Chapter 6 — Initiation
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 5
Song Dayi's voice was rough and loud. "Yes. Early this morning, returning by air with several fellow disciples from some business, we passed over Liumiao Village, and by chance I looked down, and saw more than two hundred corpses heaped together in the village—a sight too horrible to bear. We hurried down to investigate, and found only these two children behind the village, unconscious, so we first had a junior disciple carry them back. Then, in a latrine at the village edge—" he pointed at Uncle Wang Er, huddled in the corner— "we found this man. But his eyes were blank and his mind wandering; no matter how I questioned him he would not answer, only repeating over and over: ghosts, ghosts, evil ghosts."
Lin Jinghong's body gave a shudder, and he said, trembling, "Brother, may I ask—have you counted the people?"
Compassion showed in Song Dayi's eyes. "I found a junior disciple who had long traded for firewood with your village and knew its people well. By his recognition and our count, the forty-two households of Liumiao Village, two hundred and forty-seven souls in all—apart from you three, all are dead."
Though they had sensed it already, hearing Song Dayi's plain confirmation, Lin Jinghong and Zhang Qingyue still felt the world go dark before their eyes, and nearly swooned again.
The Perfected One Daoyan gave a soft sigh, brushed his left hand lightly, and from within his sleeve flew a small red pearl. It came before Zhang and Lin, rolled a few times over their brows and over their hearts, and at once a cool, clear breath passed into their bodies. Somehow the nerves that had been drawn taut in their hearts seemed to loosen, and overcome by exhaustion, they could not help but lie down there in the hall and fall asleep.
The Perfected One Daoyan waved his hand, and the standing disciples bowed one by one and withdrew in order. In the hall only the six of them remained.
Then the short, stout man said, "Sect Master, you have used the Spirit-Calming Pearl to settle them for now—but when they wake, how do you mean to deal with them?"
The Perfected One Daoyan considered a moment, then turned to the Daoist seated first on the left and asked, "Junior Brother Cangsong, what is your view?"
The Perfected One Cangyan was tall of frame and grave of countenance, head of the Dragon Peak branch of the Canglan Sect. Within the sect, save for the Perfected One Daoyan's own senior line, it was his Dragon Peak that held the greatest power. Cangsong was stern by nature; besides governing the disciples of his own branch, he also oversaw all matters of punishment throughout Canglan. The Qingyun disciples revered their Sect Master Daoyan beyond measure, but what they feared most was this unsmiling head of Dragon Peak.
Now the Perfected One Cangyan knitted his thick brows, and after a time said, "There are many doubtful points in this matter, and it will not be cleared up in haste. But the people of Liumiao Village were ever simple and honest; we cannot turn our backs on their surviving orphans. My view is that we should take the two of them into the sect."
The Perfected One Daoyan nodded. "Well said. That is my own thought. These two children are orphaned and wretched; we must look after them. Only, I have taken no disciples for many years. I wonder which of my junior brothers would take them in?"
Then the short, stout man—Tian Buhui, head of the Dazhu Peak branch of the Canglan Sect—said, "Sect Master, in my view it would be best not to give the two of them to the same master. Their histories are alike; if they stay together, each will see in the other the memory of what passed, and such resentment will never cease. I fear it will go badly for them hereafter."