Bai Qianqian heard the anxious tone in Luo Qingyao’s voice and reluctantly dropped the black jade at her feet.
Seeing her unwillingness, Luo Qingyao felt a wave of speechlessness.
“Ah, don’t be reluctant now! Throw it farther away!”
“But this was given to me by Master…”
Lin Xinyi saw her drop the black jade at her feet and perked up even more, almost excited enough to flip over the railing as she kept pointing in Bai Qianqian’s direction.
“Haha, I was just worried about a lack of evidence, and that idiot actually took out the black jade. Now we’ve caught her red-handed. I don’t believe this time…”
The smirk on Lin Xinyi’s lips grew thicker.
Murong Xue watched from the side and could tell Lin Xinyi was surely scheming something malicious again, but the very same expression had just exposed a mole from the demon cult within the sect.
‘Elder Lin… why is she becoming harder and harder to read?’
Lin Xinyi pointed in Bai Qianqian’s direction, her eyes filled with urgency, but due to the distance, none of the elders reacted in time to figure out who she was pointing at.
“That woman just dropped something at her feet. It’s definitely evidence of her being a demon cult spy!”
“I saw it!”
Just as Lin Xinyi was about to fly down herself in frustration, an elder behind her reacted first.
As if he had actually seen it, he directly cast a spell and charged forward.
Lin Xinyi then noticed a flicker of panic in Bai Qianqian’s eyes, and couldn’t help but think to herself, ‘Though the process was a bit rocky, at least the outcome hasn’t changed.’
‘Bai Qianqian, Bai Qianqian, my dear disciple, don’t blame your master…’
Luo Qingyao also spotted the charging elder, his nascent soul aura erupting.
She immediately released the power of her remnant soul as a Celestial Venerable.
‘If I sacrifice my remnant soul, I can teleport Qianqian away, but I’ll end up utterly destroyed in body and spirit.’
‘Qianqian, if you fall into Lin Xinyi’s hands like this, even being innocent won’t matter…’
Luo Qingyao slowly closed her eyes, about to drain her soul force, when Bai Qianqian suddenly reached out and pulled off the ring, giving Luo Qingyao no chance to act.
“Wha—What are you doing?! Hurry and put the ring back on! I’ll send you away first!”
“Miss Luo, there’s no need…”
“Now isn’t the time to be stubborn! Quick—!”
Luo Qingyao’s eyes held a trace of panic, but when she looked up, she saw the elder rush right past Bai Qianqian.
“Huh?”
Bai Qianqian showed no big reaction, standing calmly in place.
Luo Qingyao turned her head in confusion and saw that the elder had pinned down a white-haired man wearing a bamboo hat behind Bai Qianqian.
“I saw you sneaking around earlier. So you’re the problem!!”
As the man was pinned down, a jade slip slowly fell to the side.
The elder picked it up and examined it.
“A communication jade slip from the Demon Shadow Sect… You’re from the Demon Shadow Sect?!”
“Mercy, elder, mercy! I’m just an outer disciple! The sect said I’d get contribution points for this, so I came!”
Faced with the elder’s interrogation, this demon cult spy confessed everything before even being questioned.
Luo Qingyao let out a relieved sigh when she realized the elder wasn’t targeting Bai Qianqian.
“I almost used my trump card just now. How hilarious…”
But at the sudden appearance of another demon cult spy, Lin Xinyi was utterly dumbfounded.
Earlier, it seemed like only Bai Qianqian had silver-white hair.
Now where did this man suddenly come from?
‘Damn it! How can such coincidences exist in this world?!’
Lin Xinyi glared resentfully in Bai Qianqian’s direction.
The girl must have known she was the one being pointed at earlier.
But now, as if sensing Lin Xinyi’s gaze, Bai Qianqian didn’t look away.
Instead, she turned her head and smirked slightly.
Seeing the smile on her lips, Lin Xinyi’s hands began to tremble with rage.
“That rebellious disciple is mocking me!”
Lin Xinyi’s grip on the railing started shaking uncontrollably.
She wanted to call out Bai Qianqian’s name, but the moment she opened her mouth, she felt Murong Xue’s gaze fixed tightly on her from beside her.
‘No, I need to calm down. Calm down. If I call out Bai Qianqian’s name now, won’t I reveal that I know her…’
Thinking this, Lin Xinyi took a slow, deep breath and glanced sideways at Murong Xue standing next to her.
She remained as cool and aloof as ever.
Lin Xinyi gritted her teeth and tried to keep accusing Bai Qianqian, but when she saw the girl kick the black jade away, she swallowed the words back down.
“Elder Lin usually keeps a low profile, but today you’ve truly opened my eyes.”
Murong Xue watched the mole pinned down by the elder in the distance.
His cultivation was pitifully weak, not even a trace of demonic aura.
If the earlier nascent soul demon cultivator had heaven-concealing skills, Lin Xinyi spotting him at a glance was surprising enough.
But now she had identified a nearly powerless ordinary disciple, marked only by a communication jade token, in one go.
This changed Murong Xue’s view of Lin Xinyi once again.
“Sect Master flatters me. It was… just a coincidence…”
Having failed twice in her plans within a single day, Lin Xinyi’s mood hit rock bottom.
Her scheme to kill Qin Huaiyin by proxy had failed, and she could accept that.
But even the surefire plan to frame Bai Qianqian had completely collapsed, and not just once.
Now not only were all her plans ruined, but even Murong Xue’s attention on her had doubled.
‘If I’ve caught Murong Xue’s interest, I’ll probably be under surveillance from now on. I need to come up with an excuse to brush her off…’
Lin Xinyi’s thoughts were in disarray, and she had no energy left to mess with Bai Qianqian.
She had just fingered two spies in a row, one of whom was even a demon cult elder.
She wouldn’t even believe this story herself.
If the sect master couldn’t see it, but she had spotted it in one glance, Lin Xinyi knew she’d have to find a reasonable explanation for her actions, or else Murong Xue would surely keep an eye on her from now on.
“Elder Lin, that method of yours for identifying spies—is it some kind of wondrous secret art? If so, you shouldn’t keep it hidden…”
“Sect Master, what are you saying? If I really had such a secret art, as an elder, I would have handed it over long ago…”
Lin Xinyi’s mind was a mess, and she clearly didn’t want to discuss this topic any further.
She made up a quick excuse and hurriedly left the viewing platform.
Murong Xue rested her cheek on her hand, watching Lin Xinyi’s retreating figure, her thoughts a mystery.
‘Elder Lin…’
Bai Qianqian watched the demon cult spy being escorted away.
She looked up at the viewing platform, but Lin Xinyi was already gone.
When she turned her head, she saw the woman with ice-blue hair who had been standing beside Lin Xinyi earlier.
‘Master was just talking to that person the whole time, wasn’t she…’
Murong Xue seemed to sense a gaze.
She slowly turned her head and met Bai Qianqian’s eyes.
They merely glanced at each other silently, then mutually averted their gazes, like a casual, unintentional glance in everyday life.
But inside, both were thinking different things.
‘That woman is so beautiful… Is she trying to steal Master away from me?’
‘Earlier, Elder Lin’s gaze kept falling on that child…’
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