Brain Kicked by a Donkey?

The entire Demon Suppression Division erupted in an instant.

Chu Mengxi, Meng Kuo, and the other Bronze Token Demon Slayers rushed to the scene at once. Facing the aggressively advancing members of the Li Family, their expressions were exceptionally grave.

"Li Family Head, what is the meaning of this?!"

Forcing herself to withstand the pressure, Chu Mengxi questioned him coldly.

"What meaning?"

Li Bantian let out a cold sneer. His hawk-like eyes locked tightly onto Lin Feng as he slowly emerged from the courtyard.

"My son Tianyu died tragically at the hands of the Demon Suppression Division. As his father, what is wrong with seeking justice for him?"

His voice was like rolling thunder, brimming with endless fury and killing intent.

"Lin Feng! Get out here!"

"You killed my beloved son. Today, if you do not give my Li Family an explanation, I will make you—and your entire Demon Suppression Division—pay blood for blood!"

Li Bantian's roar rang through the entire Demon Suppression Division like a thunderclap.

The terrifying pressure of a Dan Yuan Realm expert bore down like something tangible, leaving every Meridian Opening Realm and True Qi Realm Demon Slayer present gasping for breath, their faces turning pale.

The Dan Yuan Realm was an entirely different level of life.

With every gesture, one could draw upon the power of heaven and earth. Its strength was far beyond what a True Qi Realm martial artist could compare to.

Before the thunderous fury of such an expert, the people of the Demon Suppression Division felt powerless for the first time.

"Li Family Head, please calm down!"

Chu Mengxi forced herself through the pressure and stepped forward, frost covering her cool, beautiful face.

"We deeply regret your son's death. But that day, the one Lin Feng slew was the Skin-Peeling Demon that had been wreaking havoc in the commandery city. There are both witnesses and physical evidence. With nothing but empty words, what makes you say it was someone from our Demon Suppression Division who killed your son?"

Her words were reasonable and well-supported.

When the Skin-Peeling Demon died, Lin Feng had blasted it into scraps with a single slash. Not even a hair had remained.

What made the Li Family so certain that demon had been their son?

Logically speaking, it simply did not hold water.

"Empty words?"

Li Bantian seemed to have heard the greatest joke in the world. A cruel sneer appeared on his face as he slowly withdrew a palm-sized brocade box from his robes.

"I, Li Bantian, have roamed Nan Yan Commandery for decades. I never act without certainty!"

He suddenly opened the brocade box. An icy aura, filled with deathly stillness and resentment, instantly spread through the area.

Inside the box lay half of a shattered jade tablet.

The tablet was blood-red throughout, its surface covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as though it might crumble completely at any moment.

"This is the Lifebound Soul Jade of a direct descendant of my Li Family, refined through a blood sacrifice. When its owner dies, the jade shatters."

Li Bantian's voice was cold, utterly devoid of emotion.

"My son Tianyu's Soul Jade shattered on the very night the Skin-Peeling Demon was slain!"

Chu Mengxi's expression changed instantly.

The Lifebound Soul Jade was a secret art many great families used to monitor the safety of their core descendants.

The timing matched!

Yet she still held her ground. "Th-this can only prove that your son was killed that night. It cannot prove that Lin Feng was responsible!"

"Is that so?"

The mockery at the corners of Li Bantian's mouth deepened as he took out another fragment of Soul Jade.

"This fragment, from the Soul Jade my son kept on his person, was found at the site where the Skin-Peeling Demon was executed."

"Moreover... my Li Family has been passed down for centuries, and naturally possesses its own secret arts. This old man spent seven whole days and expended vast amounts of Lineage resources before finally tracing the last lingering strand of energy that shattered it from this broken Soul Jade!"

He abruptly raised his head. Those hawk-like eyes fixed on Lin Feng as he said, word by word:

"That energy was supremely hard and supremely yang, filled with an aura that could burn all things to ashes! It came from the same source as your Demon Suppression Division's Blazing Sun Art! It was even... purer and more overbearing than ordinary Blazing Sun Art true qi!"

