Spirit Realm

“Absurd! Nonsense! Are people actually believing this rubbish?”

Words exploded out of Du Haitian’s mouth, both interrupting the pondering of the crowd and causing them to be roused with incredible shock.

Afterwards, Du Haitian coldly laughed as he looked at Ling Yushi, making no effort to disguise the ridicule on his face. “Whether or not Qin Lie is a fool is still unknown. Even if he isn’t a fool, do you believe that a martial practitioner of the Refinement Realm could actually take the reins and turn the tables in a certain death situation? And to say that he used the Demon Wolf King to kill off Shattered Ice Manor, that is even more laughable! You are telling me that a trivial wooden sculpture could make the Demon Wolf King yield — are you joking with us?”

His remark deluged the crowd in shock and caused of their expressions to become puzzled.

Ling Yushi’s statements were truly hard to believe and caused doubt to emerge within the hearts of the crowd. They began to believe that with just Qin Lie’s strength, it was unlikely for him to have been able to take the initiative and turn the tide, thus saving the Ling Family members from their despair while also killing Shattered Ice Manor’s martial practitioners.

“Elder Ye, do you believe a single word that she said?” calmly asked Du Haitian as he tilted his head.

Ye Yangqiu had also been silently pondering during this time.

In his eyes, Ling Yushi’s words were definitely a bit too absurd and unrealistic. Thus, he also couldn’t believe them.

“What actually happened is that the Ling Family must have conspired with Shattered Ice Manor, thus resulting in the near extermination of the Feng and Gao Families and also the sacrifice of the pavilion’s Liu Yan. I say Feng Bin’s words sounded much more reasonable and more trustworthy. Furthermore, the Feng Bin had the letters of communication between the Ling Family and Shattered Ice Manor. You checked them yourself, and they were indeed from Shattered Ice Manor,” said Du Haitian.

“I also have a piece of evidence!”

At this moment, Du Jiaolan suddenly walked out, chuckling to herself as she looked at Ling Chengye with insidious eyes. Afterwards, she positioned herself below Ye Yangqiu and said, “When that fool was engaged to Ling Yushi, her engagement present surprisingly had a ‘Hundred Vein Pill’ and ‘Sea Opening Pill.’ There were also several high grade spirit stones. It’s impossible that the Ling Family has such precious treasures!”

Coldly laughing, she said, “To think that they were illicitly acquired from Shattered Ice Manor!”

“Stop venomously slandering people! Those were Qin Lie’s, how could it have any relation with my Ling Family?” raged Ling Chengye, his expression anxious. Du Jiaolan’s remark had caused a cold sweat to cover his entire body.

“That fool has no morals or ability, how could he possibly have such precious spirit pills and stones? It was obviously secretly hidden away by you!” snapped Du Jiaolan as she coldly laughed. She continued, “At the time, I was perplexed. I was confused as to how so many spirit pills and stones suddenly appeared. No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t figure out where they came from, but now I understand. You received them in exchange for conspiring with Shattered Ice Manor. Did you hope to use the engagement to cover up where those spirit pills and stones came from so that your daughter could use them openly? You truly calculated so deeply!”

After she put it that way, a chill arose within the depths of the hearts of the Ling Family members. They felt as if a catastrophe was about to arise.

In regard to the surprising matter during the engagement ceremony, everyone remembered it very deeply. They had also been confused as to where the spirit pills and stones within the engagement present had come from, unable to place the matters together.

—They truly didn’t believe that those things were Qin Lie’s.

Today, following Du Haitian and Du Jiaolan’s speeches, a portion of the Ling Family members also began to secretly doubt over whether or not Ling Chengye had been conspiring with Shattered Ice Manor behind their backs to betray Nebula Pavilion in return for precious cultivation materials.

Once these thoughts had arisen, the look in their eyes towards Ling Chengye and his family also changed… becoming full of questions and anger.

Traitors… weren’t accepted by anyone. Even if it was their own clansmen, no one would tolerate any kind of betrayal. It was an absolutely inexcusable crime!

Seeing the suspicious looks within the eyes of their family members, Ling Chengye and his daughters felt chills run up their backs. Ling Xuanxuan trembled as she nervously grit her teeth and felt her body becoming colder and colder.

Ling Yushi’s face became extremely pale, giving birth to a sense of hopelessness. She never would have thought that Du Jiaolan’s words would be so sharp, insidious, and spiteful. She realized that the Ling Family had all misjudged just how insidious and sinister she was.

The crime of betraying Nebula Pavilion was enough for the entire family to be beheaded. They were pretty much all damned to perdition!

