Hearing the name of his friend, Cao Yun's blood began to boil. Inside his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath got agitated. Thankfully, he quickly circulated his mind cultivation and calmed it down.
"You should know that Ren Chao is very close with one of your members, right?" Even though his voice was masked, his delight was obvious through the way he was talking.
"And you should know that Wang Mei is more than a mere member! She used to be my servant. And she's the one I trust the most. Do you suggest I use the man she took a fancy to as a hostage?!" Lu Meihan became quite angry.
"That's precisely what I'm suggesting. With his friend held hostage, Cao Yun will have no other choice but to obey to you!"
Lu Meihan stood up and her chair almost broke from her strength. "You want me to betray my own people?!"
"Oh?! Do you remember what's going to happen to you if you don't use Chen Guo to heal your backlash?" Lu Meihan's face darkened. "I told you to use the Life Essence Phoenix Balm as a last resort. But you just couldn't resist the temptation. Now, you're fighting time itself. Moreover, Wang Mei has no reason to be in the know. You have thousands of ways of dealing with her. After all, in the end, you just need Cao Yun, Ren Chao will survive."
"But he will know what happened!"
The man seemed to ponder over the matter. "You're right, I did not think of that... It seems like you'll have to silence him afterwards then."
Cao Yun's heart almost exploded in his chest. He was seething with rage but had to use all his mind cultivation to keep the Drop of Wrath at bay and keep up 'Locking the Seven'. Even a single lapse in his focus would give him away. Fighting Lu Meihan should be possible. Even though she was a 9th-grade Mortal, her wound should still be affecting her. However, the man in black and purple was another thing. Cao Yun had no idea of his strength, but even if he only was a late Mortal, combined with Lu Meihan, Cao Yun would be defeated.
They only had to gain some time for the other members to come in and his fate would be sealed. Either, he would die in battle or he would be tried by the disciplinary pavilion. And Chief Elder Bian was not someone he could trust.
"I won't do that to Wang Mei!" Lu Meihan was resolute in the matter.
"Then... Are you ready to die?" The man approached her slowly.
Lu Meihan got stunned. She clenched her fists and her jaw.
"I'm sure you've realized by now. To recover completely, you'll have to drain Chen Guo almost entirely. He won't survive the process. You know it, right? You could play ignorant before but not anymore."
Lu Meihan's breathing sped up. "I know..." She only admitted the truth in a whisper.
"So? Are you ready to die?" The man's face was very close to her ear.
Defeated, Lu Meihan lowered her head. "No. But what about the disciplinary pavilion?"
A small laugh escaped the man's disguise. "Do not worry about that. Once you're done, just call for me. Everything will be just fine. Didn't Luduo Bu's case turn out fine after all?"
Lu Meihan did not answer but nodded. She had not heard all the details, but indeed, Luduo Bu's sentence seemed to have been lighter than it should have, especially with his past offenses.
"Then, you should know what to do, right?" He walked back toward the door. "I know you'll make the right choice. But do not worry, Chen Guo is a dead man anyway. If you do not kill him this year, Luduo Bu should do so next year." He then left the room and his presence seemed to disappear altogether. Cao Yun heard no footsteps at all. Either he was using an artifact of some kind or a better stealth technique than he was.
In the room, Lu Meihan absolutely destroyed the chairs and the tables around her. She was literally shaking with rage and frustration. Her head cupped in her clenched hands, she called for Ren Rong.
"Young Mistress. How may I help you?" The small girl was a bit intimidated by her young mistress. Her eyes darted to the destroyed furniture and she did not dare say anything about it.
"Where is Wang Mei?"
"She's in the zither hall. She's entertaining some regulars, but she should be finished very soon. Should I call her in afterwards?"
"No! I'll go there myself." She looked around her. "Clean this room and replace the furniture."
"Of course, Young Mistress." Lu Meihan quickly left the room.
Cao Yun was still trying to control his emotions. After the death of his family, his sense of protection toward the people related to him got stronger. The idea that someone would target his friend to get to him was maddening and infuriating.
