Chapter 297: Taking the Blame

Yue Mingzhu was completely bewildered. Had she somehow upset Xu Qingyang?

"Senior Xu, has this junior been negligent in any way?"

Xu Qingyang scoffed, exasperated. Was she really feigning ignorance? He pointed at the Silverwing Thunderfowl in front of him and said, "You performed a great service by slaying this bird. Even if you claimed the majority of it, I wouldn't have complained. But did you really have to take the entire Silverwing Thunderfowl for yourself?"

Huh???

Yue Mingzhu finally understood. Xu Qingyang had been pursuing the Silverwing Thunderfowl when someone helped him slay it. As a result, that person, completely lacking in martial ethics, took all the valuable parts of the Silverwing Thunderfowl, leaving only a pair of claws that were inconvenient to carry. And Xu Qingyang had mistakenly believed this person was her.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Senior Xu, you've misunderstood," she said. "It wasn't this junior who helped you slay this bird." She had spent all last night searching the city for Jiang Fan. She hadn't left the city at all, and it was even less possible that she attacked and killed the Silverwing Thunderfowl.

"Still playing innocent!" Xu Qingyang was genuinely angry now. A Silverwing Thunderfowl was gone, and he wasn't so attached to it that he couldn't let it go. After all, he wasn't the one who ultimately killed the bird. He accepted his loss. But Yue Mingzhu's feigned ignorance made it seem like she was trying to fool him, treating him like an idiot. "Who else but you could have killed this bird?"

Seeing Xu Qingyang's anger, Yue Mingzhu immediately became serious. "Senior Xu, you've truly wronged me," she said. "I truly did not kill this Silverwing Thunderfowl. If you don't believe me, you can ask my elders; I was with them all last night."

The elders all nodded, a strange glint in their eyes. Why was Xu Qingyang so certain it was their sect leader's doing?

Xu Qingyang became even angrier. These elders were from the Joyous Union Sect; naturally, they would speak in favor of their sect! "Well, Yue Mingzhu!" Xu Qingyang raised his sword and, with one strike, cut the massive body of the Silverwing Thunderfowl into two halves. He declared furiously, "I don't want this Silverwing Thunderfowl anymore! But I will certainly seek an explanation from your Grand Elders regarding this matter! I want to ask them what kind of sect leader they have cultivated!" He slung his sword and walked away, flicking his sleeve.

Yue Mingzhu was left fuming with anger. Only after Xu Qingyang had completely disappeared did she declare in annoyance: "Has this old geezer gone mad from practicing his sword? Out of nowhere, he slanders me for stealing the valuable materials from a Silverwing Thunderfowl? As a sect leader, would I stoop to that?" She bit her silver teeth slightly, stamping her feet in anger. Who could bear being falsely accused for no reason?

Just then, an elder examining the Silverwing Thunderfowl's corpse suddenly changed expression. He asked with a strange look, "Sect Leader, this... was it really not killed by you?"

Yue Mingzhu glared angrily. "Are you getting senile too? Aren't you clear whether this was my doing or not?"

The elder gazed at the cut on the Silverwing Thunderfowl's neck, rubbed his nose, and said, "But this wound... probably no one else but the Sect Leader could have inflicted it."

Uh—

Hearing this, the other elders all crowded over to take a look. Upon seeing it, their expressions all changed. They all cast suspicious glances at Yue Mingzhu.

Yue Mingzhu paused, then approached the corpse with a puzzled expression. She looked at the wound on its neck. The neck had been severed. But the cut was very strange. It wasn't as smooth as a cut made by a blade or sword. The flesh at the severed end clearly showed signs of shrinking inward. Rather than being cut off, it looked more like it had been strangled to death.

Yue Mingzhu's expression also changed slightly. "It's a strangulation mark," she said.

After a moment's thought, she raised her sleeve, and the Tianshan Silk from within it flew out, wrapping around the neck. With a forceful tug, another section of the neck was severed, creating a new cut.

