Repay evil with good
Inside the main hall of Wenshan, figures moved about, while outside, disciples gathered at the foot of the steps, forming a dark, imposing square formation.
The scale of this event is only seen at the founding ceremony of a sect, and it is a rare sight.
Four people were kneeling on the ground in the hall: Xu Yourong and his brother, Zhan Tingyu, and Lingfang.
Lingfang lowered her head, unusually quiet.
"Every word I have said is true, and I dare not deceive you." Zhan Tingyu had his spiritual weapon confiscated and his disciple robes removed.
Of the four, only the junior sister was fully clothed, retaining her last shred of dignity.
The sect leader still couldn't bear to touch her, Lin Yueyao sneered.
"Xu Yourong, raise your head," Master Chengshan asked, urging him on.
Xu Yourong slowly raised her head, her face showing complete composure.
Do you agree with what Zhan Tingyu said?
"Reporting to the sect leader and elders, I do not acknowledge this." He knelt on the ground, with his younger brother Xu Youruo beside him.
"He's a tough nut to crack," Master Chengshan sighed inwardly, then thought to himself, "If you refuse to tell the truth and it is found out that you lied, it won't be as simple as just being punished."
Master Chengshan's eyes were piercing as he met Xu Youruo's gaze, who was in a panic. Xu Youruo shrank back in fear.
"Why should I admit to something I didn't do?" Xu Yourong, unforgiving and relentless, glanced at her silent junior sister, her mind a fog of confusion.
"Do you have any evidence?" Master Chengshan pressed on.
"Of course." He straightened his stiff body, glanced around the hall, and said magnanimously, "Zhan Tingyu sparred with Junior Brother under my instructions, but I did not order him to do such a thing. Moreover, I had no way of knowing before Junior Brother murdered Junior Sister. I only found out after the incident. How can you blame me?"
Xu Youruo quickly chimed in, "That's right, how could we possibly know what happened in the Scripture Pavilion?"
He had barely finished speaking when Lin Yueyao glared at him fiercely, and he immediately became obedient.
"How could you do this? You clearly forced me to compete with my junior brother, and even made me hurt him." Zhan Tingyu was so angry that he was about to jump up and hit him, but the sect leader sitting in the main seat finally spoke up, "Insolence."
Zhan Tingyu knelt back down indignant resentment.
"Junior Brother Zhan's words are rather amusing. What did I say that made you hurt Junior Brother? It was just a friendly sparring match between fellow disciples. You lost your composure. Do you think it's my fault?"
With her silver tongue, Xu Yourong turned the tables and accused Zhan Tingyu, leaving the honest man speechless. Furious and red-faced, Zhan Tingyu cried out in a cowardly attempt to prove his innocence.
"I admit I was wrong. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have done it!"
"What are you yelling about? You made a mistake yourself, why are you blaming others?" Xu Youruo said smugly, not hiding her pride.
"Shut up, all of you." The sect leader waved his hand to stop them. He already understood what had happened, but interrogating them in front of the palace was too crude.
"Lingfang, tell me what exactly happened in the Scripture Pavilion, how Rong Yan pushed you down the stairs, and how he activated the talisman?"
Lingfang knelt on the ground, feigning ignorance, saying, "I don't know, I don't know anything."
She looked terrified and said nothing, which was a better way to stay out of it than to confess everything.
Lin Yueyao stepped forward and said lightly, "Rong Yan is young and has weak spiritual power. He can't even lift a spiritual weapon, so how can he activate a talisman?"
This is an indisputable fact.
While strength can uphold justice, sometimes weakness can be an advantage.
“In that case, someone must be lying,” Master Chengshan continued. “Lingfang, do you have anything to say?”
Song Qingyun, standing beside Lin Yueyao, frowned deeply, secretly thinking that something was wrong.
