Book 7: Chapter 54: The Truth

Book 7: Chapter 54: The Truth

Lim Haitao bent every last bit of his self-control on maintaining a calm expression, yet, the question rang in his ears like a death knell. And just what was your task? The man called Judgment’s Gale had asked the question in a neutral tone. Too neutral. It was the pause before the hammer of disaster fell to crush the unworthy beneath its uncaring might. From where he stood, Lim Haitao felt decidedly unworthy, and the Judgment’s Gale felt far too much like a hammer poised in the air, simply waiting for the signal to unleash doom. He had harbored the desperate hope that Sister Sua might intervene on their behalf. She had left the sect, true, but on cordial terms. She had witnessed the entire incident as well. He hadn’t issued any threats or insults, nor tried to use the name of the Thundering Sky Sect in an inappropriate way. Nor had Shao Anhe let foolishness slip from her lips.

However, it seemed that mere association with Sheung Tian Kuo had painted them with the same brush of guilt in Sua Xing Xing’s eyes. When he had dared to look at her, all he saw was cold fury burning in her eyes. That meant that their only hope of escaping from this unmitigated catastrophe rested in the hands of Judgment’s Gale. Except, that man had just asked a question to which Lim Haitao did not want to provide an honest answer. Not that he was prone to lying. Quite the contrary. The sect frowned mightily on dishonesty in all but the direst of circumstances. No, he contemplated lying because a true answer could only bring them closer to certain death. In any other circumstance, he wouldn’t have been the one trying to save their lives. He wouldn’t have spoken at all, except perhaps to introduce himself if things went smoothly.

Now, three lives hung on what he did next, and he had no idea what the right thing was to do. Curse you, Sheung Tian Kuo, thought Lim Haitoa. You and your stupid obsession with that woman has damned us. When a look of mild impatience passed over the face of Judgment’s Gale, Lim Haitao knew he had to make a decision. He resisted the urge to look back at Shao Anhe. She was no better prepared for this than he was. In the end, a lie was too risky, too easy to expose. It only took one slip of the tongue, one moment of carelessness, and whatever tiny shred of trust or credibility he and the sect might have with Judgment’s Gale would evaporate. The truth would have to do. He just wished that he hadn’t heard so many stories about the man who was staring at him. Stories that never seemed to end well for those who roused his ire. Gathering his courage, Lim Haitao spoke.

“We were sent to,” he swallowed again, “inspect this academy.”

The look of detached annoyance that Judgment’s Gale had worn disappeared as something implacable entered his eyes. The man’s lips compressed into a hard line, and it felt to Lim Haitao that the very air seemed to squeeze him in sympathy with the other cultivator’s anger.

“Inspect,” said Judgment’s Gale.

It was the same word, but it wasn’t. Lim Haitao had tried to make the word sound as mundane and innocuous as possible. Nothing that important. Just a boring little procedure that no one needed to concern themselves with at all. When Judgment’s Gale said it, it sounded like a filthy obscenity that had been dragged up from the depths of a cesspit. It sounded invasive. It sounded unclean. It sounded like another step on a very short road to a cliff’s edge.

“You came here expecting to simply walk into my academy and inspect things. You expected me to allow that?”

“Yes,” said Lim Haitao, his voice a rasp of fear.

Judgment’s Gale walked toward him until he loomed like a tower. The stories never said he was this tall, thought Lim Haitao, aware that fear was making him irrational but uncertain how to stop it.

“Tell me, Lim Haitao of the Thunderous Sky Sect, what would your elders do if I came to your sect and demanded to inspect it? Would they throw open their doors and divulge their secrets to me? Lavish me with gifts? Would they welcome my inspection with grace and provide me with a feast afterward?”

Part of Lim Haitao wanted to flee beneath that implacable gaze and those impossible questions. If it just meant leaving Sheung Tian Kuo behind, he might have even done it. But fleeing would also mean abandoning Shao Anhe, and she had done nothing to deserve being left to the mercies of this man. The problem was that he didn’t even need to consider what his sect would do. He knew. The Thundering Sky Sect would never tolerate such a thing. The insult alone would demand an immediate and deadly response. It made him wonder why they had been sent here to offer a similar insult to a man known for taking vengeance. It seemed... It seemed inconsistent with the temperance that the sect taught from the very first moment someone entered as an outer disciple.

Stolen story; please report.

It seemed that idea hadn’t crossed her mind, because Shao Anhe sat up straight and stared at him in horror.

“They wouldn’t do that, would they?”

“We insulted a very powerful cultivator. A cultivator that I imagine the elders would prefer to stay on good terms with. Arguably, we shamed the sect. Is it that hard to imagine that they might decide that the best way to deal with all of those problems is to give us to him? Let him take his vengeance on us and good relations may be restored.”

“We’re core cultivators,” she said in shock. “We’re not that... That—”

“Disposable?” asked Lim Haitao.

“Yes!” shouted Shao Anhe.

“Normally, no, but these aren’t normal circumstances. We’re talking about a man who could very well send The Living Spear to instruct our sect in what he sees as appropriate behavior. That instruction is likely to leave very little standing in its wake. Compared to a threat like that, what value is there in the lives of a couple of core cultivators?”

Shao Anhe didn’t say anything, but he saw her eyes drift out to the road. He sympathized with what she was thinking, having thought something very similar not that long ago.

“I won’t stop you,” he said. “If you want to go, I won’t stop you.”

Shao Anhe didn’t meet his gaze when she stood.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I won’t let myself be sacrificed to make up for a dead man’s stupidity.”

Lim Haitao watched her disappear into the darkness and part of him wished he had the courage to join her.