HSSB91: Direct Confrontation!
The Shadow Shrinking Pouch was a unique treasure, not amongst the ranks of artifacts or spirit artifacts.
Its materials were extremely hard to come by and its production was also not easy. Therefore, it was extremely rarely seen in the Eight Extremities World.
Retrieving the surrounding households of a thousand li from within a pouch-its meaning was similar to that of an infinite world being contained within a mustard seed.
The Shadow Shrinking Pouch contained a large self-formed space within, being able to accommodate a large amount of things, also allowing living beings to temporarily reside within.
As Shi Tie's cultivation was high and his senses extremely acute, while Yan Xu tried his best to hide it from him, he was still found out.
"While this subordinate was rushing over here, he happened to discover a disciple of our clan who had gone missing earlier-Ye Jing," Yan Xu's expression was as usual as he said candidly, "At that time, he had already lapsed into unconsciousness. Thus, this subordinate saved him. Because I was in a rush to get over here and assist, I didn't dare to waste any time, therefore temporarily settling him within the Shadow Shrinking Pouch.
As he said thus, Yan Xu took out a small pouch.
This pouch was black in colour, a golden rope tied around its opening, its exterior not betraying any signs of its uniqueness at all.
But as Yan Xu untied the golden rope and the pouch opened, a golden qi flow instantly gushed out from within.
Accompanied by the golden qi flow, a figure appeared before the eyes of Yan Zhaoge and the others.
Yan Zhaoge began laughing soundlessly. Currently still unconscious, revealed on the back of that person's hands outside of his sleeves as well as his face and neck, were flamelike patterns.
Who was it if not Ye Jing?
Shi Tie's gaze fell on Ye Jing. While his gaze merely swept past the latter once, Ye Jing instantly awakened slowly.
The Ye Jing who had just woken up initially had a blurry look on his face, but he quickly regained his mental faculties as he observed his surroundings warily.
When he saw Yan Zhaoge, his eyes instantly turned red as blood as though there were flames blazing within, a 'boom' sound resounding as he was about to leap off from the ground.
Shi Tie knit his brows slightly. Without any visible movement of his, Ye Jing was instantly frozen on the spot, unable to move. He could only stick up his neck, staring furiously at Yan Zhaoge.
"My name is Shi Tie. As a disciple of our clan, you should know who I am, "Shi Tie said calmly, "I am the First Seat of our clan's Disciplinary Hall, in charge of the law as well as punishment in our clan."
"If you believe that you have suffered an injustice, you can lay it all out on the table before me now. If logic lies with you, I will not let you be wronged."
Heaving out deep breaths, Ye Jing glared at Shi Tie, exclaiming loudly, "The people of Broad Creed Mountain, are all in cahoots with the Yan father and son!"
"His father is a First Seat Elder just like you; how can you not show favouritism towards him and uphold justice for me instead, offending his father in the process!"
Staying silent by the side, as Yan Xu saw Ye Jing's reaction, he could not help but secretly shake his head, "If this weren't Elder Shi, just that attitude of yours would have first got them offended."
As Yan Xu had expected, Shi Tie paid no heed to Ye Jing's attitude at all.
With seemingly no fluctuations in his tone whatsoever, he said, "I will not offend junior apprentice-brother Yan for you or for anyone else, but for the sake of upholding justice for our clan, for the sake of upholding justice in the hearts of men, I do not mind offending anyone."
"Yes, I watched Zhaoge growing up, but it is precisely because of that even more so, I would not be able to tolerate him straying off the path."
"But if it is determined that he has been falsely accused and framed, that person will be treated as though he had performed the same crime."
Shi Tie said calmly, "I, only look at the truth of a matter."
As he stood there calmly, his aura was as heavy as the mountains, as deep as the sea, as Ye Jing was intimidated back into silence.
While those words were said in a peaceful manner, each of them seemed like they weighed a thousand kilograms, beating down on the hearts of everyone present.
Ye Jing sucked in a deep breath, staring at Yan Zhaoge angrily, "That year, when I had still yet to enter the clan, he came to the Eastern Tang and stole away my lover whom I grown up together with since young!"
"Afterwards, when I entered Broad Creed Mountain, he viewed me as a thorn in his flesh."
"Previously in the Sealing Dragon Abyss, he wanted to kill me, yet did not want to leave any traces of his misdeeds behind. Thus he devised a cunning scheme, wanting to make use of another to kill me, cutting off the grass directly by its roots!"
"Failing in his first scheme, he devised yet another, throwing his Internal Crystal Furnace into the Sealing Dragon Abyss in an attempt to ensure my death!"
"I was lucky, and managed to survive. But in the Glacial Dragon Icy Pond, he tried to kill me yet again!"
