Chapter 28 — Perseverance
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 6
Tian Lingsu smiled. "Surely you haven't forgotten so quickly. In the daytime you fought Peng Chang of Fenghui Peak, and when you came back you fainted clean away and gave everyone a terrible fright. Thankfully it's nothing serious."
Zhang Qingyue stirred his body; sure enough, apart from some weariness, only his chest hurt a little, and everywhere else was fine. He could not help exclaiming in surprise: "How can that be? I was clearly covered all over—"
Tian Buhui cut him off: "Those scorch marks were only flesh wounds. A rub with the secret elixir of our Canglan Sect and they heal. Right now you have only one thing to worry about—a heavy blow to the chest—but the bones and meridians are neither displaced nor shaken. A few days' rest will set you right."
Su Wan, sitting to one side, smiled and said: "Xiaofan, aren't you going to thank your master? If not for him treating you himself, those flesh wounds alone would have kept you abed half a year at least."
Zhang Qingyue was startled, greatly astonished at heart, yet gratitude was plain in his words as he said softly: "This disciple is useless, and has burdened Master again."
Tian Buhui gave a cold snort, his face turning stern. "Useless? There's no one on Dazhu Peak more capable than you now!"
Zhang Qingyue was startled again, unable to fathom what Tian Buhui meant by that, and could only say: "Master, I—no, compared to Senior Sister—ah, and Senior Brother and the other senior brothers, they all far surpass me, I wouldn't dare—" Yet as he spoke his voice trailed off, for he saw that the faces of the senior brothers standing before him and of Tian Lingsu were all somewhat strange; above all the eldest senior brother, standing at the head of them all, looked especially pale today, utterly unlike his usual vigorous self—he looked, in fact, as though he might topple at any moment.
Su Wan sighed. "Daxin, bring a chair for your eldest senior brother to sit on."
Lü Daxin hurried to comply, fetching a chair from one side and setting it beside Song Dayi. Song Dayi meant to refuse, but his body swayed several times, and in the end he sat down, gasping for breath.
Zhang Qingyue stared, dumbfounded. "Eldest Senior Brother, what's wrong?"
Song Dayi gave a bitter smile but said nothing. It was the fourth senior brother, He Dachuan, who spoke up from the side: "Young junior brother, the Seven Peak Tournament has reached the fourth round, and on all of Dazhu Peak only you are left." At this point he could not help glancing around him.
Zhang Qingyue was struck dumb for a moment; then something came to him, and he turned to Tian Lingsu, sitting at the head of the bed: "Senior Sister, then you also—"
Tian Lingsu's expression dimmed, and she said softly: "I lost too."
Zhang Qingyue looked at the disappointment written across her face, and his heart ached—but at this moment there was no room for his thoughts to wander.
Tian Buhui looked Zhang Qingyue up and down, his face darkening. "Old Seven."
Zhang Qingyue's heart leaped. He could hear a faint anger lurking in Tian Buhui's words, and seeing his master's expression so grim, he could not help feeling afraid. "Yes, Master. What—"
Before he could finish, Tian Buhui's gaze swept over every person in the room, one by one. The senior brothers who were usually so familiar and kindly kept silent now, and in the looks they turned on him there was doubt.
Small wonder. When a junior brother ordinarily so dull-witted suddenly startled the world, no one could accept it in a short time.
Beneath Tian Buhui's pressing stare, sweat trickled down Zhang Qingyue's forehead. For a moment he almost blurted out to his master that he had secretly been cultivating another sect's art—yet the words reached his lips, and in the end he held them back.