Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 322 Heroes Across the Mountains
The shout startled all three of them. Li Yin immediately jumped up, nearly knocking over his chair—he saw a disciple rushing in from outside, his boots clanging loudly on the stone slabs: "Li Jianbai is plotting a rebellion!"

Li Yin shouted, "Who? What is that? Shen Lue, what's your name? Who is Li Jianbai?!"

A disciple named Shen Lue quickly stopped at the door, panting, "Li Jianbai, Master, Elder Xie's disciple!"

Li Yin was stunned for a moment, then sat down and cursed, "Are you courting death! What treason? How could he treason? You scared me half to death! You bunch of good-for-nothings, causing chaos on the mountain every day! Get out!"

Tong Xu turned to look at Shen Lue: "Wait. Tell me, what happened?"

Li Yin waved his hand: "These bastards are always causing trouble on the mountain."

Tong Xu ignored him: "Your name is Shen Lue? Tell me what happened first."

Shen Lue glanced at Li Yin, and seeing that he didn't intend to send him away, he quickly said, "Li Jianbai has gone mad. He's looking for people everywhere, asking if they're dissatisfied with the sect leader, saying he wants to do something big together. He even came to me—when I heard that he'd rallied dozens of people, I immediately thought, 'Aren't all these people sect traitors? Not only are they traitors, but they're also mentally unstable, they've all gone mad with him!' So I rushed here to inform Master!"

Li Yin was stunned. After a moment, she glared at Shen Lue and said, "He's looking for someone in the sect who's dissatisfied with me?! Then why is he looking for you?!"

Shen Lue blinked: "Huh? Ah... Master, I'm loyal to you! I just complained a few times, I never had any other intentions!"

Tong Xu sighed and rolled her eyes at Li Yin: "Sect Leader Li, is this the time to ask this? I just said Xie Qi was acting strangely. What, is he trying to seize power? He must have said something to Li Wuxiang down the mountain... Li Wuxiang might not have left yet!"

"Huh? Elder Xie?" Shen Lue was taken aback. "What does Elder Xie have to do with this? Li Jianbai is saying that Master, you've raised some kind of corpse demon and you're going to send us to be refined into corpse demons!"

Upon hearing this, Tong Xu and Zheng Jingxi immediately turned to look at Li Yin. Li Yin was taken aback: "Why are you looking at me? I don't know anything about it! If it were really here with me, would I not tell you?"

Tong Xu sneered: "Sect Leader Li, all your disciples are..."

At this point, remembering that Shen Lue was still outside the door, she immediately stopped talking.

But as Shen Lue looked at the three of them, a strange expression slowly appeared on his face. He took two steps back and stammered, "...Master, what do we do now? Li...Li...Li Jianbai is spreading heresy and misleading the public. I'll go and get him right now...Master, I'm going first, I...I..."

He couldn't continue, turned, and ran. Tong Xu snorted coldly and raised her hand: "Where are you going!?"

Suddenly, a fan appeared in her hand and swayed slightly. A gust of wind rose from the ground in the courtyard, sweeping Shen Lue more than two zhang high from all directions before slamming him hard to the ground!
Shen Lue fell heavily to the ground, cracking the stone slabs. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but the Shangchi Sect's martial arts also involved body training, and he was wearing leather armor. He didn't die, but he coughed up blood.

At this critical moment, he seemed to forget his injuries, immediately got up as if nothing had happened, and continued running towards the door.

Tong Xu sneered again, about to move his azure jade fan, when Li Yin suddenly stood up and shouted, "What are you doing?! You've injured one of my disciples!"

He raised his hand and grabbed, and the invisible force caused the fan in Tong Xu's hand to deflect slightly—Shen Lue, who had run to the courtyard gate, was only caught by the wind behind him and immediately disappeared behind the wall.

Tong Xu was truly enraged at this moment: "Li Yin, you idiot! Didn't you see that he knows about us?!"

Li Yin shouted, "I don't have any corpse demons here, what are you afraid of?! Besides, you're my disciple, what kind of nonsense is it for you to come here and kill my people?!"

"You idiot, you're a complete idiot! You're even more stupid than your martial uncle!" Tong Xu shouted at Zheng Jingxi. "Junior Brother Zheng, go and kill him!"

Li Yin slammed his fist on the table: "Who dares?! I told you I don't have any corpses here!"

Zheng Jingxi stroked his glossy beard slowly and narrowed his eyes: "No need, Junior Sister Tong. I've said before that it's best for us to mind our own business in Junior Brother Li's territory."

