Chapter 146: The Accusation (Patreon)

Fourteen elders raced through the air across the central valley. At the forefront, Meixiu Xia was carrying Hengting Xia, her family member that had brought them the news. Within moments, they were over the south-western mountain and descended towards the Healing Hall.

They landed in the central courtyard of the main complex, a large structure of four buildings arranged in a square, connected by corridors with smaller additional buildings attached to them. The architecture was austere but elegant, pleasant and relaxing to look at.

Right now, of course, none of them were relaxed at all.

It wasn’t too uncommon sect members to die on expeditions or as the result of one of the sect’s many conflicts. Occasionally, internal feuds between members could also lead to the death of one party, though duels to the death were far less common these days than they had historically been.

Murders, on the other hand, were rare and aggressively prosecuted by the sect. The pillar families preferred to settle their affairs with corporeal punishment and possibly crippling, and people outside of the pillar families covertly killing each other inherently challenged the status quo.

Still, under normal circumstances, bringing something like this directly before a council in session would have been a massively disproportionate reaction. But these weren’t normal circumstances: The victim was not only a senior member in the Dao Attunement Realm, but also a member of one of the Pillar Families.

On top of that, she was a rather high-profile member, known both for the stern personality with which she led one of the Healing Hall’s wards as head physician and for the almost unmatched devotion and skill with which she treated her patients.

“Bring us to the scene.”, Meixiu Xia commanded Hengting Xia, who was still visibly struggling to regain his balance after the flight.

Nonetheless, he obliged and guided them into one of the entrances to the courtyard. Inside, the hall was clearly in turmoil, but there had rarely ever been a procession in this sect so good at making people clear out the way at their approach.

“Senior Yifei was found in her studies about one-and-a-half hours ago. She had stayed in overnight to work on a treatment plan for a difficult patient. When she didn’t show up for the morning shift, we came to look for her and… the scene…”

His voice faltered.

“I apologize, it… it’s difficult to explain.”

“Don’t press yourself. We’ll see for ourselves.”, Meixiu Xia reassured him.

They turned and entered one of the side-buildings. Hengting Xia stopped at a door.

“Here we are. This is her studies.”

He pulled it open and stepped back.

Liu Wei, standing somewhere at the end of the procession, could smell the scene of the murder before he could see it, the pungent stench of charred flesh entering his nostrils.

“No…”, Meixiu Xia exclaimed with a stifled voice as she rushed inside, the other elders carefully following her.

The inside of the room looked like the leftovers of an inferno. From the floorboards to the ceiling, everything bore the marks of intense flame. Everything was covered in a fine layer of ash and the remainders of what must have been a table lay on the floor as scattered pieces of charcoal. Behind it lay what remained of Yifei Xia, Meixiu Xia having dropped to the floor next to her.

Her entire body had been burned to the point of being almost unrecognizable. Only a part of her head, which Meixiu Xia had carefully cradled in her lap, remained mostly intact.

For a while, nobody said anything. Then, Patriarch Zhao spoke up.

“Elder Wei, could you provide us with some insight?”

Liu Wei took a moment longer to look around the room, then he stepped up to Meixiu Xia.

“Elder Xia, I apologize, but could you let me see her back for a moment?”

She lifted the body up wordlessly, just far enough that Liu Wei could see it from behind. As he had suspected, her back was markedly less burned, even her clothes still mostly intact, if a little singed.

“Thank you. That is all I needed.”

She nodded and let the body sink back into her lap. Her expression was frozen like he’d never seen it before.

“She was likely sitting at or maybe standing behind the desk, perhaps working on something, when she was a single blast of fire with overwhelming power from the direction of the door. The blast was short but incredibly hot, so much so that it charred the whole room without anything catching aflame.

“She raised an arm over her face before being hit, that’s why she’s not burned there. I do not believe she fought back in any capacity beyond that.”

“Likely didn’t have the opportunity.”, Patriarch Zhao added.

