Heaven Refining physique-Chapter 101: Accusations

Jiang Hao might not be speaking the total truth, but it was the truth nonetheless. He thought he had done a good job of keeping everything as believable as possible, but Yin Ni poured water on his efforts.

"You know what? You are terrible at lying or narrating anything."

Jiang Hao was stunned. He didn’t know what mistake he had made. He looked toward the others, and as expected, their expressions weren’t those of people who would believe him.

Zhi Hui sighed. She didn’t care what he was trying to hide, but if the news he brought was true, then it would be very helpful for them. She said,

"If what you said is true, then that means both these sects must resort to the only option left to them—to use as many cultivators as possible to restrict us within the Forbidden Zone, or to seek help from the territory lords of the Forbidden Zone, which is almost impossible given their nature.

So, they will definitely send a large number of cultivators, and once that happens, it will become known to every major power in this world.

I wonder what type of accusations they will levy upon us to justify their actions. Maintaining the façade of righteousness is very important for these two sects—after all, they are the so-called beacons of hope for humanity in this world.

They can’t allow their image to be tarnished. Although not every major power will believe their words, it doesn’t matter as long as the general public does."

"What about those border cities in the Central Region? How will they justify that?"

Ming Yue asked.

"Well, for starters, they will put all the blame on the spirit beasts for attacking them. Also, the crimes they will accuse us of will be severe enough to justify such sacrifices.

In the end, it will be mostly mortals who are killed. As for the cultivators, they will most likely be able to escape."

Huan Caiyi answered her. She also checked the amount of spirit stones they had earned.

"It was a little more than my expectations, but it still isn’t satisfactory. Now we have to gather spirit herbs ourselves, which will take a lot of time—not to mention you need those herbs for cultivation as well.

We also need to refine them into pills. All that effort to earn just this much doesn’t justify it. In the end, it’s not as efficient as looting an entire sect."

Jiang Hao was speechless. Even after he refined all those spirit herbs, she still found it boring. No wonder she used to make pills only once a month for others.

She was truly amusing, but he didn’t disagree with her thoughts. Even he had enjoyed looting her treasury—getting so much without much effort truly was satisfying.

He shook his head. It seemed Sister Ming Yue and Senior Huan had been affecting him too. He should stick to his principles... but did he even have any? He doubted that.

"Aunt, wouldn’t it all be for nothing if we left right now? Their efforts would be wasted—they would be isolating nothing."

"True, but leaving this resourceful area would be our loss. We can leave at any time now anyway. With Nirvana’s Veil, it is easy to pass through their blockade. Not to mention, we have both minor and major teleportation talismans.

Also, it will be a while before they can make a move. If what Jiang Hao said is true, then even they won’t know where the Truth Seeker has gone. That is a big matter—the loss of such a great treasure will create internal strife between the two sects and the Sky Pavilion.

They might point fingers at each other. Even the Sky Pavilion could be accused of hiding it. Only after they overcome that mess will they move on to the next step.

Not to mention, they wouldn’t be worried about us leaving the area. To them, we would still be clueless that the Truth Seeker has been lost."

Ming Yue nodded upon hearing that.

"Alright, let’s split up and search for some spirit herbs. Jiang Hao, you are coming with me."

Jiang Hao nodded. They had already decided on that before he even went to the city.

Senior Huan and he would go deeper into the Forbidden Zone, while Senior Zhi and Sister Ming would search around the borders.

It was because his instincts would be helpful while moving inside the Forbidden Zone. This time, since he would be using Nirvana’s Veil, getting discovered would be far more difficult—unlike how he traversed the Dark Forest.

...

In the Sky Pavilion, there were seven people standing. Yu Hang stood in front, staring at the empty bowl with dread and utter confusion.

Bo Wen and Ze Yu were right behind him, along with four other Heavenly King Realm cultivators, including Zhao Qiang.

A moment later, Yu Hang rushed out with a devastated expression. He was going to report this to the main branch. It was terrible news, and if he couldn’t prove himself, even his life would be in danger.

Proving himself wasn’t difficult, but since this had happened under his watch, he would have to face harsh punishment. Even if he was spared death, he doubted he would remain as branch manager.

He just hoped that the Truth Seeker was with one of those wretched sects. If it was really found in their hands, then he might escape this ordeal without much loss.

When Bo Wen and Ze Yu saw him running, they were slightly annoyed but let it pass. The situation for the Sky Pavilion was grim—but it was grim for them too.

The loss of the Truth Seeker would cause them heavy losses in the mission they were overseeing.

Their targets had been in the Forbidden Zone for a year. No doubt their luck was good to have survived so long, but that was within expectations. They had decided to see if they could survive for five years—only then would they proceed to the next phase. But now, finding out that piece of news was impossible.

If the Truth Seeker was truly lost, their entire approach toward this mission needed to be revised. If Jiang Hao and Ming Yue survived and grew stronger, they could become their greatest threat. Perhaps those two wouldn’t be able to destroy their entire sect, but they could certainly cripple its foundations.

It might even reach a point where other sects could destroy them—and given how they had made others bow till now, those sects would certainly strike if they became weak enough.

So, killing them while they were still young was the best option. Since they had already been made enemies, there was no room for reconciliation.

Ze Yu looked toward Bo Wen, who was also looking at him. They even doubted each other.

What if one of them had stolen the Truth Seeker? But pointing fingers at each other now would only create more chaos.

"Let’s not doubt one another for now. We can easily prove our innocence with Heavenly Oaths."

Ze Yu said to Bo Wen, who nodded, and they proceeded to see what Yu Hang was doing.

They were also planning to contact their sects, and it could only be done through the Sky Pavilion, as they had stable teleportation channels for information exchange.

Yu Hang had already written a high-priority message and sent it through the teleportation channel. He had detailed everything thoroughly.

The most terrifying part for him was that the protection array hadn’t been tampered with at all. The only possibility was that someone had bypassed it without disturbing it in the slightest.

Even with his token, he didn’t have the authority to open the main protective array. That array was never meant to be opened without a special token located in the main branch. Once created, the only other way to open it was to destroy it.

If it had truly been destroyed, then everyone in the Sky Pavilion would have known that someone had broken into the basement.

Even more frightening was the fact that, if the array had truly been forcefully breached, it would have had enough power to kill even peak Heavenly King Realm cultivators.

So, the disappearance of the Truth Seeker was extremely mysterious. If it was in the hands of one of the sects, it would be easy to pinpoint through Heavenly Oaths—but he doubted that was the case.

If they had intended to steal it, there was no reason to wait for a year to make their move. Every day had been the same until now. Moreover, he doubted they had anything capable of opening that array.

He couldn’t say for sure—perhaps something like that existed in the Upper World, and they had obtained it—so they would need to undergo Heavenly Oaths as well.

As he was thinking this, he saw Ze Yu and Bo Wen enter the room. He sighed. His cultivation realm was too low to question them—he could only act respectfully in front of them.

"Seniors, as you have seen, something unprecedented has occurred. Unfortunately, we must postpone today’s questioning until the Truth Seeker is found."

"We understand, but I hope this isn’t a ploy of the Sky Pavilion itself."

Bo Wen replied, his tone heavy with threat.