Tong Xu looked at Zheng Jingxi, then at Li Yin, and said angrily, "Now you're suddenly worried about the lives of your disciples!"

Zheng Jingxi smiled faintly: "Junior Sister Tong, after all these years, you still don't understand Junior Brother Li. Junior Brother Li is both because of this disciple and not because of this disciple."

He calmly picked up his teacup, took a sip, and put it down again: "What Junior Brother Li cares about is naturally the authority of this Dapan Mountain. No matter what you do, as long as you offend the authority of the Shangchi Sect, he will naturally not allow it."

Tong Xu was stunned for a moment, moved his lips as if to refute, but seemed to think that what he said made sense, so he snorted: "So he has become a good sect leader who is devoted to the public good?"

Zheng Jingxi smiled slightly again: "On the surface, it seems to be for the public good, but in reality, it's for personal gain—isn't his personal gain just this Dapan Mountain? Junior Brother Li would do anything for himself."

Li Yin blushed at his words and pointed at Zheng Jingxi, saying, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

Zheng Jingxi slowly raised his hand and pressed down: "Junior Brother Li, I'm speaking up for you. I'm telling Junior Sister Tong that someone like you, Junior Brother Li, naturally knows what's best for yourself. So, we really don't need to interfere in what's going on on Dapan Mountain."

Li Yin couldn't tell whether he was being kind or mean. He stood there for a moment, stunned, then waved his hand and said, "Anyway, it's none of your business what happens at Dapan Mountain!"

He strode across the table toward the door, shouting as he went, "Someone come here—"

As soon as he finished speaking, the people arrived. However, it wasn't the guards he had left at the door who came, but a group of disciples of various ranks who rushed in, with Li Jianbai leading the way.

Li Yin was stunned when he bumped into Li Jianbai, and Li Jianbai was also stunned when he bumped into Li Yin.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then Li Jianbai took the first step forward, pointed at Li Yin, and shouted: "Li Yin! You raised corpses on the mountain to harm our sect's disciples, what explanation do you have?!"

Li Yin narrowed his eyes, staring at Li Jianbai: "Alright, I remember you. You little beast, are you really plotting a rebellion?" He then glanced behind Li Jianbai: "You bastards, what are your names? Give me your names, and I'll deal with you one by one later! You dared to barge in here just because this little beast was spouting nonsense!"

The dozens of people behind Li Jianbai shrank back as his gaze swept over them. Looking behind Li Yin, they saw Tong Xu and Zheng Jingxi sitting calmly and watching them coldly, and they seemed to calm down all at once.

After a short while, someone whispered from the crowd, "We just came to take a look..."

Someone else said, "We're afraid that Senior Brother Li is wrong, so we want to hear what the Sect Master has to say."

Someone else muttered, "I'm just the sect leader who came to watch the show."

"Pah! A bunch of good-for-nothing bastards!" Li Yin spat on the ground, the spittle hitting the stone slab like a pebble, causing a ring of cracks to appear. "You think you can rebel and force the emperor to abdicate?! Li Jianbai, does your master know you've done this?!"

Li Jianbai immediately shouted, "If my master had known earlier, he would have cleaned up the sect long ago!"

He spoke with a firm voice, but his heart was pounding, and his legs were clenching in front of the three Nascent Soul cultivators. In his mind, he cried out, "Master, where have you been?!"

As soon as he arrived at the mountain, he went to find his fellow disciples who had complained to him about Li Yin's actions, and selected some of them who he thought were of good character and reliable.

He felt that his judgment of people was correct. After saying a few words, he brought up the matter of the corpse demons. Everyone was indignant and felt that Li Yin's current and past actions were indeed unworthy of being the sect leader, and that Elder Xie should take over.

While these people thought this way, Li Jianbai didn't feel that today was the right time. He thought he should wait a few more days, secretly make connections and incite others, and discuss a plan in detail with his master, at least until the two sect leaders of Shendao and Qingpu left Dapan Mountain before making any plans.

However, this was the first time in his life that he had done something so serious, inciting subversion, and doing such a thing required a great deal of skill. Therefore, he overlooked one point—a person may feel indignant, but his words may not be reliable.

A fellow disciple whom he trusted had long harbored resentment towards Li Yin. After hearing about this matter, he couldn't help but let it slip during an argument—about fifteen minutes after Li Jianbai had told this person about it.

Then, from that time until now, that friend has only said two sentences—

One of the sentences was, "Old Bai, what should we do? I just told Shen Lue when we were arguing that we were going to kick Li Yin out! Ugh!"

