Chapter 37 : The Letter
Morning arrived quietly over the ridge.
Yan was already awake when Ren arrived at the entrance of the storehouse, he was not arrived in hurry but slowly, each of his step has weight behind it. “I’m leaving.”
Yan looked up from the rope he was coiling“So early?”
Ren stepped inside “I couldn’t sleep.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“I kept thinking about the letter.”
Yan waited.
Ren lowered his voice.
“I don’t trust anyone here to carry it. I’ll go to the village myself and deliver the message.”
Yan set the rope down “You shouldn’t go.”
Ren frowned.
“Why not?”
“If you leave the sect and deliver the message yourself,” Yan said calmly, “your uncle will know where it came from.”
Ren hesitated.
Yan continued “The fewer connections, the better.”
Ren crossed his arms “So what do I do?”
Yan spoke slowly “Write a letter instead”
Ren nodded.
“Send it to your mother.”
Ren blinked.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Yan’s gaze remained steady.
“Mention in the letter she gives the letter to someone she knows.”
“That person writes a new letter.”
Ren frowned slightly.
“A new letter?”
“Yes.”
Yan continued.
“Add in the instructions that they should copy only the message.”
“The instructions should be updated”
Ren listened carefully.
“That person gives the new letter to another contact.”
“That person writes another letter.”
“And at the end the instructions should be removed entirely "
“Then the last person must hire a random courier.”
Ren looked at Yan with open eyes...
“No one in the chain knows where the message began.”
The room fell silent.
Ren stared at the floor for several seconds.
“…You thought about this all night.”
Yan did not answer.
Ren nodded slowly “Alright.”
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He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his sleeve.
“I’ll draft the letter now and show it to you.”
Yan shook his head.
“Don’t.”
Ren looked up.
“Why?”
“Do not bring it to me.”
Yan’s voice remained calm.
“Once you write it, send it immediately.”
Ren studied him.
“You don’t want to read it?”
“No.”
Yan continued.
“The less I know, the better.”
Ren was silent.
Yan added one more instruction.
“Tell your mother to destroy the letter after reading it.”
Ren nodded.
“And the others?”
“The same.”
Yan’s voice remained steady.
“Each person copies the message.”
“The instructions are updated”
“Every letter must be new.”
Ren looked at the paper in his hand again.
“Delete the instructions at the very end.”
“Yes.”
The storehouse remained quiet.
Ren folded the blank sheet slowly.
“Understood.”
He turned toward the door.
At the threshold he paused.
“Do you think they’re watching us?”
Yan shook his head.
“Not us." Ren frowned.
“Then why all this trouble?”
Yan looked toward the livestock pens outside“The merchants, they are watching the merchants”
Ren followed his gaze.
“If the message leads back to them…” Ren said slowly.
Yan said nothing.
The silence was enough.
Ren nodded once.
“I’ll handle it.”
He stepped outside.
Yan remained still for several breath and went back to the mat.
He closed his eyes.
Cultivation began slowly.
Breath moved through his body.
The familiar pressure returned almost immediately.
The pain followed.
It had not disappeared.
It had merely become quieter.
Like a blade pressed slowly into muscle instead of driven through bone.
Yan’s breathing remained steady.
He continued.
Time passed but the pain remained constant.
Eventually he opened his eyes as he could not tolerate it.
He stood and stretched his fingers slowly. In the corner of the storehouse, beneath a stack of old sacks, something caught his attention.
A book.
The herbal manual that he tossed away days ago.
Its cover had warped from moisture. The edges had darkened with age.
It had been left there for days, Yan walked over and picked it up.
Dust fell from the pages as he opened it.
He turned through the brittle paper slowly it was filled with herb names, their pictures and roots
His eyes moved steadily across the text, they stopped on one page.
The title there was written in darker ink.
The Way of Lethal Poison.
Yan’s gaze lingered on the page.