68. Judgement
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Not many things could rattle the entire Yueyan Mountain and its surrounding cities...
But recently, Yueyan had seen several mountain-shaking occurrences!
First came the news of how one of their own had defeated the infamous 'Black Dragon', which made the Yueyan Sect Sky Realm's most recognized Mortal Sect.
This was swiftly followed by the rise in evil spirits, culminating in the gruesome attack right within Tian Yue Temple.
After that followed the eye-eater incident which had spread far and wide, and then there was the birth of a Divine Light Tiger right in the Sect, which had drawn in highly-ranked cultivators from the Wulin and other top sects!
But now...?
Now there were rumours that someone without any hope of cultivation had given Yueyan Sect's strongest and most promising junior disciple a glorious beating!
It was even worse when added to the rumours that the so-called 'strongest and most promising junior disciple' had swallowed three Qi Heightening pills, which should have elevated his qi past reasonableness, nearly putting him on the level of Astral Tier One...
This meant he was practically 'Elder Level' at the time, and yet someone considered 'trash' had thoroughly beaten him!
This of course made cultivators everywhere curious about what trick this 'Zhang Luoyin fellow' had used to defeat someone on 'Elder' level...
"Is it even possible?!"
"Surely he used some devious means!"
"How else can Zhang Luoyin of all people defeat Zhang Cheng?!"
No one believed it, yet the rumours flew.
This was because most of the powerful Junior disciples were all singing Zhang Luoyin's praise!
This included Xu Weiyan, Yueyan sect's 'White Swallow', aka 'Erudite Swordsman', aka 'Swift-feet', who clearly insisted at the Arena that Zhang Luoyin had defeated Zhang Cheng fairly and taken his flag.
Unfortunately, during Luoyin's duel with Zhang Cheng, a 'strange' crystal barrier had prevented the Sky Talismans from seeing or recording a clear fight, so though the junior disciples said one thing, most of the higher ranked cultivators simply could not believe such 'impossible nonsense'!
In fact, a few were insisting that Xu Weiyan was merely trying to 'support' her husband Zhang Luoyin with blatant lies!
But it did not solve one mystery.
They could all overlook the fact that Zhang Luoyin had emerged waving Zhang Cheng's flag... surely Xu Weiyan had given it to him!
But there was no explaining the mystery of why Zhang Cheng's teammates were either terrified of Luoyin, giving him a wide berth at the arena, or were now singing his praises along with the rest!
So the news flew far and wide...
"Yueyan again?!" Lord Ju, Yunchi Sect Leader, pondered aloud, a sliver of annoyance in his voice.
His annoyance was mostly a mild envy... With the way things were going, Yueyan Sect would soon overtake them as Second Greatest, and it annoyed him to no end because he might have used his own hand to send a part of that 'greatness' to Yueyan!
As a powerful Sect Leader, he had eyes and ears in most sects, so he knew quite a bit of Yueyan's recent happenings.
From the Eye-eater incident, to the birth of the Divine Tiger, to the first stage of the tournament, to the new pills making waves in Yueyan, and now, to this supposed defeat of the strongest Junior disciple...
In all those cases, one name had consistently been central, and that was the name, 'Zhang Luoyin'!
Zhang Luoyin was Duan Xiu's child, and Duan Xiu was his grandniece, one of the strongest Yunchi disciples back then.
Most Sects wouldn't support a marriage that would lose them such a strong disciple, but back then, Lord Ju himself had blessed Duan Xiu's marriage to Zhang Guo, because he wanted her out of the Sect so his direct grandson wouldn't be threatened by her...
'Haven't I sent 'greatness' off to the Yueyan Sect?!' He presently wondered. 'Isn't this the same as 'taking up a stone to strike my own foot'?!'
"Sect Leader!" Lord Ju's aide interrupted his thoughts. "The Eagle has delivered more news...!"
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There was indeed more news, and it began the day the 2nd stage ended.
That afternoon, Sect Leader Xu summoned all Xu elders, Sect Elders, Sect Warriors, Yue City officials, and all House Heads to the Serene Moonlight Hall, a central hall where the biggest Sect decisions were deliberated upon.
The hall lived up to its name, as it sat by a serene and beautiful lake filled with lotuses and graceful swimming ducks, and its windows caught the full glow of brilliant moonlight at night.
But there was no moonlight this hot afternoon, and most within the hall could only mutter in curiosity, their eyes darting to the Zhang couple who sat in a reserved spot near the raised stage, where an elegant chair had been arranged for the Sect Leader, with several seats on either side of it.
