannot be slight. But by speaking of it as he did, did he not risk exposing that traitor instead?"

Lu Xueling gave a hum. "Second, what was his purpose in telling us these things? To remind the Canglan Sect that he already knows the secret? Or to warn our elders that Fenxia Valley no longer fears the Canglan Sect?"

Zeng Shuyan looked at Lu Xueling long and deeply, then sighed. "So what was in my heart, you had already thought of. And here I meant to warn you. Though on second thought, it makes sense—that day you had Senior Sister Wen Pei turn back to Qingyun at short notice precisely to report these matters to our elders, no?"

Lu Xueling was silent, then nodded.

Zeng Shuyan's lips moved, and suddenly he gave a long sigh, his voice full of feeling. Lu Xueling was slightly taken aback. "What's the matter with you?" she asked.

Zeng Shuyan smiled bitterly. "It—it's for our sect's Immortal-Slaying Ancient Sword that I sigh. To be honest, though these past days I've thought it through to this point, in my heart I'm still a thousand times unwilling to believe it—I'd rather I had guessed wrong."

Lu Xueling said nothing, only turned her head silently and gazed ahead. Deep in the dense forest all was dark and gloomy; along the road before them there was not the faintest glimmer of light.

Zeng Shuyan let out a long breath and shook his head. "Forget it. Thinking more won't help us anyway—we'll just have to take it one step at a time. I'd rather like to see what sort of medicine it is that Valley Master Yun keeps hidden in his gourd."

Lu Xueling did not answer; her gaze drifted inadvertently to the faint trace they had discovered a moment before. Zeng Shuyan said softly at her side, "Actually, though the Beast Sovereign you mentioned is a possibility, I keep feeling it isn't him."

"Then who do you think it is?" Lu Xueling asked.

Zeng Shuyan pondered a moment, then said in a low voice, "If everything that Li Xun said is true, and it truly wasn't any other disciple of Fenxia Valley, then I fear these traces were most likely left by remnants of the demon cult."

Lu Xueling's body gave a start, and she turned her head. For the first time, emotion stirred upon her fair face, always so cold and clear. "Why do you say that?"

Zeng Shuyan pointed at the trace. "Look—faint as it is, this is plainly the mark of a human passing through. Since Fenxia Valley never came here, no other sect of the righteous path knows the Ten Thousand Wild Mountains better than they do, and it's hard to imagine anyone else tracing their way to this place. But the demon cult is different. After the great war between righteous and demon all those years ago, the demon cult was driven out of the Central Plains. A place of such barren mountains and foul waters as this—I fear they would have come here too. So to say it was them—I think it's quite likely."

"What do you say, Senior Sister Lu?" Zeng Shuyan turned and asked. But at the sight of Lu Xueling's expression, he could not help but start.