Who Says I Don't Have a Mouth?

Lin Qi, who had been suspended in midair by the throat, suddenly broke free of her restraints and fell to the ground.

Everyone turned their heads and saw Elder Yue, with his gray hair and long beard, standing in the ice passage at some unknown time. They all lowered their heads in salute.

"Elder Yue!"

Elder Yue swept up his sleeve. "No need for formalities. What happened here?!"

The managing cultivator could barely contain his indignation and was the first to lodge a complaint. "Elder Yue, not only did this disciple deliberately collapse an ice wall, but she is also arrogant in attitude and shows no remorse whatsoever. She even clamored for you to come see her!"

Knowing that Lin Qi was slow to react and unable to argue effectively with him, Tan Yueqing stepped forward first.

"Elder Yue, this is entirely this senior brother's one-sided account. Lin Qi accidentally knocked over an ice wall, and he immediately claimed that she had gravely violated sect rules and wanted to drive her out of the Lübing Abyss."

Chen En also stepped forward to add, "Xiao Qi refused to be driven out in such a muddleheaded way, so she said she wanted to ask you, Elder Yue, to give us justice. But this senior brother said Lin Qi was only a minor disciple—if she was driven out, then she was driven out. There was no need to trouble you to appear. The sect had plenty of geniuses and did not lack her alone."

Wasn't this just confusing right and wrong, turning black into white?

Who said they didn't have mouths?!

Chen En pulled everyone in as witnesses. "So many disciples here witnessed it all. Whether we are lying or not, you'll know with one question!"

Only after they had finished speaking did Lin Qi slowly open her mouth. "Elder Yue, we have all only recently arrived at the Lübing Abyss and are unclear about many of its rules."

"Last time, Chen En forgot to consume a Fire Spirit Flower and cold qi invaded her body. He came over without a word and warned her, even saying that after three warnings, she would be driven out of the Lübing Abyss."

"Today, I merely brushed against that ice wall. I am certainly responsible for its collapse, but I do not believe the sect rules are so heartless that I should be driven out of the Lübing Abyss directly over one accidental mistake."

Lin Qi climbed up from the ground and gave a respectful bow.

"If the sect rules truly are so, then Lin Qi will accept the punishment. But Lin Qi wishes to know whether the sect truly has such a rule, or whether this managing cultivator is acting on his own authority, doing as he pleases, and bullying disciples from other peaks!"

Lin Qi had spent a month here and witnessed two batches of disciples being oppressed by this managing cultivator.

Whenever newly arrived disciples had any questions, he could not be bothered to answer. If they asked too much, he would turn cold-faced and speak in barbed, mocking tones.

And if a disciple made a mistake, that was even more serious.

He would begin with a torrent of scolding, plugging his ears to any explanation. With a little authority in hand, he thought himself the one in charge of this ice passage.

There were plenty of disciples who disliked him, but since the Lübing Abyss was Slaughter Ice Peak's territory, no one dared openly contradict him.

Elder Yue frowned and pondered for several seconds before turning to ask the managing cultivator, "Did this truly happen?"

The managing cultivator pointed at Lin Qi's group and cursed, "Utter nonsense! Elder Yue, do not listen to their wild babbling!"

Elder Yue neither took Lin Qi's group at their word nor believed the managing cultivator.

He first questioned the cultivators around them one by one to confirm the conversation between the two sides, then went to inspect the collapsed ice wall.

In the end, he concluded, "Lin Qi did not violate sect rules and need not be expelled from the Lübing Abyss."

Then he cast a meaningful glance at the managing cultivator.

"This matter is also my oversight. Starting tomorrow, I will have the rules of the Lübing Abyss carved onto the ice wall at the entrance. Those who violate them will be punished according to the rules."

Lin Qi's eyes lit up. This was exactly what she had been waiting to hear. "What if someone was punished before, but the punishment was unjust?"

Elder Yue looked at her unusually bright eyes, then swept a disappointed glance at the managing cultivator beside him.

"They may come to me and plead their case!"

At that moment, all the cultivators in the ice passage could not help becoming excited.

"Thank you, Elder Yue!"

Hearing the successive cries of thanks, Elder Yue understood just how many people the managing cultivator had offended.

When he looked at him again, his gaze turned several degrees colder.

"Come out with me!"

The managing cultivator did not actually think this was a major matter. At most, he would be criticized for a misjudgment. Could they really strip him of his position?

Still, he obediently followed behind Elder Yue.

Once there was no one around, he stepped forward to beg for mercy.

"Elder Yue, I was wrong about today's matter. Please be magnanimous and do not hold it against me. I will certainly be more careful in the future."

As he spoke, he could not help complaining.

"Disciples nowadays are truly becoming more and more arrogant. I, a managing cultivator, cannot even say a few words to them. The Lübing Abyss is a place for cultivation, yet that little girl does not focus on cultivating. Instead, she forms cliques here and leads others in resisting the managing cultivator."

"And that Tan Yueqing too. She is a disciple of our Slaughter Ice Peak, yet she actually spoke up for these outsiders? If these disciples from other peaks had not come to take up the slots, our Slaughter Ice Peak disciples would not have had to fight until their heads bled over the quotas."

"They use Slaughter Ice Peak's resources and still dare to be so arrogant. They truly have no one in their eyes and are utterly lawless!"

"Shut your mouth!" Elder Yue suddenly roared, glaring at him with wide eyes.

"Who have you said these words to?" Elder Yue stared at him with a dark expression.

The managing cultivator was badly startled and answered timidly, "I-I only said a few words in front of you. I would never talk nonsense outside."

Elder Yue gave a cold laugh. "You are not completely stupid, at least. You know which words can be spoken and which cannot."

The managing cultivator smiled ingratiatingly and pulled several pieces of High-grade Cold Stone from his pocket, offering them to the side.

"Elder Yue, this was only a small matter. Children always like to make mountains out of molehills. Please be generous and pretend you did not see it. I will absolutely be more cautious and careful from now on."

"Later? Who told you there would be a later?"

The managing cultivator's expression changed. He hurriedly asked, "What do you mean by that?! You wouldn't punish me over something this trivial, would you?"

Elder Yue stood with one hand behind her back and spoke unhurriedly. "Who do you think the person you tried to drive out of Lübing Abyss today was? And how do you think she got into Lübing Abyss?"

"No way, there wasn't such a little girl among this year's key prospects of the sect?"

The managing cultivator dared to swagger about the ice passage, but he was no brainless fool.

They all had a list in their hands.

They knew perfectly well whom they could offend and whom they could not.

Elder Yue cast him an indifferent glance. "She is the second disciple newly accepted by True Monarch Qingyun of Zonglei Peak."

"She had a quota to enter Lübing Abyss. It was also because Elder Lu, with the dignity of a Golden Core cultivator, bullied her, a mere Qi Refinement disciple. True Monarch Qingyun is protective of her own, and our peak master was in the wrong, so two quotas were yielded to her."

After hearing this, the managing cultivator's face had gone utterly bloodless.

Wasn't what he had done today exactly the same as Elder Lu?

All at once, he remembered that Elder Lu had recently been found smuggling Pills and had been imprisoned in Law Enforcement Peak.

The next chapter may not be updated until tomorrow night. I'm heading to the countryside tomorrow, but I'll try to get home early and write.