Xu Yinglian stood in the cave.

She was still dressed in white, with long black hair, but she wore no pearl hairpins or makeup.

On her flawless face was a pale and numb expression as she stared blankly at herself in the bronze mirror.

A few days after the attack on Tianmen Temple, Elder Chang Geng was secretly removed from the Kunlun Sect's lineage.

In a flash, this name went from being the sect's hottest new star to a name that could not even be mentioned.

Immortal Chisong rushed back to Kunlun that day. After inspecting the secret realm of Tianmen Palace, he quickly communicated with Sect Leader Ziwei and reached a consensus.

Elder Chang Geng has probably betrayed Kunlun.

Xu Yinglian refused to accept this conclusion, but it didn't really matter whether she accepted it or not. After all, she had just formed her infant, and she hadn't fully accumulated her reputation, connections, or status in Kunlun, so she could only sit back and watch the message ferment rapidly within the sect.

Brother...

Where on earth have you been?

Xu Yinglian stood in the cave for several hours, stunned like a wooden man. It was not until she heard shouting from outside that she slowly moved.

After leaving the cave, she saw Sect Leader Ziwei and Immortal Chisong standing outside, looking at her seriously.

"Qiongying." Master Ziwei said in a deep voice, "The sect has already decided that you will be the next master."

Xu Yinglian showed no emotion at all, and just asked calmly:

"What about you, brother?"

"Qiongying," Immortal Chisong consoled her, "Whether you believe it or not, your senior brother... hasn't shown up in all these days, right?"

"Besides, you and the headmaster saw him steal the sect's secret treasure in the secret realm of Tianmen Palace that day, right?"

"I only saw my brother standing there." Xu Yinglian said coldly, "The sword light rolled the chess basket back."

"But that sword light was not the sword light of the Tianyuan Yiqi Sword, nor was it any flying sword that my senior brother had used before. Who knows whose flying sword it was?"

"Furthermore, Senior Brother was able to suddenly disappear from the secret realm of Tianmen Palace. It was obvious that he used some kind of space magic."

"I spend every day with my senior brother. How could I not know what kind of magic he knows and whether he has practiced it?"

“Master, Immortal.” She bowed again and said through gritted teeth, “I am not trying to excuse my senior brother. I just beg the sect to give me some more time to find out the truth.”

"If Senior Brother was just coerced by a villain, disguised as a traitor to the sect and then kidnapped, wouldn't it be a shame to make our loved ones sad and our enemies happy if we rashly draw such a conclusion?"

Sect Leader Ziwei and Immortal Chisong looked at each other, both of them looked very embarrassed.

With Chang Geng's strength and wisdom, there are only a handful of people in this world who can kill him.

Break into the secret realm of Tianmen Palace, threaten him, and use space magic to take him away?

Regardless of whether there is such a powerful person, the question is why do people do this?

If they were just hostile to Kunlun, wouldn't it be easier to just chop Chang Geng to pieces?

Although the two of them were very shrewd and had guessed that Chang Geng was most likely a traitor, among the cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage, the one with the greatest potential and prospects was only Elder Qiongying, without a doubt.

Chang Geng has no earthly relatives, so his identity and origin cannot be checked in detail, but Qiong Ying has many relatives, all of whom are in the Xu family of Tiannan.

During the period after the theft of the Tianmen Palace secret realm, Master Ziwei and Immortal Chisong, in addition to tracking down the whereabouts of the traitor Chang Geng, were also in contact with the Tiannan Xu family to investigate Xu Yinglian's life experience in detail.

The results showed that Xu Yinglian was a pure-blooded member of the Xu family. He even grew up in the family residence and rarely went out, so there was no possibility that he had been replaced by someone.

It is absolutely impossible to betray Kunlun.

Since he will not betray, the candidate for the next headmaster will naturally shift from Chang Geng to Qiong Ying... But Qiong Ying is obsessed with her old love and is unwilling to believe the fact that Chang Geng has betrayed her. What should she do?

