"Demonic Daoist, where do you think you're going!"
The two people who suddenly appeared left everyone in the room utterly bewildered.
Especially Zhang Qingyuan. Hadn't their bond been stronger than gold just a second ago? How had things suddenly changed when they had been talking so nicely?
He did not look at the two swords, but turned his gaze toward Daoist Master Bright Moon.
Disbelief, betrayal, pitiful grievance, and utter incomprehension.
Bright Moon understood Zhang Qingyuan's look and hurriedly rebuked the pair. "Insolence!"
"Guangjie, Guangying, what are you doing!" Daoist Master Bright Heart immediately demanded.
"Barging into the sect leader's room with swords drawn, then pointing them at a guest-are you rebelling?" Bright Candle fumed.
Zhao Guangjie hurriedly explained, "Master, martial uncles, you've all been deceived by this demonic Daoist with a human face and a beast's heart!"
Bai Guangying nodded as well. "Yes, Sect Leader, we came to expose him."
"Insolence! Put your swords down." As their senior brother, Li Guangye hurriedly stepped in front of Zhang Qingyuan.
"Senior Brother, this demonic Daoist is no good!"
"You..."
Daoist Master Bright Heart was about to lash out, but Zhang Qingyuan raised a hand to stop him.
"I don't believe we've ever met?"
Zhang Qingyuan regarded the pair calmly. Though he greatly respected the Daoist masters, that did not mean he would not get angry when their disciples insulted him.
"Hmph!" Zhao Guangjie snorted, then said, "You helped the Green Bamboo Demoness slaughter the righteous martial world and kill members of upright, renowned sects. Anyone has the right to execute you!"
Zhang Qingyuan frowned and looked toward Sect Leader Bright Moon.
Daoist Master Bright Moon was furious.
This was a stab in the back from his own disciple, a resounding slap in the face from his personal disciple.
He had just said that the Taiyin Dao Palace and Zhang Qingyuan would remain friends forever, and the very next second, this wretched disciple had barged in.
For those in authority, especially a towering figure of the martial world and a senior Daoist like him, dignity mattered greatly.
"Guangjie..."
"Master, you've been on the mountain, so you don't know. This demonic Daoist looks honest and decent, but he's actually incomparably treacherous, with the heart of a snake or scorpion."
Brimming with loyalty, courage, and righteous conviction, he interrupted his master.
Fine beads of sweat covered Li Guangye's forehead, and he hurriedly warned him, "Guangjie, stop talking."
Unfortunately, this junior brother of his really was missing a screw. Even though he had practically blinked himself into cataracts, Guangjie still failed to understand.
He remained wholly intent on pointing at Zhang Qingyuan and cursing him. "Senior Brother, did you know he killed more than thirty disciples of Cloud Dust Manor, then went and slaughtered all its elderly, women, and children?
"And there was the Seven Luminaries Sword Sect. Its sect leader and all five of his disciples died at his hands, wiping the Seven Luminaries Sword Sect from the martial world!"
Huh?
Zhang Qingyuan froze for a moment, and everyone else was equally puzzled.
"Cloud Dust Manor was wiped out?" Zhang Qingyuan asked in confusion.
"Hahaha, you demonic Daoist, you still dare to feign innocence!
"Senior Brother, step aside. This demonic Daoist actually dares run wild in our Taiyin Dao Palace and disgrace our Daoist sect. Watch me cut him down!"
The swords came out, but never fell.
Just as they raised their hands to strike, Daoist Master Bright Heart moved first, instantly snatching both swords from them.
"You fools!"
"Master?" Bai Guangying cried urgently. "Master, what bewitching potion has he fed you all? How much longer will you let him deceive you!"
Smack!
A slap instantly left a palm print on Bai Guangying's fair, tender cheek.
Furious at their failure to live up to expectations, Bright Candle gritted his teeth. "Look at the disciples you've raised! Believing rumors, unable to distinguish right from wrong-have you only taught them martial arts and forgotten the Daoist scriptures, principles, rites, and laws?
"No wonder they can't compare to him. They're rotten at the root!
"Starting today, every disciple will copy the Tao Te Ching and the Classic of Illuminating Virtue three thousand times!"
