Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 220: Azure Mystic Has Violated the Great Taboo of the Eastern Wasteland!

At this moment, Ye Wentian stood before Guan Xuelan. His cultivation was insignificant compared to hers, yet the question he asked carried the weight of military authority.

However…

“What are you talking about?”

Guan Xuelan looked genuinely baffled. “What Awakening Spirit Valley? What ‘sacrificing mortals’?”

“Does Supreme Guan truly not know?” Ye Wentian asked, observing her closely. Seeing only confusion and annoyance on her face, he wasted no more words.

He pulled out a Photo Stone.

“This stone records the situation within Awakening Spirit Valley.”

He activated it immediately. A beam of light shot up, projecting a spectral screen into the air above the hall.

Guan Xuelan frowned and looked up.

The scenes that played were a nightmare.

These were the records left by the various sect disciples who had been trapped in the valley after Gu Xiu’s departure. They were undeniable proof of atrocity.

There were medicine fields fertilized with thousands of human corpses. There were blood-red Dantians pulsing in the soil, devouring the flesh and cultivation of living victims. There were mortals with white hair and beards, imprisoned for their entire lives to tend to the spirit herbs.

And there were the women—countless women of excellent aptitude, ragged and broken, kept in cages like livestock.

Every scene was an abomination.

Guan Xuelan watched expressionlessly, her patience thinning. “You show me this filth… to prove what? What does this have to do with my Azure Mystic?”

“If there were no connection, this junior would not be here,” Ye Wentian said calmly. He took out a second Photo Stone.

This one played a different kind of scene: the interrogation of a Remnant Soul by a Soul Formation expert.

“Who are you?”

“I am Bi Jixiang… a disciple of Jade Pill Peak, Azure Mystic Sacred Land.”

“Why are you here?”

“Peak Master Xu Wanqing sent us. Awakening Spirit Valley… is her private medicine field.”

“Why does Xu Wanqing do this?”

“She wants to use the Creation Immortal Soil here… to refine ‘Creation Blood Soil’… to cultivate longevity herbs.”

“What is Creation Blood Soil?”

“It uses Creation Immortal Soil as a base… absorbs mortal blood and cultivator essence… eventually, it can autonomously refine human lifespan… simply by throwing mortals into the pit.”

“How many have died here?”

“I don’t know… no one keeps count. A batch is sent every year as fertilizer.”

“Who are these people?”

“Disciples who made mistakes… mortals without labor ability… rogue cultivators caught in the wild…”

“…”

The interrogation continued. Different Remnant Souls, different voices, but the answers were identical.

Some Awakening Spirit Valley disciples even confessed to how they operated in mortal cities. They would recruit under the guise of finding disciples, only to ship thousands of hopefuls to the valley to be mulched.

They claimed they were acting under the orders of “experts from the Sacred Sect.” Sometimes, these experts would personally slaughter entire cities, disguising the massacres as natural disasters or plagues. Any cultivator who investigated was hunted down and added to the compost heap.

Piece by piece, the evidence built a picture of industrial-scale slaughter.

Anyone watching would be consumed by rage.

Ye Wentian’s face was cold as stone. Even facing a Supreme, he did not back down.

“According to the Eastern Wasteland Covenant, conflicts between sects are internal matters. Even if the methods are cruel, outsiders cannot intervene.”

“However… it is absolutely forbidden to target mortals. This is the one rule recognized by every sect, clan, and dynasty in the Eastern Wasteland.”

“Yet Awakening Spirit Valley has not only targeted mortals but has done so on a scale that defies imagination. Over the last century, they have abducted, deceived, and slaughtered millions.”

“Based on our current investigation, the number of mortal cities wiped out by Awakening Spirit Valley exceeds ten!”

Ye Wentian’s voice rang through the hall like a judgment.

“This matter has violated the Great Taboo of the Eastern Wasteland!”

“The Grand Marshal sent me here to seek verification from you, Supreme Guan.”

In the Eastern Wasteland Domain, cultivators possessed the power to split mountains and boil seas. Without restraint, mortals—the foundation of humanity—would have no space to survive.

Thus, tens of thousands of years ago, the Covenant was forged.

Clause One: Cultivators shall not engage in the mass slaughter of mortals.

It wasn’t that cultivators couldn’t kill mortals; individual deaths happened. But indiscriminate massacre for personal gain? That was a line that could not be crossed. Even the demonic sects of the Northern Abyss respected this rule.

If any force violated it, the Covenant dictated that all signatory powers had the right—nay, the duty—to launch a Joint Extermination Campaign.

To uphold the Justice of Heaven.

And now, Azure Mystic Sacred Land stood accused.

This was no small matter. Even Guan Xuelan felt the weight of the accusation pressing down on her. Azure Mystic might be the overlord of the Heaven-Leveling Mountains, but the Eastern Wasteland was vast. Tiance Mansion, the enforcers of the Covenant, was not weaker than her sect.

“Hmph!”

After a moment of silence, Guan Xuelan snorted dismissively.

“Fabricated evidence. You think a few doctored images can smear my Azure Mystic? I have never even heard of this ‘Awakening Spirit Valley.’ What does it have to do with me?”

