Ye Rosewaterâs group only had a dozen or so people and yet they had managed to slaughter the entire 60-70 strong force of the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain while emerging completely unscathed.
As for the group led by White Mirrorjade, they originally had over 100 people, and White Mirrorjade also repeatedly used his trump card again and again, causing all the disciples to gape in awe at him. Yet, even in such a situation, while White Mirrorjade and the rest killed over a hundred people from the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain, they also lost four fifths of their original forces.
And what was even more bewildering was that White Mirrorjadeâs group hadnât killed any top masters at all. As for Ye Rosewater and the others, they had killed the four late Divine Sea martial artists from the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain!
This difference was simply too great.
How could anyone possibly be willing to believe this!?
âI donât believe this! You only have a dozen plus people, so how can you be so strong!? How come none of you have died?â
The disciples with White Mirrorjade were simply unable to accept such a massive disparity. This was tantamount to denying all of the hardships and bloody sacrifices they had made. So many of them had died, and yet they couldnât even compare to the tiny force led by Ye Rosewater.
âYou idiot! How could we possibly lie about something like this? Paper cannot wrap fire; this sort of thing would be instantly exposed as a lie! Do you have the brains of a pig or something!?â
Xiao Raingem maliciously taunted. And beside her, Ye Rosewater was actually silent. Her eyes were always sweeping past White Mirrorjade. She knew that now was not the time for a showdown. Even if there was a 99% certainty that White Mirrorjade had betrayed them, there simply wasnât any evidence. If she tried to pin such a charge on White Mirrorjade, he would bite back instead.
Moreover, once White Mirrorjade managed to escape this situation, he would be on guard from then on. It would be impossibly difficult to catch his weakness after this.
As for this, Ye Rosewater simply didnât have any other action she could take. Although she hated White Mirrorjade to her bones, there was nothing she could do against him. Even if she killed White Mirrorjade, she would still suffer the punishment of the sect since she only had flimsy evidence to back up her claims. And according to the sect rules, a direct disciple killing a direct disciple without reason was a death penalty.
âDoes this mean I must allow this villain to return to the sect alive?â Ye Rosewater grit her teeth, keeping up her calm appearance.
Xiao Raingemâs insults caused all of the disciples around White Mirrorjade to stir up in a frothy anger. âWhat the fuck are you talking about! I donât believe that you have such an ability! Senior-apprentice Brother White is fierce and he risked his life alongside all us brothers and we finally managed to obtain a hard fought victory, and yet you casually killed all of them? Do you think Iâm an idiot or something? If you have to prove it, then we can fight. If you win then Iâll believe you!â
The disciple who spoke was at the middle Divine Sea realm. His injuries werenât too heavy so he didnât fear Xiao Raingem at all. The things that Xiao Raingem said were simply too ridiculous for anyone to believe.
âShut up!â
White Mirrorjade suddenly shouted.
The disciple felt wronged as he was yelled at. âSenior-apprentice Brother White, I ââ
âI told you to shut up!â White Mirrorjade coldly said. He walked over and began to lean down, looking over the tokens and spatial rings left behind by the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain disciples.
The Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain both had protections against forgeries. Although the tokens could be faked, one had to spend a massive amount of time and energy to do so. One didnât have to be a genius to see that it was impossible for Ye Rosewater to do something so wasteful and idiotic like that. There was no way she could bring a massive pile of fake tokens into the Red Desolate Mystic Realm, especially since she couldnât determine just which disciples of the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain would come.
After inspecting the tokens and spatial rings, White Mirrorjade discovered they were real. The spatial rings had a massive amount of sect cultivation methods, special weapons, unique pills, and other such things. This was all undeniable proof!
The sect status tokens and spatial rings were all extremely important objects to the disciples. If they had all fallen into the hands of Ye Rosewater and the others, there was only a single possibility why, and that was that they had all died!
Although Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile had been utterly exhausted when they retreated, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. Even if they were severely wounded, they still had an extremely strong combat strength. They werenât people that Lin Ming and the others could easily deal with.
Could Ye Rosewater and the others have some sort of secret weapon that could display a miraculous strength at a critical moment? Or did those people from the Occult Bone Clan and Splintersoul Mountain encounter a tremendous stroke of bad luck, and Ye Rosewater took advantage of them during this time?
White Mirrorjadeâs thoughts raced. His eyes fell onto Lin Ming; could it have been him?
He immediately denied this thought. Even if Lin Ming was a bit stronger than he was, he didnât believe that he could kill so many people whilst ensuring that no other disciples died.
White Mirrorjade lifted his eyes and suddenly said, âIt seems⌠that you took advantage of the fact that Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile were severely wounded by us, and then successfully ambushed themâŚâ
âSo what if it is.â Xiao Raingem coldly said.
White Mirrorjade nonchalantly looked at Xiao Raingem and nodded, âMm⌠well done. You have performed a great merit for the sect, and you will receive suitable rewards. Then⌠the spatial rings? Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmileâs spatial rings arenât here. There are also the other two late Divine Sea talents, Gudao Ming and Soul Wanshan. They are two late Divine Sea geniuses and yet their rings are not here. Could they be on one of you?â
The four spatial rings were naturally with Lin Ming. Gudao Ming and Soul Wanshanâs spatial rings werenât much at all, but Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile had a massive amount of wealth in their spatial rings. It was an indispensable amount of money that Lin Ming needed to support his expenses in the future; he naturally couldnât hand them over.
