Chapter 93: The Unveiling of a Demonic Conspiracy

What?!

At these words, the entire assembly erupted in an uproar.

A cold, almost imperceptible killing intent flickered in Bai Zhileng’s eyes as she looked at Li Wuxia.

“Where did this vile wretch come from?!

“Li Wuxia! Cease your senseless babbling and stop sowing discord!”

Elder Li reprimanded her sharply, “The Holy Maiden of Penglai came to save our sect. What talk of traps? I daresay your confinement has driven you mad.”

“I am not mad; everything I say is true.”

Li Wuxia suddenly turned to Xuanweizi, kowtowing heavily while sobbing uncontrollably.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

She kowtowed with such force that each impact seemed to shatter her skull, her smooth forehead instantly a bloody mess.

“Sect Master, this disciple is guilty; this disciple deserves ten thousand deaths.”

“This plague… this plague is not some law contamination left by an ancient demonic overlord at all. It’s… it’s a conspiracy by the Joyful Union Sect!”

Boom!!!

If Bai Zhileng’s previous words were a divine thunderbolt from the nine heavens, then Li Wuxia’s statement was a cataclysmic collision capable of leveling the entire Qingyun Sect.

“The Joyful Union Sect?!”

“That demonic sect that follows the path of lust, acts without restraint, and is regarded as a cancerous growth by the entire immortal dao?!”

Xuanweizi’s pupils suddenly constricted to pinpricks.

Bai Zhileng could no longer maintain her composure. She clenched the hand hidden in her sleeve, her fingernails digging deeply into her palm.

The plan had spiraled out of control.

“What did you say?”

Xuanweizi stared intensely at Li Wuxia, each word squeezed through his teeth, “Say it again!”

Li Wuxia lifted her blood-stained face, her eyes filled with utter collapse and remorse. “It’s the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect, Pure Heart Heavenly Fox! She has coveted Senior Sister… coveted Senior Sister Shen’s Dao Source Body for a long time, wishing to take her as her Cauldron!”

“So, she spread this Soul-Devouring Plague. She wants to force… she wants to force the Qingyun Sect to its knees, to drive everyone into despair.”

“Then…”

Li Wuxia’s voice suddenly rose.

“Then she will appear. She will arrive with the so-called ‘antidote,’ presenting herself as a savior, coercing the sect… coercing you to hand over Senior Sister Shen!”

Li Wuxia’s heavy, desperate gasps echoed across the vast plaza.

A deception.

A colossal deception.

There was no ancient law contamination at all; only a meticulously planned conspiracy by a demonic sect.

Xuanweizi’s aged face was paler than a corpse. He slowly turned his head, his gaze like two icy blades falling upon Bai Zhileng.

If Li Wuxia’s words were the truth, then what of this Holy Maiden of Penglai?

She had so earnestly analyzed “law contamination” and then conveniently proposed the “only” solution. What role did she play in this deception?

Was she a kind-hearted soul, similarly deceived?

Or the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it?

Under Xuanweizi’s scrutinizing gaze, Bai Zhileng’s heart plummeted, but her face quickly adopted an expression of shock and bewilderment.

“The Joyful Union Sect? How can this be?” she murmured, frowning, as if unable to accept the fact. “I used Penglai’s secret arts to investigate the plague qi, and its origin indeed contained fragmented law power, definitely not ordinary demonic qi… Could it be that Pure Heart Heavenly Fox possesses such heaven-defying means that she could fake law contamination?!”

Her acting was flawless, instantly absolving herself from the position of “insider” and transforming into a “victim” who was both deceived and whose professional capabilities were challenged.

Shen Zhaoqing gave her silent praise in her heart.

But no one had the mind to appreciate her acting now.

“You…” Xuanweizi’s gaze returned to Li Wuxia, his voice now laced with barely suppressed killing intent, “How did you come to know of this? And what is your relationship with the Joyful Union Sect?”

Li Wuxia’s body trembled uncontrollably under the immense pressure.

She knew that once she revealed all of this, she would be finished. Betraying the sect, colluding with the demonic dao—either crime was enough to ensure she died without a burial place.

Yet… she looked at the cool, distant figure not far away.

As long as Senior Sister could live.

As long as she didn’t have to be sent to that man-eating place, Penglai, didn’t have to be treated like medicinal dregs…

What did her own death matter?

“I.” Li Wuxia gave a tragic laugh, the last glimmer of light in her eyes extinguished. “I am the accomplice.”

“It was I who used my family’s secret connections with the Joyful Union Sect to lead them into our home.”

“It was I who secretly brought the ‘primer’ for their Soul-Devouring Incense into the Qingyun Sect.”

“My origins have already been revealed to you. The sect kept me confined all day, and I feared that one day you would kill me in the name of eradicating evil and defending the dao, so I resorted to this desperate measure.”

Her words were disjointed and illogical, yet everyone understood them.

“Wretch!”

Xuanweizi let out an earth-shattering roar of fury, and a terrifying pressure erupted. Li Wuxia, struck hard, spat out another mouthful of blood, her frail body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground, unconscious.

Even in her unconscious state, her eyes remained fixed in Shen Zhaoqing’s direction.

Her lips moved silently.

Shen Zhaoqing understood; she was saying, ‘Don’t go.’

****

Everyone was utterly shaken by these consecutive, shocking reversals.

Shen Zhaoqing looked at Li Wuxia, lying in a pool of blood, her heart filled with extreme complexity.

She had saved her.

Junior Sister Wuxia had saved her again, in a suicidal, utterly tragic way.

The cost was herself and the entire Qingzhou.

Shen Zhaoqing didn’t know how to settle this debt.

And at this moment, an even graver question lay before everyone.

Since the plague was a conspiracy of the Joyful Union Sect, then… where was she?

****

The truth was revealed, but the situation was a hundred times more unsightly than when the truth was unknown.

If it was a natural disaster before, everyone could unite against a common enemy, charging forward with the tragic mentality of “sacrificing one for the happiness of all.” But now?

A man-made calamity.

A thorough, utterly foolish man-made calamity.

Their Qingyun Sect, the leader of the immortal dao, the face of the Three Pure Dao Alliance, was almost tricked into personally delivering its own disciple to another “ally” with ulterior motives, all for a demonic maiden’s scheme to capture a man.

If this got out, how could they ever hold their heads high? Would the Qingyun Sect still have any face left?

Elder Li’s twisted old face had turned from pale blue to a dark purple. He clutched his chest, panting heavily. By the looks of it, he might ascend on the spot or simply die then and there.

The expressions of the other elders were equally varied, like a spilled palette of colors: shame, lingering fear, shock, anger, bewilderment… Finally, all these complex emotions converged into a single, shared gaze, directed in unison at the two figures in the center of the plaza.

Bai Zhileng still maintained her look of shock and pity, but deep in her eyes, ice had formed.

Xuanweizi stood swaying in place. He looked at Li Wuxia, lying in a pool of blood and being hurriedly dragged away by two disciples. Then he looked at the innocent-faced Bai Zhileng. Finally, his gaze returned to Shen Zhaoqing, unable to utter a single word.

“This… this…” Elder Wang sighed deeply. “This is truly… utterly unexpected.”

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