Zhan Xingtang was a small sect affiliated with Wangyue Pavilion. Despite having such a powerful backer, it had little renown. Still, when the four on Cen Yuchi’s side heard the words “Zhan Xingtang,” their expressions all shifted.
The “trouble” that Ten-Zhang Manor had encountered earlier, as mentioned before, was precisely with this Zhan Xingtang. Now that this man claiming to be the sect leader of Zhan Xingtang had stepped forward, nothing pleasant was likely to come out of his mouth.
The girl from Ten-Zhang Manor was just about to say something when Cen Yuchi stopped her: “Yiyi, let him speak first.”
Meng Shiyi blinked. Though unconvinced, she still obeyed Cen Yuchi and said nothing.
Bi Youzhong declared, “Young Peak Master Mu, with Immortal Feather Peak’s strength, I believe you can certainly afford to compensate for a mere sword. But let me ask you can you afford to compensate for people’s hearts? Can you afford to compensate for a life!”
His voice rang with confidence. Hearing this, Mu Linchuan glanced at Cen Yuchi, only to see that Cen Yuchi did not seem surprised by Bi Youzhong’s words at all his face was merely dark and gloomy, brows tightly knitted as he stared at the man.
When Cen Yuchi was carried back to Immortal Feather Peak by Mu Lian, he was only three years old, and Mu Linchuan was only five. The two had essentially grown up together like brothers, so Mu Linchuan understood immediately: whatever this Zhan Xingtang sect leader was about to say next would be absolutely, one hundred percent detrimental to Cen Yuchi, and there would be little room to maneuver.
Mu Linchuan smiled and said, “From your words, Senior, it seems there is some other hidden matter. Since it has nothing to do with today’s gathering, I invite you to join me in the council hall to discuss it privately. This is a place of refinement, and I trust that everyone present who has come to Immortal Feather Peak would rather not be disturbed by other affairs.”
Mu Linchuan’s words were perfectly tactful, but Bi Youzhong ignored the warning in them. As if intending to tear away all pretense, he sneered, “Hah, forgive my bluntness, but if Immortal Feather Peak truly cared so much about others’ feelings, today’s incident would never have happened!” Bi Youzhong then turned to the crowd and declared loudly, “Everyone! Those of you who have come here are surely all prominent figures on the Shangyang Continent! You have all come with respect to attend this banquet. Yet Immortal Feather Peak has seated a scourge of the Immortal Sect here among us as an equal! Young Peak Master Mu, I ask you is this Immortal Feather Peak’s way of treating guests!”
Immortal Feather Peak had always attracted more flatterers than opponents. In day-to-day exchanges, all were people who observed strict etiquette, and Mu Linchuan had never before encountered anyone carrying such open hostility in their words. For a moment, he found it somewhat hard to keep face.
Seeing that Mu Linchuan did not respond, Bi Youzhong continued addressing the crowd: “Surely everyone here knows exactly who I’m speaking of. All these years, this person has not only failed to repent, but has grown worse and worse, and all of you have endured this person time and again. I had no wish to stir up trouble, but Zhan Xingtang can honestly say we have never provoked conflict in all our years of wandering the jianghu yet some days ago, we narrowly escaped utter annihilation!”
Meng Shiyi finally lost her patience and snapped, “Old man! If you’ve got something to say, spit it out! What’s the point of all this snide insinuation!”
“Brat! This is no place for you to speak!”
Cen Yuchi’s gaze sharpened, and he said in a low voice, “Anyone from my Ten-Zhang Manor so long as they have a mouth has every right to speak.”
At that moment, several more people arrived through the air, accompanied by celestial music.
Leading the procession was a silver-white sedan chair, borne at each corner by a veiled maidservant. All four wore white robes and carried the chair with a single hand, their steps light and graceful, a clear sign of their considerable cultivation. Through the gauze, a woman in light robes could be faintly seen seated within the sedan; even layers of veiled curtains could not conceal her beauty. Walking beside and slightly behind the sedan was a man wearing a formal cap and a pale blue robe, a fine jade ornament at his waist, his face bearing a smile, his manner refined and scholarly. Clearly, these two were Jiang Yueli, the Mistress of Wangyue Pavilion, and her head steward, Song Weilan.
Song Weilan bowed to Mu Linchuan and Cen Yuchi in turn, then said to Mu Linchuan with a smile, “Young Peak Master Mu, our Mistress saw that you had not returned for so long and came specially to find out what happened. It seems Zhan Xingtang has caused you trouble. Weilan offers her apologies in advance.”
Mu Linchuan hastily returned the bow. “Steward Song, what are you saying? It is I who have been an inadequate host.”
Seeing their backers arrive, the people of Zhan Xingtang cried out, “Mistress! Steward Song, stand up for us!”
The woman in the sedan gave a slight nod, and Song Weilan shot Bi Youzhong a glance, signaling him to continue.
Bi Youzhong performed a deep bow toward the two from Wangyue Pavilion, then raised his head and declared righteously, “Mistress, Steward Song. On the seventeenth of last month, Ten-Zhang Manor sent men to Zhan Xingtang demanding our hall’s treasure, the Star-fall Stone. Do you all know that the Star-fall Stone has been recorded in our registers since the founding of Zhan Xingtang? It is the lifeblood of our entire hall. If the Star-fall Stone is lost, Zhan Xingtang will cease to exist. Naturally, we refused to hand it over, and they turned hostile and tried to seize it by force, coming to blows with our disciples. In the chaos, they actually set fire to our storage pavilion! Setting aside the losses for the moment, pitifully, our Zhan Xingtang disciples were burned alive trying to protect the treasures within! Only then was the Star-fall Stone saved. But that scoundrel, though he failed to take the Star-fall Stone, he made off with the luminous pearl enshrined in our main hall, saying that his young master’s dog kept barking at night, and he would take the pearl back to make a night-light of it!”
