Chapter 748 – Each Taking A Step Back

“Which murderer would confess to killing people himself?” Someone whispered.

“Yes, and Sword Saint Tianshu also witnessed him kill them.” Another person said, “Sword Saint Tianshu is highly respected. You can’t say that he is lying, can you?”

Sword Saint Tianshu suddenly became the focus of attention.

Lin Xuanzhi looked at Sword Saint Tianshu, who stood before all the sects and families’ great powers.

Sword Saint Tianshu didn’t answer, just sighed and kept his silence. The silence spoke everything.

Thus, the crowd erupted like a meteorite. Immediately, fiery words were thrown out. “Look! Sword Saint Tianshu saw with his own eyes that the people were killed by Yan Tianhen!”

“Evil Qi cultivator, he is an evil Qi cultivator ah!”

“Stabbing all those people in an instant — it’s too terrifying!”

“What anti-evil spirit conference? It’s no use holding more meetings without killing Yan Tianhen first!”

“This is an abuse of power! Today, he dared to kill people in front of so many witnesses inside Myriad Dao Academy — the leader of the orthodox Dao — tomorrow, he will dare to slaughter the whole Nine Lands!”

“That’s right! If you don’t give us an explanation today, we will bring him to justice, even if we have to fight against the Royal Heavenly Capital’s Yan family!”

The voices of accusation grew stronger and stronger, as if thousands of spittle wanted to drown a person. Many of these people were eager to make a pretense of wanting to kill the evil Qi cultivator righteously.

As the mantra drove like a tide pouring into the ears one after another, Yan Tianhen couldn’t help but suddenly feel chills in his heart. Why did this scene seem familiar? He was accused, abused, and treated as the culprit, but it was clear that the person who did everything wasn’t him at all!

He thought that he would no longer be a monster that everyone shouted at in this life, and that he would no longer be the poor wretch who could only lick his wounds alone in a dark corner. He thought that with so many people behind him and trusting him, he was strong enough to face the gossip sharks.

However, when everything happened again, he suddenly realized that nothing had changed.

“It wasn’t me…” Yan Tianhen bit his lower lip and whispered, “It wasn’t me, it really wasn’t me.”

“It’s him! Kill him and avenge these innocent people!”

“I said it wasn’t me!” Yan Tianhen suddenly raised his voice and roared at those who attacked him.

“It can’t possibly be my Shidi.” Zhan Fengting went to the front and stood beside Yan Tianhen. “The Longyao clan is willing to guarantee that.”

“Of course I’ll protect my future daughter-in-law.” Lin Zhan, who arrived one step late, went to Xuan Wushe’s side and curled his lips upward. “If you can’t even see through such a crude method of framing someone, then you’ve really lived your life in vain all these years. If I was an evil Qi cultivator who wanted to kill people, I wouldn’t do it when everyone is watching me. Think about it.”

“Haha, very reasonable.” Fu Li, who was hugging a tiger cub in each hand, stood up and smiled. “I also support Yan Tianhen.”

The person next to him glared at Fu Li. “Why are you joining all of a sudden? Are you familiar with him?”

Fu Li blinked and said playfully, “We’re not that familiar, but who let his husband be so good-looking? You can tell at first glance that a good-looking person is a good person.”

Everyone, “…”

Yan Tianhen suddenly wanted to laugh, so he really laughed.

Where would it be the same?

History could repeat itself, but the process could never be perfectly replicated.

So many people were willing to take his side: to trust him, protect him, and fight against the world for him. Wasn’t that enough? It was already so much better than the Spirit Sect era.

What’s more, this time, nobody imposed a heavy burden on him, making him vow that if he told the truth, he would suffer the wrath of Heaven. Why should he still put up with these people’s false accusations against him now?

“Haha… hahahahaha!” Yan Tianhen suddenly laughed loudly, which couldn’t be stopped. The laughter was so abrupt that all eyes fell on him.

“This demon is actually laughing! He can still laugh at this time!”

“Is it because he’s confident he’ll get away with this? He’s too arrogant; he must be severely punished!”

Lin Xuanzhi grabbed Yan Tianhen’s shoulder, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Moments later, Yan Tianhen straightened his waist and gave Lin Xuanzhi a calm smile.

He took a deep breath, slowly raised his head, and looked at the familiar or unfamiliar faces before him. “You claim I killed them, but I said I didn’t. Believe it or not, the deaths of these people today have nothing to do with me. My present cultivation is at Earth Realm’s Major Perfection Stage. With these people’s cultivation, if I wanted to kill them, it would just a matter of moving my little finger.”

After a pause, Yan Tianhen continued, “However, it’s no wonder that you don’t believe me. I also don’t care. How convenient — destroying evil spirits is an exhausting job that requires great energy and effort, and it might not even bring me any benefits. Starting from today, I might as well say that I will no longer intervene in this matter anymore. I’d like to see what these Nine Lands will look like in the future.”

After that, Yan Tianhen sneered, and then confronted Lin Xuanzhi. “Dage, I’ll quit the anti-evil spirit event.”

Lin Xuanzhi sighed softly and said, “If you don’t want to do it, then don’t do it. It’s no big deal.”

They had enough strength to protect themselves and could just find a place with abundant spiritual Qi, which was enough for them to live a good life. As for whether those evil Qi cultivators would massacre cities or kill people — what did it have to do with him?

