Taiyi Dao Fruit

"In the Sect, private fights are forbidden, violators will be punished."

Feng Ziyang's gaze swept around, his stern sword momentum locking onto everyone above and below the water, preventing them from acting rashly.

"Senior Brother Feng."

Seeing Feng Ziyang appear, Xiao Shidao hurriedly swam over in an extremely awkward posture, squeezing his legs together and shouting, "Cao Xuande! Cao Xuande is right here! Catch him quick!"

"You say I'm Cao Xuande, where's the evidence?" Jiang Li calmly smiled and said, "I haven't seen any Cao Xuande. All I see is a Law Enforcement Disciple abusing his power for personal gain, seeking personal revenge, and a bunch of Inner Sect brothers and sisters ganging up on a mere Outer Disciple."

Xiao Shidao was a Law Enforcement Disciple, who was investigating the source of the Spring Palace Storybook. The others were volunteers who had willingly offered their assistance, which was why they could spend every day on the shore keeping watch.

But even for Law Enforcement Disciples and volunteers, there were limits to their power.

Having caused such a scene, they had violated the rules, and all would be punished.

However, Xiao Shidao had come with the intention to take revenge on Jiang Li. He was already mentally prepared to be punished. As long as he could drag Jiang Li down, it was worth the punishment.

Seeing Jiang Li trying to clear his name, Xiao Shidao loudly said, "The Mo Wu Battle Box is the evidence."

"This is a gift from an elder, what does it have to do with the Spring Palace Storybook?" Jiang Li retorted.

"Bullshit! It's clearly what Elder Tianpeng used to exchange for the Spring Palace Storybook."

"You're not just distorting the truth, but you dare to slander an elder?!"

Jiang Li tactfully leaned back and said righteously, "This is nothing short of a heinous crime!"

Daring to claim that one of the Six Great Elders bought a Spring Palace Storybook from a junior—was this even something that could be said?

The face of the Dinghu Sect, the dignity of the Six Great Elders—did they not matter anymore?

Although Elder Tianpeng didn't seem like someone who cared about his reputation, not caring for himself didn't mean others were indifferent. At the very least, Feng Ziyang needed to maintain the dignity of the elders.

Even if Elder Tianpeng had truly bought the book, it was not something to be mentioned.

Hence hearing Xiao Shidao's outburst, Feng Ziyang almost instinctively sent a streak of True Qi across the space, sealing his mouth shut.

"Knowing the law, yet breaking it, slandering an elder, falsely accusing your peers, Xiao Shidao, suspended from duty, confined for one year."

Feng Ziyang stripped off Xiao Shidao's tiger skin with utmost decisiveness, and conveniently sentenced him to a year of confinement.

"Senior Brother, he also destroyed my three thousand recitations of the Yin Talisman Scripture," Jiang Li continued to add fuel to the fire against Xiao Shidao.

Two days of effort had gone to waste, this grudge had to be avenged.

Feng Ziyang looked sternly at Xiao Shidao, "Six thousand recitations, you'll copy them."

He just doubled it up, giving Xiao Shidao a taste of society's harsh beating.

As for the others, though their faults were less than Xiao Shidao's, having caused such a commotion, they too deserved to be punished. Most importantly, they had laid hands on Jiang Li.

Since they had acted, they were suspected of complicity, so they were all arrested.

Feng Ziyang cast a cold glance around, "Half a year confinement."

Everyone was sentenced, and they would all be sent to Si Fan Valley for confinement. By the time they got out, the conflict between Jiang Li and Jiang Zhuyun would likely have settled.

Of course, they could also disobey the rules and escape, but in doing so, they might just fit the sect's narrative.

"Senior Brother is wise," Jiang Li was the first to agree with the sentence.

Especially the punishment for Xiao Shidao, a confinement in Si Fan Valley's dark room with an additional 1.8 million characters of scripture copying, was enough to make his dear Senior Brother Xiao understand the cost of wasting labor.

Subsequently, one after another, Law Enforcement Disciples drove boats around Dinghu Lake, picking people up and then sending them to Si Fan Valley to serve their sentences.

