The Day the Elixir Was Complete, My Master Went Mad - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Kunwu Mountain did not fall silent immediately.

Those elders who hadn’t died knelt among the ruins, weeping and claiming they were only following orders.

Some said they knew nothing of the Ash Chamber when they first joined the sect.

Others claimed the Sect Leader’s lineage had hidden the records too deeply, and they had only found out today.

Still others looked at me as if I were a sudden, calamitous backlash.

Shen Zhaowei approached them, sword in hand.

Half of her sleeve was torn, and her shoulder was still bleeding, but her voice was colder than her blade.

“Those who didn’t know, stand on the left. Those who knew but didn’t stop it, stand on the right. Those who personally touched the furnace fires, kneel in the middle.”

One elder barked in anger, “Shen Zhaowei, who do you think you are to dare judge us?”

With a flick of her sword, Shen Zhaowei sliced off his hair crown.

“I’m not in a good mood right now. You’d better not make me repeat myself.”

Wen Zhi stood behind her, clutching a register he had salvaged from the Ash Chamber.

His hands were still shaking, yet he read it page by page.

“Year of Xinwei, Furnace Tender Lin Suniang. The cause of death is listed as cold poison entering the lungs.”

He looked up at a grey-robed elder.

“But seven days before she died, she was transferred to the Ash Chamber to guard the furnace. You were the one who signed off on it.”

The grey-robed elder turned deathly pale.

“I… I only applied the seal.”

Wen Zhi let out a small laugh.

Usually, his smile was soft, but this time it looked as if it had been slashed open by something sharp.

“Is that how my mother died, too? Just because you ‘applied a seal’?”

The elder was speechless.

I stood in the distance, watching Wen Zhi force his timid self to stand tall, step by step.

He didn’t kill anyone.

He simply read out every name.

By the time he finished, a crowd was kneeling across the ruins.

Master stood beside me, his breathing shallow.

I asked, “Aren’t you going?”

He knew I was referring to the reckoning.

“I am also on that ledger.”

I looked at him.

He lowered his eyes.

“I knew, I concealed it, I hurt you, and I killed my fellow disciples.”

He spoke very calmly.

“Ah Heng, once they are finished with their judgment, I should be judged as well.”

My chest tightened.

For a fleeting moment, I wanted to say, “You’re different.”

But the words reached my lips and I swallowed them back down.

Because that sentence was too dangerous.

Kunwu Mountain’s rot had started from countless instances of “he’s different,” “this time is different,” and “it’s different for the sake of the big picture.”

I could not absolve him of his guilt.

Even though I knew he had saved me.

Even though I knew he was in pain.

I said, “Fine.”

Master looked up at me.

I spoke each word deliberately. “You should explain everything clearly, and you should bear the consequences yourself.”

There was no resentment in his eyes.

Instead, it was as if he had finally been waiting for these words.

“Alright.”

Seeing this from afar, Shen Zhaowei gave a cold snort.

“At least there’s still hope for them.”

Wen Zhi asked softly, “Senior Sister Shen, who are you talking about?”

Shen Zhaowei replied, “Both of them.”