The second sentence is, "We're afraid that Senior Brother Li might be wrong, so we want to hear what the Sect Master has to say."

That's why Li Jianbai had no choice but to lead his men in directly. He only had time to tell his master beforehand, "Master, things have been exposed, but we still have people's hearts! Come with me to see Li Yin!"

His master, Xie Qi, said at the time, "Alas... alas, alas!"

Upon hearing his words, Li Yin immediately sneered: "Know? Know what? Know that his disciple has gone mad? What corpse demon? Drag him out and show him to me!"

Tong Xu frowned behind him: "Li Yin, are you out of your mind? Why are you wasting your breath talking to a disciple? Kill him on the spot and go ask his master what happened—do I have to teach you how to be a sect leader?"

Li Yin turned and glared at her: "Do I need you to teach me? I want to do it exactly what I want to do!"

He was now furious and embarrassed, and he couldn't even say whether it was because of Tong Xu or Li Jianbai. In his anger, he stomped forward, and the stone slab beneath his foot shattered with a loud bang. Pebbles flew out like arrows, instantly creating many holes in the wooden pillars of the Taiyi Hall's porch and the walls of the courtyard, as if they had been eaten by termites.

The group of people at the courtyard gate were not spared either. Although they usually wore leather armor in the sect, and this kick only used a little of their Nascent Soul true power, their leather armor was immediately pierced. All that could be heard were screams and cries of pain. Three people died instantly, and more than a dozen fell down.

While panicking, Li Jianbai was also prepared and managed to dodge in time. But the moment he dodged, Li Yin's palm strike unleashed an invisible beam of energy that slashed towards the direction he had moved. He felt his entire body's energy suppressed by the Nascent Soul's true power; for a moment, it was as if his blood and muscles had frozen. He could only see transparent ripples in the air before him as the palm strike created them, and feel the skin on his face stinging from the ripples. A thought flashed through his mind—

I've only just started my uprising, and I'm already going to die here?!
The next moment, the aura suddenly transformed into a fierce wind, spreading out in all directions in front of him. He was as if he had been grazed by a tornado, thrown over, and crashed into the crowd behind him, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

When he and his fellow disciples managed to get themselves up from the tangled mess of hands and feet, they found that Li Yin, Tong Xu, and Zheng Jingxi were no longer looking at them, but instead were all looking up at the courtyard gate.

He quickly turned to look and saw an old general standing there, dressed in full black-gold armor, holding a large, chilling spear, and wearing a light, thin cloak that seemed to move without wind, standing majestically!
Li Jianbai didn't recognize him at first glance, but he recognized him on the second look!

Li Yin, Tong Xu, and Zheng Jingxi were all stunned for the first time, clearly seeing Xie Qi dressed up in such a full outfit.

Seeing their stunned expression, Li Jianbai was overjoyed—his master's appearance had immediately subdued Li Yin! If he had known this would happen, why bother with all that effort?!

The courtyard of Taiyi Hall was eerily quiet for a moment, but sounds could still be heard outside—Li Yin's first step had been like a firecracker exploding on a mountaintop, carrying far and wide. The cries and screams of pain from his fellow disciples injured by the flying stones had also alerted many people. Furthermore, the fact that these dozens of people were rushing up the mountain with such ferocity had already made many sect disciples suspect something was amiss, so now the footsteps outside were chaotic, and more members of the Dapan Mountain sect were gathering around.

Xie Qi stood silently atop the gate tower, his face ashen. His silence, coupled with his status as the sect leader's uncle and an elder, seemed to freeze the air in the Taiyi Hall. Even Tong Xu and Zheng Jingxi couldn't remain seated and stood up.

Just like the atmosphere here, Xie Qi remained frozen for more than ten breaths before finally speaking—

"Um... um... what's going on here?"

Li Yin immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Zheng Jingxi smiled faintly and sat down again. Tong Xu narrowed his eyes, looking at Xie Qi, then at Li Jianbai, then at Li Yin, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly—this Dapan Mountain is truly a mountain of worthless trash…

She didn't want to listen to Li Yin's nonsense anymore. Before he could speak, she walked outside the hall, looked up at Xie Qi and shouted, "Elder Xie, I can't interfere in the affairs of your Shangchi Sect, but since he is Junior Brother Li's friend, I'll ask him one more question on his behalf—your disciple said that he harbored Blood God Sect corpse demons and even used disciples from the sect to refine corpse demons. Did you instigate or instruct him to do this?"

(End of this chapter)