"What? You still want to duel me?" Yun Zimo raised an eyebrow and let out a cold laugh. "I'm not Fourth Brother. I won't suppress my cultivation. To deal with an arrogant and lawless person like you who bullies her fellow disciples, even if I crush you with my higher realm, I won't feel the least bit ashamed."
Yun Zimo was also at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, but unlike Zhang Hanxiao, he had far better equipment. Zhang would spend all his spirit stones as soon as he earned them, while Yun Zimo saved his. He also had some skill in refining tools and setting up formations. Even among Foundation cultivators, he was considered difficult to deal with.
"Third Brother, are you scared?" Li Qingran stared at him calmly.
"You can't goad me. I won't fall for it," he said, pulling out a flying sword from his storage pouch. His gaze landed on Su Xian Sword in her hand. "Your sword's quite impressive. But I won't suffer the same loss Fourth Brother did. I've got plenty of flying swords."
Li Qingran didn't respond to him. Instead, she turned and bowed to Sect Master Wu Duantian, raising her voice:
"Sect Master Wu, the Qingyun Sect upholds the principle: 'Let not good be slandered, let not evil be tolerated.' To slander a fellow disciple, to collude and frame them—is this not a grave offense?"
Wu Duantian had still been pondering over the legendary pill that restored her dantian, and was momentarily stunned by the sudden question. After a pause, he replied, "Indeed, it is."
"Li Qingran, what are you getting at?! I've never slandered you!" Yun Zimo's eyes flickered with a trace of panic.
But he consoled himself—he had cleaned up after himself well. Even if questioned, he just had to deny everything.
What evidence could Li Qingran possibly have?
She cast him a glance, then asked Wu Duantian again:
"What is the punishment for such a crime?"
Wu Duantian narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard:
"Slander, if mild, results in a verbal warning by the Law Enforcement Hall. A second offense leads to being sent to the Cliff of Reflection. But colluding to harm fellow disciples? That is extremely serious. If proven true, the punishment is—cut out the tongue, gouge out the eyes, pour molten iron into the ears, and no healing for a month, as a warning to all."
To cultivators, such injuries weren't necessarily irreversible. But the pain was real. For a whole month, unable to see, speak, or hear—trapped in silence and darkness—it was a punishment bordering on torture.
Li Qingran bowed again:
"Yun Zimo, third personal disciple of Chixiao Peak, conspired with an outer sect elder to frame a fellow disciple. As Qingyun is a righteous sect, surely it will not turn a blind eye to this?"
Her words struck like thunder. Though she hadn't named names, everyone present knew what she was referring to.
Yun Zimo appeared furious on the surface, but his clenched fists betrayed his tension. Elder Wang Chuanhe from the outer sect glared at Li Qingran with venomous intent, wishing he could tear her apart. Several outer disciples looked visibly uneasy, even shrinking behind others.
"Outrageous! You did such a thing?!" Elder Qingxuan slammed the table and drew his sword, pointing it at Yun Zimo, his eyes blazing. His hair—half white, half black—whipped in the aura he unleashed, making him look like an enraged lion.
[Sit down. That is an order.]
The same willful divine sense swept through the air again—powerful and unquestionable.
Qingxuan gritted his teeth and took several deep breaths before sheathing his sword.
Whoever had restored Li Qingran's dantian must have been the one who concocted that divine pill—a powerhouse, likely above Integration stage. Not someone he could afford to offend. Not even if all the elders joined forces. Unless... unless the Qingyun Ancestor himself came out of seclusion.
But disturbing the ancestor's breakthrough would be unthinkable.
He had to endure.
Wu Duantian's expression turned solemn. As the saying went: No accusation, no investigation. If Li Qingran hadn't spoken up, he'd never have known. But now she had, and the matter was serious.
Normally, to save face for Elder Qingxuan, he'd smooth things over or settle it privately.
But now?
Li Qingran had a terrifying unknown cultivator behind her.
How could he play mediator?
Besides, this was a Chixiao Peak issue. Let Elder Qingxuan clean up his own mess.
The elder rarely respected him anyway.
This was a great chance to score points with the figure behind Li Qingran.
Especially since he still wanted that person's help to restore Zhao Lingtian's dantian.
"Yun Zimo," he said coldly, his Nascent Soul pressure locking onto the disciple, "are Li Qingran's accusations true?"
Yun Zimo felt cold sweat drip down his back under that hooked, piercing gaze. He knew the consequences if this got out. But so long as Li Qingran had no solid proof, he could tough it out.
"Sect Master, please see the truth. I have never done such a thing! She's slandering me!"
Wu Duantian could already tell from his flustered state that much of it was likely true. He turned to Li Qingran:
"As Sect Master, I will fight for justice if you were expelled because of this. But there must be evidence. Do you have it?"
Justice?
Li Qingran found it laughable.
That justice wasn't for her—it was for the terrifying senior behind her.
Without him, she would get nothing today.
"I do have evidence. Before I left the sect, I approached one of the involved disciples. I offered him one thousand low-grade spirit stones to reveal the mastermind. He thought I was no longer a sect member and was tempted by the reward, so he confessed everything. He also made me swear never to speak of it or else…"
Her gaze hardened as she looked straight at Wu Duantian and the crowd from Chixiao Peak.
She could have exposed Yun Zimo before being expelled.
But back then, she still harbored hope—hope that her fellow disciples would one day reconcile, that she could return to Chixiao Peak and be welcomed.
It wasn't until Zhang Hanxiao threw her into that wretched shack that she finally understood:
These people were no longer worth her trust.
[Senior… Qingran will not disappoint you!]
Her eyes turned resolute as she spoke the final words of the vow:
"…or may I suffer the torment of a thousand swords piercing my heart!"
As the words fell—
Shing! A spectral sword materialized and pierced clean through her back and out her chest.
Her face went deathly pale. A line of blood slipped from the corner of her lips, dripping onto the ground.
Her trembling hand rose and pressed to the sword wound. She barely remained upright, only managing to stand with support from her sword.
Shing! Shing! Shing!
More illusory swords rained down from the void, impaling her body.
Agonizing pain exploded through her nerves like a thousand insects biting into her bones.
"Ugh—!"
Blood spewed from her mouth, streamed from her eyes, ears, and nose, staining the stone beneath her with a chilling red.
Yet she didn't utter a scream.
The grand square before Qingyun Hall fell into dead silence.
All eyes stared at her in shock and horror.
In the span of just two breaths, Li Qingran's body was riddled with phantom swords—like a hedgehog. She was barely able to kneel upright, her blood-soaked hair pooling on the ground.
The radiant runes of the Dao's Oath glowed upon the blades.
A Thousand Swords Piercing the Heart.
Her oath had been witnessed by the heavens.
And fulfilled before everyone's eyes.