Chapter 63

Chapter 63: A Bunch of Idiots

“This has nothing to do with Master,” Bai Yang said, voice steady despite the tension. “Not long ago, people from Yun Xiang City intercepted us. Master was the one who stepped in and saved me.”

He drew a breath, forcing himself not to falter.

“Junior Sister Ye—after you escaped, Master stayed with me the whole time. She couldn’t have done these things.”

“Even if there really was a demonic cultivator, it has nothing to do with her.”

Those few lines seemed to drain him. He didn’t dare meet Ye Chu Xue’s eyes.

Master had already grown distant. If he stayed indifferent, she would only be angrier—and then there would be no way to clean up this mess.

As for Junior Sister Ye… he would explain it later. Junior Sister Ye was always so understanding. Surely she would understand his position, too.

The moment he finished speaking, An Ze and Ye Chu Xue’s expressions changed so abruptly it was almost comical. For a long while, neither of them seemed able to react.

“Senior Brother…” An Ze’s temper exploded. “How can you speak for her?”

In that instant, it felt like betrayal.

[Senior Brother should be on our side!]

“I’m not speaking for Master,” Bai Yang said, stiffening his back. “I’m stating facts. Master really was with me the whole time. She couldn’t be the mastermind behind this.”

Ye Chu Xue stared at him, dazed, disbelief and disappointment blooming into something that hurt.

“Bai Yang…”

He’d changed. She’d felt it long ago, but she never thought he would stand against her so openly.

Tears rose, hot and humiliating, but she forced them down.

[I won’t show weakness in front of Song Wan Ning.]

[I won’t let Song Wan Ning win.]

Song Wan Ning lifted her brows slightly. A mocking look flickered in her eyes.

[Someone with no backbone.]

Pathetic.

And yet, it also meant her plan was unfolding exactly as she wanted.

In her previous life, they’d been tightly bound together.

Now she would pry them apart, piece by piece, until the seams split and everything fell apart.

[Best of all would be if they turned their blades on each other.]

Ling Wu Shuang snorted. “Enough. You were Song Wan Ning’s disciple to begin with. Of course you’d speak for her.”

His gaze sharpened into threat.

“Hand him over now, or we’ll go to the Song Family and demand him ourselves!”

“Yes, hand him over!”

The crowd surged again, voices rising, faces ugly with righteous anger.

Bai Yang’s heart sank. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak again, Song Wan Ning laughed.

“You’re really something.” She sounded amused, even lazy. “You’re so interested in a mere clerk from our auction house? Fine. If you want to see him, then see him.”

She turned slightly, voice turning cold.

“Go bring him out, so these people stop snapping like rabid dogs.”

“Yes!”

The shopkeeper withdrew at once, not flustered in the slightest.

As for the others, being called rabid dogs made their faces twist, as if they’d swallowed something foul.

Soon, the person was brought out.

Joy surged through Ye Chu Xue. She rushed forward and jabbed a finger toward him.

“It’s him! He’s the one who stole my storage ring! He’s a demonic cultivator!”

“Is that so?” The Sect Master’s eyes flashed. He extended his divine sense toward the man at once.

Ling Wu Shuang was just as impatient, scanning him from head to toe, inside and out.

Ye Chu Xue’s heart pounded with triumph. She shot Song Wan Ning a smug glance.

[Now we have witness and evidence. Let’s see how you wriggle out of this.]

[And Bai Yang will finally see who’s really pulling the strings.]

The next second, the Sect Master’s expression turned ugly.

He stared at Ye Chu Xue and asked in a low voice, “Are you certain this person is a demonic cultivator?”

“Yes!” Ye Chu Xue nodded rapidly. “He definitely used demonic qi!”

Even as she insisted, dread crawled up her spine.

Something was wrong.

She snapped her gaze back to the man.

Same build. Same clothes. The markings on his face were identical. Even the mask matched.

[It’s him.]

[Then why…?]

“Well?” Song Wan Ning asked lightly, as if she were bored. “See anything?”

She picked at her nails, a faint mocking smile on her lips.

“I told you long ago there is no demonic cultivator in the auction house. But you insisted on believing her word alone.”

She sighed, the sound almost pitying. “So stupid. And so much trouble.”

“Song Wan Ning!” Ling Wu Shuang’s face reddened up his neck.

He hadn’t managed to catch the Song Family in anything. The humiliation burned.

[It’s this idiot’s fault—running her mouth without evidence.]

Song Wan Ning’s smile turned sharp. “What? Am I wrong?”

She let out a cold laugh, eyes sweeping the room.

“Ye Chu Xue’s Master has a grudge against me, so she deliberately framed me. And you—an idiot like you—just had to jump in. Are you satisfied now?”

On the surface, she was cursing Ling Wu Shuang.

In truth, she was insulting everyone—inside the room and outside the door.

Faces went stiff. No one could refute her.

So the anger, inevitably, shifted.

People began glaring at Ye Chu Xue instead.

[Why did she shout nonsense?]

[Now we got cursed at too.]

“Song Wan Ning, don’t go too far!” Ling Wu Shuang snapped, fury trembling at the edge of his restraint.

He looked like he wanted to strike, but sense—barely—held him back.

He couldn’t beat Song Wan Ning.

All he could do was storm out, sleeves flaring.

He’d entered fierce and imposing and left in disgrace, turning himself into a joke.

Song Wan Ning remained calm. She glanced once at the Sect Master, whose expression had twisted into something like constipation, then gave him a sliver of face by turning to Ye Chu Xue instead.

“Martial Niece Ye,” she said coolly, “it’s time to apologize to us, isn’t it?”

She crossed her arms, eyes openly provocative.

Ye Chu Xue shut her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, resolve hardened her gaze.

“I only spoke the truth. What did I do wrong?” Her voice rose. “This person isn’t the auction host from before!”

“Song Wan Ning, you arranged all of this, didn’t you? You set it up long ago! You clearly have the Heaven-Origin Heart-Nourishing Pill, but you refused to take it out to save anyone. You lured us here on purpose and had someone steal my storage ring on purpose!”

“You did this to get revenge on Master and me, didn’t you?”

The more she spoke, the more certain she became. Fear edged into her eyes as she stared at Song Wan Ning.

[How can someone be this vicious?]

“Senior Brother Bai!” Ye Chu Xue turned sharply, still clinging to him as if he were her last rope. “Look carefully. He has to be fake! Song Wan Ning sent him on purpose to muddy the waters!”

Whether in talent or temperament, Bai Yang was outstanding. And the more she saw of him, the more she found herself falling for him.

She couldn’t accept losing him just like that.

Song Wan Ning smiled. “Is that so, Bai Yang? Then you’d better take a good look. Is this the same person you saw back then?”

She deliberately called his name with an intimacy that made Ye Chu Xue’s face go pale—then livid.

Ye Chu Xue stared at Bai Yang, waiting for his choice.

Both women’s gazes pinned him.

Bai Yang’s brows furrowed. He examined the man carefully, jaw tight with discomfort.