Chapter 118 The Infant:

As soon as the scene behind the door was revealed, Madam Mei and the Lu family members gathered at the door all changed their expressions.

Shen Bingsi pushed and shoved from behind, trying to squeeze to the front to see what was going on inside.

However, the Lu family members blocked the entrance completely, and kept turning around to look at Shen Bingsi, their eyes wide open as if they had seen a ghost.

"How come there's one inside and another one outside...?"

"How can there be two that are exactly the same?"

Shen Bingsi knew that Rong Xie must be inside, otherwise they wouldn't have reacted this way. He couldn't wait any longer, so he summoned the Shengxie Sword, leaped up, and transformed into a golden light, flying directly over the wall.

After passing the wall, the scene before her suddenly changed, and even though Shen Bingsi had seen many dangerous scenes, she was still shocked.

In the courtyard, the ground was covered with countless upward-pointing spikes, leaving almost no place to step.

Among the thorns, there were many suspicious objects, some of which were bones and others of unknown origin.

In the very center of the courtyard, Rong Xie and the treasure-hunting team were standing around a well. It was unclear how they got there or if they were injured.

While she was thinking, Shen Bingsi rushed to Rong Xie's side, pushed aside the treasure hunters on both sides, looked him up and down, and even lifted his cloak to look inside.

Shen Bingsi suddenly appeared in front of the treasure-hunting team, startling them. They all took out their magical weapons, ready to fight the monster who had transformed into Rong Xie.

Rong Xie said, "Don't panic, everyone. They're on our side."

“They’re our own people.” Shen Bingsi repeated, leaning closer to Rong Xie, “I’ve tried my best to hold them off, but who knew your Senior Brother Lu would side with his own people and protect his relatives back home. You have to be careful of people like that, they can’t be trusted… What are you holding in your arms?”

Shen Bingsi suddenly noticed that Rong Xie's cloak was folded up in the front, making it look bulging, as if it was deliberately pulled like that to cover up something like a bundle underneath.

“Hmm… evidence,” Rong Xie said. “Lu Yingqi is, after all, surnamed Lu. However, with this evidence, even if he is surnamed Lu, he can’t favor the Lu family anymore.”

Shen Bingsi's gaze swept over Rong Xie's arms: "That's not necessarily true. Don't think too highly of him. Just now, that androgynous woman tried to harm me. The evidence is right there, and he still protected her."

Upon hearing "want to harm me," Rong Xie immediately looked at Shen Bing Si, then at her face, a hint of awkwardness flashing in his eyes, but he also breathed a sigh of relief and looked away.

Just then, in front of the iron gate, Madam Mei pointed at the two "Rong Xie"s: "Young Master Qi, you saw it all, didn't you? They did it on purpose! They deliberately conjured up an identical one to distract us, while actually gathering so many people to infiltrate this place and destroy our family's foundation! They clearly want to kill our Lu family!"

Lu Yingqi remained silent, his gaze towards the treasure hunting team turning somewhat somber before finally settling on Rong Xie.

A powerful spiritual pressure rushed towards him. Rong Xie knew that if he didn't produce evidence now, Lu Yingqi might turn hostile.

“Madam Mei, you know perfectly well what you’re afraid of,” Rong Xie said solemnly. “Now that I have evidence of your heinous crimes, if you want to explain, then I will make things clear to Senior Brother Lu.”

Madam Mei's expression changed noticeably, but she quickly regained her composure:

"Haha? Who's really afraid? I see you're up to no good. You're taking advantage of our young master Qi's lack of experience and focus on cultivation to lure him. You're only after our Lu family's spiritual spring well, don't think I don't know! A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. Just because our Lu family has this spiritual spring well, no matter how careful we are, we'll still attract envy! I don't know how many petty scoundrels like you I have to deal with every year. Tell me, do you want a share of the profits, or do you want to ruin everything?"

Before Rong Xie could speak, Shen Bingsi exploded: "What nonsense are you spouting! Who wants to seduce your blockhead young master!"

Shen Bingsi's outburst completely shifted the focus, leaving Rong Xie and Madam Mei both stunned.

"Besides, you assassinated me first, and then you planted so many assassins in this strange courtyard. Who exactly are you trying to kill? Ah, I know, you're probably afraid that the evidence of your heinous crimes will get out, so you're willing to kill anyone who wants to know the truth!" Taking advantage of the silence between the two sides, Shen Bingsi launched into a scathing attack. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, as if he had caught evidence. "Isn't this ready-made evidence? What's that dagger you're sticking up?"

Upon hearing Shen Bingsi's words, Madam Mei sneered: "Otherwise, you're calling them petty villains, citing some heinous crimes, and this is all you've got? Trying to sow discord between the Lu family and the eldest young master with this?"

As she spoke, Madam Mei threw out a red thread, hooked it onto the thorn, grabbed it in her hand, and squeezed it hard. The thing shattered into many fragments.

“That’s not—” Shen Bingsi looked closely and realized he had made a mistake. The thorns pointing upwards were not a skull, but a flower bud that looked very much like a skull. He wasn’t embarrassed. “Even if it’s not, so what? This flower looks so strange. It might be some kind of poisonous species.”

"Bing Si." Rong Xie shook his head at Shen Bing Si, signaling him not to dwell on the matter any longer.

Shen Bingsi obediently shut up, but Madam Mei on the other end became even more agitated: "What flowers our Lu family plants in our own yard is none of your business, you outsider! But you, sneaking around like a ghost, don't even dare to show your true face—could you be the mastermind behind this?"

