Lingyun Peak, Ancestral Hall!
Headmaster Dantai Shuo looked at his busy disciple and was utterly speechless. "Did your Martial Aunt Feng Lan lecture you?"
"Yes!" Wan Linglong carefully wiped the memorial tablets one by one. "Your disciple... feels that Martial Aunt made valid points, so I am preparing to reflect here for two hours!"
Oh?
Dantai Shuo narrowed his eyes. "What did she say?"
"Master!"
Wan Linglong straightened a Grandmaster's memorial tablet and turned to her master. "Today I received a total of ninety-three million one hundred and twenty thousand catties of lower-grade spirit rice from the Yin Family, which is nearly enough for the sect's consumption for two years.
Among this, nearly one-tenth was subsidized by Junior Sister Gu. This means that for the past thirteen years, not only did she not receive the slightest assistance on Tianxiang Peak, but the Yin Family also siphoned off nearly one million spirit stones from her.
And this is just her personal ledger.
The small cultivation shop left to her by Martial Uncle Gu carries debts of over two million spirit stones owed to the Baochang Pavilion of the Yin Family.
How many years has Baochang Pavilion been open?
Eight years!"
The more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became!
"What do you think Martial Uncle Yin and the Yin Family are trying to do?"
"..."
Dantai Shuo looked at the tablet on the very edge and let out a lingering sigh.
"Also, before I came back, I went to the Punishment Hall first."
Wan Linglong continued, "Master, I suspect there is something wrong with the Yinyuan Grass that Junior Sister Gu stumbled upon. It was... a trap deliberately set by someone!"
What?
Dantai Shuo turned solemn. "Go on."
"Junior Brother Li Chong, who escorted Junior Sister Gu to the Cliff of Reflection from the Punishment Hall, said that Junior Sister Gu was consumed by fury that day and actually vomited a mouthful of blood out of sheer anger.
As for the Cliff of Reflection, it has been abandoned by the Punishment Hall for nearly a hundred years, and the cold baleful qi of the cold pond has accumulated to its peak. With only Junior Sister Gu alone up there... none of us know what might happen."
As the headmaster's chief disciple, Wan Linglong tended to think things through more thoroughly. "If something happens to Junior Sister Gu at the Cliff of Reflection, and Martial Aunt Feng Lan returns, what kind of uproar do you think she will raise?"
Without waiting for her master to answer, she quickly continued, "Martial Uncle Yin cannot withstand any investigation. If he faces Martial Aunt Feng Lan, he will either be dead or crippled, and Yin Cheng's little life will definitely be unsaveable.
As for Martial Uncle Geng, who added fuel to the fire, he will not escape either. As for Zhang Minglin, who angered Junior Sister Gu that day, getting a chance at reincarnation would be considered fortunate.
And then there is Jiang Pan...
As a fellow disciple under Grandmaster Wushang's lineage, and having been specially instructed by Martial Aunt Feng Lan to look after Junior Sister Gu, he was led astray and biased toward Martial Uncle Yin. Even if he isn't expelled from Mingfeng Valley afterward, Martial Aunt Feng Lan will never look at him with a shred of kindness again.
Once the beating and the uproar are over, Martial Aunt Feng Lan will undoubtedly vent her anger on us as well."
Even after ten years apart, Martial Aunt Feng Lan's fierce protectiveness toward Junior Sister Gu remained unchanged.
The more Wan Linglong analyzed the situation, the more lingering fear she felt. "And what about Grandmaster Wushang? What would he think?"
"So you think..." Dantai Shuo's voice carried an unangered authority, "that outsiders are stirring up trouble?"
"Yes!"
Wan Linglong nodded. "Among all this, although Martial Uncle Yin of Tianxiang Peak has the most malicious intentions, Junior Sister Gu has not yet advanced to the Golden Core Realm, and Martial Uncle Gu's Storage Ring sealed within the sect has not yet been retrieved, so he should be the one least willing to see anything happen to Junior Sister Gu.
As for Martial Uncle Geng..."
She paused. "Li Chong said that on that day, the so-called aggrieved party Zhang Minglin was unrelenting, and Junior Brother Yin played both sides to curry favor. In the end, their words seemed to back them into a corner about the Cliff of Reflection, and then Martial Uncle Geng sentenced Junior Sister Chengshu to three months at the Cliff of Reflection.
