The meeting room of the Silver Hands Owl. In such a big room which usually filled with more than a hundred elders and senior members. Now, it only consists of no more than thirty people.
At the very end of the large table was the new Sect Master, Kong Ling Jue. After the previous Sect Master dies at Chang Jian's hands, Kong Ling Jue uses his influence and rises to the position. The opposition does not even stand a chance as their most important member was killed by the Number One Assassin.
It was always Kong Ling Jue's dream to become the Sect Master. However, there was no worse timing to become the Sect Master than this moment. Because of yesterday's event, there was a lot of problems that needed to be resolved. Starting from the plan to recover their strength, recruitment process, getting away from Chang Jian's organisation, and handling Feng Ao Xiu.
Yet, before he could even touch those things, another problem comes. Perhaps because they lost a lot of manpower, an uninvited guest took advantage of this weakness and forced his way into the meeting room.
"Everyone, I have returned!" the man said.
"Ummm... Who are you?" one of the elders asked.
"Elder, don't you remember me? It is I, Yu Liang!"
"..."
"Hahahaaa! Yu Liang... He said he's Yu Liang..."
"This is the first time a spy asking to get captured right away! Hahaha!"
"Please, can't you at least come up with a better lie?! I met Yu Liang myself, and he's definitely not you!"
As the meeting room burst into laughter. Kong Ling Jue kept his cool and commanded, "Capture this man!"
Just like that, Yu Liang was captured, and his hands were tied behind his back. As much as he wanted to struggle, he had no strength left as despair rises within him. The time he spent, all these years for respecting and devoted himself for the sake of the sect, was as if it never happened.
"I'm telling you, I'm Yu Liang! Someone is pretending to be me. He's fooling all of you!" he exclaimed.
"But, he does not seem to be lying, does that mean he's Yu Liang?" One senior member asked an elder nearby him.
"Well, He certainly does looks like Yu Liang. But, he's different. The real Yu Liang returned about a month ago. I was there at that time." The elder replied confidently.
"That's right. I personally know Yu Liang before he was dispatched to North Sheng. But, this man has somewhat more mass in his muscles and a much brighter skin than the real one." Another elder added.
Yu Liang wants to cry. During more than six years out of Xiang Lan Nation, his appearance has changed drastically. He trained his strength, and as a result, he gained more muscles.
His skin, too, has gone brighter, as North Sheng Country was a country where eighty per cent of its land was covered in snow. Even in summer, it still feels like winter in other countries. Yu Liang's skin slowly changed its colour over the years. Although it was not by much, and his skin was still categorised on the darker side, the difference was clear.
And, who would have thought that just last month someone who looks more like him from six years ago came and pretended to be him. Even the elders seemed convinced that the fake was genuine, while the real was false.
Under normal circumstances, Yu Liang would have already been executed for impersonating... himself. But there's a reason he was still kept alive. There was no trace of a lie in his words. Every Silver Hands Owl was trained to detect any lies, but nobody could pick up any flaw in his expression.
"Enough talk." Kong Ling Jue said. "There's no point discussing it now. The only way to resolve this is to call Yu Liang!"
"But... Yu Liang is still on his mission. Would not it be wise to wait until it finished?" Tu Jiun replied.
"And, what is his mission?"
"It's to spy the Feng Clan and... Oh..." Tu Jiun replied confidently, but he suddenly realised what happened.
The mission itself was compromised. Feng Ao Xiu himself has found out about the Silver Hands Owl. It does not matter if Feng Ao Xiu knows whether spies have been sent to his clan or not. Now that they were trying hard to gain favour from Feng Ao Xiu, it would be a death sentence to continue the mission.
Tu Jiun bit his lips. He was anxious, especially after he saw the disappointment in Kong Ling Jue's eyes. First, he overlooked Feng Ao Xiu among the recruits, and now this. The more time passed, the more he felt that the new Sect Master distrust him.
Without any further ado, a few junior disciples were sent to fetch Yu Liang.
The juniors came back with another Yu Liang, or rather Qian Hui in tow just within an hour.
The original Yu Liang was shocked. The fake him was indeed more similar to him from six years ago than him. If he did not exist, the others might just recognise him as the real one. Unfortunately, they met Qian Hui first, which made it harder for them to recognise him.
"Ah! Yu Liang you've returned." an elder welcomed him with a big smile on his face. "Wait, who is this?"
Not far from him stood a woman with fair skin. She was beautiful compared to the average woman that Qian Hui could not help but fall for her. This woman was no other than the Feng Ao Xiu's maid, Jing Wu Chu.
"She's my future wife!" Qian Hui replied confidently.
Meanwhile, Jing Wu Chu let out a smile. If one looked closely, they could notice that her smile was contorted. It was apparent that she did not like Qian Hui's reply at all.
[I'll have to kill Qian Hui later!]
The elders were baffled by his action. One of them could not help but asked, "You know that outsiders are not allowed inside the sect, right? Even if they are family or lovers, no one is allowed without permission."
"I know it! He's fake!" the real Yu Liang could not just let this chance go. He has to push all the blame to the con man to prove he's the real one. "He does not even know the rule and law of this sect. Do you guys would really believe in someone that disrespects our sect?"
Qian Hui was shocked that someone knows he was a fake all along. But, he did not get his emotion to get the better of him. He calmly ignored the real Yu Liang and replied back to the elders.
"Did you guys think I really did not know the rule?" Qian Hui asked back. Since it was dangerous to say anything, it's better to ask a question back to probe for more information.
"Eh... So you know? Then, why did you bring her in?"
"Well... That is..." The elder did not provide more helpful information. Qian Hui panicked and tried stalling for time to come up with an answer.
"Enough!" Before Qian Hui could answer, Tu Jiun interrupted. "It was obvious that Yu Liang brings her to help our sect. With so many of our men died last night, we need all the help we can get. He must have noticed this and brought her to us!"
"Ah... Yes, that's right..." Qian Hui nodded.
"Is that so? You do truly care about the sect, Yu Liang. I'm sorry to have misunderstood you."
"I... It's okay..."
"It's a lie!!!" The real Yu Liang shouted with anger. How could this have happened to him? He thought it would be easy to prove the identity. Instead, the situation turned in an instant.
Tu Jiun glanced at Kong Ling Jue. The moment he noticed that the Sect Master nodded in belief, he let out a sigh of relief.
[Phew... Sect Master is not angry anymore. It was the right thing to help Yu Liang after all. I'll finish it fast, so Sect Master know that I'm helpful. With the First Elder's title became vacant overnight, if I do this often, I'll become the First Elder. Hahahaaa!!!]