With Yun Yun's appearance, the entire competition was settled.
Everyone began descending the mountain. Hai Bodong followed closely behind Xiao Yan. His sole task today was to remain at Xiao Yan's side.
As the spectators departed, Yun Yun led the distraught Nalan Yanran back to the pavilion. But before she could offer any comfort,
Yun Ling suddenly rose to his feet and declared in a booming voice,
"Sect Master, I have something to say."
"What is it, Great Elder?"
Yun Yun gazed down at Yun Ling standing in the square below from the pavilion.
"Sect Master, I require Xiao Tian's cooperation to verify a certain matter. Would that be convenient?"
Yun Ling's steady voice resonated through the plaza.
Xiao Tian, sitting idly in his chair, heard that Yun Ling sought his cooperation and immediately guessed what this was about.
Interest flickered in his eyes. He had long wanted to deal with this old fossil but had never found the opportunity. Now that he had stepped forward of his own accord, Xiao Tian's hands were itching.
This old geezer was the most troublesome of the lot, steeped in all manner of underhanded schemes. He was also the greatest blight upon the entire Misty Cloud Sect. He relied on his seniority within the sect to openly defy Yun Yun and act against her will.
Having watched Xiao Yan thoroughly disgrace him today, his heart was brimming with indignation.
"May I ask what matter the Great Elder requires my cooperation for?"
Xiao Tian regarded Yun Ling with a calm gaze.
"Your Excellency Xiao Tian, have you heard of the deaths of Mo Cheng, the Misty Cloud Sect's outer sect deacon, and his entire family some months ago?"
Yun Ling fixed Xiao Tian with a sinister stare, searching for any trace of guilt upon his face.
"I have indeed heard of it. Is the Great Elder inquiring about this because he suspects I was responsible?"
Xiao Tian's face betrayed a trace of amusement. His voice was as light as a passing breeze.
"That is correct. It was you."
Yun Ling abruptly shouted with overwhelming authority.
"Are you jesting? I am aware that you and Mo Cheng shared an unbreakable bond, but that does not grant you license to wantonly slander others. If you suspect me, then present your evidence. Otherwise, I would be more than eager to test your strength, Yun Ling."
Xiao Tian rose to his feet, crossed his arms, and fixed Yun Ling with an indifferent stare. Beneath that gaze, Yun Ling's heart faltered.
"Yun Ling, if you possess no evidence and slander Xiao Tian without cause, I am authorized, according to sect regulations, to strip you of your Great Elder rank and exact due punishment."
Yun Yun knew full well that Xiao Tian was the one who had acted against the Mo family. She had also asked Xiao Tian his reasons, and he had concealed nothing from her, explaining everything in full.
She had even gathered intelligence confirming that Yun Ling and Mo Cheng had long been in collusion—one providing protection, the other providing benefits.
As for Mo Cheng's actions against her sister and his research into such inhuman experiments, Yun Yun herself wished she could have personally annihilated them.
Xiao Tian patted Yun Yun's shoulder, signaling that he would handle this himself.
"Evidence? Naturally, there is evidence. Mo Linglin, step forward. As for punishing me, let us discuss that after it is proven I was actually involved."
Yun Ling had originally intended to exploit this opportunity to tarnish Yun Yun's standing within the sect and thereby seize greater authority.
"Mo Linglin, come here."
Mo Linglin, the second young lady of the Mo family, rose from the crowd and positioned herself behind Yun Ling.
"Then present your so-called evidence before me. I am quite intrigued."
Xiao Tian flashed onto the square, standing a short distance before Yun Ling.
"This is Mo Linglin, the surviving second young lady of the Mo family. She has previously testified that she saw you in Yan City. And Mo Cheng's final destination was Stone Desert City. Yet after he departed for Stone Desert City, no further word of him was ever received. According to the sect's own investigators, you were also present in Stone Desert City at that time. And shortly thereafter, the Mo family was annihilated."
"How do you explain this? Do you not find it an excessive coincidence?"
Yun Ling pointed at Mo Linglin, his words flowing with practiced eloquence, his reasoning already verging dangerously close to the truth.
Xiao Tian smiled dismissively and spoke in an icy tone, "Yun Ling, do you not find your argument utterly absurd? Simply because I was present in those two locations, you conclude that I annihilated their Mo family? Is that not far too preposterous? Your evidence is hopelessly strained."
"I seriously question your competence as Great Elder. Or do you customarily render judgment based on nothing more than intuition?"
