Confrontation

Qu Chen's sword tip pointed directly at Li Nanzhu, the flowing light on the blade making the blue fire in Suisui's eye sockets flicker erratically.

Suisui was so frightened that the bell on its tailbone rattled incessantly, its bone claws gripping Li Nanzhu's sleeve tightly, leaving several tears in the fabric.

"I will say it one more time," Qu Chen's voice was as cold as ice, "hand over this evil thing!"

Li Nanzhu shielded Suisui behind her. "It is not an evil thing."

"And where is the proof?" Cang Dongqing stood up behind Qu Chen, her voice laced with honey while a nearly imperceptible curve tugged at the corner of her lips.

She had waited for this moment for too long—ever since she had been publicly humiliated by this group at the inn, she had thought of nothing but how to exact her revenge. Now, the opportunity had finally presented itself.

"Third Senior Brother, please be the judge," her voice was soft as water, yet she intentionally pitched it so that everyone in the cave could hear clearly. "Back at the inn, I already felt that Daoist Li's behavior was suspicious. To think she would carry such an evil thing with her now, I'm afraid she might..."

She deliberately trailed off, leaving room for endless speculation.

Li Nanzhu gave a cold laugh. Though she was not tall, she stood straight as an unsheathed dagger.

"The people of the Sword Heart Sect certainly have keen eyes," Li Nanzhu sneered. "To be able to determine this is an evil thing from ten yards away, one would think the Sovereign of the Tianyan Sect himself was standing here!"

"Why must Daoist Li be so angry?" Cang Dongqing put on a hurt expression, clutching her heart as if she were the one being deeply wronged. "I am only worried about everyone's safety. Besides..." She glanced pointedly at the bell on Suisui's tail. "Tying a bell to an evil thing... who knows if it is some kind of wicked ritual..."

"I see." Li Nanzhu nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. "Then let me ask Daoist Cang—" She picked up Suisui and displayed the bell. "Have you ever seen an evil cultivator tie a tracking bell to their puppet? Especially a common brass bell?"

The cave fell silent.

The bell tied to Suisui's tail was plain and unremarkable. Even a rogue cultivator could tell at a glance that it was a common magic tool sold for three low-grade spirit stones at any market.

Cang Dongqing's expression shifted slightly, and she immediately changed her tactic. "Even if the bell is ordinary, the ghostly fire in the skeleton's eyes..."

"Oh?" Li Nanzhu's eyes lit up. "A moment ago, Daoist Cang said our behavior was suspicious, and now you shift to attacking Suisui's eyes?" She turned to the surrounding cultivators. "Don't you all find it strange? A disciple of the Sword Heart Sect identifying an evil cultivator, yet she jumps from one point to another like a common marketplace gossip?"

Several rogue cultivators had already lowered their weapons, suspicion showing in their eyes. Cang Dongqing's hand, hidden in her sleeve, clenched tightly.

"I-I am only worried about everyone's safety..." She suddenly looked at Qu Chen with tearful eyes. "Third Senior Brother, they are bullying me..."

Then, she turned back to the surrounding cultivators, looking as if she were about to cry. "Fellow Daoists, please judge for yourselves. Our Sword Heart Sect has always taken the elimination of demons and the protection of the Dao as our duty. Seeing such an evil thing, it is only natural to question it..."

"Question it?" Liu Qingyang couldn't help but sneer. "Are all you Sword Heart Sect disciples this shameless? First you try to distort the truth, and now you're playing the victim?"

Duan Xianxing, rubbing his sore back from the fall, added sarcastically, "Exactly. Crashing into people earlier was an accident, but now you're just slapping labels on us."

The atmosphere in the cave was tense. The rogue cultivators retreated to the edges, fearing they would be swept into this feud between sect disciples.

Cultivators from several minor sects looked hesitant, not wanting to offend the Sword Heart Sect while also feeling that the situation was indeed fishy.

Zhu Yinxi remained silent at the very front, the jade flute turning slowly in his hand. He watched Qu Chen with a calm gaze, his aura restrained yet impossible to ignore.