Everyone looked at the two cuts, completely petrified. It wasn't just that they looked similar; they were practically identical!

"This... this..." Yue Mingzhu was too shocked to speak. This Silverwing Thunderfowl had actually been strangled to death by Tianshan Silk! And in the land of the Nine Sects, there was only one set of Tianshan Silk, which was in the possession of the Joyous Union Sect Leader. Furthermore, this place was just outside Joyous Union City... No wonder Xu Qingyang misunderstood her! She herself began to suspect if this wasn't her doing.

However, looking at the bald Silverwing Thunderfowl, from which not a single feather remained, Yue Mingzhu quickly came to her senses. As a dignified sect leader, she wouldn't stoop so low as to strip a demonic beast so thoroughly clean. Someone must have gotten hold of Tianshan Silk from who-knows-where and impersonated her. Thinking about how the other party reaped all the benefits while she was thoroughly lambasted by Xu Qingyang, Yue Mingzhu's lungs were about to burst with anger. She got none of the benefits, but all the scolding!

"Who was that accursed scoundrel?!" she shouted, beside herself with frustration. "Is that how a human being acts?" She hadn't caught Jiang Fan, and now she'd been framed. Why was her luck so bad?

At this moment, an elder rushed over with a hurried expression. "Reporting to the Sect Leader, that Silverwing Thunderfowl is causing trouble in the eastern part of the city. Many people have already perished."

"Another one?" Yue Mingzhu glanced at the Silverwing Thunderfowl's corpse, whose claws were intact. Her expression changed. "Oh no, there are two Silverwing Thunderfowls. This one was killed, so the other one is retaliating against us humans. Let's go, quickly to the east of the city!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Fan.

He had already hired a carriage and was heading east. At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged inside the carriage. In front of him was a pile of silver feathers, crackling with arcs of lightning. As he circulated his cultivation technique, wisps of lightning power suddenly shot out from the feathers, entering Jiang Fan's body. His face twisted in pain, and he hissed, gasping for breath. However, this was a necessary step for cultivating the 'Three Pure Thunder Shadow' technique. He had to draw lightning into his body. Enduring the intense pain, he circulated his cultivation technique, guiding the lightning arcs that had entered his body to circulate through the meridians in his legs. He slowly integrated the power of lightning into the flesh, blood, and meridians of his legs. Only by doing so could his leg techniques carry lightning attacks.

One feather, two feathers, three feathers... Each time he absorbed lightning, it was torture. The small Qilin, sensing something, poked its head out and clicked its tongue when it saw Jiang Fan's current state: "His cultivation is more ruthless than ours, even as demonic beasts." Demonic beasts' cultivation methods usually involved physical pain. But very few demonic beasts dared to attempt such an almost torturous method as drawing lightning into their bodies.

The entire process lasted for an hour. Jiang Fan was already drenched in sweat, his face pale. His entire body was stiff from the electric shocks. Faintly visible, wisps of lightning flickered on and off around his legs. "It's finally done," he thought. "I just don't know if the first layer of this leg technique will disappoint me." It required both mastery of movement techniques and drawing lightning into the body. If such a demanding cultivation method yielded only mediocre power in the end, Jiang Fan would be so frustrated he'd spit blood.

Chirp—

Suddenly, a sharp cry pierced the sky. The horses pulling the carriage seemed startled, galloping wildly in fright, nearly jolting the small Qilin out of Jiang Fan's arms!

Jiang Fan lifted the carriage curtain and looked up towards the sound. His scalp tingled. A giant bird, flickering with lightning, was speeding towards their direction. However, it wasn't hunting; it was fleeing.

Jiang Fan fixed his gaze, his mouth twitching uncontrollably! He saw a masked woman in palace attire rapidly pursuing it, hugging the ground. Who else could that be but the Joyous Union Sect Leader?

"I ran into her even here?" Jiang Fan really wanted to find a mirror and check his face. Was his fate dark, and was he plagued by bad luck?