Chapter 33 : Ripples
Before she could approach Yan and Ren, Tan Suzi was surrounded by other disciples. "Tan Suzi, what happened? Tell us"
Tan Suzi looked around with confusion.
" Tan Suzi, is it true that Elder Tao and Chao are fighting over you?" One of them asked earnestly.
"What? What are you blabbering? " Tan Suzi confronted.
Some stared at her from far.
"Move" Tan Suzi said, the people still did not, some people arrived from the back and pushed the people surrounding Tan Suzi aside.
Yan noticed the faces, he looked at all the people who were helping her out briefly then moved his face away.
But Tan Suzi noticed Yan's gaze at that brief movement, she hurried towards at him.
While standing infront of him, she questioned "what did you do ?"
"Nothing" Yan replied, she glared at him, Meanwhile Ren moved away as soon as she came near and hid himself among the crowd.
"I will know soon" Tan Suzi said and left the place.
As soon as she left, Ren came back next to Yan "Are you afraid of her?"
Ren looked the back of Tan Suzi, took a step back "I am not, Why would I ?"
Yan did not say anything.
Right at the moment, the doors of the main hall opened, silence spread through the court yard, everyone looked towards the door.
Several elders stepped out first carrying serious expressions. Behind them came the Sect Leader.
Yan saw him for the first time, the mysterious sect leader, he looked normal and healthy middle aged man with brown skin and black hairs.
His gaze moved across the gathered disciples, his eyes held for a second "“The elders have concluded their discussion.”
His voice carried easily across the courtyard.
“Return to your duties.”
That was all.
He turned and left.
The elders followed him back inside.
The doors closed.
For a moment the courtyard remained silent.
Then movement returned.
Disciples began dispersing, though the quiet glances toward Tan Suzi and somewhispers continued.
Ren leaned closer again.
“You think something serious happened inside?”
Yan’s gaze remained on the closed hall doors.
“If it’s serious,” he said quietly, “we’ll see it.”
Ren frowned.
Before he could speak again, a voice came from behind them.
“You enjoy making people talk.”
This story originates from NovelFire. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ren turned first.
Tan Suzi stood a few steps away. The wooden board rested lightly against her shoulder. Her eyes were on Yan.
The noise of the courtyard continued around them, but the space between the three of them felt strangely quiet.
Yan met her gaze “You’re mistaken".
Tan Suzi tilted her head slightly “Am I?”.
A few nearby disciples pretended not to listen.
None of them succeeded.
Tan Suzi stepped closer.
“Earlier,” she said calmly, “you seemed very curious about what I might know.”
Yan remained still.
“And now,” she continued, glancing briefly toward the nearby disciples, “half the courtyard is curious as well.”
Ren shifted beside him.
“About that, I only said you might know something.”Yan answered evenly.
Tan Suzi studied him.
Then a faint smile appeared “Yes.”
She turned slightly, letting her eyes pass across the courtyard.
"That might be what you said"
Her gaze returned to Yan.
“But I think,” she said softly,
“You were more interested in what they would do with that thought.”
Yan did not reply.
For a moment neither of them moved.
Then Tan Suzi straightened.
“Don't try playing tricks with me” she said quietly, turned and walked away.
Ren exhaled slowly.
“…She knows.”
Yan watched Tan Suzi rejoin the other disciples.
“Yes,” he said calmly.
Then he added,
“That was the point.”
Ren looked at him.
And for the first time since returning to the sect, he felt a small chill.
Yan wasn’t just observing the sect anymore.
He was beginning to shape it.
Night settled slowly over the courtyard.Most disciples had returned to their quarters and the lantern near the well burned low.
The storehouse door opened quietly. Yan stepped outside.
He crossed the courtyard toward the drainage channel.
The place where the livestock had been slaughtered earlier lay quiet now.
Only faint stains remained along the shallow stone groove.
Yan crouched beside the channel.
The soil there was darker.
Packed.
Disturbed many times.
He touched it lightly, it was cold, but nothing was any special about it.
He wanted to dig and see what's beneath it.
The urge was strong.
He could already imagine pulling the earth apart, uncovering whatever lay beneath the packed ground.
But he did not move.
Instead, he stood and walked back toward the storehouse.The livestock stirred uneasily as he approached.Yan untied the rope of the thinnest goat.
The animal resisted briefly then followed.
He led it outside.
The goat’s hooves clicked softly against the stone as he brought it toward the drainage channel.
Yan stopped beside the dark soil.
The goat shifted nervously.
Yan watched the ground simultaneously his hand moved to the knife at his waist.He remembered the twins.
The motion had been simple and efficient.
Yan gripped the goat’s jaw and forced its head back.
With one clean motion, the blade cut across its throat.The goat convulsed as blood spilled immediately into the shallow stone channel.
Dark liquid ran along the groove toward the soil.
Yan stepped back and waited.
The courtyard fell silent again.
The blood continued to flow slowly.
The goat’s body weakened. Its legs collapsed beneath it.
Yan’s eyes remained on the soil beside the drainage channel.
The blood slid along the shallow groove and spread across the dark earth.
It did not disappear.
The soil drank it the way soil always did.
But the sensation beneath the ground changed.
Yan felt it immediately, It was a faint pull.
Not on the blood. But on the air.
On the space beneath his feet.
The soil did not move neither stones did shift.
Yet something beneath the courtyard had become aware. Then it vanished as the goat gave one final shudder and went limp.
Yan remained perfectly still.
The night was quiet.
The blood thinned into dark streaks across the ground. The sensation below faded slightly.
Yan understood that It was not the blood itself.It was the moment of death.
And somewhere beneath the courtyard,
something was feeding on it.
While Yan was still staring the drainage channel.
“That was quite the show.”
Yan’s back tightened with voice that came from behind.