Mi Yao, the Sect Master, and a few other people were still inside the Discussion Hall talking amongst themselves.
The Sect Master was quite sad that Mu Zhen hadn't survived inside the Divine Heaven Sect. Even though she knew that it was risky to send him there and that it was dangerous, she hadn't expected that he would die. The chances of him surviving should have been much higher, especially after he had so many resources being used on them.
In Fact, even his martial soul was strengthened by using something that was being saved by the previous generations of the sect masters for the future. She used up such a precious resource, and for what? To give Mu Zhen some extra months to live? Now she was starting to regret her decisions.
If she knew that he would die in the Divine Heaven Sect, she wouldn't have sent him there in the first place, or at least she wouldn't have used their Sect's greatest treasure on them. Now she had lost her disciple as well as lost the most precious treasure of the sect.
"Don't worry about that. I'm sure that you did your best. I know that if there was anything else you could've done, then you would have done it. Also, it's Long Chen's fault for killing everyone. It would've been fine if he had just killed the Righteous Sect disciples, but killing the disciples of the sects of Evil Sects was just looking for death," the Sect Master said.
"Yeah, he didn't even find any treasures in there. Instead, he just went ahead and created such trouble. It's a pity that we lost a talented individual, but if that was his personality, then I don't mind our sect losing him," Grand Elder Chu said to Mi Yao. He was quite angry at Long Chen after hearing what he did in the divine heaven sect.
Grand Elder Chu hadn't liked Long Chen before either after he found out that Long Chen had destroyed Mu Zheng's martial soul. He was also loyal to the Sect Master. Even when she used the Sect's most important treasure on her disciple, he was there.
"I know, but I still regret it. If my life had saved their lives, I would have given my life without thinking for even a second. At least, Chu Miao would have been saved," Mi Yao sighed as she looked down.
She was about to speak more when someone started clapping.
"I never knew you could act so good, but the words somehow don't suit you. Saving our lives by sacrificing yours? Don't you mean taking our lives for yourself?"
She heard someone's mocking tone. She recognized that voice, which made her face lose its color.
She looked to the back and saw Long Chen. Her eyes opened wide in shock.
"H-how are you still alive! You shouldn't have survived!" Mi Yao exclaimed in shock as she saw Long Chen.
"Long Chen was right. I don't see any happiness on your face at seeing them alive. Instead, I see your fear. Mi Yao, you really did something wrong. I never thought that you would do something like this," The Prime Grand Elder said to Mi Yao.
Mi Yao misunderstood the Prime Elder's words and thought that he was calling her out on leaving disciples behind to die.
"I-i had no choice. There was no way I could bring them back safe!" She said.
What she meant was that there was no way she could bring them back safely when she was faced by all the opposing elders, and that's why she left them behind, but to the Elders that had heard Long Chen's words, it sounded like a confession.
"Of course you couldn't bring them back safe. How would you be able to take all the treasures for yourself if you had brought them back," A Grand Elder said.
"Mi Yao, you've committed the biggest taboo of our sect. You were killing the disciples to steal their property. In Fact, this time, you killed the disciples to steal the treasures that should have belonged to the sect, which is even more grave. You even lied about it."
"What are you talking about? Are you saying that I made up a story to steal their treasures? Are you saying that I took their treasures and left them behind to be killed by those Elders? They hadn't even found a single treasure!" Mi Yao refuted furiously.
"Really? So you didn't attack them when they told you that they found the Flute of War?" The Prime Elder asked.
Long Chen had told them that Mi Yao attacked them after he told her about the treasures they found. He also named some of the treasures.
"What? Flute of War? They are lying. They never told me about the Flute of War!" Mi Yao exclaimed.
The Prime Elder sighed at her response, not believing her in the least.
The Sect Master and Grand Elder Chu were standing in the side, confused.
"What are you talking about? What happened? Tell me in detail," the Sect Master asked the Prime Elder.
"What happened was that she lied to us about what actually happened! There was no such thing as the other Elders attacking them. In Fact, the whole thing about the argument and Long Chen killing them was a lie. They left that place safely without any altercation but when they were midway, Long Chen told her about their trip and the amazing treasures they found. That was when she attacked them. She killed them and left them behind," the Prime Elder explained.
"That's a lie! How could they be alive if I killed them? This is his plan to blame me!" Mi Yao said as she pointed toward Long Chen.
"If it's their plan, then it's a good plan. Because no matter which angle I look from, you seem like a liar. None of your stories make sense. You claimed that they were dead, but they are standing right before us. You claimed that they killed every other disciple. If that is true, would the other sects let them live? They wouldn't even leave his body behind! Or are you saying that he was strong enough to escape from the Elders of those sects?" the Prime Elder asked Mi Yao.
He also told them about the incident of Manxiang Li helping Long Chen after she killed him and left them behind.
"I... This... I don't understand what happened and how he escaped them. I'm being honest. I didn't lie about the 17 Elders wanting to kill him for killing their disciples. I did make a mistake as I left them behind to die, to save my life. But I didn't kill them, nor did I take any treasure!" Mi Yao said.
"Give up, Mi Yao. No matter how many times you change your story, the truth isn't going to change," the Grand Elders said.
The Prime Elder looked towards the Sect Master.
"If you still don't punish her and see the truth, then I would really be disappointed in what our sect had become," he said to the Sect Master.
"Yes! She needs to be Punished! And we need to get the location of the Flute of War out of her! Sect Master should be just and not partial because she's close to Mi Yao!"
The other Grand Elders started chiming in. They all believed that she did it as her stories were filled with the most plot holes. Even if she didn't kill him, she herself agreed that she left them behind to die, which was a crime on its own. They all thought that she wouldn't have accepted that crime unless the real crime that she committed was much worse, which made sense since she killed the disciples.
Slowly, most of the Elders were asking for her to be punished.