Chapter 6 — Initiation
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 5
Lin Jinghong wasted no more words. Pulling Zhang Qingyue along, he ran before the six and dropped to his knees before the Perfected One Daoyan, knocking his head on the floor again and again with resounding thuds.
The Perfected One Daoyan looked the two of them over carefully, gave a faint sigh, and said, "Poor children. Rise."
But Lin Jinghong did not rise. Looking up at this figure of immortal caliber, he said mournfully, "Perfected One, we are young and know nothing, and this great calamity has fallen on us suddenly—we truly do not know what to do. You, in your great power, know the past and the future. We beg you to stand for us!"
Zhang Qingyue, less eloquent, his head a whirl of confusion, chimed in, "Yes, Grandfather Immortal, you must stand for us!"
At this, smiles could not be helped from rising on several faces. Zhang Qingyue's words were, of course, a child's ignorance; but then all eyes came to rest on Lin Jinghong.
Young as he was, caught in such a calamity and facing a man of Daoyan's world-renowned stature, Lin Jinghong still spoke in orderly, lucid fashion, his composure far beyond that of an ordinary child—to say nothing of Zhang Qingyue, who knew nothing at all and took Daoyan for an immortal.
The Liumiao Village massacre was a thing unheard of, unprecedented in the Canglan Sect's thousand years, and it had happened at the very foot of Canglan. The whole sect was shaken. When the Perfected One Daoyan received the report he was stricken with shock and fury, and at once summoned the heads of the other six branches to council. Now, with the exception of the Venerable Master Shuijing, head of the Xiaozhu Peak branch, who had not come, the heads of the other five branches were all present.
Those fit to hold the station of the Seven Branches of Qingyun were naturally the finest figures in the Canglan Sect; and the finest in the Canglan Sect were likewise the finest among all the world's cultivators of the Dao. Every one present had a gaze like a torch, and each said in his heart: "A fine piece of jade."
The Perfected One Daoyan smiled faintly and said, "The future and the past I do not know. But since you dwell at the foot of Canglan Mountain, my sect will not stand idly by. Only, I have a few questions to ask you, and I hope you will answer them well."
Lin Jinghong nodded. "Yes. This disciple will hold nothing back. Please ask, Perfected One."
The Perfected One Daoyan nodded and said, "How did you escape this calamity?"
Lin Jinghong was taken aback. "Replying to the Perfected One: last night I remember sleeping in my bed at home, but when I woke in the morning I was lying with Xiaofan under a pine tree in the open country. I do not know what happened. Later Xiaofan woke me, and we ran back to the village together, and then we saw—saw—saw that sight, and fainted dead away."
The Perfected One Daoyan frowned slightly and looked to Zhang Qingyue. "You woke him. Then what of you?"
Zhang Qingyue thought a moment. "I don't know how I got there either. I woke up and saw Jingyu beside me, so I woke him."
The Perfected One Daoyan exchanged a look with the other branch heads, and confusion was in every eye. If some master had saved them, why save only these two children? And if not, then it made no sense at all.
The Perfected One Daoyan considered a moment, then said, "That is to say, you know nothing of what happened last night."
The two said together, "Yes."
The Perfected One Daoyan sighed and called out, "Song Dayi."
"Disciple present." A Qingyun disciple answered and stepped forth—tall and powerfully built, dressed as a layman. He had been standing behind a short, stout seated man, and appeared to be that man's disciple.
The Perfected One Daoyan said, "You were the first to discover the matter at Liumiao Village. Tell the circumstances of that day once more."