Chief Elder Baishen brought Cao Yun to her martial art pavilion and Chief Elder Suxian followed her with Sun Liao and Mei Hua. When they finally arrived, she asked for the whole truth.
Cao Yun hesitated and his friends decided to let him speak and decide what she should be told or not.
"Chief Elder, I believe that Lu Meihan has joined forces with demonic cultivators." Both chief elders were shocked, but not completely surprised. "She captured my friend Ren Chao in order to lure me in her faction residence. She confessed everything to me. Some demonic cultivator gave her a dual cultivation. Apparently, I'm the best candidate to use it with. You see, she suffered a backlash and to recover, she needs to absorb all my energy."
Cao Yun did not say anything else about the matter, but that was the gist of it anyway.
Both chief elders talked telepathically. Mortals, or even Mortal Warriors, could not pierce through their thoughts.
They both knew the real reason of Xiao Xuefeng's presence here. A demonic cultivator had tried to infiltrate the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. To prevent this from happening within the Wubei Sect, they had sent her. It wasn't a coincidence if she had left just before Luduo Bu's attack and Lu Meihan's incident. However, Cao Yun was a bit suspect. After all, he had been found while killing demonic cultivators in the Lunar Marsh and he was connected to all these strange affairs.
Thinking some more, they concluded that he was innocent. Xiao Xuefeng was the most sensitive among all Spirit Warriors. She was absolutely confident about Cao Yun, so she was probably right.
While the chief elders were conferring, Cao Yun asked his friends about Ren Chao's condition.
"Wang Mei is taking care of him. I gave her some pills to help him recover. He was poisoned with Feverish Eucalyptus Liquor. This is not a very potent poison, but it will mimic the effect of alcohol. In fact, mere mortals would die from intoxication right away. But Brother Ren is resistant enough. With my tonic, he will be absolutely fine. However, I doubt that he will be able to remember anything, not even how he got captured. Everything will be a blur."
Sun Liao stayed quiet. In fact, he was thinking about the array formations he had seen. When Cao Yun had showed him the array formation used by Lu Meihan, he had a sense of familiarity. And now that he had seen the same kind of work, his mind was trying to piece the clues together. He was sure that he had seen this handiwork somewhere else, but it was well hidden.
Finally, the chief elders got back to the disciples.
"For now, you will stay confined in your rooms. In a few days, the public trial will begin. If five of the nine chief elders vote against you, there is nothing even we can do. We'll investigate what you just told us. Chen Guo, tell us exactly the words used by Lu Meihan."
Cao Yun described absolutely everything that had happened in the Coiling Silk Faction residence. He also added some elements. For example, he made Lu Meihan speak about the Life Essence Phoenix Balm. She had not, but Cao Yun remembered the manual he had found about it when he first sneaked into her room.
-
When the interrogation was over, they all went to Ren Chao's room. He was with Wang Mei, but still unconscious. The woman was taking great care of him. When she saw Cao Yun and his friends, she went to them.
"Thank you!" She bowed to them. "Without your help, he may have..." Lowering her head in shame, she couldn't not think about her former mistress. "How could Lu Meihan do such a thing?"
Seeing her conflict, Cao Yun told her. "She used a demonic method to alleviate her backlash. But if she doesn't absorb my energy she will quickly die."
Hearing this, Wang Mei was shocked beyond belief. "Was she that desperate?" She remembered the behavior of her faction leader these past few weeks. And indeed, there was a sense of despair that turned into urgency. Maybe, if she had talked to her more, she could have helped her go through it. Slowly, Wang Mei was starting to feel responsible for the way things had turned out.
Mei Hua intervened. "You should not feel guilty." With a very serious look on her face, she continued. "People will make their own decisions. No matter how much you wished you could have changed her way, it was her decision. She could have chosen to come to you for help but she did not. In the end, she succumbed to the temptation of this demonic cultivator." It seemed as though their was some personal history behind her statement.