"Harming me time and time again; it is impossible for us to exist together under these same heavens!"
Yan Zhaoge stood calmly by the side, neither happiness nor anger in his gaze which was currently on Ye Jing.
Shi Tie looked over, "Zhaoge, what have you to say?"
Yan Zhaoge said calmly, "That year, it was junior apprentice-sister Lin herself who made a choice. I did not break up the two of them on my own accord."
"That time with the Glacial Dragon Bone Soul, it was because he couldn't tell right from wrong and heavily injured our fellow disciple, junior apprentice-brother Lan, that I gave him a lesson; that was indeed intentional on my part."
"As for previously in the Sealing Dragon Abyss, I handed over a detailed report to the clan-I believe you, eldest apprentice-uncle, should have seen it too."
Shi Tie nodded, as Yan Zhaoge continued, "The person whom the Crimson Spirit Flag Master wanted to kill was me; I had no way to predict or manipulate his actions."
"Even if I had known of it beforehand, the Crimson Spirit Flag Master had depended on the seed of Li Yan True Fire to determine our position in the Sealing Dragon Abyss, hereby setting up his trap…" Yan Zhaoge looked towards Ye Jing, "You snatching the seed of Li Yan True Fire, was not something that I could have predicted or manipulated."
"That you were interested in my goal, the seed of Li Yan True Fire, I had been completely unaware of-how then could I have schemed against you?"
As Ye Jing stared at Yan Zhaoge, his breathing getting heavier and heavier by the second, Yan Zhaoge shook his head, "Of course, I do not deny that if the incident with the Crimson Spirit Flag Master had not happened, I would have taught you a lesson to get you to behave more sensibly afterwards."
"However, at that time, there was no reason for me to kill you at all-you were simply not worthy."
Ye Jing momentarily stopped his breathing, the flames of anger within his gaze instantly blazing even more strongly than before.
Yan Zhaoge calmly met his gaze, his own gaze having gradually become cold as ice, "As for when you fell into the Sealing Dragon Abyss afterwards, that's simple. The two of us can just perform a Blood Soul Recollection Ceremony."
"Playing back the scene of what happened then, with eldest-apprentice uncle as the judge."
"I don't mind at all-do you dare?"
The words immediately shot of Ye Jing's mouth, "Do it then!"
Yan Zhaoge shrugged, turning and bowing towards Shi Tie, "Eldest apprentice-uncle, please."
Shi Tie did not say anything, directly flicking out with his finger as a streak of light flew up into the horizon, forming a light pillar within the sky, completely enveloping Yan Zhaoge and Ye Jing within.
Yan Zhaoge punctured his own finger neither hurriedly nor slowly. A little fresh blood dripped out, forming a line of blood that flew up into the sky.
Led by that line of blood, Yan Zhaoge vaguely felt as though his soul had left his body and ascended to a higher realm.
On the other side, under Shi Tie's guidance, Ye Jing did the same.
Shi Tie said, "Silently think back on that instant within your heart, not focusing on what you saw, but rather calibrating to return to the scene of that time."
"The ceremony will naturally get rid of the falsehoods caused by the influence of your personal emotions, as well as resurface the truths that you intentionally overlooked."
The next moment, in the sky above their heads, a mirror of light slowly descended.
Within the mirror of light, images were impressively being played out that accurately displayed the past events of the Sealing Dragon Abyss once more.
Yan Zhaoge's expression did not change.
Yan Xu shook his head slightly.
Ye Jing's eyes became even more bloodshot.
Shi Tie was focused on that terrifying aura that had surged up from the dark red ring worn by Ye Jing as well as that giant illusory figure of flame behind him as he momentarily fell into a slight trance.
After a moment, Ye Jing regained his wits, letting out an enraged howl, "Fraud, trickery, deceit! As I thought, you are indeed the same kind of person as Lan Wenyan, Lin Yushao and the others, leaning towards and protecting this dog Yan Zhaoge!"
"It was definitely that he intentionally threw down that Internal Crystal Furnace to do me in!"
Shi Tie's expression gradually turned stern as with a sweep of his gaze, Ye Jing was pressured to the point where he was completely unable to move.
"The Blood Soul Recollection Ceremony can indeed be falsified," Shi Tie said quietly, "But there is only one way that can be done, and that is when both parties had colluded to do this beforehand."
"Ye Jing, did you collude with Zhaoge to reproduce a false scene?"
Hearing his words, Ye Jing was left staring wide-eyed, speechless tongue-tied as he breathed out heavily, the fiery light within his eyes growing stronger and stronger, all traces of reason and clarity having already vanished from within.