Meanwhile, the unconscious Le Changxi finally woke up. Although he hadn't grasped the situation yet, seeing Cang Dongqing's aggrieved look made him instinctively shield her.

"Who is bullying my junior sister!"

Qu Chen's expression was also very grim. He shielded Cang Dongqing, seemingly finished with listening to anything Li Nanzhu had to say. "Stop your quibbling. Even if you aren't evil cultivators, keeping a bone puppet is a great taboo in the cultivation world! If you do not hand over this evil thing today, do not blame us for being impolite!"

"Impossible!" Duan Xianxing stood in front of Li Nanzhu, showing no intention of backing down. Even Liu Qingyang stepped up silently to make his stance clear.

Zhu Yinxi, having observed from the sidelines until now, finally spoke. "Are all disciples of the Sword Heart Sect such slanderous people?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it silenced the entire cave. The jade flute spun in his hand with a beautiful glint of light as the pressure of a mid-stage Golden Core was released without reservation.

Qu Chen's face changed. As a fellow mid-stage Golden Core, he hadn't taken the other man seriously until now, when he felt a surge of pressure radiating from Zhu Yinxi.

Seeing this, Cang Dongqing suddenly changed her strategy.

She moved with light steps, appearing to casually stand three paces away from Zhu Yinxi. She had noticed this rogue cultivator who had fallen with Li Nanzhu and the others long ago. Not only was he even more handsome than Le Changxi, but his entire temperament was extraordinary. Seeing Qu Chen's reaction now made her even more eager to win him over.

Furthermore, she hadn't seen this man at the inn before, so she assumed he was just traveling with Li Nanzhu by chance. A cultivator of such bearing and appearance surely had an extraordinary background. If she couldn't win over Liu Qingyang, then befriending this man would be just as good.

With that thought, her voice became even more gentle.

"This senior brother has such an extraordinary bearing, why associate yourself with such..." she glanced pointedly at Li Nanzhu, "people of unknown origin?"

Zhu Yinxi didn't even bother to give her a look. "What does it have to do with you?"

Those five words made Cang Dongqing's face turn pale. Li Nanzhu almost burst out laughing, quickly covering her mouth with her sleeve.

Cang Dongqing bit her lip stubbornly, then spoke softly again. "Senior brother..." She moved closer to Zhu Yinxi again, showing her profile—an angle she had practiced countless times to appear most pitiable. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. "Your cultivation is so profound, why must you be with these..."

"Get lost." This time, Zhu Yinxi didn't even give her a side-glance. He even took two steps back rapidly, as if Cang Dongqing were something filthy that he was afraid of touching.

"Save your breath, Daoist Cang," Li Nanzhu finally couldn't hold back her laughter. "My second senior brother hates pretentious white lotuses like you the most."

"You!" Cang Dongqing was so angry her face turned green, yet she had to maintain her image and couldn't explode. She never expected that this cultivator was also Li Nanzhu's senior brother. First Liu Qingyang, and now this man as well. Li Nanzhu was just a trash with triple spiritual roots; why did she get to walk with them?

The hatred in her heart deepened, but for now, she could only bite her lip and act aggrieved. "Why must Daoist Li always target me..."

"Target you?" Li Nanzhu raised an eyebrow exaggeratedly. "I'm just speaking the truth. You've been acting ever since we met. At the inn, you used someone else's room to do Liu Qingyang a favor. Just now, you pinched Le Changxi's philtrum while pretending to be worried, and now you're trying to flirt with my second senior brother?"

She spoke rapidly, her words cutting to the bone. "Do you think everyone is blind? Who can't see through your little schemes? You say you're worried about your senior brother, yet you won't even part with a single pill. You pretend to be so weak you can't take care of yourself, yet the strength you used to push me could have killed a cow!"

Cang Dongqing was rendered speechless, her face turning from red to white.

The surrounding rogue cultivators whispered among themselves, and the way they looked at her changed.

Seeing this, Qu Chen roared in fury, "Enough of your nonsense! My junior sister is pure and unsullied, how dare you slander her!"

"Pure and unsullied?" Li Nanzhu clutched her chest dramatically. "Oh my goodness, do you even believe those words yourself? Do you want me to..."

