“Stop!” Huai Jia's voice was commanding. He was not the first to recognize the oddity that transpired minutes ago, but he surely was the first to believe an assessment was needed.
The very air solidified under his sullen mood.
Even the slow-witted finally caught up on the cause for his anger. Their silence had only one direction, Lian Hua.
The girl was ready to beg for forgiveness.
“Lian Hua. I want to ask you one question. What did you do?”
Lian Hua could feel her own skin squeezing out every last drop of sweat. “Senior grandmaster… Lian Hua… Lian Hua had used Cherry blood vessel.”
Technically speaking, poison wasn't that much a shock in the world of martial arts. However, it was not for a friendly spar. When it was aimed at someone, the danger of death was always apparent. There were considerations for those with martial arts concerning the use of poison.
Within Shadowless sect, it was no difference. Unless a higher dose was permitted, only an amount that would not cause risk to the other person's life was allowed. This amount was not fixed because every poison is different. Hence, the master in charge of the poison user must work with them to decipher the poison. To protect the secret of the student, only the masters were informed of the relevant information, and only the higher authorities of the sect would know the full report. If the disciple was against this procedure, they would be banned from utilizing the poison on the soil of the sect.
Lian Hua had gone through all the steps to be permitted. Hence, Huai Jia too knew Lian Hua's secret. One of the first thing he did right after his return to the sect was checking the policy regarding poison with the sect master. He was confident Tian Zhong could handle most poison thank to his knowledge about martial arts as well as his cultivation accomplishment. When it came to Yun An, he demanded one thing. "No poison is to reach her." It was made perfectly clear to the sect master and the other elders. Should this condition be violated, he himself would be the judge, the jury, and the executioner. Fang Xin's Heavy qi blast was overlooked because the technique was more akin to a delayed attack. Its effect also dissipated rather quickly. Lian Hua, on the other hand...
The situation was pretty bleak for her. Her bent posture was trembling. Her eyes which only saw the stone-cold floor were glancing at the feet of her master, expecting him to speak a word or two for her like he promised.
For Zhao Ren, he genuinely planned to stick to his words, but he couldn't. His instinct was telling him if he did so, something very bad would happen to him.
The elders and masters in his cohort were also silent. They didn't know what to say to dispel the situation without incurring the wrath of the sect's most powerful cultivator.
In a different scenario, Zhao Ren would have stepped forth and blame his disciple for being too greedy with winning. He would suggest a punishment to cool off Huai Jia while being not too severe to Lian Hua. He miscalculated that Huai Jia would be this... murderous.
He background-checked Yun An, and he knew that Yun An was just a worthless orphan being taken in by Huai Jia after he saved her life. Seeing how indifferent his senior master was to Yun An during the last few months, he surmised Huai Jia was just doing charity for Yun An. Of course, he knew Huai Jia seldom called for his junior sister to assist her but those were too minor to say Huai Jia was doting on her.
Moreover, he had this suspicion when his senior master returned to the sect. His intuition, which had never failed him before, told him. The reason why Huai Jia went back was for personal interest. To be specific, he was old. He was old and nearing his natural death. He was looking for a sanctuary to shelter him during his rejuvenation. If so, Huai Jia would be more or less cordial with the rest of the sect and not be too hard-headed with some of the unfairness. Especially so when it came to a girl as worthless as Yun An.
Every cultivator takes in a disciple because they will have a need for them later on. The same for parents having kids. They want someone to take care of them when they are weak. It was a sort of investment. That is not saying there weren't masters or parents that took in a student or adopted a child because they truly cared for the kids, just that the beneficial relation was usually the prominent reason, emotion usually developed later on.
For a genius such as Tian Zhong, it was more than guaranteed that he would also conquered the mortal realm. His time was limitless. Dong Yun An though was more than likely die before achieving rejuvenation. For a cultivator like Huai Jia, it didn't make sense to Zhao Ren that his senior master would care too much for a kid that may only be able to help him once in his lifetime. Thus, why throwing away a relationship with the sect for a worthless disciple? Not getting the correct answer for this question here was the reason why Zhao Ren's calculation was off.
One thing that everyone missed. If Lian Hua didn’t try to take out the Cherry blood vessel from Yun An's body, Huai Jia might not have been this furious. First, she stealthily introduced poison into Dong Yun An's body. Then, she hastily tried to extract them. What these two actions told Huai Jia?
The old sage himself conjectured that Lian Hua had used a lethal dose against Yun An that was why she was so scared and had to undo her poison in such a conspicuous manner. It was this action alone that pushed Huai Jia's killing intent over the edge. This then prevented everyone from interfering.
Being abandoned, Lian Hua slowly came to term with her circumstance.
Even though I am scared, at least I don’t feel bad about this (helping Yun An).
“Explain yourself!”
“Senior grandmaster. Lian Hua… Lian Hua…” I should not tell a lie now. I should not. My sin has already been discovered. A lie will just make things worse. “I was greedy. I have no excuse.”
“Yun An. Do you need (immediate) treatment?”
