Heavenly Dew (2)

Silence spread through the hall. Only incense ash rustled as it fell, its faint sound trailing on like a silken thread for half an hour.

True Person Yu Qing kept his gaze fixed on Shen Yuxi's pale face upon the couch. Inside his wide sleeves, he rubbed his fingers together again and again until his knuckles turned white.

Only when he had forced down some of the anger surging in his chest did he slowly turn to Lin Huaixu, who knelt on the floor. His voice was as cold as ice. "You know why Qingming won't wake up, don't you?"

"If this disciple has guessed correctly," Lin Huaixu said, slowly raising his head. The hint of a smile he had concealed in his eyes was gone, leaving only the stillness of a deep pool. "He revealed a heavenly secret and suffered divine punishment for it."

True Person Yu Qing slammed his palm onto the sandalwood table. The tabletop shuddered. The white porcelain teacup he had polished smooth through years of handling leaped half a foot into the air, spilling cold tea across the dark wood in an ugly stain.

A vein twitched at his temple. Anger edged his voice. "He is your senior brother! What has Qingming ever done to you that you would scheme against him like this?"

"Senior Brother has treated me well." Lin Huaixu's voice remained calm, but each word was a blunt knife slowly cutting through the false front. "But Sect Leader, aren't you the same as me? For the sect's survival, you could tacitly allow Second Senior Brother to be sacrificed. For the truth, I'm willing to be the villain everyone spits on."

"You!" True Person Yu Qing choked on the word, his chest heaving.

Lin Huaixu had spoken an undeniable truth. If it meant