He waited for Ren Rong to have finished cleaning the mess. When she left to get rid of it, he quickly escaped through a window. A small part of him wanted to go listen in on Wang Mei and Lu Meihan's conversation. He wanted to know how Wang Mei would be involved. Maybe she was so loyal that Wang Mei would obey to her orders, or maybe Lu Meihan would simply lie. Given her attitude, Cao Yun was more inclined to believe that Wang Mei would be left in the dark. But he couldn't be sure of that.
Unfortunately, it was way too risky. The zither pavilion was in another building he knew nothing about. Even after preparing his path ahead, he still had to cross two array formations including one he knew nothing about. And he did not think of a good pathway toward the zither pavilion from the main building. This was too risky.
Unwillingly, he decided to leave and get back to his room.
-
Wang Mei was indeed playing the zither for six men and one woman. They were all from the Red Cliff Faction. Wang Mei's hands seemed to float over the instrument. The zither itself was beautiful, carved in a magnificent wood. And the music that came out of it was so pleasant that people around were imagining fantastical sceneries. Even the arts could be divided into several ranks, just like alchemy or array formations. And Wang Mei was a 5-star Earth musician.
In the Earth rank, the music had nothing exceptional, but it could induce deep states of calm and even cause imagination to run rampant. Someone in the Human rank could mix their Qi with the music. By doing so, they could cause illusions and either soothe the mind more deeply or attack it. Usually, only a Spirit Warrior was able to launch spiritual attacks and they were also adept in defending against them. A normal Mortal cultivator had no real way to defend their mind, so a Human rank musician could be a threat.
Of course, using music in the middle of a fight was not that easy, but it could be used as a trap.
Slowly, her music faded in the air. The audience gradually got out of their trance and fully woke up. When Wang Mei had finally finished her show, everyone cheered and applauded.
"Miss Wang is as exquisite as ever. I feel like all my fatigue is gone."
"I could almost fight right here and now."
"Yes, me too."
"Let's quickly go back to our residence. I'm itching to move my body."
"Thank you, Miss Wang. You're as talented as ever." They all bowed toward Wang Mei and left the room in a hurry. They were really fired up and they would spar with each other until the sun rose in the morning.
Just as they all left, Lu Meihan got in. While she was starting to tidy up, Wang Mei saw her.
"Faction Leader." She quickly bowed down.
Waving and shaking her hand, Lu Meihan stopped her. "No need for such formality. I wanted to see you for something important."
Watching her faction leader, Wang Mei saw that something was wrong. Until she became an outer disciple, she had been Lu Meihan's servant during her first and second years. She knew her former mistress very well and something was wrong.
"Faction Leader, you shouldn't have come all the way here. If you had just called me..."
"Nonsense! I have no time to deal with such trivial matters. I want an answer from you." She paused for a bit while Wang Mei got worried. "What do you think of Ren Chao precisely?"
Shocked by the sudden question, Wang Mei could not utter a sound for a while. "Faction Leader, I swear I never did anything inappropriate with him. I've always adhered to my vow since I joined the Coiling Silk Faction."
Indeed, all the members of the faction had made a vow to not have any sexual behavior with anyone as long as they stayed a member of the faction. They could have a romantic relationship but nothing physical.
"I'm not asking you that. I know you would not betray the rules. I want to know what you really think of him. Is he just a fling or something more?"
Wang Mei could see that her faction leader was deadly serious. Hence, she decided to be blunt. "I love him."
Hearing these words she already suspected, Lu Meihan's heart sank. Despite her attempt to hide it, it was very obvious for Wang Mei who used to attend to her. "Faction Leader, are you in conflict with Lake Turtle? Or Ren Chao?" The absence of answer gave her the answer she was looking for. "This is about Chen Guo, isn't it?"
Once again, Lu Meihan's face betrayed her. This time she did not even try to hide it as she knew her former servant would see right through her. "I cannot tell you anything more, but I do have a conflict with Chen Guo. There is no way Ren Chao won't be involved in this."
