Nangong Liu appeared calm, but beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead. He estimated this man’s strength and felt that his words were true, which made him even more alarmed. However, in consideration for the reputation of the world’s number one sect, he had to force himself to ask, “Might I ask who you are? What is your intention in intruding upon Rufeng Sect?”

     “I already said it was to advise you. I was only warning you not to have your son marry someone he shouldn’t, that’s all.”

     The moment he said this, the guests couldn’t help but glance at each other knowingly. The news of the affair between Ye Wangxi and Song Qiutong had already spread to every corner of the streets; everyone was aware of it. The only ones who didn’t know were probably Nangong Si himself and Nangong Liu.

     However, the wedding invitations had already been sent out, and the marriage certificate signed, so it was useless. If they backed out now, what face would Rufeng Sect have left?

     Nangong Liu’s lips quivered for a moment, then he scoffed coldly, “My son can marry whoever he pleases, as long as he likes her. There’s no need for an outsider to worry on his behalf.”

     The black-clad man laughed, “Such generosity, Sect Leader, that you don’t care whether Song Qiutong’s heart belongs to your Nangong family or the Ye family.”

     Song Qiutong was shocked and furious, her face deathly pale and her beautiful eyes wide. She shouted, “Slander!”

     “What slander? Wouldn’t you know best what you and Ye Wangxi have done?”

     Ye Wangxi never thought he would be mentioned, and froze. He was dumbfounded for a good while until he understood what the black-clad man was saying. However, his first reaction wasn’t anger, but to laugh in spite of himself, “What nonsense are you spewing?”

     “I’m not speaking nonsense, my words are true. I’ve seen it all with my own eyes.” The black-clad man spoke clearly and eloquently, “You rescued Song Qiutong from Xuanyuan Pavilion, uncaring for the immense cost. This is something known to every cultivator in the world. A large sum in exchange for a beauty. Ye-gongzi, what was your intention?”

     “Looking at her in such a pitiful state, I couldn’t bear to just stand by and watch, that’s all.”

     “Couldn’t bear to simply watch indeed. You saved her and let her go free. So why did you keep her by your side wherever you went, and bring her back to Rufeng Sect with you, taking her in as your personal attendant?”

     “Miss Song is a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast. This is something the entire world also knows. If I let her go, she would have most likely been targeted immediately by the lawless, so I brought her back to Rufeng Sect. It was to give her a place to settle down,” Ye Wangxi said.

     The other replied, “A place to settle down indeed. Ye-gongzi truly is virtuous, crossing no lines and committing no offenses even when accompanied by a peerless beauty, day in and day out.”

     The black-clad man was full of taunts, yet Ye Wangxi remained resolute as he said, “My conscience is clear.”

     Although that’s what he said, no one believed him. Ordinary people were always willing to judge everyone else’s heart with their own yardstick; the majority of these people were from the upper cultivation world, and had they obtained a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast themselves, they would’ve taken all possible measures to keep them—for dual cultivation purposes, or perhaps to cook and eat. So who would believe Ye Wangxi was innocent?

     The group exchanged understanding looks with each other, clear contempt creeping into their expressions. Despite the tense situation, it was clear that they were deriving a sense of pleasure from pying into someone else’s private matters.

     Nangong Si said gloomily, “I think you are purely looking to start trouble where there is none, taking advantage of this opportunity to smear the name of my Rufeng Sect. What does it matter to you who I marry? Actually, there’s no need to respond, just get the hell back to wherever you came from.”

     “Nangong-gongzi, you truly are blind to my good intentions.” The black-clad man paced back and forth, and after making a circle inside the hall, he suddenly stopped near Song Qiutong. He chuckled twice towards her, then said, “Miss Song, your husband trusts you so blindly, no wonder you can stand there in perfect calm, posing as the Young Madam of Rufeng Sect.”

     However, Song Qiutong was far from being as calm as the other two, and she exclaimed nervously, “Do not insult my chastity!”

     “What chastity is there to speak of between you and Ye-gongzi?” The black-clad man spoke with unhurried conviction, “Not long after he saved you, you served him willingly. When you met in secret, you thought no one was around to see, but you didn’t know that I was watching from the shadows. If you didn’t want anyone to know, then you shouldn’t have done it—”

    Song Qiutong suddenly yelled, cutting him off, “Nonsense!”

     “If I’m talking nonsense, then why are you trembling?”

     “I… I’m being wronged… I…” She looked at Nangong Si in a panic, “Gongzi…”

     Nangong Si returned to her side and pushed her behind him, a pair of wolf-like eyes, grave and cold, fixed on the black-clad man, “Stop your slander.”

     “You’ll know if it's slander or not after I tell you one thing.” The black-clad man smiled, “Nangong-gongzi, your beauty has a red dotted mole on her left thigh, right?”

     Nangong Si was taken aback, “You…”

     “It’s about the size of a grain of rice, vibrant in color, not dark red, but scarlet. If I didn’t witness her and Ye-gongzi seeking pleasure in each other’s company, how would I know such a detail of her body?”

     “That…”

     “Gongzi!” Song Qiutong panicked, tugging on Nangong Si’s sleeve as she said, near tears, “It’s not true, it’s not true, he’s wronged me… He must have seen it when I was bathing…”

     “What’s so good about watching you bathe?” The black-clad man sounded put-off as he cut her off, “It would be better to go to Sisheng Peak and watch Yuheng Elder bathe and dress.”

