The One Who Was Gone (4)

True Person Yu Qing looked at Ye Jingxuan's taut profile, his brow furrowed deeply, and sighed helplessly. At some point, the wind beyond the courtyard had died. The plants filling the yard seemed drained of life; even the veins on their leaves looked dull.

"You have so little faith in me? In the sect?" An almost imperceptible weariness weighed down his voice, as though the courtyard's silence had seeped into it. "In your eyes, is the Profound Heaven Sect truly so heartless?"

Ye Jingxuan kept his eyes lowered, his fingertips absently tracing the marks along the stone stool's edge. He had carved those crooked branches and leaves one cut at a time when he first learned the craft. Years of wear had smoothed them, but he could still feel the grooves of uneven depth.

He was silent so long that True Person Yu Qing nearly thought he would not answer. At last, he slowly raised his eyes. There was not a ripple in them, only an almost ruthless clarity. "What the sect leader thinks, what the Profound Heaven Sect does—it doesn't matter."

"There are only two paths: kill him or protect him." His fingers suddenly tightened, the knuckles turning white as they nearly dug into the stone stool's carvings. "If they truly mean to kill him, I will never accept it."

"The Profound Heaven Sect leads the righteous path." Ye Jingxuan's gaze swept over the round gate in the courtyard wall, where ivy hung limp from the lintel. "Who knows how many eyes are watching it, openly and in secret? If someone makes an issue of his identity as a Ghost Cultivator..."

He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice, but it carried a bone-deep chill. "I won't gamble. I won't gamble that the sect leader and elders will stake