The moment the list was unveiled, it stirred up another towering wave of controversy. Criticism surged like a tide. Why were those three who weren't Mount Wukang disciples taking part too?
They had known this criticism would come, and someone was assigned to explain publicly that Xiang Lan'er, Shi Chun, and Wu Jinliang had formally become Mount Wukang disciples. Their seniority was quite high, too-they were martial uncles and aunts to many of those present.
After seeing the list and returning to the Disciplinary Affairs Court, Pang Tiansheng nearly slapped his thigh in two, laughing nonstop.
Anyone could see that the three disciples the sect had hastily recruited were there to take the lightning strike for its real disciples.
Bian Weiying was stunned when she saw the official list of participants, then hurried to find her mother and learn the truth.
Bian Weikang, meanwhile, looked as though his parents had died. He rushed back to his cramped lodging in a panic and grabbed Xiang Lan'er, asking what had happened.
Xiang Lan'er smiled as calmly as she could. "I volunteered. If I have a chance to become a true disciple of Mount Wukang, it'll be easier for your parents to accept us being together, and Mount Wukang won't have any reason not to accept me. I can't watch you suffer alone. I have to do something."
Bian Weikang held her by both arms, fighting the sting in his nose, but in the end he collapsed onto the floor and cried like a child.
He wasn't stupid. How could he not know that Xiang Lan'er had signed up under pressure?
No outsider could imagine what he had endured since returning to Mount Wukang. Under Bian Jixiong's deliberate arrangements, he gritted his teeth every day through all manner of harassment and humiliation, doing