When morning came, the campground was quiet and peaceful until a deafening scream caused the young cultivators to descend into chaos. The scream came from a hysterical girl from the Shademantle Academy who ran out of Feng Yie's makeshift sick tent.
The other cultivator teams wanted to ignore the woman because it was none of their business. However, she would not stop screaming as she ran around the campground. It was clear that she had received a major shock.
"Calm down!" Mo Heng shouted as soon as he came from his tent.
His face was dark with anger and the lack of proper sleep. If he had known that the trip would be filled with so many incidents, he would not have volunteered to come. He thought he would be able to build a relationship with Feng Yie if they spent time together, leading to his rise in status.
How could he have known that she would be a bitch even when he ingratiated himself with her? She did not treat him as anything more than a servant and a bodyguard. The good feelings he hoped to develop with her had long been extinguished.
Worse than that, she had gotten bitten by a venomous snake because of her willfulness. He had reminded her that the Creeping Lichen was a valuable herb to venomous animals, and she should not try to get it.
She ignored him and climbed the tree to get it because she needed it for a potion. As expected, she had gotten bitten by the Cobalt-bellied Mamba. The venom travelled too fast, forcing him to come up with a plan to avoid responsibility.
Under normal circumstances, Long Jingyi would have been a good target for the incident. Mo Heng would have had to take some responsibility, but he planned to claim that he begged the Hallowflame Academy team to help Feng Yie, and Long Jingyi refused.
With the delicate relationship between the academies, Principal Feng would look for a place to vent his anger at losing his precious daughter.
Unfortunately, Long Jingyi was not alone, and that cloaked man with him was difficult to deal with. Regardless of his methods, he managed to remove the venom and almost cure Feng Yie, putting a damper on Mo Heng's intentions.
Mo Heng never intended to have Feng Yie cured.
As long as Feng Yie was alive, he would not live a good life. She was haughty and spoiled, and she had the intention of inheriting the academy from her father. Moreover, she threatened to destroy him for having inappropriate thoughts towards her.
Her death was the best outcome for him.
He would be punished by Principal Feng for a while, but he would also have an opportunity to rise higher in the ranks. If Long Jingyi, who had no relationship with his principal, was considered to be the treasure of Hallowflame, he could also become the treasure of Shademantle.
As long as Feng Yie died...
"Senior Mo, something has happened." The hysterical girl ran to Mo Heng as if she had seen a saviour.
"Speak." Mo Heng said.
Despite the calm demeanour of a senior brother, Mo Heng felt a thrill of delight. He was not a person who waited for good things to happen. He made things happen with his own hands. Well, in this case, it was by using someone else's hands.
He smirked in his heart at the thought of getting away with a crime.
"It is really bad. I just went to check on Senior Feng and..." The girl burst into loud tears, weeping like she was at a funeral.
Mo Heng put on a stern face. "Is Feng Yie dead?"
The wailing female cultivator tried to speak, but she could not say anything coherent between the sobs, snorts and hiccups. Luckily, Mo Heng knew exactly what had happened. Or so he thought...
"I knew that man did not have good intentions when he approached us. He must have a grudge against the Shademantle Academy." He spoke up loudly as if he was afraid that the people in the back could not hear him. "I did not believe he was a devil cultivator because he was with Senior Long. But now, I am doubting he is a good person."
The self-directed monologue was spoken clearly in the middle of the campground, ensuring that all the teams heard him. Mo Heng knew that there was no evidence to show that Yuan Haoran had harmed Feng Yie.
But he understood that in the world of adults, what mattered was public opinion. If enough people said it, it became the truth. Moreover, he had taken the initiative to put his story forward first. As long as people believed him, it did not matter what the other side said.
"Why are you shouting nonsense in the morning, Mo Heng?" Long Jingyi appeared at the centre of the saga with anger on his face. "You can do whatever you want, but I will not allow you to speak like a madman."
The hot aura of Long Jingyi's spiritual energy burst out as he faced Mo Heng. The people near them backed away quickly because they were small fry in comparison to the upper class cultivators. No one wanted to be cannon fodder after surviving a month in the hidden domain.
It would be shameful to die on the campground on the day the portal was being opened.
Mo Heng also released his aura. His spiritual energy was under the water-type element, and like Long Jingyi, it was a special variant: Mist. The two faced off, each unrelenting and unwilling to calm down. Just as their hands were about to reach for their swords, someone interrupted.
"Come on, boys. Let us not make things ugly on the last day." That voice was gentle like a breeze. "We have managed to return in one piece. It would be a shame if we left the domain with injuries from each other."
Mo Heng and Long Jingyi felt their anger simmer down a little at the sound of the soothing voice. As their minds cleared up, they retracted their auras, but they continued to look at each other with open animosity.
"You do not have to be friends, but do not cause the situation to become unpleasant for our junior sisters and brothers." The beautiful voice continued. "As senior brothers and sisters, we were sent to protect and make sure things do not escalate. We cannot be the troublemakers."
"You are right, Fairy Su Yaling." Long Jingyi assented.
"This is not your business." Mo Heng said at the same time.
The two of them looked at each other once again with animosity.
"If something affects my junior sisters, it is my business." Su Yaling looked at Mo Heng without friendliness in her eyes, despite the gentle voice. "Your junior started screaming in fear, but you did not even give her a chance to calm down and explain."
Mo Heng snorted. "Isn't it obvious what happened? Feng Yie is dead because Long Jingyi brought a charlatan to treat him. He should take responsibility for this life since his devil cultivator friend seems to have disappeared into the night."
Long Jingyi realised that Yuan Haoran was nowhere to be found. But again, why would Yuan Haoran be in the middle of the disagreements between Hallowflame and Shademantle? The two of them had only met the previous day and were not close.
Still, it was a little disappointing and disheartening.
"You keep throwing accusations around without listening to other people. You do not want to discuss anything rationally. Instead, you are shouting like a madman in the marketplace. Could it be that you are trying to hide something by turning our attention to Yuan Haoran?" Long Jingyi said as he remembered what Haoran had said about attempted murder.
"You!" Mo Heng showed anger even though his heart was beating in fear. "I saw your friend leaving the camp last night and going back into the forest. He may be performing nasty demonic spells after killing Feng Yie as we speak!"
"Have you confirmed that Feng Yie is dead?" Su Yaling interrupted the tiresome quarrel. She felt like she was back at the Moonlight Clan, solving another argument about a stolen accessory between two teenage girls.
"What?" Mo Heng was startled.
"As I said, you never let your junior sister finish telling us what made her scream and disturb the entire campground." Su Yaling said. "So far, no one has confirmed the death of Miss Feng Yie."
"Isn't it obvious?" Mo Heng shrugged.
The junior sister who had started the whole mess stepped out from where she hid when it looked like a fight was about to break out. Her face was red and swollen, but she was no longer sobbing.
"Actually, Senior Feng is fine." She walked to the group of three with a humble and embarrassed look on her face. "I am sorry for the misunderstanding, Senior Mo."
"What?"