Chapter 444: A fellow disciple's fury

"And you're going to just believe him?!"

"Patriarch Xue, no one is believing anything right now. We're only trying to understand what happened. And for that, we need to hear for the only person who may actually know. Of course, we'll check everything. I understand your frustration and your anger, but this is important. Your family is not the only one affected by this. If a demonic cultivator did infiltrate your residence..."

"And what if he is the demonic cultivator?! After all, the Wubei Sect was attacked from within!"

"Old man, are you suggesting that Sect Leader Xuan is so inept that he chose a demonic cultivator as his direct disciple. Or are suggesting that the greatest warrior of our Hongchen Kingdom turned to the demonic path himself?"

"Yun, I never said that!"

"It certainly sounded like you were putting some doubt on the Wubei Sect. The fact that the snakes within them revealed themselves should make us trust them more. After all, since then, they went on a crusade to get rid of them all wherever they could have run to. It makes sense for their Young Sect Master to have come here if he thought this Gu Song was hiding in our Subei Province."

As the two generals were arguing, Minister Yong started to examine Gu Song's body as well as his study.

"The corpse is too damaged for me to notice anything, we'll have physicians examine it further. However, I'm not sure we'll be able to establish whether he used Evil Qi or not. On the other hand, this laboratory does corroborate Chen Guo's testimony."

To be honest, Minister Yong didn't really believe everything Cao Yun had said. A 4th-grade Spirit Warrior had just died in front of him for no apparent reason?! That was highly suspicious. In addition, he didn't believe that Cao Yun had just come here with little evidence and miraculously stumbled upon this Gu Song many others had been looking for. There were many other ways to deal with such a situation. However, all those ways would have required someone official to be involved. Either Cao Yun was truly paranoid and didn't want anyone else involved, or he was hiding something that Gu Song knew.

It was possible that Gu Song had found some secret of the Wubei Sect or the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. A powerful poison given to Cao Yun by Director Ge Ling or even Spirit Master Xiao might have caused the demise of Gu Song. Since a Spirit Warrior could not easily travel all the way to the borders, sending an early Mortal Warrior could be a possibility for them. Even as he was trying to understand what had happened in the Xue residence, Minister Yong was already thinking of all the possible ramifications. Among them, there were some he didn't want to think about...

"Generals, look at this laboratory."

Looking around, they saw the handiwork of Gu Song. There were organs, blood vials and other bodily fluids kept in jars. Some were from demonic beasts and this was normal for alchemists. However, some were clearly human. Sometimes even orthodox alchemists worked with human body parts taken from the dead. It was rather rare but it happened. However the sheer amount of them in this single room was worrisome.

"Patriarch Xue, who was the alchemist using this room? Do you have any record of the experiments he was doing in there?"

While asking those questions, Minister Yong was also searching for every piece of paper he could find in this room. Unfortunately, most of them were written in a strange language. Most likely, this was a form of encryption so that only the alchemist who had written those words could read them. Once again, some alchemists did that in order to protect their research. But this wasn't that usual either. The more they were looking into this, the more the corpse was looking guilty. Besides, Cao Yun's Qi was barely present in the room. That meant that he had just recently came in. There was another kind of Qi in there and it belonged to the cadaver Cao Yun had identified as Gu Song.

"I don't take care of everything myself. This should be Steward Xue Mingyu's work."

"Then, ask him to come here as soon as possible."

Slowly, Patriarch Xue was calming himself. Although Cao Yun's words were hard to believe, he had felt that the boy was truthful. But if he had learned under Xiao Xuefeng, his mind could be developed enough for him to lie even in front of late Spirit Warriors. On the other hand, looking at the laboratory, it was indeed quite ominous. At the very least, it didn't look like the workplace of any orthodox alchemists. If Xue Liu had seen the place when there was still Death Energy and Ghost Energy, he would have immediately though that this was a room for torture.

An emaciated woman arrived soon. She was Steward Xue Mingyu. When she saw Patriarch Xue, she kowtowed.

"Patriarch, please pardon this one. The room you talked about was supposed to be empty. Xue Rui had requested to have it for himself and that no one should be allowed within. This incompetent one doesn't know who occupied it."

"Xue Rui?!"

"Patriarch Xue, we should go examine your junior's room."

Gradually, Patriarch Xue Liu could feel that this investigation could turn against him and his family. Thinking back on Xue Rui's behavior, he tried to find out if there was any credence to Cao Yun's words. If that bastard had dabbled into the demonic arts, the entire Xue family could be implicated. Maybe he had to get ahead of the curve. Thus, he sent a few commands to his own men through telepathy. Before they could go to Xue Rui's room, he had to know as much as possible. Could he have been so busy with politics and with his grudge against General Yun that he had failed to see what was happening right under his nose?

"Patriarch?"

"Of course, Minister. But I do not think it is appropriate for outsiders to visit my residence. Now that the crisis is over, General Yun should leave and this Young Sect Master should probably be escorted to the Governor's residence to check his dubious claims."

"Old man, we don't know if other traitors aren't still in here. I couldn't leave Minister Yong without any protection. And concerning Chen Guo, he might have some information that could help us make sense of what we find. Not only is he the only witness, he is also a great alchemist. Even as Guai Mo, he was certainly as competent as a 5-star Human alchemist. His insights could be precious."

"But we can't trust anything he says precisely because he's the only witness! And are you insinuating that my residence is full of traitors? Or are you accusing my Xue family of something?"

"Generals, please! We'll all go examine Xue Rui's room. There is no time for your rivalry right now. Our Subei Province might still be in danger. Instead of fighting each other, reserve your strength to kill our enemies."

