Chapter 193 — Decision

In the morning light, Tian Buhui's round face was grave, his brows knit, his look that of a man weighed down with cares. Su Wan followed behind him, also come out. From the look of the husband and wife, none could tell whether they had risen early or had not slept at all.

Su Wan's face was now deep with worry. After leaving the Shoujing Hall, she first glanced toward the disciples' quarters; finding them, as expected, quiet and empty, she said in a low voice, "Buyi, I still feel this course of yours is unwise. Let us discuss it once more."

Tian Buhui's face was heavy as water, his brows not loosening in the least. "This can be delayed no longer," he said in a low voice. "Since we returned from the Ancestral Hall, these past days Senior Brother Daoyan's condition has grown worse and worse. Yesterday word came down from Jietian Peak that he actually struck at Elder Fan and Xiao Yichen, who had gone to reason with him."

Su Wan was alarmed. "What? How could the sect master strike at them? How are those two? What provoked him? Were they injured?"

Tian Buhui gave a cold snort. "What else could it be? They saw Senior Brother Daoyan behaving strangely and went to counsel him. I hear Senior Brother Daoyan was speaking with them quite normally at first, but then for no reason flew into a rage and brought down a palm strike that gravely wounded Senior Brother Fan on the spot. That lad Xiao Yichen, though, was sharp—he actually got away, and came off unscathed."

Su Wan was taken aback. "Xiao Yichen was unharmed?"

Tian Buhui clasped his hands behind his back and pondered a moment. "He has always been clever, and having followed Senior Brother Daoyan for many years, he understands him better than most. Most likely he sensed something was wrong beforehand, seized the initiative, and only thus escaped by luck. But thank heaven he was sharp—it gave him time to drag Senior Brother Fan out and tend his wounds. Otherwise, who can say what might have happened?"

Su Wan was silent a while, her face shifting between light and dark. At length she said, "He—he has come to this, and still you must go see him?"

Tian Buhui drew a deep breath. "Others may not know, but surely you understand why I must see him?"

Su Wan said in a low voice, "But the sect master—his heart-devil has taken hold of him now, and no one knows what he is thinking. And his cultivation is so high, far beyond yours or mine. If you go risk yourself like this, I only fear—I only fear—"

Her voice trailed lower and lower, until at the end it was scarcely audible; plainly she herself did not wish to say it aloud. Tian Buhui sighed, turned, and gazed at Su Wan a moment. He reached out and gently took her slender hand. "Husband and wife all these years—of course I know what you fear. With a heart like yours, even if something befalls me, I would not care."

Su Wan's brows knit; she cut him off with a scolding cry: "What nonsense are you talking!"

Tian Buhui nodded, fell silent a moment, then said, "You know it well: the secret of the Immortal-Slaying Sword was the Canglan Sect's highest mystery, known in the beginning to the sect master alone. But in that battle in the wildlands years ago, I, Zeng Shuchang, and several others followed Senior Brother Wan to fight amid ten thousand miles of yellow sand, and by chance came to learn the secret. Afterward we few stood in the Ancestral Hall, before the spirit tablets of the Canglan Sect's past masters, and swore a solemn oath: for all our lives, we would never divulge a shred of it."

Su Wan sighed. "Why bring that up again? I was there too, and swore the same oath as you all. How could I forget?"

Tian Buhui said grimly, "Since Patriarch Qingye left behind his own inscribed admonition, every generation of masters has warned us again and again: the ancient Immortal-Slaying Sword must not be lightly used. In Patriarch Qingye's admonition it is stated outright that the sword's spirit is a malevolent spirit beyond all others, and that should its bearer's will waver or his foundation prove unstable, he shall fall into the demonic path. And now—do not Senior Brother Daoyan's strange signs answer exactly to the Patriarch's words?"

Su Wan bowed her head and was silent for a long while.

Tian Buhui lifted his eyes to the faintly brightening sky. Far off, at the edge of the morning mist, where cloud and vapor wreathed, the towering figure of Jietian Peak loomed, half hidden, half revealed.

"These past years, Senior Brother Daoyan has governed with diligence, and brought our Qingyun Sect to such prosperity that it now looks down upon the world and leads the orthodox path." Tian Buhui's voice suddenly carried a note of world-weariness. "I have thought before, too: even if Senior Brother Wan had taken the sect master's seat back then, I doubt he could have done better than Senior Brother Daoyan."

Su Wan's body trembled slightly. "Buyi—" she called softly, but seemed to swallow whatever was to follow.

Tian Buhui stood with hands behind his back, his face somewhat lost. "All these years, though I still secretly keep Senior Brother Wan's spirit tablet, toward Senior Brother Daoyan—honestly, I have come to admire him more and more. We quarrel often enough day to day, but as to how he conducts himself and handles affairs, I have nothing to say against it. Even ten years ago, when he struck Old Seven with the Immortal-Slaying Sword—"

"Buyi, don't!" Su Wan suddenly cried out. For some reason, looking at Tian Buhui, her eyes had gone red.

The muscles in Tian Buhui's face twitched; he forced out a smile, though it held no mirth at all—only pain. "The one in this world who best understands my heart is you. That battle ten years ago, I—I—" He gave a long sigh. "I truly could not bear to lose Old Seven! Among all those disciples, though that boy was the hardest to look at, in the end I still—ai!"

At his long sigh, both fell silent. Only after a while did Tian Buhui give a bitter, self-mocking smile. "After it happened that day, I harbored no small resentment toward Senior Brother Daoyan. I raised Old Seven myself—after ten-odd years, do I not know what manner of person he is? If there was a problem, I should have been the one to teach him; perhaps the matter could still have been turned around. But with that one sword stroke—heh—Old Seven came off unharmed, and Bilu was struck dead first. And that settled it: Old Seven had to rebel, whether he would or no. With that stubborn nature of his, I fear his whole life was ruined by that one stroke."

"But these past few years, when I occasionally search myself and think back on it, I have wondered: if I had been in Senior Brother Daoyan's place, that sword—would I have struck, or not?"

Su Wan gazed at her husband and said not a word. She only silently took his hand and patted the back of it gently, a small comfort.

Tian Buhui gave a faint smile, tinged with helplessness, and said to Su Wan, "In his place, I fear I too would have struck that sword in the end."

As though she had long known the answer, Su Wan bowed her head in silence.

Tian Buhui fell silent as well, gazing toward distant Jietian Peak. After a long while, Su Wan suddenly said, "Since your mind is made up, why not let me go with you to see Senior Brother Daoyan?"

Tian Buhui shook his head. "You had best not go. With more people, it will only be harder to talk. Senior Brother Daoyan has come to this for the sake of the world's common folk and the Canglan Sect. If I did not know, well and good—but since I know the secret, I cannot sit by and do nothing. I must go and see whether there is still room to salvage matters. I only hope Senior Brother Daoyan's cultivation runs deep enough that he may wake from that murderous qi. Otherwise—"

Here his voice broke off. Su Wan looked at him, and suddenly smiled faintly; the sorrow on her face vanished at once, replaced by a look of tender ache. "There now, say no more."