When Bai Jingtang returned to the Bai family, the council hall was already full of people.
The several masters and young masters of the direct line all looked grim, as if their own mothers had died.
Bai Jingtang sat down in the main seat, tapped his fingers on the armrest, and was silent for a long time.
“Patriarch, should we call Yongchang to the meeting this time?”
Someone from the corner asked cautiously.
Bai Jingtang’s face darkened.
His voice was filled with undisguised disgust.
“Useless thing! I sent him to sound out the situation—what did he get? That bastard Bai Shuangshuang is still doing whatever she wants, and he didn’t say a damn thing!”
No one dared to mention it again.
Bai Jingtang recounted the events of the day.
The more he spoke, the uglier his expression became.
What troubled him most was not Bai Shuangshuang, but Liu Wenyuan.
On the way back from the bustling street, Liu Wenyuan had been indifferent to him, unwilling to say even a few more words.
Even he knew that was an alienation plot—how could Liu Wenyuan not know?
But knowing was one thing; the problem was that son of his.
Liu Wenyuan would do anything for that worthless son…
‘Could Liu Wenyuan really be stupid enough to sell us out? Would he actually believe Bai Shuangshuang would let him go?’
Bai Jingtang sighed and rubbed his temples.
The council hall fell silent.
The candle flames flickered, illuminating the gloomy faces in the room.
They discussed until late into the night but came up with no solution.
Someone suggested sending money, others said it was better to flee, and still someone slammed the table insisting on toughing it out.
They argued back and forth without reaching a conclusion.
Bai Jingtang, with a headache from the noise, was about to lose his temper when he suddenly heard a flurry of footsteps outside, mixed with shouts and the sound of objects overturning.
“What’s going on?”
He frowned and stood up.
The door was kicked open.
Bai Yongchang stood at the entrance, with a dense crowd of people behind him.
They weren’t from the direct line—they were from the collateral branches.
Those collateral clan members who usually had no status in the family, who always got the least share of silver and were the first to be bullied, were now all red-faced, holding clubs and sticks, fire in their eyes.
Bai Jingtang was stunned.
“Bai Yongchang, have you lost your mind?”
He pointed at Bai Yongchang’s nose, his voice breaking.
“Breaking into the council hall in the middle of the night—are you trying to rebel?”
Bai Yongchang didn’t speak.
He took two steps forward.
His legs were trembling, and the knuckles of the hand gripping the club were white.
He had never done such a thing before—never in his life.
But he didn’t stop.
“Rebel?”
Bai Yongchang’s voice trembled a little, but every word was clear.
“I’m just here to seek justice for the clan members! You and the Liu father and son did all those dirty deeds—when it came to dividing the benefits, it had nothing to do with us, but when the knife falls, don’t drag us down!”
Though he was a pushover in the family with no authority, precisely because of that, he had decent relations with most of the collateral clan members.
The resentment between the Bai direct line and the collateral branches had been building for a long time.
He only needed to stir things up, saying that if they didn’t tie up Bai Jingtang, everyone would die—that was enough to incite these people.
The collateral clan members behind him surged forward in a wave.
The direct line’s house servants rushed to block them, and the two sides clashed.
Sticks and clubs flew, fists and feet rained, tables and chairs overturned, tea cups shattered all over the ground.
A strange thing happened.
The collateral clan members, after being hit, rubbed their bruises and charged on as if nothing had happened.
But the direct line’s house servants, when struck, hugged their arms and legs, howling in pain, tears streaming down their faces.
It was as if some sorcery was biased.
“Heaven’s will! This is Heaven’s will!”
Someone from the collateral clan shouted.
“The heavens themselves are on our side!”
Morale soared, and the collateral clan members quickly subdued the direct line’s house servants.
Before Bai Jingtang and the several direct line masters could run, they were tied up and pressed into chairs.
Bai Jingtang, held down by the shoulders, unable to move, looked up at Bai Yongchang and cursed.
“Bai Yongchang! You traitor! The Bai family raised you for decades, and this is how you repay kindness with enmity?”
Bai Yongchang looked at him, then suddenly kicked him.
