Junior Disciple C

The furnishings in the house did not change much from when he left, Ji Chengyue entered his bedroom as usual, and closed the door smoothly.

After returning late at night, it was only about an hour before dawn, so I should have taken the time to sleep for a while.Ji Chengyue didn't intend to just rest like this, instead he went to the incense table and lit the candlestick.

It's just that when lighting the lamp, Ji Chengyue wondered for a moment, did he put the candlestick here when he left?

Why does it seem to be placed on the desk...

Feng Ye, who was hiding under the bed watching this scene, held his breath, and Hao Chen, who was lying next to Feng Ye, did the same. Ji Chengyue came back too suddenly, they didn't have time to put the candlestick back to its original position, and hurriedly hid under the bed.

Right now, I can only hope that Ji Chengyue's memory will not be so good.The two watched Ji Chengyue's movements anxiously.

Fortunately, Ji Chengyue lit the candlestick after being puzzled for a moment, thinking that maybe he was too busy recently and forgot.

But all of these things that have been busy recently will come to an end tonight.

Ji Chengyue stared at the spirit tablet on the incense table for a moment, twisted a piece of incense, lit it with a candle, bowed to the spirit tablet, and then inserted the incense with white smoke into the incense burner.

The smoke is lingering, and the white smoke twists and turns in the air, just like his mood at the moment.Ji Chengyue sat cross-legged on the futon in front of the incense table.

But he was not sitting facing the incense table, but facing away from it.

It's not a normal sitting position, like... like waiting for someone.

Just as Feng Ye had such an idea, he heard footsteps coming from outside the corridor.

"Knock knock", the owner of the footsteps walked quickly, and knocked on the door of Ji Chengyue's room politely first.

Ji Chengyue didn't know what he was thinking, he looked in the direction of the door, he didn't answer, he didn't say please come in or see off the guests, he just looked at the door.

"Master?" The person standing outside the door called with some doubts.

This voice was not Cao Zirui's voice. Thanks to Fang Yang, Cao Zijian had been walking around in front of Feng Ye a lot these days, so Feng Ye was quite familiar with Cao Zirui's voice.

Since it wasn't Cao Zirui who called Ji Chengyue his master, it could only be Xue Ren.

What did Ji Chengyue call Xue Ren to his room late at night?Is there anything that can't wait until daytime?Could it be...

A guess emerged in Feng Ye's mind, and he continued to observe quietly.

"Come in." Ji Chengyue finally spoke.

However, while speaking, he closed his eyes, as if he didn't really want to see the person who opened the door.

Xue Ren closed the door carefully after entering the room, then walked directly opposite Ji Chengyue, bowed and saluted: "Master ordered someone to call me here late at night, but what's the matter?"

Ji Chengyue didn't answer Xue Ren's question, he only said two words: "Kneel down."

Xue Ren was stunned. He hadn't let go of his saluting hand. He raised his head in a daze at this moment, and saw Ji Chengyue's face against the candlelight, which was a little more serious than in the daytime.

Ji Chengyue still had his eyes closed, Xue Ren couldn't see the emotion in his eyes, but just based on Ji Chengyue's frown, he also had a premonition that something was wrong.

"Kneel down!" Ji Chengyue raised his voice and sternly said a second time because Xue Ren didn't move in a daze.

Xue Ren was awakened by the sound, quickly lifted his sleeves, touched the ground with his knees, and knelt down straight in front of Ji Chengyue.

His eyes flickered and his thoughts turned.

Although he is a master and apprentice, Ji Chengyue actually doesn't pay much attention to etiquette, and the ceremony of bowing down is only performed on a few very important occasions. In normal times, Xue Ren and his master can just bow down.

But this time Ji Chengyue avoided the crowd late at night and asked him to come to the bedroom to talk, and told him to kneel down as soon as they met, with such a serious look, could it be... that thing?

A drop of cold sweat dripped from Xue Ren's forehead, and he immediately denied it in his heart. There is no proof that he assigned Lu Chengye to kill Cao Zirui, so how could his master know?

He can't mess around on his own, maybe the master is looking for him for other things, he still needs to test it out first.

