The hall was completely silent after Lin Fan's final question.
An accusation.
A reverse accusation.
He had basically just called the sect's most respected elders, especially Elder Chen greedy, incompetent cowards in front of everyone, and those are the real demonic taints.
His credibility was now in tatters. None had courage to voice out about his scam pills to stabilise the shaking foundation but now that Lin Fan has called it out, everyone felt a weight lift off their shoulders.
It means they were not the only one who thought Elder Chen was scamming them.
Elder Chen's face was changing colors from furious red to a nasty shade of purple, and he was choking on his words.
He looked at the other elders, then at the unreadable face of the Sect Master, and saw no support. His arguments were dust. But an old fox cornered is still a fox, and he knew that when logic fails, you resort to pure, unadulterated fear.
"Words are cheap!" Elder Chen shrieked, his voice shrill like a cornered rat, filled with desperation. "The taint of the demonic path is not something that can be talked away! It is a stain on the soul! We do not need your clever speeches of sacrifices, Lin Fan! We need absolute proof!"
The Formation Elder, Wu, saw this was their last chance to regain control. He stepped forward, his expression like he is the most righteous person.
"Elder Chen is correct. The threat is too great to be left to chance. There is an ancient method, a way to settle this beyond all doubt."
He turned to the Sect Master, speaking loudly so the whole hall could hear.
"We shall invoke the Trial of the Nine Suns' Radiance. It is a powerful purification formation, drawing upon the purest Yang essence between heaven and earth. Pure Yang energy is the bane of all demonic corruption. A righteous cultivator can endure its cleansing fire. But a soul tainted by demonic arts... will be purified into ash."
A wave of gasps and horrified murmurs swept through the hall.
Outside, Wang Lei, who had been saved by Lin Fan, turned pale. "What? What trial? That's not a trial, it's an execution pyre! The old texts say it was used to execute demonic cultivators during the war, not to test anyone! Even a Core Formation expert with a Yang-attributed art would be heavily injured or crippled!"
"Serves him right, he was acting so high and mighty, now prove that you are what you say."Brother Jin, the sneering disciple, let out a sharp laugh. "Let's see his clever tongue talk its way out of this."
The Sect Master looked down at Lin Fan, his eyes filled with heavy pressure. "Elder Lin Fan. You have heard the proposal. Do you accept?"
In the crowd, Sister Lan leaned forward, a satisfying, cruel smile on her lips. "He'll refuse," she whispered to her friends. "A demon always fears the light. He will show his true face now. This is the end for him."
The entire hall forgot to breathe, waiting for Lin Fan's reply. Then, Lin Fan did something no one expected.
He smiled.
"Of course," he answered, his voice calm and clear. "I accept."
The hall erupted.
"Is he mad?!" Wang Lei cried out in despair.
"He has guts, I'll give him that," Brother Jin admitted, surprised.
Ning Xinyi felt her heart stop beating. Suicide. He's committing suicide. Even she wasn't confident she could survive the Nine Suns' Formation with her Ice Phoenix Cultivation Base.
The smug expressions on Elder Chen and Elder Wu's faces grew even wider. They expected him to refuse, and they were ready with arguments that his refusal was proof of his demonic nature. Instead, he had walked right into their trap.
"However," Lin Fan continued, holding up a hand. His smile held a hint of danger. "Such a righteous trial must be conducted with absolute fairness. If I enter the formation and survive, it proves irrefutably that I am not a demon, correct?"
"That is the principle, yes," Elder Wu affirmed, wondering where this was going.
"And that also means that you all wrongly accused me," Lin Fan stated an obvious.
Elder Chen shrugs at the possibility, thinking inside that 'so what if they wrongly accused him? There is nothing he can do about it.'
"That means, You, my esteemed accusers, knowingly proposed a trial designed to kill a fellow elder. An act of premeditated murder." He pointed a finger at the two elders.
"Lies! You are a demon and we know your true nature! We are only washing away the taint of demonic influence away from our Sect. We are upholding justice here!" Elder Chen roared back.
"Do you?" Lin Fan smirked. "Then you would not hesitate to see justice carried out properly, correct?"
"Of course!"