Not hard, but Bai Jingtang, chair and all, tipped to one side.
His mouth hung open, the curse words stuck in his throat.
“Raised me?”
Bai Yongchang’s voice finally stopped trembling, but his eyes were red.
“When you forced my daughter to marry that scoundrel, did you ever think you were her uncle? When you cut my monthly allowance and took back my shop, did you ever think I was your clan member?”
The angrier he got, the more he spoke, and he kicked again.
“When did you ever treat me like a person?!”
People nearby quickly stopped him.
Bai Yongchang was pulled back, his chest still heaving.
Bai Jingtang slumped in his chair, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, not daring to curse anymore.
When a good-natured person is pushed to the brink, they really can kill.
At that moment, two figures walked in through the door.
They were dressed in armor, but their bearing was completely different.
One had a thin face and sharp eyes, the other was smiling, like an accountant.
They were cultivators from the Flying Immortal Platform.
As soon as they entered, they began directing the collateral clan members to control the Bai family mansion, searching account books, inspecting secret vaults, and opening hidden compartments.
The collateral clan members guided the way, and the cultivators conducted the inspections, working together seamlessly.
The secret accounts, land deeds, and correspondence that had been hidden for decades were carried out box by box.
Bai Jingtang watched those boxes being taken out, his face as pale as paper.
He knew it was over.
Who could have imagined there would be a mole in the family?
County Deputy’s Mansion
Liu Wenyuan returned home.
Without even taking time to drink tea, he went straight into the study.
He spread out paper, dipped his brush in ink, and swiftly wrote a letter.
After sealing it, he handed it to a trusted servant, then wrote another and gave it to another servant.
For the third one, he switched to a carrier pigeon, tied the letter to its leg, and with a flick of his hand, the pigeon fluttered into the night.
Sending messages by three routes, seeking aid from a thousand miles away—this was his usual tactic.
Whenever the Prince’s Mansion sent people down to cause trouble, it was by this method that he managed to turn danger into safety.
The Imperial Court was applying pressure; no matter how bold the Prince of Jingnan was, he wouldn’t dare tear up the facade with the court.
Liu Wenyuan let out a turbid breath, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.
Then he heard footsteps.
Not one person—many people.
Uniform, rhythmic footsteps accompanied by the clatter of metal, converging from all directions, like a tide that completely surrounded the County Deputy’s Mansion.
Liu Wenyuan’s eyes snapped open.
He rushed to the window and looked out.
Black armor and silver spears, torches blazing bright.
The Prince’s Mansion’s armored soldiers had surrounded the County Deputy’s Mansion in layer upon layer.
“What are you doing?!”
Liu Wenyuan pushed open the window, his voice sharp and shrill.
“I am a court-appointed official! I am the Lingxi County Magistrate! I haven’t even been convicted yet—by what right do you besiege my official residence?!”
No one answered him.
The soldiers stood motionless, the flames on the torches crackling in the night breeze.
At that moment, suddenly the streets outside erupted in firecrackers, popping and banging like an uproar.
The sounds of drums, suonas, and cheers from the common people mixed together, as lively as New Year.
Liu Wenyuan froze, pricking up his ears.
“…Something happened to the Bai family! Bai Jingtang confessed everything!”
“I heard it was orchestrated by the county magistrate and his son—Bai Jingtang was just an accomplice!”
“Do you know the actual yield of spirit fields in Lingxi County? I heard it’s XXX stones—almost half more than what was reported! They embezzled it all!”
Bai Jingtang confessed?
Liu Wenyuan’s mind went blank.
That number—the actual yield—was known only to him, Bai Jingtang, and the other collaborating great clans.
There was no way Bai Shuangshuang could know, no way Shen Mingyuan could know, no one in Lingxi County could possibly know.
Unless Bai Jingtang really had confessed.
“Bai Shuangshuang!”
Liu Wenyuan slapped the window sill, his voice cracking.
“I want to see Bai Shuangshuang! I want to see Special Envoy Bai! I want to make a statement! I know everything about the Bai family’s affairs! They misled me! I was deceived!”
