When Tao Ying finished speaking, the entire field suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Qu Chen’s expression was hideous. He had indeed known that the Shenmu Sect hoped for them to travel together. However, he also wanted to accompany his junior sister for her experience this time. Although the other inner sect disciples had time, everyone knew that the disciples of the Shenmu Sect were wealthy. Accompanying them would surely yield many benefits, especially for sword cultivators like them who were naturally impoverished.
So he had secretly suppressed the message. As a disciple of Ling Xiao, he had that authority. He had planned to find other disciples to escort the Shenmu Sect on their mission after his junior sister reached the Foundation Establishment stage and returned to the sect.
How could he have expected them to show up here anyway? If he had known Lin Qingyu was their team leader, how could he have agreed to let Lin Qingyu join them? At the very least, the two sects could have operated together.
Wait, why did he assume Lin Qingyu was traveling alone in the first place?
Cang Dongqing’s face turned deathly pale, and tears quickly welled in her eyes. “We really didn’t know... Senior Brother Lin never mentioned it...”
Her voice was soft, carrying a hint of grievance as if she had been greatly wronged, but a flash of panic crossed the depths of her eyes.
She naturally knew Lin Qingyu hadn’t come alone. In fact, she knew it better than anyone—because she was the one who had deliberately misled Qu Chen.
That day, when Lin Qingyu first encountered her, he had already mentioned that he had come with other disciples from his sect to collect spirit plants.
Later, she saw that Lin Qingyu was interested in her and intentionally led him on. She also wanted to get some pills, so she purposefully guided him to abandon his fellow disciples to protect her. At the same time, she had casually remarked in front of Qu Chen, “This Senior Brother Lin seems to be out for experience all by himself. He certainly is brave.”
Qu Chen hadn’t thought much of it then and tacitly allowed him to join.
After all, the other party was a disciple of the Shenmu Sect, which provided a natural guarantee of his identity. Furthermore, having an extra pill cultivator at the Golden Core stage was no small help to them.
But now, everything was exposed.
Qu Chen’s gaze slowly turned toward Cang Dongqing, his eyes filled with a trace of scrutiny.
He suddenly remembered that it was she who had proactively suggested letting Lin Qingyu follow them. She actually...
“Junior Sister.” Qu Chen’s voice was low. “I’ll ask you one last time. Are you certain that Junior Brother Lin never mentioned his fellow disciples?”
Cang Dongqing’s eyelashes trembled, and tears fell. She bit her lip as if suffering immense grievance. “Eldest Senior Brother, do you... do you actually doubt me?”
Le Changxi frowned and subconsciously moved to protect her. “Third Senior Brother, now is not the time for internal strife.”
Lin Shuang let out a cold laugh, standing to the side with her arms crossed, her mocking gaze sweeping over Cang Dongqing. “What a convincing performance.”
Cang Dongqing’s body shook as if she couldn’t bear the blow. She stumbled back two steps, tears falling like rain. “You all... you all see me this way?”
Seeing her like this, anyone would feel pity.
Qu Chen took a deep breath and ultimately suppressed the suspicion in his heart.
Regardless, Cang Dongqing was his junior sister. He could not question her in front of outsiders.
Lin Qingyu suddenly staggered to his feet, looking at Cang Dongqing with a pale face. “That’s not right... Junior Sister Dongqing, you clearly knew! That night when I received the first communication talisman, you were right beside me!”
The area fell silent again.
Cang Dongqing’s pupils shrank violently, but in an instant, she switched back to an expression of extreme grievance. “Senior Brother Lin, how can you slander me like this?”
Her eyes turned red instantly, and she took half a step back while trembling. “I never saw any communication talisman...”
“You!” Lin Qingyu was suddenly enraged, but he had no evidence now and could only glare at Cang Dongqing with death in his eyes.
“At the time you said...” Lin Qingyu’s voice was hoarse. “You said Junior Brother Zhou and the others must be making a fuss over nothing, and that with the protection of a mercenary group, how could anything go wrong...”