Li Guangye sucked in a breath. Now these two juniors would be resented by everyone.
Three thousand times!
"Master..."
The pair were incredulous, aggrieved, confused, and even a little resentful.
Why are you still shielding him after everything we've said?
Has he used demonic arts to control the entire Taiyin Dao Palace?
"Guangye, take them to Repentance Peak. If you cannot make them recognize their mistakes before tonight, all three of you can leave the mountain together."
Zhang Qingyuan ignored the two idiots. On their own turf, Daoist Master Bright Moon would certainly give him an explanation.
Besides, rather than arguing with fools, what occupied his mind now was who exactly was framing him.
Cloud Dust Manor had actually been wiped out...
Fine, it was wiped out, but why splash the dirty water on me?
For a moment, Zhang Qingyuan's fury soared to the heavens, a ball of fire burning in his chest.
Framing me,
they deserve to die!
Li Guangye hauled the two fools away, while Daoist Master Bright Moon sighed repeatedly.
Now, not only did he owe Zhang Qingyuan a favor, he had also lost face.
If his fellow Daoists found out he had raised disciples like these, they would laugh their teeth out.
"Martial Nephew Qingyuan, my failure to discipline my disciples has subjected you to this indignity. I will certainly teach them a harsh lesson and make them apologize to you."
Zhang Qingyuan turned back with a smile. "Oh, Martial Uncle Bright Moon, what are you saying? I haven't taken it to heart at all.
"Young people don't know better. A few words of correction will do. Please don't punish them physically.
"It's nothing for Qingyuan to suffer a little grievance. We're all family, after all. But if they behave this way in front of outsiders in the future...
"Please don't dwell on it, Martial Uncle. I truly haven't taken it to heart."
Zhang Qingyuan's words positively dripped with green tea, laying his green tea bitch act bare.
What he said was no different from, "Big Brother, your girlfriend won't get angry if she knows we shared the same lollipop, will she?" or, "Unlike me, all I do is care about you, Big Brother."
The more he spoke this way, the guiltier the Daoist masters felt, the more they felt they had wronged him, and, in turn, the more they felt they had lost face before an outsider.
The punishment those two idiots received later would consequently be all the harsher.
Zhang Qingyuan did not consider himself magnanimous. There was quite a sense of "you offended the abbot and still think you can run?"
If you repay resentment with virtue, how will you repay the Dao?
You insult me and I'm supposed to swallow it? Your granny!
Sure enough, the Daoist masters exchanged glances and declared in turn, "Rest assured, Martial Nephew. We will certainly give you a satisfactory answer!"
"Martial Uncles, you're taking this too seriously."
Elsewhere, after bringing the pair to Repentance Peak, Li Guangye led them into a cave.
Li Guangye barked, "Kneel!"
"Senior Brother..."
"Kneel!" His tone grew harsher again.
The two could only kneel resentfully.
Li Guangye laughed in anger. Pointing at the pair, he said, "Eldest Senior Brother is in seclusion, and Second Senior Brother is facing the wall in reflection. Today, I'll discipline you on behalf of the sect leader and our two senior brothers!"
"Senior Brother, just what bewitching potion did that demonic Daoist feed you?" Zhao Guangjie remained unconvinced. In his mind, Zhang Qingyuan's slaughter of the loyal and virtuous and his status as scum of the martial world were already nailed-down facts.
But why would they simply not believe it!
Li Guangye asked, "You think you've been wronged, don't you?"
The two remained silent, but their expressions already said, We have been wronged.
"Heh, you think you're very clever, don't you?" Li Guangye asked again.
They glanced at him. Their answer went without saying.
"You're utterly beyond reason!"
Li Guangye looked toward Daoist Master Bright Heart's disciple, Bai Guangying. The Taiyin Dao Palace worshipped the Taiyin Star Lord, so it had quite a few female disciples. But Bai Guangying was the prettiest of them all, so the senior brothers usually doted on her.
But Li Guangye was clearly not the sort to dote mindlessly. He said, "Guangjie, let me ask you."
"Senior Brother." Unlike Zhao Guangye, Bai Guangying was not so stubborn, and she looked at him pitifully.