"Then you will not back down from making a vow with me," Lin Fan said, his voice dropping.
"A vow? With a demon? We make no such thing!"
"Not even in the name of justice?" Lin Fan pressed.
"Speak plainly, demon! What are you plotting now? Or are you just stalling for time?"
"Fine." Lin Fan paused for effect. "Then let this one propose a vow. I shall enter your formation. And when I emerge, alive and unharmed, you two shall immediately take my place…
…You will face the same righteous flames to prove to the Sect Master that your hearts are not the ones tainted by demonic greed!"
The hall was stunned into silence again, everyone's gaze turned towards Elden Chen, in a sense Lin Fan is right, if he walks away unharmed then it does prove that Elden Chen's claim was laced with greed, jealous and malicious intent.
They waited for the Elder Chen to reply because forget about Elder Chen and other accusers, even the crowd, none saw this counter coming. For a moment, everyone was speechless.
"My heavens..." whispered Elder Guan, one of the neutral elders, stroking his beard. "He's turned their own arrogance into a weapon against them. A perfect checkmate... if he can somehow survive the first move."
Wang Lei was too invested, he practically wanted to cheer Lin Fan. "He has a plan! He must have a plan!"
The hall is now in total silence, everyone expecting the elders to back out, this is a lose-lose situation. There has to be another way to test Demonic Taint.
Instead, Elder Chen let out a dry, mocking old man's laugh. He and Elder Wu exchanged a look of pure, malicious glee like they have already won. Survival? Impossible! They have lived long enough to know and confident, even arrogant on their life's experience.
Lin Fan would not survive this, his fate is sealed now.
Elden Chen turned to the crowd making sure everyone is listening and bear witness.
"An excellent proposal!" Elder Chen announced, his voice suddenly loud and full of fake confidence like he is the main protagonist and he has plot armor with him, nothing will happen to him even if the world shatters and skyfall.
"We accept your terms DEMON without hesitation! In fact, let us make it a Dao Vow! If this demon survives the righteous flames, which he will not, then we, Elders Chen and Wu, will gladly step into the formation to prove our own purity! Let the Heavens be our witness!"
For a moment, none understood or expected anything about some Dao Vow. but within a moment everyone's mind understood how arrogant and confident Elden Chen is, he is practically taunting and stating that…
…'Yes, I planned this sanctioned murder of Lin Fan…and none of you can do anything about it.' The realization hit everyone and the whole crowd exploded into a chaos of reactions, especially the people who bought pills from him for their shaky foundation, who trusted him.
Elder Chen is now burning bridges with everyone for the sake of not accepting a side path of mutual settlement.
"A Dao Vow... it's binding, it's final." Wang Lei was hoping for Elden Chen to back out but now everything is sealed. "Nothing can be done now!"
Sister Lan smiled cruelly seeing Lin Fan getting trapped in his own web of boasting and cleverness. "He overplayed his hand. Now the heavens themselves will be his judge. I will enjoy watching him be cleansed."
Elder Mei, who valued the sect's reputation, looked physically hurt at this display of Elden Chen's blatant greed and arrogance. "A public death pact!" she shook her head in disappointment. "We now look like a den of vipers, not a righteous sect! This spectacle has already stained us all."
Ning Xinyi heard none of it, he mind blanked. All she heard or saw was Lin Fan standing alone, betting his life on an impossible miracle. But why? To prove, he is right. She looked up and suddenly saw Lin Fan looking directly at her.
Her heart shook…she immediately saw deeply in Lin Fan's heart. It's not about Sect or his own reputation but he is doing all this for her?
Her heart started beating loudly like a volcano which was about to erupt. She does not understand at all why Lin Fan would go to such length?...
…Unknowingly tears started to flow down from her eyes as she covered her mouth to control herself.
Her emotions were now out of control and she understands none of it.
On the other hand, Sect Master Zhao Tianyi, on the high throne watching everything down below, seeing everything, nothing was going past him.
He leaned forward, he chuckled faintly, none saw it as he was amused and intrigued especially at Lin Fan.
This had escalated beyond mere politics and into something far more entertaining. It was now a pure, high stakes gamble of life, death, and honor.
The game had just become very, very interesting.