"Anyway, people make their own choices, especially cultivators. You should not burden yourself with the sins of others."
Wang Mei's face was complicated. Deep down, she knew that she was not responsible, but still, she should have seen how much her faction leader was suffering.
On the other hand, Sun Liao was near Ren Chao. Only a few months ago, he despised the man. But now, he was an important friend. His arrogance would not let him admit his feelings, but it was apparent to all. Seeing him fine, he heaved a sigh of relief.
"Brother Chen, you should trust us more." He turned toward his friend. "I know that there are some things you keep to yourself. I do not ask you to tell us all your secrets. But if your life is in danger, do not think that you can just take care of it alone. In the Wubei Sect, we're all brothers and sisters, right? So treat us as such, unless you think we're so inept that we will burden you!"
Shocked, Cao Yun got thinking. "Brother Sun, you're right. The truth is... I'm looking for a demonic cultivator. I thought that if I involved someone else, I would miss the chance to get information about him."
This time, Mei Hua's face was complicated. She had a terrible past with demonic cultivators as well and she was remembering things she would rather forget.
Wang Mei felt a bit awkward and went back to Ren Chao. This was not a conversation she should be a part of.
"Brother Sun, Sister Mei. When Brother Ren wakes up, I swear I'll tell you more. But there are some things I simply cannot say. Please understand me."
"It's fine, Brother Chen. We all have things that we want to keep for ourselves. But do not risk your life to 'protect' us. We're competent enough to take care of ourselves."
The friends let the heavy talk for later and decided to drink some tea in order to calm down. The tea from Mei Hua was just perfect. They felt as though all their worries were evaporating with the steam.
-
Several days later, Ren Chao woke up. But the group of friends could not have their talk. The public trial was beginning!
Two instructors came to fetch Cao Yun in his own room. They were armed with punishing rods, metallic staffs used to discipline the Wubei Sect's disciples. They were meant to inflict pain without killing. Unless you were a Spirit Warrior, they would ignore all your defense and pain would penetrate your flesh. Of course, the more advanced you were, the less pain you felt, but those rods were known to be ruthless.
Cao Yun was isolated from his friends. Each one of them got fetched by different instructors to be produced as witnesses. They brought Cao Yun in front of the disciplinary pavilion.
On the pagoda that was this pavilion, the rules of the Wubei Sect were engraved in golden characters. The most important rule was on the front of the pagoda. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!". Since its founding, the Hongchen Kingdom had always been threatened by demons all around its borders. In order to protect themselves, humans had formed a great sense of solidarity and belonging to one kingdom. All the orthodox cultivators felt morally obligated to defend their species against the demons, no matter what.
Right in front of the pagoda, there was a platform with nine high seats. They were towering above the rest of the people as many disciples were gathering around the platform. Most of them had heard about this upcoming trial. The attack of Luduo Bu, the coma of Cao Yun and then the invasion of the Coiling Silk Faction residence were no small matters.
When Cao Yun walked toward the platform, he recognized some people in the mass. They were the members of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. He felt a bit conflicted because he could unintentionally involve them in this trial. After all, he was a prominent member of this faction and some may imagine that the attack on the Coilig Silk Faction was due to strifes between the two factions.
Zhi Yin had no expression but Ling Hui was severe. She idolized her senior sister and because of Cao Yun, she would once again be in a difficult position. He had literally attacked another faction without consulting them beforehand. In her views, it showed that he did not care about their Heavenly Swallow Faction at all. For Ling Hui, Cao Yun was the worst!
Feeling this murderous gaze on him, the boy decided to just ignore it and look away. There were also Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin. All the members of the faction were here. Their gazes were a bit different, unsure of what to think. As everyone else, they were in the dark about what had transpired in the Coiling Silk Faction residence. They only heard Lu Meihan's version. According to her, Cao Yun had just attacked out of the blue.
They had a hard time believing it. And just like everyone else here, they were waiting to hear his version. Moreover, if a public trial was held, the situation could not be as simple as that.
