Chapter 75 — The Third Chapter
劍問蒼天 · Page 6 of 6
A pang seized Zhang Qingyue's heart, and he was about to walk over when Song Dayi caught hold of him and said softly, "Little junior brother, let us go in first. We must not keep the elders waiting overlong. As for Uncle Wang—when you… when you come out, it will not be too late to visit him then."
Zhang Qingyue halted, a misery rising in his heart, but in the end he knew Song Dayi spoke the truth. He himself stood accused, and so he nodded and forced a smile for Song Dayi. Chang Jian, standing to one side, took it all in and said quietly, "You two, if there is nothing else, let us go in and present ourselves to the masters and elders."
Song Dayi answered and went forward with Zhang Qingyue, but Tian Lingsu frowned. "Masters and elders? Senior Brother Chang, have elders of other sects come as well?"
Chang Jian hesitated a moment. "Yes. Several divine monks have come from the Fanyin Temple, and besides them elders from the Fenxia Valley—all come to inquire into Junior Brother Zhang's… into his circumstances."
Tian Lingsu's expression changed, her face turning dead white, and Song Dayi's brows knitted tight as well.
Zhang Qingyue walked forward in silence. "Senior Brother Chang, let us go in."
Chang Jian looked at him and nodded. "Good. Follow me."
With that he went in first. Zhang Qingyue drew a deep breath and stepped forward, his pace somewhat heavy, and followed. Behind him Song Dayi and Tian Lingsu exchanged a glance, each seeing in the other's eyes the same anxiety and worry—and the same helplessness—and so they too followed.
Just as they entered the Jade Balance Hall, Uncle Wang, who had been sitting all along in the corner, his eyes fixed on Zhang Qingyue's figure, saw him vanish into the hall; and for some reason he too clambered unsteadily to his feet, scratched his head in a childlike bewilderment, and actually set off toward the Jade Balance Hall.
All these years Uncle Wang had been cared for by the Canglan Sect, his madness never once cured; day after day he wandered about the Jietian Peak, and even the Jade Balance Hall—sacred in the eyes of ordinary Qingyun disciples—he entered often. Yet he had never made any great trouble, and as time went on no one paid him any mind.
And now he went in, quite without hindrance, and vanished into the Jade Balance Hall.