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Left Courtyard in Mount Fu Sect.
An Elderly man is resting on an armchair made of red sandalwood as light spills into the room from the open window by his right. On a table beside him are pastries, peaches, plums and red bayberries.
The room has lavish furnishings with numerous items produced with gold and jade.
One can spot elegantly designed furniture with superior craftsmanship along with expensive decorative panels and folding screens.
The feel of luxury, though, is minimized because of the tense and moody atmosphere within the room.
A squeak is heard as a door opens and a young, delicate-looking girl walks into the room. She turns and closes the door behind her the moves with a fast pace towards the elderly man.
"Father what is going on?" She inquired. Fear and uneasiness strewn over her face. "What is the result of the emergency assembly? Did Elder Wu try to make you accept the blame? Will anything happen to me?"
Elder Wu sighed gazing up at his daughter. His eyes almost clear and unemotional. Events of the past 24 hours are still like fiction to him.
"The Grand Master is in a critical condition. And the antidote for the poison has not discovered. Right Elder Wu has sent people to find the Heavenly Medical Sage. He will also remain in the sect as the acting Grand Master until she gets well."
Ai Wen gawked at her father's face. "Father what is going on? Why are you referring to that bitch as the Grand Master? Why are you sounding so polite when talking about the Right Elder? What of my marrying the crown prince?" She shouted. Now frantic with her whole body fidgeting.
"Watch your mouth!!!" He scolded looking furious, pointing his index finger at her.
"Father what do you mean? Are you going back on your promise to make me the crown princess of Shui Yu country? I will allow no one to take that position from me!!!" she wailed.
Turning around she ran out of the room raising her skirt with both hands. The resentment and stubbornness written all over her face at the moment is the opposite of her countenance as at when she came into the room.
Leaning back on his seat, he exhaled. "I made a huge mistake this time. Ai Wen had better not complicate this issue." He concluded, thinking back to his earlier conversation with Elder Wu.
He had assumed he had everything under control not realizing he never had knowledge of what was going on around him.
They had discovered the aide who helped him get the poison dead after the blood dance ceremony, so he could not even find out the source of the poison. Yet Elder Wu who has not been in the sect for 18 months, could tell him everything he had done in his absence. Not just whom he sent but also when and what he requested.
He knew 'the Wu Xing' was a revered group spoken of in whispers. Most individuals within the sect didn't even know of their existence to talk of outside the sect. They are said to possess the most secret information in the entire realm but he didn't know it would be to this extent. He shuddered as the recollection of several things came to him. 'I am finished.'
The most baffling thing is that the Right Elder said the young Grand Master was aware of all this information and yet pretended not to know. She even requested that the Right Elder should keep my involvement a secret.
This he couldn't understand why. For a situation like this, coupled with all the evidence at her disposal, asking for his death would be seen to be a light punishment. That young lady is really deep. I greatly underestimated her.
The important thing is to discover out who switched the poison, what their motive is and to get the antidote. Otherwise if this matter were to get to the Ancestral Grand Master's ears, I would definitely lose my life.
Elder Ye has been in the left elder position for 4 years from being the Master of the Innate Talent Peak.
He had heard of the Ancestral Grand Master's Disciple who had no innate talent and was curious to know if there was anything special about her. But after observing her a few times, he dismissed the thought assuming the Ancestral Grand Master just took pity on her and was seeking to protect her.
Elder Wu had been the Right Elder for over 20 years but he had never been interested in the sect's matters. He was more focused on developing different cultivation techniques or so he thought.
So, when the Ancestral Grand Master decided to hand over his then Grand Master Position and go into a closed door cultivation, he expected to get the title. Only for it to be handed over to his disciple.
He had originally assumed he could bear it but after a while his discontentment grew and since he had been dealing with most of the matters of the sect; he believed he had everything under control. Yet his 'under-control' plans for one full year had just led to this mess.
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The Grand Courtyard of Mount Fu Sect.
A pair of hands picked up a just written document and blew on it to quicken the drying of the ink. After making certain it had dried, he folded it and angled his head a bit to his right.
"Li Jin, dispatch this missive to the Emperor of Shui Yu country." Elder Wu said as he stretched his hand towards the young man dressed up in black from head to toe standing beside him.
"Issue a notice to the delegates of the blood dance ceremony in the morning, stating that we are finished with our investigations. Whoever wishes to leave may do so. That document has to get to Shui Yu country's palace by tomorrow morning before they set out."
The young man bowed to Elder Wu and left.
He stood up and walked into the inner chamber.
The Wu Xing agent guarding the door bowed to him as he strode into the room.
Walking to the bed, he lifted the curtains. The young "Grand Master" was still lying unconscious on the bed, looking deathly pale like she had her blood sucked out completely by a vampire. Her lips had turned black and shriveled like the back of a tree. In the course on one day, she was already looking like a bag of bones.
He stood for a while beside the bed spotting a vicious smile. "Shui Yu country will pay for this."