Lian Ping’s first reaction upon hearing those words wasn’t to question their truth, but to wonder if she was hallucinating.
She stared at Li Yunxian for a long moment before realizing she hadn’t misheard.
For a while, Lian Ping couldn’t say a word.
If something made too much sense, it was probably fabricated—because reality never followed logic.
“So what do we do?” Lian Ping finally asked Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian glanced at her with a puzzled look. “What do you mean, what do we do? Did you bring those Storage Artifacts I gave you?”
“Next, we’re going to Lotus Mountain to retrieve all my things.”
“Then we’ll get a good night’s sleep and head home tomorrow.”
As for the grudges and entanglements of the Du family, what did they have to do with them?
If Yu Juanshu really died after they left, she would just report everything she knew to Su Wenjing. How the school handled the aftermath was their problem. That would be all the duty she owed.
Li Yunxian never once entertained Du Rong’s detailed analyses in her mind.
Lian Ping:
Lian Ping: “Oh.”
So Du Rong waited there and waited, but after a long time, he still hadn’t seen Lian Ping or Li Yunxian come back.
He stood there in confusion for a while.
With their skills, it wasn’t like Yu Juanshu was still alive and they had gotten into trouble, right?
After a long time, Du Rong finally looked at Xie Man with suspicion and stood up to search for Lian Ping and Li Yunxian.
They were nowhere to be found.
They searched all over Wangtian Cliff but found no trace of the two.
There was no doubt—they had run off.
Xie Man silently watched Du Rong’s twisted expression, a faint smile barely visible on her lips.
***
A day later, the Secret Realm trial ended.
Li Yunxian and Lian Ping each carried a bag and appeared inside the school’s Assembly Hall.
Glancing around, Li Yunxian noticed there were only about a hundred students present.
Most wore grim expressions.
Most of these students had never faced Hunters before, nor had they confronted Exotic Beasts directly.
Only a few at the school could participate in the Qingteng Selection Exam, and even fewer had been attacked.
This was their first experience of a life-or-death crisis, their first time witnessing the brutal deaths of those around them.
Seven days in the Secret Realm left them feeling like they had passed through another world.
Li Yunxian vaguely sensed that many of the students were showing fluctuations in their aura.
This was a sign of advancement to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
It wasn’t just Li Yunxian observing; others, upon emerging, hurriedly looked around to see who they recognized and who was still alive.
That’s when they saw Li Yunxian.
They were shocked.
“Why are you wearing Ginkgo’s robe?!” someone exclaimed at Li Yunxian.
After two months of dragging Li Yunxian around the school and all her various feats, her face was still very recognizable.
Li Yunxian dropped her disguise, but the robe she wore was the Protective Robe previously given to her by a Golden Core True Person—one all survivors had seen.
“Because she is Ginkgo!” Du Rong’s voice echoed through the hall.
He looked at the teachers on stage with sorrowful eyes. “Li Yunxian colluded with the Hunters. Many students died because of her.”
“Juanshu… Juanshu was tricked by her into battling a Golden Core True Person and was killed on the spot.”
“Teachers, punish her severely!” Du Rong shouted angrily.
At Wangtian Cliff, Du Rong had never imagined that Li Yunxian and Lian Ping would show no mercy—not even bothering to check on Yu Juanshu before fleeing.
Not only had Du Rong’s efforts come to nothing, but he also spent the entire last day on edge, holed up at Wangtian Cliff, miserable and unsettled.
He had never felt so frustrated.
So after emerging, Du Rong immediately started scheming in his mind about how to kill Li Yunxian.
The teachers on stage glanced between Du Rong and Li Yunxian.
Most of them already knew what kind of people they were.
But the shocked reactions of the students to Li Yunxian’s attire seemed to confirm that Du Rong hadn’t lied.
Before other teachers could process the situation, Su Wenjing, sitting near the center of the platform, spoke up: “Li Yunxian, do you have anything to explain?”
Li Yunxian looked at Du Rong briefly, then addressed the teachers: “I attended the teachers’ meeting before as an assistant instructor.”
