Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Tidying Up the Sect

After Altar Master Shi had finished talking, Altar Master Miao raised his soft voice. "You still ended up going along with Altar Master Ruan's plan afterward. You made all my bugs sick and let Altar Master Ruan smash me with his hammer over a thousand times."

Altar Master Shi coughed until a tinge of red appeared on his pale face. He said reedily, "Didn't Altar Master Ruan fall sick too? I was just following Altar Master Yuan's plan. He said in order to stop you two from destroying the unity of Xuanyuan Sect, the best way was to let you cool your heads for a bit."

The rotund Altar Master Yuan also had to cut in at this point. Squinting his eyes, he said, "But Altar Master Shi, you weren't supposed to tell them that I told you to do it. And you weren't supposed to let Altar Master Miao have the opportunity to have his bugs bite me!"

"So what if they bit you?" said Altar Master Miao. "If I hadn't been hit by some idiot a thousand times and low on spiritual energy, I would've used all that fat on you to raise a new nest of bugs. With your spiritual energy, I could probably grow a king parasite!"

"Altar Master Yuan, why don't you mention how you used your techniques on me to force me to sicken them?" said Altar Master Shi. "You're the one who secretly appointed me to the position of Altar Master, and also made a private agreement with me, that since Wenren È was dead, when you became Sect Master, I would be a Sect Protector. You also said that you stole a piece of my soul that you placed into a tablet, and that if you shattered it, my soul would be damaged and I would never be able to reach Mahayana. I had to work with Altar Master Miao in order to get the tablet back, out of self-defense!"

"You see, Venerable?" said Shu Yanyan. "Is any of this my fault?" She pointed a slim jade finger at the other four, her face full of innocence. "By the time I arrived, Altar Master Miao had been smashed into a pancake, Altar Master Shi was trying to take Altar Master Yuan's soul to refine it, Altar Master Ruan was hugging his tortoise shell and cursing out Altar Master Shi, hitting him while coughing blood. As an acting Sect Master, how could I let them behave in such a manner in the main hall? Naturally, I had to punish them all equally, and make sure they were all disciplined!"

Wenren È nodded slowly. "Mm, Protector Shu's words are reasonable. But this Venerable must still request Protector Shu remove the hundred-meter-long bed from his quarters and burn it. This Venerable doesn't generally need such a large bed."

Shu Yanyan's face stiffened, and her back sank again. She said in a fearful voice, "Venerable, that's the Thousand Year Frost Jade Bed. It took me many decades to collect the materials to make it. I can't— I can't burn it!"

"Then smash it," Wenren È said indifferently. "Do it personally, and take it out in pieces while this Venerable watches."

"Understood." Shu Yanyan didn't dare to speak more. Her severed arm was still lying by her feet, and she still hadn't worked up the courage to reattach it yet.

Now that the Venerable had started assigning punishments to them in turn, the Altar Masters also zipped their lips, no longer daring to squabble amongst each other, waiting for Wenren È's verdict.

"Protector Yin, what would you say they're all guilty of?" Wenren È said, turning to Yin Hanjiang instead.

After hearing that these people hadn't rushed to find their injured lord and instead started making grabs for power, Yin Hanjiang was already burning with rage. He responded decisively, "Right Protector Shu Yanyan showed arrogance beyond belief, taking over the Venerable's residence and framing herself as Venerable. She ought to have her cultivation grounds leveled, her subordinates dismissed, her mouth sealed, and be forced to practice asceticism for a hundred years."

"That's too harsh!" Shu Yanyan cried, her head whipping up to look at Yin Hanjiang. She couldn't help but feel he was a bit different to how he was in the past.