At this moment, the other elders spoke up, "Everyone says that Rong and his two disciples are ignorant and incompetent, only knowing how to follow Lingfang around and deliberately curry favor. How come they suddenly changed their nature and want to go to the Scripture Pavilion to learn cultivation techniques, especially on the day Rong Yan framed Lingfang?"
Xu Youruo felt as if she were facing a formidable enemy, trembling and not daring to reply. Xu Yourong pondered for a long time, then looked up and said, "That was because Junior Brother Rong was careless in his actions. If he wanted to harm people, he shouldn't have chosen the Scripture Pavilion, and I wouldn't have run into him. I know my strength is insufficient, and I cultivate diligently because I don't want to become a burden to the sect."
Lin Yueyao felt a headache coming on. "Such a sharp tongue. Why don't you look at this first?"
The item was taken out; it was clothing that Rong Yan had worn, with talismans and a trace of water elemental root attribute still remaining on it.
She channeled her spiritual energy into her clothes; the two elements collided, producing a sound similar to the explosion of steam. After the spiritual energy passed through, the remaining talisman paper floated in the air.
It is a flame-breathing talisman and an invisibility talisman.
As everyone knows, Rong Yan's spiritual root is not yet clear, so the plot to harm him is pure nonsense.
Moreover, with such a small body, it would take considerable strength to push Lingfang down the stairs, and Lingfang did not resist at all, foolishly allowing herself to be persecuted.
Song Qingyun knew Lingfang very well, but he remained indifferent to her throughout.
The matter is now clear.
However, since Xu Yourong refused to admit it, things became tricky. According to Lin Yueyao's standards, if someone didn't tell the truth, she would beat them until they did.
No one is unafraid of death, unless they are not human.
Lin Yueyao's smile didn't reach her eyes. "This disciple begs the elder to use torture to interrogate her. Such talk will not yield any results."
Xu Yourong faced it calmly, with an attitude that she was completely at their mercy.
Xu Youruo panicked, knowing her brother was about to be tortured, and instinctively retorted, "How can that be?!"
The caning in the Discipline Hall was terrifying, especially the caning. With my brother's physique, he wouldn't be able to withstand much of it before he died.
"Then you can go first." Before the elder could reply, she turned her attention to him.
"Me? I don't want to!" He was timid, afraid of death, afraid of pain, and even more afraid of not having food to eat.
"Take him away." Master Chengshan immediately gave the order. Seeing that she was about to be tortured, Xu Youruo frantically cried out to her brother, "Brother, save me!! Junior Sister, you can't abandon me!!! You're the one who told us to deliberately get close to Rong Yan!! I did it all because you told me to!"
He struggled desperately, terrified. The two disciples escorting him couldn't restrain him and instead slipped from their grasp. Xu Youruo knelt down beside him with a thud. "Brother, I don't want to be tortured, I don't want to be beaten, just confess everything."
"Drag him away," Lin Yueyao said coldly.
The two disciples agreed and immediately took action, unleashing their spiritual power to suppress Xu Yourong. Hearing her younger brother's screams, Xu Yourong finally couldn't hold on any longer and kowtowed to support herself on the ground.
"To tell you the truth, it is indeed as Junior Brother Zhan said. The reason I concealed it was because I didn't want to be expelled from the sect. I beg the elders and sect leader to forgive my brother. It was all my fault." He suddenly changed his expression, just to prevent Xu Youruo from being tortured.
No one present was a fool, and they all knew who had instructed him.
All eyes fell on Lingfang. Lingfang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly shouted, "I didn't do it! I don't know anything!"
"I haven't harmed anyone, and none of this has anything to do with me!"
Song Qingyun closed his eyes in despair. Xu Yourong couldn't believe that her junior sister had betrayed him like that, and she gritted her teeth in anger.
"Don't try to pin this on me for the mess you yourselves made!!!"
Since they couldn't get anything out of him right now, Song Qingyun knew it was time for him to speak.
"Junior sister, just admit it in front of the sect leader and master."
"No, this has nothing to do with me." Lingfang was terrified, her eyes brimming with tears.