"Enough!" Qu Chen bellowed. His long sword suddenly lunged forward, aiming straight for Li Nanzhu's throat.

Clang—

A flash of green light flickered as Zhu Yinxi's jade flute precisely parried the long sword.

The collision of two spiritual energies sent out a shockwave, causing debris from the cave ceiling to rattle down.

"Attacking my junior sister right in front of me?" Zhu Yinxi's voice was terrifyingly cold. "Qu Chen, do you have a death wish?"

Qu Chen's face was livid. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then I shall experience your skills!"

Before his voice had even faded, his sword stance changed, transforming into seven sword shadows that simultaneously stabbed toward Zhu Yinxi's vital points. This was the Seven-Star Life-Seizing, a unique technique of the Sword Heart Sect that ordinary Golden Core cultivators found difficult to parry.

Zhu Yinxi, however, remained unruffled. He held the jade flute to his lips and blew a single note.

Ding—

The sound was crisp and short, yet it rippled through the air like a physical wave.

The seven sword shadows shattered instantly. Qu Chen let out a muffled groan as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Second Senior Brother's cultivation has improved again," Duan Xianxing whispered to Li Nanzhu. "It would be great if he only played single notes from now on. He never goes out of tune with a single note."

"And you still claim you aren't evil cultivators! My senior brother is in the mid-stage of the Golden Core. If you hadn't used some special evil method, how could you have possibly injured him!" Le Changxi, ignoring his own pain, rushed to support Qu Chen and quickly fed him a pill.

Cang Dongqing's eyes flickered with urgency. Le Changxi and the others didn't know Liu Qingyang's identity, but she did. Furthermore, Li Nanzhu had been taken as a disciple by a Soul Transformation cultivator. She could not let Liu Qingyang and this music cultivator be associated with evil cultivators right now, as she still had no intention of giving up on winning them over.

"Daoist Liu and this... senior brother," Cang Dongqing looked at them sorrowfully. "I believe you have nothing to do with evil cultivators. As long as you distance yourselves from that evil thing, we will certainly clear your names!"

The implication was that if they didn't distance themselves, they could only be evil cultivators.

"Evil thing? Distance ourselves?" Liu Qingyang sneered, finally unable to resist interrupting. He stepped forward and pulled a gold-gilded token from his robes, slapping it onto Qu Chen. On the token was the simple engraving of the words: "Water Moon."

"I am Liu Qingyang, the son of Liu Changhe, the Sovereign of the Water Moon Sect." Liu Qingyang's voice wasn't loud, but it caused an instant hush. "I guarantee with the Liu lineage that they cannot possibly be evil cultivators, and Suisui is absolutely not an evil thing!"

Qu Chen held the token with uncertainty. Li Nanzhu's eyes widened. She remembered that in the original story, Liu Qingyang had hidden this identity for a long time, only revealing it to Cang Dongqing much later. Why was he exposing his identity to so many people now?

Cang Dongqing bit her lip, unable to understand why Liu Qingyang would suddenly reveal himself. Didn't he love hiding his identity? Why now...

But since things had come to this, she looked at Qu Chen, who had already returned the token to Liu Qingyang. Clearly, the authenticity of the token had been confirmed. There was no point in saying anything more; with Liu Qingyang vouching for them, the matter could only end here for now.

Still, she felt unwilling. She spoke up again, "So it is Young Master Liu. No wonder I felt your bearing was extraordinary when we first met. It is just..." She glanced pointedly at Li Nanzhu. "The young master is still youthful and might easily be misled by certain..."

"Misled by what?" Li Nanzhu suddenly took a half-step forward, a perfectly measured smile on her lips. "Daoist Cang might as well finish her sentence."

"I-I didn't mean that..." Cang Dongqing's eyes immediately reddened as she shrank behind Le Changxi. "Why must Daoist Li..."

"Oh, my master never took you as a disciple, so don't try to force a connection," Li Nanzhu winked. "Daoist Cang said Young Master Liu is youthful, and then mentioned certain..." She suddenly clapped her hands as if having a realization. "Ah! Could you be implying that the Sovereign of the Water Moon Sect is incompetent at raising his son?"