The disciples present were whispering among themselves. Rong Yao looked at Yin Yanxiu kneeling not far away. His white robes had been dyed red with blood, and his back was a mangled mess of flesh.
The whip used for punishments in the Immortal Gate Sect was always the Bone-Devouring Whip. With every strike, the pain went beyond skin and flesh—it felt like a drill boring into the very marrow of one’s bones.
She remembered. In her past life, it had been the same—except, unlike this life, she hadn’t witnessed the punishment herself.
Instead, she had learned from her fellow disciples that the half-demon Yin Yanxiu, for breaking the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror in the Treasure Pavilion and stubbornly denying his crime, had been sentenced by his master to forty lashes of the Bone-Devouring Whip in front of everyone, nearly costing him his life.
At the time, like everyone else, she had thought he got what he deserved. He broke the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror and still refused to admit it—he deserved those forty lashes.
That was, until he became the Demon King, and she married him.
One day, his subordinates dragged a blood-soaked man before him. The man’s hands and feet had been cut off, and one of his eyes gouged out.
Even though the man was barely recognizable, Rong Yao immediately knew who he was—Kong’an, Yin Yanxiu’s former fellow disciple.
Only then did she learn that the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror truly had not been broken by Yin Yanxiu. It was his fellow disciple Kong’an who had framed him.
Rong Yao looked at Kong’an, the disciple standing beside Elder Jingming, and recalled how, in her past life, he had met his end—carved up, cut by cut, on Yin Yanxiu’s orders. That bloody scene was something she would never forget.
She looked at the young man kneeling on the ground, barely clinging to life. She had wanted him dead, and yet now, watching him beaten like this over a false accusation…
Rong Yao didn’t know where her courage came from, but just as the whip was about to fall on the young man’s back once more, she cried out sharply, “Stop! The Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror wasn’t broken by Yin Yanxiu!”
Rong Yao raised her head, her gaze landing on Kong’an, Elder Jingming’s eldest disciple, standing not far away. She pointed at him. “The Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror was broken by him!”
Kong’an, suddenly named by the girl, jolted and flew into a rage. “Rong Yao, you wretched girl, what nonsense are you spouting?”
“I’m not spouting nonsense! You’re the one who broke the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror! You were afraid of being punished, so you planted the blame on someone else!”
“Like hell I did!” Kong’an blurted out in a fury. But the moment the words left his mouth, a cold, icy gaze from above turned toward him, and Kong’an immediately shut his mouth.
“It was you!” Rong Yao refused to back down.
He was the one who framed him!
Kong’an sneered, “You say I framed him—Rong Yao, do you have any proof?”
“I…” Rong Yao was momentarily at a loss for words. She knew Yin Yanxiu wasn’t the one who broke the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror, but… but she had no proof.
Seeing the girl stammering, Kong’an gave a cold snort. “Rong Yao, don’t tell me this is just an excuse you made up to defend this little beast? When did you and this little beast get so close? Does that little fiancé of yours in Moon City know about it?”
The moment Kong’an said this, the crowd burst into laughter.
Everyone knew Rong Yao had a fiancé in the mortal realm, and that he came to visit her at the Immortal Gate Sect every few months.
Hearing the laughter around her, Rong Yao was furious at Kong’an’s words. Brother Jichuan was not her fiancé!
She was about to explain when she suddenly found herself caught in the young man’s gaze—eyes utterly devoid of emotion—and she froze.
Yin Yanxiu stared at her with gloomy eyes. Having endured countless lashes, his face was deathly pale. She had never seen Yin Yanxiu with such a look in his eyes—lifeless, without a ripple of emotion, like a dead man.
Gazing at the boy’s unchanging eyes, Rong Yao seemed to understand why he had destroyed the Immortal Gate Sect after becoming the Ghost King. This place was filled with the humiliations, curses, and discrimination of his youth.
Because he was a half-demon, no one believed anything he said, no matter what.