“No, master. My qi had been cleansed by Lian Hua.”
Her reply managed a few whispers behind Huai Jia, the content of which was likely about Yun An's effort in helping Lian Hua.
“Even so, the tainted blood needs to be removed. You need to be treated.”
“As you said, master.”
“Ying Feng. I believe this trial should stop here today.”
“Indeed, senior.” The sect master replied.
“The subject today (representative for Gudu), we will discuss later.”
“I have no objection.”
“Then. Let’s go.”
“Master. Junior masters. Seniors. Yun An wishes to say something.”
“Is it important?"
"Yes, master."
"Do say.”
“Yun An wants to drop out. If I may nominate, Yun An would like to suggest Lian Hua as my replacement.”
Even without looking up, Lian Hua could feel the confusion of those who were listening.
Why? She thought.
“Speak your reason.” Huai Jia demanded.
“Yun An is self-conscious about her own state. I will not be able to heal quickly enough to arrive at Gudu with full strength. If I am to stay true to my words about wanting the best for the sect, I should stop here. That will leave Fang Xin and Lian Hua as the two candidates. While they are very close in all aspects, Lian Hua’s Cherry blood vessel is more suitable to the one-on-one fight of Gudu than Fang Xin’s Heavy qi blast…”
“Hey-” Shi Xin and Li Gao quickly covered Fang Xin’s mouth.
“...If we want to win, Lian Hua is the obvious choice.”
The sect master asked. “Yun An. The fact that Lian Hua almost put you into danger (those who didn't know about Zhao Ren's scheme still didn't know how much the poison was injected but they falsely suspected it was serious enough to force Lian Hua into action) doesn’t affect your state of emotion… at all?”
“Junior master. It is also a fact that Lian Hua retracted her qi from my body. A good deed may not erase a bad deed, but the spirit of repentance is worth every praise.”
The sect master nodded. “Indeed.” He turned to Huai Jia. “Senior. May I inquire about your opinion?”
His expression was still the same but his fury was cooled down. “I will respect my disciple’s wish.”
“Then I hope everyone doesn’t have any rejection.” The sect master smiled at the elders and masters.
“Of course.”
“Of course.”
As the elders and masters headed back to the surface, Lian Hua bowed to Dong Yun An. “Junior master. Please accept Lian Hua’s apology.”
Yun An replied with silence.
When Lian Hua begun to straighten her back, she saw Yun An's eyes following her every motion. Yun An observed her junior disciple for a long time.
It appeared her assessment returned empty as Yun An closed her eyes, not gaining any knowledge of Lian Hua's motives. “I take it that you want to apologize, but you are hiding something from me. Come and see me the next day. I want to listen to what you have to say.”
As Lian Hua followed Dong Yun An outside, she caught the sight of her master.
What should I feel about him? Lian Hua asked.
The man said he would help her, but he didn't. He left her to fend for herself. She had a premonition of a day when he would forsake her, and she would die from his betrayal.
Talking about Zhao Ren, Lian Hua recalled a couple of days ago when senior master Xu Feng came and recruited her. He told her to seek him out if her master ever abandoned her. She couldn’t trust him since he was in the same faction as her master. Lian Hua was paranoid that it was a test of loyalty from her master. However, Xu Feng did bring up many good points.
He told that Zhao Ren was playing a dangerous game. After the last selection fight, he was inciting rumours. He led her young and gullible fellow disciples into thinking that Yun An was having it better than she actually was. It was quite simple since one of the ingredients for his persuasion was "being the disciple of the first senior grandmaster".
The story went like this. The venerable senior grandmaster, that the elders and the sect master had to respect, appeared out of nowhere, bringing two kids with him. One of them had a cultivation worse than the third rate of other sects. This very girl suddenly won match after match and accomplished so many achievements in an extreme time-window.
Such a story was suspicious to the immature minds. It didn’t matter if Yun An fought fair and square. Jealousy would settle. They, the mediocre, the average, then released their frustration. Be it the small whispers or the loud talks, everyone would know there was discontent against Yun An. Riding this wave that he architected, Zhao Ren forwarded his complaint yesterday and got Yun An to participate in the unnecessary trial cave. Even if the sect master and the other elders didn’t want to, they had to consider the sect as a whole. Even if the disciples can be easily silenced, my master’s faction and a few other neutrals that have been roused up, including some elders, wouldn’t be satisfied.
Xu Feng explained that this rumour would earn the ire of the first grandmaster. It would also put master Zhao Ren into the spotlight before the elders and the other masters. They would conclude that he was being arrogant. Acting conceited has never been a good idea. This incident wouldn’t result in anything problematic to Zhao Ren… not just yet, since it wasn’t enough to relieve him of his position. However, it did paint him as a target for everyone else. They would look for his weaknesses and decide his demise in the future.
Lian Hua was not brave enough to peer into horrid thoughts such as her master’s demise. One thing she did understand was that Xu Feng, if he was truthful, was warning that her master was a sinking boat.
Back to the present, Lian Hua told herself. I should look for senior master Xu Feng.
