Chapter 180 — Gloom
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
Tian Buhui came to a stop before Su Wan, fell silent for a moment, and said heavily, "These past days, Senior Brother Dao Yan has summoned me and Shui Yue again and again, repeatedly warning us that the disciples under our charge must keep the secret at all costs. That in itself is beyond reproach. But over these last few summons, I've seen that Senior Brother Dao Yan is increasingly… not himself."
Su Wan was taken aback. "Not himself? What do you mean?"
Tian Buhui frowned. "In all the years you've known him, do you ever remember Senior Brother Dao Yan scolding people lightly?"
Su Wan was silent. After a long while she shook her head. "Our senior brother the Sect Master has deep cultivation and upright character; he never lets joy or anger show on his face. When would he ever lose his temper and scold people over trifles?"
Tian Buhui nodded. "Exactly. Even you know that much. But since this great battle, Senior Brother Dao Yan's temper seems utterly changed—more and more irascible. These last few times he summoned me and Shui Yue, a word of warning would have sufficed, yet every time he began mild and pleasant, and then, for no reason at all—over some trifling, baffling thing—he would fly into a rage, reviling us or venting his wrath on others. In short…"
He shook his head, slowly raised his eyes to Su Wan, hesitated a moment, then stepped close and lowered his voice. "I suspect that in that great battle with the Beast Sovereign, Senior Brother Dao Yan was turned back upon by the malicious spirit of the Immortal Slayer's sword-soul. That's why he—"
Su Wan's face changed. "Be silent!" she said sharply. She hurried to the door of the Hall of Guarded Stillness, glanced left and right, and once she was certain no one was near, came back and whispered to Tian Buhui, "This is a secret matter of our Canglan Sect. You—you must not go saying such things carelessly!"
Tian Buhui sighed. "How grave a matter this is—how would I dare babble idly about it? But in that last great battle, to secure certain victory, Senior Brother Dao Yan ignored my repeated dissuasion and forcibly opened the Heavenly Mystery Seal, by which the ancestral masters of ages past sealed the spiritual essence of the Seven Veins of Qingyun, greatly increasing the Immortal Slayer's power. Yet whenever I recall the dying commands our forebears left behind, all of them declaring that the Immortal Slayer's malice was too fierce, its killing aura against Heaven itself, and that it seemed an ill-omened thing—I cannot treat it lightly. When I parted from Shui Yue on Jietian Peak today, though he and I have never gotten along, in that parting look I felt as though something passed between us unspoken. I reckon Shui Yue must be thinking the same as I am—only the matter is too great, and neither of us dares say it aloud."
Su Wan was silent a long while, then said, her voice a little rough, "Even so, in the end it all comes back to the Immortal Slayer. Now that the Immortal Slayer is destroyed, even if our senior brother the Sect Master has sadly been harmed, first, the source is gone; and second, his cultivation is godlike—given time, he will most likely come to his senses and resolve it himself. Surely!"
The heaviness on Tian Buhui's face did not lessen in the slightest. "Let us hope so," he said mildly. "Otherwise—him being the sovereign of Qingyun—if anything should go wrong, this whole Canglan Sect… I truly do not know how it would end."
Su Wan thought for a moment, then gave a helpless sigh and said wearily, "Enough. This is beyond our power to manage now, so don't fret yourself over it. There is one thing I have long meant to ask: after the Immortal Slayer was destroyed, what was done with it?"