Chapter 67: Expelling Jiang Ren
For a brief moment, Jiang Ren and I gazed at each other. Jiang Ren must have been cursing his luck, as the person he was condemning was in the same room, listening to him.
"Yes, yes... Elder, you must believe me! You can ask anyone what happened there. They would all say that this junior attacked me first." Jiang Ren once again started pointing fingers at me. Seeing this, Wei Han could not help but run his fingers through his hair.
"Enough!" Wei Han finally could not take it anymore and spoke in a cold, indifferent tone. Gone was his soft and calm voice, as if he were talking to a child.
Wei Han already had the locket that I wore to record what had happened. He simply injected Qi to activate it, playing the only recorded video stored within.
Color started to drain from Jiang Ren's already light brown skin. He knew that it was over for him.
Shut—
The video ended just as Jiang Ren was punched in the gut by me and lost consciousness.
"Looking at all the evidence and seeing your unconvinced expression, it is clear that you do not repent for your actions. I will leave your punishment in the victim's hands. Xu Mo, what do you say?"
Scribble—
[I believe Elder Wei Han should deal with Jiang Ren as he sees fit, according to our sect's decorum.]
Jiang Ren just sat there, slumped on the bed with his shoulders hunched. Wei Han nodded toward me with an approving look.
"I am still curious to know why you are acting mute. Is it to gain the sympathy of female disciples and get close to them?"
I tilted my head to the side. What was Elder Wei Han even saying?
Pat—
Wei Han patted me on the shoulder and left with one last comment, "Young people really know how to play." Just as he walked out, the disciplinary hall members entered Jiang Ren's clinic room.
They did not immediately apprehend him but instead stationed themselves at the four corners of his room, waiting for him to recover.
Outside the patient room's corridor, Jin Meiyu and Long Bai were waiting patiently.
Seeing Wei Han and me coming out, they also walked toward us. Long Bai asked Wei Han what had happened inside, and Wei Han sighed before explaining everything and revealing the decision that had been made.
At some point, Jin Meiyu had gotten dangerously close to me.
"Is something wrong, Saintess?" Wei Han noticed Jin Meiyu's actions and called her out.
Sniff—
"Are you sick?" Jin Meiyu did not respond to Wei Han but instead asked me directly.
But why?
"I smell plenty of herbs on you. Such a scent is only found on people who practice medicine, alchemy, or are dealing with a rare disease that makes them constantly carry this smell." Jin Meiyu listed out a bunch of reasons herself, making it clear that she would not accept any nonsense in response.
With no other option left, I could only turn my eyes toward the Head Elder for help.
Long Bai, noticing my silent plea, strode forward. It was not because he was my subordinate or anything, but rather because he remembered what the Ancestor had warned him about. To others, Jin Meiyu's expression remained unreadable—her eyes betraying no emotions—but as someone who had been closest to her, he knew better.
Love often started with a sudden interest in someone. It could be a rival or even an enemy. But once someone became self-conscious of the other—thinking about how they talked, smelled, ate, etc.—it became clear that an attachment was forming. Seeing Jin Meiyu's interest in Xu Mo, Long Bai knew this was not a good sign.
"Saintess, to tell you the truth, Xu Mo is my son-in-name. Since childhood, he has been mute. However, he wished to live in the outer sect, where there is less competition and a more peaceful life. So I made arrangements for him to stay there."
Gasp—
It was not Jin Meiyu who gasped but rather Wei Han. I nodded as Long Bai spoke, letting his words cover the gaps in my story. I could not have agreed more, as his statement explained why someone like the Head Elder held me in such high regard.
Well... it would have been the perfect excuse, but unfortunately for Xu Mo, the Saintess had already overheard bits and pieces of a conversation between Sect Master Bai Xu and Head Elder Long Bai.
She especially remembered the way the Sect Master had said the last part. But before he could reveal Xu Mo's real identity, she had been discovered eavesdropping on their conversation.
That alone was enough evidence for her to know that Xu Mo was not as simple as he appeared. However, his cultivation realm was only at the third level of Qi Condensation, and his appearance was pretty average by her standards. Though he might be considered handsome to others, as the young leader of the Jin family in the Golden Radiance Domain—home to many powerful clans and aristocratic families—even the lowest-ranked family in her domain could have easily wiped out a sect like the Hidden Dragon Sect.
A sect that had stood for thousands of years in the Forgotten Wastes Domain.
A barren and desolate land long abandoned by the greater powers of the world. Once a battlefield of fallen cultivators, the Forgotten Wastes Domain is now home to scattered ruins, wild spirit beasts, and remnants of failed sects. The spiritual energy here is thin, making cultivation slow and arduous. Most consider it a place fit only for exiles, rogues, and wandering cultivators with nowhere else to go.
Despite its apparent insignificance, hidden beneath its desolation are remnants of long-lost legacies, ancient artifacts buried under the sands of time, and traces of forgotten techniques waiting to be uncovered. It is a place where the unremarkable may struggle to survive, but where the determined may forge their own path to greatness.
Her grandfather once said that the Hidden Dragon Sect was merely a remnant sect—a mere branch of the main sect. But only when the main sect acknowledged its existence could it truly be considered part of it. It was said that this sect had been built by a disciple of that main sect after some unknown event in the past...