Thinking of this, Xue Ren kept kneeling on the ground, lowered his head and asked Ji Chengyue, "I don't know what my disciple did wrong to make Master so unhappy?"

"What did you do yourself? Don't you know?" Ji Chengyue finally opened his eyes, and his eyes were full of anger.

"I don't know." Compared with Ji Chengyue's gaffe, Xue Ren's tone was the same as usual, as if he had a clear conscience.

It's just that no matter how he pretended, the endless stream of cold sweat in his clenched palms exposed a little bit of the panic in his heart.

"Good! Good! Good!" Ji Chengyue said three times in a row, he was so angry that Xue Ren still refused to admit it, and he was almost incoherent.

With a "slap", Xue Ren's face was slightly tilted by the blow, and he didn't say a word.

Ji Chengyue pointed to the account book he had just thrown out, and asked, "A month ago, you embezzled the [-] spirit stones from the sect, what did you use them for?"

One hundred thousand spirit stones is a lot, and it is indeed a lot for ordinary people, but for a sect, and it is one of the top ten sects, it is actually not a big number.

Although Ji Chengyue asked Xue Ren to help manage some sect affairs, he was not completely ignorant of the accounts.

He just didn't care, the left and right were also his disciples, and Xue Ren didn't do this kind of thing often, probably just because money was tight, so he followed Xue Ren to take the money.

But... the night Cao Zirui came out of the secret place on the floating island, Xue Ren's attitude in the cabin made him feel something was wrong.

Xue Ren almost couldn't help but put the name of the man who chased and killed Cao Zirui into the name of the demon cultivator, showing eagerness.

What is he in a hurry for?

On the surface, Ji Chengyue was calm and asked about Cao Zirui's injury, but in fact he had been observing Xue Ren, and the more he watched, the more he felt that Xue Ren's condition was very wrong.

Despite his eagerness, he seemed nervous.

Although Xue Ren covered it up very well, just like Cao Zirui was brought up by Ji Chengyue, so was Xue Ren in the past.

Ji Chengyue knew Xue Ren very well, and he could see Xue Ren's little moves that his master didn't realize at all, and the suspicion in his heart became heavier.

Hearing what Cao Zirui said, the outer disciple named Lu Chengye could always follow them in the dense forest, like an inescapable ghost.Ji Chengyue had a guess in his heart, and he couldn't get rid of it, which meant that the other party had something to track Cao Zirui.

Except for a very small number of side-tracking techniques, which can be tracked by smell or the like, most of them rely on two connected instruments to locate.

And Lu Chengye found Cao Zirui so accurately when everyone teleported randomly at the entrance when the floating island secret realm was just opened.

Ji Chengyue has been to the secret place of the floating island before. It is almost impossible to track such a large island by smell or the like, because it is impossible to predict whether the target is teleported to a very far place.

If the distance is too far, tracking methods such as smell will naturally fail.

Therefore, Lu Chengye is the most likely to locate the magic weapon, but the positioning of the magic weapon requires two connected magic tools.Lu Chengye was able to track down Cao Zirui, which meant that Cao Zirui must have a magic weapon that was located on him.

Such an outer disciple, who can't even see Cao Zirui, how could he have the opportunity to put a magic weapon on Cao Zirui?

At this time, Ji Chengyue's eyes drifted to the bell tied around Cao Zirui's waist. He also saw Xue Ren's attitude towards Cao Zirui. To be honest, before entering the secret realm of the floating island, Xue Ren suddenly sent the bell to Cao Zirui. Also very surprised.

But after being surprised, he was relieved, and lamented that after a year of getting along with each other, the pair of senior brothers finally regained some of the intimacy he had with his senior brother Ling Yun back then.

But he didn't want to, this bell was a life-threatening bell... Ji Chengyue didn't show any doubts in front of Xue Ren, because he didn't want to slander his disciple for nothing, especially with such vicious crimes as murdering his junior.