“Quite so.”

“Correct me if I am wrong, Elder Wei, but the perpetrator would have to have possessed an immense level of power to do something like this, no?”, Sun Liang asked.

Liu Wei stroked his beard. He’d wondered that himself… and he had a good suspicion of where this conversation would be going now. Still, there was no point in trying to lie here. He nodded.

“It is the work of someone at the Dao Contemplation Realm, no doubt about it. Even given ample time to prepare, nobody at the Dao Attunement Realm could unleash such an attack.”

“Elder Wei… I loathe to be the one to say it…”, Sun Liang continued, “but you are the only individual in our sect that has reached the Realm of Dao Contemplation in the Dao of Fire…”

For a while, Liu Wei remained silent, letting the accusation linger while continuing to stroke his beard. The Problem was: There was really not a whole lot he could say against it. In fact, if he hadn’t known that he wasn’t the perpetrator, he’d be his own first suspect.

“Elder Liang, I believe everyone here understands what you are implying, so there is no need to say it in such a roundabout way. And I vehemently deny the accusation that I did, or indeed that I even would do such a thing.”

“That is naturally within your right, but I would never have implied something like this without good reason. As you have said yourself, this could only have been done by someone of the Dao Contemplation Realm. If there is another explanation, please do share it, because I am not keen on accusing one of my fellow elders either.”

That last part was a lie, of course, but otherwise he was right. Liu Wei did not have a better explanation to offer, at least not right now, nor did he have a sound alibi. He’d spent the night working at his residence; there was no one who could testify for his presence there.

Before he could come up with an answer, Lan Shi answered in his stead.

“Then I suggest you wait for a proper investigation of the Enforcement Hall into this matter before you draw such conclusions, Elder Liang.”

“I fail to see how such an investigation could be of benefit when the facts so clearly present themselves to us!”, Ning Bai commented.

“Well, foresight was never your strength, was it?”

“Were you not an elder of our sect, I would rip out your vocal cords for that remark, Elder Shi. As a matter of fact, maybe I should…”

“Enough!”

Patriarch Zhao’s shout rang with an authority that brooked no disobedience.

“An integral member of our sect has been murdered, and the available evidence seems to point to one of our elders as the culprit. This matter is too serious for your petty squabbles!”

He paused for a moment, then he continued with a quieter, but equally stern voice.

“Elder Liang’s accusation against a fellow elder may be bold, but it is warranted, given the situation. Elder Wei will have to answer it. But he shall not have to do so here and now; we shall take our time to carry out an investigation beforehand.

“The first general sect assembly is coming up in just one week. I want this matter resolved before then, lest we present ourselves as bumbling fools before our members and attending allies. The Enforcement Hall and the Information Gathering Hall shall begin investigating this murder to the best of their abilities posthaste. We shall hold a hearing of all the evidence the day before the assembly, where Elder Wei shall have to defend himself. I will hear no opposition on this.”

…

“Damn them!”

Lan Shi’s fist crashed into the table, the shock spilling tea from the cups placed around it.

“This is so clearly a setup!”

Liu Wei took a sip from his cup, which he had wisely chosen not to put down on the table, before casually beginning to wipe up the spilled tea.

“Please calm yourself, Elder Shi”

She was right, of course. This whole thing reeked of a planned attack on him. Using a method that would so clearly point to him as the only subject for the assassination, on top of scheduling it so it would be found during a council meeting and shortly before the general assembly? It was almost too brazen.

“I don’t understand how you can remain this calm about it. They are framing you for a murder! One they committed themselves!”

They were. Or, more accurately, someone was. The real question was: Who?

“Elder Shi, I can assure you that I am positively flaming with anger. Right now, however, I am keeping those flames contained so they don’t get in the way of finding out what happened.”

Lan Shi sighed loudly, but she did settle down somewhat. Guang Lai and Meng Hui, who had joined him at his residence alongside her, looked at him expectantly.

