Chapter 401 — What the Master Didn't Say

CHAPTER 401

What the Master Didn't Say

The Master's hall smelled of medicine smoke and cold tea.

Mu Shuyun sat propped on three pillows at the far end of the screened hall. She greeted Shi Feng with her usual calm, but he could see how ill she was. Her face was pale, and a thin grey line crept above the collar of her white robe.

“Close the door, Shi Feng,” Mu Shuyun said. “Then sit nearer. The screens are thin, and I don't trust them.”

He closed it. He sat on a stool beside the bed.

“Valley Master,” Shi Feng said.

“Elder is fine. Master is for the elders, who like to hear it.” Mu Shuyun looked at him with tired, level eyes. “Fen Yi has been here. She says you called us all fools.”

“I didn't,” Shi Feng said.

“Fen Yi heard it that way,” Mu Shuyun said, briefly smiling. “She gets angry before she listens. Tell me what you actually found in the beds.”

“That it's a refined poison. Somebody made it, from a recipe,” Shi Feng said.

Mu Shuyun didn't answer at once. She turned her head and looked at the grey line on her own wrist, where her sleeve had slid back.

“I thought as much,” Mu Shuyun said. “I am not an alchemist, but I have been a cultivator for ninety years. A blight doesn't choose who it kills.”

“You were poisoned yourself,” Shi Feng said.

“Eight days ago. At the council table, from my own tea,” Mu Shuyun said. She said it quietly, without drama. “The kitchen has been dismissed and the cups replaced, and I now drink only what Lin Yue boils in front of me. It is a very dull way to live.”

“How long?” Shi Feng said.

“Three weeks, perhaps. Perhaps less,” Mu Shuyun said.

“Then why was the Valley sealed?” Shi Feng said.

“Because the Council voted it.” Mu Shuyun closed her eyes briefly. “I was in bed. I have since been told the vote was six to one.”

“Who was the one?” Shi Feng said.

“Cui Lan,” Mu Shuyun said. Her eyes opened. “She is old and doesn't like to be hurried. It was a quiet vote.”

Shi Feng waited. In the pause he could hear the faint hum of the array outside, a long, steady note.

“Martial Palace has been very kind,” Mu Shuyun said.

“How kind?” Shi Feng said.

“Every second day since the Heart Garden turned, their envoy has come to my gate. He offers help. He is always so generous. A weasel paying its New Year call on the chicken coop is generous too,” Mu Shuyun said. Her voice was dry. “Alchemists from their own Hall of Medicine. Three companies of guards to watch the Garden. The loan of one of their Nascent Soul elders to hold the array, ‘until the Valley recovers.’”

“What do they want in return?” Shi Feng said.

“Nothing. Friends want nothing,” Mu Shuyun said.

“Naturally,” Shi Feng said.

“They ask only that the Valley remember who offered first,” Mu Shuyun said.

“And what did the Valley say?” Shi Feng said.

“That it is deeply grateful, and that the Valley has stood between the three Great Sects for two hundred years by being nobody's side,” Mu Shuyun said. She folded her hands on the coverlet. “The Valley is neutral. We make no accusations. We are in no position to. We simply keep our door shut and grow our flowers.”

“And if someone isn't a friend?” Shi Feng said.

“Then the Valley has no idea,” Mu Shuyun said, “who that might be.”

Shi Feng understood why she chose her words carefully. She suspected the offers, the poison and the Council’s decision were connected. She couldn’t prove the connection, and naming Martial Palace without proof would endanger the Valley. She wanted him to investigate without committing her to an accusation.

“May I say what I heard?” Shi Feng said.

“Say what you like. I will say I heard nothing,” Mu Shuyun said.

“First, you didn't say the offers were refused. You said the Valley was grateful,” Shi Feng said.

Mu Shuyun's mouth twitched.

“Second, you didn't say who voted to seal the Valley. You only said who voted against,” Shi Feng said.

“Go on,” Mu Shuyun said.

“Third, you said the Valley has no idea who isn't a friend. But you were poisoned at your own council table, and you've been counting the days since, and you're still thinking about the guest list,” Shi Feng said. He kept his voice flat. “You aren't saying who did it, because you don't know. But you know where to look, and you can't look yourself.”

Silence.

“I can’t investigate openly without making the Council choose sides,” Mu Shuyun said. “You’re a guest examining a poison. You can ask questions I can’t, and the Valley hasn’t accused anyone merely by hiring you.”

“A hired alchemist,” Shi Feng said.

“Whatever the Valley is paying you, it is not enough,” Mu Shuyun said. For the first time, her tired eyes warmed. “Artificer Hall is a sect I never expected to respect. I think I have just changed my mind.”

“The sect master asks for four thousand,” Shi Feng said.

“Six thousand,” Mu Shuyun said. “The Valley will pay it.”

“I'll tell him.” Shi Feng thought about Li Changyuan's face and decided to do it from a distance.

Mu Shuyun turned her head toward the wall.

Outside, the array hummed. It was a long, level, unbroken note. After a moment he realised it hadn't wavered once since he had walked in.

“Do you hear that?” Mu Shuyun asked softly.

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“That’s Qingzhu,” Mu Shuyun said, her voice dropping. “Twelve days, without missing a beat. She won’t admit she’s ill, and she’ll insult anyone who tries to replace her. Find another way, Shi Feng. Make the array stop needing her. That’s what I’m really hiring you for.”

He looked at her for a long moment, and then at the grey line on her neck.

“I understand,” Shi Feng said.