All the clan leaders were gathered in the main hall of the "Lotus Pier". From a distance, I saw Jiang Cheng sitting in the center. A servant came in and spoke in his ear. He apologized to his guests and left. He stopped for a moment and looked us straight in the eye. From his hostile look, we understood that we were not welcome inside.

After he left, Wei Ying invited me to sit on the steps. I preferred to stand. I leaned against a column while Wei Ying sat down. The waiting began. I thought back to all the events of the last few days.

We were now sure that the mastermind of the story was Jin GuangYao. He was the one who orchestrated everything with the help of Xue Yang and Su She. Xue Yang had forged the amulet with the 5th piece of Yin Iron. They had 16 years to learn how to use it. Nie MingJue was probably killed by Xue Yang or Su She, Jin GuangYao was not a man to get his hands dirty when others could do it for him. According to what he had said in the secret room, Mon Xuan Yu had discovered the secret of the sacrificial rite in a book when he was in Jinlintai. Wei Ying thought that he must have discovered the secret that caused the wife of the chief patriarch to commit suicide.

In my opinion, his opponent was Nie HuaiSang. I know it sounds unbelievable, but who else but him could have been in possession of Baxia? The problem I couldn't solve was why the spirit of this sword had appeared at the Mô manor? Did he know that Mo Xuan Yu was going to offer his body as a sacrifice to Wei Ying? If he did, then that meant that he was the one who had pushed him to do it! HuaiSang was not a warrior! So he needed an armed arm and who better than the Patriarch of Yiling could become one and carry out his revenge for him?

Wei Ying slumped on the steps.

"Behave yourself properly!"

"Jiang Cheng has been gone for a while. Why isn't he coming back?"

Footsteps were heard on the gallery. Jiang Cheng appeared accompanied by two women. One of them was veiled. He stopped at the top of the stairs, looked at us and after a while told us to come in.

We entered the large room. Was it out of caution or instinct, but we stayed near the entrance. Jiang Cheng asked the two women which one wanted to start by telling her story. The young veiled woman began. Her name was Sissi.

She wanted to tell us about an incident that happened 11 years ago. At that time, she was a prostitute. The wife of one of her clients, jealous of the attention he was giving her, decided to teach her a lesson and paid some thugs to slash her face. Disfigured, her popularity in the brothel where she worked was affected and finally she was fired. Not knowing what else to do, she went to join the street prostitutes, for whom the customers were less careful.

One day, one of her colleagues was offered a contract. The client needed a large number of women of their condition. The work was well paid and in advance. They had assumed a rich client who wanted to slum it. But she wondered, if he was so rich, why would he use prostitutes of low status and a bad feeling came over her. They were greeted by a smiling but disturbing man who was playing with a dagger. They were then ushered into a darkened room. A man hidden behind a curtain told them that he had not explained what they had to do and that their client was waiting for them.

They pushed aside the curtains to a bed where they found a man lying tied to his bedposts. Then they heard the voice say to them:

"Father, these are your favorite women. Does this please you?" Followed by a cynical laugh!

She was talking about Jin GuangYao and her father Jin Guang Shan.

What could they do? So they did what they were paid to do. After a while he stood still and did not move.

"He .... died ... like this? " said the head of the Yao clan

But the story did not end with the death of their "client" because the man behind the curtain told them ... to continue!

Everyone in the room was outraged and could not believe their ears.

As for me, I knew the rumors about Jin Guang Shan and his "needs". Even though we rarely talked about these things, I was not as innocent as some people thought. I had always been very successful with women even though I didn't pay them any attention. And then a certain doctor was in charge of educating me on the subject!

You could say that Jin GuangYao had a sense of humor about making his father die of "pleasure" with prostitutes! Jin Guang Shan had never married the mother of his bastard son or even made her a concubine. There must have been a message of revenge for his father in Jin GuangYao's way of acting.

Despite the commotion in the room caused by her revelations, Sissi continued her story. After the death of their client, they knew that they were in a bad position. Indeed, all her sisters were executed.

"So why are you alive?" asked Wei Ying.

I was wondering about that too!

She didn't know, she had begged them and been locked up for 11 years in a dungeon. She had managed to escape recently, but did not know the identity of the person who had helped her.

However, after hearing her story, he wanted it to come out in the open. As for her, she wanted justice for her sisters.

"Is there any proof of what you are saying? My love asked.

"No," she replied.

"His speech is so detailed, it could not be wrong!

When it was the Patriarch of Yiling who spoke, we did not believe him even if he had proof! And there 1 unknown person told a story that she could not prove and everyone believed her!!! Wei Ying was right once again! Once they have chosen a target, they have a reason to unite and believe they are smart and have the truth! And the one who was currently in their sights was Jin GuangYao. Although this fact reassured me because they had changed their objective, there was no proof that this woman's words were true.