In this moment, Rong Yao even felt that his future descent into darkness and becoming the Demon King was the right path—because only by becoming the strongest in the Three Realms would no one dare to bully him like this…
“Yin Yanxiu is not the culprit!” Rong Yao declared firmly.
“Is this how poorly behaved Wuchen’s disciples always are?”
Elder Jingming raised his eyes and cast a cold gaze down at the young girl below.
A gaze full of intimidating power swept over her. Meeting the man’s stare, Rong Yao instinctively shrank back.
Her master and Elder Jingming had always been at odds, so how could this elder show her any kindness?
With a mere glance from Elder Jingming, a disciple stepped forward, intending to drag Rong Yao away.
Rong Yao looked at the boy kneeling on the ground. Seeing that she was about to be dragged off with no one left to speak up for him, an idea suddenly struck her, and she cried out urgently, “I have evidence!”
Rong Yao pulled something out of her brocade pouch. “I have the Image Fixing Pearl my master left me!”
The Image Fixing Pearl originated from Qingyang Immortal City. It was a Magical Artifact of the immortal sects, capable of projecting images of past events—but it required immense Spiritual Power from its holder.
The moment Rong Yao said this, Kong’an burst out laughing.
He had thought the girl might produce some real evidence, but it was only an Image Fixing Pearl…
What a joke. A lowly disciple who couldn’t even reach the Golden Core stage, deluding herself that she could activate an Image Fixing Pearl to find evidence—it was absolutely hilarious.
“Rong Yao, the Image Fixing Pearl is an artifact of the immortal sects. Using it consumes a great deal of the holder’s Spiritual Power. The only person here capable of using it is my master. For an accusation that doesn’t even exist, do you really expect my master to help you?”
Kong’an sneered as he glanced at the girl in the center of the hall, his eyes full of mockery, ridiculing her for overestimating herself.
Rong Yao gripped the Image Fixing Pearl, watching Kong’an’s cold smirk, then looked up at Elder Jingming, dressed in white, seated above.
The man regarded her with cold, indifferent eyes, showing no intention whatsoever of helping her.
Better to rely on oneself than beg others!
Just as she was about to be dragged away, Rong Yao formed a seal with both hands, intending to use her own Spiritual Power to activate the Image Fixing Pearl.
A surge of golden light erupted from the girl’s hands, and everyone present paled at the sight.
Kong’an’s face changed drastically as he shouted, “Rong Yao! Are you insane? Activating the Image Fixing Pearl requires immense Spiritual Power from the holder. If your Spiritual Power isn’t enough to sustain it, you will die!”
Elder Jingming, seated above, had never imagined that this girl could be so stubborn. He was just about to order her to stop, but it was already too late.
The Image Fixing Pearl hovered above the entire hall, its golden light illuminating everything. Then the light gradually dimmed, transforming into a crystal-clear mirror.
The Mirror Realm displayed scenes from the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror. Everyone in the great hall watched as Kong’an, inside the mirror, accidentally shattered the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror in the Treasure Pavilion, then frantically summoned a disciple over.
The scenes that followed showed Yin Yanxiu taking cleaning tools to the Treasure Pavilion, while Kong’an arrived with a group of people and falsely accused him of shattering the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror.
At this, the disciples present suddenly realized the truth—everything Rong Yao had said was true. The Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror really hadn’t been shattered by Yin Yanxiu.
Kneeling on the ground, Yin Yanxiu watched the girl sacrifice her own Spiritual Power to prove his innocence. Deep shock flashed through his dark eyes.
He couldn’t understand—why would she help him?
Watching the scenes in the mirror, the culprit Kong’an turned deathly pale. Meeting the sharp gaze of the man above, he was so terrified that he collapsed to his knees with a thud. “M-Master…”
Rong Yao kept channeling Spiritual Power into the Image Fixing Pearl. The girl’s face grew increasingly pale, and it looked as though her Spiritual Power would be exhausted and she would die.
At that moment, a figure in white descended behind her, extending a hand to channel Spiritual Power to her.