“I truly don’t know about those spirit pills and materials, they all came from Qin Lie. They have no relation with my Ling Family!” said Ling Chengye decisively, his expression sinking. He glared at Du Jiaolan like a beast and continued, “It is all but your own speculating. Do you have any evidence that proves that those spirit pills and herbs were from Shattered Ice Manor?”

Du Jiaolan’s expression lagged for a moment. Then, she immediately and firmly rebuked, “Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is true.”

As Du Jiaolan was unable to show any evidence that proved that the materials truly came from Shattered Ice Manor, Ling Chengye’s decisive statement caused people to only harbor suspicions as they were unable to truly confirm it.

“Do you still have the pill? A Sea Opening Pill… is most suited for use when one is breaking through into the Natal Opening Realm. You shouldn’t have refined it yet, right?” indifferently asked Ye Yangqiu, directing his question at Ling Yushi.

Stunned, Ling Yushi gently nodded, “It is still in my possession.”

“Bring out the Sea Opening Pill and let me look at it,” ordered Ye Yangqiu, sticking out his hand.

Ling Yushi didn’t say anything, carefully retrieved a jade bottle, and politely offered it up.

Under everyone’s gazes, Ye Yangqiu received the jade bottle. Opening it, a fragrant pill dropped out. He carefully observed the pill with squinted eyes.

After a few seconds, Ye Yangqiu’s expression suddenly became cold as he sharply said, “It is actually from Shattered Ice Manor!”

As his words faded, Ling Yushi’s graceful body violently trembled, and an extremely shocked expression emerged within her eyes. The Ling brothers and Ling Xuanxuan felt as if a bomb had exploded within their heads, giving birth to a feeling that the heavens wanted the Ling Family dead.

The eyes of Du Jiaolan, Du Haitian, and their followers all brightened up, all of their expressions extremely ecstatic.

It was also a giant surprise to all of the Ling Family members as each of them began pointing fingers at Ling Chengye, Ling Xuanxuan, and Ling Yushi, swearing at them and saying that they would die a thousand times over for their sins. For them to have actually dared to conspire with Shattered Ice Manor, it wasn’t enough if they just died.

Only Ling Xin, Ling Feng, and the others who had experienced the attacks of Shattered Ice Manor themselves at Celestial Wolf Mountain knew that the Ling Family most definitely hadn’t conspired with Shattered Ice Manor. Thus, they still made excuses for Ling Chengye, saying that the situation wasn’t like what everyone thought.

However, in the eyes of others, their excuses… seemed truly lacking. Many placed them together with the others as traitors.

“I have a deep understanding of Shattered Ice Manor’s things. Upon this Sea Opening Pill, there is an extremely subtle imprint of shattered ice, the unique print of Shattered Ice Manor’s Artificers. Thus, I am able to definitely say that this Sea Opening Pill is from Shattered Ice Manor!” Raising the pill within his hand, Ye Yangqiu pointed towards a spot on the bottom half of the pill, bringing it in front of Ling Chengye so that he could see it clearly.

When Ling Chengye saw the imprint, his entire body froze.

Ye Yangqiu hadn’t baselessly slandered him. On the bottom of the Sea Opening Pill was indeed an extremely small imprint of shattered ice which could only be seen by observing closely.

After they had received the pill, because they were preparing to use it in the near-future, they had never opened the bottle and thus never knew about it.

“Is there anything else left to say?” asked Ye Yangqiu, his expression dark and frosty.

“The pill came from Qin Lie, we had completely no clue. I plead for Elder Ye to clear his mind and give the Ling Family a fair ruling!” beastialy shouted Ling Chengye, his eyes turning red.

“You still dare to speak in the face of death!” sharply shouted Du Haitian. He immediately continued, “But in all honesty, only the Ling Family Patriarch’s family should have conspired with Shattered Ice Manor. It should have nothing to do with the others, I beseech Elder Ye give a fair ruling.”

“First, seal off the courtyard,” commanded Ye Yangqiu.

The people below him immediately dispersed, surrounding the entire area and not allowing anyone to leave.

Upon seeing Ye Yangqiu’s commands, Du Haitian immediately smiled whereas Ling Chengye and his family immediately became ashen.

“Capture those who returned from Celestial Wolf Mountain and search them,” coldly continued Ye Yangqiu.

The experts under him immediately walked towards Ling Feng and the others, their expressions dark and cold as dense killing intent emanated out from every one of them.

One of the experts said, “Just previously, Liu Yan had been drinking liquor with me. I never would have thought that he would be done in by traitors. Once you fall into our hands, even if you want to die… it won’t be that easy!”

“What are you doing?” furiously asked Ling Xin, unsheathing his weapon as his expression became crazed. He shouted, “Holy shit, the Feng Family clearly insinuated us. We tirelessly killed enemies and escaped from countless life and death situations just to be dealt with by you all?”