“Good. Right now, there are two questions regarding this murder that need to be answered the most. First: Who exactly is responsible. Second: How did they do it?”

The first question was, on the surface at least, easier to answer. Regardless of the exact details of the exact details of the assassination, the only people in the sect capable of realizing something like this were the pillar families.

Liu Wei very much doubted that they would have conspired as a whole to do this. Not only were they not that tightly allied and had until now failed to mount a united response against him, if they had worked this plan out together, he couldn’t imagine a case where the Xia Family would be the one bearing the ‘cost’.

That meant that there were two broad scenarios to consider: Either the culprit was Meixiu Xia herself, and Yifei Xia had been chosen as the target specifically to avert suspicion – Meixiu Xia was one of the people Liu Wei wouldn’t put it past to murder someone from her own family if it suited her purposes –, or it was someone with a secondary interest in weakening the Xia Family.

In the latter case, of the more powerful families would have to be responsible, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to risk the potential fallout with the Xia Family. After all, neither Lady Xia or any of the other elders would be gullible enough to not at least suspect the possibility of him being framed and conduct a private investigation, even if they went along with it out of political convenience.

“Elder Shi, you’re the one I have to count on the most for this investigation. If any of institution out of the pillar families’ hands in the sect has a chance of finding out the truth, it’s the Enforcement Hall.”

“We will conduct careful questioning of all potential witnesses and search for any clues. Anything particular you want us to look out for?”

“If possible, try to find out if Yifei Xia was politically involved inside the Xia Family or if there are other notable things about her background.”

“Of course.”

The second question was a lot more mysterious. For the longest time, there had only been two Dao Contemplation Realm fire cultivators besides Liu Wei on the peninsula, both from the same minor sect: The Burning Thorns Sect, one of the former subordinate sects of the Roaring Thunder Sect.

Liu Wei had run into one of them, Zhang Sha, during the battle at the School of Blooming Dawn and had left him behind in their custody. The other, formerly the Burning Thorns Sect’s patriarch, had reportedly been killed in battle after he had led the failed assault on their relief force.

That left only the former as a possible culprit, but it was almost impossible to believe that they’d brought the only remaining Dao Contemplation Realm cultivator of a sect they had no diplomatic ties with here, just to assassinate a single member of their sect.

Still, what else could the explanation be? No cultivator at the Dao Attunement Realm would be able to spontaneously unleash such a blast, unless they were in possession of an… incredibly powerful… artifact.

Liu Wei almost jumped to his feet at the realization. The candleholder; the artifact he’d almost picked from the Roaring Thunder Sect’s treasury before finding the Zither – It would be uniquely suited to perform just the kind of attack that had killed Yifei Xia.

That didn’t explain everything, as it would certainly still require an advanced Dao Attunement Realm fire cultivator to operate at all and there was no one like that in the sect either, but that was a lot more plausible than a Dao Contemplation Realm cultivator materializing out of nothing.

“Elder Lai, I have something to request of you too.”

“Please tell me how I can help, Elder Wei.”

“There was an artifact among the Roaring Thunder Sect’s treasury, a candleholder. You should have seen it when you chose yours. Noone chose it for their reward, so it went into the sect treasury. I would like you to discretely confirm whether it is still there.”

“I understand. Do you suspect…?”

“Yes. It could have been the weapon used in the murder.”

“I will do what I can.”

“Thank you for your help.”

The four sat in silence for a while before Liu Wei spoke up again.

“Now, while I do believe that investigating this murder to the best of our abilities is worth a try, we should not be blind to the possibility that we will fail finding the answers we seek. Thus, we should also prepare ourselves for what happens if we fail to find the truth.”

What that would entail depended, of course, on the goals of the Pillar Families, which they couldn’t know exactly. He doubted that they are after simple monetary compensation; they will be much more interested in using this situation to move against them politically. It was possible that they would try to wrestle away control of the Training Hall from him, or to exclude him from the council.

Finally, banishment was also on the table.