Uncle stood up and walked towards the second woman, the one dressed in purple.

"Miss, I have the impression of having seen you before?

"You have indeed seen me before. I was with the mistress of the Qin clan of Yueling during the conference.

"You are Mrs. Qin's servant, Bicao."

"Yes, ...what I am about to tell you is 12 or 13 years old

She began her story. Her mistress loved her daughter and raised her with tenderness. But when she heard that her daughter was getting married, she fell into a state of great sadness? She had nightmares and hardly slept at all. Everyone thought it was because she was deeply attached to her daughter and did not want to let her go. As a servant attached to her mistress, she had tried to comfort her by telling her that her daughter was going to marry a handsome, good and loyal young man who would make her happy after their wedding. But this made her even sadder. After the wedding, her mistress fell ill and before she left she revealed her secret to her. Her daughter Qin Su and her husband Jin GuangYao could not be a couple because they were brother and sister!

Her revelation caused even more commotion than Sissi's.

I now understood why Qin Su committed suicide. The letter that was given to her that night must have told her that her husband was also her brother. I saw Jin Ling's reaction. He had always loved his uncle Jin. He had practically raised him. He lived next to him! He must have felt betrayed.

Bicao explained that Jin GuangShan had always found Mrs. Qin beautiful and attractive, and one night after getting drunk, he had raped her. The head of the Jin clan did not even remember! Shortly before the wedding, she went to Jin GuangYao and told him everything, begging him to cancel the wedding, but the wedding took place anyway. He had married her knowing the truth!

This time, insults were heard in addition to whispers.

The head of the Yao clan found the behavior of Jin GuanShan, the former head of the Jin clan, unspeakable. He had coveted and raped the wife of his right-hand man and friend.

The head of the Ouyang clan intervened.

"If Jin GuangYao wanted to establish his position in the Jin clan, he needed an influential father-in-law like Qin Cangye to support him. He needed this marriage."

"But Jin GuangYao's misdeeds are unmatched. Who could be worse?" said the head of the Yao clan.

Hypocrite! A few hours ago, it was Wei Ying you were railing against. You accused him of the worst words, killing your children, creating "puppets" to foment a revolt and what else! Now your wrath was directed at Jin GuangYao! Of course he deserved it, but was it a reason to judge him without proof? These two women, even if they seemed sincere, didn't bring any evidence, just their word!

Wei Ying leaned towards me.

"It's no wonder that Qin Su was told that A-Song had to die.

Wei Ying did not finish until Chief Yao also mentioned the son of Qin Su and Jin GuangYao.

Incestuous children were likely to be handicapped when they grew up. When the child was young, it was not noticeable, but when he grew up, it was not the same. Jin GuangYao could not allow anyone to point out his situation. If her child had a disability, some people might have blamed it on the courtesan's blood in him. So he had to disappear. By accusing his worst opponent of murder he killed two birds with one stone!

Whoever was behind this was really well informed. Even though I had been convinced that Jin GuangYao's opponent was Nie HuaiSang until now, I wondered if he was mentally strong enough to have organized all this? How did he find these two women? How did he find out that they had secrets about the Chief Patriarch? A doubt had crept into me.

Wei Ying asked her if she was the one who gave a letter to Qin Su. Bicao hesitated. Wei Ying insisted. She finally admitted that she had given it to him. He asked why she had decided to talk after more than 10 years of silence. Why did she have to reveal it to everyone?

He pointed out that by revealing this secret to his young mistress, his letter had caused her to commit suicide.

"This bracelet is beautiful!" said Wei Ying while fixing a superb jade bracelet.

Bravo, she was "paid" to give this testimony!

Uncle squinted his eyes! Did he understand what Wei Ying had proven with her questions to these two women? Namely, the existence of a third person who had directed these 2 "witnesses" to us!

"And yet who sent you here today?"

Nie HuaiSang what were you looking for when you asked this question? If you were indeed behind this, were you looking to see if they had identified you in the assembly?

"We just need to know that this person is a justice-loving person and that he is on our side.

"There are many things that leave us skeptical" I said

"What are they? "said Uncle

Wei Ying spoke about our questions. For example, why did Sissi survive unlike the others? And he asked for the evidence.

Once again, they accepted a "truth" without proof!

One of the cultivators said something that gave me a chill because I had thought of it myself.

Sixteen years ago, Jin GuangYao depended on Nie MingJue and my brother. They had helped him to get his position as the leader of Jin Clan. He had probably killed Nie MingJue and was currently holding my brother hostage.

He had killed his father, his son, his brother in arms, probably his biological brothers.

It is true that Mon Xuan Yu was lucky to be alive! But was he really lucky? I wondered.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)