Chapter 60 Case Closed

Before Li Xun's voice had even faded, he was knocked out of the air by a joint strike from several individuals.

Upon hitting the ground, the crowd instantly surrounded him and sealed his cultivation.

Li Xun raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, glaring fiercely at the gathered heavyweights as he roared, "What is the meaning of this?"

An elder from the Samsara Sect let out a cold laugh upon hearing this. "Li Xun, matters have reached this point; do you still intend to play dumb and pretend you don't know? A few days ago, the Danding Sect was attacked. Although the perpetrators were the cannibalistic monks of the Asura Gate, the demonic artifacts they used were identical to the ones your Celestial Master Mansion disciple just brandished. How do you explain this? As a disciple of a righteous sect, you use demonic artifacts and even collude with figures from the demonic path to slaughter the Danding Sect. If you cannot give a clear explanation today, none of you are leaving!"

Veins bulging on his forehead and his eyes wide with fury, Li Xun shouted harshly, "Don't wrong me! What demonic artifacts? What cannibalistic monks? I know nothing about this!"

With that, he turned his gaze toward Zhao Changhe. "Elder Zhao, these people are blatantly trying to frame our Celestial Master Mansion. Are you just going to stand there and watch?"

If anyone could be said to be utterly speechless at this moment, it was undoubtedly Zhao Changhe. Without having figured out what was going on, he had been utterly bewildered and subdued by the martial experts of various sects.

Hearing Li Xun's words now, his expression turned as unsightly as it could possibly be. He barked in fury, "Li Xun, what the hell are you playing at? How does your disciple possess demonic artifacts from the Asura Gate?!"

Hearing him say this, Li Xun panicked instantly. "How should I know?!"

Zhao Changhe glared with wide-eyed rage. "Bulls***! What kind of character your disciple has, as his master, could you possibly not know?! Now that things have come to this, I advise you to honestly spill everything and stop dragging the rest of us down with you!"

Just as the two of them were arguing endlessly, Lin Qiaosheng pushed his way through the crowd with an ashen expression.

He held up the interspatial ring in his hand right in front of Li Xun and said coldly, "You don't know? Then let me fill you in. This interspatial ring belonged to the Peak Master of the Splendid Peak of my Vast Ocean Sect. On the day Lin Junxiu met his tragic end, his personal belongings vanished along with his corpse. Shortly after, my Splendid Peak was blown up, and several disciples lost their lives in a sea of fire! The demonic artifacts that blew up my Splendid Peak and the Danding Sect are the exact same ones your disciple just used, yet you claim you know nothing? This interspatial ring and Lin Junxiu's natal magical treasure both appeared in your disciple's hands, and you dare say you don't know what is going on?!"

The colder and more chilling Lin Qiaosheng's tone became with every word, until finally, he gritted his teeth and sneered, "Li Xun, it doesn't matter if you refuse to talk. I will perform soul-searching on you myself! I want to see what kind of secrets you are hiding behind your back!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Li Xun's expression shifted drastically.

Although he had no idea what was going on with the cannibalistic monks or the explosive device, he was hiding other secrets behind his back that could never withstand a soul-search.

As he watched Lin Qiaosheng draw closer and closer, terror gripped Li Xun.

Just as he was racking his brains for a way to break free, an elder from the God of War Temple stepped forward to block Lin Qiaosheng's path.

Lin Qiaosheng raised an eyebrow. "Zhan Wutian, what do you mean by this?"

Zhan Wutian shook his head at Lin Qiaosheng and said in a deep voice, "Sect Master Lin, please calm your anger for the moment. I understand how you feel. Furthermore, I believe everyone present would love to conduct a soul-search on Li Xun. However, doing so is somewhat inappropriate. No matter what, Li Xun is still an elder of the Celestial Master Mansion. If we rashly make a move against him before things are clarified, it is likely to damage the goodwill between our sects. Therefore, I suggest we temporarily detain Li Xun and everyone from the Celestial Master Mansion. Then we can notify Alliance Leader Ji and the head of the Celestial Master Mansion to come over; it won't be too late to ask them to conduct a soul-search on Li Xun then!"

