Silencing a witness?

After that, the Cloud Radiance Sect disciples guarding the formation discovered them and escorted them back to Ji Lianyi's residence.

At the entrance to the courtyard, Shen Leyan stopped and said goodbye to Ji Lianyi.

"All right, I've seen this through to the end. You can tell your subordinates what happened today yourself."

I'm dead tired. I need to get back to my room and catch up on sleep.

After an entire day on edge, he could finally relax. All he felt now was overwhelming exhaustion, his eyelids fighting to close so he could fall asleep immediately.

After taking that bottle of medicine, Ji Lianyi no longer looked so frighteningly pale, and he hadn't passed out on the way back.

He gazed at Shen Leyan for a while, then nodded. "...All right."

A moment later, he added quietly,

"Once my injuries have healed a little, I'll send someone to find you."

Shen Leyan: "..."

"If you're inviting me to eat, drink, and have fun, sure. If you want to discuss serious business, forget it."

Too many powerful people are involved in this assassination attempt. I don't want to get dragged into it.

Ji Lianyi smiled faintly. He was far too beautiful, and with wounds covering his body and blood staining the corner of his lips, he had an added air of fragility that tugged at the heart.

Shen Leyan froze for a moment, then heard him say,

"Don't worry. No one will disturb your peace over this."

"Then thank you, Your Highness!"

He turned to leave. Behind him, the Imperial Guards stationed in the courtyard hurried out to receive the crown prince, anxiously asking after his injuries.

Sensing that Ji Lianyi's gaze still hadn't left him, he couldn't resist looking back.

The mask of a cruel, capricious tyrant had settled over Ji Lianyi's face again. He coughed as he berated several Imperial Guards.

"Useless fools! A spy was hiding among the Imperial Guard, and not one of you noticed! If this happens again, I'll have your arms and legs chopped off and turn every last one of you into a human swine!"

The Imperial Guards knelt to beg forgiveness, drenched in sweat.

Amid the commotion, Cloud Radiance Sect disciples on their way to morning classes passed outside the courtyard and peered over curiously.

Who knew how many were merely enjoying the spectacle, and how many harbored agendas of their own...

Shen Leyan slept like the dead.

By the time he woke, the sky had darkened again. He seemed to have slept through the entire day.

For some reason, black sludge covered his body, as though it were impurities refined out of his meridians. Usually, this only happened when he circulated his cultivation technique to cultivate spiritual power.

Unable to stand the stench coming off him, Shen Leyan hurriedly grabbed a clean set of clothes and prepared to fetch water for a bath.

He had only just carried a wooden bucket out of his room when he saw several people sitting—or lying—in the courtyard.

Lu Yuanyi, Qingli, Senior Brother Chen Jing...

Senior Brother Chen Jing lay on a stretcher, hissing, "It hurts like fucking hell," while craning his neck toward Shen Leyan's room. "Leyan still isn't awake? Why isn't he awake yet? When exactly is he going to wake up?"

His eyes lit up when he spotted him. "Leyan!"

Lu Yuanyi sat on a stone chair, watching him quietly with cool, phoenix-shaped eyes.

Qingli sat as far from Lu Yuanyi as possible and frowned. "Shen Leyan, I may be a rock, but I've taken human form, at least... Don't you think you're dressed a little inappropriately?"

Shen Leyan glanced down.

Naturally, he had only worn an inner robe and underpants to bed.

But because his body was covered in foul-smelling black sludge, he had loosened the collar of his inner robe.

The youth was tall and slender, his build slightly slight, with smooth, clearly defined collarbones showing beneath his collar.

He hastily turned away and pulled his collar closed, saying guiltily, "...Let me take a bath first. Whatever it is, we can talk afterward!"

A hot bath washed away all his fatigue and drowsiness.

Shen Leyan put on clean clothes and came into the courtyard. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Don't tell me... you all know about Great Xia's crown prince?"

He looked at Lu Yuanyi first. With the Haoran Bell causing such a commotion, and the crown prince involved, it would have been strange if Lu Yuanyi hadn't known.

Lu Yuanyi's golden eyes were fathomless. "There's a curfew at night. Instead of resting in your room, what were you doing running into the mountains in stealth clothes?"

"...It was because of those people waiting for me outside the Cicada Song Pavilion yesterday!"

There was a trace of grievance in Shen Leyan's voice that even he hadn't noticed.

"I went out at night to speak to the senior brothers and sisters at the Law Enforcement Hall and ask them to put up a 'No entry' sign on the path to the Cicada Song Pavilion. I wore stealth clothes because I was afraid someone would recognize me on the way there... As for why I ended up in the mountains, I admit I got lost."

"...You managed to get lost on such a short walk?" Qingli asked in surprise.

