A Taoist who looked to be in his forties or fifties didn't follow the Sect Master back. He stood where he was, his face twisted between laughter and tears, then finally let out a miserable laugh, looked up to the sky, and spat a mouthful of blood, before collapsing straight to the ground.
Beside him, a few young Taoists scrambled in panic, unsure what to do.
The Fourth Great-Uncle Master sighed and spoke.
"His Dao heart has collapsed. The wound is to his heart, not his body."
At those words, even the Seventh Great-Uncle Master and the Eighth Uncle-Master Ancestor looked on with respect.
"Supreme Taiyi Savior Heavenly Master."
The few young Taoists helped the Taoist priest to the side and aided his breathing. Gradually, the priest began to awaken.
He got to his feet, his expression desolate, the spirit in his eyes as if drained away.
When people from Fuyu Mountain first arrived, he was the most anxious of them all.
He was also the one who defended the Taiyi Observatory most fiercely.
Even when Ma Mingzi was forcibly soul summoned to appear, he still believed firmly that whatever happened likely had little to do with the Taiyi Observatory.
He persisted in believing that, at worst, Ma Mingzi was tricked and drawn into it—that he could not possibly be the ringleader.
Until even those three young Taoists, long ignored by all and who'd committed suicide one after another, were forcibly summoned as well.
Their Sect Master, still, in order to avoid giving anyone leverage, said not a word and turned to leave.
He could make no sense of it after that. A lifetime of persistence, the beliefs he held dear, all collapsed in this moment.
He could no longer see the Taiyi Observatory, shrouded in swirling clouds and mist.
The priest pushed away the others, stood by himself, hunched over, and staggered step by step toward the outside.
The young Taoists all chased after him.
There was no point in asking more: the Dao heart of a pillar of the Taiyi Observatory collapsed before their eyes—already the most intense and damning accusation possible.
The hardest person to deceive is yourself.
Wen Yan watched as the priest's figure faded into the distance, then casually slapped Ma Mingzi across the face.
"You don't even deserve to watch that priest's back as he leaves."
The Fourth Great-Uncle Master let out a gentle sigh.
"That Priest Jue Mingzi—I spoke with him too during the rites, a few years back.
He was always strict with himself, decades of practice, and never once neglected the morning rituals.
Thirty years ago, when he was still young, in fact he was even an intellectual—he'd go out to the fields and teach local farmers how to build greenhouses at the lowest possible cost.
Of everything that's happened in the past few days, of what happened just now—the person who finds it hardest to accept is not us.
It's Taoists like him, those most steadfast in their hearts.
Precisely because of that steadfastness, the blow is the greatest. Decades of cultivation, and in a single moment the Dao heart collapses.
Sigh…"
The more Wen Yan watched, the more unsettled he felt inside.
He fixed his gaze on Ma Mingzi.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it? To destroy the most orthodox priest of the Taiyi Observatory, so the rest can wallow in the mud with you, is that it?"
The resentment radiating from Ma Mingzi's body only grew stronger. He glared fiercely at Wen Yan.
"Glaring at me won't help. After tonight, tomorrow everyone will know what happened today.
Everyone will know what you've done.
The great Taiyi Observatory, stooping to use shady tricks that even street-corner Taoists wouldn't, against your own disciples.
All just to shut someone's mouth.
You want to play the 'sacrifice one for the happiness of the many' game—but did you forget something?
The Spiritual Qi Resurgence has already entered its second phase. That trick doesn't work so well now.
Don't grit your teeth. I'm actually here to help you. After tomorrow, the Taiyi Observatory will be finished.
All those steadfast priests, who keep to the Dao and practice with true intent—if they knew what you have done, and how your Sect Master reacted today, they'd end up just like that priest did.
The rest are either too young, or their Dao heart too weak, destined for nothing.
Don't think that just because I'm not a Taoist, I don't understand. Whether your Dao heart is steadfast or not has nothing to do with good or evil as ordinary people say.
The principles of the Taiyi Observatory may be stodgy, but you cannot call them evil.
Starting tomorrow, those who remain will be only those with unsteady Dao hearts, or those already straying from the path.
With this stain on your name, good disciples won't touch the Taiyi Observatory ever again.
Don't you even think of fantasizing otherwise. Society these days—there's no way you can hide it.
The Taiyi Observatory is finished.
Nearly two thousand years of inheritance, destroyed by your hand.
Just how deep does your grudge against the Taiyi Observatory go?
Do you even dare look your ancestors in the eye anymore?"
When Ma Mingzi heard these words, the resentment rolling off him only escalated, shifting from Nether Soul to the verge of becoming a Fierce Ghost.
At Wen Yan's final line, Ma Mingzi finally snapped.
"Everything I've done follows the ancestral teachings. Even if I die and the Dao perishes, I have no regrets."
"Heh, still putting up a front? You think that this time, you take the fall and die, and that's the end of it?
Then you really can't keep up with the times. You've underestimated the Scorching Sun Department too much—and Minister Cai.
The General Director gave you all one day—that was your chance.
I'm here for one reason: I can't swallow this. I just want to know why, in the end.
And, incidentally, to see how you all perish.
To see just how this thousand-year-old observatory will be destroyed."
Wen Yan, seeing Ma Mingzi's look of disbelief, mocked him.
"Do you think whenever the Scorching Sun Department encounters trouble and shouts the slogan 'handle everything by the book,' that means they'll only act with ironclad evidence?
Let's wait, just wait till sunrise tomorrow—think of it as an early New Year's, and I'll keep you company for a very expensive fireworks show."