piratefiction Chapter 23 Embers
Chapter 23 Embers
On the third day after leaving the Sword Tomb, it rained at the Qingyun Sect.
The rain wasn't heavy, just a light drizzle on the bluestone slabs of the suspended walkway, thinning the mountain mist. Ling Chen sat under the eaves of his small courtyard, the Broken Thought Sword lying across his lap, his fingertips slowly tracing the cracks on its blade. The sword intent left by Gui Nian's sword strike in Liu Yuan's dantian hadn't completely dissipated; the faint golden light deep within the spine of the Broken Thought Sword still flowed slowly, preventing the sword from disintegrating further. Ten days. Three days had passed since the awakening of the Sword Servant inheritance; seven days remained.
"Elder Mo, where are Ning Shuang and Fen Tian?"
"Ning Shuang is in your little girlfriend's hands—Su Qingyuan's sword is Ning Shuang. Besides informing you about your matter, she should also be looking for a way to repair Ning Shuang this time she returned to Zhongzhou. As for Fentian... Yan Shi died in the Spirit Realm ten thousand years ago, and Fentian should still be at the place where he fell. But the Spirit Realm is not like the Mortal Realm. The demon forces there are deeply entrenched. With your current cultivation level, going to find Fentian is tantamount to suicide."
Ling Chen didn't ask any more questions. He turned the Broken Thought sword over; the character "念" (nian, meaning "thought") on the tassel was slightly damp from the rain, its color changing from a faded light gray to a deep black. Seven days later, there would be a public trial report at the Sword Monument Square, where all inner disciples who had emerged from the Sword Tomb would present their gains to the Elders' Council. At that time, he would have to draw the Broken Thought sword in front of everyone; the cracks on the blade couldn't be hidden, nor could the severed remnant soul of the Shadow Demon General. Rather than be interrogated by the elders in public, it was better to strike first before the report.
He got up, opened an umbrella, and walked towards the Chuan Gong Hall.
The training hall was brightly lit. Jian Xuan sat behind his desk, a thick file spread out before him. Liu Yuan stood before the desk, now dressed in a clean sword robe, his soft sword hanging quietly at his waist. Seeing Ling Chen enter, he nodded slightly but said nothing.
"Sit down." Jian Xuan gestured with his chin toward the chair next to him. "Liu Yuan has already explained everything about the Shadow Demon General. This includes all the contact points inside and outside the Qingyun Sect, the list of Qingzhou's spies, and—clues about the previous host."
His fingers tapped lightly twice on the file.
"The files have been tampered with. Forty years ago, Inner Sect Elder Lu Huai perished while traveling. The records state it was an accident, without detailed investigation, and it was hastily archived after his return to the sect. But Liu Yuan extracted a piece of information from the Shadow Demon General's memory fragments—Lu Huai was the previous host."
Ling Chen frowned: "An elder-level figure, the record of their demise was hastily archived, and no one is investigating?"
"The person in charge of archiving at the time was the previous head of the Transmission Hall, who passed away five years ago. There's no way to verify it now. But the real problem isn't the person who archived it—it's Lu Huai's former subordinates. After the Shadow Demon General's remnant soul split and parasitized, the old host was silenced, but his network of subordinates didn't disappear. Those former subordinates were living people, not demonic puppets. They were just following orders back then and might not have known that they were serving the Shadow Demon General's host. After Lu Huai's death, these former subordinates continued to lurk inside and outside the sect, waiting to be reactivated by a new host."
Jian Xuan looked up at Ling Chen: "Liu Yuan said that he sensed the Shadow Demon General sending out his final demonic thought just before severing the demonic contract. That thought contained only four words—'Awaken the old subordinates.' This means that those spies who have been lying dormant for forty years have been activated. They don't know who the new host is, they only know that the old master is dead and the mission has begun. These people may be in the core of the sect, in the surrounding towns, or even in other sects."
"The fastest way to investigate the former subordinates is to retrieve all of Lu Huai's personnel files from his lifetime." Liu Yuan paused. "But those files were destroyed five years ago. The person who destroyed them happened to be the previous head of the Transmission Hall—after he passed away, the trail went cold. I want to re-examine all the affairs Lu Huai handled back then: disciple allocation, field missions, elixir distribution, and martial arts records. The former subordinates usually disguised themselves as normal disciples, but when they were ordered to carry out missions, they would definitely leave traces of resource allocation."
Jian Xuan pondered for a moment: "What kind of permissions do you need?"
"The right to access the old files in the Scripture Pavilion, the attendance records in the Martial Arts Hall, and the spirit stone flow in the Pill Hall. And—" Liu Yuan looked up, "I need a guarantor. Given my current status, will the elders approve my access to these files on my own?"
"I'll act as guarantor," Jian Xuan said. "But there's still one problem—your cultivation level has dropped from Condensing True Qi to Gathering Qi, and the remnant soul of the Shadow Demon General has dissipated. Someone at the Elders' Council will inevitably question whether you are still 'Liu Yuan.' If you are identified as a remnant of demon possession, forget about accessing your files; you won't even be able to keep your status as an inner disciple."