Shen Bingsi's brow twitched, and he was about to speak when he felt Rong Xie turn his head and lean closer to him: "Why don't you go back to the way you were before? It's fine now."

Maintaining the transformed state also requires spiritual energy, and if a conflict breaks out later, it may not be able to unleash its full power.

"Let's talk about it later. I'm afraid it might suddenly get bigger and tear your clothes," Shen Bingsi said frankly.

"You... how about I give you my cloak so you can cover yourself up?" Rong Xie interpreted this as Shen Bingsi being afraid that if her clothes were to burst open, her body would be exposed, which would be unsightly.

"No, I still want to keep this garment—can I have your cloak too?" Shen Bingsi was a little envious of Rong Xie's cloak.

"Why are you accepting these..." Before Rong Xie could finish speaking, Madam Mei couldn't hold back any longer.

"Fine, they dare to talk in private right in front of us! They don't take us seriously at all! Young Master, we absolutely cannot let them leave here today. The formation of the Spirit Spring Well has been broken. Who knows what they did to our well!" Madam Mei said from the side. She knew the key point and kept urging Lu Yingqi to come out and make a decision.

Lu Yingqi watched silently from the side, his gaze shifting from Rong Xie to Shen Bingsi.

At this moment, he finally spoke.

“He is Shen Bingsi, the Demon-Slaying Sword Saint.” Lu Yingqi’s gaze was fixed on Shen Bingsi.

Everyone present was stunned.

"ah……?"

"Shen Bingsi, the Demon-Slaying Sword Saint? Isn't that the Shen family of Heyang...?" Madam Mei suddenly realized something, gasped, and her voice became sharp. "So it's a member of the Shen family. I was wondering who was eyeing our Lu family's well so much. It turns out to be our old neighbor!"

Shen Bingsi's name was widely known in the Lu family, much like the young master of the Lu family was in the Shen family.

The old man also coughed violently, but recovered with Madam Mei's help: "The Shen family actually treated our Lu family like this. We Lu family were so loyal to them, helping them contact various sects and recommending their disciples to participate in the sect assessments. They have no memory of the kindness of our ancestors!"

"He harbors wolfish ambitions, trying to seize our spiritual spring!" Madam Mei said bitterly. "What demon-slaying sword saint? I think he's a bandit sword saint! He's clearly jealous of our Lu family, jealous that our Lu family has raised such a powerful young master Qi, so he resorted to this insidious trick of undermining our foundation!"

The Lu family members joined in the condemnation, and it seemed that the case was about to become a case of the Shen family being jealous of the Lu family and deliberately undermining the Lu family's foundation.

Shen Bingsi didn't care how bad the Shen family's reputation was. However, Lu Yingqi actually revealed his identity in front of everyone, so he couldn't help but say to Rong Xie, "Rong'er, let me tell you he's not a good person. Look, he's pretending to be innocent, as if he just found out that I'm the one who became you."

Shen Bingsi's words implicated Lu Yingqi again. Madam Mei stared at Lu Yingqi in shock, and the old master looked like he was about to faint. The Lu family was speechless, looking at Lu Yingqi with suspicion.

Lu Yingqi remained expressionless, as if the Lu family's suspicions had no effect on him. He nodded to Shen Bingsi: "Sword Saint Shen has a demon-slaying sword called Shengxie. Whenever it encounters demons, it will vibrate—may I ask Sword Saint Shen, has the Shengxie sword vibrated now?"

“Zhen…” Shen Bingsi lowered his head. He hadn’t noticed such a crucial matter for so long. It was also possible that the Shengxie Sword hadn’t reacted at all, and the evidence that was unfavorable to our side was simply ignored by Shen Bingsi.

"It seems there was no tremor." Lu Yingqi said coldly.

“So what if there was no tremor? The absence of a tremor doesn’t mean there are no monsters! Especially those powerful demons that are almost demonic, they can completely hide their aura and deliberately evade the surveillance of the Victorious Evil Sword,” Shen Bingsi explained.

Rong Xie sighed.

Even now, he still couldn't understand why Lu Yingqi had publicly exposed Shen Bingsi's identity.

Lu Yingqi didn't care about what others thought. He exposed Shen Bingsi's identity just to ask him if the sword had actually trembled. Now, Shen Bingsi's answer was tantamount to telling Lu Yingqi that there were indeed no monsters here and that the Lu family was innocent.

If Rong Xie cannot provide concrete evidence, Lu Yingqi will likely take action, and this matter will not only fail to be resolved peacefully, but will also drag the treasure hunting team into trouble.

Rong Xie unbuttoned the front of his cloak, and the fabric slid down to reveal a bundle he was holding in his arms—inside the bundle was a sleeping baby who looked only a few months old.

The baby was sleeping soundly, with chubby cheeks and delicate, fair skin, clearly indicating that he had been carefully cared for by a wealthy family.

Shen Bingsi's eyes widened, as if her eyeballs were about to pop out of her head: "What...what is this?"

“This is the evidence.” Rong Xie lifted the child slightly forward so that the people opposite could see him. After doing this, he hugged the child back into his arms and covered the child’s face with his palm. Shen Bing Si noticed that the child was surrounded by a layer of light green spiritual energy, which was a protective layer that Rong Xie had given him.

As soon as the child was revealed, Madam Mei's expression changed immediately, and the old master also turned his attention back to the Lu family. The Lu family, who had just been denouncing Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi, fell silent in an instant.

————————

Emma's here! Red envelopes (gifts) are dropping in this chapter! [Gold Ingots]