Qing Feng, standing in the corner, almost burst out laughing. This young master's defense was truly eye-opening: "Mystic Realm allocation is an internal affair of Dragon Luster Peak, gambling is merely entertainment, and temporarily withholding severance pay won't kill anyone. What's the big deal about these?"
"Who are you? Old precedents are just following the rules."
"It's precisely these 'rules' that harm people!" Yuan Qing True Lord flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly, "Can one imitate the evil deeds of predecessors? Do you know that three people from Junya Peak committed suicide last year due to gambling debts? The money withheld from Dream Lotus Peak was the last travel expenses for the outer disciples returning home."
Qing Feng looked at his former formidable rival being escorted away and suddenly recalled a line from a mortal play: "Watch him feast his guests, watch his tower collapse." Before he could finish, Qi Lin suddenly struggled wildly: "Qing Feng, I want to..."
"Grandpa is here." Qing Feng brushed off some dust from his clothes, smiling nonchalantly.
He only put away his teasing expression when Yuan Qing True Lord's warning gaze swept over him. Looking at the dust raised by the departing Law Enforcement Team, he knew he could finally get a good night's sleep tonight, as there was one less competitor for the Sect Grand Competition.
"Your seniority is quite interesting. Could it be that you want to be Qi Lin's grandfather and Qi Yuancheng's father, thus making yourself a generation higher than me out of thin air?"
"Disciple obeys." Qing Feng lowered his head and responded, his eyes as gentle as a spring.
Yuan Qing True Lord's gaze swept over Qing Feng's lowered neck without a word. A sword light suddenly cut through the clouds, and the thousand-year-old profound ice of Han Ming Peak reflected a cold gleam. Qi Lin crashed onto the ice like a kite with a broken string. "Senior Brother Qi!"
Several exclamations came from the direction of the ice cave, where more than a dozen Hu Ji Peak disciples, covered in frost, were huddled among the ice shards.
They looked at their fellow disciple, who had rolled down in disarray, their purple lips trembling uncontrollably.
These were the elite Law Enforcement Hall members who had been frozen into ice sculptures by Han Ming Peak's restrictions three days ago.
"How are you here?" Qi Lin's pupils constricted. His gaze swept across the crowd; apart from Xu Wen, the fourth Senior Brother guarding the mountain gate, all the combat strength of Changyang at the Golden Core Realm and above were trapped here. If they couldn't get out before the Sword Discussion Ceremony, let alone contend with Chen Ming Peak, even Bingyang and Yuanming Peaks might suppress them. "Awaiting trial and punishment."
Elder Jizhou's voice, laden with wind and snow, fell, and seven or eight more Law Enforcement Hall disciples were dragged onto the ice platform by iron chains. Their robes were soaked in ice water, their faces pale as ghosts, and the Bixi 紋印 on their wrists flickered on and off.
"Shibo Yuan Feng, Han Ming Peak is framing Changyang!"
Qi Yuancheng broke through the mountain protection barrier on his sword, his robes still stained with the morning dew of Hu Ji Peak. When he burst into Changyang Hall, the third stick of incense had just been lit in the bronze Bixi incense burner:
"Lin'er has always been self-disciplined and adhered to propriety. The spiritual vein resources of Hu Ji Peak are available for him to use, so why would he embezzle? Someone must have taken advantage of his youth and used their supervisory authority to frame him!"
Yuan Feng True Lord lightly tapped the jade slip of the "Penal Code" with his fingertips, and the Bixi beast's eyes glowed golden with each tap: "Is there any concrete evidence for the 'bribery and dereliction of duty' accused by the Law Enforcement Hall?"
"It's just a common practice for New Year's greetings!" Qi Yuancheng clenched his fists in his sleeves, "Han Ming Peak has always been wary of us handling criminal law. Since taking over the Bixi Platform last year, how many eyes have been fixed on this token?"
The profound iron token at his waist jingled with his movements, and the beast's head with its fangs looked sinister in the light and shadow.
Amidst the rustling sound of ice crystals falling, Yuan Feng True Lord gazed at the rising smoke from the incense burner.
The accumulated resentment between Hu Ji Peak and Han Ming Peak began thirty years ago during that Dao discussion, when Yuan Qing True Lord lost the Bixi Platform to Changyang by half a move. Since then, the disciples of the two peaks in the Law Enforcement Hall have been at odds.
"Go to Han Ming Peak and demand their release." He flicked his sleeve, scattering the incense ash, and the Bixi beast's eyes suddenly glared in anger, "No matter the truth, if half of the Golden Core cultivators are lost before the Sword Discussion Ceremony, those old fellows from Dragon Yang Peak will probably submit memorials to the Sect Leader overnight."
