"Junior sister, rest assured, anyone who dares to threaten you is an enemy of the Xiuling Academy."
Leng Xingzhi's eyes were already filled with an inexplicable spiritual energy, causing the elders present to inwardly gasp.
Everyone on the Xuantian Continent knew that Leng Xingzhi had a pair of angry eyes. If these eyes were filled with spiritual power, within a hundred-mile radius, no living soul would remain.
"Yes, daring to threaten senior uncle is to be an enemy of the Xiuling Academy."
"Yes, daring to threaten junior sister is to be an enemy of the Xiuling Academy."
The disciples of the Xiuling Academy standing behind Leng Xingzhi stepped forward one after another, facing the direction of the Xuanxin Sect.
Chu Xu felt as if he were being roasted on a fire, unable to admit or deny.
"Who is making trouble for our Xuanxin Sect?"
Just as Chu Xu was anxiously thinking of a countermeasure, Su Xianrou's voice echoed in the air, bringing joy to Chu Xiyin and a smile to Chu Lingwei's lips.
Su Xianrou, you've finally arrived.
Hatred flickered in Chu Lingwei's eyes. Su Xianrou, your good days are over.
Chu Xu felt a sense of relief. With Su Xianrou's arrival, he wouldn't need to step forward to manage the situation.
Su Xianrou walked to the front of the Xuanxin Sect team, glanced at Chu Xiyin, and frowned. Their Xuanxin Sect had only sent out three disciples.
Their Sect Master had suffered heavy losses during this secret realm expedition.
Seeing Su Xianrou arrive, Chu Xu immediately transmitted a message, describing the general situation to her.
Su Xianrou's heart fluttered as she listened, and she turned to her daughter to inquire.
"Yin'er, have you truly contracted a divine beast?"
She had never heard of a divine beast that would steal spirit herbs.
Divine beasts, from birth, possessed inherited memories. Most of them considered themselves superior and disdained such petty theft.
"...I... I don't know."
Everyone claimed their contracted spirit beast was a divine beast, making Chu Xiyin uncertain.
From beginning to end, she had never seen a third person present when she was with the divine beast egg. Perhaps there was no third person there at all.
"How can you not know?" Su Xianrou was exasperated. How could she not know if she had contracted a divine beast or not?
"I used the artifact my mother gave me to find the divine beast egg. After successfully contracting it, I didn't expect it to be such an ugly thing, and it also..." Chu Xiyin couldn't continue. She couldn't say the word "steal."
"The artifact mother gave you would never be wrong. It should be a divine beast." Su Xianrou was filled with excitement. If her daughter had contracted a divine beast, she would be a great asset to their Xuanxin Sect once she grew up.
These people naturally did not want their Xuanxin Sect to return with a divine beast.
Understanding this, Su Xianrou remained calm. The sect was, after all, a sect. They couldn't openly snatch it. As long as they left here, she would find a way to bring her daughter back to the sect.
"Su Xianrou, have you finished your discussion?"
Lei Hongyang saw Su Xianrou's gaze sweep over the crowd and sneered. He wanted to see how the Xuanxin Sect would compensate their sect for the spirit herbs.
"Lei Hongyang, it's been a few years, and you're still so impulsive." Su Xianrou wasn't angry and gave a gentle smile, replying softly.
Lei Hongyang felt like he had punched cotton, and he snorted in frustration.
"Su Xianrou, your daughter Chu Xiyin stole our sect disciples' spirit herbs. How will this matter be handled?" Meng Yu, an elder from the Hehuan Sect, disliked Su Xianrou's pretense.
Su Xianrou gave Meng Yu a gentle smile. "Elder Hehuan, please wait a moment. Give me some time to ask my daughter a few questions."
"Yin'er, what exactly is going on? Tell us quickly, don't let the elders of the major sects misunderstand." Su Xianrou's voice was gentle.
The coldness around Chu Lingwei intensified. In the past, Su Xianrou had used this attitude, pretending not to care about her, indulging her, and making her disliked by the entire Xuanxin Sect.
"Mother, elders of all sects, Xiyin truly knows nothing about this matter."
With her mother here, Chu Xiyin no longer panicked. She bowed slightly to the elders of the various sects and said, "Xiyin has never allowed my spirit beast to steal the spirit herbs of any senior brothers or sisters."
"You..." Qin Wuhuai was the most indignant and couldn't control his anger.
"What I've said is true. Moreover, our Xuanxin Sect has countless spirit herbs, even ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs. How could we possibly steal... steal and eat the spirit herbs and immortal medicines of our senior brothers?"
Chu Xiyin's voice was filled with distress, and tears fell one by one. "If the elders and senior brothers and sisters don't believe me, Xiyin is willing to let the elders search me to prove my innocence."
Her voice was filled with determination and righteous indignation after being wronged.
Chu Xiyin was the eldest disciple of the Xuanxin Sect. She naturally possessed a high-level storage artifact. Her willingness to be searched by these elders meant she agreed to let them search these storage spaces together.
"Xiyin." Su Xianrou called out softly, full of immense pity. "You doing this is very good."
Chu Xiyin closed her eyes, took a step forward, walked to the front of the crowd, spread her hands, and said, "Please elders, search me."
Lei Hongyang snorted lightly, sending a burst of spiritual energy towards Chu Xiyin. In a brief moment, he withdrew his gaze, his face darkening. Chu Xiyin had very few spirit herbs on her, and no surplus ones.
Meng Yu of the Hehuan Sect's eyes flickered. She also searched and found nothing.
"Since..." Su Xianrou put on a magnanimous smile. Since they couldn't find anything, they shouldn't blame the Xuanxin Sect.
"Wait."
Chu Lingwei interrupted Su Xianrou's ensuing speech, giving Su Xianrou a inscrutable smile.
Su Xianrou's heart inexplicably fluttered when she received Chu Lingwei's gaze. Why did this gaze feel so familiar?
"Esteemed young fellow Daoist, do you also wish to come forward and search for your spirit herbs?" Su Xianrou suppressed her panic and asked gently.
"No, I just feel that a search cannot prove that Chu Xiyin did not steal the spirit herbs."
As soon as Chu Lingwei spoke, everyone's gaze turned to her.
Chu Xiyin panicked inwardly and quickly turned her head to look at her mother.
Su Xianrou gave her daughter a reassuring smile. No matter what doubts she raised, she would refute them.
"Oh, what method do you have to prove that Xiyin took their spirit herbs?"
"I personally witnessed the entire process of those senior brothers and sisters' spirit herbs being stolen. Her divine beast ate all of them, so naturally, nothing would be found during a search."
Before Su Xianrou could speak, Chu Lingwei turned to Meng Yu and asked for confirmation, "Elder Meng, may I ask if when you searched Chu Xiyin's storage space just now, the spirit herbs were not numerous, and there were no spirit herbs over five hundred years old?"
"Yes."
Meng Yu recalled that it was indeed so. She then realized that she had almost been fooled by this woman Su Xianrou, and glared at Su Xianrou with anger.
Su Xianrou's eyes turned cold.
"May I ask, who among you has seen a creature that can swallow hundreds or thousands of thousand-year-old spirit herbs in one go?"
Whether it was a divine beast or a human cultivator, there were limits to consuming spirit herbs and elixirs, otherwise, they would explode and die.