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

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Shu Haolin stood at the front of the crowd with a couple of things held in her hand tightly. Yu Jielan stood in front of the entire crowd, slightly elevated. A sense of unease ran throughout the entire gathering, the unprecedented third meeting of the entire Yu Sect in the past few days. Previously, there had rarely been meetings called for the entire Yu Sect, yet three meetings were called within the span of a few short days. Change was in the air. Shu Haolin could taste it.

It took a long time before Yu Jielan could get the crowd to quiet down. Speculations rippled through the crowd uncontrollably, wild guesses and fears sinking into their bones. When they finally became silent, it was an uneasy kind of silence, where the quiet was only a cover for the countless waves, boiling and turning underneath the surface.

"Today, I have called everyone here together in hopes of finally bringing the truth to light. Everyone has likely already heard of the unfortunate death of my uncle Ziting, and the poisoning of my uncle Zilian. Their death arose from a poisonous gas released by the incense burner. A certain oil was rubbed on the inside of the incense burner, such that when the incense was lighted and the incense burner was heated, the oil would evaporate and release a poisonous gas that eventually led to the demise of my two uncles, and this incense burner was gifted a few days prior by a certain Shao Mingrong."

The clamor caused by the mention of Shao Mingrong's name had not yet calmed before a second wave rose. "This is his first crime," Yu Jielan said calmly, her voice projecting over the entire crowd.

"A few days before, Yu Ziyan was found dead in his prison cell. He had not died by suicide, as it was made to seem. In fact, he was assassinated, by a certain assassin who crawled out of a tunnel that led to Yu Ziyan's prison cell, who first disabled him with a poisonous dart that rendered him almost immobile. However, with Yu Ziyan's martial arts, he was able to briefly resist, leading to a fight, at the end of which, due to the poison, the assassin was able to successfully strangle him to death and hang him up to make it seem like suicide."

Yu Jielan showed the papers in her hand to the crowd. "This is the title deed of the house from which the tunnel was dug, found in Shao Mingrong's study. A shallow wound was found on Yu Ziyan's neck which had been poisoned, and his jade pendant had ended up wedged in the corner of the mattress due to the struggle, both of which can be attested to by others who were present. This is his second crime."

Shu Haolin took in a deep breath, her heart racing. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Chen Linfeng standing stiffly in the crowd, one of the only people not gasping in fright or frantically discussing with their neighbor. His face was slightly pale, and his fists were clenched at his sides. Shu Haolin frowned, but Yu Jielan resumed speaking once more, unfolding a handkerchief that revealed a silver bangle broken into several pieces.

"A few weeks prior to now, the Silver Oracle was killed, his yuan qi sucked away by this very bracelet. At first, we thought it must've been the work of the head of the Baiyu Alliance, Yu Ziyan. However, its quality is much too poor to be his handiwork. This silver bangle was not cursed by Yu Ziyan. There was another party at work in this whole matter, aimed at framing Yu Ziyan."

"Are you saying that Yu Ziyan is innocent?" Someone interrupted, confused and worried. "That's not right—wasn't there concrete proof at the time of his crimes? Are you saying that the Lin Sect was a demonic Sect after all?"

Subdued murmurs spread around the crowd, all united by their confusion.

"No. My father's crimes cannot be denied. It was indeed him who framed and massacred the Lin Sect thirteen years ago. But there is still a third party at work, aiming to make the burden of his crimes heavier for him to shoulder, and this third party is a powerful demonic cultivator that cannot be underestimated."

Yu Jielan suddenly turned and gestured to the side. After a brief pause, in which everyone's heads swiveled, following Yu Jielan's gesture, a young boy shakily walked in front of everyone. His entire stature seemed a little frail but alert and cautious.

"A few days ago, I ordered everyone to form groups of two and stay together. That was to catch the demonic cultivator in his act. The path of demonic cultivation practiced by this demonic cultivator is a path of taking others' yuan qi as one's own. It can rapidly increase one's power in a short amount of time, but, akin to a deadly addiction, if there is not a continuous consumption of more and more yuan qi, the cultivator will experience horrible withdrawal symptoms not unlike losing yuan qi of their own. That means a demonic cultivator, once they make the choice to walk onto this path, must continually kill more and more people and take more and more yuan qi to survive. I was banking on this aspect to catch the demonic cultivator in his tracks, and as expected, Shao Mingrong soon revealed his tail. Shidi, speak. Tell them what happened."

The little boy jumped a little at the sudden address and stared nervously at the crowd. "I was walking with my shixiong back to my dormitory, and I paused to check if I'd forgotten something. When my shixiong walked slightly ahead of me, I immediately felt myself getting whisked away but a mysterious force, all the way to the edge of the forest. And then he... he... he started doing something, and I felt as if all my energy was being sucked away, and then more." He shivered. "It was Shao Mingrong. It was he who almost killed me."

"But what about the Silver Oracle? We don't know for sure that Shao Mingrong did it." Chen Linfeng suddenly asked, but his inquiry was drowned out by countless voices in a mixture of shock and horror and even condemnation.

"That son of a bitch, he killed my shidi back at the Lianyun Temple, I was just waiting to find out who he was to get revenge on him."

"How despicable of him to steal the yuan qi of others for his own personal greed! He should be hunted down and killed immediately!"

The crowd rose up with a roar, and even Shu Haolin felt goosebumps rise over her arm, but that didn't stop her from noticing the way Chen Linfeng's expression drastically changed before he lowered his head and shouldered his way out of the crowd. In a direction that no one was paying attention to, he soon disappeared into the distance. Shu Haolin felt a sinking suspicion grip her heart. Yu Jielan spoke a little longer, giving some warnings and other announcements in thought of the safety of the Yu Sect, but Shu Haolin was no longer listening, rapidly going through the possibilities of what would happen next. She was still standing there, deep in thought, after Yu Jielan ended the meeting, walking over to her as everyone left in groups.

"What are you thinking?" Yu Jielan asked quietly. Shu Haolin shook her head subtly and the two of them started walking. However, they hadn't yet reached Yu Jielan's residence when a scream rose up in the distance. Shu Haolin whipped around, having long since been on edge and feeling uneasy, and spotted a plume of smoke in the distance. Wordlessly, the two of them sprinted back in the direction they had come from.

By the time they had gotten there, the fire had long raged out of control, and the top two floors of the disciples' dormitories had already collapsed, the lower levels threatening to follow anytime soon.

"How many people are there inside?" Yu Jielan grabbed the nearest person and asked urgently.

"Sect Leader Yu, most of the disciples are inside! They've all been trapped by the fire and can't make it out."