The male cultivator's background was rather tragic, but that was not something a sob story could solve.
Cai Luan questioned him directly without even waiting for Scarlet Luan to speak. "When you joined the sect, didn't you know what kinds of people Red Phoenix refused to accept?"
"I knew." The male cultivator nodded. "But I left with my mother when I was very young. I never considered that place my hometown. Besides, I hate the Yin Sha Sect. They hate the Red Phoenix Sect, so I insisted on joining Red Phoenix."
"In your case..." Cai Luan shook her head speechlessly. "If that was the situation, why didn't you explain it at the time?"
The Red Phoenix Sect refused disciples from certain places, but that was not absolutely beyond negotiation—though exceptions were almost never made.
Yet the male cultivator stubbornly insisted, "I don't consider myself a person of Netherworld Mountain, and... I was afraid of being rejected."
"That's enough, Senior Sister Cai Luan." Scarlet Luan spoke in a deep voice. "There's something wrong with this man's eyes... probably because he was never trained."
Cai Luan glanced at her, thinking that he had left Netherworld Mountain so early on. How could he possibly have received any training?
Scarlet Luan had served in the Discipline Hall for quite some time and understood this well. She spoke calmly. "The Discipline Hall has captured so many Yin Sha spies that we've lost count. I've seen plenty like him. Their claims that the Yin Sha Sect wronged them are all excuses."
"He was young at the time, but if his mother harbored resentment, she could easily have accepted arrangements to become a spy."
"Even his mother's death may have been predetermined, meant to sever all clues that could be traced back. For people like this, the