Lu Feng's face darkened as he demanded, "What exactly happened?"
Bitterness surfaced on Xue Zier's face. "It was Rui Ying. He forced us."
"Purple Cloud Mountain was cowed by the Limitless Sect's might and dared not defy them. To avoid being bullied, I had no choice but to pretend to agree, then found an opportunity along the way to send you word."
"I swear, I truly did not know beforehand that he would use a spring poison of Paradise Hundred-Day Powder's caliber. Another fellow disciple of mine was responsible for the poison. Had I known, I would never have allowed her to harm Young Miss Jiang."
"My original intention was that, since Young Miss Jiang had ties to Master, I would use the Limitless Sect's hand to help Master turn raw rice into cooked rice with her. That was why I used matters concerning Master as an excuse to lure her out."
"Who could have thought that one stray thought would brew such a grave mistake?"
Lu Feng cut her off. "Did that fellow disciple of yours know what poison was used?"
Xue Zier fell silent. After struggling for a long while, she said, "Paradise Hundred-Day Powder is no ordinary poison. It requires a particular method to administer without anyone noticing. She should have known about it, but she must have been forced into obeying Rui Ying as well. I beg Master to spare—"
Before Xue Zier could finish, Xue Lang interrupted, "When I arrived, I saw people from Purple Cloud Mountain gathering corpses. The fellow disciple you mentioned was likely already murdered by Rui Ying."
Tang Yuan said angrily, "That old thief really was crafty enough to wipe out everyone in the know."
Xue Zier declared resolutely, "I can testify against him."
Lu Feng sighed. "It's useless. Last