Chapter 715 – The Voice of Doubt

　　The Emperor sighed and lowered his eyes to hide his glistening tears. “This is also alright.”

　　The Dragon Emperor sent people to hunt down the rest of the evil spirits. He thought of Zhan Fengting who was left in Dragon Tomb, and his heart ached. How could he still have the energy to continue investigating the evil spirits? However, as the head of the North Land and the Longyao family, he must not lose his cool in front of others. Even if he was sad, he must keep the tears inside his heart.

　　As soon as the Dragon Emperor was about to leave, he suddenly saw a group of people coming toward this side in a mighty way. The leader was Longyao Yizhu and several great powers who had entered the Dragon Tomb Holy Land.

　　“Wait!” Longyao Yizhu called out, and her eyes were narrowed. She glared at Yan Tianhen and said, “You seem to have forgotten that there is another evil Qi cultivator among us!”

　　Yan Tianhen’s heart jumped and he had a bad hunch. “Who is it?

　　“How could there be any evil cultivators among us!”

　　“Who?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi lowered his eyes.

　　Longyao Yizhu suddenly pointed to Yan Tianhen and said loudly, “It’s Yan Tianhen, the son of King Ye! He can control the evil spirits and make evil spirits materialize. He is also an evil Qi cultivator. Everyone, you must not be deceived by him!”

　　“What?”

　　The crowd showed unbelievable expressions one after the other. Several pairs of eyes looked at Yan Tianhen.

　　Xuan Wushe said coldly, “You can’t make such baseless accusations.”

　　Longyao Yizhu sneered, “I’m not talking nonsense. You can ask the others. Everyone saw that he could control evil spirits in full view. Don’t tell me that Yan Tianhen can still deny it?”

　　Most of the people around were representatives of various sects and families. Now they had personally seen the power of evil spirits. At this time, they were sensitive to evil Qi cultivators and evil spirits.

　　Eventually, someone asked, “Is this true?”

　　“Prince Ye, when did you cultivate evil Qo? And why are you cultivating evil Qi?”

　　But…

　　Those pairs of suspicious eyes and narrow-minded questioning made Yan Tianhen feel sad.

　　He seemed to have returned to Spirit Sect’s peak ten thousand years ago. Those who heard the movement and rushed to the scene only looked at his hand holding a long sword full of evil Qi, and the blood stained on it, and concluded that he had killed Dao Zu.

　　Then, they questioned him, insulted him, and even forced him to admit that he had killed Dao Zu, and tried every means to make him confess his guilt.

　　At first, he said it wasn’t him, but his words didn’t mean much to them. People’s hatred needed to find a concentrated place to erupt. Someone had to bear the blame for the terrible mistake that evil Qi cultivators committed. Otherwise, who could be their common enemy? How could they maintain an apparent unity against the enemy if they didn’t have a scapegoat?

　　Ten thousand years later, similar but different scenes reappeared.

　　Yan Tianhen looked up at these people and said calmly, “I did cultivate evil Qi.”

　　There was an outcry in the crowd.

　　“What! You actually admit it!”

　　“As you know, evil spirits and evil Qi cultivators are chief culprits in bringing disaster to the Nine Lands. Why would you side with them?”

　　“Did you make any deal with them?”

　　“I never did.” Yan Tianhen lowered his eyes and looked at the expressionless Lin Xuanzhi beside him. “I cultivated evil Qi because my Dantian Qi Sea was crippled when I was in the Tomb of Youshan.”

　　“I was locked up in Youshan Capital’s prison for a hundred years, where there was no spiritual Qi or demonic Qi, but only evil Qi. In order to survive, I had to cultivate evil Qi first, and then cultivate the others after my Dantian Qi Sea recovered, and I also never colluded with evil Qi cultivators.”

　　It was well known that he entered the Tomb of Youshan. There were also many powerful people who knew about the events in Youshan Capital. Although it was said that ants can bite even an elephant to death, if it was supported by the elders, the other disciples wouldn’t doubt it. Even if they did doubt it, they still wouldn’t dare voice their doubts for fear of not giving the elders face.

　　Xuan Wushe frowned. “You never said anything about Youshan Capital.”

　　Yan Tianhen said, “It’s a little embarrassing to say, so I didn’t want to say it.”

　　Suddenly, Longyao Yizhu said, “Words are useless. No matter what reason you did it for, you are on the opposite side of us spiritual Qi cultivators after all. Who can prove that you really didn’t have any collusion with those evil Qi cultivators?”

　　“My poor son… wuwu…”

　　A woman in a gorgeous dress, who couldn’t even care about her manners, cried and came to this side. “He only entered the Dragon Tomb. How could he be killed by evil spirits? Son, if your mother had known this, I would never have allowed him to fight for this Crown Prince position! Your Majesty, since you have already chosen a prince, why did you still want to harm my son? He is my only child. Now that he is dead, how can I live?”

　　“Fang Hua.” When the Dragon Emperor saw this girl, he was also very helpless and said, “I let them into the Dragon Tomb Holy Land in order to give them a refuge, so that they could escape the North Land’s Heaven’s Wail this time. I didn’t expect… that was my miscalculation.”

　　Although the vast majority of people were brought out intact, there were still several disciples of the Longyao family who had died in the Dragon Tomb. Among these dead disciples, only Madam Fang Hua had the highest status.