     The incident of Yuheng Elder being peeked at by a female disciple was also one of the popular stories in the cultivation world. Now that it was mentioned, everyone felt that it was a bit funny. Some of the braver ones even stole glances at Chu Wanning, only to immediately bow their heads, shaken by the shocking murderous intent on his face.

     The black-clad man circled around Nangong Si and Song Qiutong, then clapped and laughed as if something had dawned on him, “That’s right, I suddenly remembered something. When Ye-gongzi bought Miss Song, there was a chastity cinnabar mark on her wrist, personally dotted by Cold Scale Sacred Hand. If Miss Song truly is chaste as you say, and I am but tarnishing her name, then that bit of cinnabar should still be on her wrist.”

     He paused for a moment, then smiled at Song Qiutong, who was ghastly pale and shaking uncontrollably, “Miss Song, if you must prove your innocence, why not show your chastity cinnabar for everyone to see?”

     Enlightened, Nangong Si turned to comfort Song Qiutong, “It’s fine, show everyone your…”

     But when he saw that Song Qiutong’s lips had already lost all color and her entire face was as white as paper, he couldn’t help but stop and stare blankly. After a while, he asked with some doubt, “What’s… what’s wrong?”

     Song Qiutong let go of Nangong Si’s and retreated a step, gripping her sleeves and shaking her head with tears in her eyes, “ I… I can’t…”

     Nangong Si’s eyes widened suddenly, as if he knew what was happening, and he couldn’t speak.

     The black-clad man sneered, “What? You don’t dare?”

     “No, it’s not like that… I don’t understand either…” Song Qiutong fell to the ground dejectedly, tears pouring down like rain in an instant, and she cried mournfully, “I don’t know… I don’t know either… Please I beg you… let me go…”

     She gripped her sleeves tightly, refusing to let anyone see. But this attempt to hide the truth was no different from telling everyone that the chastity cinnabar mark was gone, just as the black-clad man had claimed.

     She had been promised to a man as a virgin, yet before the wedding, the red mark on her arm had vanished without a trace.

     There was no washing herself clean from this.

     The black-clad man was about to say more when he suddenly heard a cold and stern voice speak up from not far away. Chu Wanning stood tall and poised beneath the light, “The cinnabar mark on Miss Song’s wrist was still there a few days ago, which doesn’t match the date of adultery you’re accusing them of. I believe you are intentionally plotting against them.”

     For some reason, the black-clad man appeared to be rendered speechless for a flash of a second. That overbearing and aggressive aura of his also seemed to dissolve into nothing as he turned around to face Chu Wanning.

     “...”

     After a moment, the black-clad man heaved a sigh.

     Some of the nearby onlookers felt that they had misheard, but it was as if this man who had just been forcing another into a corner with flippant accusations, seemed to speak with a tone of indulgence, “Chu-zongshi is right. But I didn’t say they were committing adultery before, only that they were having an affair. If we really must discuss the exact time of the adultery, then it would only be within the past few days.”

     Ye Wangxi muttered, “...This is absolutely ridiculous…”

     Chu Wanning frowned coldly, his aura dignified, “Empty words without evidence. Allow me to be the judge of whether you are speaking fact or fiction.”

     “You…”

     As he spoke, a golden light flashed at Chu Wanning’s fingertips. The black-clad man’s pupils shrank and he dodged to the side, barely avoiding the swift and fierce holy weapon Tianwen that burst forth menacingly.

     “Chu-zongshi, what are you doing?” The black-clad man was both helpless and amused. He was exceptionally skilled, and Chu Wanning’s willow vine couldn’t catch up to him for a while, but he didn’t fight back either, letting Tianwen chase him all over the hall.

     The atmosphere that had been tense and strange earlier suddenly became comical, and a trace of affection faintly seeped into his voice, “Don’t hit me, I haven’t finished speaking yet.”

     “If you want to complain, why you don’t you take off your mask first?” Chu Wanning demanded, his brows furrowed.

     “If you want me to take it off, I’ll remove it for you later, but not now.”

     “Why not?!”

     “I’m ugly, my appearance might scare people.”

     After running around for a long time, dodging Tianwen, the black-clad man noticed that Chu Wanning’s fierce spiritual energy was growing more ferocious with each attack. He muttered under his breath “This is bad,” before turning and dodging behind a wooden pillar to escape Tianwen’s strike, spilling with golden light.

     He shouted, “Ye Wangxi, aren’t you a gentleman?! Today, I’ll show the world who you really are! You bought a woman for dual cultivation, forced Song Qiutong to serve you, disregarded ethics and violated the wife of your lord! You—you are a beast in man’s clothing, a beast with a man’s face!”

     Ye Wangxi was furious, “What nonsense are you spewing?!”

     “Am I wrong? Shouldn’t you know best how Song Qiutong’s chastity cinnabar disappeared?” The black-clad man accused loudly as he dodged, “She knelt before you the day before, telling you she was already Nangong Si’s fiancée and begged you for mercy, to leave her alone, yet you stubbornly refused to listen. You even said—”

     Ye Wangxi’s face was dark with anger, and he gritted his teeth, “What did I say that you made up?!”

     “Have you already forgotten your own words? Then let me remind you. At that time you said…” The black-clad man cleared his throat and changed his tone, imitating Ye Wangxi’s manner, “Miss Song, I spent a large sum of money only to have toiled for the benefit of another. Now that you have gained Nangong-gongzi’s favor, you want to remove yourself from me completely and make a clean break once and for all? You must be dreaming.”

     At the end of the speech, the black-clad man even laughed “Ha-ha-ha,” thoroughly exhibiting the conduct of a scoundrel.

     Ye Wangxi: “...”