Chapter 72 — Desperate Straits

In another corner of the inn, in a secluded room, Cangyan Daoren, Tian Buzhu, and Xiao Yichen sat together.

On the small round table between the three of them lay, quietly, that green-black black iron staff.

Suddenly a hand reached over and took up the iron staff—it was Cangyan Daoren. He laid the staff before him and stroked it gently with his hand. When his fingers touched the Blood-Devouring Orb at the very tip, a flicker of light seemed to glimmer in his eyes as well. After a long while he said flatly, "So this is the Blood-Devouring Orb?"

Tian Buzhu gave a sudden cold snort.

Xiao Yichen glanced at Tian Buzhu, then at Cangyan Daoren, and said, "Uncles, what should be done now? I beg your guidance."

Cangyan Daoren glanced at Xiao Yichen and said mildly, "Nephew Xiao, you have always been full of stratagems and decisive judgment. Why not let us hear your thoughts?"

Xiao Yichen shook his head and said, "This matter is too grave. I don't know what to say either!"

Cangyan Daoren glanced at Tian Buzhu's ashen face and said, "The most troublesome thing now is those friends from the Brahma Sound Temple. They keep pressing us, demanding to know how Zhang Qingyue came to cultivate the Great Brahma Prajna True Art. Their manner is fierce; if not for that Fa Cheng at their head, who still understands reason and has done his best to restrain them, I fear they would long since have demanded we hand him over!"

Tian Buzhu said coldly, "They want to take him? They'll have to wait until we've questioned him thoroughly. When a disciple of my own household is in trouble, it's not for them to interfere."

Cangyan Daoren frowned and was about to say more, but Xiao Yichen had already spoken: "Speaking of which, Uncle Tian, this morning I ran into Senior Brother Li of the Burning Cloud Valley, and he—he too demanded we hand him over!"

Cangyan Daoren started. Tian Buzhu rolled his strange eyes and said furiously, "What business is this of the Burning Cloud Valley's?"

Xiao Yichen said in a low voice, "Uncle Tian, calm your anger. In truth I too think the Burning Cloud Valley is making trouble without cause. Senior Brother Li Xun said that on that day he and Junior Brother Zhang entered the Black Stone Cave, the den of a pack of fox demons, to investigate a treasure of the Burning Cloud Valley. In the end Junior Brother Zhang arrived first, and when they got there they found the fox demons dead but the treasure gone without a trace—and Junior Brother Zhang said he had never seen such a treasure. They thought it strange at the time, and now it seems most likely that Junior Brother Zhang stole—"

"Bang!" A loud crash—Tian Buzhu, in a towering rage, brought his palm down heavily on the table. With a few sharp cracks the table wobbled and toppled, its legs shattered by the blow.

Xiao Yichen looked somewhat embarrassed. Cangyan Daoren frowned, gave a cold snort, and said, "These Burning Cloud Valley people clearly mean no good. This is a matter of groundless accusation—pay them no heed."

Xiao Yichen nodded and went on: "In truth, with the Burning Cloud Valley we can put them off and it will be no matter. But this time Junior Brother Zhang, before everyone—uh—many of our fellow cultivators have demanded that our Canglan Sect step forward and give an accounting, and explain why a demon cult evil thing from eight hundred years ago should be found on a disciple of our Canglan Sect?"

Tian Buzhu's hands clenched into fists, faint crackling sounds rising from time to time, his face hideous beyond measure. He cursed in a low, furious voice: "That little beast!"

Cangyan Daoren said slowly, "Junior Brother Tian, there's no need to be too angry. No one could have foreseen such a thing. But the situation now is too grave—it involves the Brahma Sound Temple and the demon cult as well. This is a matter of great moment. I think we must hurry back to the mountain at once and seek the sect leader's instructions before deciding anything!"

Tian Buzhu let out a deep breath. After all, he had cultivated for many years; he forced down the anger in his heart and nodded, saying, "Very well, then we set out at once." As he spoke his gaze shifted to the black iron staff in Cangyan Daoren's hand.

To his surprise, Cangyan Daoren smiled faintly and tucked the iron staff into his own bosom.

Tian Buzhu's expression changed. Beside him Xiao Yichen frowned as well and said, "Uncle Cangsong, this magical treasure—"

Cangyan Daoren waved a hand at him, turned to Tian Buzhu, and said, "Junior Brother Tian, a disciple of your household has brought such a scandal upon us that our Canglan Sect has lost all face before the righteous path of the world, and we have offended the Brahma Sound Temple as well. As his master, I fear you must bear some responsibility for this?"

Tian Buzhu gave a snort, his pupils contracting. He said coldly, "And what of it?"

Cangyan Daoren said mildly, "I am the one in the Canglan Sect who oversees punishment. This piece of evidence will remain with me—I trust you will have no objection, Junior Brother Tian?"

Tian Buzhu stared at Cangyan Daoren for a long while, then suddenly stamped his foot and strode out in a fury.

In the streets of Changhe City, people came and went as ever, bustling and lively.

Zhou Yixuan and little Wan stood at a corner of the street, gazing at a small inn further down the road whose signboard read "Eastern Sea Inn," and both frowned at once.

Little Wan licked the candied hawthorn stick in her hand, gave a satisfied smacking sound, then said casually to Zhou Yixuan, "Grandpa, are you really sure the Canglan Sect people are staying here?"

Zhou Yixuan nodded and said, "Nonsense—don't you see all the people going in and out the door are cultivators?" At this he went on, as though to himself, "These people go off to Liubo Mountain and stay for ages. Now they've come back, and who knows what the outcome was?"

Little Wan gave him a sidelong look and said, "I really can't figure you out. If you say you're one of the Canglan Sect, well, you don't dare go claim kin; and if you say you're not, then why are you so concerned about them?"

Zhou Yixuan choked, then said angrily, "Your grandpa may disdain to acknowledge these Canglan Sect juniors, but that's because I long ago saw through the ways of the world. I choose a life of poverty, roaming the ends of the earth, doing something for the common people of the world—"

Little Wan turned and walked off.

Zhou Yixuan swallowed the rest of his self-praise back into his belly, gave a snort, cast one last glance at the Eastern Sea Inn, and turned to follow.

Xiao Wan said as she walked, "You've got some nerve saying that. We'd originally meant to go take a look at Liubo Mountain too, but we asked around the East Sea for over ten days and couldn't find a single boatman willing to take us."

Zhou Yixuan felt thoroughly embarrassed and gave a dry laugh. "That's because these boatmen are ignorant bumpkins. How could they not even know where Liubo Mountain is? Useless, the lot of them!"

Even as he spoke, he thought to himself that bringing up such matters again and again would only make him lose face before his granddaughter, so he changed the subject and said casually, "I wonder whether that fellow called Zhang Qingyue will end up dead on Liubo Mountain this time?"

Xiao Wan shot him a glare. "Don't talk nonsense. I read his palm that day. His fate is strange—he bears the sign of the Ravening Demon—but the countenance of longevity has nothing to do with fortune. He's not fated to die young."

Zhou Yixuan chuckled. "Speaking of which, I've grown more and more curious. That day, outside the Black Stone Cave, in that ancient well of the full moon—what exactly did he see?"

Xiao Wan burst out laughing. "You still remember that?"

Zhou Yixuan nodded. "Of course. You should know that one marked by the Ravening Demon appears not once in ten thousand. I'm getting more and more curious about that fellow!"