The Scent of the Orchid in the Forest of Secrets (密林兰香)

Chapter Nineteen

A crowd was gathered in the central hall of the Yu Sect's living quarters. Everyone burst out into chatter when they saw Yu Jielan and Shu Haolin return, asking questions and checking if they were okay. But Shu Haolin didn't pay any attention to it, taking Yu Jielan's wrist and pulling her towards a single person sitting towards the back of the crowd, brows lightly furrowed with striking similarity to the person next to her.

"Sect Leader Yu, I made some discoveries during my trip. I was wondering if you would be interested to hear them?"

Yu Jielan tugged on Shu Haolin's sleeve. "Wait," she said softly. "Please. Not in front of everyone."

But Yu Ziyan had already stood up. That slight worried expression was gone, and his thoughts were impenetrable as ever. "Please," he said politely. Yu Jielan looked towards her father and couldn't speak.

"Thirteen years ago, a certain Silver Oracle arrived in Hangzhou and came to the Yu Sect to deliver a prophecy. He said that the Lin Sect was a Sect of demonic cultivators that would destroy the jianghu. And, using this excuse, you led the Lin Sect of the time to surround and exterminate the looming threat of the jianghu. In this battle, countless members of the Lin Sect died, including your father and then your little brother, leaving you as the only option for the next Sect Leader."

"What are you trying to imply?"

"Exterminating demonic cultivators on behalf of the safety of the jianghu is naturally a well justified and admirable feat, and there originally was nothing wrong with it. However, you were wrong. The Lin Sect was not a Sect of demonic cultivators."

Yu Ziyan's hand rested on his waist. Shu Haolin glanced down, and noticed a bamboo flute that wasn't entirely hidden by his robes. She glimpsed the evidence of a crack in it before Yu Ziyan's robes hid it entirely. He gripped it tightly.

"Do you have any proof?" He asked, his calm voice contrasting the almost deathly grip

"A witness stated that after the extermination, he went back and found all of the members of the Lin Sect dead, their yuan qi sucked out of them, gray and lifeless." She turned, addressing the crowd. "Let me ask you, does that sound familiar?"

A muttering broke out through the crowd. "But it can't be. There are still many senior cultivators and clan elders who survived that battle, and each and every one could tell you that the methods used in that battle were certainly clean. Are you trying to implicate the entire Yu Sect here?"

"Naturally not." Shu Haolin interjected smoothly. "But I would like to ask all the veterans of that battle—did the Lin Sect employ demonic cultivation methods to fight you?"

The mutterings grew louder, divided and confused. By now, a larger crowd had gathered, and the audience was not only the Yu Sect, but some people from other Sects who had arrived here in Lianyungang for the conference of all the martial arts Sects and had overheard the noise coming from the Yu Sect quarters.

"If I remember correctly, most of the Lin Sect cultivated a path of medicine. Very few of them would've been able to put up a fighting resistance, is that correct? Then from where had the demonic cultivators come from?"

Yu Ziyan finally spoke. "Your accusations are unfounded and are based upon solely one witness's evidence. If people could believe claims as baseless as yours, the world would've long gone into chaos."

"I don't only have one witness's evidence." Shu Haolin interrupted. "My excursion of the past few days was precisely to collect a second testimony—and it is from the Silver Oracle himself."

Yu Ziyan's eyes flashed. A million thoughts seemed to streak through his mind at once, and then they were gone.

"Thirteen years ago, the leader of the Baiyu Alliance sought him out and offered heavy gold and silver to profess this prophecy in front of the Yu Sect. The Baiyu Alliance was at its peak at the time, and had recently massacred a couple of small cultivation Sects towards the north. All the victims of those massacres turned up gray and lifeless, with all of their yuan qi stolen. This was the cultivation method of the leader of the Baiyu Alliance—stealing the yuan qi of others to make it his own, so his lackeys naturally would play to his preferences and harvest yuan qi to offer up to their leader. The Lin Sect was a huge Sect at the time, and even with the strength of the Baiyu Alliance, it was impossible for them to take on the Lin Sect on their own. Therefore, the leader of the Baiyu Alliance hatched a plan to borrow the power of the Yu Sect to help take down the Lin Sect."

"It's not possible!" Someone cried. "There's no way they would've been able to weave such a huge net to kill off the Lin Sect, and be able to so smoothly incorporate the Yu Sect as well."

"It's very possible," Shu Haolin countered. "In fact, it was almost inevitable, simply because the Yu Sect had a mole, and a mole in a very high position, in fact—the mole was the eldest son of the Old Sect Leader: Yu Ziyan."

Yu Ziyan let out a sigh. There was almost a patronizing look in the way he turned to Shu Haolin and chuckled. "Kid, it seems like you've listened to someone spout nonsense and took it to be true. What proof do you have of any of your accusations? All you have is testimony that we can't be sure is true."

Shu Haolin dug a small package out of her robes and unfolded it in front of the crowd. Yu Jielan felt the air in her lungs turn cold.

"Sect Leader Yu, do you recognize this object?"

A silver bangle was held high in the air. Uncovered by the handkerchief, it seemed to cast a cold spell over the room, not only because of the curse, but because of the realization that followed.

One of the clan elders spoke before he could control himself. "Isn't that one of the imperially gifted items to the Sect Leader after exterminating the Lin Sect? How did it...?"

"This cursed bangle was found on the Silver Oracle's body. It was used by Yu Ziyan to control the Silver Oracle after his ugly deed was done and make sure he didn't spit out the truth to anyone." Shu Haolin explained. "Yu Ziyan, is this enough proof for you?"

Yu Ziyan's expression darkened, and it was as if a storm cloud had descended over him as he stared at the bangle on the floor. The confused look on his face was extremely convincing, but Shu Haolin was unwavering.

"I lost this silver bangle many years ago. My assistant can attest to this. Due to the fact that the bangle was gifted by the emperor himself, and it would seem bad if I lost it, I chose to keep this matter a secret."

"Of course your assistant would take your side!" Shu Haolin cut in. "What point is there in taking his testimony?"

The crowd swelled with murmurs. By this time, leaders of different martial arts Sects were all listening and contributing with their opinion. They had been suppressed underneath this mountain called the leader of the Yu Sect, Yu Ziyan, for many years, none of their Sects able to stand out of the crowd due to his exceptional disciples. They were all itching for this opportunity to pile upon him, not unlike a pile of hungry dogs tearing into the meat of a calf who had wandered away from its herd and lay down in exhaustion.

"Depose of him!"

"Depose of the demonic cultivator!"

"Send him to prison!"

"Don't believe his lies!"

Yu Ziyan's expression had changed entirely, and he began to sneer. But Shu Haolin hadn't finished yet. "But the Lin Sect was not the last of his murders." She continued. "Several months ago, he descended upon a small house in the countryside of Suzhou by the Taihu Lake, killed my parents, and set a deadly curse on my little brother, Shu Haoyang. A strong curse cast by the leader of the Baiyu Alliance will suck away all of the yuan qi of its victim within moments, but a weak curse slowly eats away at the yuan qi of its victim over the months, or even years."

"What a joke." Yu Ziyan laughed without humor. "You want to put the massacre of the Lin Sect on me, fine. I admit it."

An uproar started. But Yu Ziyan wasn't finished talking either.

"I admit it, but I will not admit to a crime I have not committed. I have never met you before you joined the Yu Sect, and I am even less aware as to who your parents are. Why would I kill them?"

Shu Haolin opened her mouth to object, but Chen Linfeng cut in.

"Because they knew your secret. Because they were the remnants, the survivors, of the Lin Sect."

A/N: Yay things are getting fun ;)