Liu Hui sneered, giving Wang Xinglong a look reserved for idiots. "Have you all been sitting in your high positions for so long that your brains have atrophied and turned to shit?" he said bluntly.

As the Elders’ faces darkened with fury, Liu Hui continued, "Who the hell do you think Qi Tian and Diao Qing were? If my master wanted to kill them, he never would have warned you about the Beast Tide. Without the array my master set up to buy time, who else besides Elders Ye Lei and Ye Dian would have survived to the end?"

Liu Hui’s rhetorical question left everyone speechless.

"Hahaha, my good disciple, you’re right! Their brains are full of shit! Even a junior like you can see things clearly, yet they’re still completely clueless!"

Yang Ming revealed himself, appearing before the crowd.

Yu Liang followed close behind, glaring at the crowd. "I’d like to see who dares to pass judgment on my disciple!"

"Greetings, Master."

Liu Hui and Mo Qi bowed in unison, sighing in relief.

"You people are something else, really something else!" Yu Liang’s cold gaze swept over Yun Xuzi and the numerous Elders, and he laughed out of sheer fury. "I’m on the front lines, working myself to death performing alchemy for you all, and you repay me by holding a trial for my disciple behind my back?"

Yu Liang was, after all, the Void Sect’s chief Alchemy Master. Of everyone present, who hadn’t been on the receiving end of his benevolence? Who hadn’t begged him for elixirs?

His combat prowess might be average, but when it came to contributions to the Void Sect, if Yu Liang was second, no one would dare claim to be first.

"Master Yu, please calm yourself. We are merely acting according to sect rules. I hope you can understand," Yun Xuzi said with a placating smile.

"Exactly. Even the Celestial Emperor is subject to the same laws as a commoner. Master Yu, while your contributions are great, you are you, and Mo Qi is Mo Qi. If he has committed a crime, he must be punished severely!" Wang Xinglong said coolly.

"Heh, is that so?" Yu Liang sneered. "Do the sect rules state that you can try a disciple behind his master’s back? Do they state that you can pass judgment without sufficient evidence? Do they state that this is how a ’public’ trial is supposed to be conducted?"

"This..."

The crowd was left speechless.

In the Martial Dao World, the so-called rules were ultimately decided by the strong.

Sect rules? To the weak, they were a binding framework. To the strong, they were a tool for restraining the weak.

Yu Liang had enough strength and status to engage them as an equal, to treat the matter with the utmost seriousness, and to pick apart the sect rules word by word.

If it had been Mo Qi, no matter how much he explained, they could have dismissed everything with a simple "insufficient evidence."

"Yu Liang, this trial was indeed a bit hasty, but Mo Qi has already admitted himself that he killed the two Elite Disciples." Ji Lin, who had always considered Mo Qi a deserter, stepped forward to speak.

"Are you deaf, or are you being willfully ignorant?" Yu Liang frowned in displeasure. "Did my disciple not make himself clear? Qi Tian and Diao Qing tried to hunt him down, and he killed them in self-defense. What wrong did he commit?"

"A piece of trash who hasn’t even condensed his True Essence, a deserter who abandoned his peers as bait during the Beast Tide—and you expect me to believe he could kill two Elite Disciples at the Refining God Ninth Heaven? That’s absurd!" Ji Lin roared, his emotions running high as he abandoned all pretense of courtesy.

Yu Liang was furious, but at the same time, he found the situation utterly laughable.

Mo Qi, trash?

That had to be the most ridiculous joke he had ever heard in his entire life.

If he hadn’t accidentally discovered the relationship between Liu Ruyan and Mo Qi, and if he hadn’t heard that Liu Hong wanted Mo Qi as his grandson-in-law, he and Yang Ming would likely have been fooled by Mo Qi’s low-profile act as well.

He wondered what Yun Xuzi and the Elders would think if they knew about this. Would they still dare to put Mo Qi on trial?

"Are you all so certain that my disciple is trash?" Yu Liang asked suddenly.

"He doesn’t even have True Essence. What is he, a genius?" Ji Lin sneered. "I really don’t know what you were thinking, taking him as your disciple."

"Sect Leader, do you also think so?" Yu Liang ignored Ji Lin and turned to Yun Xuzi.

