“Whoosh”
The crowd instantly erupted, hundreds of eyes glaring sharply at Shen Qingmei.
She turned around, her bloodied hand pointing directly at Lin Nan.
Some instinctively drew their magic tools, while others took a step back.
Shen Yuer, standing beside Lin Nan, clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.
“You’re lying!” Shen Yuer couldn’t help but shout. “Xiao Lin passed the Jianyao Mirror test. She’s human!”
“The Jianyao Mirror?” Shen Qingmei laughed even more maniacally, spitting flecks of saliva onto the steps. “That broken mirror has long since been tainted by demonic qi! Haven’t you noticed? She didn’t even have any true qi before entering Qingyun Sect!”
“Three months—only three months of training! Yet she can punch away Cao Xingzhi from Danxia Sect oh wait, punch him into uselessness! One punch! And she still has enough strength left to suppress a seventh-grade Spirit Wolf. That’s not something a normal human can do!”
“Cao Xingzhi is an eighth-grade cultivator; Lin Nan is ninth-grade. After just three months, where does she get so much true qi reserve?”
“Besides, when she first climbed the sect’s long steps, Lin Nan single-handedly dragged Shen Yuer up to the top. All of you new disciples there were witnesses, right?”
Suddenly, she pointed at Lin Nan’s hair. “And her hair—white as a fox demon! Her eyes green as a wolf pup! Exactly like the demon from the previous dynasty who wreaked havoc among humans and bewitched the Demon Emperor. If she’s not a monster, then what is she?”
At these words,
Elder Xuanzhi’s brows knitted tightly into a frown, and he glanced subtly at Elder Xunlin, who stood on the far left.
Elder Xunlin lowered her eyes, her hands clasping a string of prayer beads, a wisp of steam rising from the tea beside her. It was unclear what she was thinking.
Just as he was about to speak, Shen Qingmei suddenly yanked a silver hairpin from her bun, its tip stained with dark red blood.
“You don’t believe me? Fine! I’ll show you the evidence!” She raised the silver hairpin and charged toward Lin Nan but was firmly restrained by disciples from the Disciplinary Hall. She could only roar toward the crowd, “You only trust the Jianyao Mirror, right? Then let’s test the blood! Let’s use the Jianyao Mirror to examine the bloodline! Let’s mix my blood with Lin Nan’s and see the difference for yourselves.”
“Draw her blood!” The Beast-Taming Peak Master slammed the table, the totem on his sleeve flickering. “If she really is a monster, it’ll be revealed!”
Two law-enforcing disciples immediately rushed forward. Lin Nan, holding Not-Seeing-Green silently, didn’t resist, leaving them momentarily unsure how to proceed.
Not-Seeing-Green’s blade gleamed pure white, normally translucent throughout, but now it reflected a faint black hue in the sunlight, as if dusted with an unremovable layer of ash.
A disciple from Xiuyuan Peak, the same as Senior Sister Qiao, suddenly pointed at the sword in Lin Nan’s hand, exclaiming, “There’s demonic qi on the sword! Though faint, it’s definitely demon energy!”
The words exploded across the square like thunder, even Elder Xunlin, who had remained silent, lifted her gaze and fixed it on the sword, her fingertips holding the prayer beads pausing.
Shen Yuer’s eyes reddened with urgency, about to rush forward to argue, but Lin Nan gently pressed down on her wrist.
Lin Nan’s palm was cool, yet it carried a calming strength. She shook her head slightly, signaling her to hold back.
At that moment, Elder Xunlin’s voice sounded slowly, tinged with a casual sigh, “Sect Leader, the Dao inquiry isn’t over yet.”
“Very well.”
Xuanzhi stroked his long beard and nodded, signaling for the initiation ceremony to continue.
The attendant disciple beside him suddenly drew a deep breath as if waking from a dream. With an added layer of true qi to his voice, he shouted, “Lin Nan, ask the Dao!”
All eyes converged on the figure with white hair.
The morning breeze lifted the tips of her hair, the silver hairpin swaying gently among the strands. She neither heard Shen Qingmei’s howls nor saw the pointing fingers around her. She simply straightened her back, holding the black-tinged Not-Seeing-Green, and took steady steps toward the white jade platform.