"If the Taiyin Dao Palace were wiped out by an alliance of other martial sects, and you alone escaped, what would you do?"
"I..." Bai Guangying did not understand why he suddenly asked this, but she still declared her loyalty. "I would certainly avenge my fellow disciples, even at the cost of my life."
"But those sects feared you would discover they were responsible, so they joined forces to slander you as a demonic Daoist and a demoness. Would you still seek revenge?"
"Yes. No matter the hardships and dangers, I swear I would not deserve to be human if I failed to avenge them!"
"Good." Li Guangye turned his gaze back to Zhao Guangjie. "Now everyone in the martial world calls her a demoness, but you know full well she's innocent. If you encountered someone trying to kill her, who also wanted to silence you by killing you, what would you do?"
"I..."
At this moment, Zhao Guangye also understood that his senior brother was giving him a hint, and recognized the problem.
"You think you're so clever?
"Idiots!"
"Hating evil as your mortal enemy is a good thing. A chivalrous heart is also a good thing. But without a brain, you'll only become an accomplice to evildoers!"
"You think you're very clever?" Li Guangye asked the question again, and the two lowered their heads in shame.
"So you're the only clever ones, and everyone in the five great Daoist sects is a fool?
"Other than those people in the martial world, have you ever seen any fellow disciple of the five great Daoist sects say a single bad word about Li Qiuran?
"She's the orphaned survivor of the Heavenly Yin Mysterious Maiden Pavilion, our fellow Daoist. It would be one thing if you didn't help her, but you actually joined those martial-world scum in cursing her?
"Believing rumors and unable to distinguish even basic right from wrong-you deserve punishment!
"Zhang Qingyuan killed people, slaughtered the loyal and virtuous?
"Where are your brains?
"After killing the Cloud Dust disciples, Zhang Qingyuan came straight to our Taiyin. Only a dozen or so days passed altogether. Even if he ran himself to death, he couldn't have raced another thousand li to wipe them out, could he?
"Where are your brains!"
Each question pierced their hearts like a sharp sword.
"Since you were little, we've told you to read more scriptures and study the classics. Reading brings wisdom, but you simply wouldn't listen.
"You're in your twenties, yet you lack even the most basic judgment.
"Where are your brains!!!"
The more Li Guangye spoke, the angrier he became, and the harsher his tone grew.
He continued, "The demonic Daoist, the scum you speak of, cultivated in our Taiyin Dao Palace for just three and a half months. Just three and a half months, and he created a peerless martial art and shared it with us unconditionally.
"With such breadth of spirit and such righteousness, Martial Uncle Bright Heart considers him comparable to Patriarch Pure Yang.
"Is this the demonic Daoist scum you speak of?"
The pair hung their heads, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
They felt increasingly guilty, so embarrassed they felt they might die.
They had thought themselves incomparably clever and able to distinguish right from wrong, only to end up like clowns, wrong about everything.
They had trusted outsiders instead of their own people and nearly committed a grave mistake. The two suffered social death on the spot, their faces flushing purple.
Li Guangye continued his verbal assault, every sentence striking deep into their souls.
Finally, Li Guangye grew tired of berating them.
"Reflect on your mistakes here. Early tomorrow morning, go serve Daoist Master Qingyuan tea and admit your wrongs. As for the sect leader's punishment, he will decide that himself later!"
"Yes, Senior Brother."
Zhang Qingyuan returned to his room and pondered who exactly was framing him.
Logically, he had only just entered the martial world and had few enemies.
He had settled his grudges with those two on the spot. Surely Cloud Dust Manor couldn't have wiped itself out to slander him? The price would have been far too high.
As he was pondering this,
a sudden knock came at the door.
He opened it and saw Daoist Master Bright Moon had come in person, carrying a treasured sword of simple, ancient workmanship.
He said, "I won't say anything more. I noticed your weapon isn't much of a sword. As it happens, this is Scorching Night, the demonic sword I won in a wagered duel with the Demon Venerable when I descended the mountain twenty years ago. Forged from black iron, it is incomparably sharp. Consider it a gift from your martial uncle."
After declining for a while, Zhang Qingyuan accepted the treasured sword.
See? Here came the benefits.