In a palace somewhere in the mortal realm, a woman was holding a letter, her brows slightly furrowed. The paper of the letter was slightly crumpled as if it had been taken out and unfolded several times already and maybe changed hands more than once or twice.
The other people in the room exchanged glances, some of them looking as if they wanted to speak up but in the end, all of them stayed silent and looked away. Nobody wanted to be the first to bring the matter up that was going through all of their heads.
In the end, the woman sighed and folded the letter up again, putting it onto the table next to her. "As you might have heard already, I have had this matter investigated thoroughly. As far as we were able to find out, everything written here is true. The Chun Feng Sect has indeed been abducting disciples on the mere chance of them being of demonic descent.
"After speaking with the other demon-hunting sects, it has become apparent that there is a very high chance that the majority of these disciples isn't actually of the demonic tribe though and instead shares the blood of the spirit tribe. Even those that do have some demon blood will likely be in a generation further down the line where they haven't inherited much from these ancestors of theirs.
"This poses the question of how we should deal with this. In any way, since this letter was addressed to us we can not stay out of this. As the Jian Yi Sect, it is our responsibility to discuss this matter and form a plan of action."
Yes, this woman was none other than Fei Bai Mu, the Sect Master of the Jian Yi Sect, one of the few unranked sects of the mortal realm. She was precisely one of the people that Xin Lan had addressed his letters regarding the Chun Feng Sect's activities to and with everything he had mentioned in that letter, she wasn't happy at all.
Her words once again caused the Elders of the sect to exchange glances. It took a moment for one of them to dare to step forward though.
When Fei Bai Mu already raised her brows, about to question these people again, one of the men finally cleared his throat and cautiously stepped forward.
"Sect Master, other than that, were we able to ascertain whether or not that claim about Grandmaster Leng was true?"
Fei Bai Mu slammed her hand down on the table next to her, accurately hitting the letter while her brows knit together tightly. "We've been notified that disciples of several sects have been kidnapped, imprisoned, and maybe even tortured over a time span of several decades with none being the wiser and all you care about is the claim that Grandmaster Leng might have maybe, possibly been married to a spouse that is accused of being a demon as well now? Don't you feel that you don't have your priorities straight, Elder Shuang?!"
The Elder flinched and would have loved to run away but there was no way to escape the Sect Master's ire. He could only keep a strained smile on his lips and slowly slink back with an awkward expression, nodding profusely as if he had understood.
Inside, Elder Shuang wasn't quite reconciled. Anyway, wasn't this what everybody had been thinking about these weeks? Who could fault them for wanting to know the truth? This news was too shocking! Grandmaster Leng was everybody's idol, after all.
Fei Bai Mu scoffed when the person who dared to question this detail didn't dare to stand up to her. If he had at least given some bullshit excuse like the person hadn't been caught yet and might need their protection, she would have just gone along. It wasn't like she liked to make them suffer. Anyway, as for the answer to that question …
"To answer your question, there is no way to ascertain this. We have only been able to gain a few clues but they are not enough. So far, we know that Alliance Head Hua from the Liu He Alliance has been traveling from his own sect to the Yun Zou Sect several times over the past years.
"It is likely that this does indeed have to do with Grandmaster Leng but we can hardly ask about that. If Grandmaster Leng has indeed returned, then there will be a reason both for his return and the fact that he did not come to us and instead settled down in the Yun Zou Sect.
"If we asked about this in a direct manner, we might risk whatever he is doing and thus bring trouble to him. I'm sure that the Elders will agree that there is no reason for us to do so. If Grandmaster Leng needs the Jian Yi Sect's help, he will ask for it.
"As for that spouse of his … I've never been informed that there was anybody in his life. I can hardly imagine it either. After all, when had he ever left the sect grounds after he became our Grandmaster? It is hard to imagine that there could be a spouse in this situation. If there is, it should be somebody he met before becoming our Grandmaster and I am sure that he would have mentioned it.
"Anyway, even if it kills you not to know, we can't ask about that either. So you will have to decide what you want to believe on your own. I won't be able to answer the question for you.
"Nonetheless, this shouldn't be the issue that you are worried about the most. We have to decide what to do about the imprisoned disciples. I hope that is clear to everyone now." Her gaze skimmed past all the Elders in front of her again, making quite a few of them lower their heads in shame.
Whoever said that having a woman as the Sect Master would be a good thing should come and talk with them about life! The only person who could take on this fierce lady had been Grandmaster Leng who had the patience of a saint and the skill to get along with every single person on the planet. They as mere mortals certainly weren't able to achieve such heroic feats!