Better You Than Me

The two entered the room. Its furnishings were simple and elegant, with an air of austere detachment. On the bed in the bedchamber lay a man with handsome, refined features. He was the sect leader, Shi Ruobai.

He lay unconscious on the bed, his entire body encased in ice. Multicolored spiritual power faintly flowed across its surface. Through the ice, Lin Qingyang could see his blue-black complexion. Fine black threads covered his exposed skin like a spiderweb, spreading along his meridians. Some had spread into the ice, leaving tiny cracks.

Xue Lanyuan stepped forward and saw the cracks in the ice. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she raised a hand, resting it lightly on the surface. A chill spread from her body, making Lin Qingyang shiver beside her.

Lin Qingyang leaned closer to look at Shi Ruobai. He had assumed the sect leader would be an old man, but he actually looked only in his thirties. Looking at him like this, the pain in his chest seemed to grow more pronounced. Grief surged up, and his eyes suddenly stung, nearly spilling tears.

Xue Lanyuan cast her spell for a while. The spiritual light that had only faintly flowed across the ice brightened, and many of the black threads receded. Even the tiny cracks mended. She withdrew her hand. Whether from the cold or excessive exertion, her face looked a little paler, and her expression had grown much heavier.

"How is he?" Lin Qingyang asked after steadying his emotions.

"This Demon Poison is far too potent. It can directly corrode the spiritual root. I used the Profound Ice Technique to freeze his spiritual meridians, but that can only slow the poison's spread. I'm afraid he won't last more than a few days," Xue Lanyuan said anxiously.

Although Lin Qingyang did not understand, he could roughly guess that a spiritual root was probably much like a heart to a cultivator.

"Is there no way to cure the poison?" Lin Qingyang asked with a frown.

Xue Lanyuan shook her head, her eyes slightly red. "This poison was refined by a highly cultivated Great Demon using its own demonic power. Every demon's poison is different. Usually, only the demon itself can cure it, and of course, some poisons have no cure at all."

Lin Qingyang said nothing. After an oppressive silence, Xue Lanyuan stood and went into the outer room.

Lin Qingyang followed her out. There were few things in the room, only a few unfinished volumes of ancient texts lying open on the desk. The incense smoke from the patterned bronze burner on the desk had long since dispersed, leaving only a faint lingering fragrance in the air that lent the room an inexplicable chill and stillness. Beside the burner sat a celadon tea set, its cups already gathering dust.

"Master drank tea from this set of cups on the day he was poisoned," Xue Lanyuan said, pointing at the cups.

"Then this counts as the murder weapon." As Lin Qingyang spoke, he picked up a cup and examined it closely, but could make nothing of it.

If this world could test fingerprints, things would be much simpler. As he thought this, images suddenly flashed through his mind: hot tea being slowly poured into a celadon cup, then handed to Shi Ruobai, who sat opposite.

Lin Qingyang frowned. Panic stirred in his heart, and he suddenly had an ominous suspicion.

Beside him, Xue Lanyuan continued, "The sect leader is my master. I've been by his side since childhood, so I know him better than any of you. Master is actually a very unparticular person. Normally, he would just brew his tea casually in that big bowl. He only brought out this tea set to entertain visitors, so someone must have been drinking tea with him that day!"

As Lin Qingyang listened to Xue Lanyuan, the images in his mind grew clearer: he and Shi Ruobai sat opposite each other, drinking tea. Shi Ruobai seemed to be saying something, then his expression suddenly changed. Clutching his chest, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and stared at him in disbelief, his gaze filled with anguish.

"Do you truly hate me that much?" Shi Ruobai forced out those final words before he could hold on no longer and collapsed.

Lin Qingyang snapped back to himself and nearly dropped the teacup. Was this... the original owner's memory? So the person who poisoned the sect leader was actually me! A chill ran down his spine, and the sword in his hand seemed to sense something too, trembling incessantly.

Xue Lanyuan's voice sounded beside his ear. "There were no outside visitors during those days. The only people in the sect who could have drunk tea with him were the elders!"

As she spoke, she turned to look at him. Her piercing gaze made Lin Qingyang's heart tighten, but he still forced a composed smile. "So who do you suspect?"

Xue Lanyuan stared sharply at him. "You!"

Lin Qingyang's heart lurched. He stared at Xue Lanyuan, momentarily unable to speak.

Then she continued, "Before today, I did suspect you. Although you and Master are fellow disciples, your relationship hasn't been good over the years, and you never showed yourself after Master was poisoned. But today, you advocated reopening the investigation. Only then did I realize I'd been mistaken."

Lin Qingyang slowly let out a breath, unable to keep from grumbling inwardly. Lady, just say what you have to say! Why pause like that?

"You certainly are candid," Lin Qingyang said with a couple of dry chuckles.

"But if we rule out you and me, that leaves only Elder Mo and Elder Jin." Xue Lanyuan's expression was grave. After a pause, she added, "You said earlier that you saw Elder Mo enter the sect leader's room that day. Was that really just nonsense?"

"Of course it was... true! I really saw him!" Lin Qingyang's mind shifted, and the words leaving his mouth changed with it.

Seeing Xue Lanyuan's expression turn serious, Lin Qingyang hurriedly added, "But that doesn't prove he harmed the sect leader. Perhaps he only came to discuss something with him."

"If he had nothing to hide, why did he deny it just now?" Xue Lanyuan said grimly. Looking utterly convinced that Mo Yan was the culprit, she turned to leave and confront him.

Lin Qingyang quickly stopped her. "Elder Xue, we have no conclusive evidence right now. If you question him and he denies it, what can you do? Surely you can't arrest him and torture him for answers?"

Xue Lanyuan stopped, at a loss for words.

Lin Qingyang seized the chance to continue hurriedly, "He's an elder with profound cultivation and many disciples under him. If a conflict really breaks out, I'm afraid it could spiral out of control! Why didn't I expose him in the hall earlier? Precisely because I was considering all this. With the sect leader already in this state, the Nine Skies Sect can't withstand internal strife!"

His words calmed Xue Lanyuan. She nodded with a frown. "I was too impulsive. Elder Lin, you've thought this through much more thoroughly!"

"You're only letting your concern cloud your judgment," Lin Qingyang consoled her.

Xue Lanyuan looked at Lin Qingyang with a complicated expression. "I always thought you still blamed Master for what happened back then and didn't care about him. I never imagined... I misjudged you."

"We're all fellow disciples. There's no need to say such things," Lin Qingyang said gently. Then his expression grew serious again. "The most urgent matter now is Mo Yan. Since he's colluding with the Demon Clan, he's bound to contact them. As long as we watch him closely, we'll eventually catch him in the act. Then we can take both him and the demon down in one fell swoop! We'll also be able to find a way to save the sect leader."

In just a few sentences, he had turned Mo Yan from a suspect into the culprit. Xue Lanyuan did not seem to notice anything amiss.

"Don't worry. I'll keep a close eye on him," Xue Lanyuan said resolutely.

"With you on it, of course I can rest easy." Lin Qingyang nodded in relief, inwardly letting out a quiet breath. Sorry, Elder Mo. As they say, better you than me. You'll just have to take one for me.

He put the celadon cup back, only to notice an exquisite curved saber on the desk. Its scabbard was engraved with a rugged beast-head design, its style quite unlike the other objects in the room.

Xue Lanyuan still looked worriedly at Shi Ruobai on the bed. She sighed. "I just don't know whether Master can hold on until then!"

Lin Qingyang also looked at the man lying between the bed curtains. That unfamiliar grief that did not belong to him was still spreading through his heart.