Chapter 29 — The Final Four
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Behind them, as the crowd's expressions shifted through countless permutations and the noise swelled, Tian Buhui and Su Wan slowly rose. Looking at their little disciple still dazed on the platform, Su Wan smiled faintly and said quietly to Tian Buhui: "I told you long ago—this little disciple of yours has luck that truly is out of the ordinary!"
Tian Buhui was left speechless, smiling bitterly without end.
That day Zhang Qingyue spent under the strange stares of others; nearly every Qingyun disciple who passed him had to look at him a few more times, as though he were some rare beast. At the same time, the day's results came out, and Zhang Qingyue had the "honor" of standing among the final four alongside Qi Hao, Lu Xueqi, and Zeng Shuyan.
Qi Hao had always been the favorite to take the crown, and Lu Xueqi's popularity had soared these past days, but that Zeng Shuyan and Zhang Qingyue had entered the final four was beyond what most of the Canglan Gate elders had expected. Before this, Zeng Shuyan was known as Zeng Shuchang's only son; though acknowledged among the Fenghui Peak line as a young man of talent, he was not especially famous within the Canglan Gate. This time, cutting down opponents as he went with exquisite arts, he made everyone sit up and take notice. By comparison, Zhang Qingyue, standing among the four, looked extremely out of place.
On the platform the four stood side by side, with sect leader Daoyan Zhenren and Cangyan Daoren, seat-holder of the Long Peak, at the front. The smile still hung on Daoyan Zhenren's face; one could not tell at all whether he was displeased that the Changmen disciples had unexpectedly been wiped out in this grand meet.
Below, nearly a thousand Canglan Gate members crowded together, the front rows seated with the seat-holders and elders of each line. Su Wan looked up at the platform and said quietly to Tian Buhui: "Xiaofan looks a little nervous!"
Tian Buhui gave a snort and said nothing. Under all those eyes, what his wife could see, how could he not? Of the four on the platform, Qi Hao stood elegant and at ease, Lu Xueqi cold as frost and snow, Zeng Shuyan smiling as he stood—only Zhang Qingyue stood in place, gaze fixed straight on the ground before him, his hands seemingly at a loss where to rest, most awkward indeed.
On the platform Daoyan Zhenren looked at the four, a trace of a smile flickering at the corner of his mouth, then turned to face below and said: "Everyone, as of today the Seven Peaks Martial Meet has decided its top four disciples. Gifted beyond the common run, exquisite in their arts, they are all elites of our Canglan Gate, bearing on their shoulders the duty of glorifying our Qingyun sect hereafter—" He had spoken but half when suddenly, from somewhere below the platform, came a "pfft" of laughter, and a moment later a roar of guffaws burst from the ranks of the Qingyun disciples.
Daoyan Zhenren's brows knit; instinctively he slid a glance at Zhang Qingyue, the youngest of the four behind him, and gave a slight shake of his head. By now laughter kept rolling from below, and what should have been a solemn scene turned somewhat comical. Cangyan Daoren, standing to one side, went cold of face, stepped forward, and swept his gaze like a blade across the crowd below.
The laughter in the crowd at once subsided; wherever Cangyan Daoren's gaze fell, the laughter died. In no time the grounds were calm again. Cangsong had wielded the Canglan Gate's punishments for many years, and the weight of his authority among the disciples surpassed even that of sect leader Daoyan Zhenren.
Only when the scene was wholly calm did Cangyan Daoren step back and say to Daoyan Zhenren: "Sect leader, if you please."
Daoyan Zhenren smiled. "There's nothing more I need say. Junior Brother Cangsong, you take it from here."