Yun Xuzi neither nodded nor shook his head, but it was clear to everyone that he thought so too.

"I see. So this is the real reason you agreed to the trial, isn’t it?" Yu Liang’s expression was peculiar. He exchanged a glance with Yang Ming, barely managing to suppress his laughter.

’A bunch of idiots!’ Yang Ming shook his head, laughing to himself.

At the side, Wang Xinglong suddenly thought of a method of revenge that was even better than a trial—one that would also make it more convenient for him to extract the secrets from Mo Qi.

"Sect Leader, I have a proposal. Why don’t we send out a Core Disciple at the Refining God Realm to have a match with Mo Qi? If Mo Qi can win, it proves he really had the ability to kill Qi Tian and Diao Qing. If he loses, it proves his earlier explanation was complete nonsense."

In Wang Xinglong’s view, Mo Qi must have used some treasure he obtained from the Wailing Abyss to kill Qi Tian and Diao Qing.

With everyone watching, he would never dare to take it out, which meant he would be no match for another Core Disciple.

"That’s a good proposal." Yun Xuzi nodded.

"Mo Qi, do you dare to accept the challenge?"

Before Mo Qi could respond, Yu Liang spoke up first. "I disagree."

"What, are you scared?" Ji Lin sneered.

"Of course not. I just have a more perfect way to prove it," Yu Liang said with a smile.

"Let’s hear it."

"How about we let my disciple challenge the Void Road?"

The crowd was stunned for a moment, then burst into an uproar.

"Are you kidding me? Is the Void Road something that any random nobody is qualified to challenge?"

"This could be settled with a simple match. Why make it so complicated?"

"If you’re scared, just say so! A piece of trash wants to enter the Secret Realm to challenge the Void Road? What a pipe dream!"

"Shut up!" Yang Ming roared from the side. He unleashed the might of the Void Realm, and the crowd instantly fell silent.

With the exception of a few individuals, the rest of the Elders turned deathly pale, their chests tight and their hearts pounding.

"Yang Ming, are you trying to rebel?" As he was also in the Void Realm, Ji Lin was not afraid of him.

"Cut the crap. My Junior Brother Mo is a Core Disciple, and he has both my and Master Yu’s guarantee. If he isn’t qualified to challenge the Void Road, then who is?" Yang Ming retorted.

"Besides, who knows if there’s some issue with the disciple you’d arrange for the match? Frankly, we don’t trust you! The Void Road is overseen by several ancestors. It provides a much more authoritative display of both talent and combat power. What grounds do you have to disagree?"

At the same time, Yu Liang secretly sent a voice transmission to Yun Xuzi, saying meaningfully, "Sect Leader, aren’t you the least bit curious why Liu Hui is so dead set on following Mo Qi?"

A sharp glint flashed in Yun Xuzi’s eyes. ’Could it be that Mo Qi really is extraordinary in some way?’

After a moment of contemplation, he agreed.

On one hand, it was to give face to Yu Liang and Yang Ming; on the other, it was to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Fine! Let Mo Qi challenge the Void Road!"

’A desperate, last-ditch struggle!’ Wang Xinglong sneered inwardly. Trying to challenge the Void Road without True Essence was as absurd as going to a battlefield without a weapon.

Mo Qi, however, was indifferent. Challenging the Void Road was already part of his plan; it was just happening a little sooner than expected.

"Take good care of Sister Kexin for me."

Liu Hui, Jin Sanpang, and Liu Ruyan all nodded. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Brother Mo, don’t worry. As long as San Pang is alive, no one will be able to harm Sister Kexin."

"This subordinate swears to protect the Mistress with my life."

Just as Mo Qi entered the Secret Realm under the supervision of the numerous Elders, two groups of people arrived at the Void Sect’s headquarters from different directions.

"Reporting to the General, the Void Sect is just ahead."

"Mm. All of you, rein it in. Remember, until we’ve tested that great one’s attitude, do not act recklessly."

...

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, we have arrived at the Void Sect."

A cold glint flickered in Zhang Shao’s eyes. "Xiaomin, how do you feel?"

Standing beside him was a figure completely enveloped in a black robe.

"The Beast Soul has stabilized. It feels... very powerful."

The voice was hoarse and grating, making it impossible to distinguish whether it belonged to a man or a woman.