Xiu Yao could not help but ask: “If you know about First Elder’s thought, why didn’t you do something? Detain and persuade him would be the best choice you should do, Master.”

Mei Hengkong gave his disciple a harsh glare: “Hmph! Would you imprison your own little brother when he did nothing but crazily cultivate?”

Xiu Yao argued: “But now we knew that he was with the Yin Clan!”

Mei Hengkong retorted: “And what evidence do you have proving that line of yours?! That’s just my guess!”

Xiu Yao was taken aback. It was just like his master said. They did not have any evidence to prove the collaboration between First Elder and the Yin Clan. But before the master and disciple duo sighed in the surrender of not having proof, a voice interjected: “I have one!”

It was Feng Luotian who raised his hand and suggested that he had some evidence. He then formed two wisps of conscience containing the information he got from Huo Zhihao’s dead body and sent them toward Mei Hengkong and Xiu Yao.

Feng Luotian now believed that his master had nothing to do with the Yin Clan. He trusted his own ability to detect people’s emotions especially when they were lying.

His first random guess about the Vermilion Kingdom was just testing if Mei Hengkong would reveal the true culprit since he was old and experienced enough to easily speculate who they were. And because his master corrected him right away, it ruled out the possibility of Mei Hengkong being the Yin Clan’s collaborator. Who with the sane mind would expose their partner’s misdeed to others without pointing it the other way?

As for Feng Luotian’s second random guess about Second Elder, he wished to see how Mei Hengkong would react and gain some clues in the process. Never would he expect that his master would offer him a leeway to toss the last guess and also tell him the whole story. This showed him that his master had a lot of trust in him.

Nonetheless, with all of those deductions, Feng Luotian would no longer go casual about the situation. As a precaution, he already formed an invisible Theríon above his head in case of his master decided to use the suppressive force on him the moment he saw the content of his wisp of conscience.

Feng Luotian expected shocked expressions from both of them; however, the thing plastered on their face was the confused one instead, making him confused as well.

Xiu Yao: “This …”

Mei Hengkong shook his head: “I’m sorry, Luotian. I don’t know how to explain this but your evidence is probably of no use.”

Feng Luotian heavily frowned and asked: “Why?” Nothing had gone the way he wanted with his evidence. He could accept the case of the Second Elder because it was true that there was no concrete proof that indicated the collaboration between him and the Sikong Clan. But this time, the images of First Elder and the Yin Clan’s elder talking to each other and ordering to kill the former city guard captain should be concrete enough, yet his master said that it was probably of no use? How could Feng Luotian accept that?

Mei Hengkong answered: “We have seen another version of this event from the wisps of conscience of Changkong and Wen Jingyi, who is now the current city guard captain.”

“!!” The answer gave Feng Luotian an abrupt pause.

Xiu Yao helped his master explain: “While the death of Huo Zhihao was also caused by that elder in your version, what we’ve seen was not anything like this. First Elder, Huo Zhihao, and Wen Jingyi should have been dining together that day. And after Huo Zhihao left Wen Jingyi’s house, First Elder noticed a shadow trailing behind him, so First Elder decided to follow.”

“From the information we got, we guess that Huo Zhihao must have noticed the assassin and didn’t want to implicate the innocents, that’s why he ran away as fast as he could toward the Nefarious Valley then deal with it afterward. But when he reached the Nefarious Valley, the assassin turned out to be much stronger than him so Huo Zhihao was beaten up badly. First Elder, who closely followed them, saw this and tried to stop the assassin from finishing the job. However, First Elder had about the same cultivation as Huo Zhihao at that time. He was also defeated by the assassin and failed to rescue Huo Zhihao from his death.”

Mei Hengkong added: “The injuries on Changkong that day were as real as it could be. We have also investigated the area of battle and found the trace of three Theríon, of which two were of Huo Zhihao and Changkong’s. That’s why we concluded the event and opened the war with the Silver Fox City.”

Xiu Yao could not help but ask: “Junior Brother Feng, where did you get this information.”

Feng Luotian flatly answered: “The wisp was floating beside his corpse in the spider queen’s cavern. You said you saw her every day for a few weeks, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the wisp beside one of the hanging corpses, Senior Brother.”

“Eh! I’m sorry, Junior Brother. I really haven’t.” Xiu Yao said with an apologetic face while scratching his head.

Mei Hengkong interjected: “Anyway, your version is too ridiculous. No one will believe this, that’s why I said it is probably of no use.”

Xiu Yao emotionally gave his comment: “Yes, Junior Brother. I’m in the same generation as Huo Zhihao and Wen Jingyi. They were best friends. This doesn’t make any sense. Even more, when the war broke out three years ago, the one that reaped the lives out of those foxes the most was Wen Jingyi himself. He was so angry at Huo Zhihao’s death to the point of becoming an insane butcher. With that contribution, he was eventually promoted to the city guard captain.”

Feng Luotian turned to Xiu Yao, then coldly asked: “Are you implying that I’m lying right now, Senior Brother?”

Xiu Yao quickly raised both of his hands: “Of course not! Why would we? But we all know that a wisp of conscience cannot contain fake information. That’s why we’re having trouble processing what’s going on right now because there can only be one truth.”

While Feng Luotian chuckled at his senior brother who was taking his joke too seriously, he sighed in his heart as he found yet another troublesome matter to deal with.

Feng Luotian did not doubt the validity of Huo Zhihao’s wisp of conscience because the story matched with his manner and place of death perfectly. And the possibility of someone playing with the dead was much lower than with the living, much less some dead deep in the underworld void of light. Who would be so crazy to put the wisp beside the corpse in a place like that?

The only possibility would be someone with the ability to alternate the wisp of conscience … someone with the knowledge of TRUTH … a TRUTH expert helping First Elder and Wen Jingyi create that lie. Feng Luotian never expected that there would be one in this part of the world, and they just had to be his enemy.

Then why didn’t Feng Luotian just tell them that there was a way to fabricate the content of the wisp? That was because if he told them then what? It would mean that his wisp could also be fabricated as well, another argument then began, and that would amount to nothing.

Mei Hengkong concluded: “That’s it. We don’t have any evidence to put Changkong into custody. All we can do now is to prepare for the worst! Now that I think back about what you guessed of who they were previously. You already suspected Changkong and the Yin Clan, yet you guessed another. What the Vermilion Kingdom? What Second Elder? Luotian, you brat, you were toying with me?!”

Feng Luotian gave out a wry smile: “I’m sorry, Master. You should know that with First Elder being your little brother, how could I know for sure that you’re not in this as well.”

Mei Hengkong irritably growled: “Hmph! Smartass!”

With that, they all began to laugh as they sighed in their hearts at this very situation where they could not do anything but to be prepared. As for Feng Luotian, he was happy inside that he could find someone he could trust other than his own sworn brothers. He would not know what to do if his master, who was deemed to be the strongest man in the city, was siding with the bad guys.

Rumble!!

Suddenly, they all felt the pressure of Theríon directing at the whole Peacock Pavilion. And sensing from its aura, it was extremely obvious to them whom this pressure belonged to.

Feng Luotian lightly chuckled: “Heh. They came faster than I think they would. Their hands must be quite itchy to take something from me since I took one of their arms.”

Mei Hengkong loudly bellowed: “Those damn sparrows! They dare to come here with me still around?!”