Shen Leyan blinked innocently and dragged Lu Yuanyi into it without a shred of shame. "Sect Master Lu gets lost too. Why can't I?!"

Chen Jing tried to soothe them in a quiet voice. "All right, all right, never mind why Leyan went into the mountains... Hiss, that hurts. I heard Great Xia's crown prince was badly injured in an assassination attempt. Leyan, are you all right?! Ow, ow, ow—"

Shen Leyan turned in place a few times and moved his arms and legs. "Don't worry, Senior Brother. Look, I can run and jump. I'm perfectly fine."

He recounted everything: how he had encountered Ji Lianyi deep in the mountains, how the Peacock Gate assassins had mistaken him for one of their own, and how he had made it look as though the crown prince had died...

As he spoke, Chen Jing and Qingli alternately clenched their hands in suspense and broke into smiles, their expressions as colorful as if they were listening to a storyteller.

"Well, damn..." Chen Jing sighed. "Leyan, doesn't that mean you saved the crown prince's life? Could you get yourself made a marquis?"

Shen Leyan smiled bitterly. "Forget being made a marquis. I'll thank my lucky stars if the people who want the crown prince dead and the Peacock Gate don't find out who I am and put me on their hit list!"

The smiles immediately vanished from Chen Jing's and Qingli's faces.

"That's... a good point."

"Does anyone besides you know I saved the crown prince?"

He hadn't removed the black cloth covering his face at any point while accompanying Ji Lianyi back to the Cloud Radiance Sect. On his way back to his room, he had deliberately taken deserted paths and even stripped off his stealth clothes and burned them along the way.

No one should have seen his face.

The two shook their heads. "We only found out you nearly died in the mountains with the crown prince because Sect Master Lu told us."

Shen Leyan acknowledged that and sat in the stone chair beside Lu Yuanyi, propping his chin on one hand. "Sect Master Lu, what brings you here?"

Shouldn't you be discussing the attempt on Great Xia's crown prince within the Cloud Radiance Sect's territory with the sect elders... and that Confucian Dao grandmaster who supposedly came from the imperial palace?

"I heard a disciple of the sect got lost and nearly died, so I came to take a look."

Shen Leyan: "..."

Lu Yuanyi suddenly reached over and adjusted the white jade hairpin Shen Leyan had put in crookedly.

"No one in the Cloud Radiance Sect will know you were involved. I erased that part of the memories of the disciples who brought you and Ji Lianyi back. Did anyone see your face in the mountains?"

The Peacock Gate assassins had never seen his face. They were probably still deeply moved by his "selfless sacrifice" and would certainly have no idea who he was.

But—

"The Confucian Dao grandmaster with the Haoran Bell, Ning Weimo, might know who I am."

Judging by what Ji Lianyi had said at the time, Ning Weimo definitely wasn't part of the Eastern Palace faction. She was probably backing one of the crown prince's rivals.

Ji Lianyi had suddenly said, "He has a Cicada Song Pavilion Token. Lady Ning, you should know Sect Master Lu's temperament." Looking back, it might have been a threat and a warning to Ning Weimo.

What had Ning Weimo intended to do?

Had she thought he knew too much about the assassination attempt and wanted to silence him?

Or had she wanted to kill Ji Lianyi as well and pin it all on the Peacock Gate?

Following that train of thought, Shen Leyan nearly broke out in another cold sweat. So much for the bath he had just taken.

If Ning Weimo knew who he was, didn't that mean Ji Lianyi's rivals knew too? And wasn't that as good as the Peacock Gate knowing?

◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞

...Will I ever be able to take even half a step outside the Cloud Radiance Sect safely again?

The moment he stepped beyond the sect's borders, a horde of assassins lying in ambush would probably hack him to pieces.

At the mention of Ning Weimo's name, Lu Yuanyi's expression seemed to grow a little colder.

Qingli and Chen Jing looked grave as well, their gazes filled with sympathy and helplessness.

Shen Leyan scratched his head in distress. "Sect Master Lu... do I need to find some spiritual medicine that can change my appearance and build, then change my name?"

"...Silencing Ning Weimo would be somewhat troublesome."

Shen Leyan said, "Of course it would."

He paused, then abruptly realized what Lu Yuanyi meant.

"Huh?"

In a rare show of patience, Lu Yuanyi explained, "Ning Weimo is the Third Prince of Great Xia's master, so naturally she supports the Third Prince's bid for the throne. The Third Prince wasn't behind this assassination attempt on the crown prince, so Ning Weimo wouldn't act personally. But she wouldn't mind doing the mastermind a favor."

"...So I'm that 'favor'?" Shen Leyan pointed at himself.

"Yes."

Lu Yuanyi suddenly caught his wrist and pressed his restless hand against the table. Then Shen Leyan felt a pleasantly cool stream of spiritual power flow into him, soothing his anxious mind almost instantly.