Lingyu had already had enough of the past. Now he was being framed for no reason. Naturally, he wouldn’t be a pushover anymore.

A deep meaning flashed in Wan Liyao’s eyes. “How can we not continue the anti-evil spirit conference? Since Prince Ye is currently a suspect, he might as well be put in prison first, and we should wait to find out the truth before making a judgment.”

Wan Yitong cocked his brow. “Why should he be imprisoned? What are you sticking your nose here for!?”

Wan Liyao swept his eyes over to Wan Yitong. “I’m just judging from a fair and objective position. In summary, I don’t trust evil Qi cultivators. I believe most of you here are similar to me.”

“I agree.” The person who opened his mouth was Esteemed Fu Ye, who was actually one of the elders of Myriad Dao Academy. “Since no agreement has been reached, I will first lock Ah Hen on Little Penglai. If there is really an evil Qi cultivator that had sneaked into Myriad Dao Academy in order to frame this sect’s disciples, even killing people in full view of the public, it must not be underestimated.”

After that, Esteemed Fu Ye asked Yan Tianhen, “Do you have any objections?”

Yan Tianhen replied, “None.”

Esteemed Fu Ye then looked at Wan Liyao. “What about you?”

Wan Liyao arched his hand and said, “I heard that Little Penglai is the residence of Huarong Sword Venerable in Myriad Dao Academy. The relationship between Huarong Sword Venerable and Prince Ye is well known. It’s no secret. In order to avoid suspicion, please ask the elder to change a place so that nobody will misunderstand the good intentions of Huarong Sword Venerable and the elder.”

Esteemed Fu Ye rolled his eyes and said to Sword Saint Tianshu, “You should find a more suitable place, so as to block the mouths of gossipers.”

Sword Saint Tianshu said, “Under the Celestial Cliff, there is a secret chamber especially made to suppress one’s cultivation. You might as well put Ah Hen there, which can also suppress his cultivation for the time being, so as to avoid any more accidents and prevent people from suspecting him any further.”

Lin Xuanzhi said coldly, “I’ve been to that place before. It’s very cold and humid with violent storms every day.”

Sword Saint Tianshu replied, “The outside is indeed like that, but it’s calm inside.”

Yan Tianhen stared at Sword Saint Tianshu and said, “In that case, I’ll go to the Celestial Cliff.”

Sword Saint Tianshu nodded and turned to Wan Liyao. “I wonder if you have any other objections?”

“Naturally, it is fair.” Wan Liyao remarked.

Since Wan Liyao spoke, others naturally had no opinion.

Yan Tianhen held his head high and marched toward Little Penglai with Lin Xuanzhi. Behind him, there was a mess of people crying bitterly and despairing.

…….

Under the Celestial Cliff, in the secret chamber.

There was no light anywhere, and there was no spiritual Qi at all. After entering, it seemed to be in another world. Although this secret chamber wasn’t small, one couldn’t use any spiritual Qi, and they also couldn’t see the outside world. There was no distinction between day and night in this place.

Fortunately, Yan Tianhen’s state of mind was already very firm, so he just sat cross-legged and kept meditating. He seemed to have returned to the Spirit Sect from ten thousand years ago, thinking about Dao Zu’s words as he tried to find a method to destroy evil Qi cultivators.

Only evil Qi cultivators can kill other evil Qi cultivators. This was the method Dao Zu used ten thousand years ago. But history had proven that the evil Qi cultivators hadn’t been completely annihilated; they were simply sealed for the time being, just waiting for the day when they would break through the seal again and make a comeback.

But what was the true cause of Dao Zu’s death?

Was it really because he passed on his entire cultivation to Lingyu?

However, Dao Zu was already half a step into the Immortal Realm. Even if all the world’s evil Qi cultivators joined hands to fight him, they still wouldn’t be his match at all. It might’ve been possible to destroy the evil Qi cultivators completely if Dao Zu did it himself.

So why did he have to choose Lingyu?

Yan Tianhen always felt that he had overlooked something.

There was no day or night. Yan Tianhen opened his eyes, and his thoughts were somewhat erratic.

……

Outside.

Wan Yitong kicked open the door, his face frosty as he marched in.

Several servants tried to stop him, but they all withdrew after being waved away by the owner of the house.

Wan Yitong drew out his sword. Pointing to Wan Liyao, who was sitting in a chair and enjoying tea and flowers, he angrily said, “Wan Liyao, you really aren’t anything good! How did my Shidi offend you? You took the lead in framing him!”

Wan Liyao took a sip of tea, then leisurely put down the teacup. He looked at Wan Yitong. “I thought your junior martial brother was very powerful. But when I met him, I found that he was just a little thing who couldn’t even protect himself. To point your sword at your elder brother — Wan Yitong, were all your previous manners eaten by dogs?”

Wan Yitong said bitterly, “Not only will I point my sword at you, but I’ll also chop you!”

Then Wan Yitong lunged at Wan Liyao’s head.

A purple bamboo flute slipped out between Wan Liyao’s fingers, blocking the sharp sword with a sound. When he turned the flute gently and used his backhand again, the flute suddenly sang out.

—

Sarah: The slandering wasn’t as bad as I expected since there were ppl standing up for YTH ;w;

Ea: It’s sweet to see so many people standing up for Ah Hen. Lol Fu Li, on the other hand, stepping in just cuz LXZ’s too beautiful