"Lin Feng! What do you have to say for yourself now?!"

The moment those words fell, the entire scene was stunned.

Everyone's gaze unconsciously focused on Lin Feng.

If the timing of the Soul Jade's shattering could be dismissed as a coincidence, then the aura of that cultivation art was irrefutable ironclad evidence!

Throughout Nan Yan Commandery, nearly everyone who cultivated arts from the Blazing Sun Art lineage belonged to the Demon Suppression Division.

And someone who had cultivated this art to Lin Feng's level—surpassing even his predecessors—was utterly without equal!

The evidence was as solid as a mountain!

Chu Mengxi's expression tightened, then gradually relaxed.

At first, she had suspected that someone present that day had leaked the news.

Now that she heard the clue had been discovered through a Soul Jade fragment found at the scene, she finally breathed easier.

Because this was enough to prove that there was no traitor among them.

But another strange point immediately followed.

The Skin-Peeling Demon had been chopped apart by Lin Feng until not even scraps remained. How could any Soul Jade fragment have been left behind?

She instinctively looked at Lin Feng, only to discover that not only was there not the slightest trace of panic on his face, there was instead... a thoughtful expression.

Their eyes met, and with a single exchange of glances, they instantly understood each other's thoughts.

This was a trap!

A trap meticulously arranged from the moment the Skin-Peeling Demon appeared!

Someone had been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!

The death of the Skin-Peeling Demon and the death of Li Tianyu were both merely links in this trap!

And the Li Family Head who had produced this ironclad evidence appeared to be a victim seeking justice.

In truth, he too was merely being wielded as a weapon by the mastermind behind the scenes...

A pawn!

"Who?"

Stormy waves surged within Chu Mengxi's heart.

Who had such audacity?

To scheme against the cunning Skin-Peeling Demon.

To scheme against the foremost family in the commandery city.

To scheme against the Demon Suppression Division?

"Li Family's second young master, Li Tianhe!"

A thought suddenly sprang into Chu Mengxi's mind.

With Li Tianyu dead, the greatest beneficiary was undoubtedly his ambitious younger brother, Li Tianhe, whom he had always kept beneath him!

Only Li Tianhe would have had both the opportunity and the greatest likelihood of getting close to Li Tianyu's Soul Jade, allowing him to set this trap!

Borrowing the Demon Suppression Division's blade to kill his own brother!

Chu Mengxi was nearly certain that this was Li Tianhe's scheme.

However.

Lin Feng had thought more deeply and farther than she had.

While Chu Mengxi directed every spearhead at Li Tianhe, the Li Family's second young master, a huge question mark surfaced in Lin Feng's mind.

Li Tianhe?

The logic was sound, but in truth...

Strange.

Suppose I were Li Tianhe.

I was ambitious and wanted to get rid of my own brother, becoming the Lineage's sole heir.

Through some means, I learned of the Skin-Peeling Demon's existence and reached some sort of agreement with it, having it seize my brother's body.

Then I would devise a plan to lure the Demon Suppression Division into action and have them cut down Li Tianyu after he had been possessed by the Skin-Peeling Demon.

The plan would have been flawless.

The thorn in my eye, the splinter in my flesh would be gone, and his death would seem perfectly reasonable. Everyone would think he had vanished for no apparent reason.

All I would need to do would be squeeze out a few crocodile tears at the funeral, then naturally take over all the resources and status he left behind.

That was what a clever conspirator should have done.

But what if I refused to do that?

After my brother died, not only would I fail to quietly make my fortune, I would even go out of my way to expose the so-called truth that the Demon Suppression Division had killed Li Tianyu to Li Bantian.

Then I would have Li Bantian bring the entire Lineage's power to the Demon Suppression Division, arriving in a fearsome show of force to make trouble.

Risking the enormous danger of exposing myself?

Why?

Li Tianhe might truly have been the one who designed Li Tianyu's death.

But the person who had truly exposed this trap could never have been him.