âSo what if they are?â Ye Rosewater coldly sneered, âWhat, do you want to take them?â
White Mirrorjade shook his head, âJunior-apprentice Sister Ye has misunderstood. It isnât that I want to take them, but that they are spoils of battle so they should belong to the sect. Everything that we obtain in the Red Desolate Mystic Realm must be delivered to Carefree Island Headquarters, whereupon we will be rewarded according to our merits and contribution. Since I am the captain of this mission, I naturally need to take care of these matters. This is a completely reasonable way of handling things. Junior-apprentice Sister Ye should rest assured that when I process these things I will report the matter truthfully.â
White Mirrorjade shrugged, calmly speaking as if everything he said should have been common knowledge.
White Mirrorjade was able to see that many of the spatial rings had fallen into Lin Mingâs hand. He didnât know how Ye Rosewater and the others managed to kill so many people from Splintersoul Mountain and the Occult Bone Clan, but his intuition told him that Lin Ming had played an invaluable role in the battle. These treasures should have been held by Lin Ming at his behest. How could White Mirrorjade sit back and allow Lin Ming to carry off such a great part of the wealth?
In this sort of situation, White Mirrorjade would certainly give all of these treasures to the sect. Although they couldnât technically be considered his, he already thought of them as part of his treasures. In the future, he had the confidence that he would become the Island Master of Carefree Island. And beyond that, there were even many of the Highest Elders that supported him and they would allow him future use of these resources. For instance, if he needed to purchase rare pills or other treasures, the advantages gained from these would mostly belong to him.
âHahahahaha!â As White Mirrorjade spoke, Lin Ming suddenly raucously laughed, uproariously and wildly.
White Mirrorjade frowned. Even though he had great self-control, his face still became gloomy after being ridiculed by Lin Ming in public. âWhat are you laughing at!â
âThe things I obtain must be turned in to Carefree Island where we will be rewarded based on our merits? You think I should follow whatever your sectâs rules are? What a joke! Am I someone from your sect? Why would I need you to reward me with anything?â
After being mocked by Lin Ming in front of everyone, White Mirrorjadeâs eyes flashed with a chilling light. âLin Ming! You may not be from my Carefree Island, but do not forget that the only reason you entered the Red Desolate Mystic Realm is that of Carefree Islandâs violet sun stones. Moreover, since you joined this mission you are also under my jurisdiction. In this trip into the Red Desolate Mystic Realm, I have repeatedly allowed you to do as you pleased. I hope that you understand what is right and what is wrong, and you do not try to test the limits of my patience! Otherwise, I will also use the rules of the sect to deal with you!â
âOh? Deal with me?â Lin Mingâs lips curved up in a smile. Ye Rosewater saw the situation deteriorating and hurriedly blocked Lin Ming. âJunior-apprentice Brother Lin, donât be rash.â
She impatiently said with a true essence sound transmission. âJunior-apprentice Brother Lin, now is not the time to tear off all pretenses of face yet. White Mirrorjade has an extremely deep foundation in Carefree Island. Itâs impossible for us to drag him down with just some speculations. We have to plan this out and slowly gather evidence. If you kill White Mirrorjade here, then even if he dies we will still be punished by the sect after returning. According to sect rules, killing a direct disciple is a capital crime. Lin Ming, you are strong, but donât think you are stronger than Carefree Islandâs Highest Elders and Disciplinary Elder.â
Ye Rosewater grabbed onto Lin Mingâs sleeve. Lin Ming looked at her for some time. Then, as if he had suddenly realized something, he gently smiled and restrained his aura.
Ye Rosewater let out a long breath of relief. She was truly afraid that Lin Ming would do something impulsive and attack White Mirrorjade. If that happened then everything would spiral out of control.
White Mirrorjade smugly smiled as he saw this. He had already anticipated that Lin Ming would capitulate. He himself had Carefree Island supporting him while Lin Ming didnât have anyone at all, thus he naturally couldnât disobey him. It was only a pity that he couldnât kill Lin Ming right now. With everyone watching, he didnât dare to move against him just yet. Moreover, Lin Mingâs strength was filled with mysteries, making White Mirrorjade just a tad bit afraid.
White Mirrorjade sneered, an expression of victory crowing all over his face. He said in an educating tone, âJunior-apprentice Brother Lin, sects naturally have sect rules. And, the reason that you were able to kill Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile is that I wounded them before. Did you think that everything was due to yourself?â
âYah, thatâs right! Senior-apprentice Brother White has the most merits here! Without Senior-apprentice Brother White, how could you have possibly won against Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile?â
âNo kidding. Gongyang Bonesmashâs arm was cut off by Senior-apprentice Brother White. Senior-apprentice Brother White used up most of his strength, meaning that the Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile you faced werenât even at 20% of their peak condition! Moreover, Senior-apprentice Brother White also faced two against one. His strength is beyond what the likes of you could imagine. Hurry up and hand over those spatial rings!â
The disciples around White Mirrorjade suddenly found their own confidence. And in their opinion, they werenât wrong either. In killing Gongyang Bonesmash and Soul Thousandmile, White Mirrorjade had played the greatest role and he was also the strongest out of everyone present.