"Don't be afraid." Lu Yuanyi's voice was still cool, but there was a trace of gentleness in his tone.

An almost imperceptible flicker of killing intent passed through the depths of those narrow, dark-gold eyes.

"Killing a Confucian Dao grandmaster... wouldn't be all that troublesome."

Shen Leyan: "..."

Chen Jing & Qingli: "(⊙o⊙)"

Compared to the Cloud Radiance Sect's culture, the Peacock Gate is nothing!

*All my cheers for Sect Master Lu! *:ஐ٩(๑´ᵕ`)۶ஐ:**

Deeply touched, Shen Leyan quickly collected himself, afraid Lu Yuanyi might grab the Jiangxue Sword and charge into the mountains to fight Ning Weimo the very next moment.

"Sect Master Lu, I don't think we necessarily need to go straight to 'silencing' her."

Lu Yuanyi raised an eyebrow.

Shen Leyan laid out his reasoning. "Ning Weimo knows I have a Cicada Song Pavilion Token. She must think there's some connection between us.

"She doesn't dare offend the Cloud Radiance Sect, but she doesn't want to leave empty-handed either, so she'll offer me to the mastermind behind this assassination attempt as a favor.

"But I'm just a little Qi Refining Stage disciple. I'm insignificant to the struggle for Great Xia's throne. Killing me and making an enemy of the Cloud Radiance Sect wouldn't be worth it.

"The mastermind isn't an idiot either. He might not even want to owe her that favor!"

Qingli suddenly understood. "So we only need to threaten Ning Weimo into keeping quiet!"

"Exactly!"

Between a favor someone might not even want and Sect Master Lu's attitude—or even the Cloud Radiance Sect's stance—even a fool would know which mattered more!

Having figured that out, Shen Leyan's tense expression gradually relaxed. His dark, peach-blossom eyes shone as he looked at Lu Yuanyi, like a cat waiting to be praised.

Lu Yuanyi's lips curved slightly.

"Fairly clever."

If the youth had a tail, it would certainly have been swishing smugly.

"But... all of that depends on the Cloud Radiance Sect remaining safe, and on me remaining alive," Lu Yuanyi said quietly, his voice deepening slightly. "If war breaks out between the immortal sects and the Demons, nothing will be certain. Who will protect you then?"

Shen Leyan froze.

A storm surged through his heart.

Lu Yuanyi had mentioned the Immortal-Demon War?! Had he also sensed that these peaceful days wouldn't last more than a few years?

He took a deep breath.

He suddenly realized that during his time in the Cloud Radiance Sect, he too had grown accustomed to a peaceful daily life. Without realizing it, he had begun to think the Immortal-Demon War was still far away, and there was no rush to deal with it.

But—nothing was certain!

Someone was protecting him now that trouble had arisen, but could anyone protect him for his entire life?

Could he really enjoy his days without a care, watching the people around him face danger for his sake?!

If so, what was the point of cultivating immortality?

What had happened to Senior Brother Chen Jing would happen again someday!!!

Lu Yuanyi's voice remained calm. "So the safest course is for Ning Weimo to die, leaving no one who knows you were involved in the attempt on Ji Lianyi's life."

As though sensing its master's thoughts, the Jiangxue Sword sprang from its sheath with a ringing clang. Cold air surged around its chilling blade.

Qingli and Chen Jing were already dumbstruck. Knowing this was beyond anything they could involve themselves in, they merely frowned deeply and remained silent.

Countless thoughts churned in Shen Leyan's eyes, until all those tangled emotions abruptly dispersed.

Only a clear, unwavering light remained in the youth's gaze.

"...Even if war breaks out with the demons, there's still enough time."

He stepped forward and took hold of the Jiangxue Sword's hilt. The sword was bewildered for a moment, but obediently stayed in his hand.

"Sect Master Lu, haven't you considered... that by then, I might not need anyone to protect me? That I might be able to keep myself safe?"

Lu Yuanyi gazed steadily at him.

"With my luck, I suspect I'll run into plenty of trouble in the future. If you silence every last person involved, Sect Master Lu, the Jiangxue Sword's edge might end up blunted."

Dragged into the conversation through no fault of its own, the Jiangxue Sword hummed in protest. Finding that its master had no intention of helping it prove its edge wouldn't blunt so easily, it fell aggrievedly silent again.

As Shen Leyan continued, his voice grew a little quieter with embarrassment.

"...Besides, I won't let anything happen to the Cloud Radiance Sect. Whether it's the Immortal-Demon War or anything else, no one is allowed to lay a finger on the sect."

"Sect Master Lu... you've lived so long already. Stop talking about dying and all that."

Since he knew how Lu Yuanyi had died in the original novel, he wouldn't let history repeat itself.