In this whole affair, Martial Uncle Geng perhaps merely acted with cold indifference, but Junior Brother Yin and the few people present that day... something is very wrong with them."
"Then... have you given the instructions?"
"Yes!" Wan Linglong nodded. "I have already spoken to Martial Uncle Shadow, and he said he will look into it."
"Good!"
A flash of killing intent crossed Dantai Shuo's eyes. "We were careless this time. That person who sold the Yinyuan Grass..."
"More than a month ago, he died in the Western Hills."
As expected, someone was plotting against the Lingyun Sect!
The expression on Dantai Shuo's face shifted through several changes before he finally stepped forward to join his disciple in meticulously and earnestly cleaning the memorial tablets one by one.
"Was it Feng Lan who gave you pointers?"
"Martial Aunt Feng Lan said that Jiang Pan is allowed to be a fool, but I am not."
Wan Linglong whispered, "Whether it is Chengshu, Yin Cheng, or Jiang Pan, their spiritual root aptitudes and their identities all mean their lowest achievement should be the Golden Core Realm.
And I... just watched the three of them get deliberately warped and misled because of some people's selfish motives. That is my responsibility!"
"..."
Dantai Shuo sighed. "It is this master's fault!"
He had enjoyed days of peace and comfort for too long. "Although I knew long ago that Yin Zhenghai was not acting right, I kept condoning him."
One was a Nascent Soul cultivator, while the other was merely a weak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He had placed too much emphasis on immediate gains.
"There is no need to continue suppressing the news about the annulment of the engagement between Yin Cheng and Chengshu so people stop talking about it."
Yin Zhenghai needed to be taught a lesson.
Dantai Shuo wiped the memorial tablet inscribed with the characters for Gu Wencheng. "This face... we can no longer afford to save for him."
"Today, Martial Aunt Feng Lan and I went to Xiaohe Valley for a meal,"
Wan Linglong also glanced at the late martial uncle's memorial tablet. "It was cooked personally by Junior Sister, and her culinary skills are excellent, but the best dish on the table was third-tier spirit lamb chops."
At this, she paused. "Master, Chengshu is truly a good person. She entered Tianxiang Peak as a disciple at the age of eight, and began taking on sect missions at thirteen, starting from gathering spirit dew—earning two spirit stones a night—working her way down-to-earth until today.
I heard that the other day in the Marketplace, when she gave Zhang Minglin a severe beating, she also sorted out Yin Cheng, and several people couldn't hold her back.
That day... I think she was completely in despair. Despairing of Yin Cheng, and despairing of the sect and her fellow disciples... as well!"
Although she had been immensely warm and enthusiastic when inviting her to dinner, Wan Linglong could sense that she was merely grateful for her protection of Yu Sanchong that day.
Yet, in truth, she could not bear to accept that gratitude.
Without her, how could the sect have received so much spirit rice for free?
"Junior Sister Gu is smarter than I imagined!"
"..."
Dantai Shuo silently returned his junior brother's memorial tablet to its original place. "Your martial uncle was also very smart in his youth. He has been dead for more than ten years, but until now, I still haven't figured out how he died!
Clearly, he had already returned to the sect..."
As long as he could hold on to a single breath, Grandmaster Wushang would have been able to rush back.
"The two of them, husband and wife, met with misfortune one after the other. In this, I always feel something is amiss."
However, even after Grandmaster Wushang investigated personally, he found nothing.
"Didn't Martial Aunt Xue go missing?"
"She went missing, but before her disappearance, the soul flame she should have left behind in Xiaohe Valley was accidentally extinguished by Chengshu out of playfulness."
Dantai Shuo's brows furrowed deeply. "Extinguished then extinguished, is relighting a single lamp really that difficult? Yet she did not light it.
And as for her background...
Your Martial Uncle Gu never reported it to the sect!"
"Does Master think that Martial Aunt Xue has issues?"
"Me thinking she has issues is useless!"
Dantai Shuo sighed. "Even your Grandmaster Wushang accepted it. If I insist on investigating, I would simply be... asking for trouble!"
Back then, he had no way to investigate, and now regarding Chengshu... he unconsciously didn't want to manage her affairs at all.
Twice...
Had he made the wrong choice both times?