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Even the elders of Flame Hall were gravely injured and could barely stand.

The major sects stood ready, prepared to strike at any moment.

Every one of Flame Hall's elders was a Spirit Transformation powerhouse!

The swordsman showed no trace of Spiritual Power. With nothing but his Righteous Sword Intent, he had easily defeated those Spirit Transformation powerhouses. Every sect had reason to take such strength seriously.

Amid the tension, Li Zi's and the system's voices sounded in the minds of the assembled powerhouses.

[Is that Gong Lin? How did he end up in such a sorry state? Life must have been hard after Wen Yun destroyed his cultivation.]

At last, the man who had stood in the center of the square like a stone statue moved.

He slowly raised his head.

In his gaunt face, his pitch-black eyes seemed capable of swallowing souls.

The person he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Everyone powerful enough to be present could hear Li Zi's thoughts, so that alone did not surprise them.

But...

What stunned them was this: Wen Yun had destroyed the man's cultivation?

Why?

Wen Yun, the foremost Painting Immortal, kept aloof from worldly affairs. Cold, solitary, and proud, he was a true immortal beyond the concerns of mortals.

Who exactly was this man?

At the sound of that name, the elders of Flame Hall all felt their pupils contract.

"Gong Lin! It's you! You wretch who betrayed your masters!"

The system suddenly said, [A traitor? He was no traitor. He was falsely accused. In fact, Flame Hall only survived to this day because of him.]

Li Zi asked, [Tell me more. What happened?]

Everyone else pricked up their ears.

Even the Flame Hall elders frowned in confusion.

Years ago, Gong Lin had led a group of disciples down the mountain for training and failed to return.

When the Sect sent people to investigate, they found that all the disciples had died by Gong Lin's weapon, while Gong Lin himself had vanished.

The Sect concluded that Gong Lin had murdered the disciples and fled.

And what did it mean that Flame Hall had survived to this day because of him?

Gong Lin had already withdrawn his gaze and resumed his role as a stone statue.

Thank you, little girl.

[Here's what happened. When Gong Lin was still a Flame Hall disciple, he took some disciples down the mountain for training and happened upon a Demonic Beast. They fought it to the bitter end. Gong Lin was badly wounded and fell unconscious, while everyone else died. When the Flame Hall people arrived, they assumed he had killed the disciples and fled the Sect.]

The Flame Hall elders found that account absurd.

"Impossible!"

One elder could not help crying out.

Another elder hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth.

Don't alert him!

Let her keep talking!

Li Zi heard the elder and glanced over. Seeing nothing amiss, she questioned the system.

[That doesn't add up. If a Demonic Beast really appeared, how could these elders have failed to detect its Demonic Aura? System, is this story reliable?]

Exactly!

If a Demonic Beast had appeared, they would certainly have sensed it and immediately sounded the alarm throughout the Cultivation World.

But they had investigated at the time. There really had been no Demonic Aura!

[That's because someone cleaned up the scene.] The system flipped rapidly through its book. [Whoa, it was Wen Yun, the foremost Painting Immortal! This is juicy. Wen Yun cleaned up the scene, took Gong Lin away, and destroyed all his cultivation! I never expected this affair to be so sensational! And Wen Yun threatened Gong Lin: if he ever set foot in Flame Hall again, Wen Yun would wipe out the entire Sect.]

No, wait!

This wasn't about whether the story was sensational!

Why had Wen Yun erased the traces of the Devil Race at the scene?

And why had he made it look as though Gong Lin had betrayed the Sect and fled?

Those were the real questions!

Members of the surrounding sects began whispering among themselves.

Li Zi's cultivation was still too shallow for her to hear what they were saying.

But she was not interested in anyone else right now.

[System, why? Why would Wen Yun do that? That was a Demonic Cultivator! My master said there's a barrier between the Demon Realm and the Immortal Realm. The Demon Realm has always wanted to invade the Immortal Realm, and the two sides are mortal enemies. A Demonic Beast appearing in the Cultivation World is a huge problem, isn't it?]

The powerhouses of the Spirit Sword Sect were gratified to hear her ask.

The Sect Master sighed inwardly. Old Fifth has taught his disciple well.

It seemed teaching Li Zi about these matters had been important after all.

Gong Lin gently closed his eyes. Tears gathered at their corners, yet his lips curved upward.

Yes. Back then, Wen Yun had tormented him for months.

He could have endured his own suffering, but he could not bear to see Huo Fei humiliated by that hypocrite too.

The system said, [Wen Yun cared about saving face. When he discovered that the Demonic Cultivator had come through a Rift in territory managed by his Lineage, he secretly dealt with it to spare his Lineage the shame. Oh, and he was the one who finished off those Flame Hall disciples. They could still have been saved.]

The Flame Hall disciples were stunned!

So were the powerhouses all around them!

A Rift had opened in the barrier to the Demon Realm within his Lineage's territory, and Wen Yun had concealed it?

Their fists clenched!

Everyone powerful enough to be present knew what that meant.

Whenever a Rift appeared, the entire Cultivation World had to be informed so everyone could gather and work out how to resolve it.

Only then could they hope to prevent a war between immortals and demons.

No wonder the Rift had already grown so large by the time the Devil Race's invasion was discovered.

It was because he had concealed it!

Had so many people died, their paths to cultivation severed, all because Wen Yun had put his own interests first?

Li Zi's blood pressure soared. She counted on her fingers.

Rankings

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Transmigration into a book

Female supporting character fiction

Immortal cultivation fiction

Cannon fodder