The Storm Had Yet to Pass

"As a disciple of the Mara Gate, Chi Yan was not ambitious and attempted to achieve enlightenment through Evil Dao, which is a disgrace to the reputation of the Mara Gate! Now that the matter has been investigated, Chi Yan's death was the result of his own unauthorized practice of Evil Dao and alteration of his Spirit Root."

"He brought about his own destruction; his death has nothing to do with anyone present!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Rong Ji crushed the soul stone into powder in front of everyone.

Then he publicly announced, "Today I shatter his soul stone and expel Chi Yan from the sect! From this day forward, he is no longer a disciple of the Mara Gate. The Mara Gate and Devil Cultivator Evil Dao sworn enemies!"

The aura of a cultivator in the Void Refinement Stage suddenly burst forth, overwhelming the disciples who had not yet Core Formation, making it difficult for them to breathe.

Jiulian and the others managed to shield them from the oppressive force in time, while Elder Xu, being cowardly and unwilling to act, caused the Mara Gate disciples to suffer.

Fortunately, Rong Ji was not oblivious to the situation and quickly withdrew his imposing manner, preventing his disciples from making too much of a fool of themselves.

"I apologize for disturbing you today. Now that the matter has been thoroughly investigated, I will return to the sect to report to the sect leader." Knowing he wouldn't get anything in return, Rong Ji didn't bother staying any longer.

He now only wanted to pin all the blame on Chi Yan, but he also wanted to hurry back to the Mara Gate to discuss countermeasures with the sect leader.

After all, the matter of Chi Yan is too strange, and many people have probably already noticed something.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that the large Buddha statue was willing to leave.

Since his arrival, the atmosphere in the entire hall has never been relaxed for a single moment.

Amidst the joyful celebration of seeing off the Buddha statue, only Sang Ying raised an objection. "Elder Rong is leaving just like that? I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you, senior."

Under the watchful eyes of countless people, Sang Ying stepped forward, bearing a very noticeable red mark on her neck.

"What, do you expect me to apologize to you?" Rong Ji was now referring to himself as "this one".

His blatant reminder of his identity to Sang Ying was also a subtle way of intimidating her with his power.

But Sang Ying wasn't as easy to fool as he thought. She had the upper hand before, but now he was the one with powerful backing!

Sang Ying said bluntly, "Shouldn't the elder apologize to this junior? Your sect's disciple slandered this junior, and you, elder, tried to take this junior's life without any explanation as soon as you arrived. In the end, it was found that it was your sect's disciple who had evil intentions, and now you want to just leave?"

"You!" Rong Ji Jiben was about to get angry, but when he turned his head, he met the gazes of the elders from the other sects.

Although he was arrogant, he considered himself someone of high status and was also very concerned about his image. Now, the way those people were looking at him seemed to be filled with disdain, which was exactly what Rong Ji could not accept.

After a searing pain on his face, Elder Rong Ji could only suppress his anger and ask, "Fine, tell me, what do you want?"

Sang Ying immediately smiled, "This junior is not the kind of person who is sharp-tongued and mean. Now that it has been found that your sect's disciple Chi Yan has practiced evil arts, then the points he won earlier should be cleared."

"Furthermore, your sect's disciples have repeatedly spoken rudely and abusively to me. I believe the rankings in the Mara Gate's competition should be cancelled, so as to teach them not to go astray in the future!"

Sang Ying's words were like a boulder dropped into water, instantly creating waves in everyone's hearts.

The people of the Mara Gate were naturally unwilling, but just like Ten Thousand Daos Born, who was slandered back then, other sects would not let go of this good opportunity to improve their ranking.

In an instant, not only the Sect Master Jimo, but even the elders who had never spoken before seemed to come alive and all spoke up for Sang Ying.

Jiulian, enlightened by her disciple, stepped forward and said, "Just as your sect's Holy Maiden said, the Mara Gate should bear the responsibility for cultivating such a disciple who doesn't follow the right path. How can they be qualified to continue occupying second place?"

"Therefore, the ranking of the Mara Gate should be revoked, and Elder Rong, you should apologize to my disciple for your inappropriate words and deeds."

The master and apprentice's words nearly made Elder Rong so angry that his beard stood on end.

He pointed at the two shameless men and cursed them fiercely, "You're not cultivators, you're just bandits!"

"Elder, you flatter us. It's all thanks to you for giving us this opportunity." Jiulian smiled broadly, looking very pleasing.

Rong Ji choked, realizing that he had indeed handed the two of them leverage over him!

At this moment, Rong Ji was filled with regret. If he had known this would happen, he shouldn't have come to the Azure Feather Sect and gotten himself into this mess!

It's too late for regrets now. With other sects stirring things up, the Mara Gate alone is no match for so many mouths to feed, and they were completely silenced.

At the critical moment, the Sect Master Jimo still acted like a nice guy, seemingly trying to smooth things over, but in reality, he was biased towards Ten Thousand Daos Born.

This group of people had never been so united. The result of their unity was that Mara Gate not only lost second place, but also failed to get a ranking at all.

Rong Ji even gave up a magical treasure as compensation to Sang Ying.

Unfortunately, he arrived in a hurry today and left his Storage Bag behind. The only thing he could give away was an Earth Spirit Pearl that he had finally obtained!

Spirit Pearl are thousands of times better than Spirit Crystal. A single Spirit Pearl requires the condensation of an entire Spirit Crystal mine and thousands of years to take shape.

Rong Ji only acquired this treasure today. He had originally planned to use it to trade for some good items with other earth- Spirit Root cultivators. In the end, however, he had no choice but to let Sang Ying benefit from it.

When he suppressed his tears of blood and sent the Spirit Pearl away, Rong Ji's murderous intent towards Sang Ying finally reached its peak.

He had already decided that once Ten Thousand Daos Born's group returned to the sect, he would drop everything he was doing and stay in Qing Zhou day and night.

The moment this female cultivator steps out, we'll take her life!

After suffering this great loss, no one stopped Elder Rong from leaving. Once he was gone, Elder Xu and the others felt that staying would only bring them ridicule.

So the monks of the Mara Gate left with their entourage well before the awards ceremony was over.

As for the Beast Taming Sect and the Seven Emotions Pavilion, they were selectively ignored.

In the eyes of the Mara Gate, these two sects had never provided them with any assistance, and they no longer needed such allies!

These two sects, unwilling to part with the resources of the competition, had no idea that they had been completely abandoned by the very sects they had been so eager to serve.

After participating in the awards ceremony without incident, the Beast Taming Sect, whose journey was slowed down because they had to take all the Demon Beast Taming Sect them, happened to run into Ten Thousand Daos Born, who had just finished chatting with the Azure Feather Sect.

Ten Thousand Daos Born by sea, but since he wasn't in a hurry to leave, he switched to a flying boat. That's how he happened to run into the Beast Taming Sect.

On the deck, after declining the eighteen farewells offered by the brothers Jimo Qing and Jimo Xuan, Sang Ying turned her gaze away in a good mood.

But as she glanced at the Beast Taming Sect's flying boat, she couldn't help but take another look at those blood-stained iron cages.

Inside the iron cage, a pair of ferocious beastly eyes gleamed with a strange light. It let out a low growl, and the lion-shaped Demon Beast lying in a small warehouse in the ship's cabin suddenly opened its eyes.

A sense of unease permeated the entire airship, seemingly foreshadowing something terrible that was about to happen.

A note from the author:

It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Next up in trouble is the Beast Taming Sect!

The beasts must rise up in rebellion!

See you tomorrow, love you all~