“If not for Qin Lie, this daddy would have died long ago at the hands of the Feng Family. Today, whoever dares to touch me will have to fight me!” irascibly said Ling Xiao.

“Whoever dares to resist will be killed on the spot!” indifferently said Ye Yangqiu.

“Ling Xiao, Ling Xin! Both of you shut up! None of you may move!” sharply cried Ling Yushi, about to cry, “Put down all of your weapons, I trust that Nebula Pavilion will definitely find out the truth! You all know that Brother Liu is on his way back to Nebula Pavilion right now. Although his route was longer than ours, he will definitely return to Nebula Pavilion!”

Hearing her words, Ling Xiao and Ling Xin both hesitated for a moment. Only after being yelled at again by Ling Chengye did they behave and put down their weapons without a fight.

Very quickly, Ye Yangqiu’s underlings began to inspect Ling Xiao and the others’ bodies, searching from the top all the way to the bottom for spirit stones and materials, as well as for some low grade spirit pills.

Ye Yangqiu picked out a few of the spirit pills and analyzed them. Upon discovering that they were all from Shattered Ice Manor, his expression became increasingly dark and cold.

Earlier, when Ling Yushi had explained the events that had happened, she hadn’t said that they had gained spirit stones and pills of the bodies of the dead Shattered Ice Manor practitioners, hoping to keep those things secret. However, it had come back to bite them…

“It seems as if you have truly gained many things from Shattered Ice Manor,” coldly laughed Du Haitian.

Ling Chengye and his family all began to feel as if this was the end of the road for them as all of the evidence pointed against them. If Ye Yangqiu was any bit more brash, this evidence would have been enough for them to have been killed on the spot.

“Elder Ye, I believe that there is no need to return to the pavilion and review this. Let us just execute them now,” said Du Haitian with a slight smile as he looked at Ling Chengye and his family with ice cold eyes. He continued, “My people can also help, and I can personally kill the Ling Family Patriarch as well…”

Ling Chengye suddenly erupted, “Du Haitian! Aren’t you are deliberately going against my Ling Family just because you want the position of Ling Family Patriarch? Is it for your mistress and two bastards?! In the past you drove my wife to death, and today, you want to be the killer of my daughters and I. If I am to die today, I will drag you with me!”

At this point, Ling Chengye had pretty much collapsed. From within the depths of his heart, his many years of repressed anger finally erupted out, “Cousin? Indeed, Du Jiaolan is your cousin! Do you think people truly don’t know about all the dirty things you two do? Du Jiaolan had Du Heng seven months after arriving within my Ling Family, you are very clear whose seed he is within your heart!”

“Two years later, she made a trip to Nebula Pavilion and gave birth to Du Fei! You two both know very clearly just whose cheap seeds they are! As for how my second brother died, I am also very clear about that as well!”

“Stop spitting out slander!” shrieked Du Jiaolan. “Your second brother died from bodily explosion in his cultivation, it had nothing to do with me!”

“Even in the face of death you dare to accuse others?” asked Du Haitian, his expression extremely like a bird of prey. “To unwarrantedly spout nonsense, it is a shame that you are a patriarch. Indeed, dying isn’t enough to atone for your sins.”

Looking at Ye Yangqiu, his expression became embarrassed as he awkwardly smiled and said, “The matters that Ling Chengye brought up are but the actions of a mad dog. I plead Elder Ye to pay no heed to his nonsense.”

After a moment, he then said, “How about we join hands and kill him first together? The rest can be taken back to the pavilion for interrogation. How about that?”

Ye Yangqiu furrowed his brows, a dark cold light flashing through his eyes. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Whether it be the appearance of pills at the engagement ceremony or the trip to Celestial Wolf Mountain, there is one person connecting the two… where is this person? I would like to meet him and listen to what he has to say. He is called Qin Lie, right? Bring Qin Lie over for me!”

“There is no need to worry about him, Qin Lie is but a fool. Ling Chengye and Ling Yushi, this father and daughter pair, are only using this fool to spew nonsense and to lessen their implications. What fool can offer spirit pills, what fool can turn the tide and help the Ling Family escape and cause the Demon Wolf King to attack Shattered Ice Manor and everything else that they said? They are all just excuses,” said Du Jiaolan, smiling sweetly at Ye Yangqiu. She continued, “Whether we look for Qin Lie or not, it is the same. The fool cannot speak as there is a problem with his head. Even if we bring him over, he will be of no use.”

“Lowly slut who fucked her cousin, who are you calling a fool?” At this time, from behind the crowd of Ling Family members, a voice people were unfamiliar with suddenly emanated over.

……