Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Standing Up for Their Own Child

Shen Dao Chen’s chest tightened with sudden ache. He truly could not connect his kind, pure daughter with a Malevolent Spirit that harmed others.

Since Shen Sang Ruo had already tried to hurt Bai Mu Mu many times, Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao were more willing to believe that Shen Sang Ruo was slandering her.

He said, voice steady: “Since my daughter returned to the Flying Cloud Sect, she has never left our sight, so she had no chance to touch any Malevolent Spirit.”

He added with a cold look: “Saying she used Devil Qi to hurt people is nonsense. Everyone in the Flying Cloud Sect knows how kind she is.”

The Flying Cloud Sect crowd echoed him at once.

Someone countered loudly: “Look at Shen Sang Ruo instead. She held a grudge against Mu Mu in the Flying Cloud Sect and hurt her more than once.”

Shen Dao Chen’s tone hardened: “She was expelled for beating Mu Mu until she was gravely injured and nearly killed. She showed no regret afterward and even tried to sever ties with me. I had no choice but to drive such a troublemaker out of the sect.”

Past rumors about Shen Sang Ruo were one thing, but hearing it from Shen Dao Chen himself hit differently. Yet with Shen Sang Ruo’s behavior out in the open today, everyone could see with their own eyes, and Shen Dao Chen’s words lost force.

He clasped his hands and faced the crowd: “I trust your eyes are clear. You will return my girl’s innocence.”

Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao had decided to protect Bai Mu Mu to the end.

Daoist Wu Wei cut in with a snide tone: “Do not just talk about our Sang Ruo. Was Bai Mu Mu’s behavior in the Secret Realm really as kind as you say?”

He sneered: “She wiped out so many small sects and used teammates as stepping stones to show off. Is that kindness? Sect Master Shen, perhaps your eyes are blinded.”

People paused and thought. Bai Mu Mu’s actions did not fully match Shen Dao Chen’s description.

Shen Dao Chen shot Daoist Wu Wei a fierce glare, but in the end said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Bai Mu Mu.

Master Ling Xiao gave a cold snort and spoke with pointed meaning: “The Heavenly Sword Sect and the Jiang Clan joined the Ninghua Sect to defeat the Black-Scaled Wolf as soon as they entered the Heaven-grade Zone.”

He swept his gaze across the terrace: “Their ties are close, and everyone saw it. I fear they have already fallen in with her.”

Master Ling Xiao had always looked down on the world and held no one in his eyes, so he never weighed his words. As soon as he said this, the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Jiang Clan grew unhappy.

Was he not calling both sects crooked in public?

Jiang Wen Sheng straightened and said sternly: “Master Ling Xiao, mind your words. We have always respected you as the number one Cultivator of the Cultivation World. But we will not allow malicious guesses.”

Ming Xi’s gaze chilled as she answered: “As the Heavenly Sword Sect acts, so does its Young Sect Master. We would never do such filthy things.”

Bowing with fists clasped, Mei Mei declared to Ming Xi: “disciple Mei Mei swears on her life that every word is true. There is something strange about Bai Mu Mu.”

She added in a clear voice: “This concerns an Abomination. disciple would not dare speak carelessly.”

Ming Xi nodded to her: “You did well. Hating evil is the Heavenly Sword Sect’s ancestral teaching.”

She turned toward the Flying Cloud Sect and said firmly: “Since Sect Master Shen and Master Ling Xiao choose to shield her, then my Heavenly Sword Sect has no reason to retreat.”

Jiang Wen Sheng followed: “My Jiang Clan is the same. If you trust Bai Mu Mu, we will trust our own child.”

He asked the crowd: “If this many witnesses do not count as evidence, then what does?”

Voices surged around the terrace: “You must give us, and the Cultivation World, an explanation.”

Daoist Wu Wei added with a cold snort: “The Young Sect Master tried to murder a disciple of my sect. Sect Master Shen, should you not also give this old man an explanation?”

Pressed at the same time by the Ninghua Sect, the Heavenly Sword Sect, and the Jiang Clan, Shen Dao Chen clenched his fists and let out an angry, mirthless laugh.

He spat the words out: “Fine. So we were just pushed down to second place, and you could not wait to step on us.”

He barked across the terrace: “Do you take our Flying Cloud Sect for a fallen house? No matter what, we are still stronger than you by several times. It is not your place to threaten us.”

He drew himself up like a shield before his daughter: “No one will lay a hand on my daughter. Impossible.”

Shen Sang Ruo’s voice floated out, cool and calm: “Sect Master Shen, why be so hasty? I have a witness.”

Shen Dao Chen snapped back: “From which sect that gets along well with you? If you rehearsed your story ahead of time, how could that count as a witness?”

Shen Sang Ruo kept her tone even: “The witness is from the Flying Cloud Sect. Who knows what Bai Mu Mu did better than your own people?”

She added without hurry: “As for my ties with the Flying Cloud Sect, there is no need to say more. I could not have rehearsed anything with them.”

Bai Mu Mu pressed her nails deep into her palm, yet she was not very flustered. Except for Wen Xuan, the others only knew they were badly hurt by a Purplegold Serpent. As for Wen Xuan, she had ways to control him.

Shen Sang Ruo said clearly: “Wen Xuan, acting on Bai Mu Mu’s orders, used a self-harm ruse to lure us into the Purplegold Serpent’s strike range. He knows all that Bai Mu Mu did.”

Master Ling Xiao’s brows twitched. Wen Xuan was his Personal Disciple, and Shen Sang Ruo was slapping his face.

Shen Sang Ruo faced Shen Dao Chen without the slightest tremor: “Sect Master Shen, do you dare call him here to confront me?”

Her eyes were empty of the usual emotion she once had when facing him, colder than ice.

Shen Dao Chen’s gaze grew hard to read. No one knew what he was thinking.

An hour had passed. The unconscious Wen Xuan had taken a pill and awakened. He said in a low voice: “Mu Mu is innocent by nature. What would we fear?”

He ordered briskly: “Bring Wen Xuan here.”

Moments later, a Flying Cloud Sect disciple led Wen Xuan over. His bloodstained robes had been changed, but his colorless face showed how weak he was.

Besides him came Feng He Yun and Luo Chu as well. Lu Shi Qing had violated sect rules and was still imprisoned.

Shen Sang Ruo noticed Wen Xuan looked worse than in the Secret Realm, and the way he looked at her carried even more emotion, now tinged with panic, unease, and fear.

Feng He Yun and Luo Chu were the same. Their faces were awful to behold, their spirits shattered. Their anxious eyes locked on her and would not move, as if welded in place.

She curled her lip in disgust: [Looks like their illness has gotten worse again.]

Master Ling Xiao’s cold eyes swept over the three, and his displeasure showed. He coughed lightly as a warning, signaling them to show concern for Bai Mu Mu, who was their Junior Sister.

Reluctantly, the three withdrew their stares, yet they still did not look anywhere else.

Master Ling Xiao asked first without touching the Malevolent Spirit matter: “Wen Xuan, here is your chance. Where did your wounds come from?”

Wen Xuan had been dragged out with only one breath left. Dozens of sharp feather wounds pierced his body. The worst was only an inch from his heart.

Anyone could guess who had done it. On top of that, Wen Xuan had used other blades to grind the wounds into a bloody mess. Now the truth could not be traced.

As his Master, Ling Xiao was furious. He also wished to use this to confirm Shen Sang Ruo’s crimes.

Wen Xuan answered quickly, almost without pause: “Master, all my wounds were inflicted by the Purplegold Serpent.”

Fearing he had not been clear enough, he added: “They have nothing to do with anyone else.”