The flamelike patterns on his body grew even more dazzling as they looked as though they were going to erupt into real, blazing flames.
Looking at him calmly, Yan Zhaoge suddenly asked, "Ye Jing, how did junior apprentice-sister Lin die?"
HSSB92: Now, what do you have to say for yourself?
Yan Zhaoge looked at Ye Jing who had the look of wanting to devour everybody he saw.
After hearing his question, complicated emotions now surfaced within Ye Jing's eyes which had originally been on the verge of losing all sense of reason.
Anger, regret, unwillingness, longing, hatred, disgust-all of these flashed by.
But all these emotions were quickly engulfed and swallowed up by his flames of fury.
Ye Jing ground his teeth, staring at Yan Zhaoge while not answering his question, only repeating non-stop, "Because of you…because of you…it was all because of you!"
Seeing this from the side, Yan Xu's expression did not change, but disappointment that was hard to conceal could be seen within the depths of his gaze, "Rotten mud cannot be lifted up a wall."
Upon having successfully sought out Ye Jing earlier, he had not revealed his own identity, only telling Ye Jing that he could help him in getting his revenge.
All he needed was Ye Jing to coordinate with him.
The Ghost Hatchet Elder Han Sheng, had also been led over by Ye Jing. That Han Sheng would make a move, to Yan Xu, was an unexpected surprise.
Yan Zhaoge dying at Han Sheng's hands and Han Sheng being killed by Broad Creed Mountain experts afterwards in retaliation-to him, that was a perfect best case scenario indeed.
If he had to personally make a move to exterminate Yan Zhaoge, Ye Jing would also be of use then.
But from the looks of it now, Ye Jing was completely useless in all areas. He had definitely taught him to push the blame for Lin Yushao's death onto Yan Zhaoge…
But the Ye Jing who had had the flames of fury rush into his brain didn't seem to think that that was a good idea at all.
As he saw it, why did he have to frame Yan Zhaoge?
Everything that had happened up till now was all caused by Yan Zhaoge in the first place!
Looking at Ye Jing, Yan Xu strongly shook his head within his heart.
People who had lost their rationality were indeed easy to manipulate, but such people were also prone to easily losing control of their emotions, leading to some unexpected accidents happening.
The Principal Elder of the Eastern Tang, now deeply felt the frustration of having a pig teammate.
Looking at how Ye Jing was, Shi Tie also shook his head within his heart.
Affected by the technique with which he had reforged his fleshly body, Ye Jing's emotions had become greatly unstable, temperamental and quick to anger, unable to keep a calm mind.
He really didn't understand what had really happened that day in the Sealing Dragon Abyss?
Maybe not; more probable was the fact that he just wasn't willing to believe it.
At the end of the day, it was him being unwilling to accept reality, feeling that he should not have met with such a calamity for no rhyme or reason, and especially not in front of Yan Zhaoge.
Having met with such a calamity, there must definitely be someone who had perpetrated it, and other than the Yan Zhaoge whom he had originally had some enmity with, what other, more possible candidate was there?
From a certain perspective, it was actually just him being enraged as a result, and wanting to find an outlet to vent his anger.
Afterwards, he began feeling that as the victim, he definitely couldn't lower his head before the perpetrator, and had to get justice for himself, paying back what he had suffered in fold.
It was just that with this process of continual self-hypnosis, Ye Jing's emotions had grown more and more unstable.
More and more temperamental, the violent intent in his heart skyrocketing even further.
From first thinking of himself as the victim, to accumulating his rage gradually to the point where it brought harm to those around him, as he became more and more unrestrained and without fear.
Shi Tie was a person who seldom felt regret, but now he was really beginning to question a little: the Ye Jing before his eyes-was he really the person he had previously set his eyes on and considered taking on as a disciple after observation?
All of Ye Jing's reactions after having heard Yan Zhaoge's question had fallen into his eyes, and he had naturally understood that Ye Jing's so-called 'because of you' stemmed out of anger and resentment, rather than pointing at Yan Zhaoge as a real murderer.
Staring at Yan Zhaoge, Ye Jing hissed, "If she had not been bewitched by you, how could Yushao have been unwilling to leave with me?"
Yan Zhaoge came before him, gazing at him, "Unwilling to leave with you; so you were determined not to let her leave with me as well?"
Ye Jing snorted, his eyes bloodshot as reason and clarity had once again completely vanished from within them, "Anyone who is standing on your side, is my enemy!"
Looking at him, Yan Zhaoge's tone was calm yet emitted a bone-chilling coldness, "Very good; prepare to pay with your life for junior apprentice-sister Lin."
Ye Jing let out an enraged yell, "You are not allowed to mention her; if not for you that year, none of this would have happened!"