No one paid him any attention.
The soldiers remained expressionless, the torches still burning, the drums still beating, the people still cheering.
Liu Wenyuan panicked.
He turned and retrieved a yellowed talisman from the deepest part of a cabinet—a Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman.
This was a treasure he had kept for emergencies, bought at great expense from a wandering cultivator.
Following the method taught by the seller, he crushed a bag of spirit stones and channeled his spiritual power into it.
The talisman lit up.
But only for an instant.
Then it went out.
Liu Wenyuan was stunned.
He tried again, crushed spirit stones, channeled power—the talisman didn’t even spark.
What he didn’t know was that the entire County Deputy’s Mansion, for a hundred zhang in all directions, had been locked down by an invisible array formation.
Not even a sound transmission talisman could escape—not even a fly could fly out.
Liu Wenyuan threw the talisman to the ground, stomped on it twice, then picked it up, tore it into pieces, and threw them into the air.
Like a snow shower with no warmth.
“No—!”
Snowflakes fluttered, the north wind howled…
From the study came the sound of porcelain shattering, one after another, lasting a long time…
The night in Lingxi County had completely fallen into chaos.
News grew wings, spreading from the Bai family to the Liu family, from the Liu family to the streets, from the streets to the ears of every great clan.
The Wang family, the Li family, the Zhang family, the Zhou family—those who hadn’t been invited to dinner during the day and thought they were safe—were now in an uproar.
“Did you hear? Bai Jingtang confessed everything!”
“Liu Wenyuan is shouting in his house that he wants to see Bai Shuangshuang, that he wants to confess—”
“Did you hear that number? The actual yield of the spirit fields was more than half of what was reported! There’s no way an outsider could know that number—someone must have confessed!”
The patriarchs of several families paced in their respective council halls, round after round, their tea growing cold and being replaced, again and again.
Finally, someone couldn’t sit still any longer.
“We can’t wait any longer! Bai Jingtang has confessed, and Liu Wenyuan is about to confess too. Once they implicate us, it’ll be too late!”
“Better to cut off an arm to save the body. Confess what needs to be confessed, shift the blame onto the Liu father and son. We’re just accomplices, we were coerced.”
“Yes, yes, we’re victims too. The Bai family is powerful, the county magistrate oppressive—we didn’t dare resist!”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go. We have no enmity with this Bai Shuangshuang. Hurry up and pin the blame on the Liu and Bai families.”
Several patriarchs, without prior consultation, reached a consensus with their clan members.
They prepared carriages overnight and, carrying account books and land deeds, rushed to the inn where Bai Shuangshuang was staying.
Meeting each other on the road, they exchanged glances, understanding tacitly.
In the inn, Bai Shuangshuang hadn’t slept.
She sat by the window, the Returning Cloud Sword resting on her knees, spiritual power flowing slowly through her meridians.
Zhao Qingyue lounged in the chair beside her, holding a cup of tea that had long gone cold, her eyes half-closed, either accompanying her or cultivating as well.
Footsteps came from downstairs, growing closer and more numerous.
Bai Shuangshuang opened her eyes.
“They’re here.”
Zhao Qingyue opened her eyes, looked out the window, and saw a line of carriages parked downstairs.
Several middle-aged men in brocade robes helped each other out of the carriages, carrying boxes of various sizes in their arms.
Zhao Qingyue smiled and closed her eyes again.
“These people—they flip faster than they turn a page. This is the indestructible alliance?”
Bai Shuangshuang’s gaze fell on those carriages, watching the people file in one after another.
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
“All the families are here. The details they confess, combined with the intelligence the cultivators have gathered over the past two days—”
She paused.
“The hidden treasure location should be deducible from that.”
Zhao Qingyue opened her eyes and looked at Bai Shuangshuang’s profile.
The candlelight flickered on her face, now bright, now dim.
“That mind of yours,” Zhao Qingyue said.
“How is it put together?”
Bai Shuangshuang ignored her, stood up, and straightened her clothes.
“Let’s go. Receive the guests, then close the net—”
“Pfft. Not talking? Acting like some expert?”
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