The heart of rumors

"Nice to meet you, fellow Daoist Fu!" Duan Luoyang politely greeted as he looked at Jie Fu Lian.

At first, Jie Fu Lian was a bit confused to see that the man didn't recognize him but he eventually remembered that he had been wearing a disguise back when he joined the Xu clan's investigation so it was only natural that Duan Luoyang didn't recognize his current appearance.

"Nice to meet you too," Jie Fu Lian greeted back with a thin smile, but although his words were polite and calm, in his mind, he couldn't help but question, 'Why is it him...?!'

His impression of this Duan Luoyang was clearly not that positive...

As promised, Hua Tianshu went back to the HuiXue sect and talked to Sect Master Quan who agreed to sanction the reinvestigation.

Back then, due to Jie Fu Lian, the relationship between the HuiXue sect and the Yan sect had not been too bad so it was only natural that sect master Quan agreed to give permission when he heard that the first investigation might have been purposefully led astray by someone.

But for some reason, the only person helping them with this reinvestigation was this Duan Luoyang...!

When Jie Fu Lian thought back to how Hua Tianshu had also tagged along out of worry for his disciple during the Xu clan's murder case, he couldn't help but frown and feel a little unhappy.

It seemed that Hua Tianshu deeply cared about his disciple and Jie Fu Lian didn't exactly like that fact.

"Since you are a friend of my master, is it okay if I call you Uncle Fu?" Duan Luoyang glanced at Hua Tianshu before he looked back at Jie Fu Lian and questioned with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Jie Fu Lian unconsciously smiled when he heard the words 'Friend of my master' and immediately nodded his head slightly as he spoke, "You can call me whatever you'd like."

"Then Uncle Fu, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Why did you suddenly want to reopen this investigation?"

It wasn't a surprising question. In fact, Jie Fu Lian had already expected to hear such questions and hence, he had prepared an answer for it as well.

"When I was young, I had the privilege of getting acquainted with a few disciples from the Yan sect. I had always admired them for their honest and kind-hearted nature. It is hard for me to accept their deaths and even harder to imagine that they'd have a link with demonic cultivation."

"That makes sense," Duan Luoyang spoke as he thought about it for a minute, "But still, you must really have a lot of trust in the Yan Sect if you are willing to reinvestigate this particular case."

The meaning behind his words wasn't straightforward but could still be understood clearly.

For most people, the understanding of a reinvestigation was pretty simple. It was basically re-evaluating the already collected facts and proofs on a certain case. However, Jie Fu Lian was sure that the reinvestigation of this case was going to be much different.

Since the proof and evidence were probably falsified or not based on facts, they needed to start from scratch.

Seven years ago, this case had been led by the Jin Sect and hence, reinvestigating it would be like indirectly questioning the capability and honesty of the Jin Sect.

Like Hua Tianshu had previously stated, the main cause behind the Yan Sect's demise was the Jin sect. Although nobody said it out loud, it could be understood that the truth was probably not what had been stated in the official records.

To reinvestigate this case was akin to pointing fingers at the Jin Sect and challenging them.

"It's not that I blindly believe in the innocence of the Yan sect. It's just that, as a cultivator who once had ties with the Yan sect, I owe the truth to my friends who perished away seven years ago."

Duan Luoyang looked to be quite impressed by the man's words and smiled. This time his smile was quite honest and even contained a sense of warmth in it.

"Uncle Fu, I admire your willingness and would love to help you in any way I can," Duan Luoyang beamed.

"Let's go," It was Hua Tianshu who interrupted the conversation between the two as he spoke up.

"Where are we going?" Jie Fu Lian slightly raised his eyebrows as he asked.

"Xiujiang."

Jie Fu Lian frowned a little as he heard this name and silently followed after Hua Tianshu for a few steps before he eventually asked, "Why are we going to Xiujiang. That small city should have no relation with the Jin sect."

In his youthful days, Jie Fu Lian had visited Xiujiang almost every year for their osmanthus festival. The city was quite small and only came alive during the months of spring when they held their annual osmanthus festival.

"The rumors began there," It was Duan Luoyang who walked up to the two and spoke as he revealed, "Uncle Fu, haven't you heard of Bai LiuXian's death?"

Jie Fu Lian shook his head cluelessly as he heard this. Not only had he not heard of Bai LiuXian's death, he had not even heard the man's name mentioned before this.

"Bai LiuXian was the second son of the city head, Bai Guanyu. Bai Guanyu only had two sons. His first son was a cripple and a lunatic whereas his second son was gifted and ambitious. Seeing that his second son had more potential, Bai Guanyu made him the first in line to become the next city head. However, Bai LiuXian was murdered at the age of sixteen."

Jie Fu Lian hadn't exactly heard of the city head nor did he hear much about the second son of the Bai family. The only one from this story that he recalled was the first son who was a cripple and a lunatic.

The first son of the Bai family was called Bai YiJun. There were many rumors about him being a useless waste, but Jie Fu Lian had once been acquainted with him and hence, he clearly knew better than anyone else how wrong all the rumors about the boy were.

He was surely a cripple but he wasn't born as one. His stepmother was the one who had caused him to lose the ability to use his legs. He was quite smart and cunning. He pretended to be a lunatic simply because he didn't want to be targeted by the people who were aiming for his position.

"Bai LiuXian had been found in his room one day after his death. At that time, due to strong evidence and witness testimonies, it was suspected that immortal Jie Fu Lian was the one who had murdered him."

Jie Fu Lian choked on empty air as he suddenly heard his own name being mentioned in this story.

'Why would I kill him when I don't even know him?!' Jie Fu Lian questioned in his mind.

"W-Why would it be brother Jie Fu Lian?" Jie Fu Lian cleared his throat as he questioned, feeling too embarrassed to call himself an immortal.

"Because he's the only one who could have killed Bai LiuXian like that," Duan Luoyang sighed as he continued, "Bai LiuXian had been killed by a wooden sword and the art of controlling spirits."

As soon as Jie Fu Lian heard that latter sentence, he immediately understood why he had been considered a suspect in this murder case. After all, wasn't he the one who abruptly challenged every single HuiXue sect disciple during their annual sword competition and beat them all using nothing more than a wooden stick and the art of controlling spirits...!

"Immortal Jie Fu Lian was the only one who was known to practice the art of controlling spirits and he was also the only cultivator at the time who could kill somebody else using a wooden sword."

Now that Jie Fu Lian thought back to it, he did recall being accused of killing a few unknown people and perhaps one of them was called Bai LiuXian. At that time, he had been completely innocent but since nobody was willing to believe him, he simply gave up on clearing his name and accepted all the accusations.

"Even if it was Jie Fu Lian, why would Bai LiuXian's death have anything to do with the Yan sect? Wasn't the debt already paid with Jie Fu Lian's death?"

"The debt was indeed repaid with his death but although the case ended, new revelations were later brought up and it gave birth to various rumors," Duan Luoyang patiently explained.

"New revelations?" Jie Fu Lian's eyebrows creased together as he repeated in confusion.

Suddenly, Hua Tianshu stopped walking forward and turned to look at Jie Fu Lian as he spoke up before Duan Luoyang, "The art of controlling spirits can only be practiced by those that have demonic blood running through their veins."

"..." Jie Fu Lian's eyes immediately widened in shock and his jaw almost looked as if it was ready to hit the ground.