劍問蒼天 - 第190章 異樣 - 翰墨軒

At these words, Zeng Shuchang and the others all changed countenance slightly, and Qi Hao's brows knitted as well. "Then the Sect Master—is he still inside now?"

Lin Jinghong nodded. "Yes, he is inside the shrine."

Qi Hao nodded, stepped back a few paces, and said no more.

Zeng Shuchang, Tian Buhui, and the others exchanged glances, yet for a time no one moved. After a moment Tian Buhui gave a snort and strode forward. Reaching the entrance of the Ancestral Shrine, he did not step up onto the stairs, but called out clearly from below the stone steps, "Senior Brother Daoyan, this is Tian Buhui. Master Shuiyue, Immortal Tianri, Zeng Shuchang, and the vein-head nephews of two other veins have all come to see you. Are you there?"

His voice rang out loud and full, and at once carried through the woods. In the dim distance, it seemed that deep within the darkened shrine even the little points of incense flame flared up sharply for a moment before slowly settling back to normal.

After a moment, a voice came from the darkness, coldly: "What is it?"

Tian Buhui and the other elders and vein heads all started. The voice carried a heavy air of gloom, with a faint savagery beneath it—nothing at all like the clear, upright tone of Immortal Daoyan in former days. Yet every one of them had known Immortal Daoyan for over several hundred years, and the instant the words reached their ears they recognized them: this was indeed the voice of Immortal Daoyan.

Could this Daoist immortal, who had once led the righteous path of the world, truly have met with some misfortune?

At that thought, the faces of Tian Buhui and the others all changed.

Tian Buhui cleared his throat, drew a deep breath, and called out once more in a clear voice, "Senior Brother, we few have heard that you are unwell of late, and so have come especially to visit. Pray permit us to enter and pay our respects."

Immortal Daoyan's voice was silent for a moment; when it came again, it was accompanied by a cold laugh, piercing to the bone: "See me? Does seeing me require all six vein heads to come together? I see your intent—you mean to force me from my place and covet the seat of Sect Master!"

At these words, it was as though thunder had crashed out of a clear sky; every face changed. Even Tian Buhui involuntarily fell back several steps, his face full of blank astonishment. He turned to look, and saw that even Master Shuiyue and the others, who in former days had ever been composed and aloof, wore expressions of disbelief.

Zeng Shuchang's eyes were full of concern. He stepped forward and called out clearly, "Senior Brother the Sect Master, where do such words come from? We who are your junior brothers and sisters have for several hundred years never harbored such a thought—not in the past, not now, and never in the future. We have come today only out of concern that something may be wrong with your health. We have no other intent whatever; Senior Brother must not mistake us."

Immortal Daoyan's voice suddenly rose, and he laughed coldly: "Zeng Shuchang, of the six vein heads, you have always been the deepest schemer. That day you had long since sensed what Cangsong of Longji Peak was plotting, yet you kept silent and said nothing—do you think I did not know?"

Zeng Shuchang's face changed drastically, and Tian Buhui, Master Shuijing, Immortal Tianri, and the others all turned in astonishment to look at him.

Master Shuijing stared at Zeng Shuchang and after a long while said, "Is this true?"

Zeng Shuchang smiled bitterly and shook his head. "This—where do such words even come from?"

Master Shuijing was about to press further when suddenly the countless dim incense flames within the Ancestral Shrine flared up of their own accord, without any wind. In the darkness nothing could be seen clearly, yet somehow it made one feel that deep within that darkness, something strange had given a roar.