Zhan Wutian's words were entirely reasonable, leaving Lin Qiaosheng with no choice but to suppress the fury in his heart. He instructed Zhao Tongzhou to lead the Law Enforcement Hall disciples and escort everyone from the Celestial Master Mansion into the Vast Ocean Sect's dungeons.

Following this commotion, the disciples of the various sects gathered at the scene could no longer continue their sparring matches.

Receiving orders from their respective leaders, they returned to their guest quarters to rest one after another.

Once the disciples had dispersed, the powerhouses of the various sects gathered together to discuss the events that had just transpired.

As for Wan Yi, he was supported by Zhou Tong and left behind. This wasn't because he didn't want to leave, but rather because Zhou Tong refused to let him go.

The little girl had previously asked Zhou Shuox for medicinal pills, only to have Zhou Shuox treat her demands like a breeze past a donkey's ear. At this moment, she was locked in a stubborn contest of wills with Zhou Shuox!

Outside the crowd, Zhou Shuox looked at his precious daughter's taut, pretty face and coaxed her with a face full of smiles, "Be a good girl, Tongtong. Daddy didn't mean to ignore you just now. Won't you forgive Daddy?"

Upon seeing this, Zhou Tong turned her head to the side and let out a cold, deeply displeased huff.

Seeing this, Zhou Shuox hastily retrieved a porcelain bottle, shoved it into Zhou Tong's hands, and said softly, "Good daughter, don't be mad at Daddy anymore. This is the Heaven-Mending Pill you asked for. Hurry up and take it to feed Wan Yi!"

Seeing that Zhou Tong was still ready to throw a tantrum even after accepting the Heaven-Mending Pill, Zhou Shuox quickly blurted out, "Be a good girl, Tongtong, and go feed the pill to Wan Yi! He's hurt so badly—what are we going to do if he dies later?!"

Reminded by this, Zhou Tong panicked instantly and hurried over to check on Wan Yi's injuries.

Seeing this, Zhou Shuox finally let out a sigh of relief, turned quickly, and plunged headfirst into the group of people holding the council.

Meanwhile, Wan Yi muttered inwardly with a face full of dark lines, "Old bastard, I thank your ancestors for eight generations!"

At this moment, the heavyweights of the various sects were gathered together, discussing how to deal with the Celestial Master Mansion next.

If Li Xun's covert collusion with the demonic path was merely an isolated incident, then everything would be easy to handle.

However, what if the entire Celestial Master Mansion had defected to the demonic path? Then the problem would become grave. One had to know that the strength of the Celestial Master Mansion was second only to the Immortal First Gate, boasting a staggering eight Emperor-realm powerhouses within the sect!

Once a war broke out with them, casualties would inevitably be unavoidable.

For a time, opinions varied wildly among the crowd. Some even suggested that once the head of the Celestial Master Mansion arrived later, they should all strike together to subdue him first, waiting until Alliance Leader Ji Baichuan investigated the truth before making a final decision.

If the Celestial Master Mansion had nothing to do with the demonic path and the whole affair was merely Li Xun's individual action, then everyone would simply release the sect master of the Celestial Master Mansion. At worst, they could all apologize to him together, making sure to preserve both his dignity and his standing, and the matter would be considered closed.

However, if the Celestial Master Mansion truly had ties to the demonic path, then they could use the sect master as leverage to coerce the experts of the Celestial Master Mansion, forcing them not to act rashly.

As soon as this proposal was voiced, it immediately won the approval of many, though quite a few still held opposing views.

Their reasoning was simple: the head of the Celestial Master Mansion was no fool. In the event that he really did have a problem, why would he walk right into a trap just for the sake of a mere Li Xun?

The best course of action at present was to contact the Emperor-realm experts of their own sects as quickly as possible. By gathering the Emperor-realm powerhouses of all the factions together, they could move with the utmost speed to place the Celestial Master Mansion under control before they could react, and conduct the investigation at leisure later.

For a time, various voices rose and fell in succession, with endless arguing making it difficult to reach a unified consensus.

At this moment, Lin Qiaosheng slowly spoke up, "Everyone, please calm yourselves. Actually, I do happen to have a plan!"

To be continued......