"Then tell them the truth." Ling Chen's voice rang out from the side, "The truth is not just about Liu Yuan—including what I cut in the Sword Tomb, what the Severing Thoughts is, and what the Myriad Paths Return to Ruins Diagram is."
Jian Xuan suddenly turned to look at him: "Have you thought it through?"
"The Shadow Demon is dying, his old forces are being activated, and the rebirth of the Severed Will—such a huge commotion can't be kept secret from anyone. Rather than letting them speculate, we should lay everything out in the trial report."
Jian Xuan remained silent for a long time before looking at Ling Chen: "Do you know what this means? It means that from that day on, you will become the common enemy of all demonic cultivators in the mortal realm. All your lurking old subordinates will put your name at the top of their assassination list. And on the righteous path, the forces that covet the Myriad Dao Returning to the Void Diagram—not just the demon race—will also find all sorts of reasons to approach you."
"I know." Ling Chen gripped the hilt of the sword "Duan Nian" at his waist, his tone calm. "But I promised her—I would let everyone know her name."
Jian Xuan glanced at the Broken Will sword at Ling Chen's waist, his gaze lingering for a moment on the faded tassel. He didn't ask anything, simply nodding: "Four days later, Sword Stele Square."
Liu Yuan stood at the entrance of the training hall for a while as he walked out. The rain was still falling. He took the soft sword from his waist, drew it from its sheath, and the black aura on the sword had completely dissipated, leaving only a thin, cicada-wing-like blade gleaming silver in the rain. He looked down at it for a long time, then sheathed the sword and bowed slightly to Ling Chen.
"I'll be standing next to you on the day of the report."
"In what capacity?"
"Witnesses." Liu Yuan turned and stepped into the rain, his voice coming from the mist. "The Shadow Demon was someone I brought into the sect. As for those old subordinates—I'll deal with them."
Xiao Lie and Han Tie were sparring in the training ground when they simultaneously received Ling Chen's message. Han Tie's new sword had been reforged in the sword tomb, and its Crimson Flame Sword Intent was more than twice as refined as before it entered the tomb. After reading the message jade slip, the two exchanged a glance.
"Is he going to reveal his identity to everyone during the trial report?"
"Celestial Venerable reincarnation, severing all ties to acknowledge a master, Shadow Demon General—tell us everything? Aren't you afraid the elders will arrest you on the spot?"
Xiao Lie sheathed his sword: "He doesn't want to protect himself—he wants to use this opportunity to lure out Liu Yuan and the Shadow Demon General's old subordinates. Once he reveals his identity, that former subordinate lurking in the sect will definitely make a move. He'll either escape or take action. No matter which he chooses, he'll be exposed."
"What are we going to do?"
"Help him. He'll hold off most of the people, we'll go investigate the Pill Hall. Liu Yuan dug out a code name from forty years ago from the Shadow Demon's memories—'Medicine Slave.' This person was responsible for providing pills to the old subordinates, and given his status, he must have left traces in the Pill Hall's spirit stone stream." Xiao Lie looked up at the gloomy sky, grinned, and said, "In four days, the Azure Cloud Sect is likely to be in chaos."
On the eve of the trial report, Ling Chen sat alone beneath the sword monument. The moonlight was faint, making the three cracks in the character "sword" on the monument stand out starkly. He unfastened the Broken Thought sword from his waist and placed it on his lap, reviewing everything that had happened since he joined the Qingyun Sect. Drawing the sword from the monument, battling Xiao Lie, entering the Sword Tomb, slaying the Shadow Demon—every step felt like being pushed forward by an invisible hand. Now that hand had finally stopped, and it was his turn to take the initiative.
"Scared?" Old Mo's voice echoed softly.
"A little."
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid that if I step out tomorrow, I won't be able to protect the people around me. Su Qingyuan has been protecting me for three months, Liu Yuan was almost possessed by the Shadow Demon General, and Elder Jianxuan has been protecting me from beginning to end. On the day Duan Nian was born, eight protective swords stood in front of me—even the ancient swords in the Sword Tomb knew to protect their master, but I didn't even dare to tell the people around me who they were."
Elder Mo was silent for a moment: "So tomorrow you must step forward and plant the Heavenly Venerable flag on the gate of the Qingyun Sect. Let all the enemies hiding in the shadows come looking for you, and let all those who are still hesitating know which side to stand on."
"What if I can't stand up?"
"Then let's see who's standing behind you."
Ling Chen didn't reply. The night wind blew through the sea of clouds, causing the faded character "念" (nian, meaning "remember") on the sword tassel to flutter. He glanced down at it and gently pressed the character with his thumb.
Dawn was breaking. He stood up and hung the broken pendant back on his waist.
"Then let them see."