Since that's the case, he has no need to show any mercy. The fact that such a thing happened in the sect is also his fault for not taking good care of things.
Lin Mansheng and Li Qingxia are elders in the sect, and also Song Qingyun's master and mistress. Apart from sect ceremonies and ancestral birthdays, they rarely appear in public and are an extremely low-profile couple.
When this happened, the couple just sighed and did not intend to cover it up.
Because he was older and more composed, his junior sister was taken in and became a disciple of True Lord Biluo and True Lord Qiongyu, and was entrusted to him for upbringing.
He slowly pulled a delicate little paper crane from his sleeve, recited an incantation, and the voice on the paper crane began to spread—
"How is he better than me? Why are you all so concerned about him?"
"I just can't stand him. Whenever there's something good in the sect, I'm the first person they think of."
"What do you mean? Is my senior brother going to push me out?"
"I already know I was wrong, can't you forgive me, senior brother?!"
......
The conversation took place in the women's quarters, and he has erased any mention of Lin Yueyao in the conversation.
The evidence was irrefutable; even if Lingfang tried to argue, she couldn't change the facts. Her body went limp to the ground, all strength drained away, and she could only cry.
The sect leader on the main seat looked at each other, his eyes seemingly filled with too many emotions. That look shouldn't be the way he looked at a girl, and Lin Yueyao found it strange.
"Chengshan, you handle this." After saying this, he left the Wenshan Hall, and the disciples outside the hall respectfully saw him off.
Master Chengshan bowed and spoke in a businesslike tone, "Now that the case is clear, Xu Yourong and Xu Youruo have harmed their fellow disciples and will be punished with half a month of caning; disciple Zhan Tingyu, considering his repentance and desire to do good, will be punished with fifteen days of whipping; disciple Lingfang, who harmed her siblings and had a vicious mind, will be punished with one month of confinement."
The disciples outside the hall were stunned.
The confinement of the Misty Sect is not as simple as being locked in a woodshed in the human world; it is being confined to the Tower of Heavenly Arrival.
The Chengtian Tower has existed since the founding of the sect, imprisoning countless ancient demons and monsters. Disciples who approach the Chengtian Tower can even hear the cries of demons every night.
Lingfang was locked up and given no food or even water. She was all alone, left to fend for herself.
In the past, some disciples were imprisoned, but they had murderous intent during the trial. They were only imprisoned for a day or two, and when they came out, they were like madmen, a truly pitiful sight.
Being locked up for a month is perhaps too harsh a punishment.
Knowing that his pleas were futile, Song Qingyun simply knelt down and said, "Junior Sister has made a mistake, which is also due to my failure to properly supervise her. I beg Master and Mistress to punish me."
Qiongyu Zhenjun sighed, "Everyone has their own destiny. This is her karma, and it has nothing to do with others."
"I know I have committed a sin and have no face to see my master and mistress. I request permission to go to the extremely cold northern lands." He knelt on the ground, his tone earnest.
The Azure Heaven True Lord then asked, "How long will it take?"
"It can take anywhere from a year to a few months."
"Alright, since you've made up your mind, then go."
He kowtowed deeply and knelt in devout worship, saying, "Thank you, Master and Mistress, for your kindness."
As the dust settled, Lin Yueyao stood there, hearing rustling voices around her.
The sound came from outside the hall. The disciples outside looked at the same person, who was swaying and looked very light, as if a gust of wind could blow him over.
He walked calmly up the steps from the open space.
It was Rong Yan, who had not yet recovered from his illness. His body was still wrapped in bandages, and he was surrounded by the fragrance of medicine.
He entered the room and put both knees on the ground.
Song Qingyun quickly pulled him up, "Junior brother, get up quickly."
Rong Yan gently pushed him away, politely declining his offer.
Lin Yueyao frowned; she could tell he had come to plead for her life!
As expected.
"I implore the elder to rescind his decision."
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