As head of Yueyan's most prominent family, Lord Zhang was expected to be present, but everyone was surprised that Zhang Furen was here as well, especially with all the recent Zhang controversies, and whispers filled the intricate hall.
Finally, Xu Fengyan, the sect elders, and the Xu elders arrived, taking the seats on the stage. Asides from these seats, everyone else, including the Zhang family sat on soft cushions, with small tables before them, each with water, tea, wine and a few snacks.
Xu Fengyan began at once.
"Last night, during the 2nd stage, some grave whispers fell upon my ears and they cannot be put aside. I have summoned everyone of import here today, so we can all bear witness and assess for ourselves, some of the things that have been happening in Yue City,
and the entire Yueyan region through the years..."
He turned to the doors. "Let them in!" He ordered, and everyone turned to see an odd mix of individuals being led into the hall in a long file, a few of them tied-up...
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Meanwhile, after beating Zhang Cheng in the Hunting Plains, Luoyin had left him and the bound disciples in one of Xu Lian's shields, and then led the team after the loose members from the other teams, ensuring they each had four flags per person!
"That leaves six disciples... We need ten finalists for the last stage, but we're just seven in our group. Let's leave them to their fates!"
However, four of those remaining six fell to betrayals, leaving only two fellow winners, one with four flags, and one with two flags, bringing the winners to just nine...
So back at the Arena, the Sect elders had decided on the strongest of the losers to fill the vacant tenth spot.
This would have been Zhang Cheng, but after Luoyin's beating, Zhang Cheng was in no state, shape, or form to compete, and it fell to Xu Haoyuan.
But none of this was Luoyin's cup of tea, and he quickly escaped the noisy cheer of the Arena, returning to the silence of the Yan house.
At present he lounged in his room, grinning at the Spirit-Binding Seal on his hand.
"Xiaobai, your smile is wider than the city!" Yinying appeared. "What is making you so happy??"
"Perfect timing! Come and see!" Luoyin waved him over. Yinying took one look at the seal and froze.
"Is that the evil woman's arrow?!" He asked incredulously. "And where is Zhang Cheng's arrow?!"
Zhang Cheng's arrow had completely vanished, and Zhang Furen's arrow was consistently reducing as they watched!
"Xiaobai, what happened in my absence...? Didn't I only spend a few days within dream-state?!"
A few days before the tournament, Luoyin had suddenly asked him to go into the dream-state and find Yiguang, the Light Tiger, only for Yinying to open his eyes in the present to find that his master had somehow defeated Zhang Cheng and Zhang Furen!
"I thought you would have to cut all that evil woman's limbs to even dent her arrow!" Yinying exclaimed. "How did you do this?!"
"Hmph. Zhang Cheng's arrow vanished after our duel."
"You dueled with him?!"
"Yes, and I didn't spare him at all!" He smirked. "It was a way to target Zhang Furen's two biggest weaknesses...
"Her genuine love for Zhang Cheng," Almost half of Zhang Furen's arrow had faded after she laid her eyes on a bruised and broken Zhang Cheng!
"...and now, I'm targeting her power and reputation...!"
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Back in the Serene Moonlight hall, the stares directed at the Zhang couple were now a mix of disbelief, hatred, and disgust, especially at Zhang Furen
This was because every single one of the individuals brought in, had come to level a complaint or accusation against Zhang Furen, and the ones tied up had been brought to confess crimes carried out for Zhang Furen.
Most of these individuals were former Zhang servants, a few were Sect Warriors, there were some disciples, senior and junior, but all those tied up were Sect warriors and two sect elders!
Most of the servants revealed the Zhang family's cruelty towards them, especially from Zhang Furen and Zhang Cheng. This was cruelty or mistreatment which sometimes led to disfiguration, disability, and even death.
And whenever a servant's family member came to complain or find their relations, the Zhang family used their connections to 'banish' them from Yue City, ensuring their letters or petitions never reached Sect Leader Xu.
Naturally, Zhang Furen blatantly denied doing any such thing, but these servants had come prepared...
They produced old or recent letters which mostly threatened the servants in question, but a few of these letters were asking or bribing Zhang Furen's connections in other regions to keep those families in check!
"All these letters are forged!" Zhang Furen insisted, shedding her signature tears of pity.
But things only got worse from there.
Far too many accusations and confessions poured out, and from them, an elaborate and chilling story unfolded.
A story of events from before Zhang Furen, or rather, Huang Chun, even settled in Yue City...
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