Chapter 77 — Five
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 6
"In those days you were nothing but an ordinary, wooden disciple beneath Dazhu Peak—even your master and senior brothers looked down on you. But when Senior Brother Wan met you, he saw with his discerning eye that you were a vessel worth shaping, and from then on cultivated you with all care; not only did he share his own cultivation insights with you, he strove with all his might to recommend you into the company of five for the wild marches. Only thus did you rise to become a man of prominence in the Canglan Sect, and only thus did you come to sit in the seat you hold today. Is what I say true or not?"
Tian Buhui drew a deep breath; his face was mingled with a measure of pain, and only after a long while did he say slowly, "Senior Brother Wan's grace to me was profound beyond measure; though I be ground to powder and my bones shattered, I could never repay it!"
At these words, not only the disciples of Dazhu Peak but the other branches too—even the men of the Fanyin Temple and the Fenxia Valley, who stood by astonished at Qingyun's internal strife—changed countenance. Plainly even Tian Buhui acknowledged it; clearly there was much hidden truth behind this Senior Brother Wan of whom Daoist Cangyan spoke.
Daoist Cangyan sneered coldly. "Good, good, good—at last you admit it. You have at least a scrap of conscience left. Then how did you repay him? Speak!"
Tian Buhui slowly lowered his head, his jaw clenched tight, and his body seemed to tremble faintly.
Daoist Cangyan laughed wildly. "Fine—if you will not speak, I shall speak for you. You shameless man, for all Senior Brother Wan's regard for you—after you returned to Canglan Mountain, well knowing that Senior Brother Wan at the time favored Junior Sister Su Wan of Xiaozhu Peak, you cut in and stole her love. Was it so or not?"
Tian Buhui jerked his head up, but the moment he met Daoist Cangyan's near-maddened gaze—that searing flame seeming to burn within it—he somehow felt that in the unseen there stood a white-robed figure behind Cangyan, and the words died in his throat; slowly he lowered his head again.
He said nothing, but Su Wan beside him suddenly stepped forward and cried aloud, "Brother Cangsong, if you have a grievance, bring it against me! It is true that Senior Brother Wan once held me in his heart, but from first to last I regarded him only with respect and affection. His grace to us both was as heavy as a mountain, but that I and Buhui came to care for one another was my own doing—there was no stealing of love. And in those years Senior Brother Wan himself, before us both, gave us his blessing with his own lips."
Daoist Cangyan sneered, "Senior Brother Wan was proud beyond measure. Betrayed by the two of you, how could he cling and pester like some common man? He would ever rather grieve alone than let others see it."
Here he seemed unwilling to go on; his gaze fixed upon the wounded, gasping Daoist Daoyan, and his eyes brimmed with boundless hatred. "In those years Senior Brother Wan was as a brother and a father to me; with his own hand he nurtured me, and in the wild marches he saved my life at the risk of his own. This life of mine has long been his! But—to my bitter grief—a hundred years ago, strive as I might, I could not save him. From that day I told myself that whatever it took, I would avenge him!"
The last words he screamed until his voice cracked, as though crying out to the depths of his own heart—or to those eyes in the unseen world.
Xiao Yichen's face paled, but what startled him more was that the body he was supporting suddenly thrust him aside.
The supreme leader of the Canglan Sect, for a hundred years the highest and most revered leader of the orthodox world—Daoist Daoyan, his wound still bleeding, the dark qi seeming ever thicker—by his own strength slowly came forward, one step at a time.