“You should be pitiful.” Master Ziwei could no longer hold back and could only persuade him gently, “The sect didn’t say Chang Geng was definitely a traitor, but… he is now missing and has not contacted the sect. If the future successor to the master is lost and can’t be found, it will definitely make a fool of itself outside.”

"That's right." Immortal Chisong thought that the only solution for now was to deceive the little girl, "If Chang Geng returns to the sect one day, explain the reason, and you can return the position of the successor to the sect master to him."

"Of course." Master Ziwei echoed, "During this period, the sect will also mobilize manpower and resources to find Chang Geng's whereabouts."

"Thank you, Master, Immortal." Xu Yinglian prostrated himself on the ground again and again, and indeed he no longer refused the candidacy for the headmaster position.

After Master Ziwei and Immortal Chisong left, Xu Yinglian quietly returned to the cave and continued to be in a daze.

With her great intelligence, how could she not see what the immortal head sect master could see?

However, even if there is a one in ten thousand possibility... she is unwilling to accept the fact that her senior brother has betrayed Kunlun!

After an unknown number of hours, Xu Yinglian looked at his haggard self in the bronze mirror and finally spoke with a trembling voice:

"There are too many strange things in this."

"If Senior Brother is a traitor, what is his purpose in sneaking into Kunlun?"

"He is a candidate for the next headmaster. He has all the resources and treasures within the sect. He can take whatever he wants."

“Let’s take a step back and assume that, given enough time, he will ascend to immortality. With your status and strength, your say will even be higher than that of Immortal Chisong.”

"Why did he betray the sect? Why did he have to betray the sect?"

"This doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense! I must find out the truth and the reasons. I want to clear my brother's name..."

Suddenly, two lines of tears flowed down her flawless face, covering up her trembling words.

Xu Yinglian slowly lowered her head, letting the tears fall on the back of her hand and flow down her clenched fist like a string of small pearls.

"I don't accept it, I don't accept it..."

“Brother, brother, brother…”

"My husband..."

…

Eastern Emperor Realm.

Since the truce among the princes, larger war actions have subsided, but small-scale conflicts still continue.

It is worth mentioning that the Western State launched a military raid on the Northern State a few years ago.

It can be said that both sides won and lost alternately, and in the end, Western Province withdrew its troops, but Northern Province also suffered heavy losses and was unable to attack Central Province again.

Now, all the knowledgeable people among the princes can see that the overall situation in the world has been determined and the Northern State camp no longer has the power to resist.

The reason is very simple: the longer Qi Qiaosong is in power, the more deeply rooted his rule over the Qilin clan becomes.

As long as Qi Qiaosong can completely control the Qilin clan, combined with the power of his mother's clan, the White Tiger clan, the Zhongzhou camp will be as stable as a rock with two major princes.

Dongzhou Canglong has always been a fence-sitter and will never take the initiative to attack Zhongzhou without sufficient confidence.

In this way, even if the Northern Province joined forces with the Southern Province to attack the Central Province, it would definitely not be able to enter the imperial capital and establish a new monarch.

Beizhou has no chance of recovery!

Qi Weihong is destined to be just a prince of the previous dynasty, the friendship between Qilin and Baihu will last forever!

As this conclusion became more and more popular, among the many Kun tribes in Beizhou, calls for Qi Weihong to be offered to Zhongzhou and for reconciliation with Qilin became louder.

Just yesterday, the Black Turtle successively exterminated three rebellious demon tribes, suppressing similar voices a little - but everyone knows that this is not a long-term solution.

The general trend is unavoidable, even the demon tribes below can see it, it is impossible for the Black Turtle to be united as one, the tribe leader Gui Yan is already busy and exhausted, and Gui Ling'er sees it all and is anxious.

Fortunately, the Black Turtle Ancestor has no intention of changing his mind for the time being, but if things continue like this, it is only a matter of time before he changes his mind...

Just when she was worried, she suddenly received a letter that was forwarded by someone.

When she saw the name on the letter, Gui Ling'er's expression immediately froze.