Yan Zhaoge paid him no heed any longer, instead looking towards Yan Xu, "Ye Jing, does not know the Tushita Palm."
"Although what he is currently cultivating in is very strange, the power of fire that it contains is very different from with the Tushita Palm."
"Elder Yan, the one who first discovered junior apprentice-sister Lin's corpse was you. I would like to ask of you: the injuries on junior apprentice-sister Lin's body left behind by the Tushita Palm-who inflicted them?"
Shi Tie's gaze similarly cam to fall on Yan Xu.
With both Yan Zhaoge's and Shi Tie's gazes on him, Yan Xu fell silent for a moment before he raised his eyelids, his gaze calm, "It was this old man."
He said slowly, "With the competition between Elder Yan and Elder Fang growing more and more intense by the day, this old man was momentarily bewitched by the devil, intending to strike a blow on Elder Yan through Yan Zhaoge."
"If Yan Zhaoge were found guilty of the crime, let alone the fact that he would have lost all face, Elder Yan would also have earned the reputation of being an incompetent father."
"And such a person-how could he succeed the position of Clan Chief?"
Yan Xu calmly whispered, "And so, the old Clan Chief, you, Elder Shi, as well as the other important experts of our clan-your impressions of the Yan father and son would all drop greatly as a result."
"Elder Fang's road to power would become much smoother."
"As remuneration for it in the future, this old man would also receive many benefits."
"This was being fuelled by greed-my first sin."
"Other than that, as a mere junior, Yan Zhaoge went against this old man time and time again, causing this old man to be holding in a stomach full of resentment, feeling uncomfortable if I couldn't vent it out. Therefore, I intentionally wanted to make things difficult for him, to teach him a lesson."
"This was being fuelled by anger-my second sin."
Yan Xu's tone was calm and without fluctuations, "While being a Principal Elder, this old man has committed so many grave sins. I am willing to resign my post and head to the Disciplinary Hall to receive my punishment."
"Whatever punishment the clan decides to give me, this old man will also not object."
"With our Broad Creed Mountain currently battling it out with the Sacred Sun Clan, this old man's face is also not thick enough to continue remaining in the Eastern Tang. I plead to head to the frontlines where the South Heaven Region and the Fire Domain are doing battle, to fight it out with our enemies."
"If this old life is thrown away there, it can be considered as having made up for this time's sins. I hope Elder Shi will allow me this."
Shi Tie looked at him silently, neither agreeing nor refusing, not saying a word.
Looking at Yan Xu, Yan Zhaoge asked, "Elder Yan, is it only that?"
Yan Xu said mildly, "Admitting my wrongs in front of a junior like you, the skin on this old man's old face has already been completely peeled away. What else is there to hide?"
Yan Zhaoge chortled, though his gaze was a little cold, "Elder Yan's skill of grabbing the big and letting go of the small is something that is deeply worthy of me learning."
"However, I would like to ask of you how the movements of myself along with Elder Xu and the others came to be grasped by the Sacred Sun Clan."
Yan Xu's expression did not change, "This old man is also very curious about that."
He looked at Yan Zhaoge, "Are you hinting that this old man intentionally leaked the information to the Sacred Sun Clan, attempting to kill with a borrowed knife and condemn you to death?"
"This old man admits that on your matter, I indeed showed little forbearance. However, it was still not to the extent of wanting your life-this old man had no reason to wish you dead."
"As for this old man appearing here, I have already said that it was because I had rushed over to assist."
Yan Xu looked at Yan Zhaoge, "You said that this old man wanted to claim your life; that really is 'if you want to condemn someone, there's always a charge to be had.'"
Yan Zhaoge sneered, "What's true is 'The evidence is irrefutable; it cannot be denied.'"
Looking at Yan Xu, Shi Tie slowly shook his head, "Elder Yan, seeing me appear here, were you still holding on to hope?"
Yan Xu's expression didn't change, but his heart sunk.
Shi Tie similarly didn't say anything further, only bringing all of them to pierce through the clouds as he flew. Very quickly, they arrived at a manor.
Seeing this manor, Yan Xu's face instantly dimmed slightly.
Outside the manor, there stood a hale and hearty old man.
It was precisely the Disciplinary Elder of the East Heaven Region who had paid a visit to the Eastern Tang for Yan Zhaoge half a year ago.
The Disciplinary Elder bowed towards Shi Tie, "First Seat, when we arrived here, they were in the process of silencing mouths. Two people could not be saved."
"However, the others have all already fallen under our control. After our primary interrogation, it is already sufficient to indict Yan Xu of colluding with the Sacred Sun Clan and exposing the movements of our clan's disciples."
Shi Tie landed, turning to look at Yan Xu, "Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"