At this moment even Yang Qing despite his carefree nature didn’t intervene. The respect of the court must be maintained above all else. This was the creed that had been drilled into all who would one day step into these courts as its officials from the judges, inquisitors, court guards, and every other kind of personnel.

“Uuuum Judge can you please forgive her. She is young and doesn’t know the ways of the world yet and is ignorant in some areas. We never let her out of the sect due to the obvious risk that we may not be able to sufficiently protect her on the outside. This resulted in her not knowing much please forgive her.” Cheng Yuan hurriedly pleaded with nervousness in his tone.

He may have had a deep grudge against the emerald leaf cow but she was a member of the green fog swamp sect and everyone in the sect was under his care. This was his primary obligation as the sect master. Grudges and feuds could wait later.

Yang Qing and the rest weren’t surprised by the plea. By all accounts, Cheng Yuan seemed to be an ideal Sect Master. He had the bearing and qualities they should possess as evidenced by the testimonies and even his reaction at this very moment. About the only one who was surprised by his sudden plea was Wen Chang. She was sure he would be gloating and snickering at her misfortune. His reaction left a lingering impact that made her reevaluate Cheng Yuan.

Yang Qing put on an amused look as he watched Sect Master Cheng Yuan.

“Now it makes sense why his fight with the emerald leaf cow ended in a draw. At first, I had assumed it was because Wen Chang had a superior core but from the faint fluctuations, I got from the sect master it seems to show his core quality isn’t that much different from the emerald leaf cow. They both seem to have an orange core.........

So that’s how it is. He is rather soft-hearted.” Yang Qing silently thought to himself.

At this moment Yi Jie had already retracted his pressure on Wen Chang. She was able to get up again, though her legs still kept shaking and one couldn’t tell whether it was because of the injuries she got from being forced down or some other reason.

“Thank you, inquisitor.” Sect master Cheng Yuan hurriedly offered his thanks with huge relief washing over his body that he felt like slumping over.

Yi Jie looked at the sect master for a while before he said in a sigh,

“You must have it tough huh?” as he cast a sideways glance at Yang Qing with meaning in his eyes. Yang Qing completely pretended he didn't see the look he was being given.

Cheng Yuan didn’t quite get what Yi Jie was hinting at but he could detect the unveiled sympathy in his tone almost as if they were kindred spirits on the same boat.

This left him puzzled as to what the inquisitor who until moments ago was a weapon of slaughter meant with his words and the sudden empathetical tone.

“Now then Wen Chang if you please.” Yang Qing motioned for Wen Chang to continue with the earlier question asked in regards to the identities of the elders who took her into the sect vault.

“Ye..ye..yees yes the elders right right!!! One of the elders was the one who was in charge of my care ever since I awakened and started cultivating Elder Peng Zhen. As for the rest they are; Elder Gui Bingwen, Elder Jia Tingfeng, Elder Hao Ye, and lastly Elder Dong Yanlin.” Wen Chang was quick to answer in fear of what just happened may repeat itself.

On hearing the mention of those names Cheng Yuan wore a complicated look on his face. It was a myriad of emotions. There was anger, fury, regret, sadness, disbelief, confusion and the most intense of all was worry.

“So it is them huh. Are they dissatisfied with my way of doing things this much that they’d scheme against me and the sect?” Said Cheng Yuan with a defeated worn-out expression slowly feeling his face.

“It seems that you have quite some history with them? Their betrayal doesn’t come as a shock to you?” Yang Qing politely asked.

Sect master Cheng Yuan sighed as he replied, "Well, we have some history but did I think it was enough to turn them against me and the sect.? No, I never would have expected it in a million years.”

“Oi Cheng Yuan what do you mean turn against the sect? Isn’t what Elder Peng and the rest doing for the good of the sect? Exposing your lies and treachery?” Wen Chang couldn’t help but ask upon noticing how Cheng Yuan kept mentioning over and over how Elder Peng and the rest had gone against the sect.

The Elder Peng she knew was righteous and kind, always thinking about the good of the sect. How could he be associated with anything that would harm the sect?

Cheng Yuan looked at Wen Chang before he offered a weak defeated smile at her and then answered with a voice that seemed to have aged years.

“Wen Chang it seems we were duped by Elder Peng Zhen and the rest.”

“huuuuuuuuuuh!!! Duped, duped how?” Wen Chang couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Well for starters the treasures in the sect treasury vault. I was there a few days ago and the recorded amount was 100 for high-grade Earth rank herbs and 6 for the low-grade Sky rank herbs. The amount shown in your images of that day is 240 high-grade Earth and 7 for the Sky grade herbs.

Since you were there personally, among the sky herbs present in the vault you must have noted there was one that stood out in terms of the purity of energy it released which was significantly more than the others. That herb was the 3,000 luminous star flower. That is Elder Peng Zhen’s greatest treasure that he got from the Millionsfold treasure ocean at great risk to his life. The herb may be his lifeline to break through to the core formation realm, so there is no way he would just give it to the sect. Not unless he has decided to remain at the peak of the foundation establishment stage forever.

What do you think are the odds of that happening?

As for the additional high-grade Earth rank herbs, some of them seem to have come from the personal collections of the treasures you have mentioned. What I don’t understand was how their collection could match the Sect’s numbers.

I suspect they may have colluded with some other power or they found some secret realm inheritance somewhere and kept it to themselves. Though odds are it’s the former because with their foundation level strength the latter happening seems a bit impossible.

As for their purpose for doing all these. Planting treasures secretly in the vault and then showing it to you, Wen Chang by now it should be obvious even for you, right? It’s to sow discord between two of the most powerful people in the sect.

As to what end. They must either be targeting the power of being sole rulers of the sect though I fear it may be something worse because Elder Peng Zhen was already the vice sect master and the rest of the elders all held prominent positions within the various halls of the sect. Though their powers are not as much as it was due to the plans I've been enforcing in the past few years”

“Wait this doesn’t make sense.” Wen Chang suddenly interjected.

“Elder Peng Zhen and the rest wouldn’t do this. Even if I believe what you say about the herbs being planted in the treasury to be true, it still doesn’t change the fact by your admission the sect had over 100 high grade Earth rank herbs and 6 sky rank herbs. That amount would have been more than enough to help me in my cultivation when I was stagnating. But you never produced a single one not even once. All I've ever gotten were middle-grade Earth-rank herbs. How do you explain that? You can’t pin this on the Elder Peng Zhen and the rest.”