One by one, the light boats set off in the direction of Si Fan Valley, carrying Jiang Li's enemies into the distance.

Jiang Li then boarded a boat, drifting in the opposite direction with effortless grace.

On the other side, on the shore.

Qi Changsheng hid in the crowd, hearing Feng Ziyang's verdict from afar and he couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

His junior brother had always been somewhat simple-minded, and now he'd cozied up to Senior Sister Gongsun, gaining a backer, which doubled his vengeful ability. If his junior brother was to suffer because of his book-selling scheme, there was no telling how he'd be repaid afterward.

But now, this was the best outcome.

Of course, it could be even better.

Thinking this, Qi Changsheng coughed lightly, signalled a few Outer Disciples with his gaze, and then altered his voice to shout, "Senior Brother Jiang, number one in the Outer Sect, Senior Brother Jiang, unmatched at the Ninth Grade."

"Senior Brother Jiang, number one in the Outer Sect, Senior Brother Jiang, unmatched at the Ninth Grade," those few Outer Disciples chimed in unison immediately.

Defeating all the Eighth Ranks, naturally, he was unmatched at the Ninth Grade, and within the Outer Sect, no second could be found.

The rest of the Outer Disciples, beyond being stunned, agreed with this notion, immediately following and shouting out loud.

...

...

"In a little over three months, Ninth Grade Perfection."

Gongsun Qing Yue stood in a pavilion on the mountainside, gazing at the scenes above the Dinghu lake, saying, "The only person who achieved it faster than him is our eldest senior brother, right?"

"Two months and twenty-three days."

The red-robed youth with a stern face leaned against a pillar in the pavilion, speaking indifferently, "He's still not qualified to be compared to the eldest senior brother. Whether in talent or character, the eldest senior brother far surpasses Jiang Li."

Although the mystery behind Bending Flower Hand was not entirely clear to him, when it came to Jiang Li's sale of the Spring Palace Storybook, the red-robed youth was well-informed.

He held the operation in utter disdain and scorned Jiang Li's ability to twist right and wrong with his teahouse rhetoric.

"You agree that his character is inferior to our eldest senior brother's, but how can you be sure that this isn't something he did on purpose?" Gongsun Qing Yue said with a twinkling smile.

"Hmm?"

"He is, after all, a Jiang, so he needs to integrate into the Dinghu Sect but cannot be loved," Gongsun Qing Yue explained, "If he were adored, with too great a reputation, some in the Sect might suspect he covets the Sect Leader position. Let's not forget, we are among those eligible to compete for the Sect Leader."

The Sect Leader and the elder's disciples all had tickets to the upper echelons, they could become one of the Six Hall Elders, or enter that first hall, and govern a Sect.

As long as they had the strength and ability.

And Jiang Li, he would someday command the Ochre Whip, becoming a crucial part of the Dinghu Sect. Such a person was definitely worth winning over, a high-level Sect ticket was inevitable.

After he deals with Jiang Zhuyun, he should be taken as a disciple by an elder.

"You're saying he's deliberately tarnishing his own reputation?" The red-robed youth raised his sword-like eyebrows.

"This man seems reckless on the surface, but in reality, he is as watertight as they come," said Gongsun Qingyue, feeling a twinge of soreness in her back, "Don't underestimate him, otherwise, even we as True Inheritors could suffer."

Others might not know, but Gongsun Qing Yue could see that Ye Yuqi had been struck by the Bending Flower Hand, and it was the second time.

Such an act would surely nail Ye Yuqi into opposition, which wasn't good for Jiang Li. But if it was a plan for the future, having one more enemy might not be a bad thing.

Although it seemed somewhat unnecessary in the present, according to Gongsun Qing Yue's judgment, sometimes that man acted entirely out of character and wouldn't wait for things to happen before responding. Just like before, when Jiang Li swam back from the Secret Place Island...

"You mean to say he has the capacity to threaten the eldest senior brother?" The red-robed youth lifted his eyebrows.

"Interesting."

He walked to the edge of the pavilion, observing Jiang Li formally for the first time, his gaze intense as if he were assessing prey.

Anyone who could threaten the eldest senior brother was his enemy.