He didn't make a sound. After Xue Ren and Fang Yang left, only when Cao Zirui was around, he stretched out his hand to check the bell. The result of the check made his heart sink a little bit. , although the other half who is in contact with this Ziling is currently missing, but I also know that he stayed in the secret realm of the floating island with Lu Chengye.

The bell had pointed to Xue Ren for instructing Lu Chengye to murder Cao Zirui. After all, Xue Ren had sent the bell.

But Ji Chengyue still didn't want to believe it like this, he excused Xue Ren in his heart, maybe Xue Ren was also designed by someone to get the bell without knowing it, and then gave it to Cao Zirui.

He wanted to return Xue Ren's innocence, but the deeper the investigation, the more trembling he became.

In Cao Zirui's description of the chase, there is another detail, the bow with the dark red totem engraved on it.

It must be of extraordinary origin to allow a Qi-refining period disciple like Lu Chengye, who is so inferior in cultivation, to destroy an earth-level magic weapon with one blow.

Using the bow as a clue, Ji Chengyue searched around. During the few days in Beihai City, he was busy with this matter, and today, he finally found the result of the investigation.

This bow is named Fen Tian, ​​and it was auctioned at an underground auction in Yunzhou more than a month ago.

Although the Fentian Bow is a heavenly magic weapon, for some reason, it seems to have fallen into a dormant state, and no one can use it. It is no different from an ordinary wooden bow.

Therefore, the final transaction price is not high, 20 spirit stones, for a heaven-rank magic weapon, it can be said to be a free price.

After several twists and turns, Ji Chengyue finally found the buyer today, so he could no longer argue for Xue Ren.

The truth has become clear. After Xue Ren obtained the Burning Sky Bow, he somehow awakened the divine bow from its dormant state, and lent it to Lu Chengye, asking Lu Chengye to intercept and kill Cao Zirui in the secret realm of the floating island.

Ji Chengyue already knew everything, but he didn't say it directly, he just used the embezzled [-] spirit stones as an introduction to give Xue Ren a chance to admit it voluntarily.

After Xue Ren admitted, he...

What about him?In fact, Ji Chengyue didn't know in his heart.

When he came back after finding out the truth, he immediately asked someone to wake up Xue Ren, and called Xue Ren to come to his room, all because of the uncontrollable anger in his mind.

But when he really wanted to break everything, he suddenly didn't dare to face it.

Murdering a fellow sect, such a vicious crime, not to mention abolishing one's cultivation base and expulsion from the sect, or directly cleaning up the sect is not too much.

But this is Xue Ren...his apprentice who taught for 20 years...

Can he really deal with Xue Ren like this?

Ji Chengyue closed his eyes again after smashing the account book on Xue Ren's face.

And Xue Ren stared at the ledger on the ground, how quickly his thoughts turned. Ji Chengyue has never been a stingy person, only a hundred thousand spirit stones. .

Ji Chengyue must have found out why he embezzled the [-] spirit stones, and also found out that he owns the Burning Sky Bow... Then...

Xue Ren never expected that Ji Chengyue would investigate from this aspect, because he never expected that Master would doubt him, obviously he covered it up so perfectly!

But thinking about it now is useless, he is the buyer of the Fentian Bow, so the Fentian Bow in Lu Chengye's hands must be related to him.

But... it's not hard evidence...

Xue Ren made up a set of explanations in his mind in an instant. He raised his head, no longer lowered his eyebrows and eyes, but looked straight at Ji Chengyue openly: "Master, yes, the burning sky bow in Lu Chengye's hand is mine."

Ji Chengyue sighed, the moment he least wanted to face had finally come.

Unexpectedly, Xue Ren's next sentence changed the subject, and he asked back: "Master, do you suspect me? Do you suspect that I handed the Burning Heaven Bow to Lu Chengye and instructed him to murder Junior Brother?"

Ji Chengyue opened his eyes, he looked at Xue Ren, what does this mean?Could it be that Xue Ren is still trying to quibble in the face of such evidence?

"I was worried that I would be suspected like this, so I have never dared to tell you, Master, that Fen Tiangong is mine." Xue Ren laughed at himself: "Fen Tiangong is my good friend, but he is on the floating island. The day before the secret realm was opened, it was stolen, Master, since you found out about the auction, you should know that this heaven-level magic weapon is only in name, but in fact it can’t be used at all, it’s no different from a piece of wood for burning fire.”

