"You were innocent? You think saying you were merely following orders, with no choice in the matter, absolves you of your sins? Then what of the millions of lives lost outside your Netherworld Sect?" Gu Yuanqing's expression was indifferent. "Without support, could Li Youhe have readily mobilized the Nine Nether Lamp and laid such a lethal formation? As sect elders, even if you weren't the masterminds, you were still accomplices! Now that the tide has turned, you want to wag your tails and beg for mercy? There are no such bargains under heaven!"
The Spirit Venerable also spoke. "Things have reached this point. An accounting must be given to the world. If the Netherworld Sect truly wishes to repent, then it is simple: open the grand formation, and I shall use the Heart Mirror to examine whether you have committed evil. The innocent shall live; the guilty shall die!"
Xiao Lingyue, Ji Shan, and the others said nothing, but their eyes and expressions made it clear that their thoughts were no different from Gu Yuanqing's.
To cultivators, mortals were like mayflies. A single period of secluded cultivation might span several mortal generations.
But cultivators, too, came from the mortal world, and that world was the foundation of the Cultivation World. The Netherworld Sect's actions had crossed the bottom line.
Never mind the present—even during the Righteous-Evil Alliance, the Netherworld Sect would have had to give an accounting.
The smile on Yin Jiu's face froze completely, then slowly vanished, replaced by gloom and icy coldness.
A vicious glint flashed through his clouded eyes. "Daoist friends, are you determined to slaughter us to the last?"
The Spirit Venerable said, "This is not slaughtering you to the last. What the Netherworld Sect has done has enraged heaven and man alike! Millions perished at