Unlike Governor Jiahe, Minister Yong was respected by both parties. They both new that being a competent minister of the province under this specific governor was difficult. But Minister Yong had always acted in the best interest of the Subei Province.

Thus, they reached the chambers of Xue Rui. Many servants were already busy within. The body of Qiang Zilan had been lay down on the bed, but there was no trace of Xue Rui apart from a scorch mark on the ground. Everything that he was had been consumed by the nascent Black Heart Flame. Unlike in the laboratory, there were traces of Evil Qi around. And it was quite apparent that Xue Rui had been killed by some demonic art. In fact, Cao Yun had literally the Black Heart Flame within himself right now. Later, he would work on it by using his Rune of Fire. But for now, not even Spirit Warrior Xiao could determine that he had this unless she invaded his sea of consciousness and was very aggressive. Short of a full Soul Memory Search, it would be impossible to sense it.

As the Wubei Sect's Young Sect Master, they couldn't order such a barbaric method to be used unless they had very good evidence. However, as flawed as it was, Cao Yun's story could still make sense.

When he entered the room, Cao Yun didn't pay much attention to what had happened within. He knew the young woman on the bed as Xue Rui's first concubine. Most likely he had either used her for his demonic art or he had killed her in a fit of rage. To be honest, Cao Yun felt a bit guilty. He had pushed Xue Rui to the brink in order to weaken his position in his master's eyes and ensure that he could more easily approach him. Maybe if he hadn't, he wouldn't have resorted to such means. On the other hand, if Cao Yun had not acted, many more people would have suffered and died. And Xue Rui would have ultimately used his own concubine.

Every demonic cultivator would eventually lose it and harm those close to them in order to progress in their ways. Although those arts could make them powerful faster, the price to pay was oftentimes their own sanity. Before long, human beings looked like resources, no better than beasts or even inanimate objects.

The three Spirit Warriors examined the room and Qiang Zilan's body.

"This woman had her soul taken out of her body by someone. What about the other one? Who is she?"

"She's just some servant my junior brought home. I don't know the specifics."

"It seems like there are many thing sin your household you claim not to know..."

"Yun, do you have something to say?"

"I think I just said it, didn't I? You don't know who resided in that sinister room. You don't know who your junior's servants are. Is there a single thing you do know?"

"Do you really think this to be the right time to insult me?!"

"The truth is no insult, old man. Unlike you I know the name and face of all my servants. Though I would not claim to know everything that happens in my residence, I wouldn't allow such disarray."

"Stop it, you two! Have some respect for the dead, would you!"

Delicately, Minister Yong took the other woman's body and put her on the bed close to Qiang Zilan.

"Would you call the servants who visited Xue Rui's chambers?"

"I'll call Qiang Zilan's young servant, she should know better than most."

The very moment Zhong Ling's body was revealed, Cao Yun's temperament changed suddenly. He clenched his fists and his jaw. All around him, a thick killing intent began to spread. Now that he had subdued the Flying Poison, he had way more control over the Drop of Wrath. As a result, his blood had improved a bit. Above all else, the Drop of Wrath was entirely connected to his Po through his Po of Jing. And this part of his corporeal soul could turn into a Turbid Demon through anger. Right now, Cao Yun was full of righteous anger.

Obviously he could have controlled himself, but he didn't want to. As much as he had felt guilty for Qiang Zilan, it was just a faint feeling. At the end of the day, she had been killed by Xue Rui, he was not responsible for that and he barely even knew she existed in the first place. The woman in front of him though was different. She was the one who had helped him by giving him his first furnace and his first cauldron. Although this wasn't much, Cao Yun still remembered that gesture. And she was also very close to Meng Jia.

"Patriarch Xue, what is the meaning of this?!"

Cao Yun's thunderous words echoed throughout the Xue residence.

"You...!"

"Why is my fellow disciple laying dead in your residence?!"

"What?!"

Minister Yong, General Yun and even Patriarch Xue were all surprised. It was clear Cao Yun was talking about the servant. As he was furious, Cao Yun let out his killing intent and his Wei Qi. The battle-hardened generals felt something others would not have easily discerned. As they were used to battlefields, they had killed many demons and sometimes even humans themselves. Cao Yun's current killing intent was on par with theirs, even maybe a bit higher. That meant that he had probably killed way more than them. However, he was only a young man. That scared them a little. When he would be a Spirit Warrior, they could imagine his strength and ruthlessness.

"That woman the Xue family left lying on the ground is Zhong Ling. She's an outer disciple of my Wubei Sect and a protégé of Chief Elder Meng Jia. I demand an explanation on her presence as a servant! Besides, look at her body."

Examining her body with their spiritual senses, all three men realized what Cao yun was referring to. All over herself, she had scars who had clearly been caused by being beaten and abused in other ways. If that woman truly was a fellow disciple of the Wubei Sect, they thought that Cao Yun's anger was perfectly justified. In fact, even if she wasn't, treating a servant in such a way was appalling. This was the way demons had treated humans for more than twenty millenniums.

"I demand an explanation!"

As he spoke, Cao Yun used the personal seal of Sect Leader Xuan. For all intents and purposes, it was as if Sect Leader Xuan, the strongest cultivator of the entire Hongchen Kingdom himself, was demanding an explanation from the Xue family. Amplified by the seal, Cao Yun's righteous fury spread beyond the limits of the Xue residence. Although Cao Yun's action right now wasn't purely emotional, it wasn't too calculated either. He did want an explanation. Since he had left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Zhong Ling had disappeared. She had left the Wubei Sect and no one knew why.