Chapter 84: ELDER SHEN’S DOOM(5)

Hu Biyan’s expression settled into something more serious, the earlier fretting warmth folding away to make room for an honest answer.

"Because a secret held between two people is far easier to keep than one shared among three." He inclined his head slightly. "You already carried enough, between the sect, your cultivation, and whatever burden your master has placed on your shoulders. I saw no reason to add the weight of guarding my secret on top of everything else."

"You could have trusted me with it regardless." Li Yan folded his arms, though the accusation carried more curiosity than genuine anger. "I have kept far heavier secrets than yours."

"I never doubted that you could keep it." Hu Biyan’s mouth curved faintly. "I doubted whether you should have to, given everything else already resting on you."

Li Yan considered that a moment, some of the earlier sting fading from his expression. It was, he supposed, a kindness dressed up as caution, the same instinct that had always shaped how Hu Biyan treated him, fussing and correcting and worrying in equal measure, never quite saying outright how much he cared.

Before he could ask anything further, Anyu appeared at the courtyard entrance, his expression drawn tight with urgency that immediately pulled both their attention away from the conversation.

"A summons has been issued." Anyu’s voice carried none of its usual calm. "Every disciple is ordered to gather in the central courtyard. Elder Shen’s trial will proceed there, before the entire sect."

Hu Biyan’s easy manner vanished at once, replaced by something far more guarded. "Then we should go. Yan yan should remain close, given how directly this concerns him."

Li Yan rose from his seat, the earlier warmth of the conversation already receding beneath the weight of what waited ahead.

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The summons had reached every corner of the sect by the time they arrived, disciples pouring into the central courtyard from every direction until the space overflowed with anxious bodies and hushed, uncertain murmurs. A raised platform stood at the courtyard’s heart, hastily constructed but sturdy enough to hold the senior elders now gathering upon it.

Li Yan kept close to Anyu and Hu Biyan, weaving through the crowd until they found a place near the back where he could observe without drawing unwanted attention toward himself.

Fu Hanzheng stood at the platform’s center, flanked by several senior elders, with Elder Shen kneeling before them in heavy restraints. The man’s composure had crumbled entirely since his arrest, replaced now by something closer to desperation as he took in the sheer size of the crowd assembled to witness whatever judgment awaited him.

"This sect has always demanded loyalty and integrity from those who serve it." Fu Hanzheng’s voice carried easily across the courtyard without need for effort. "Elder Shen has betrayed both. He cultivated forbidden Gu insects and used them against disciples under this sect’s protection, causing suffering that several among you have already endured, and death for others who never received the chance to explain what was happening to them."

A ripple of unease passed through the assembled crowd.

One by one, the confirmed victims were brought forward, disciples pale and visibly shaken from whatever symptoms had plagued them in recent weeks, some supported by fellow students as they made their way to stand before the platform. Each name was read aloud, each affliction described in careful detail, building a portrait of exactly how far Elder Shen’s cruelty had reached.

Li Yan noticed, with some relief, that his own name never surfaced among them.

"Another disciple was also targeted," Fu Hanzheng continued, his tone hardening further, "though for that individual’s protection, no name will be given here today. It is enough that this crime touched someone within these walls who did not deserve it, the same as every other name spoken this evening."

Whispers rippled through the crowd at that, speculation already beginning about who the unnamed victim might be, though Li Yan kept his expression carefully neutral, grateful that his master had thought to shield him from the added scrutiny a public naming would have invited.

Elder Shen, forced upright by two guards, attempted one final protest.

"I acted alone in this. Whatever punishment the sect intends, let it end with me."

Fu Hanzheng’s gaze sharpened at that.

"Then you alone will bear whatever judgment this council decides." His tone carried no room for further argument. "You have already condemned yourself through your own actions. Nothing more needs to be said."

The senior elders conferred briefly among themselves before announcing Elder Shen’s sentence, stripped of rank, stripped of cultivation privileges within the sect. The crowd received the verdict with a mixture of relief and lingering unease, the immediate danger seemingly contained, even if the full weight of what had happened would take considerably longer to settle.

But that was not all, eventually the one with the finally say was Fu Hanzheng and knowing him, the Elders know he would not spare Elder Shen.

He would truly have to answer for his crimes and it may cost him his life.

Far from the courtyard, in a section of the sect few disciples ever had reason to visit, a figure moved quietly through the shadows of a private chamber lined with jars of squirming, half-formed creatures, each one carefully labeled and cultivated with a patience that spoke of years, not months, of preparation.

Elder Shen had been useful, once. A convenient hand willing to carry out instructions without asking too many questions, content with the small compensation offered in exchange for planting a single Gu where it was needed.

He had also, predictably, been careless.

The figure lifted one of the jars toward the dim light, studying the creature within with something close to fondness, before setting it back among the others.

Elder Shen’s arrest changed nothing important. He had never known enough to endanger the true work, only enough to serve as a convenient hand and, if necessary, a convenient scapegoat.

The real cultivation had barely begun.