On the platform, nine chief elders were seated on the high seats. They were all in charge of pavilions in the outer sect. Chief elders were appointed among the inner disciples. Some were in charge of matters within the inner sect, some within the outer sect, and there were also chief elders in charge of external matters. For example, just as Xiao Xuefeng came from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, a chief elder from the Wubei Sect had been sent there in her stead.
Among the nine, there were of course Chief Elder Baishen, in charge of the martial art pavilion and Chief Elder Suxian, in charge of the array formation pavilion. Both of them were favorable to Cao Yun and they had investigated to corroborate his story. Chief Elder Luoming, in charge of the art pavilion was also present, as well as Chief Elder Bian in charge of the disciplinary pavilion. As was his duty, he would preside over this public trial.
The Sect Leader himself had been warned, given the exceptional nature of such a public trial. Usually, the trials of the disciplinary pavilion were performed in private. The faces of the judges were also unknown. But all this publicity made Chief Elder Bian even more adamant about his decision. He had to convict Cao Yun and prove to everyone else that he had been right.
Among the judges, there were five other chief elders Cao Yun had not met before. In the outer sect, there were more chief elders, but only nine were to be judges at a public trial. There were two women, Chief Elder Yisheng, in charge of the demonic beasts pavilion and Chief Elder Lümian, in charge of the soul and mind pavilion. Finally, the three men were Chief Elder Tingyu, in charge of the blacksmith pavilion, Chief Elder Qinghe, in charge of the physician pavilion, and Chief Elder Kong, in charge of the philosophy pavilion.
All of them were wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect, and waiting for Cao Yun. Lu Meihan was still on the platform. And everyone had heard her version. On the other side of the platform, Wang Mei, Sun Liao, Hua Mei and Ren Chao were standing. Wang Mei had a hard time watching Lu Meihan straight in the eyes. And she too seemed to been pained by the presence of her former servant.
When Cao Yun finally reached the middle of the platform, the two instructors stepped back a little. And from the high seats, Chief Elder Bian floated down toward the boy.
"Chen Guo! You are accused of serious crimes against our Wubei Sect and your fellow disciples! The murder of Luduo Bu. The attack of the Coiling Silk Faction residence. And the attempted murder of Lu Meihan. What do you plead?"
Cao Yun breathed calmly, looked at the chief elders, then looked around to watch all the disciples gathered here.
"I'm innocent of everything!"
Chief Elder Bian was expecting this but the outer disciples began to whisper among them. In the eyes of Cao Yun, there was a deep conviction and they couldn't stop thinking that there had to be an explanation. Cao Yun was the most prominent first-year, he had no reason to commit such crimes. Even Lu Meihan failed to bring up a reason in her version.
"Fine. Let's begin with your first crime. Aren't you the one who murdered Luduo Bu?"
"I did not murder him. I acted in self-defense."
Hearing him, everyone got the confirmation. There had been rumors but they were really true. Cao Yun, a 6th-grade Mortal, had killed Luduo Bu who was a second-year and a 7th-grade Mortal. In fact, Luduo Bu had even reached higher than that but only in his final moments. So no one actually knew the real disparity in power between them both. Crossing one small grade to fight an opponent was not unheard of at all, but three of them was something else.
"You claim that this was self-defense. But no one actually witnessed your fight. Even your servant only saw a tiny portion of it. Isn't it right?"
"Indeed. But you can examine his body to know the truth."
"And what would his body tell us about this? The wounds could not confirm whether he attacked you or you attacked him."
"No, but they can reveal that Luduo Bu was a demonic cultivator!"
Hearing this word, 'demonic cultivator', all the disciples were shocked. Noise rose in the crowd and even the chief elders were perplexed. Apart from Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Baishen, no one had heard Cao Yun's version. As such, they were all taken aback by this accusation.
If Luduo Bu was really a demonic cultivator, killing him was not a crime but a huge achievement instead.