Like a Ray in My Night

69 No Morality to Speak of

Yang Wu Huang gave a strained smile. There was no way for him to get out of this now and pretend that everything had just been a misunderstanding. He would have to explain himself and bring up those rumors.
Well, he himself hadn't talked about this with anybody but his own people so nobody should be able to find out that they had originated from him. Anyway, as long as he was able to make the Elder believe that Mei Chao Bing had indeed hurt his disciple and that Yun Bei Fen had just been tricked into thinking it was wasn't anything bad, then he might not investigate his involvement anyway. It couldn't hurt to make sure that it seemed like all of this was just coincidental though.
Yang Wu Huang gave a sigh and then cupped his fists. "If Elder Baili insists, then I will say so. It is just ... I am afraid this might tarnish your disciple's reputation further."
Baili Chao raised his brows. Mei Chao Bing had already told him everything about that rumor so he wasn't surprised. But to think that this Yang Wu Huang was able to make something like that up and then use it for his own gain, even daring to speak in front of such a crowd and claiming that he was worried for Yun Bei Fen's sake, that really was an extraordinary feat. An extraordinary evil one. It really made him wonder how people were constantly slandering Mei Chao Bing as a traitor and possible spy from the demonic faction when one of their highest acclaimed disciples was such a bastard.
He gave a wry smile at the thought and shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I will take care of anything that might make problems for my disciple. I'd really like to see how anybody would dare to bully him." He glanced at Yun Bei Fen who was happily beaming at him.
Sure enough, even though he wasn't good at cultivating and would normally just go on and on about that senior martial brother Mei of his, he was at least able to act cute from one moment to the other. Ah, this had to be the fault of his other disciples. It certainly couldn't be that he had spoiled him too much. Baili Chao tiredly motioned for Yang Wu Huang to start explaining.
Yang Wu Huang lowered his hands and then looked at Mei Chao Bing, his eyes glinting. This might be the best chance he would ever get to get rid of this person. "Well, since the Elder has spoken, then I'm afraid I'll have to call things by their name. Mei Chao Bing, just this morning, I overheard some disciples talking. As it turns out, the reason you were so late in coming to the border region was because while you brought Yun Bei Fen here, you took a detour to a remote area where you tricked him into offering up his body to you!" He furrowed his brows at that and glared at Mei Chao Bing as if he thought of him as the worst person on earth.
"Back when your Master betrayed the sect, I still told people that we shouldn't condemn you alongside him. You probably never knew or at least that was what I thought. I never would have thought that you would dare to do something like this. Mei Chao Bing, you're the worst scum. Doing something like this to our fellow junior martial brother, can you call yourself anything but a beast?!"
Baili Chao raised his brows and looked from one person to the other. He would really like to know what Mei Chao Bing wanted to say in response. Obviously, the disciples around them all believed what Yang Wu Huang had said. And with Mei Chao Bing's history that this guy had just conveniently brought up, the story seemed even more credible. After all, the disciple of a traitor that was already hated by everyone and might be a spy himself ... Which reason should he have to hold back in the face of such a cute junior? The others would believe that there was no morality to speak of that might hold him back.
Mei Chao Bing chuckled. "So you finally dared to say out loud what you've been insinuating all along."
Yang Wu Huang glanced at the Elder. Seeing that Baili Chao hadn't reacted yet, he couldn't help but wonder what his thoughts were. Shouldn't he be worried about his disciple? Why didn't he rushed to ask Yun Bei Fen? No, why didn't he rush to beat up Mei Chao Bing? Shouldn't he want him to be detained and then trialed by the sect? Or shouldn't he want to take things into his own hands and kill him on the spot? Maybe he didn't believe him? If that was the case, then he shouldn't say anything more.
Yang Wu Huang scoffed in Mei Chao Bing's direction and then turned to Elder Baili. "Elder, I've already said what I had to say. This is merely something I've heard so, naturally, I can't vouch that it is the truth. After all, I wasn't there to witness the incident.
"I'm merely worried about Yun Bei Fen's well-being. Your disciple is still young and might be gullible when faced with such a devious person. I was merely trying to offer him consolation before and lend a helping hand since Mei Chao Bing seemed to still want to let him go. If I should have overstepped my bounds, then I will apologize." He once again cupped his fists and bowed, looking as if he really had just acted out of the kindness of his heart.
Baili Chao raised his brows. Well, he had expected things to turn out like this. Mei Chao Bing really had to know this guy well since he was able to predict him to such an extent. Now, the question was whether he should give Mei Chao Bing the opportunity to fan the flames further before he stepped in or whether he wanted to act immediately and shoot down this vile rumor. After all, he didn't want Yun Bei Fen's reputation to really suffer.
Before he could make a decision, his little disciple already stepped up himself, clenching his hands into little fists that shook violently, his brows furrowing and his lips quivering in anger. Elder Baili took a step back in precaution while the other disciples felt that this person really looked too pitiful. Ah, these guys just didn't know his little disciple.