Chapter 264 Yiyi, Yun Family Blood, Yun Family Words
The dark stone room was illuminated by only two candle stands. Zhuang Yan’s eyes were calm. At this moment, his hair was disheveled, and the ethereal aura of his former Sword Sect elder was gone. His limbs were impaled with spirit-locking nails and bound to the wall with cold iron chains.
Two Sword Sect elders sat on wooden stools, their gazes solemn as they questioned him. Yun Yiyi stood to the side, holding a black judge’s brush, silently recording every word Zhuang Yan spoke:
“The Sword Pavilion murder case, I had Xue Xinghai kill those inner sect disciples, taking one organ from each to sew into a monstrous body. However, I didn’t expect Xue Xinghai to miss one person. Afterwards, he encountered the Third Miss who rushed over in the marketplace. I sensed something was wrong and rushed to save him, but Eldest Miss seemed to have noticed something… she came with Elder Hu, so I had no choice but to use a soul-searching technique to destroy Xue Xinghai’s spirit.”
Zhuang Yan turned to look at Yun Yiyi, a hint of resentment and helplessness in his eyes.
The two elders interrogating listened and nodded, then asked:
“What about the Qiong Peak incident, do you have anything to say?”
“Regarding the Qiong Peak incident, I intended to take the vital blood of Eldest Miss and Second Miss to complete the monstrous pill. It was going smoothly, but at the last moment, two unknown young cultivators broke open my pill furnace and threw a water spirit bead inside, causing a chaotic influx of water and fire spiritual energy, resulting in a furnace explosion…”
… …
The interrogation lasted a long time. Because Zhuang Yan was indeed a former Sword Sect elder, despite committing such a grave mistake, the matter was now very clear. The elders did not choose to use soul-searching techniques on him; they simply asked him one question after another, like a normal interrogation.
Yun Yiyi, who was listening and recording, remained silent the entire time, diligently noting things on paper, acting as a “scribe.” Recording cases was considered a menial task; even with a case as significant as Zhuang Yan’s, which involved Yun Kunwu, it would at most be handled by a high-ranking inner sect disciple.
As for why Yun Yiyi did not return to Yi Shui Peak to rest, enduring her exhausted body and mind to take on this task, it was because of the sentence she heard from Feng Yu Die at that time.
— “Young Master Ye!! What are you doing? You should have predicted it would turn out like this…”
This single sentence was enough for her to connect all the events that had happened during this period. Feng Yu Die and Ye Anping had known each other for a long time. When Yun Jiujiu met Feng Yu Die, Yun Xi encountered Pei Lianxue, and he met Ye Anping.
At the very beginning of the Sword Pavilion murder case, it was Ye Anping who hinted to her that Zhuang Yan was problematic. Among the two people Zhuang Yan mentioned who threw water spirit beads into the furnace at Qiong Peak, one was Feng Yu Die, and the other was Ye Anping.
Ye Anping had acted like an outsider in front of her, yet every incident was related to him, as if the entire affair from beginning to end was orchestrated by him. It was as if not just the events, but everyone, were within his grasp.
Yun Jiujiu fell for Feng Yu Die, who was disguised as a man. She heard they met on the street and became acquainted through a fight. When Yun Xi met Pei Lianxue, she encountered a level four demonic beast and was almost killed, but was saved by Pei Lianxue.
Although there was currently no evidence to prove her suspicion, this was the only logical explanation that could tie everything together.
… …
After listening to Zhuang Yan’s confession, the elders also noticed a point of doubt and asked:
“Zhuang Yan, you just said that two unknown young cultivators caused your monstrous pill to fail. Who were those two people?”
“Elder Wu, I truly do not know the identities of those two, but I can say that those two are definitely not ordinary people. In fact, if it weren’t for them, Kunwu would never have been defeated.”
“But he has already been defeated. Elder Hu found the body parts of the monstrous body in the forbidden area and confirmed that Yun Kunwu’s soul was extinguished. He was directly struck by Senior Tian Xing’s Earth Phoenix True Treasure. It’s already good luck that he left behind body parts.”
“Heh…”
Another elder beside Elder Wu, hearing this, stroked his long beard and said:
“Regardless, there are doubts in this case, and we still need to thoroughly investigate the identities of those two. With such a big incident, if we leave any loose ends, what if later on…”
Elder Wu nodded: “You are absolutely right. I will have the disciples from the Department of Justice investigate thoroughly when I return…”
Hearing this, Yun Yiyi, who had been silent, quickly spoke up, interrupting:
“Elders, could you entrust this matter to me?”
“Eldest Miss, you have just experienced such a disaster. You should return and recuperate for a while… In another half month, Sect Master Yun will come out of seclusion, and at that time…”
They absolutely could not let the elders investigate!
Even though Yun Yiyi felt that Ye Anping likely hadn’t left any clues, what if he had? What if Ye Anping was careless and the elders discovered he was helping from the shadows? Even if he had merits in this matter, he would still be violating the Sword Sect’s rules by interfering in sect affairs as an outsider. The best outcome would be for his merits and demerits to cancel each other out, and he would be released after a few dozen days of detention. But if the elders decided to mete out a severe punishment, they could also send him to the Southern Domain’s Department of Justice for trial, where the sentence would be at least several decades.
Yun Yiyi gritted her teeth slightly and said:
“I have some leads on the identities of those two. I beg the elders to entrust this matter to me. In less than half a month, I will find out their whereabouts.”
The two Sword Sect elders paused. Seeing her resolute determination, they nodded in agreement:
“…Since Eldest Miss is so determined, we shall trouble you, Eldest Miss.”
“Yes, I will return to tidy up the case files first.” Yun Yiyi stood up and cupped her hands in reply, “I will send the organized case files to the Department of Justice in a few days.”
“Eldest Miss, please rest well and don’t overexert yourself…”
Yun Yiyi nodded and quickly stacked the tens of thousands of words of case files she had recorded neatly before leaving the stone room. As she passed by Xue Xinghai’s cell, she paused for a moment, peeking through the iron bars to see the former Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion looking at her with innocent eyes:
“Ababa… baba…”
“… …”
Yun Yiyi shook her head with a bitter smile and continued towards the elevator, reaching the platform at the entrance.
… …
As dusk settled, the silhouettes of the distant mountain peaks were suffused with a golden hue. Escorted by two Sword Sect disciples, Yun Yiyi flew on her sword towards Yi Shui Peak. However, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
— Ye Anping had been deceiving her from beginning to end! His attention was never on her, and he had never treated her as his fiancée. What about impotence? What about waiting until after the wedding ceremony? Yun Yiyi could guess that when he returned, Ye Anping would definitely request to resign and leave.
“……You’ve come to the Sword Sect, you can’t leave without leaving something behind!”
“?” “?”
The two Sword Sect disciples behind her were bewildered:
“Eldest Miss, what?”
“Hoo—”
Yun Yiyi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She twisted her flying sword and turned, heading towards Central Peak.
“I’m going to Central Peak to get some pills.”
The two Sword Sect disciples following her were puzzled and asked:
“Eldest Miss, we can go for you. What pills do you need?”
“… …”
Yun Yiyi ignored the two and accelerated her sword flight towards Central Peak, thinking to herself: You deceived my feelings first, so don’t blame me for taking your body!
— If you can get out of bed tomorrow, I won’t be called Yun Yiyi!!
… …
