The various Ancestors gathered within the grand hall could all tell at a single glance that everything Yunxi had said and done earlier was merely a ruse designed to steady the nerves of Liang Xiao and Huo Chongshan. The very instant Xia Yiwan opened her eyes, the bright clarity in her gaze revealed the truth. Everyone present realized her divine soul was entirely complete and stable. There was simply no way it had been hastily pieced together from scattered fragments.
You Zisang immediately reached out and grabbed Xia Yiwan's slender wrist, her fingers pressing against the pulse point as she asked in a deep voice, "Yiwan, what is really going on?"
Xia Yiwan looked at her master, her breathing shallow, and replied hoarsely, "Master, this disciple thought I would never see you again."
After checking her pulse and sensing the steady rhythm of her spiritual energy, You Zisang confirmed that her divine soul had truly returned to its place without any lingering damage. Her tone softened considerably as she looked at her disciple. "Yiwan, don't rush. Take your time and explain everything to the Ancestors."
"Yes."
Only then did Xia Yiwan slowly stand up from the jade bed, her movements still somewhat stiff. She bowed respectfully to the five Zhēnzūn seated in the hall and began recounting every detail of what had happened after she left the safety of the sect.
She talked about the shocking moment she had caught Liang Xiao trading Yinxi medicine in secret, and how she had subsequently been possessed by an evil soul to silence her. She described how she had drifted into Dengyun Tower and become a helpless pawn in Tower Master Han Qingwen's hands. She went on to explain how Ran Xi had noticed something was wrong with her state, and then used the immense resources of an entire storage bracelet to take her away and help her regain her consciousness.
She continued by explaining how she had worked with Yunxi and Yunpo to plan a counter-infiltration into Dengyun Tower, and how they had thrown out enticing bait to lure Han Qingwen and his demon cultivators into a lethal trap in the Wolong Mountain Range. Using her supposed cooperation with Dengyun Tower as an excuse, she had returned to the sect to expose the traitor hiding inside Yixian Gate.
Half an hour later, she finally finished explaining the long sequence of events. She suddenly turned her head and stared directly at Huo Chongshan, her eyes burning with accusation. "Ancestors, Master, before they sent me here to this hall, it was Huo Chongshan who shattered 'my' divine soul while Elder Liang watched. There was never any black-robed cultivator attacking us. Everything was staged by the two of them."
Liang Xiao and Huo Chongshan's faces had gone so dark they couldn't get any darker, yet they didn't dare make a single move under the collective gaze of the hall. From the moment Xia Yiwan opened her eyes and began to speak, the two of them had been locked down by an overwhelming pressure. They were being suppressed not by one Mahayana Zhēnzūn, but by all five at once. Even if they wanted to do something desperate, they had no ability to do it. They couldn't even self-detonate their cores to escape justice.
Liang Xiao still tried to struggle against the weight of the evidence and spoke up, his voice tight. "Xia Yiwan, this is all just your word against ours. There were no third parties present to witness the events. Who can prove you're telling the truth? If you really joined Dengyun Tower as you claim, then I suspect you have already become an evil cultivator's pawn and are framing sect elders instead."
Huo Chongshan echoed him, his posture stiff. "We were injured while protecting you from that intruder. You can't slander us like this after we risked our lives."
Xia Yiwan snorted coldly, her expression filled with disdain. She reached up and removed the two unremarkable studs from her ears, then injected a thread of spiritual power into them to activate the hidden mechanism. A clear projection appeared in the center of the great hall, shimmering in the air. The scene was recorded from her own perspective, clearly showing how Huo Chongshan had actively approached her after she returned to the sect, told her to cooperate in stealing the Undying Tree, and then seriously injured her to clear any suspicion of his own involvement.
Later in the recording, after learning that Ran Xi Zūnshàng possessed the ability to question souls, the two of them had joined forces to put on a show for the sect. They shattered Xia Yiwan's divine soul and then brought her before the sect Ancestors to complete their lie.
The great hall fell into a terrifying, heavy silence. Liang Xiao and Huo Chongshan knew the situation was beyond saving now. They simply put on expressions of grim resignation that said, if you want to accuse us, you will always find the words to do so.
Xia Yiwan clenched her teeth and raised her hand toward the heavens. "Yixian Gate's direct disciple Xia Yiwan hereby swears a Heavenly Dao oath. If a single word I said is false, may five thunders strike me dead in the next instant and sever my immortal path forever."
