Things are always easier said than done, I thought as I stood outside Zhong Yilan's hall, gripping the box of pastries hard with my clammy hands. I couldn't wait till the tournament anymore, but I needed an audience to expose her doings and give her the justice she deserved. I had to make a scene.
And making a scene was the last thing I thought I was capable of doing.
I glanced at the occasional groups of disciples passing by and took a deep breath. I could handle this, I told myself. All I needed to do was to attract some attention. I mustered my courage and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Zhong Yilan! Do you dare take a bite out of these pastries you made for Senior Xie?"
A couple of people stopped in their tracks, studying me curiously. The door remained closed.
"Or should I show everyone the poison you added inside?" I shouted louder.
More people stopped, and a murmur started rising behind me. "Is that Yun Qing-er?" someone muttered. "Master Bai Ye's disciple?"
"It looks a bit like her, though last time I saw her … I thought she didn't look as pretty," someone else replied.
The voices quieted when the door swung wide open. "Watch what you say, Yun Qing-er," Zhong Yilan stood over the threshold and bit out. "What's the big fuss about some pastries? Are you jealous that Senior Xie likes my gifts better than your new looks?"
Murmurs rose again from the crowd. Her accusations were well-plotted—Xie Lun's admirers accounted for almost all the young female disciples at Mount Hua, and all their eyes landed on me. "No wonder she looks different now," one of the voices from earlier said, "she's trying to fight for Xie Lun's attention too?"
I ignored them, not letting Zhong Yilan's distractions succeed. "Sadly, he didn't like your gift at all," I retorted. "Ask any of his fellow juniors and they'll tell you how ill he is after eating just one of these. Do you dare to show your pastries to a master in medicine, Zhong Yilan? And let us see what's inside?"
The crowd had grown larger at the mention of Xie Lun's name, and someone finally couldn't hold back from asking, "Why would Zhong Yilan want to poison Senior Xie? Are you sure it's not a love potion instead, Yun Qing-er?"
Laughter burst out all around. "You don't have to take my words for granted." I raised my voice above the din. "See for yourselves." I strode to the goldfish pond by the gate and broke a piece of pastry into crumbs, tossing them into the water.
Zhong Yilan paled, and the crowd hushed. Everyone watched in silence as the goldfishes fought for the treat, then flipped upside down one by one and floated onto the surface.
"I only brought half of the box with me," I turned to Zhong Yilan and said, though I meant it for the whole crowd to hear. "If you need proof that I didn't plant fake evidence on you, then visit Senior Xie's hall and ask for the other half. You wouldn't go so far as to claim that everyone there is working with me to accuse you unfairly, would you?"
"You are mad." Zhong Yilan's lips trembled. "Why would I do such a thing? It's not like I don't know the consequences of poisoning someone. Did you forget about Chu Xi already?"
A clever diversion again, and I could feel the stabbing look from Chu Xi's friends piercing through my back. One of them spoke. "Yun Qing-er, your words are hard to believe. What is Zhong Yilan's incentive? Why would she want to poison someone she's in love with?"
Zhong Yilan doesn't know love, I thought bitterly. But I kept that comment to myself. "The amount of poison she's using isn't lethal for people," I said. "Only enough to make Senior Xie feel ill and drop out of the tournament in two weeks. She needs that because I challenged Senior Xie as my first opponent at the tournament—" I paused for a moment for the surprised murmur in the crowd to subside, "—and she manipulated the official talismans that were assigned to me. She couldn't risk me using them in a challenge against someone else."
Zhong Yilan's eyes widened. She must've not expected that I had already found the rig in the talismans. Before she could counter, I turned to the crowd, "I can prove everything I just said. Her spiritual power remains on these modified talismans—" I held the sheets out for everyone to see, "—and whoever uses them will be able to tell its real effect. Would any of you like to test it?"
I knew it was unlikely that anyone would take my side against her. Not yet. I was offering it mainly as a show of fairness, and I had other plans if no one answered my call. But a bright voice surprised me when it said, "I will."
A figure stepped forward where the voice came from. It was Wen Shiyin, a senior disciple in the same rank as Xie Lun. I vaguely remembered hearing rumors about a romantic relationship between them in the past, and I wondered if she still cared enough for him that she wanted to help me bring justice to Zhong Yilan for causing him harm.
"Senior Wen!" Zhong Yilan exclaimed. Her smug composure was starting to falter. "Don't believe Yun Qing-er's nonsense! She's lying—"
"I can find out for myself who's lying," Wen Shiyin said as I handed her one of the talismans. Her voice was calm but firm. "Stay where you stand, Zhong Yilan. If you make a move to interfere with my summons, I can't promise that I won't accidentally hurt you in my defense."
Zhong Yilan's mouth hung open, and there was horror in her eyes when Wen Shiyin chanted the spell to call the talisman's power forward. A shield of light flashed in front of us, glowing in bright white, and it spun around Wen Shiyin in a circle before dissipating at her feet into a black wisp of smoke, trimmed with an edge of pale yellow.
The crowd gasped. The flash of power had attracted more passersby, and everyone noticed the yellow-tinted spiritual power that was characteristic of Zhong Yilan's school of training. "But that's just a defensive spell, isn't it?" someone asked. "What difference did her modification make?"
"It's not a defensive spell," Wen Shiyin said. "It's a power-blocking spell that resembles a defensive one. Watch." She raised her hand, and a white light danced brightly in her palm for a brief moment before dying down into a flicker. "This is the full extent of my spiritual power flow right now," she said.
I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. It worked. I managed to expose Zhong Yilan's viciousness to everyone in front of us, and she wouldn't be able to deny any of these proofs. Even if she wasn't expelled, her flawless facade would be completely shattered, and no one would fall so easily to her devious schemes again.
"Yun Qing-er!" Zhong Yilan screamed, clearly understanding the implications. Her eyes were red from rage, and she no longer tried to keep up the sweet look she always wore. "All these to avoid our bet, huh? Are you so afraid of facing me with your pathetic sword skills that you need to disqualify me from the tournament so desperately? Is that the best you can do?"
The crowd buzzed at her sudden hysteria. But I saw it coming. "I'm not afraid of you, Zhong Yilan." I looked her level in the eye. "If you wish, I will honor our bet and challenge you right now, fair and square."
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