Even if it came to a fight, with myself and the Lei Tong brothers, Saintly Sea Daoist would definitely not be a match, but we would still sustain some damage. Facing Xiao Tian afterwards, it would undoubtedly be strained!

"You just mentioned that my sect's disciple was spying on your Secret Technique. Do you have any real evidence?" Celestial Punishment Daoist took a deep breath and slowly posed the question, although it seemed he hadn't lost much face.

But in his heart, facing a former defeated opponent and taking a step back first was already losing the upper hand.

"Real evidence?!" Before Saintly Sea Daoist could speak, the young disciples had already begun clamoring.

"Truly shameless, denying the obvious facts right in front of you. You are utterly disgraceful!"

"Clearly, you were at fault first. All of us saw it with our own eyes!"

"If you don't believe us, you can ask your three apprentices yourself!"

Celestial Punishment Daoist's expression remained unchanged, emitting a cold snort from his nose, causing the previously vocal young disciples to retreat once more.

"Saintly Sea, control your people!"

His gaze turned to the Lei Tong brothers behind Celestial Punishment Daoist. Saintly Sea Daoist released a wave of True Qi to counteract the opponent's pressure and gestured for someone to speak.

A disciple stepped forward, his tone noticeably calmer: "We were practicing an Array together, and these three suddenly approached." He pointed to Yun You and the other two, who were bruised and swollen from a thorough beating.

"We told them to leave, but they not only ignored us, they even urinated on us to provoke us! Were we not right to teach them a lesson?!"

Upon hearing this statement, Celestial Punishment Daoist's face darkened. He released a gentle wave of True Qi, hitting the semi-conscious trio of Yun You and others.

Moments later, the three gradually awakened and saw Celestial Punishment Daoist's extremely displeased face before them, feeling like they were seeing a relative, their noses tingled, and tears were about to fall.

Prior incidents aside, this time, Yun You felt truly wronged; he was leading Yun You and Yun Mie for a pee break.

They had just loosened their belts and trousers but hadn't started when they heard a loud shout: "Who are you?! How dare you spy on our sect's Secret Technique?!"

Yun You jolted in fright, and although he could hold it a bit longer, the voice like a thunderclap startled him into accidentally letting go, and then he was surrounded by dozens of youths.

Later, they suddenly saw a crowd rush at them, and Yun You only felt darkness before his eyes, losing consciousness thereafter.

...

After recounting his experience to Celestial Punishment Daoist, Yun You was practically in tears: "You tell me, who stops peeing midway to pull up their pants and find another place?!"

"Nonsense!" The young disciple from before couldn't help but step forward again: "You three were sneaking around, spying on us practicing the Array. Your intentions were clear, yet you have the audacity to spout such deceitful reasons."

"Do you take us for fools?!"

Hearing a mere junior repeatedly berate him, this time nearly pointing in his face to question him, Celestial Punishment Daoist's face turned cold, then unleashed his full power.

Though no different in form from previous times, the potency had tripled, enough to severely injure the young disciple without external aid.

More severely, it could leave a Heart Demon, trapping his strength at a bottleneck, making further advancement impossible.

Saintly Sea Daoist's eyes flashed sharply. Celestial Punishment Daoist's audacity to act against his disciple in front of him touched his limit.

The Duster in his hand swung; Saintly Sea Daoist unleashed his full power, meeting Celestial Punishment Daoist head-on, causing a deadlock in the situation.

"Saintly Sea, do you really want to escalate matters?!" Celestial Punishment Daoist raised his eyebrows, like two Flying Dragons soaring skyward, clearly harboring murderous intent.

According to Celestial Punishment Daoist, he had just intended to scare the junior disciple without really injuring him, maintaining his own dignity while giving a lesson!

But in Saintly Sea Daoist's view, it was an entirely different matter. Celestial Punishment Daoist's disciples first violated taboo, then repeatedly acted against his disciples.

Based on this, Saintly Sea Daoist felt that Celestial Punishment Daoist was truly overbearing, unable to remain indifferent to such thuggish behavior!

"You condone your disciples spying on our Secret Techniques. If this spreads, it will face condemnation from expert practitioners worldwide."

Saintly Sea Daoist angrily retorted: "Moreover, when confronted, instead of repenting and properly disciplining them, you repeatedly tried to act against my disciples. Is it your habitual roguery, or am I the one trying to escalate the situation? We all know in our hearts."

"Spying on your Secret Techniques?" Celestial Punishment Daoist was equally furious: "You have so many people. Making false testimonies, naturally, anything can be said. Without evidence, you're slandering!"

"Evidence?" Saintly Sea Daoist laughed angrily: "Are you suggesting using Secret Techniques like Soul Searching Technique to probe their memories?"

"If so, we might as well try it now. By then, right and wrong will be clear, and the truth will be revealed to the world!"

Yun You, tied up, heard Saintly Sea Daoist mention a method to prove his innocence and hurriedly spoke up: "If there really is such a method, I'm willing to undergo it to prove my innocence!"

"Silence!" Celestial Punishment Daoist was so shocked by Yun You's words that he couldn't help but scold him angrily.

Yun You might not know due to his young age, but Celestial Punishment Daoist, as a seasoned master, was well aware of the sinister nature of the Soul Searching Technique.

The Soul Searching Technique last appeared thirty-seven years ago. At that time, disciples from various major sects inexplicably became imbeciles, losing all memory, unable even to walk.

Initially, although sects found this strange, firstly it wasn't a glorious matter, and secondly, they thought it an isolated incident, so they strictly forbade disciples from spreading the word.

However, the world ultimately holds no secrets. Upon learning other sects faced the same occurrence, soon, the elders from major sects could no longer sit idly.

As the situation escalated, even a fool could see it wasn't a coincidence. Clearly, someone was secretly manipulating events.

The worried top leaders of the sects initiated urgent contacts, gathering together to share what they knew and collectively discuss how to handle the situation.

Although the affected disciples from each sect were all of insufficient strength and unremarkable talent, no one could guarantee this was the end and not the beginning of a larger event.

With limited knowledge and no eyewitnesses, naturally, investigations were inefficient. Fortunately, the following month was calm, with no similar incidents occurring.

Just as everyone was gradually forgetting the matter, the abnormal phenomenon recurred…