“Wait, no, something's wrong...” Lin Qingyu suddenly began to tear at his own hair. “After that, I clearly only received that one transmission. Why didn’t I receive any of the later messages? This isn’t right, this isn't right!”
Suddenly, he looked toward Zhou Zichun and the others. “It must be you! You forged those communication talismans, didn't you! If I had received them, it would have been impossible for me not to go! You must have purposefully stuffed them into my storage bag when you took it!”
Zhou Zichun and the others were so angry that their lips trembled. How had they not noticed before that Lin Qingyu could be so stupid? The truth was laid out right in front of him, yet he could still splash dirty water on them?
Li Nanzhu had been observing everyone’s expressions from the side. Having once been a journalist, she had studied micro-expressions. Just now, she noticed that after Cang Dongqing heard Lin Qingyu’s words, her blinking frequency significantly increased and she even began to smooth her hair—she was feeling guilty.
What was she guilty about? She hadn’t shown this behavior even when it was revealed that she knew Lin Qingyu wasn't alone...
“If you want to know why you couldn't receive any messages, why don’t you ask your dear Junior Sister Dongqing?” Li Nanzhu deliberately raised her voice to ensure everyone could hear her.
“After all—not long ago, this Junior Sister Dongqing of yours seemed to have accepted a gift from the Wuji Sect direct disciple, Mu Zeting, right? If I recall correctly, it was full of high-grade talismans. If there happened to be a talisman that could block transmissions inside—” She stretched out her voice intentionally, leaving the rest to everyone’s imagination.
The spectating cultivators were suddenly in an uproar. Someone whispered, “If this is true, the Shenmu Sect and the Sword Heart Sect are going to have a falling out...”
“Daoist Li, we haven’t even met in the Forest of Demonic Beasts! How can you say such things!” Cang Dongqing’s pupils shrank, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed her sleeve—the place where she habitually hid her talismans.
Le Changxi followed Li Nanzhu’s gaze, and his expression gradually changed.
“Third Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Brother, you must believe me. I have never done such a thing. Li Nanzhu already has a conflict with me, and now she’s just taking the opportunity to frame me!”
“Whether it’s true or not, why don’t you just use a communication jade slip to ask Mu Zeting if there was a shielding talisman? You direct disciples must have a way to contact each other, right?” Li Nanzhu sneered.
Qu Chen looked down at Cang Dongqing’s trembling fingertips. After a moment of silence, he suddenly looked up. “Enough.” He slammed his scabbard heavily against the ground, and the pressure of a Golden Core stage cultivator erupted. “Junior Brother Lin, you would actually frame my junior sister just to escape blame?”
Lin Qingyu felt as if he had been struck by lightning, stumbling back two steps in disbelief. “Frame her? Qu Chen! You clearly know that she—”
“What I know is,” Le Changxi closed his eyes and suddenly moved to block the path to Cang Dongqing, saying coldly, “that to curry favor with my junior sister, you abandoned your team without authorization, leading to the tragic deaths of your fellow disciples. And now, you want to drag her down with you!”
“Enough,” Qu Chen said coldly. “There is no point in arguing over this now.” He looked at Zhou Zichun, his tone softening slightly. “Daoist Zhou, this matter was indeed a lapse in judgment on the part of my Sword Heart Sect. However, we cannot be held responsible for Junior Brother Lin’s negligence.”
Zhou Zichun sneered. “You want to brush this off with a ‘lapse in judgment’? Six lives—can your Sword Heart Sect afford that responsibility?”
Qu Chen remained silent for a moment before finally saying in a deep voice, “If you insist on an explanation, once we return to our sects, my Sword Heart Sect will naturally give the Shenmu Sect an accounting.”
His implication was clear: they would not admit anything now, nor would they let Cang Dongqing take the blame.
Cang Dongqing lowered her head, the corner of her mouth curling into an imperceptible arc.
She knew her senior brothers would stand by her side in the end.
