[Hahaha.]
[Mu Ye looks like such an idiot, led around by the nose by his own father.]
Xiao Tingyu: Pfft.
With matters having reached this point, there would be no wrapping things up without an investigation. Everyone thought that if Mu Ye proved to be Mu Liuyun's son after the test, Ethereal Peak would be in an awkward position. Having offended both the sect master and the young sect master, how would they find their footing in the sect afterward?
In the cultivation world, blood ties were usually tested using a Gu insect called the Blood-Drinking Gu. Both parties would drip a drop of blood into a copper basin. After the Gu insect swallowed them, its head would glow red if the two were blood relatives, while its tail would give off blue light if they were unrelated.
Before long, the items were brought over.
Everyone craned their necks to look. A shallow layer of water lined the copper basin, and a round, plump Gu insect lay inside. Its head and tail each had a round, bright light-emitting organ, like a pair of light-bulb eyes.
Mu Liuyun stepped forward and was the first to drip a drop of blood inside.
Mu Ye's face was dark, his heart uneasy. Sword Lord Qingyun stood beside him. "Go ahead, A-Ye."
Everyone was watching the copper basin. No one noticed Sword Lord Qingyun's fingers move slightly beneath his cloud-patterned sleeves, sending a transparent force into the basin.
Almost simultaneously, Mu Ye's blood dripped inside as well, sending ripples across the water.
The Blood-Drinking Gu wriggled as it swallowed the blood, and the red bulb on its head slowly lit up.
"It's lighting up! It's lighting up!"
"The young master really is the sect master's biological son!"
"Looks like it was all a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?" Mu Ye stared at the copper basin, unable to hide the wild delight on his face. Once his joy subsided, he straightened and looked at Qiaoqiao. "Qiaoqiao, what else do you have to say? Or does the Immortal Venerable intend to keep shielding your disciple and slandering this young master?!"
Bai Fu's expression remained faint, betraying neither joy nor anger.
Sword Lord Qingyun said, "The Blood-Drinking Gu has verified that the young master is the sect master's flesh and blood. Qiaoqiao, why did you question the young master's parentage? Did someone instruct you to say that?"
His manner remained gentle, but his words insinuated that Qiaoqiao had been acting on someone's orders to target Mu Ye.
Mu Ye held his head high, vindicated. "Uncle Yun, why not hand her over to the Law Enforcement Hall for questioning? Once they've questioned her, everything will be clear!"
The spectators enjoying the drama: Oh dear, this would be hard to wrap up now!
Yet Qiaoqiao merely blinked. "Sect Master, the mirror you gave me is so useful."
As Mu Liuyun looked on in surprise, Qiaoqiao raised the mirror high. Reflected within was the scene from moments earlier, except that when Mu Ye's blood dripped into the basin, a strand of pale green Spiritual Qi had also fallen inside.
"Can you see it?"
Qiaoqiao held the mirror high and rose onto her tiptoes, trying to give all the spectators a clear view.
Just as she was struggling, a slender hand like white jade reached from behind her and took the mirror. With a light tap of a fingertip, an enlarged image appeared in midair, letting everyone see it perfectly clearly.
Qiaoqiao turned to look at her master, who had helped her. Bai Fu's long lashes were slightly lowered. Everyone else was savoring the drama; only his attention had remained on Qiaoqiao all along.
"Thank you, Master."
"Mm."
He gave a quiet acknowledgment.
"What's going on with that strand of Spiritual Qi?"
"Did someone interfere with the test results?"
"This-who did it, right under everyone's eyes?"
"That mirror is the sect master's Law Treasure, the Zhaowu Mirror, isn't it?"
The Zhaowu Spirit Mirror was a rare Earth Grade Law Treasure. It had little offensive power of its own, but it had one special function: it could reveal all "formless Qi," including Spiritual Qi, earth Qi, netherworld ghost Qi, and so on.
What the mirror showed was clearly someone interfering with the Blood-Drinking Gu using a strand of formless Spiritual Qi moments earlier. The mirror had exposed its true form: a strand of green wood Spiritual Qi.
The sect master, Elder Yao, and Immortal Venerable Wanghan had all been standing nearby. No one on the outside could have tampered with it past them, and beside them, there had been only one cultivator with a wood Spirit Root-Sword Lord Qingyun!
"It was wood-aspect Vitality Sword Qi that fused the two drops of blood!" Someone grasped the secret.
"If I remember correctly, Vitality Sword Qi is Sword Lord Qingyun's exclusive sword technique, isn't it?"
"Why would the Sword Lord do that?"
Qiaoqiao said loudly, "Why? To keep people from finding out that Mu Ye is his biological son, of course!"
Everyone: !!!
What?!
The young sect master was actually Sword Lord Qingyun's child?!
What on earth was going on?!
The spectators were utterly dumbfounded. First, Fu Fengyuan had emerged as the sect master's biological son, and now they were saying the young sect master was Sword Lord Qingyun's child?
Could the sect master and Sword Lord Qingyun have...
No, that wasn't right. If that were the case, the Sword Lord wouldn't have needed to tamper with the results!
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Mu Ye roared. "Who are you to slander Uncle Yun!"
"Oh my," Qiaoqiao said. "Your own father really is different. Look how worked up you are."
With her reminder, everyone noticed it too. Mu Ye seemed closer to Sword Lord Qingyun than to the sect master. From the start, he had been taking his cues from Qingyun's expressions, and he had remained beside the Sword Lord the entire time.
Even Mu Ye himself had not noticed that this was actually the result of Sword Lord Qingyun's deliberate instruction. Mu Liuyun had never paid attention to such details, thinking instead that Sword Lord Qingyun was taking pains to help her teach her son.
Looking at them now, standing together, those two were clearly the ones who resembled a biological father and son!
Mu Ye was actually Qingyun's son! She had unwittingly helped Qingyun raise his son for so many years, while her own child had been left wandering outside, and she had known nothing!
Mu Liuyun was shaken to her core. As she looked at Sword Lord Qingyun's calm expression across from her, he suddenly seemed utterly unfamiliar. Was he the modest gentleman everyone spoke of, or a venomous snake lurking at her side, painstakingly plotting against her and scheming for the position of sect master?!
"Qingyun, you-"
"Sect Master, nothing has been settled yet-"
Mu Liuyun cut him off. "I gave Qiaoqiao the Zhaowu Mirror. What Zhaowu reveals can never be false! You were the one who tampered with the Gu insect!"