Chapter Twenty-Three: The Grand Elder Meng Lan

Update Time: 2013-05-23

Early the next morning, Chu Chen was practicing sword techniques in the garden when the Grand Elder entered, her face dark and grim. She dismissed those nearby and looked at Chu Chen, a flicker of reluctance in her eyes.

Upon seeing her, Chu Chen spun his sword into a flourish, sheathed it, and spoke urgently, "Aunt Lan, you’ve finally returned! I have so much to—"

Meng Lan, seeing his eagerness, suppressed her own disquiet and said, "I know what you wish to ask. You’re clever enough—you must already have the answer in your heart. Why bother seeking confirmation from me?"

Chu Chen’s heart skipped a beat at her words. Was there more to this matter than he suspected?

Meng Lan noticed his silence and assumed he was still unwilling to accept the truth, her anger rising. "Yes, that man Yue Zhanpeng is your biological father. Your master is your birth mother. You were not picked up by your master. Now, you may go find them and acknowledge them, but if you choose to call him father, never call me Aunt Lan again!"

Chu Chen had never expected his gentle, wise Aunt Lan, who had hardly ever lost her temper with him, to react so strongly. He asked, puzzled, "Aunt Lan, why do you say this? The Yue family’s patriarch has spent twelve years searching for Master with great effort. The fact that they braved the Soul Severing Array shows his sincerity toward her."

As he spoke, Chu Chen clearly caught the bitterness in Aunt Lan’s eyes, and his heart began to pound. What had the Yue family’s patriarch done to provoke such resentment?

"Aunt Lan, I haven’t said I wish to acknowledge him. What really happened back then? As someone involved, I deserve to know."

Meng Lan’s expression softened slightly as Chu Chen relented. "You’d best not have such intentions. Even if you do, you should extinguish them immediately. Come, let’s speak inside."

Filled with questions, Chu Chen followed Meng Lan into the room. The two sat facing each other at a table.

Perhaps because she was about to recount the past, Meng Lan’s face took on a look of reminiscence. She began, "Chu Chen, others in the sect may not know the origin of the Hidden Sect, but as the young master, you ought to understand. The Hidden Sect was once the Blood Tears Palace, the strongest force in the Rainbow Empire. Do you know why it’s so desolate now?"

Chu Chen recalled the conversation between the three patriarchs and felt a glimmer of understanding, but before he could speak, Meng Lan continued, "It’s all the fault of the Yue family’s patriarch. Your master was bewitched by him. To be together with him openly, she ignored everyone’s warnings and dissolved the Blood Tears Palace, deeply disappointing the loyal followers. When the Hidden Sect was later re-established, only a tenth or less returned."

"And she knew full well that the heart cultivation method of the Blood Tears Palace forbade love and attachment—love is her death sentence! I thought she was merely young and reckless, but I never imagined she would love that man so deeply as to disregard her own life," Meng Lan slammed her hand on the table, cracking its surface, showing just how furious she was. "She even hid away with him. For her first two pregnancies, she barely survived with forbidden techniques from the sect. By the third, when you and that girl were born, your master knew she could endure no more and secretly contacted me. But even with all my skills, she had already used forbidden techniques twice, and her body…"

Meng Lan’s voice became choked. She paused to steady herself before continuing, "But she had already used forbidden techniques twice, and her pregnancy was seven months along. At her request, I performed acupuncture daily to ease her pain, barely keeping her alive until the day of delivery. For your sake, she forced herself to use another forbidden technique. No sooner had she delivered you than her power turned on her. I panicked, hastily applied acupuncture, and, by heaven’s grace, managed to save half her life. Her mind was chaotic. Fortunately, there was a sect formation behind the mountain where your master was secluded, capable of stabilizing her soul. So I took the opportunity to bring her back to the sect and demanded you from Yue. Hmph, thankfully she still had some conscience and agreed."

Chu Chen’s heart was in turmoil. So Master’s current suffering was all for us. If that’s so, I’d rather never have been born, so Master wouldn’t have had to endure these years of torment. But why didn’t the Yue family’s patriarch stop her? "Didn’t he know Master’s condition? Why didn’t he prevent her?"

Meng Lan looked at Chu Chen’s pain and felt some reluctance, but pressed on, "Of course he knew. I confronted him once, but all he did was defend himself, utterly lacking any sense of responsibility! Hmph, I must have been blind to let him beguile my sister."

"If not for you children, I would have spent all the resources of the Blood Tears Palace to make him suffer!"

Chu Chen felt uneasy, but he was no longer a child. Based on the information from the Second Elder and his own observations, Yue Zhanpeng was certainly not a man devoid of responsibility. Aunt Lan’s words couldn’t be wholly trusted, yet some things needed to be clarified now. "Aunt Lan, why has Master never mentioned her other children, nor even remembered she was married?"

"Child, you underestimate the power of the backlash. Though the formation helped, in the first two years she nearly suffered mental collapse several times. Her memories were confused; sometimes she believed herself a three-year-old child. I had to seal her memories of meeting Yue to minimize the backlash. Even so, it recurs once a year. I searched through every medical text in the Blood Tears Palace and finally found a way to suppress it with blood from her closest kin."

A hint of guilt appeared on Meng Lan’s face, and she forced a smile. "I knew you were clever and wouldn’t be kept in the dark for long, but you should never have let them stay in the valley. Those three are no ordinary people. Who knows what they’ve already learned about our sect after so many days? Today, as I came in from Phoenix Ridge, I saw the three families gathered outside the Soul Severing Array. If they work together from within and without, the Hidden Sect will be doomed!"

Chu Chen realized his recklessness. Though he still doubted those three would do such a thing, as the young master, he couldn’t rely solely on his feelings. "I was wrong this time. But Aunt Lan, those three are Master’s sworn brothers and will surely respect her feelings. I’ll go speak with them and make sure they promise not to leak any information about the sect. As for those outside, once we send these few out, they’ll disperse. What you fear won’t happen." He poured tea for them both.

Meng Lan gazed at Chu Chen, still holding onto his naive hopes, and felt deeply disappointed. It seemed she had returned too late—this child must have already accepted that father in his heart. No, the Blood Tears Palace was dissolved for her sister; she would not let the Hidden Sect suffer the same fate. While Chu Chen was drinking, she quickly struck his acupoints, silencing him.

Chu Chen never expected Aunt Lan to act against him. What was she planning? He stared at her, eyes questioning.

"If you lack the resolve, then stay in this room for a few days. Don’t waste your strength trying to break free—the acupoints can only be released by an outsider, and I’ll make sure no one comes near." Meng Lan had already risen and walked to the door. "And, by the way, take this time to ri