劍問蒼天 - 第232章 殺意 - 翰墨軒

Lu Xueling fell silent and came to stand beside Master Shuijing, though for a moment she did not know what she ought to say. Master Shuijing, for her part, seemed to have no wish to speak either, and master and disciple alike fell into silence.

How long it lasted, she could not say, but at last Master Shuijing, gazing into the distance, suddenly spoke. "Do you think the view from this Moon-Gazing Terrace is beautiful?"

Lu Xueling was startled, not knowing why Master Shuijing should suddenly ask such a thing, but she answered her master honestly all the same. "They say fine scenery is always found on perilous peaks. Here the crags jut out and the cliff hangs sheer in the air; gazing out from above, the sea of clouds rolls like waves and the green hills keep one company—it is truly a place of surpassing beauty."

Master Shuijing nodded slightly, a distant look coming into her eyes, and said slowly, "In fact, many years ago, when your Uncle-Master Su Wan was still cultivating on Xiaozhu Peak, she loved the scenery here just as you do, and she would often slip away to this place alone to play."

Lu Xueling started and raised her eyes to Master Shuijing, who sighed softly and said, "Su Wan and I grew up together. By my reckoning, I entered our honored master True Yu's tutelage only a year before she did. When we were young, we ate at the same table and slept in the same bed—we were truly as close as sisters. She was livelier than I by nature, yet she most loved to steal away here alone; and whenever she suffered some grievance, she too would come to this Moon-Gazing Terrace and sulk all by herself."

At this, Master Shuijing's lips moved slightly, as though some memory of those years had risen before her, and there was something like a smile—but before it could form, it was replaced by a deeper look of vagueness and world-weariness.

"And yet... after she married, she never came here again."

Lu Xueling listened in silence to Master Shuijing's words, then said softly, "Master, when Uncle-Master Su married Uncle-Master Tian of Dazhu Peak, were you not glad in your heart?"

Master Shuijing paused, then shook her head slightly and sighed. "Tian Buhui's temper was poor and his nature somewhat perverse, but he was decidedly a good match. For your Uncle-Master Su to marry him was her good fortune—and a sign of her good judgment."

At this Lu Xueling was truly rather astonished. Everyone knew that Master Shuijing had never looked kindly on Tian Buhui, and she had not expected her to see it this way in her heart. She could not help asking, "Then why did you treat Uncle-Master Tian so..." She had spoken only half the sentence when she suddenly fell silent.

Master Shuijing smiled faintly. "Glared at him and spoke to him coldly, you mean?"

Lu Xueling blushed. "Your disciple would never dare think such a thing."

Master Shuijing said mildly, "That is how I have always treated him. It is no forbidden subject—what is there to be cautious about? Though Tian Buhui and I never got on, truthfully, he was a fine man, and there were few in our Canglan Sect who could match him."

Here Master Shuijing seemed suddenly to recall something, and her brows knitted slightly. "Tian Buhui's eldest disciple—his name was Song Dayi, was it not?"

Lu Xueling nodded, at a loss as to why Master Shuijing should suddenly ask after Song Dayi. "That is so. Senior Brother Song has now taken up the position of head of the Dazhu Peak lineage. Master, why do you suddenly think of Senior Brother Song?"

Master Shuijing was silent for a while, then said, "That Senior Sister of yours, Wen Pei—is there not something going on between her and this Song Dayi?"