Yun Ling's actions this time were motivated not only by Mo Cheng's death, which had deprived him of the Mo family's considerable resources, but also by a desire to drag Yun Yun down and strip her of further power. He might even curry favor with Gu He in the process, as Xiao Tian had claimed Yun Yun, the woman Gu He had long coveted.
"According to Mo Linglin's account, the leader who destroyed the Mo family possessed a pair of distinctive wings, likely a flying Dou Technique. Rumor has it you, too, possess a flying Dou Technique. Do you dare to reveal your wings and allow her to identify them?"
Yun Ling recalled Mo Linglin once stating that one of those who destroyed her family had possessed very peculiar wings.
"You demand I reveal them, and I simply obey? Have you grown so old that you have become a Magical Beast yourself?"
Xiao Tian fixed Yun Ling with a frosty glare, his tone dripping with contempt.
Seeing Yun Ling relentlessly hounding Xiao Tian, Yun Yun was poised to intervene. But Xiao Yi Xian restrained her.
"Do not go. Xiao Tian just informed me that he has his own plan. Do not disturb him."
Yun Ling was so incensed by Xiao Tian's words that his nose nearly twisted out of shape.
"I believe you are simply guilty, which is why you keep making excuses. If you had nothing to hide, why behave this way?"
"I can reveal them. But if it is proven not to be me, what then?"
Xiao Tian crossed his arms and regarded Yun Ling with a smile. It was laughable. His wings had evolved and now looked entirely different.
"I will naturally apologize to you and clear your name."
Yun Ling watched Xiao Tian continuously offering excuses and could not help but grow overconfident, now fully convinced of his guilt.
"Are you joking? I will not waste more words on you. If I reveal them and she confirms it is not me, then you shall kowtow to me three times right here and offer your apology."
Xiao Tian laid out his conditions outright. He was genuinely curious to see whether Yun Ling would agree. If he later refused to fulfill his end, then it would be Xiao Tian's turn to legitimately lose his temper.
Tang Dianxiang, King Ning: *Losing one's temper? I am intimately familiar with that.*
If you refuse to give me face, I will truly lose my temper.
"What, does the esteemed Great Elder lack confidence in himself? So, everything you said earlier was pure fabrication? Now you are afraid?"
Xiao Tian observed Yun Ling's shifting expression and decided to prod the old man a little further.
"What is there to fear? I accept your terms. If you are indeed the murderer, then even for the Sect Master's sake, I will apprehend you and deliver justice for our sect's outer sect deacon."
Yun Ling, arrogant by nature and long accustomed to high position, how could he tolerate such insolence from a junior?
Within the sect, aside from the Old Sect Master, he respected no one. Contradicting Yun Yun and ignoring Nalan Yanran were, in his eyes, entirely natural and to be expected.
Xiao Tian chuckled softly. With a thought, an enormous pair of silver-pink wings unfurled behind him—the Demon Lotus Wings.
"Linglin, is this the one?"
Yun Ling turned to Mo Linglin behind him and demanded.
"No. That person's wings were merely pink, and not nearly this large. Their appearance was nothing like this either."
Mo Linglin dared not lie. Trapped in this predicament, lying would be swiftly uncovered, for there had been numerous witnesses at the time.
These two men were the Misty Cloud Sect's Great Elder and the Sect Master's future husband.
Yun Ling's face instantly drained of color. He was utterly dismayed.
"Yun Ling, you may now fulfill your promise. Every disciple of the sect is watching. Backing out will only further damage your image."
Xiao Tian retracted his silver-pink wings and spoke with a smile.
Yun Ling now found himself in dire straits, trapped between a rock and a hard place. Whether he fulfilled the promise or not, his image would be ruined.
However, observing his reluctance to follow through, Xiao Tian immediately resolved to secretly add a potent dose of medicine.
"Yun, you old dog, I did indeed annihilate the Mo family. But there is no evidence to prove I was the one who did it. Even if it were proven, you could do nothing to me. Give up. Even if you speak the truth, no one will believe you."
A voice echoed within Yun Ling's mind, laced with disdain and mockery. It was Xiao Tian employing soul transmission to deliver the message in secret. No one present perceived a thing, for no soul power present surpassed his. Not even Gu He's.
Upon hearing this, Yun Ling's eyes turned bloodshot. He clenched his fists until they trembled. Then he made a move that stunned everyone present.