　　Her husband was the most loyal supporter and trusted friend of Longyao Jing, the Dragon Emperor. He died decades ago while guarding the North Land from the demon clan.

　　And the child that died today was the only child of Madam Fang Hua.

　　Fang Hua’s voice suddenly became sharp and pointed, “How can evil spirits possibly appear in the Dragon Tomb Holy Land? For many years, there has been only rain, snow, wind, frost, and wild sand in the Dragon Tomb. Why did evil spirits choose this time to appear?”

　　Longyao Yizhu pointed to Yan Tianhen, saying, “The evil spirits were created by evil Qi cultivators. I saw with my own eyes that Prince Ye, Yan Tianhen, can create evil spirits and command them to attack others. He must have colluded with those evil Qi cultivators!”

　　Anyhow, someone had to bear the consequences. Moreover, Yan Tianhen was clearly an evil Qi cultivator, so she was not lying.

　　Madam Fang Hua’s face suddenly changed, just like a spectre of death. She lunged at Yan Tianhen. “You killed my child. Pay with your life!”

　　“Are you done?” A cold voice of indifference said. There was a flash of teal light. Lin Xuanzhi’s Zhige sword was already on Madam Fang Hua’s neck, preventing her from taking another step forward.

　　“Huarong Sword Venerable, please show mercy.” The Dragon Emperor’s eyebrows furrowed at the center.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s cold eyes swept the crowd and said, “Although Yan Tianhen has cultivated evil Qi, he has been using his cultivation from beginning to end to fight against the enemy and destroy evil spirits for everyone. Evil Qi is just a means, and good and evil are in the hearts of the people. Your son died in the Dragon Tomb. I deeply sympathize with you, but if you dare to do something against my wife, I won’t be polite!”

　　“You- You’re in cahoots with each other! I’m no match for you, but I want everyone in the world to know how cruel and dirty you are!” With that, Madam Fang Hua clenched her teeth and suddenly pushed her neck onto Lin Xuanzhi’s Zhige sword.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s longsword tilted, and Madam Fang Hua missed, falling through the air instead, after which Lin Xuanzhi kicked her away.

　　“You’re not qualified to die by my sword.” Lin Xuanzhi took back the sword and went to Yan Tianhen. He looked at his pale face, narrowed his eyes sharply, then glared at Longyao Yizhu. “If you show me a little respect, I will repay you many times the respect. But if anyone dares to spread rumors without foundation, they will end up like this mountain–“

　　Bang!

　　After the loud noise, a small mountain was crushed into powder and collapsed. It turned out to be razed to the ground in an instant, which really made people horrified.

　　Immediately someone’s expression changed and flattered him, “Huarong Sword Venerable, aren’t we just watching out for everyone’s safety? Why are you angry? Just calm down.”

　　“Yes, it’s just an unknown situation. We’re simply guessing. We didn’t really mean to do anything to Prince Ye. Moreover, Prince Ye has a noble status. How can he mix with those evil spirits?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, however, sneered. “It’s fine if you understand. If you don’t understand, I don’t mind helping all of you understand.”

　　After that, he didn’t even bother looking at the ugly expressions of these people. Instead, he took Yan Tianhen’s hand and rubbed his cold palm. His voice sounded as gentle as spring water. “You are also tired. Let’s go rest first. Other things will be taken care of by other people.”

　　Yan Tianhen was still a bit dumbfounded. Only now did a little radiance return to his eyes. He couldn’t help but smile and look at Lin Xuanzhi. “Whatever Dage says.”

　　Everyone watched Lin Xuanzhi lead Yan Tianhen towards the place where he stayed, leaving everything beside him behind.

　　It wasn’t until they completely disappeared that someone repeatedly said, “This Huarong Sword Venerable is a bit overbearing. With so many elders here, he is just a junior, but he dared to threaten everyone like that. Crazy. He is really crazy!”

　　“Hm?” Xuan Wushe’s ice-cold eyes immediately swept to the person, and he sneered contemptuously, “Since when did the Nine Lands value seniority? The strong are respected. Even though he is still young, he is already a Grandmaster and powerful enough to establish a sect. This Venerable asks you, if he told you to kneel down and call him ‘Grandpa’, would you do it?”

　　…That person was already hundreds of years old. When someone publicly spoke such words to him, he lost face completely. However, the person who spoke was Xuan Wushe, someone that the person could never afford to offend. So the man’s face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

　　With this man as an example, other people who were one hundred percent dissatisfied with Lin Xuanzhi in their hearts had no choice but to suppress their dissatisfaction now. They dared not make any noise. With Xuan Wushe protecting him, who would dare speak up?

　　“Pfft.” After listening, Fu Li laughed. He rubbed the head of the tiger cub in his arms and said slowly, “From beginning to end, I was in the Dragon Tomb Holy Land. Originally, I didn’t want to become involved in this mess. However, since some people want to take it out of context and frame others, I, Fu Li, have to stand up and say a few fair words for the future of the Nine Lands. If you want to hear it, you can sit in the hall with me and listen to the whole story. I don’t want to stand here and enjoy the cold wind.”

　　The Dragon Emperor nodded. “That would be nice.”

　　Seeing this, Longyao Yizhu bit her lower lip, lowered her eyes, and retreated.