Men were quite attractive when deep in thought. Surprisingly, Xu Qingxuan kept her mouth shut while Jiang Chen was contemplating deeply. All she did was stare at Jiang Chen while contemplating something.
First impressions were sometimes very important. The holy maiden couldn’t help but feel that Pill King Ji Lang was too boastful and excessively vain no matter how she looked at him. The image of him being first under the heavens rubbed her entirely the wrong way. Meanwhile, Shao Yuan didn’t use any flowery speech or wear flamboyant clothing. He didn’t even flatter her in any form or manner either. Because of that, Xu Qingxuan noticed that he was truly engrossed with the Moon G.o.d Precious Tree instead of anything else.
She’d initially had her doubts about Shao Yuan, especially since he’d told her to remain through a mental message. She was completely on her guard. If he made any unwanted advances at her, she’d immediately resort to violence. However, things went completely against her expectations. He did hand something over to her, but it was meant for her mother. This unexpected outcome piqued her interest.
While she was completely engrossed with her own thoughts, Jiang Chen suddenly nodded and approached her. “Gather the caretakers of the Moon G.o.d Precious Tree. All of them. Leave no one behind.”
Xu Qingxuan was upset that she was being ordered around by Jiang Chen. She was a holy maiden! Her authority was second only to the sectmasters. She was always the one who gave orders and not the other way around. A change flickered through her expression. She was about to fly into a rage, but she quickly noticed that he wasn’t looking at her at all as he was completely engrossed with the tree. She swallowed her grievances and reluctantly left to do Jiang Chen’s bidding.
The servants immediately carried out the holy maiden’s orders. It didn’t take long before all of the caretakers were summoned. When the sectmasters heard that Jiang Chen had asked to see the caretakers, they returned for a look. They were worried that Jiang Chen would push the blame onto these disciples.
According to various tests done by the other pill kings, there were no signs of tampering with the tree. If Pill King Shao Yuan pushed the blame to these innocent caretakers, it’d be incredibly unsightly. The sectmasters would never allow that to happen. It might cause the disciples to grow suspicious of each other, resulting in internal conflict within the sect.
Jiang Chen was a little taken aback when he noticed the sectmasters’ return. However, he kept his calm and made no intentional glances at Xu Qingxuan. However, he couldn’t help but have an inkling of worry that his sister might hand over the storage ring to her master. Fortunately, Xu Qingxuan did no such thing. She walked up to the sectmasters and acted as though nothing had happened between them.
“It was Sir Shao who gave me the order to a.s.semble the caretakers.”
The second sectmaster frowned. “What does he want?”
She wasn’t worried that Jiang Chen had done something to her beloved disciple because it hadn’t been long since they left. Even if he was up to something, there wasn’t enough time for him to try any monkey business. She wasn’t happy about the series of events, but she didn’t pursue Xu Qingxuan about this matter.
Xu Qingxuan shook her head innocently. “He didn’t tell me. Since he’s the pill king and not me, I had no choice but to follow his orders.”
The senior sectmaster approached Jiang Chen and spoke in a roundabout way. “Sir Shao, I guarantee that there’s no problem with the disciples who are charged with the care of our tree. Many pill kings have inspected our tree and ruled out foul play.”
Jiang Chen nodded without saying anything.
The caretakers had grave expressions on their faces. They were incredibly worried and anxious. Their conscience was clear, but they couldn’t help but worry because they were now suspects. The Moon G.o.d Precious Tree was simply too important to the sect. n.o.body could afford to be careless. Therefore, they were all filled with grievances at Jiang Chen. He was clearly trying to create a problem out of thin air.
Jiang Chen swept his gaze across the caretakers. There were twelve in total. They worked in two s.h.i.+fts, one in the morning and one at night. The caretakers didn’t dare to say a word when his gaze swept past them. However, their eyes communicated their resentment perfectly.
Jiang Chen stopped abruptly when he set his gaze upon one of the caretakers. His expression immediately softened. “There’s the problem,” he clapped.
“What?” The senior sectmaster was taken aback.
The others stared at Jiang Chen nervously. They didn’t believe him at all.
“Holy Maiden Qingxuan, you mentioned that one of the caretakers had to be replaced years ago due to an unfortunate incident. She was replaced by this big sister over there, right?” Jiang Chen pointed at a particular caretaker.
Xu Qingxuan stared at the caretaker, completely dumbfounded. “How did you know?” She had mentioned that one of the caretakers had been replaced, but she hadn’t mentioned who!
