Chapter 9 — The Secret Behind the Jade

I knelt on the cold stone floor, bowed my head low: "Disciple doesn't know." "Brave!" Another elder slammed the armrest of the chair, angrily scolding: "The witnesses have all the evidence! Trieu Phong and Ton Dung both confirmed that you stole the spirit grass, and then used evil methods to injure a fellow disciple! How dare you argue?" "The disciple did not steal." I raised my head, trying to keep my voice calm. "Those spiritual herbs were accidentally discovered by the disciples under the cliff behind the mountain. As for the two of them..." I looked at Senior Brother Trieu and Manager Ton who were unconscious, still scared from the horrifying scene just now. "The disciple also doesn't know what happened. Senior Brother Trieu wanted to search the disciple, then... then everything happened like that." "False!" The cold-faced elder did not believe a word of what he said. "You are a janitor with no cultivation level, how could you seriously injure a Truc Co monk like Trieu Phong? You must have used some evil magical weapon! Tell me! What is that?" His eyes were sharp as knives, piercing straight into my chest. Is it because of Phong Ma Hap? Or… is it a jade pendant? I clenched my fist. At that moment—“She's not lying.” A voice as clear and cold as a jade bell rang suddenly at the door of the main hall. The entire main hall seemed to have lost all its heat. All eyes immediately turned towards the door. I only saw Van Triet Immortal Venerable, who didn't know when he appeared, standing there quietly. The clothes are white, free from dust. He slowly walked into the main hall. All the elders, including the cold-faced elder, quickly stood up and bowed to worship: "Meet the Immortal Venerable!" Van Triet Tien Ton did not answer, went straight to the main chair and sat down. His cold eyes swept over everyone, finally stopping on me. Just for a moment, then he left. "Trieu Phong," he opened his mouth, his voice was not loud but echoed clearly in the hall: "Bringing 'Thon Hon Duc', borrowing the power and profit of his fellow sect, if it doesn't work, he will be betrayed."Thon Hon Duc? The elders' faces changed color! It is an extremely notorious evil weapon in the cultivator world! Can sense and attract evil things, is extremely hated and rejected by the righteous path! "Ton Dung, knowing clearly but not reporting, supports bad people." Tien Ton's voice did not waver at all, as if he was only talking about a trivial matter not worth mentioning. "These two people's mind tricks are unjust, violating the sect rules, bear the consequences." He looked at the cold-faced elder: "Elder Chu, Discipline Hall, it's time to clean up the gate." Elder Chu's forehead was drenched with sweat, and he quickly bowed his head: "Yes! Yes! Please, Immortal Venerable! Please consider the Disciple's negligence and will definitely handle it strictly!" Immortal Venerable did not say another word. The entire main hall fell into dead silence. No one dares to question anymore. The fate of Trieu Phong and Ton Dung was decided. "And you," Tien Ton's eyes finally fell on me again. My heart jumped into my throat. "Carrying strange treasures can easily bring disaster upon yourself." He looked at me, his pale eyes were deep and unfathomable, "Take care of yourself." Having said that, he stood up. The figure shook slightly and disappeared from the main hall. As if it had never appeared. Only I was left, still not recovering, and the elders were stunned into silence. Are you… helping me again? Even though he said I was "bringing strange treasures", he did not interrogate nor rob me. On the contrary, he stood up to protect me. I touched the jade pendant on my chest. It was quiet, no reaction at all. Trieu Phong and Ton Dung were disqualified and expelled from the sect. It is said that when he was chased down the mountain, he was so pathetic that he was no different from a beggar. The Spiritual Beast Garden changed to a new manager, surnamed Vuong, who is a gentle person and behaves kindly with the housekeepers. No one dares to randomly poke me anymore. Even those who say bad things

behind me, he also dodged as if he saw a ghost. I still continue to clean up spirit beast excrement as before. It's just that my heart is filled with a series of questions. Phong Ma Hap, Soul Devourer, Trieu Phong... What are they aiming for? Van Triet Immortal Venerable... How much do you know? Why help me? And this jade pendant… What is it really? Why does Tien Venerable seem to know so much about it? But the jade pendant shows such disapproval of the Immortal Venerable? I can't think of it. Life returned to its previous peaceful appearance. Ngoc Boi still occasionally orders me to do things. Today I was forced to go to the edge of the lagoon behind the mountain to pick up a round pebble. Tomorrow requires me to catch the morning dew. One day, he pointed his finger at me and told me to use that dew water to water the half-eaten silver-edged grass roots, conveniently throwing them into the broken pot on the window sill... I felt like I was no different from a hired worker being exploited to the bone by the landlord. "Ancestor, what exactly do you want?" I complained to the jade pendant. It didn't bother to answer. Just coldly threw two words at me: "Nurture." Nurturing? Raising grass? Or raise rocks? I resigned myself to continuing to serve. Yet in the broken pot on the windowsill, the half-eaten clump of silver-edged grass, thanks to being watered with morning dew, actually sprouted light green buds. Full of vitality. The incident occurred after a disturbance in the forbidden area behind the mountain of the sect. It is said that an ancient seal has been loose, leaking out an extremely pure but violent demonic energy. Although the elders quickly reinforced the seal, the entire sect was still shrouded in lingering tension. Demonic energy is a great taboo in the true cultivation world. Not long after the incident calmed down. One night, I was sleeping in the dormitory bed when... The jade pendant on my chest suddenly vibrated violently! Burning hot! So hot it burns your skin! A stream of thoughts that had never appeared before, carrying extreme panic mixed with anger, rushed into my mind like a tsunami! "Wake up! Wake up!" "Danger!"