The Cultivators present were torn between turning to the "puppets" who were rushing at them and us! Jiang Cheng went to the front line and snapped Zidian to repel the attackers.

Strangely, instead of eliminating his opponent, he was just stunned and got up almost immediately!

The attackers threw themselves against the farmers. Something was wrong. Zidian had no effect on his targets. Even Jiang Cheng didn't seem to understand.

Wei Ying and Wen Ning entered the battle. Jiang Cheng was spitting blood!

What was going on? He wasn't the only one in this case!

Suddenly, I saw Uncle doing the same, I was standing between him and his opponents. All the cultivators one after the other lost their power. Soon, only the disciples who had been locked up in the cave, Wei Ying, Wen Ning and I, were left to fight.

SiZhui appeared at the entrance of the Yiling Patriarch's lair.

"All of you! Come here. Go into the cave! There was a magic circle on the ground. If we restore it, it will hold them back for a while at least.

SuShe , still him, replied not to listen to him and that it was surely a plan from the beginning of Wei Wuxian. He had set a trap for them.

I wondered who had set a trap for whom?

"Death awaits you outside. Inside too. You are in a dead end. Going inside will at least save you some time! Su Clan Chief, why are you in such a hurry to see them die with you? What are your intentions?"

Thank you, my love, you just said loud and clear what I have been thinking for a while.

It was HuaiSang who determined the behavior of the other cultivators by deciding to go to the shelter of the cave. Helped also by the young disciples and in particular, ZiZhen who pointed out that if we had wanted to hurt them, we could have done it long ago!

Most of them took refuge inside. Only the Su Clan stayed outside. I saw Wei Ying talking to the clan leader and then heading for the cave. Eventually they followed him.

When everyone was safe, he called Wen Ning and me. We entered the cave and the Ghost General stood in the way of the door to prevent our pursuers from entering.

Uncle decided to use what little spiritual energy he had left to repair the protective circle. As soon as this was done, our attackers were no longer heard, repelled from a distance by the talisman.

Wei Ying and I then turned back to the rest of the assembly. Uncle pointed his sword at us!

He would never change! He had no confidence in me and my judgment! Even after all the food for thought that Wei Ying had given them.

"Uncle" He did not change his position.

There was no point in insisting. He wouldn't listen to me!

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, but since we are here, let's talk for a while."

But of course nobody wanted to listen to him!

 "Aren't you curious to know how you were poisoned?" He reminded them that he was not able to do it without them noticing, but they did not look convinced. Uncle nevertheless sheathed his gun.

It was Nie HuaiSang who came to our aid once again...innocently?

"I think that what he says makes sense.

Wei Ying made a little summary of what must have happened! Since they had not had time to eat together before the assault, the poison did not come from the food.

SiZhui pointed out that it couldn't be a poison, because no poison was capable of blocking spiritual energy. If it was, it would be a rare commodity and it would be known!

A doctor present examined some of the growers and concluded that the loss of their powers would only be momentary and would take at least 4 hours to regenerate. This news caused a stir, especially as the "puppets" began to attack the cave door again.

Strangely, only my love did not seem to be worried. Was this why HuaiSang turned to him or did he have another purpose? I couldn't say...

"How can this circle keep us going for 4 hours? Brother Wei, what should we do?

Wei Ying reminded them that only 2 groups still had their powers. The two of us and the group of young disciples who had been locked up in the cave. As for them... they were useless. This thought made many people wince, for it is true that if our intentions were malicious, none of them would be able to resist us, not even the young disciples!

SuShe, once again, provoked Wei Ying, inciting the other clans to rise up against us.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

Wei Ying, were you doing it on purpose or was your memory failing? I preferred to think that you were mocking him on purpose.

Jingyi intervened.

Good kid, just like SiZhui, he had great admiration for you since Yi.

"So what? It's not a poison. So what?"

Wei Ying continued his deductions. There had to be a reason for their loss of spiritual energy. He asked everyone to think about what they had all done together.

HuaiSang suggested water. But several farmers said that no one would dare to drink water from the Burial Ground.

Then he suggested the mist, but Jin Ling objected that he and his companions had been locked up in the cave for two days, where the mist was thickest, and they still had their spiritual energy.

SuShe intervened again to incriminate Wei Ying.

I thought he talked too much, a little silence would do him a world of good and you could continue your investigations, my love! The silence spell was really a beautiful creation!

SuShe was silent all of a sudden, even you were surprised. But like all the members of the Lan Clan, you understood what I had just done. SiZhui explained to those who did not know about the silence spell.

"I said, "Go on. Everyone understood, I think, that I would not tolerate interrupting you again!

"It's strange, the leader of the Su clan here has been acting strangely recently. When the puppets surrounded us, he tried to convince those who had lost their energy to resist and die with him. Now he is trying to prevent us from finding a solution and keeps provoking me. Is he afraid that you will survive? That doesn't make sense! Why would an ally act like this?

"It seems that the Su Clan of Molin doesn't have a very good relationship with the Lan Clan of Gusu."

Jingyi explained that Molin's Su Clan came from the Lan Clan. SiZhui corrected, saying that the clan leader had formed his own sect after leaving the Lan Clan and that their fighting technique and use of music were identical to those of the Lan Clan!

I remained stoic, but SiZhui had just stated a truth that would surely pique Wei Ying's curiosity!

It seemed that Jingyi was not finished with the Su clan leader. It seemed like he was mad at her for copying me!

SuShe managed to break free from the silence spell and retorted, that for a clan whose life principle is elegance and moral integrity, the behavior of its young disciples left something to be desired!

I must admit, that if the behavior of Jingyi, helped us in the development of our reflection, it was not less contrary to the rules of conduct!

The rivalry between the Su clan of Molin and the Lan clan began to break out. Someone tried to settle the situation by saying that they should stick together. But this only made things worse. The tone rose between the disciples of the 2 clans. And then a sentence made Wei Ying react!

"Who is being arrogant? Which clan played the piece that should subdue the demons with so many mistakes without realizing it?"

I saw that Wei Ying had understood what these words meant at the same time as me! The collection of torment! Was it possible that SuShe had played one of those cursed pieces and that was why they had all lost their spiritual energy? Wei Ying continued.

"Have you forgotten what you all have in common? You killed 'puppets'!"

"We would have realized if something had happened," Jiang Cheng said.

Wei Ying explained to them that it was not the puppets themselves but the people who were present during the fight. He turned to uncle.

"Grandmaster Lan, can I ask you a question?" Uncle chuckled and retorted.

"If you have a question, why don't you ask him and come and ask me?

For once Wei Ying wanted to be respectful of etiquette... !

"So I'll ask him. Lan Zhan, Molin's Su clan, even though he is not part of the Lan clan has imitated the Lan clan's exclusive techniques, right "

"Yes"

"One of the Lan Clan's techniques can subdue demons and evil. Among the instruments, the seven-stringed Qin is the most effective. That's why most of your members use the Qin. The Su Clan imitates your clan, so their disciples use it too. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

I think I saw what you were getting at!

"The Su Clan's leader had learned the Lan Clan's pieces and techniques before he left and then built his own clan. But his mastery of Qin is more than imperfect, so his disciples also make mistakes. Correct?"

"Yes."

"So even if they played a passage incorrectly during the battle, the Lan clan wouldn't pay attention to it. You would just think that he learned it wrong or made a mistake in the score instead of asking yourself ... if he did it deliberately!"

At these words, I noticed that Uncle and some of the other cultivators reacted and started to really pay attention to Wei Ying's words.

"Isn't that Chief of the Su Clan?"

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