The senior sectmaster was completely astounded. “Sir Shao, how did you know?”
The caretaker was incredibly nervous and so full of dread that she immediately broke into tears. “S-sectmaster! T-this disciple is innocent! I swear to the heavens that I’ve not done anything to harm our sect’s precious tree! Wuuu!!”
The second sectmaster glared at Jiang Chen angrily. “Sir Shao, haven’t I told you that none of our caretakers are possibly at fault? Many pill kings have already concluded that there are no signs of foul play with our precious tree. Please stop trying to raise false alarms.”
Jiang Chen shrugged with a wry smile. “When did I ever say that she harmed your tree? Didn’t you arrive at that conclusion yourself?”
The second sectmaster was still fuming with anger but the caretaker had stopped crying. She glared at Jiang Chen resentfully. If you don’t think that I’ve harmed the tree, why point me out!?
Jiang Chen smiled awkwardly. “Ah, yes. What is your name?”
“Xu Shan.” The caretaking replied angrily.
Jiang Chen nodded and turned to face the senior sectmaster. “Senior sectmaster, I must congratulate the Moon G.o.d Sect. You have a very unique genius among your disciples.”
“What do you mean?” The senior sectmaster was baffled.
“Also, I’ve found the source of the problem.” Jiang Chen grinned.
The crowd was now completely mystified. What exactly did he mean?
Xu Qingxuan couldn"t put up with this any longer. “Hey! Can you stop speaking in vague terms? Stop trying to play us for a fool like Pill King Ji Lang! Don’t make us look down on you!”
The senior sectmaster immediately reprimanded her. “Qingxuan, is this how you’re supposed to speak to a honored guest?”
Xu Qingxuan snorted and glared at Jiang Chen meanly. Jiang Chen was relieved to see how straightforward his little sister was. It meant that she’d retained some of her natural kindness and wasn’t completely brainwashed by the sect yet. He didn’t retort and turned to face the senior sectmaster. “It’s very simple. The problem still lies with Big Sister Xu Shan. However, she didn’t do it on purpose. In fact, she’s the victim.”
“Oh? Please explain,” the senior sect master replied with humility.
The crowd collected themselves and listened earnestly. Xu Shan had also stopped crying and stared at Jiang Chen anxiously. She wanted to hear what he had to say. After all, he’d mentioned that she was an innocent victim.
Jiang Chen didn’t leave his listeners hanging. “There’s a bloodline called the Reverse Yin Yang Bloodline. Most women have bloodlines that are yin in nature, but there are also a few that have yang dominated. However, there’s also a very special bloodline that allows one to freely switch between yin and yang blood. This is the Reverse Yin Yang Bloodline. I believe that Big Sister Xu Shan is in possession of this unique bloodline. Unfortunately, her blood could also be incorrectly identified as a mixed, useless bloodline, leading to a conclusion that she doesn’t have much potential in martial dao. It’s the reason why she was chosen as the caretaker of the Moon G.o.d Precious Tree, right? After all, it doesn’t take much technique to take good care of the tree.”
The sectmasters didn’t have much of an impression of Xu Shan. After all, who would possibly pay attention to such an insignificant character? Taking care of the tree was a menial job. It may seem like an important task, but it was often delegated to high born sect members with low talent.
Others reacted rather blandly, but Xu Shan was completely dumbfounded. Sir Shao’s words were like he’d investigated her. Her clan had determined that she possessed a useless bloodline, which devalued her status within the clan greatly. If it wasn’t for her clan’s influence, she would never have been given the task of a caretaker.
Xu Shan was completely overcome by her emotions. Sir Shao was saying that she was in possession of a unique bloodline instead of a useless one! Her mind was in shambles. She was excited, yet also worried that that Sir Shao had made a mistake. She didn’t want to get her hopes up for nothing. Meanwhile, the crowd was in a stupefied daze.
The senior sectmaster sucked in a deep breath after some moments had pa.s.sed. “Sir Shao, how confident are you with your theory?”
“It isn’t a theory. I’m merely stating the facts.” Jiang Chen replied blandly.
Theory? Are you kidding me? I’ve already gone through all the theories and found nothing wrong. Why even bother with theories? He’d quickly got his certain answer when he laid eyes on Xu Shan.
The culprit was definitely Xu Shan’s bloodline!
The crowd remained a little unconvinced despite Jiang Chen’s confidence in the matter. Were things really as simple as that? Even though they remained somewhat unconvinced, they couldn’t help but admit that no pill king before him had offered a theory from this angle!