"But... Surely we can resolve this. I met Chen Guo several times through Ren Chao. He's a very reasonable man. As long as it's not a blood feud, there's no reason we can't find common grounds."
"Wang Mei!" Lu Meihan interrupted her thoughts. "Who would you choose? Would you side with Ren Chao or with me?"
A few months ago, she would not have had an instant of hesitation. In fact, she just wanted to tease Ren Chao at first as she found him pretty interesting. But the more time she spent with him, the more she realized she liked his personality. He was honest to a fault and always spoke his mind. Yes, he was a bit loud and rather dense on some topics. But in the end, she found that charming. She was used to conniving nobles who would try to use stratagems to seduce her. Ren Chao was the perfect opposite. He even tried to avoid her for some time.
This instant, she did not know what to say.
"Wang Mei, I won't make you choose. I have a mission for you outside the sect. It should take you a very long time. Most likely, everything will be settled once you get back."
Her mind was in total confusion. Did it mean that when she got back, Ren Chao would not be there anymore?
"I'm sorry, Wang Mei. Just take some time to think about it, but I need your answer by the end of the month." She was about to leave when she turned back. "I trust you to stay quiet about everything." Then, she left.
Wang Mei's mind was utter chaos. She had no idea of what she had to do. Lu Meihan should not do anything too excessive. But again, she seemed off these last few days, since she looked like she recovered. Could there be a connection? She had asked to see Chen Guo and after his fight against Luduo Bu, she made a miraculous recovery but hid it. It would have made more sense to show her health to everyone in order to protect the faction. But maybe, she did not want Chen Guo to know. All these thoughts were in turmoil in Wang Mei's head.
She had known Lu Meihan for four years now. For two of them, she had been her servant. Then when she came back from her third-year, Wang Mei was a first-year and she joined the Coiling Silk Faction while Lu Meihan became its faction leader. Lu Meihan had even asked her to take her succession once she would be a fourth-year. Lu Meihan was rather reasonable and did not like useless conflicts. She was trying to achieve peace through art.
But something had changed after her backlash and she became depressed. And once again, she had changed after her recovery, there was an urgency in her eyes, and something Wang Mei did not recognize.
-
Cao Yun got back home. Now he was absolutely certain of himself. Some demonic cultivators were infiltrated within the Wubei Sect. Apparently, they also had ties with the disciplinary pavilion. Apart from Xiao Xuefeng, he could not trust anyone fully. Most likely, Chief Elders Baishen and Suxian were not implicated and neither was Instructor Meng. After all, they had participated in raising his strength. Instructor Meng had even been appointed by Xiao Xuefeng herself.
Chief Elder Bian was the most suspect. However, it wasn't sure, he could also be simply manipulated. Lu Meihan herself did not seem like a demonic cultivator. Clearly, this man in black and purple had used her weakness against her. And now, she had to choose between dying or killing. But it did not change a thing. Whether she was willing or not, Lu Meihan was going to try to kill him and Rao Chen. There was no way Cao Yun would let her do.
He was truly enraged. If she wanted to kill him in order to recover, he could accept it. But she was going to implicate his friend. And the idea came from this man in black and purple. But then, they could also try and implicate Mei Ying. She was also very close to him and even more defenseless. Probably, they did not want to use her because of her sister who was a direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng.
Right now, the only thing that was in Cao Yun's mind was the safety of his close ones. The first thing he had to do was to warn Ren Chao. Then, he would need to gain in strength as fast as he could. According to what he heard, Luduo Bu would try to kill him next year when he would be able to leave the sect. However, there was also a possibility of him attacking Zhi Yin and the members of her sect.
Right now, Cao Yun had to deal with the threat of Lu Meihan. Thinking about future threats was useless for the moment. As long as Ren Chao stayed as far away as possible from the Coiling Silk Faction residence, Cao Yun could have some time to gain in strength. The best option would be to wait for Xiao Xuefeng to come back. But of course, Lu Meihan would be more and more desperate as time passed.