Who could have foreseen that Zhao Chiying would emerge at this moment, when she should have been at a critical junction in her secluded cultivation?
Fan Yuanbai and Zhou Yexue were covered in wounds. They were hanging on by a thread, their strength long spent. But sure enough, Zhao Chiying’s appearance gave them tremendous encouragement, and Lu Feng was furious. Without thinking, he turned his sword on Zhao Chiying, the glare of his sword blazingly fierce as it roared toward her, wrapped in savage sword qi.
Zhao Chiying held both hands in front of her, drawing the taijitu25 with her fingertips. Her long, slender fingers curved into a profusion of shapes, each arrestingly lovely. Lu Feng’s expression transformed into alarm, for his longsword was unable to advance even another inch. Under Zhao Chiying’s manipulation, the sword exploded into countless fragments.
“Ahhhh!” With a wretched scream, he was sent flying backward. He crashed into the wall behind him, and the major acupoints all over his body were promptly sealed.
At the other end of the inner grounds, Shen Qiao had also defeated his opponent. With the tendons of his sword hand cut, Ruan Hailou knelt on the ground, his face as pale as ash, Shen Qiao’s sword pressed against his neck.
It was over.
With Lu Feng, Ruan Hailou, and Pu Anmi all defeated and under control, there was little to fear from the rest of the enemies. Bixia Sect’s remaining disciples had found their backbone. They quickly stabilized the situation and rounded up all the members of Dongzhou Sect. However, when they looked at the scene before them, the sect’s disciples littering the ground, their blood flowing in small rivers, none could dredge up the joy of victory. There was only a sense of heaviness and exhaustion.
Zhao Chiying looked to Lu Feng. “Elder Lu, I know you and Ruan Hailou used to get along very well. But was that all it took for you to be so cruel? To throw away our disciples’ lives, collude with outsiders, and destroy Bixia Sect like it was nothing?”
Lu Feng sneered. “For many years, you disregarded sect affairs and focused only on your secluded cultivation,” he said defiantly. “When have you ever been a competent sect leader? What right do you have to question me?! Yue Kunchi’s a terrible martial artist and a mediocre administrator. Bixia Sect has long been in decline—it’s a second- or third-rate sect now. If we don’t take drastic measures to reform it, then in a few years, the entire sect will disappear from the world! Ruan-shixiong was one of our own, and now he’s the son-in-law to the King of Goguryeo! Why shouldn’t he lead Bixia Sect and restore its former glory?! You really are skilled at shortchanging people. Everyone here has been fighting for hours and many even lost their lives. Then, at the last moment, you swoop in to clean up the mess. Just as I’d expect of the sect leader! The winner becomes king, the loser the villain! What else is there to say?”
Zhao Chiying shook her head and didn’t argue with Lu Feng. She only told Fan Yuanbai and the rest to take him into custody, then turned to Ruan Hailou. “Ruan Hailou, after your actions today, you owe a blood debt to Bixia Sect, so I will kill you. Do you have anything left to say?”
Ruan Hailou stared unswervingly at Zhao Chiying. “Yue Kunchi told me earlier that Hui Leshan said something about me before he passed.”
“It’s true,” said Zhao Chiying. “Before Shifu passed, he told us everything.”
“What did he say?” Ruan Hailou asked coldly. “Probably something about my boundless greed, about how I was unworthy of his kindness?”
Zhao Chiying shook her head and said slowly, “Shifu said that he was the closest to you out of all his martial siblings back then. At the time, Bixia’s younger generation was full of talented geniuses. Everyone thought the sect would prosper in your generation’s hands. My master and you were the most outstanding of the group, so Shizu26 couldn’t make up his mind—he didn’t know who to appoint as the next sect leader.
“The contest for the title was exceedingly fierce. Shizu and the elders issued challenge after challenge, but the two of you overcame them all. I heard that one such challenge involved placing the two of you in different locations, then having both of you rush to Chang’an—first to arrive would be the victor. War was widespread then, so the journeys were terribly perilous, fraught with difficulty. My master fell ill in Yi Province, and your path happened to take you through there as well. You held up your trip to take care of him. And so, in the end, neither of you was the first to arrive. It was another disciple entirely.”
As she talked, Ruan Hailou, too, seemed to sink into memories of these old affairs. “Yes, he was always stubborn and never admitted defeat. No matter what it was, he’d fight to the last. During that race, he fell seriously ill—he was completely unable to get out of bed. If it weren’t for that, he’d have never let it hold him up. I just couldn’t leave him alone in the inn like that.”
“My master said that he’d always been competitive, even as a child. He was completely obsessed with winning and losing. You were the one who always yielded to him. He never had the chance to thank you properly.”
Ruan Hailong spat a derisive laugh. “I don’t need his gratitude! He was great at pretending to be the good guy in front of you. I’m sure he’s made all sort of embellishments to his accomplishments!”
Zhao Chying ignored the bitterness in his voice and continued. “The challenges and the contest for sect leader became increasingly intense. With only victory on his mind, my master cast aside his old friendship and took some dishonorable measures…”
Yue Kunchi burst out, “Shimei!”
“This is what Shizun told us before he passed,” said Zhao Chiying calmly. “You heard everything then too. I’m only truthfully conveying his words.”
“But…”
“One must absolutely respect his seniors”—this concept was deeply ingrained in him. He simply couldn’t bring himself to speak ill of his departed shifu, no matter what.
Zhao Chiying continued, “The innocent will remain innocent, and sinners will remain sinners. The truth is there forever—it won’t disappear with the passage of time. The wrongs Shifu committed back then indirectly led to our current state of affairs. As his disciples, we must bear the consequences. This, too, was Shizun’s wish before he passed away.”
Off to one side, Fan Yuanbai’s group was dumbfounded.
These old affairs, concealed and little known, had finally come to a conclusion that chaotic night. Zhao Chiying and Yue Kunchi had only been young disciples then, unable to grasp what was really going on. There was even less to be said about the likes of Fan Yuanbai, who hadn’t even joined the sect yet.
Zhao Chiying said to Ruan Hailou, “Shifu once told you that you were more capable than he was. That you should be the one to take up the position of sect leader. He said that he wouldn’t participate in the contest anymore, and you believed him. So the two of you drank yourselves into a haze, and when you woke, Shizu’s youngest daughter was lying beside you. Shizu thought you’d lost your morals in your drunkenness, and he deemed you unfit for any important role. With no way to exonerate yourself, you asked Shifu to testify on your behalf. But instead, he accused you. Before he died, Shifu said that he’d purposely gotten you drunk that night. He also knew Shizu’s daughter held a torch for you, so he colluded with her and staged that scene, deceiving Shizu and everyone else. But you were fiery and forthright—in your wrath, you clashed with Shizu, then left the sect in a rage…”