As soon as her words fell, the invisible power of the laws pierced into her brow, marking the oath. The Heavenly Dao oath took effect immediately, yet she remained standing there completely unharmed. This proved to everyone present that everything she had said was the absolute truth.
Chen Yebai sighed deeply before he spoke, the sound echoing in the rafters. "Zisang, search the two of them. See if the Undying Tree is hidden on their persons."
"Yes, Ancestor."
You Zisang flashed in front of them in a blur of motion. She took their storage rings and storage belts, her spiritual power forcibly erasing their divine sense imprints, and searched through every item they possessed. After a moment, she shook her head. "Ancestor, it's not on them."
When Yunxi heard that, her eyes flickered with a sudden thought. She looked at Bing Li and asked with a silent glance: did they successfully steal the Undying Tree after all?
Bing Li spread her hands in a small gesture, saying she didn't know the answer. Her Ice Soul Frost Cicada had only been planted on Xia Yiwan to monitor her status. To avoid alerting Liang Xiao and Huo Chongshan, she hadn't risked planting one on them as well. Xia Yiwan had only played a supporting role in their scheme. To clear suspicion, she had even been badly injured, so she had no idea whether they had succeeded in the theft in the end.
Yunxi looked at the defiant expressions on the two men's faces and suddenly spoke into the silence. "Yiwan, check the storage bracelet I gave you."
Xia Yiwan froze for a moment, her eyes widening. She removed the black storage bracelet from her wrist. After a quick sweep with her divine sense, her expression changed slightly. With a turn of her hand, a small black box appeared in her palm. She stepped forward and handed it to her Master.
Seeing the intricate seal on the box, You Zisang didn't break it rashly and instead presented it to her Ancestor for inspection.
Chen Yebai took the box into his hands. Several milky-white strands of spiritual power appeared in his palm and wrapped around the container. Moments later, the seal vanished with a soft click. Liang Xiao and Huo Chongshan's expressions finally changed, their composure crumbling. They glared at Yunxi with pure venom in their eyes.
Yunxi gave them a faint, knowing smile. She could now be sure that Yixian Gate's Undying Tree was indeed safe inside that box.
Chen Yebai put the box away into his own sleeve and looked at Yunxi. "We have Ran Xi Xiaoyou to thank for being so sharp. Otherwise, the evil cultivators really would have succeeded in stealing the sect treasure."
Yunxi returned the courtesy with a polite bow. "Zhēnzūn, you flatter me. This junior was just making a bold guess based on the circumstances. It's a common trick used by evil cultivators, hiding things in plain sight where no one would look. Who would think the item would be on a dying disciple of the sect?
At that point, the heavily injured Xia Yiwan was the perfect tool for their needs. She was allegedly injured while protecting the sect's treasure. Leaving aside others, even You Zisang Daoyou would do everything possible to save her direct disciple's life. In a situation like that, it would be impossible for anyone to forcibly search a storage bracelet that still carried a trace of a disciple's divine sense imprint. That let the Undying Tree hide perfectly within her reach.
Because the item was on Xia Yiwan, she was allowed to live until now. Otherwise, she would have been wiped out long ago to ensure her silence.
When they learned that disciples could be questioned by soul, they immediately crushed their 'companion's' divine soul. That erased the evidence that they were the real traitors within Yixian Gate. At the same time, they could pin the entire blame for the Yinxi medicine leak on a disciple who appeared to be dead, leaving her unable to defend herself. They might even have made You Zisang Daoyou resent her for the betrayal."
After hearing Yunxi's detailed explanation, the various Zhēnzūn in the hall all nodded their heads inwardly. Xiao He Zhēnzūn suddenly spoke up, his voice melodic. "The two of them crushed the divine soul of an evil cultivator to achieve their goal. Why was Xia Yiwan's divine soul able to coexist peacefully with the evil soul without being detected by those around her?"
"That's something you should ask Bing Li Daoyou. She was the one who perfectly restrained the evil cultivator's soul," Yunxi said.
Bing Li chuckled, the sound light. "I'm holding the evil soul under my control by planting a puppet seed in it, making it ignore Xia Yiwan's divine soul entirely."
She kept her explanation vague. That was her trump card, and there was no reason to expose it if she didn't have to.