Bi Youzhong’s voice grew louder and louder as he spoke, his emotions increasingly beyond control, until at last he was weeping openly, unable to restrain himself. He asked in anguish, “Everyone, did my Zhan Xingtang lose several lives merely to silence one night of barking from a dog at Ten-Zhang Manor!”
The crowd erupted at Bi Youzhong’s account. If it was truly as he described, then Ten-Zhang Manor’s actions were utterly savage and outrageous.
“Someone like that, how is he fit to sit here?!” someone cursed.
“Downright worse than pigs and dogs!” Echoes of agreement rose in waves.
Hearing this, Jiang Yueli turned her head slightly toward the rear, as if in inquiry.
Song Weilan understood, stepped forward two paces, and leaned in to answer, “Mistress, Zhan Xingtang did indeed report this matter. Weilan personally led an investigation, and the findings largely matched Bi Youzhong’s account. However,”
Song Weilan paused, glancing casually at Cen Yuchi, then spoke in a voice deliberately lowered yet still clearly audible to both Cen Yuchi and Mu Linchuan: “However, considering that he is, after all, Young Master Cen… and also… given the connection to Immortal Feather Peak, Weilan did not make it public. I took it upon myself to arrange matters for the deceased and injured brothers without reporting to you, Mistress. I beg your forgiveness.”
“How many died?” These were the first words Jiang Yueli spoke as she arrived, drawn by the commotion. Her voice was cold and clear, like the crisp crack of shattering ice, yet remarkably pleasant to hear.
“Eleven dead, twenty-four wounded.”
Jiang Yueli nodded, then turned her head and asked, “Young Peak Master Mu, how do you view this matter?”
Cen Yuchi had remained silent, because he knew Ten-Zhang Manor could not shirk responsibility for this.
Zhan Xingtang, he had indeed sent someone there, and the “Star-fall Stone” was indeed what he wanted.
Some days ago, when Yin Yunluo visited Ten-Zhang Manor, she had left behind several volumes of rare texts. Cen Yuchi picked them up and read through them, and one mentioned that the “Star-fall Stone” of Zhan Xingtang seemed related to the material he had used to craft the Jade Chariot. Though he had made the Jade Chariot from a remarkable stone, he only knew it was said to be one of nine great boulders that fell from the sky after the Twelve Immortals performed the rites to heaven.
But where did this stone originate? What was its structure? Why could it command the Undying Fire? Why did it possess such power? And why had the other eight never appeared in the world? He knew none of this. So when he discovered that Zhan Xingtang’s “Star-fall Stone” seemed to have some connection to the Jade Chariot, Cen Yuchi believed it must hold secrets he wanted to know and thus came the affair of sending someone to Zhan Xingtang to “borrow” the Star-fall Stone. Who could have known that the man he sent would stir up such trouble, and to this day remain missing? Cen Yuchi had been plagued by headaches these past days, hunting for the man, and had even sent a good deal of valuables to Zhan Xingtang as compensation. He never expected they would use this matter to threaten him today, truly dishonorable behavior.
Seeing Mu Linchuan in a difficult position, Cen Yuchi squeezed a few words out through gritted teeth: “We could have settled this privately.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yueli nodded. “I agree.” Then, after a pause, she continued, “But just now I heard you standing up for your subordinate. Putting myself in your place, I must still give my brothers an accounting.”
“What kind of accounting do you want?” Cen Yuchi said expressionlessly.
Jiang Yueli shook her head. “Not from me.” With a flick of her sleeve, the crowd of Zhan Xingtang members behind her rose up in response, and Bi Youzhong was the first to shout: “A life for a life! Blood debts paid in blood!”
“A life for a life! Blood debts paid in blood!”
“A life for a life! Blood debts paid in blood!”
The voices rose in waves, surging one after another like the sea, growing ever louder.
Seeing that he could no longer control the situation, Mu Linchuan quietly walked to Cen Yuchi’s side and said in a low voice, “Go back first. I’ll handle things here.”
But Cen Yuchi ignored Mu Linchuan’s words. Looking at the crowd shouting with raised fists, he called out loudly, “Fine! So you want my life, then?”
The cries gradually faded, and everyone turned to look at Cen Yuchi.
Mu Linchuan hurriedly said, “The fault lies with a subordinate, how can it all be charged to his superior?”
Bi Youzhong stepped forward and said with a cold laugh, “Young Peak Master Mu, I believe no one present is an unreasonable person, and we understand this principle as well. Of course, whoever committed the wrong must bear the consequences. That is why we have brought someone with us today, and we ask everyone here to bear witness!”
At that, the Zhan Xingtang crowd parted, opening up a path in their midst just wide enough for one person to pass. Someone seemed to be shoved forward through the crowd, stumbling and falling before them all.
The man’s hair was disheveled and his face grimy, his clothes in disarray, he looked utterly destitute. He first raised his head and looked around in a daze. Having probably never seen such a grand occasion, he shrank back nervously, panicking, the very picture of terror. But suddenly, he seemed to spot something as if he had grasped a lifeline, his eyes instantly found their focus.
He struggled frantically and shouted, “Young Master Cen! Young Master Cen, save me!”