Jade Dynasty: I am the master of the Burning Sword, my swordsmanship is unparalleled.

Chapter 23 Road

Inside the deep and secluded ancestral hall, Dao Xuan Zhenren looked up at the rows of memorial tablets before him, a sense of sorrow welling up in his heart, and he let out a soft sigh.

By the light of the candle, three long sticks of incense were lit, and Dao Xuan Zhenren respectfully bowed three times before the ancestral tablet, then inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner.

Wan Jianyi stared silently at Dao Xuan Zhenren, taking in his every move. Only after Dao Xuan Zhenren finished offering incense did he slowly speak.

"Offering incense to the patriarch is a trivial matter that can be handled by an old man like me who is nearing the end of his life. If the sect leader is worried, he can simply send a disciple in the future. Why bother the sect leader?"

"Junior brother, what do you think of that disciple just now?"

Dao Xuan Zhenren seemed not to have understood Wan Jianyi's intention to dismiss him. After a few moments of silence, he suddenly called out softly, which made Wan Jianyi freeze.

Wan Jianyi's fingers twitched slightly as they landed on the broom. He straightened his hunched, old, and decaying body, slowly turned around, paused, and then spoke softly, his voice carrying a hint of pleading.

"If the sect leader agrees, he can have that disciple come to the ancestral hall and accompany this old man, who is halfway to the grave, to offer incense to the ancestors of all generations."

Dao Xuan Zhenren's expression faltered slightly, then a smile appeared on his face as he gave an irrelevant remark.

"Who would have thought that Junior Sister Su would fall for Junior Brother Tian?"

Upon hearing this, Wan Jianyi, who was about to leave, couldn't help but twitch his withered face. He then saw that Dao Xuan Zhenren had somehow appeared beside him, walked past him, and headed towards the side hall.

Upon seeing this, Wan Jianyi lowered his eyelids slightly, picked up his broom, and slowly followed.

Dao Xuan Zhenren stood by the window, gazing at the lush, overgrown forest before him, and murmured softly.

"If you want to pass on your teachings to him, that's your business. Why ask me? But, junior brother, do you know Zhang Xiaofan's background?"

"He was originally a child in Caomiao Village at the foot of Qingyun Mountain. More than three years ago, a tragedy occurred in Caomiao Village, where the villagers were massacred. Only he, another child, and a mad woodcutter survived."

Wan Jian listened silently, recalling the boy's humble and polite demeanor, and a pang of pity welled up in his heart.

Looking up at Dao Xuan Zhenren's back, Wan Jianyi once again hid himself in the dark corner of the ancestral hall, his aged voice hoarse and strained.

"Protecting Qingyun is the Sect Leader's business. Why should the Sect Leader bother to explain to me?"

"But today, he told me in person that he saw a sword that night, a sword he saw yesterday in the hands of a disciple of Junior Brother Cangsong, the Dragon-Slaying Sword!"

Dao Xuan Zhenren suddenly turned around, and his eyes, which reflected the candlelight, were like two blazing suns, forcefully piercing into Wan Jianyi's lifeless eyes.

The words spoken by Dao Xuanzhen were like a heavy hammer, striking Wan Jianyi's heart and causing him to stagger back several steps.

Gripping the broom tightly in his hands, Wan Jianyi steadied his swaying body before closing his eyes with difficulty and pain, struggling forcefully.

"No, it's impossible."

"Impossible? Perhaps you don't know that the day before the Grass Temple Village massacre occurred, no, it should be the day of the massacre, the monk Puzhi from Tianyin Temple visited Qingyun and then went down the mountain."

Dao Xuan Zhenren slowly walked towards Wan Jianyi. The faint sound of his footsteps seemed to explode in Wan Jianyi's ears like thunder from the heavens. "That night, the tragedy of Caomiao Village occurred. Afterwards, I personally went to Caomiao Village to investigate. I found traces of the Six-Syllable Mantra of Buddhism at the Caomiao Temple outside the village. Not only that, I also found fragments of a Buddhist treasure, a broken jade rosary."

Every word was like a sharp sword, piercing Wan Jianyi's already lifeless heart, making him afraid to even open his eyes to face it all.

But Dao Xuan Zhenren did not stop there. As he drew closer, the candlelight reflected in his eyes grew stronger and stronger, like two scorching flames, one burning in the past and the other igniting the present.

"I even saw quite a few traces of heavenly lightning power. It's laughable that I initially thought it was caused by the heavenly lightning on that rainy night. Now it seems that my Qingyun is about to suffer internal strife!"

"But, senior brother, why did he use the Dragon Slayer Sword?"

Wan Jianyi opened his eyes helplessly. Those old and lonely eyes were now so helpless, and his cry of "Senior Brother" was extremely sorrowful.

Wan Jianyi could not believe that his junior brother, who once followed him to protect Qingyun and fight against demons, would one day fall so low as to betray Qingyun and join the demonic sect.

Upon hearing Wan Jianyi call him "Senior Brother," Dao Xuan Zhenren felt a sudden surge of sorrow.

Back then, he risked the wrath of the world to rescue him and hide him in this ancestral hall. Since then, he has never asked him for anything, nor has he ever called him "senior brother" again.

Today, first he asked a disciple to teach him the Daoist arts, and now, because of a pine tree that has already betrayed Qingyun, he called him "senior brother," a title he has never uttered in the past hundred years.

"Why? Hey!"

Dao Xuan Zhenren suddenly let out a cold laugh, as if a burning anger was raging in his chest, and his words carried a hint of sarcasm.

"What else could it be? Don't you understand your good junior brother? I personally executed you. In his eyes, I, the sect leader, have probably long since become a heartless and ungrateful person who can't distinguish right from wrong, black from white, fights for power, and slaughters his fellow disciples."

The flickering candlelight cast an indistinct glow on Dao Xuan Zhenren's face, while only his somewhat sorrowful voice echoed silently within the quiet ancestral hall.

"And in his heart, my Qingyun Sect has probably become a place of filth and corruption. He used the Dragon Slayer Sword to wield the Divine Sword Thunder Control Technique. What he did was to judge us hypocritical righteous people who deceive the world and steal fame on behalf of his respected senior brother."

Wan Jianyi didn't speak, but stared blankly at the suddenly unfamiliar face in front of him. He was suddenly surprised to find that, without realizing it, a few strands of white hair had appeared on the temples of the person in front of him.

His hunched body swayed slightly. After a long silence, Wan Jianyi opened his mouth as if to speak, but then suddenly remembered the boy from before, and could only let out a sigh.

"Senior brother, is it Cangsong...?"

Before Wan Jianyi could finish speaking, Dao Xuan Zhenren had already guessed what was going on and interrupted him with a flick of his sleeve.

Under Wan Jianyi's watchful gaze, Dao Xuan Zhenren slowly walked to the entrance of the Ancestral Hall, suddenly stopped, and softly replied, then paused and added another sentence.

"The wound doesn't look like it... and his reaction doesn't either."

Upon hearing this, Wan Jianyi breathed a sigh of relief. He watched the figure in the dark green Taoist robe walk alone through the secluded forest, and suddenly realized that the person had been walking this path alone for more than a hundred years.

(End of this chapter)