Li Yunlin was completely speechless, a cold knot tightening in his stomach.
"I accompanied Lord Ba to the site, but the dust had already settled," Zhou Chengli continued, lowering his eyes.
"The area where the Spear Saint fought had been completely leveled to the ground.
When we found him... though his breath was gone, he still stood perfectly upright on the scorched earth.
His hands were locked in a death grip around his spear, its tip dripping with the blood of a Body Integration cultivator." Zhou Chengli lowered his eyes in mourning.
"His remains have already been escorted back to the Imperial Capital. He made the ultimate sacrifice for the empire..."
"I once asked you a question, Mr. Zhou," Li Yunlin interrupted abruptly, his voice chilling the air. "I asked why you went out of your way to help our Li Clan."
The skeletal shadow of the crooked tree swayed.
The long white threads of Li Yunlin's whisk, along with his hair, drifted in the stagnant breeze.
When he spoke, his voice was faint and ethereal, striking a jarring chord in Zhou Chengli's mind.
Li Yunlin continued slowly,
"You told me that since my Li Clan bled to guard the Southern Frontier and eliminate internal threats, there should always be someone to say 'thank you' on behalf of the common people.
Back then, my elders felt that this Dynasty could still be saved. That at the very least, our blood hadn't been spilled in vain."
"Because of that belief, I tolerated all of them—Bi Shihu, Yun Manlou, and cowards like Ba Siyu.
When the Spear Saint marched to slaughter the Wu Tribe, I followed him into the fray. And over time, I started to think you had misjudged the people of this empire."
Li Yunlin let out a harsh, mocking scoff.
"My Li Clan would never claim blind loyalty to this Imperial Dynasty. The ones truly loyal were fools like Feng Tu and the Spear Saint, Gu Fenghua.
You claim it was 'too late' by the time you and Ba Siyu moved to rescue him. From Deston Prefecture to the site of his final battle—was it really too late?"
Zhou Chengli remained dead silent.
"When Feng Tu was dragged away to the Imperial Capital, you didn't say a single word in his defense," Li Yunlin pressed.
"With just Zishu Ling and Perfected Qiuyue, could they truly have snatched a man right out of your hands if you hadn't allowed it?"
"The Spear Saint won battle after battle in Deston Prefecture. You have fought the Wu Tribe for centuries without a single fatal mishap.
Yet now, when our Human Race is finally winning more than we are losing, when several mighty Body Integration experts are present right here in the Western Frontier... suddenly, something goes catastrophically wrong?
Your story is riddled with holes, yet you stand there and tell me you just 'couldn't make it in time'?"
As Li Yunlin's ruthless deductions rained down, Zhou Chengli's face crumbled into despondency.
"Senior, you once told me my Li Clan's blood wasn't shed in vain. So why is it that the blood of these loyal men has been drained completely dry?"
"And tell me, Senior... what exactly should I do with you?"
Zhou Chengli's expression turned intensely bitter. "My young friend... You saw through it?"
"A Dao Seed," Li Yunlin stated flatly, his tone stripped of all warmth.
In that very instant, the aura of the Scholarly Dao erupted from Zhou Chengli like a dormant volcano.
With a flick of his sleeve, Li Yunlin forcefully dismissed the trembling young general, sending him safely out of range.
A ripple of awe-inspiring, righteous energy blasted outward from the scholar. Behind him, five glowing, brilliantly golden characters floated into the air: Benevolence, Wisdom, Propriety, Righteousness, and Trust.
The oppressive, rule-based Spiritual power of the peak Void Refinement realm washed over Li Yunlin, violently whipping his robes and long hair around him.
Through the maelstrom, Li Yunlin merely frowned.
Feeling the sheer purity of Zhou Chengli's Scholarly Dao, Li Yunlin couldn't fathom how a man wrapped in such awe-inspiring righteousness could possibly harbor a parasitic Dao Seed.
He had genuinely hoped his deduction was wrong.
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
"Since when?" Li Yunlin demanded, his voice entirely devoid of emotion.
Zhou Chengli's expression remained unsettlingly calm.
As a scholar, he typically relied on brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. But when he truly intended to kill, he wielded a Sword.
The blade he slowly drew hummed with the blinding, righteous aura of the Scholarly Dao.
He leveled his gaze at Li Yunlin. "Earlier than you think. And far earlier than the appearance of this Blood Moon."
Li Yunlin's frown deepened into a scowl.
He had assumed Zhou Chengli had been infected by a Dao Seed under the corrupting influence of the Blood Moon.
To learn it had been planted before the red moon even rose meant one terrifying thing: Zhou Chengli had always been a deeply embedded mole at Ba Siyu's side.
Yet, paradoxically, a man enslaved by a Dao Seed had genuinely lent the Li Clan a helping hand, completely undetected.
His immaculate mastery of the Scholarly Dao had proven to be the absolute perfect camouflage.