The library mourned a death without end. All the masters who had learned the truth today were stunned. But another expression of cruelty appeared on Lin Chaoyuan's face. Lin Chaoyuan's smile turned into a cold silence when the woman... the only living witness to the past... finished speaking.
A suffocating silence fell over the atmosphere, like the calm before a storm.
And then, a loud sound of a sword being unsheathed resounded. It spread throughout the atmosphere like lightning striking a mountain, drawing everyone's gaze upwards, but before anyone could comprehend it, Fuie fell to the ground. There was a void in her eyes, exactly like the feeling in the atmosphere. But as Fui fell from Lin Chaoyuan, a vision emerged that made everyone sweat. Everyone felt their eyes well up. Then the three masters saw blood dripping from Lin Chaoyuan's sword, drops of blood falling one by one onto the threshold. A silent smile flashed in Lin Chaoyuan's eyes as he looked at Fui lying on the ground. The three masters were still so stunned by this sudden movement that none of them even moved their eyes. But when, one by one, the three masters looked down at Fuie, it seemed as if their breaths were still cold. A sword had been slashed at Fuie's throat. Blood was continuously flowing from her slit throat. Her eyes widened. Her body had turned pale white and lifeless. And her eyes were just uttering lifeless words, lying like a corpse. Everything fell silent, not even a single breath could be heard. But then, like glass, Lin Chaoyuan's heartless voice pierced the silence, echoing through the cold atmosphere.
"Everyone's talking too much these days," he said, looking at Fuie with bitter eyes.
Master Kin Lishuan, wide-eyed in shock, stared at Fuie's lifeless body. He whispered, his voice almost breaking.
"N-no... no... this!... not again..." he said with a choked throat and tearing eyes, his voice trembling.
And then, the letter in his trembling hand slipped from his grasp and fell beside him, where Fuie was bleeding.
None of the three Masters moved. Even the winds froze. They were so stunned by the suddenness of the incident that their bodies froze, refusing to move as if time itself had stopped.
But little did they know that there was another witness to this tragedy. One who stood silently, watching everything unfold.
A few drops of water fell on a small flower outside the library, scattering its petals in a single stroke. Those drops were nothing but tears flowing from Yu Sui's eyes. For who knows how long Yu Sui and Mo Yan had stood there, motionless, like stone statues. Or perhaps the truth was so cold that even their breath had frozen.
Because their ears, their souls, heard and saw everything, believing it was like seeing a dead person come alive. Mo Yan's eyes held the same bloody tears; his face was calm, but the veins in his neck and forehead were swelling as if they could burst at any moment.
And Yu Sui's eyes were red with the unstoppable flow of tears. He clenched the sword in his hand so tightly that his fist turned white, and the sword trembled so violently that it could snap in two at any moment.
Lin Chaoyuan stood there with a cursed calm, his eyes seemingly having found the peace he had come to seek. Then, with a cold smile, Lin Chaoyuan turned back to leave, but as he turned, his steps stopped. His face flushed for a moment, but at the same moment, a slanted smile appeared on his face, as if he had thought of another despicable plan. When he saw Mo Yan and Yu Sui standing before him, his eyes widened as if they were ready to hunt.