novelraw Chapter 115: Am I Right, Chief Senior Brother?
Chapter 115: Am I Right, Chief Senior Brother?
"Oh my, quite the temper on you."
The senior sister kept a cheerful smile on her face, but her grip was like a vice, holding Li Qiuchen fast with no room to resist.
In full view of everyone, she carried him across the courtyard like a kitten by the scruff and brought him before Murong Feng.
"A traitor!"
The senior sister released Li Qiuchen's collar and held out her hand to Murong Feng. "What's my reward?"
Murong Feng said with a helpless expression, "Yanzhi, we are looking for a traitor, not conducting a purge. In what way is he a traitor?"
"My instincts are never wrong."
The short-haired senior sister was brimming with confidence. "Look at this one, skin smooth as silk, nothing like anyone from the countryside. He spends all his time hovering around two girls from foreign clans. That's obviously suspicious. I've never seen a top-three student this fixated on women. Am I right, Senior Brother Murong?"
A chill crept up Li Qiuchen's spine.
There was an enormous amount of information packed into those few sentences.This senior sister was not speaking at random. She had clearly gone and done a quiet investigation into his background.
It was fortunate he had been careful enough in his day-to-day conduct. If she had actually turned up any real inconsistency, he would have had no way to defend himself.
And what did she mean by, "Am I right, Senior Brother Murong?"
Why are you dragging me into your flirtation?
Murong Feng shook his head and said, "Without evidence, I cannot convince anyone. If you say he's a traitor, produce proof, otherwise this goes nowhere."
The short-haired senior sister draped an arm over Li Qiuchen's shoulder and said with a grin, "Come on, junior brother, just hand over the evidence."
"On what grounds?"
Li Qiuchen was so exasperated he almost laughed. "You accuse me of being a traitor and then ask me to produce the evidence myself?"
"Do I look like I enjoy this?"
"You're definitely hiding something. I've met plenty of your type. Don't bother denying it."
Senior Sister Yanzhi said all this while keeping her eyes on Murong Feng.
"Here's the situation. Senior Brother Murong has promised me that if I expose a traitor, he'll give me his Cold Moon Jade. If you admit to being a traitor, I'll give you a spirit tool as compensation. If you don't admit it..."
She patted Li Qiuchen on the head. "Then don't blame your senior sister for peeling off that skin of yours and making you show your true form."
Li Qiuchen frowned and said, "If you want to frame someone, you'll always find a reason. Senior sister, if you intend to fabricate..."
Senior Sister Yanzhi produced a small box from her pocket and opened it in front of Li Qiuchen. Inside sat four powdery substances in different colors, looking very much like the kind of face powder women commonly used.
"Do you know what this is?"
"No."
"Let your senior sister introduce you. This is called the Hundred-Li Soul-Chasing Smoke, a military-grade implement. Each of these four substances corresponds to a different category of heretical practitioner. This blue one, for instance, is extracted from the cremated remains of a creature that carried the Medicine Master's Blessing. You just give it a light puff, and it will drift toward..."
"Senior sister, what was that spirit tool you mentioned giving me?"
"Good boy!"
Senior Sister Yanzhi put the small box away, patted Li Qiuchen on the shoulder, and produced what appeared to be an ordinary copper coin. "This is a 'Pathfinder Coin' I refined myself. You haven't been through the illusory realm trials yet, have you? Once you've been through the Desolate Graves and Five Lotus Manor you'll know how to use it. Your senior sister here is a person of some renown in Yun County. I don't trick children."
I am not falling for that.
Li Qiuchen said resignedly, "Could I at least report someone as a traitor?"
Senior Sister Yanzhi's eyes lit up. "Of course! Are you going to report your boss for smuggling contraband?"
"I believe the person behind that incident was Liu Mengyun."
Liu Mengyun was Young Master Liu's full name.
Murong Feng's expression showed no surprise whatsoever. He simply asked calmly, "What evidence do you have?"
Li Qiuchen's tone turned serious. "I was at the scene that day, and I have been thinking about one question ever since. Why did the Old Blind One kill that family, leave two children covered in chicken feathers, and use it all as a provocation toward the Bai family?"
"There is a contradiction here that cannot be explained, and it is not simply about whether the Old Blind One, hiding at the bottom of the river, could have learned that the Bai family hadn't returned this year. The real question is, who was that provocation actually performed for?"
"With the Bai family absent, that raft drifted downstream. Beyond frightening the fishing folk along the banks, what purpose could it serve?"
"Now consider the reverse. What if we were all misdirected from the start? What if this had nothing to do with the Bai family at all, and that raft drifting down the river was put there specifically for our group to see?"
Murong Feng raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Go on."
Li Qiuchen cleared his throat and gestured for Senior Sister Yanzhi to release his shoulder.
"Working from that premise and looking back at what happened that day, I noticed a specific detail. Although Bai Ke was the first to jump into the river, that was something nobody could have predicted."
"The guests Xu Qing had invited were all young masters and ladies of standing in the county. Even if they had wanted to help, they would not have acted personally. At the time, there were only three cultivators at the Qi Refining realm present at the scene."
"If we set aside Bai Ke as an unpredictable variable, the first person with both the means and the motivation to act was Liu Mengyun. He cast his fishing rod and produced willow branches that wound themselves around the raft."
"At the time, only Liu Mengyun and Xu Qing were fishing for mandarin fish along the bank, and nobody found anything unusual about that. It seemed like a perfectly natural refined pursuit. But afterward, when I was at the scene, I could only find the fishing rod that Xu Qing had used."
"It was Liu Mengyun who suggested fishing, and he had brought his own rod. Xu Qing had borrowed his from the local fishermen on the spot."
"What a remarkable coincidence, then, that on this particular outing he happened to have a fishing rod with him, happened to be present when a raft came floating down from upstream, acted to ensnare it with his line, drew out a Foundation Establishment demon, and had the opportunity to step forward and play the hero."
"Groundless speculation. Forced connections."
Murong Feng used those eight words to summarize everything Li Qiuchen had said.
Fair enough.
Li Qiuchen knew perfectly well it was groundless speculation and forced connections, but what choice did he have?
He had always considered himself sufficiently cautious and low-key, and yet this senior sister had come out of nowhere, pinned him down, and was pressuring him to admit to being a traitor. What exactly was he supposed to do?
"This is slander. Do you know what slander even means?"
Senior Sister Yanzhi looked pained. "You should be learning from my good qualities, not taking after my shameless side just because I have one. That isn't right. Young people shouldn't be led astray."
Do you have any idea what nonsense you're talking?
"Wait, I have another lead!"
"What lead?"
"Liu Mengyun has a motive. I heard that Senior Sister Peng Lan had been offered an enrollment place at the North Sea Academy."
Murong Feng and Senior Sister Yanzhi exchanged a glance, and both of their expressions shifted.
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