Finally, the Image Fixing Pearl slowly drifted down. The girl, unable to hold herself up any longer, began to fall—when a hand steadily caught her.
Cries of astonishment rang out around them:
“Heavens, it’s Elder Wuchen!”
“Elder Wuchen has returned!”
…
Hearing the familiar name, Rong Yao opened her eyes, and a familiar, gentle-as-jade face came into view.
“M-Master.”
Seeing the girl’s pale face, Wuchen said with evident heartache, “Your master was only gone for three days. How did you get yourself into this state?”
Hearing her master’s familiar voice, Rong Yao couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into loud sobs.
“Boohoo, Master~” The girl’s earth-shattering wails made it seem as though she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.
The man patted her back and said in a soft voice, “Don’t cry, precious. Your master will avenge you right now.”
At these words, the disciples present couldn’t help turning their gazes toward a certain unlucky soul—Kong’an.
Kong’an looked at the suddenly appeared Elder Wuchen, and at the gentle-as-jade smile hanging on the man’s lips, and his face went white with terror.
Who in the Immortal Gate Sect didn’t know that Elder Wuchen doted on his disciple to a degree that made others’ hair stand on end?
Once, a disciple from another sect had cut off a small lock of Rong Yao’s hair—and the very next day, Elder Wuchen slaughtered that disciple’s entire family. He was simply a madman.
Yet no one in the sect could convict him of anything. The reason was that he had once been a Fallen Immortal who, after committing crimes in the Immortal Realm, had been cast down to the mortal world.
Though a Fallen Immortal, his strength was so great that no one in the entire sect was his match. Add to that the God-Judging Sword in his hand—a blade that slew gods above and vanquished demons below—and even the Sect Master had to show him respect.
“M-Master…” Kong’an, thoroughly terrified, looked toward his own master, Elder Jingming, as if begging for rescue.
At that moment, Elder Jingming’s expression was also extremely ugly. After all, at its root, this was a failure of his own teaching.
“Master, save me!” Kong’an threw himself forward with a plop and clutched Elder Jingming’s leg. “This disciple knows his wrong! Master, save me!”
If he fell into the ruthless Elder Wuchen’s hands, he was certain to lose his life.
Seeing this, Wuchen tilted his head slightly, a smile on his lips as he watched the two with great interest. “To think that Elder Jingming, ever so upright and honorable, would produce such a despicable creature.”
“By the laws of the Immortal Gate Sect, deceiving one’s master and slandering fellow disciples warrants fifty lashes of the Bone-Devouring Whip—and adding the destruction of a sect Magical Artifact on top of that, I imagine it should be a hundred, no?”
Elder Jingming, too, was filled with bitter disappointment. The Image Fixing Pearl had already revealed the truth.
He had never imagined that the eldest disciple he valued most would resort to such a despicable method as framing someone else.
“Master, spare my life! This disciple’s hand trembled for a moment and shattered the Seven-Treasure Glazed Mirror. Fearing your reproach, I came up with the scheme to frame someone else. I was foolish—I know I was wrong!”
Elder Jingming’s eyes darkened, and then he spoke: “One hundred lashes of the Bone-Devouring Whip. Carry out the punishment now.”
Hearing this, Kong’an knelt on the ground and let out a breath of relief. Compared to losing his life, one hundred lashes of the Bone-Devouring Whip truly counted for nothing.
Having expended too much Spiritual Power, Rong Yao fainted before long.
By the time she woke again, it was already night.
Rong Yao opened her eyes and looked at the familiar chamber. The moment she moved her body, she felt pain all over.
Taotao, who had been lying beside her, sensed the movement and opened her eyes, meeting the girl’s gaze directly.
The next second, Taotao burst into a wail and threw herself at her, wrapping her arms around her neck.
“Waaah~ You stinky girl, you’re finally awake! You really scared me to death! When the Immortal Lord carried you back, you weren’t moving at all—I thought something had happened to you!”
Hearing Taotao mention the Immortal Lord, Rong Yao immediately asked, “Where is Master? Where is he?”