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

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Yu Jielan stood calmly in front of the Yu Sect. She was slender and almost seemed small, standing in front of all of the middle-aged men sitting next to her as she addressed the entire Yu Sect. But her voice was calm and stately.

"Everyone has probably already heard of the death of my uncle, Yu Ziting, and the poisoning of my other uncle, Yu Zilian. The cause of death was unnatural, and our initial investigations point towards possible poison in the food at the table."

Hushed whispers erupted immediately, sweeping over the crowd with the unstoppable force of a tidal wave. "What?" "Poison?" "Who did it?" "Are we all in danger?" "Is there an assassin hiding in our Yu Sect?"

Shu Haolin stood in the middle of the crowd, carefully examining the expressions of all of the clan elders who sat at front. Shao Mingrong's face twitched slightly, and a look of triumph seemed to briefly float over his face before it was gone, replaced by stony silence. Even though his face seemed to be full of vitality, Shu Haolin noticed that his lips seemed slightly bloodless and pale.

"I advise everyone not to panic." Yu Jielan continued, speaking over the hushed conversations and questions without answers. "From now on, in order to prevent further incidents from occurring before this whole matter is resolved, everyone will be required to group into groups of at least two and stay together. You will keep track of each other's whereabouts at all times, and you must not leave each other's sights. You must not walk around on your own at any time for any reason, and if you are seen doing so without prior permission from me, you will be treated as a suspect and captured for interrogation. Once you have formed your groups, everyone come up front and write down your partner's name."

The clan elders didn't seem happy, and Yu Zifan was the first to stand up. "Xiao-Lan, I realize that the circumstances are unusual, but we are your elders. How could you implement such a thing without going through our permission first?"

Yu Jielan turned slowly and leisurely and looked straight at Yu Zifan. "Uncle, you have an objection? Then let me know, are you not afraid of being caught by the assassin? Or do you have reasons to need to act in the dark, without anyone else seeing you?"

"You-!"

Not only did Yu Zifan look infuriated, most of the clan elders had dark, grim expressions on their face, but after seeing Yu Zifan being outright rebuked by Yu Jielan without any mercy, they merely gritted their teeth and put up with it. Shao Mingrong looked especially grim, but he kept his lips sealed shut. He glanced at Yu Zifan, then nudged his shoulder, and the two of them nodded at each other.

"Alright, then. Everyone, form your groups and register them with me. Once everyone's name is listed, you will all be dismissed."

***

Shu Haolin and Yu Jielan were back in Yu Ziting's residence, with Shu Haoyang in tow, the doors shut behind them on the pretense of investigating the poison in the food. However, the two of them beelined straight for the incense burner. The incense had already gone out, and the smell had escaped the room from the open windows. There was only a small pile of incense ash on the bottom of the incense burner. Shu Haoyang lay a clean handkerchief on the table and upended the incense burner over it, and some of the incense ash trickled out. He then reached in and carefully scooped the rest out, protecting his fingers with yet another handkerchief. However, when he took the handkerchief out, he looked at it curiously. "Why is it sticking?" He wondered, taking a clean corner of the handkerchief and wiping it inside the incense burner. It came away with a thin sheen of some sort of oily substance. Shu Haoyang cautiously sniffed it, and then recoiled. "There it is."

Yu Jielan sat back, suddenly understanding. "This oil contained arsenic, and with the heat of the incense burner, it evaporated into the air, entwining with the sandalwood smell and poisoned the two of them. Yu Zilian left after an hour or two, and escaped the worst of it, but Yu Ziting inhaled the poisonous gas for hours, and shortly died."

Shu Haolin felt goosebumps rise over her skin. "What an insidious way to kill someone. Then can we figure out who the incense burner came from?"

Yu Jielan looked at Shu Haolin. "We just need to ask."

A knock came at the door, startling the three of them. Shu Haolin opened the door slightly and peered out. A disciple was standing, alone, looking panicked. "Help, dashijie, no—Sect Leader Yu! My friend, he's being attacked!"

"Here it comes," Yu Jielan said lowly, and the two of them rushed out, leaving Shu Haoyang to clean up the scene.

Behind the disciples' dormitories were two bodies, one was the friend of the disciple, and another was Yu Zifan, who had been knocked out. While Yu Zifan was still alive, the other kid had clearly already died. Shu Haolin immediately bent down and splashed Yu Zifan awake, while Yu Jielan looked around for clues on where the perpetrator had fled. Yu Zifan blinked open his eyes, drying the cold water on his face with his sleeve, and sat up in horror.

"Shao Mingrong, he... he..."

"Where did he go?" Shu Haolin asked sternly, and Yu Zifan pointed in a direction wordlessly.

"Let's go."

They found Shao Mingrong in a hidden corner of the grounds, shaded by the trees. His face was pale and gray, and he gritted his teeth as he forcefully drew the life force from another disciple, who was laying, splayed on the ground and weak, unable to fight back. His mouth was parted with horror, and he looked as if he was screaming, but no sound came out of his mouth.

Yu Jielan felt her heart jump, and she bounded forward. "Stop!" She shouted, barreling straight over and giving Shao Mingrong a kick. Having been distracted, Shao Mingrong directly toppled over, but he scrambled to his feet. His eyes were bloodshot, and it gave the impression of a lone wolf in the midst of eating fresh meat. However, before either Yu Jielan and Shu Haolin could do anything, he fled into the forest with incredible speed.

Shu Haolin, seeing there wasn't any possibility of catching up to him, knelt down next to the disciple, who was still barely breathing. She hauled him onto her back, and with Yu Jielan, they rushed back to the medicine wards. When she pushed open the door, she bumped directly into Chen Linfeng, who stared with wide eyes at the still-alive disciple slung over Shu Haolin's back. As if he had been electrocuted by lightning, he stiffened, and then left the medicine wards at a quick pace, all without ever saying a word to Shu Haolin.

Yu Jielan narrowed her eyes as he passed. Once Shu Haolin had deposited the disciple safely and had made sure that there was someone to take care of him, they looked at each other.

"We have to go to Shao Mingrong's residence," Yu Jielan said. Shu Haolin nodded.