The crushed dewgrass under her feet made crisp sounds, mingling with her measured footsteps, echoing clearly in the silent plaza.
When Lin Nan stepped onto the final white jade step, the morning dew shattered into tiny droplets at her shoe tips.
She stood at the center of the platform, back to hundreds of fellow disciples, facing the Sect Leader and Peak Masters. The silver hairpin in her hair shone brightly in the rising sun, even more dazzling than the bronze cauldron atop the platform.
“Lin Nan,” Xuanzhi’s scrutinizing gaze settled on her, “three months of cultivation. What have you comprehended?”
Below the platform, Shen Qingmei struggled violently, held firmly by Disciplinary Hall disciples, emitting hoarse sounds.
Lin Nan seemed not to hear her, only reaching up to straighten her blue-gray collar. Her voice rang clear and pure: “Disciple has been in the sect for three months, initially studying the Qingyun Heart Sutra. With guidance from Elder Xunlin on sword techniques, I have mastered two forms, six rotations, and advanced to ninth-grade.”
She paused briefly, eyes sweeping over the Danxia Sect disciples’ ranks. Zhang Qiming lowered his head, rubbing the sword at his waist. Cao Xingzhi’s face still bore a terrifying scar, a wound inflicted by his own dagger after being blasted away by Lin Nan’s punch.
“In the same three months, disciple borrowed the Treating Monster Method from the sect’s library and comprehended the ancient technique of ‘drawing true qi to counteract monster qi and beasts.’”
Her fingertips curled lightly at her side. “At the exchange meeting with Danxia Sect, disciple’s iron sword was shattered, unable to execute the Qingyun Heart Sutra. So I had no choice but to rely on this method in combination with Shen Yuer’s water techniques to suppress the seventh-grade Spirit Wolf—not the ‘demonic arts’ Shen Qingmei claimed.”
The highest-level lies are seven parts truth and two parts especially true.
One part remains unspoken.
Everything Lin Nan said was true, but she had subtly reversed the order of learning between the Treating Monster Method and the Qingyun Heart Sutra.
If one first practices the Qingyun Heart Sutra, then the Treating Monster Method, it all makes perfect sense.
“Nonsense!”
Shen Qingmei suddenly broke free, her knees scraping the stone steps with a dull thud. “That Spirit Wolf was clearly paralyzed by your demonic qi! I once saw through the Gray-Furred Spirit Mouse’s vision—your vertical pupils deceive no one!”
The plaza buzzed with renewed murmurs. Even the Sword Peak Master opened his eyes, scanning Lin Nan’s face.
Lin Nan’s gaze rested on Shen Qingmei’s disheveled bun, the silver hairpin’s tip flickering with a dark light.
She suddenly smiled, faint yet like a breeze sweeping across a lake, quieting all the noise. “Senior Sister Shen says I have vertical pupils. May I ask when exactly you saw them? At the exchange meeting? But I only suppressed your Blood-Eyed Spirit Wolf there—I never fought you.”
“Oh yes, the day I entered the sect, just as I arrived at my cave dwelling, a mouse rushed out to assassinate me and was slain by Yuer. The other time was just now when I slew another mouse as I left.”
“Ah,” the young girl covered her mouth in exaggerated surprise, looking toward Shen Qingmei. “Could it be that these two mice were both sent by you to kill me?”
“Wow, killed me once on the first day of entry, and again today. Why do you hate me so much? Besides, shouldn’t you still be detained by the Disciplinary Hall? Did you use some trick to sneak out, or did the Disciplinary Hall slip up?”
Her voice was steady and calm, completely unfazed by the ongoing clamor around her. She simply spoke her words.
Yet with every sentence she uttered, the surrounding atmosphere quieted noticeably.
When her last sentence fell, the elder responsible for the Disciplinary Hall could no longer hold back. He slammed the table and pointed at Lin Nan’s nose, shouting, “Lin Nan, you keep accusing the Disciplinary Hall of mistakes. What proof do you have?”
Lin Nan chuckled softly, then said, “Elder, don’t be impatient. Isn’t that what I’m asking too? Shen Qingmei, tell us when exactly did you see those vertical pupils?”
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