"Of course I wouldn't take up such a magic weapon on my body. I kept it in my room all the time. That day when my junior brother told me about how he was hunted down, I felt faintly in my heart that the magic weapon in Lu Chengye's hand The bow is very similar to mine."

"But I also think it's impossible, because the Burning Sky Bow was obviously placed in my room, how could it be in the hands of Lu Chengye? So I guessed that it might just be a magic weapon with a similar style, so I didn't say it at the time. "

"It wasn't until I went back to the sect and went to look for the Fen Tiangong that I realized that the bow had already been stolen. I was restless and guilty. It was my fault that Lu Chengye took such a magic weapon to chase after it. Killed Junior Brother, but because he was afraid of being held accountable by Master, he dared not admit it voluntarily."

"But I didn't want to. In the end, it turned out to be the result I was most afraid of..." When Xue Ren said this, his words had unknowingly brought a crying tone.

Although the above words were completely fabricated by him, the last sentence came from the bottom of his heart.

It is indeed the result he fears most that the invisible things he did were discovered.

This cry was not pretended, but during the process of narrating, he thought of the fear of the possible consequences he might face, as well as the grievances he had accumulated on weekdays. At this moment, under the questioning of the master, he burst out all at once.

Why did Master investigate him?It's nothing more than never willing to believe him.

He wasn't going to suppress this grievance, he knew that what he said above could barely make sense, but it couldn't really prove his innocence.Similarly, Ji Chengyue's speculation has not been confirmed by hard evidence.

Then in the face of these two possibilities, if Ji Chengyue wants to choose the one he believes in, he still needs something that can really move his master's heart that is deeply rooted in doubt.

Xue Ren, who has been with Ji Chengyue for more than 20 years, is also aware of such things.

"Master!" Xue Ren suddenly called loudly, and Ji Chengyue's heart was shocked when he called.

Before Ji Chengyue could react, Xue Ren suddenly grabbed the ground with his head, as if he didn't know the pain at all, he knocked his forehead on the stone floor mercilessly.

His forehead hit the ground with a dull sound. After hitting it, Xue Ren maintained his kneeling posture, raised his head slightly, and his forehead was already dripping with blood.

His eye sockets were red and swollen, and tears would accumulate in the corners of his eyes.

He murmured to Ji Chengyue again: "Master, don't you believe me..."

As these words came out, the tears in the corners of his eyes finally fell, and the teardrops rolled down his cheeks and dripped to the ground.

Ji Chengyue watched this scene and remained silent for a long time.

And Hao Chen, who hid under the bed and watched the whole scene, finally couldn't bear to discuss the plot with Feng Ye beside him.

He first poked Feng Ye's shoulder with his hand, and when Feng Ye turned his head to look at him, he began to make mouth shapes, and said silently: "Do you think Ji Chengyue will believe it?"

However, before he could finish his sentence, Feng Ye covered his mouth with his hand.

Hao Chen: "..."

Feng Ye completely covered Hao Chen's mouth with one hand, and after making Hao Chen calm down, he turned his head and looked at the master and apprentice in front of him intently.

After being silent for a long time, Ji Chengyue finally reacted. He said in a low voice to Xue Ren who was kneeling on the ground, tears had already formed a pool of water stains on the floor: "Get up."

It seems that Ji Chengyue chose to believe Xue Ren.

Feng Ye thought to himself.

But when he saw Ji Chengyue's eyes, he denied his own thoughts.

If Ji Chengyue believed Xue Ren, he should feel a little guilty about his previous doubts, but there was no guilt in his eyes, only sadness.

It's sad that after Xue Ren did such a vicious and sensational thing, he still quibbles in every possible way and refuses to admit his mistake.

I don't know when, this disciple he brought up with one hand, turned into this appearance.

But Ji Chengyue didn't expose Xue Ren's lies. In the final analysis, it was nothing more than...

He couldn't bear it.