"If the situation cannot be salvaged, absolutely do not give anyone a handle!"
"Senior Brother!"
Qin Heng's furious shout pierced through the hall door. Yuan Feng True Lord's fingertips trembled slightly, wondering if Han Ming Peak was taking advantage of the Bixi incident to cause trouble?
Amidst the swirling red robes, the Chief of Chen Ming Peak had already burst in with the force of wind and thunder. The moment his gaze met Qi Yuancheng, his three-foot green blade unsheathed with a clang, and a brilliant sword light slashed directly at the opponent's face: "What a sanctimonious scoundrel! It saves me the trouble of trampling Hu Ji Peak!"
"Qin Madman, what madness are you spouting!" Qi Yuancheng staggered, dodging the sword qi, and his protective True Qi rippled.
Yuan Feng True Lord raised his hand and drew a barrier, the Dongxuan Realm pressure vast as an abyss: "Martial Brother Qin, please explain the whole story clearly!"
He noticed that Qin Heng's usually meticulous headwear was somewhat askew, indicating extreme rage.
"Lin Qian, that wicked disciple raised by Hu Ji Peak, actually acted as a spy in my Chen Ming Peak! Using such sinister tricks within the same Sect, do they think we are a devil's den or a demon's stronghold?" Where Qin Heng's sword point, the jade bricks in the hall cracked inch by inch.
Qi Yuancheng's treasured sword unsheathed in response, and the golden bells on its tassel jingled: "Old man, stop slandering! Lin Qian and Zhang Gao were old acquaintances. Is it treason for fellow disciples to reminisce? By your twisted logic, disciples of Purple Rock Peak and Sword Sharpening Peak should have long ceased contact!"
Stars swirled in Yuan Feng True Lord's eyes, and his knuckles gently tapped the cold jade table: "If it stops there, it's fine."
"Then what about secretly funding Lin Qian to collude with Yixian Palace, designing to lure my disciples into a trap?" Qin Heng's sword qi solidified around him, and the evil-suppressing bronze bells hanging from the pillars suddenly wailed in unison, "Feigning to bathe and change clothes together, then framing fellow disciples—how is such conduct any different from evil cultivators!"
"Is there any concrete evidence?" Yuan Feng True Lord abruptly stood up, the nine heavens thunder patterns flickering on his Daoist robe. He knew that internal strife among the peaks was common within the Sect, but involving external forces had touched a bottom line. "Martial Uncle Yuan Feng, the Law Enforcement Hall requests your presence."
A cold voice came from outside the hall. Leng An, a Law Enforcement Disciples, held a soul-binding chain, and the inscriptions on the profound iron chain flickered. Seeing this, Qi Yuancheng's face drastically changed, and the communication jade slip in his sleeve quietly shattered.
"Qi Lin and all other direct disciples of Hu Ji Peak have been taken into custody." Leng An flipped through the case files, the clanging of the iron chains clearly audible. "Zhang Gao and others are suspected of defiling the reputation of female cultivators from Yixian Palace, and Immortal Maiden Yunmeng has personally come to demand accountability. As for Lin Qian..."
He looked at Qi Yuancheng, whose face was ashen, "She disguised herself as Lu Ran and infiltrated Nine Curves Pond. There is a recording stone as evidence of the entrapment process."
The Qiankun Plate in Yuan Feng True Lord's sleeve spun rapidly, and he said in a deep voice, "How are the disciples involved now?"
"After Senior Sister Lu restored her true appearance, Lin Qian's testimony, which accused her of malicious intent, crumbled on its own." Leng An closed the case files, and the profound iron chain suddenly wrapped around Qi Yuancheng's right wrist. "All thirty-seven secret outposts of Hu Ji Peak have been removed, Martial Uncle Qi, please."
Qi Yuancheng staggered half a step, looking at the flashing 'guilty' inscription on his wrist, and finally collapsed onto the meditation cushion. Colluding with external forces to frame fellow Sect members could result in the heaviest punishment: eternal imprisonment in the Sword Prison.
Although Qingxuan Sect was ranked below Beast Taming Sect, it was still a renowned top-tier immortal sect. Even if Beast Taming Sect was protective of its own, it would never antagonize the entire Qingxuan for a few offending disciples.
"Is this your esteemed disciple?" Yuan Feng True Lord glared at Qi Yuancheng, the jade slip in his palm cracking. Framing fellow disciples was already a grave taboo, and it even involved an Immortal Maiden from Qingxuan Sect.
