Several bowls of delicate dishes and a large jug of wine stood on the table before them. The two fellow disciples sat facing each other, gazing at the spread with furrowed brows and sighing, without the slightest appetite.
The inn where they had stopped that day was excellent. Its servants worked briskly, settling the animals before delivering sumptuous food and wine to the guests in each room. What should have been a time to relax and rest was instead smothered beneath an oppressive atmosphere.
Zhou Qingyang had inadvertently exposed the secret of the "Phoenix Embryo." How could either of them have any heart left for eating or drinking?
Looking back to their first meeting at Green Micro Temple, he had merely considered it a private matter, unsuitable for discussion with others. Who could have known that the longer he concealed it, the harder it would become to speak of? The elixir's name had become an unpredictable danger. Now that the secret was finally out, how could someone as discerning as she was fail to guess its connection to herself?
Before entering her room, Baozhu had left him a single expressionless instruction: Wei Xun was to come and speak with her after dinner.
With catastrophe looming, Wei Xun poured a bowl of wine, hoping drink would lend courage to a coward. But his throat was dry and tight, and for the moment he could not bring himself to raise it to his lips. Thirteenth Son watched ripples tremble across the wine. Clearly, Wei Xun's hand was shaking. No one would believe that a peerless master like him could become this nervous.
"Senior Brother, I'll chant sutras for you," the little novice said softly.
Wei Xun asked blankly, "You're already performing rites for my departed soul?"
"No," Thirteenth Son explained. "I'll pray