Lin Qingyu stood to the side, his face pale. He finally understood that he had been used from start to finish.
Cang Dongqing knew everything but chose to hide it, even deliberately stalling him so he couldn't return to support his fellow disciples.
And now, she had easily shirked all responsibility, while he had become the culprit.
How could this be? How could this be allowed!
Just as Lin Qingyu was about to say something more, a voice suddenly made him stop—it was a secret voice transmission from Cang Dongqing.
Lin Qingyu’s pupils shrank violently. Cang Dongqing was clearly only at the Qi Condensation stage, so how could she use a secret voice transmission? But her words plunged him into silence.
‘If you take the blame for this, even if you are expelled from the Shenmu Sect, I can guarantee you a spot as an inner sect disciple in the Sword Heart Sect.’ That incredibly familiar voice was as sweet as honey, yet it made his entire body turn cold.
Just as he was about to refuse, he heard Zhou Zichun’s cold voice ring out, “When we get back, I will definitely ask the sect leader to expel you from the sect!”
Lin Qingyu’s body shook violently. The rage in his eyes gradually turned into misery. He... could not lose his future... if he did, he would truly have nothing...
He slowly knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily to the people of the Shenmu Sect. “It was me... I hid the communication talismans. But I didn’t know they would die...”
“Lin Qingyu!” Tao Ying’s poison dart brushed past his ear and embedded itself into the stone wall. “Are you a goddamn man or not!”
“Senior Brother!” Lin Xiaowan suddenly threw herself onto Lin Qingyu, tears falling like rain. “Look into your heart! What did Senior Sister Chu say when she taught you alchemy?”
Lin Qingyu’s entire body trembled.
In his memory, a scene emerged of Chu Qingyue stuffing a heart-calming pill into his hand: ‘The Dao of alchemy is the Way of Benevolence; if the heart is not upright, the pill will be poisonous.’
His heart tightened, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, a wave of intense dizziness hit his mind.
“What kind of pill cultivator am I... what kind of senior brother...” He suddenly began clawing at the Shenmu Sect disciple emblem on his chest, tearing the flesh until it was bloody. “Senior Sister Chu... Senior Brother Wang...”
Lin Xiaowan cried as she tried to stop him, but she was thrown back by the spiritual energy running wild around him.
Zhu Yinxi suddenly flicked his fingers to seal his major acupoints, saying to Zhou Zichun, “If you want to kill him, do it now. If he keeps going crazy, he’ll be ruined.”
Zhou Zichun remained silent for a long time before finally closing his eyes. “Let him live to atone for his sins. Senior Brother and Senior Sister... probably wouldn't want to see him anyway.”
Just as he finished speaking, a golden radiance erupted from the stone door, shaking the two entangled groups apart.
The runes on the barrier began to flicker violently, and the ground shook along with it.
“The restriction is lifting!” a rogue cultivator shouted.
Cang Dongqing took the opportunity to grab Le Changxi’s sleeve. “Fourth Senior Brother, we...”
“Trying to run?” Zhou Zichun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. “None of you from the Sword Heart Sect are going to set foot in this cave dwelling!”
Qu Chen’s scabbard slammed heavily against the ground, the spiritual energy making everyone’s eardrums ache. “Lin Qingyu has already confessed. How long do you intend to keep pestering us?”
He coldly swept his gaze over the Shenmu Sect disciples. “If my Sword Heart Sect is truly at fault, we will naturally let the sect master decide once we return to the mountain—but not here, and not while being watched like a circus act by outsiders!”
Le Changxi pulled Cang Dongqing behind him, his fingertips trembling.
He remembered his junior sister once crying and saying she was ‘just too afraid of being abandoned.’ Those tearful eyes made his heart ache... Even if there were suspicious points, he had to believe her.
Amidst this tense atmosphere, the runes on the stone door suddenly blazed with light.
The barrier dissipated like ripples on water, and the ancient stone door slowly began to open.
“It’s open!” The cultivators no longer cared about watching the drama as they scrambled to rush toward the entrance.
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