Chapter 32 : Elder Tao
Then the pressure vanished, One moment the air pressed against Yan’s ribs like packed soil.
The next moment it was gone.
The cattle stopped shrieking but the fear in their eyes was not, Dust settled slowly from the beams, the cracks of the wood remained.
The lantern straightened.
Yan exhaled once and stepped out of the storehouse.
The courtyard was crowded. Outer disciples stood in loose clusters near the walls, speaking in low voices. Some stared toward the hall. Others deliberately avoided looking in that direction.
Several disciples who had been standing closer to the hall wiped their faces with trembling hands. Thin lines of blood ran from their noses.
Yan scanned the crowd.He found Ren easily.
Ren stood beside the well with his arms crossed.
Yan walked toward him “What happened?”.
Ren glanced at him. “Didn't’ You feel it?”
“I did,” Yan said. “But I don’t know why.”
Ren studied him for a moment.
“You really don’t know?”Yan waited.
Ren lowered his voice slightly.“That was Elder Tao.”
Yan’s gaze shifted toward the hall.
“He lost control of his power for a moment in anger.”
“Why?” Yan asked.
Ren looked at him with open confusion.“You seriously haven’t heard?”
Yan said nothing.
Ren shook his head once.“He came out of the hall earlier and walked straight to Elder Chao’s chamber.”
Yan listened quietly.
“He called Elder Chao out,” Ren continued. “Right there in the corridor.”
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“Chao refused to see him.”
The courtyard noise seemed to thin around them.
Yan imagined the scene easily.A Hegemon losing patience was not a small matter.Even a brief surge of power could suffocate the air for everyone nearby.
“What happened after?” Yan asked.
Ren glanced toward the hall again.“The Sect Leader appeared.”
That was the first time Yan had heard the title spoken with certainty.
“He calmed Tao down,” Ren said.
“And then?”
“He called a meeting of the elders.”
Ren gestured toward the hall.“They pushed everyone out except the elders.”
Yan followed his gaze.
The iron doors of the hall remained shut.
Ren shrugged slightly.“No one knows what they’re discussing.”
The courtyard remained tense.
Even the wind seemed careful where it moved.Yan was silent for several moments.Then he leaned slightly toward Ren.
His voice was calm, but not quiet.
“Tan Suzi.”Ren followed his gaze across the courtyard.She stood near the edge of the crowd, speaking with two other disciples.
“What about her?” Ren asked.
Yan watched her for another moment.
“She is close to Elder Chao” Ren frowned slightly.“You sure?”
Yan shrugged.
“She spends more time near the hall than most outer disciples.”
His voice carried just enough to reach the people standing nearby.“If anyone knows why Elder Tao came today,” he continued calmly, “it would probably be her.”
Ren said nothing.
But the nearby conversations had already slowed.
One disciple glanced toward Tan Suzi.Another followed the look.A third leaned closer to hear better.
Yan stopped speaking and watched.
"Tan Suzi knows something"
"I think Elder Chao and Tao are fighting over her"
Whispers began moving quietly through the crowd, it started small then spread.Several disciples now looked toward Tan Suzi with open curiosity.
She noticed it.Her conversation faltered.
Then her eyes shifted slowly across the courtyard.
For a moment they stopped on Yan.Yan did not look away.
Ren glanced sideways at him.“ You did that on purpose, Don't you?”Yan said nothing.
"Good, good, she beat me with her hands when I lost my blade to her" Ren said in low voice while smiling.
"That explains the brushes from back then" Yan looked at Ren.
Ren kept his head down.
Tan Suzi moved, Yan watched her approach towards them.
The courtyard murmurs continued to spread behind her like ripples in shallow water.
And somewhere inside the hall, the elders were still meeting.
But outside, Another disturbance had already begun.