Ye Wentian frowned, glancing at the floating screens.

“Although Photo Stones can record images,” Guan Xuelan continued coldly, “they can also be forged. As for these so-called ‘Azure Mystic disciples’… mere actors. Nonsense.”

“They say the Young General of Tiance is a genius of strategy. But today, I see you are easily fooled by cheap tricks.”

“Supreme Guan means to say… Awakening Spirit Valley has nothing to do with Azure Mystic?” Ye Wentian asked.

“Naturally!” Guan Xuelan declared. “My Azure Mystic is a dignified Sacred Land. We sit upon the vast resources of the Heaven-Leveling Mountains. Why would we care about some tiny, filthy valley?”

She was a Supreme. Regardless of the truth, she could never admit to this.

“But these Photo Stones were left by experts from various sects who were trapped there,” Ye Wentian pressed. “Is Supreme Guan saying that all these experts are lying?”

“My sect is a tall tree that catches the wind. Petty people will always be jealous. Tell me, who are these ‘experts’? Perhaps I should pay them a visit personally?”

Guan Xuelan’s eyes flashed with a dangerous light.

Ye Wentian wasn’t about to betray his sources. He lowered his voice. “Supreme Guan, this matter also involves the Tantai Clan—benefactors of your Physician Xu—and Gu Xiu, the man who abandoned your sect.”

“Tantai Clan? Gu Xiu?”

Guan Xuelan’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“Awakening Spirit Valley imprisoned the Tantai Clan to refine Void Stone Wax. They even lured Gu Xiu there to kill him. Does Supreme Guan not know of this either?” Ye Wentian stared straight into her eyes.

Unfortunately, Guan Xuelan was unshakeable.

“The Tantai Clan vanished centuries ago. Gu Xiu has left the sect. None of this concerns me.”

“Furthermore, the Tantai Clan are my Third Disciple’s benefactors. Are you suggesting that my renowned Divine Physician would repay kindness with such enmity?”

Seeing Ye Wentian prepare another argument, Guan Xuelan stood up abruptly.

“Enough.”

She looked down at him with icy disdain.

“Ye Wentian. Tiance Mansion may be strong, but Azure Mystic is not weak. I have shown you patience out of respect for your Grand Marshal. Do not mistake my courtesy for weakness.”

BOOM!

The terrifying pressure of a Mahayana Supreme slammed into Ye Wentian. He staggered back three steps, his boots skidding on the floor, before barely managing to steady himself.

He looked up at her, shock in his eyes. She ascended recently, yet her power is this deep?

“I have said all that needs to be said,” Guan Xuelan stated. “If Tiance Mansion wishes to press these baseless accusations, go back and tell your Grand Marshal to come personally.”

“I, and Azure Mystic, will be waiting.”

She flicked her sleeve.

“See the guest out!”

Her attitude was overbearing, bordering on contempt. Ye Wentian tightened his jaw, but he knew when to retreat.

He clasped his fists one last time.

“Farewell.”

He turned and strode out of the hall.

This matter would not end here. Both of them knew it.

Once Ye Wentian was gone, the imperious mask fell from Guan Xuelan’s face. Her expression turned glacial.

“Someone!”

“Sect Leader?” A disciple rushed in.

“Summon Xu Wanqing. Now!”

Guan Xuelan was truly unaware of the specifics, but the evidence was too detailed to be entirely fake. She needed answers.

However, the disciple returned quickly, looking anxious.

“Reporting to Sect Leader… Peak Master Xu is not here.”

“Not here? Where did she go?”

“She… she seems to have gone to Sacred Heart City. It is said that something happened to her ancestral family.”

“Hah. She certainly knows how to hide.”

Guan Xuelan’s eyes were cold enough to freeze magma. The disciple lowered his head, trembling.

After a moment of contemplation, Guan Xuelan stood up.

“I am going out. Spread the word that I have entered secluded cultivation.”

Before the disciple could respond, she vanished.

Her destination: Awakening Spirit Valley.

She had two goals. First, find the Creation Immortal Soil and the Void Stone Wax.

Second… destroy the valley and every witness inside.

If the evidence disappeared, the accusation would be nothing but wind. Guan Xuelan didn’t believe anyone would dare start a war with Azure Mystic over a pile of dead mortals without solid proof. That would be courting death.

However…

What Guan Xuelan didn’t know was that Ye Wentian had already sent his report.

And as he left the Azure Mystic territory, he received a new message via secret transmission. A message that made his blood run cold.

“The mysterious force that previously spread rumors about Gu Xiu abandoning the sect has begun a new campaign.”

“They are publicizing Gu Xiu’s experiences during his three years in Azure Mystic.”

“Specifically, the mistreatment, the neglect, and the humiliation.”

“These messages are being targeted. They are spreading primarily in regions controlled by Gu Xiu’s old friends—the powerful figures who received his favors five hundred years ago.”

Ye Wentian’s pupils contracted.

He saw the board clearly now.

Someone wasn’t just exposing a crime.

Someone was plotting the complete destruction of Azure Mystic.