After the mind-reading cripple junior sister, the entire sect rose to prominence.

Chapter 97 The Sect Leader's Wit
"How could there be a traitor?"

"That's unlikely!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment, looked at each other, and asked with surprise and uncertainty.

“Now that the spring has a spirit, it will surely know what’s happening in the sect. It probably also knows that my Qingyue Sect has set up a great formation, and it cannot escape on its own,” Liu Wuhan said. “If it wants to leave, it can’t fly or burrow underground; it can only walk out through the main gate in a dignified manner… What could be easier than having a disciple take it with them?”

Almost all sects have one rule—

You must enter and exit through the main gate; you cannot fly on a sword, and all flying magical artifacts are also prohibited from flying.

If anyone sneaks into the sect, whether they go to heaven or earth, they will touch the formation, and this behavior will be considered an intrusion by a thief, and the formation will immediately kill them!

Moreover, this strangulation technique adjusts its strength according to the opponent's spiritual power. If the opponent is weak, it can be killed effortlessly. However, if the opponent is too powerful, the formation will gather all the spiritual power in the formation into a single point and launch an extremely powerful attack.

It can be said that unless this person is a true immortal, or multiple peak Mahayana stage cultivators join forces, he will die on the spot without even being able to put up any resistance.

Even though Jiuyou is a spring spirit, it is no exception.

Therefore, if it wanted to leave safely, it could only be led out by a disciple through the main gate.

Once everyone understood this crucial point, their expressions changed.

The Nine Netherworld is their sect's treasure, the foundation that allows them to rank among the top ten sects. If it really runs away, their status and position will drop significantly!

The person who wanted to do this could indeed be called a traitor, and he was also an enemy of the entire Qingyue Sect!
"The sect leader is indeed astute; we were all ashamed that we didn't even think of that," the Third Elder said, embarrassed.

"Yes, it's fortunate that Sect Leader Liu was there, otherwise wouldn't we have missed the crucial opportunity?"

"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have thought of this."

"If it were me, Quanling would probably have run away by now, and I still wouldn't have figured it out."

Everyone started praising it.

It must be said that Sect Leader Liu's cultivation level is not the strongest in the entire sect, nor is his aptitude the best, nor is his background the most powerful... but the reason he became the sect leader is because of his versatility.

He may not be the best in any aspect, but his intelligence is the best overall.

Sect Leader Liu nodded reservedly, a slight smile playing on his lips. "You flatter me, everyone. It was just a thought that came to me by chance. Besides, we have already sealed the gate in time, and no one can enter or leave. Quan Ling probably hasn't had a chance to get out yet."

“But there’s still some time between the weakening of the spiritual energy and when we discovered the anomaly here. What if the spring spirit has already used this time difference to escape?” someone asked.

"If it escaped so quickly, there is only one possibility—it has an inside agent in the Nine Nether Springs region. Only in this way can everything make sense."

Liu Wuhan smiled coldly and asked Steward Hu, "Hu Yu, have any disciples left the Nine Nether Spring after the incident?"

"I've already asked the guards, and there were two people," Manager Hu replied. "Lin Zhaofeng and Zhao Ning, and they didn't leave at the same time."

"Why did they leave Jiuyou Spring so early when they were perfectly fine?" one of the garden owners asked in confusion.

He knew these two people; they were well-known genius disciples within the sect.

That's precisely why it's strange.

All the disciples of Qingyue Sect cherished the opportunity to cultivate in Jiuyou Spring, and almost everyone was the first to arrive and the last to leave.

If it weren't for the rule that people must be emptied out at night, they wouldn't even leave at night, until the time runs out.

When the incident occurred today, it wasn't even evening yet, and they could still have continued their cultivation. Under these circumstances, why would someone leave early?
"Could these two be related to Quanling?" an elder asked, but then shook her head. "No, Quanling has been able to lie low for so long, which shows how cautious it is. Even if it were looking for someone, it wouldn't look for two people; the risk would be too great."

“You’re right, at most one of the two is.” Liu Wuhan looked at Hu Yu. “Manager Hu, I’ll trouble you to bring the person back personally for questioning.”

Hu Yu had been guarding the Nine Nether Spring for many years, yet he didn't even know that the Nine Nether Spring had become a spirit of the spring. If anyone were to be held accountable, he would definitely be the first.

That's why he always kept a very humble attitude.

This wasn't out of fear of Liu Wuhan, but rather out of guilt for feeling sorry for the sect.

"Yes, I'll go right away."

He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, then turned and left.

"All the gardens are under martial law, and the inspections have begun, haven't they?" The sect leader looked at the heads of the gardens.

"Yes, the deputy garden masters are already investigating."

"Don't worry, Sect Leader, the order has been given. All disciples are now in their respective courtyards and are strictly prohibited from moving around. Anyone suspected of being suspicious will be arrested immediately."

"We've even used the spirit detection disk. If the spirit is there, it will definitely be found out!"

"That's right, even if it's buried in the ground, it won't help. We'll dig three feet into the ground and find it."

The spring spirit hid its origin, but no matter where it hid, a large amount of spiritual energy would inevitably leak out.

No matter what magical artifacts are used to conceal spiritual energy, they will all be revealed once tested with a spirit-detecting disc.

The spirit-detecting disc may sound small, but it is actually very large and heavy, and very expensive to manufacture.

It is generally used for mining spirit ore, mainly for tracing veins, and is very sensitive to the concentration of spiritual energy.

The entire Qingyue Gate is now under martial law. No one is allowed to enter or leave at will. Everyone is to return to their respective gardens, and each garden will be overseen by a deputy garden master who will conduct a thorough inspection.

The public areas outside each garden have also been assigned to personnel, ensuring that there are no omissions and that all areas are thoroughly inspected.

However, compared to those places, Liu Wuhan and the others unanimously agreed that the most suspicious place was the thirty-two areas of the Nine Nether Spring!

So they all stayed here and gathered all the disciples in the area together, intending to conduct a thorough investigation.

After making sure everything was in order, Liu Wuhan stood up and said, "Let's go see them."

"They" refers, of course, to the disciples of the Nine Nether Spring.

There should have been thirty-two people in the thirty-two areas of the Nine Nether Springs, but two of them left early and have not returned yet.

So there were thirty people sitting in the side hall.

These disciples were unaware of what had happened, and given their limited knowledge, they couldn't have imagined that the problem lay with "Spring Spirit."

All they knew was that the spiritual energy had suddenly weakened, and then they were locked up here, forbidden to leave, and surrounded by more than twenty guards who were watching their every move.

This made them afraid to whisper among themselves, so they just sat there anxiously.

Seeing that people had arrived, and that they were all figures like the sect leader and the garden master, some of the more timid disciples turned pale and became dazed.

Even though they are geniuses, they have never had such close contact with so many seniors all at once!
(End of this chapter)