Chapter 91 — The Talisman Painter Who Guards the Village

The Last Aftershock

Vân Tiêu Peak appeared in the distance after ten days of returning, so familiar that it made Diệp Sương suppress a sigh of relief when she saw the curved roof tiles of Tông Vân Các looming amidst the early morning clouds. She never thought that one day, seeing this mountain would bring such a feeling of safety, after all that had happened since she left here in the humiliation of an exile.

"We're back," Thanh Việt said softly, standing next to her on the final ramp, his eyes also shining with a similar relief.

*

Before stepping through the mountain gate, Diệp Sương stopped for a moment, looking up at the stone pillars engraved with familiar rolling cloud patterns, where she once stood trembling in the outer robe of a disciple when she first entered the sect, and then was escorted through this very path in the humiliation of an expelled person. Now walking through that same gate, carrying both the truth and the newly stitched wound, she felt something like a small, silent circle that had just closed in her heart.

Chung Nhã Trúc and Âu Bội Nhi were waiting right at the mountain gate. They both rushed to hug Diệp Sương as soon as the group appeared, unable to hide their tears of joy.

"The news about Lỗ Khắc Viên's arrest reached here before you guys," Âu Bội Nhi said, her voice mixed with laughter and tears. "The whole sect has been buzzing for the past few days. No one expected the clue you found to be so big."

"More importantly," Chung Nhã Trúc added, squeezing Diệp Sương's hand, "reports from all over Cửu Vân are continuously coming in, confirming that the Linh Mạch fluctuations are calming down almost everywhere. Even areas that have been unstable for a long time are gradually stabilizing."

*

Thư Khải Dương personally went to the gate to welcome the group, his face carrying an expression of relief rarely seen during the past stressful days. "You have accomplished what a previous generation of elders did not dare to dream of," he said, his voice solemn. "I have convened a full council meeting tonight, to officially announce the results of the investigation and discuss next steps."

*

The meeting that night took place in the large hall, more crowded than any meeting Diệp Sương had attended since her initiation. She stood before the council, recounting the entire journey - from the file Chúc Nghi Lam brought to the confrontation at Khuyết Nguyên Abyss, without hiding any details, including the fact that her own parents were also victims of that plot.

The entire hall fell into a heavy silence as they heard the last detail. Nhiêu Bá Tường, sitting in the teaching row, bowed his head, his eyes filled with sadness. "I once criticized your way of drawing charms as petty paganism," he said, his voice choked. "Now, that very way of drawing has saved an entire kingdom. I'm sorry, for letting prejudice cloud my ability to see things correctly for all these years."

*

"I don't need an apology from you alone," Diệp Sương replied, her voice sincere. "I just hope that from now on, the sect will no longer judge a person solely by their background or how they differ from the majority, but by what they actually do." Thư Khải Dương nodded, stood up, his voice echoed throughout the large hall. "That is why, I declare that, from today, the Tông Vân Các will begin a comprehensive reform process. Not to erase what the sect has built for hundreds of years, but to expand it, make it transparent, ensuring there are no more loopholes for plots like Lỗ Khắc Viên's to hide and develop."

*

Húc Bá Nguyên stood up from the row of elders, his face full of mental preparation. "Before the council continues," he said, his voice trembling but determined, "I would like to present myself everything I know, or have deliberately not wanted to know, about my relationship with the grants from Khâm Vân Ti over the past nearly twenty years."

He recounted in detail, without concealment, what he had confessed to Diệp Sương before the group left for Lệ Dương, including new details that he himself had investigated during the waiting period - the times he deliberately neglected to check the survey teams, the unusual reports he had dismissed for fear of causing trouble.

*

"I am not worthy to continue to sit in the position of elder," he concluded, his voice heavy. "I voluntarily resign from my position, accept whatever punishment the council decides, and spend the rest of my life making amends for what I unintentionally contributed to." The whole hall was silent. Thư Khải Dương looked at him for a long time, then nodded slowly. "The council will consider Elder Húc Bá Nguyên's proposal in a private meeting. But I want to say that today's honesty, although belated, is still a step worthy of recognition, different from the intentional silence of the real masterminds."