“I know the true situation of the Secret Realm.” Li Yunxian gave a deliberately vague explanation.
The teachers on the platform remembered that meeting vividly—the scene where Li Yunxian had stood up to raise objections.
No one needed Li Yunxian to explain what the ‘true situation of the Secret Realm’ meant.
The Vice Principal, who had been questioned by Li Yunxian before, smiled and asked, “So you are the Ginkgo they speak of?”
“Yes,” Li Yunxian answered calmly.
The Vice Principal’s curiosity deepened. “What exactly did you do?”
After the Secret Realm opened, the others couldn’t see inside. Only the three who fought the Golden Core True Person got a glimpse when the realm was damaged.
But everyone else was too busy scrambling to repair the Secret Realm to care about the details.
Li Yunxian continued to candidly describe her acts of looting and how she intended for her classmates to learn from the experience.
The teachers on stage alternately rubbed their foreheads or tried to suppress laughter, rendered speechless.
Especially after hearing the stunned and devastated accusations from the other students following Li Yunxian’s confession, the situation became even more absurd.
What Li Yunxian did could no longer be called mere harm.
They glanced at the large bags Li Yunxian and Lian Ping carried.
The teachers could sense the immense quantity of various Storage Artifacts inside.
So that was where all those things came from.
One teacher on the platform cleared his throat. “Quiet.” He forced calm in his voice. “We understand the situation.”
Lian Ping looked at Li Yunxian, then at the teachers on stage, confused by their cryptic tone.
Du Rong sensed something was off and couldn’t help but speak out, “Teachers, my father dedicated his life to this academy. He’s no longer here. You must seek justice for Juanshu!”
The teachers looked at Du Rong with strange expressions.
Li Yunxian knew that no one really died in the Secret Realm. Why would she harm Yu Juanshu?
It was a pointless and thankless act.
No fool would do that.
But thinking of Yu Juanshu’s current state, the Vice Principal spoke again, “Do you have any evidence?”
“I…” Du Rong instinctively reached out to grab Xie Man beside him.
But his hand grasped only air.
Du Rong looked to his side in confusion.
Xie Man was gone.
Unnoticed by Du Rong, Xie Man had quietly slipped away and stood beside her teacher.
Seeing Du Rong’s action, Xie Man pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and loudly declared, “Teacher, it was Du Rong who killed Yu Juanshu!”
“I saw it.”
“I was right there!”
“Juanshu was gravely injured, and Du Rong pressed his hand on Juanshu’s chest, breaking his heart meridian!”
Back on the Life-and-Death Arena, Xie Man had dared to openly confront Li Yunxian. Now, she still boldly shouted what she believed to be the truth.
After speaking, Xie Man suddenly felt the long-standing barrier in her cultivation ease.
Without warning, she stepped into the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.
Her eyes reddened as tears streamed down.
She knew right from wrong, but her past feelings had kept her from facing reality.
Now, she had stepped out.
Xie Man recalled Li Yunxian’s words on the arena—the words that seemed to see through her: ‘You should find someone better to like.’
At this moment, Xie Man had to admit Li Yunxian was right.
Du Rong stared at Xie Man in disbelief.
He never imagined that Xie Man, who had always been devoted to him, would stab him in the back now.
Du Rong’s rage exploded.
“Xie Man!!” Panic filled Du Rong’s heart, and in that moment, his panic turned into blind fury.
He suddenly lashed out with his long whip at Xie Man, using a lethal strike.
“You dare slander me!!” Du Rong shouted.
Xie Man cried out in alarm and hurriedly stepped back.
The next moment, Du Rong’s entire body flew through the air, crashing violently into the hall’s wall.
“Get lost!”
Xie Man’s furious slap sent Du Rong smashing against the wall.
If Du Sen protected his own, why shouldn’t she protect hers?!
She was the teacher who had taken the materials and helped Xie Man exchange her Xuanwen Token.
And now this guy wanted to hit Xie Man right in front of her!