When Zhangsun Xun Yi was finally handed one of the letters and read through the 'information' that the Chun Feng Sect had sent the other demon-hunting sects, he had the urge to laugh out loud.
Sect Master Xian had actually written how their sect had colluded with demons and taken in 'several disciples' that were affiliated with the demon race who were now influencing things behind the scenes. He was very much insinuating that the ones actually making decisions seemed to only be these demons and not Sect Master Yuchi anymore.
He went on to describe how they had investigated and managed to catch two of the demons and imprisoned them. One of these people had been a high-ranking disciple while the other one had been slightly lower-ranked but still an inner sect disciple. It was pretty obvious that the ones he had meant were Ma Zhi Wu and Xiao Dong.
Sect Master Xian further explained that they knew of at least one more demon in the Yun Zou Sect but that the sect had hindered them in apprehending it even after they explained the situation. Instead, the Yun Zou Sect had cut the long-standing friendship between their sects and shut them out, refusing to listen to any well-meaning words.
Now, the Chun Feng Sect had been in a bad spot since they didn't want to endanger their friends and had their pride as demon-hunters. They couldn't leave the matter be but also couldn't just charge in. Thus, they painstakingly investigated but things got worse because the Yun Zou Sect sought out new allies and lied to other sects to make them band together against the Chun Feng Sect.
This brought the Chun Feng Sect to the final conclusion of the letter: They were afraid that they would soon be attacked under the command of the demons and thus asked the other demon-hunting sects for their help. They hoped that by uniting against this common foe of theirs, they would be able to weather the tides and hold on until the Yun Zou Sect finally regained their senses and the previous lies could be uncovered.
Zhangsun Xun Yi slowly folded the letter back up and handed it back to the disciple that was watching him with some suspicion. He didn't wait for anyone else to speak up and turned to the people of the Chun Feng Sect. Anyway, their Yun Zou Sect had been one of the last ones to get one of the letters to read. Most likely, the demon-hunting sects had been afraid that there might be some truth to the content of these letters and that they would destroy the evidence if they got them into their hands first.
"Sect Master Xian, I'm afraid our Sect Master will be very disappointed when he hears that his friend of many years is actually vilifying him like this."
Xian Xun just shook his head at this as if he was the one that was disappointed. "I am appalled that my friend of many years would be willing to side with the demons. I never thought that Yuchi Bing Xia was that kind of person! Was the situation of the Yun Zou Sect really that bad? Then why did you not ask us for help since you considered us as friends?" He looked at Zhangsun Xun Yi with righteous indignation as if he really believed what he was saying there.
The Yun Zou Sect's Grandmaster just gave a snort though. "You are basing all of this on mere assumptions. How do you know — for a fact — that we colluded with demons? What grand master-plan do you think we are working toward? What did we even do? The Yun Zou Sect never launched an attack against you."
Before Sect Master Xian could say anything, Liu Cheng who was standing next to him already spoke up. "I'm sorry to butt into a conversation between the older generation but what you just said simply isn't true, Grandmaster Zhangsun. Please, don't make it sound as if we were making things up. Our Chun Feng Sect was attacked just when I and some of the other disciples delivered these letters to the other demon-hunting sects."
"The Chun Feng Sect might have been attacked but you wouldn't want to say that it was us who attacked you, would you?"
"It was the demons you allied yourself with."
Zhangsun Xun Yi gave a faint smile at that, feeling that the situation was getting more ridiculous with the minute. "You're pretty sure of your conjecture both in regards to us and our so-called alliance with the demons and in regards to this attack. But let me ask you this: The demons that attacked you, what exactly did they do?"
Liu Cheng could only turn to his Master at that question. After all, he had only returned when it was already too late.
Xian Xun furrowed his brows. "What kind of question is that? Naturally, they broke into our sect grounds and fought with us to then free the ones we had already imprisoned. Now, all of them are gone. Those were years of our work that were destroyed in one day!"
Zhangsun Xun Yi just looked at him. "So all that those 'demons' did was to free the people imprisoned?"
Xian Xun furrowed his brows. "Grandmaster Zhangsun, just what do you want to say?"
The people looking on at the sides also couldn't help but look at him for clarification.
"Did any of your disciples get hurt?"
Xian Xun tensed up when he heard that. To be honest … No. Save for the disciples on the last floor of the dungeon, the others had only been struck unconscious. "That wasn't their intent. They wanted to free their people. That was their main goal."
Zhangsun Xun Yi shook his head and sighed. "Sect Master Xian, you tell us that we are evil people colluding with demons and attacked your sect but then there weren't even any injuries on your part. On the other hand, the wrongfully-imprisoned disciples of the other sects could finally return home with some of them injured.
"I'm sorry but to me, it looks as if the truth of the matter is rather that some helpful soul went to free those that you and your sect wronged before. I guess I have nothing else to say about this."
He turned back to the front and looked at Fei Bai Mu to pick up where he had left off. There really was nothing else his sect could do other than handing over their account of things later on.