*

After the meeting, when the crowd gradually dispersed, Diệp Sương found Húc Bá Nguyên standing alone in the empty hallway, his eyes full of fatigue but also much relief.

“The elder kept his promise,” she said softly.

"It's the least I can do," he replied, his voice hoarse. "You know, during the days you were in Lệ Dương, I spent all my time reviewing every old file, finding a lot of other evidence to prove my own leniency. I don't expect to be completely forgiven. I just hope that my story can be a warning, so that no one else in this sect repeats the same mistake, no matter how good the intention is."

*

Diệp Sương nodded, a complicated sympathy creeping into her heart—not complete forgiveness, but no longer the raw anger of the first days. "I think," she said, "that is the difference between the elder and Lỗ Khắc Viên. He never admitted his mistakes until he was cornered. The elder stepped into the light on his own, even though no one forced him."

*

*

Before leaving the hallway, Wei Bá Tuân suddenly appeared, standing not far away, as if he had been waiting for some time. He stepped forward, his appearance still a bit awkward and familiar, but his eyes were completely different from the first days when Diệp Sương first started.

"I heard the whole story," he said, his voice deeper than usual. "About your parents, about the Khuyết Nguyên Abyss, about everything." He paused for a moment, as if considering each word. "I used to think that your difference was a threat to my position in the sect. Now I understand, that difference is what the whole sect needs, not a threat at all."

"Thank you for saying that," Diệp Sương replied, unable to hide her surprise at the obvious change in the person who was once her fiercest rival.

"I'm not good at saying things like that," Wei Bá Tuân said, a little embarrassed, "but I think, if in the future you intend to teach your charm drawing to others, I want to be one of the first people to learn, even if I have to humble myself and admit how wrong I was in the past."

Diệp Sương smiled, a rare sincere smile for him. "I will remember that."

Watching him leave, Diệp Sương realized that the gap between two people once thought impossible to bridge needed only a sufficiently large truth and the courage to admit mistakes to narrow. She thought that was also a form of healing, no different from stitching a wound in the heavens and earth.

*

Returning to her room, Diệp Sương found a stack of letters from many places sent during her absence. The small room still retained the familiar smell of old paper and dried ink. The bamboo cot had not moved in years, and the window still faced the observatory where she had spent countless nights on duty with Thanh Việt. Returning to this place felt strange yet familiar after everything that had happened since she last stepped through the rustic wooden door. She flipped through the letters, her heart pounding when she recognized Mr. Tám Mực's familiar scrawl, dictated to someone in the village.

"The whole village has heard about what you have done," the letter said. "Mrs. Chín Lài didn't talk much as usual, she just sat quietly by the fire for a long time after listening to the letter you sent earlier, then said a single sentence: she did exactly as I told her, saved her life, and didn't give up halfway. The whole village expects you to come visit, when you feel your heart is ready."

Diệp Sương hugged the letter to her chest, tears rolling down her cheeks—not from pain this time, but from a gentle happiness that was hard to name. She knew that the return trip would not be far away.

*

That night, Diệp Sương climbed up Cảnh Linh Đài alone, stood in front of the stone stele engraved with Tạ Vân Khê's name, and recounted everything that had happened, like a habit it had formed since the day the elder left.

"I found the mastermind," she whispered. "I learned the truth about my parents. And I found a way to heal instead of oppress, just as you always believed I could."

The night wind blew through the observatory, carrying the familiar scent of wildflowers, like a gentle response from far away. Diệp Sương sat down next to the stele, looking down at Vân Tiêu Peak bathed in silver moonlight, her heart filled with a peace she had never felt since the first day she left Tùng Lĩnh Village, many years ago.

But she knew this was not the final stop. A long journey lay ahead: healing not only the Linh Mạch but also the cracks in people's hearts, and building something better from the brokenness of the past.