The quiet of the atmosphere had now turned into the silence of a graveyard. A feeling of suffocation pervaded the air.
The air shattered like glass as Lin Chaoyuan's words permeated the air like poison. The three Masters went numb, their eyes and bodies frozen.
Master Kin Lishuan, who had been looking down, breathing heavily, spoke the words that had been running through his mind in the silence. He said in a deep, heavy voice.
"No... Lin Chaoyuan...!!!... No, what did you think?"
Master Kin Lishuan looked at Lin Chaoyuan, staring into his eyes.
"...that we would fall for your useless lies! Don't even think of it, you traitor. Hearing the truth from you is like separating poison from water. That's impossible."
The Master's gaze and voice spoke in unison.
But upon hearing this, Lin Chaoyuan's face didn't move in the slightest; he simply stood there in silence. But then, Lin lowered his eyes slightly and became lost in thought, and then, once again, Lin Chaoyuan burst out laughing, laughing hysterically. There was no trace of joy or any other emotion, just a blank, desolate laugh. Finally, Lin Chaoyuan stopped his lifeless laughter and spoke, looking directly at Master Kin Lishuan, his eyes acting like predators themselves.
"Oh? So you think this is... a lie,...?"
Lin Chaoyuan came closer, his voice rising with triumph.
"...so would you dare try it? What if I showed you the mirror of truth?"
These words stunned everyone, but Lin Chaoyuan's facial muscles tightened with a slight smile as he gestured for someone behind her to come forward. Just then, before everyone's eyes, a woman entered from behind Lin Chaoyuan, walking slowly, with drooping eyelids. The woman was a middle-aged woman with a calm yet relaxed face. Seeing that calm face, Master Kin Lishuan's knees gave way. His eyes widened, his face turned pale as if the blood had drained from his body. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest. Master Kin Lishuan's eyes stared in disbelief at the image of the woman before him. Just then, Master Feng Shu Ri and Master Chui Yong leaned over to support Master Kin Lishuan. Just then, Master Kin Lishuan spoke, looking at the woman:
"No... no... this can't be true... this is all a lie... this must be a lie..."
Lin Chaoyuan's eyes smiled as if his soul were satisfied. He approached, taking a few steps forward, his voice filled with triumph, and his words became even more weighty. "...You still think it's a lie?...Then why don't you hear it for yourself. What is the truth?"
His voice rang out with sweet, bitter words, shattering the silence that had been lingering in the air.
Lin Chaoyuan glared at Master Kin Lishuan and spread his arms wide.
"If I show you the evidence, and it proves I'm right..."
He leaned toward Master Kin Lishuan and looked into his eyes.
"...then Yu Sui will have to die by my hand, but if I'm lying...then I'll give up my life right here, right now."
His words held no small weight; they were like a blow to a boulder on a mountain. The delicate yet hard hearts of the three Masters were crushed beneath them. Their eyes seemed to fill not with tears, but with the pleas of their own souls.
Just then, Lin Chaoyuan raised his hand. As if declaring war, the woman understood his gesture clearly. Although her face had aged with pain and time, her eyes were clearly filled with memories. Lin Chaoyuan said to her in a harsh voice.
"Tell me everything you saw."
Her eyes burned as she said this, but when she saw Master Kin Lishuan, it was as if a volcano erupted within her. She said:
"You must have remembered something. This woman is the one who found Yu Sui after the chaos, and she was the one who handed her directly into your hands. Kin Lishuan!!!"
Her eyes widened slightly as she said this.
And Master Kin Lishuan, such a mountain of memories and past had fallen upon him, that even breathing felt like a sin, he simply stared at the woman in disbelief, as if asking a thousand questions within himself.
" Fuie!!!...?"
He stood up as he said this, his voice choked as he spoke.
"….You… You said, he was just a child we saved…!"
Master Kin Lishuan said this casually, gesturing in the air. His eyes remained fixed on Fuie's face. But when Fuie nodded in response, Kin Lishuan's spirit split instantly. He suffered a physical shock as well as a spiritual shock, and he took two steps backward. However, Master Feng Shu Ri and Master Chui Yong, who were standing behind him, caught him from falling, but they couldn't hold his shattered spirit.
Then Fuie's face lifted, she looked at Master Kin Lishuan with calm but moist eyes and said.
"I didn't lie, Master Grandfather,"
Fuie's face drooped once again, and her voice became heavy with a choked throat.
"...But it's also true that I found Yu Sui lying in the middle of the ritual pavilion. The ritual that caused this desolation. Master Grandfather, I didn't lie, I just didn't tell the whole story. To save that little life."
Saying this, she took out a paper talisman from her torn and dirty clothes and stepped forward, slowly revealing the evidence. The very evidence that Queen Guzuie had left behind. The spell sealing spell that Queen Guzuie had written at that time. Kin Lishuan looked at the page, slightly burned at the corners and stained with old ashes. It was Queen Guzuie's royal letter, a final message she left for her son and Yu Sui. The blood spells written on it were made of the same energy that now glowed on the boys' wrists. Both Masters couldn't help but widen their eyes upon seeing the page. And when, with trembling hands and tear-filled eyes, Master Kin Lishuan grasped the spell seal in his fingers, his body went cold, as if there was no life left in him. His trembling hands and tear-filled eyes stared relentlessly at the brunt of the pain that was gnawing at his soul, the words of the letter echoing through the room as if unsaid.
"Yu Sui... As long as Mo Yan is with you, no curse will touch you. And Mo Yan... As long as Yu Sui is with you, you will never miss me."
Master Feng Shu Ri and Master Chui Yong looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief. But then everyone's hearts were struck with a final shock. Suddenly, Fuie took a few steps forward towards Master Kin Lishuan, looked at the three Masters with a deeply ingrained gaze, pointed her finger directly at them, like Lin Chaoyuan, and with all her remaining strength, she spoke loudly, her voice trembling.
"It's true that Yu Sui was at the center of that ancient ritual, but the true heir to the throne... the true son of Queen Guzuie... is none other than..."
Her breath stopped for a moment, her eyes staring straight into Lin Chaoyuan's, and Lin Chaoyuan was stunned by the sudden change in her face. Then Fuie said.
"...It's Mo Yan. Prince Mo Yan is Empress Guzuie's son."
These words stung like the tip of a sword, Lin Chaoyuan and the three masters' eyes widened. Hearing this, Lin Chaoyuan couldn't help the bitterness that suddenly appeared on his face at Fuie's words. Lin Chaoyuan simply glared at Fuie with a sharp gaze. Because Lin Chaoyuan knew from day one that Mo Yan was the prince.
But the sudden silence that descended on the library seemed to echo with mourning. Everyone had forgotten themselves after hearing this indirect hymn, but Fuie didn't stop. She shouted again, but this time there was no hesitation or resentment in her voice.
"Lin Chaoyuan,"
She pointed to Lin Chaoyuan and said,
"Lin Chaoyuan! He's the one who tried to kill Prince Mo Yan. That's why he's part of the Linian clan today. This rascal threw the newborn Mo Yan into the mountain river that day. But fate had other plans. Some fishermen from the Linian clan found the prince and handed him over to you."
She looked at Master Chui Yong.
"I raised him... and named him Mo Yan... the name... the same name... that the queen herself wrote on his wrist."
With this, even the peace in the library was now suffocating. The truth was so bitter, like poison, that even hearing it was unbearable. No one moved. No one even breathed. And outside, the sky thundered, as if heaven itself was listening. And responding.