Chapter 180 - 179: Severing the Foundation

Chapter 180: Chapter 179: Severing the Foundation

Previously, in Consort Zhen’s palace, Xia Wuyang had sensed a strong threat from Emperor Xia.

At the time, he thought it came from the Spiritual Artifacts and Spiritual Objects on Emperor Xia, but on second thought, it could very well have been his own strength.

Since Xia Wuyang could hide so much, who could say for certain that Emperor Xia wasn’t hiding his own strength?

The Mental Force Field wasn’t necessarily omnipotent. Even if Emperor Xia’s strength had indeed reached Super Grade Perfection, he might have other methods. That sense of threat likely came from more than just Spiritual Artifacts and Spiritual Objects.

Therefore, he needed even greater strength, and this was the direction he had been constantly striving for.

Having learned what he needed to from Elder Saint Heart, it was time to proceed with the next step of his plan. He had to maximize her usefulness.

He directly crippled Elder Saint Heart’s cultivation, leaving no possibility of recovery, to prevent her from coming to the Imperial Palace to cause trouble for Yun Liyue again.

Then, under the influence of the Soul Enchantment Technique, Elder Saint Heart feigned grief and went to White Jade City’s most bustling establishment, the Drunken Immortal Tower. She began to drink heavily and soon became "dead drunk," recklessly spilling her heart out.

At times, she wept bitterly, repenting her sins. At others, she got carried away, boasting of Xuan Nu Palace’s glorious achievements. Then, in her "drunken state," she unintentionally revealed that Xuan Nu Palace used its female disciples as spies, and even disclosed a long list of their names...

Elder Saint Heart’s "drunken confession" immediately caused a sensation in the Drunken Immortal Tower. The patrons included not only people from the Jianghu but also a significant number of Imperial Court officials. Hearing what Elder Saint Heart said, they were utterly dumbfounded.

"Who is this person? How could she expose so many of Xuan Nu Palace’s secrets? Is this true or false? It can’t be deliberate slander, can it?"

"That’s Xuan Nu Palace’s Second Elder, Elder Saint Heart. I’ve seen her with my own eyes before. Her appearance and aura aren’t something an ordinary person could disguise. What she’s saying must be true. Besides, many of her claims are well-reasoned, and she even mentioned where to find the proof. We just need to confirm it."

"It’s not fake. Elder Yuheng mentioned some of these things too, but not in as much detail as Elder Saint Heart. I never thought Xuan Nu Palace was such a den of filth—it’s even more terrifying than I imagined. Quick, spread the word! We can’t let this matter just die down."

"What’s going on with Xuan Nu Palace? Two of their top-ranking Elders get drunk and confess everything, exposing all of the Sect’s dirty laundry. Aren’t they afraid it will be the end of Xuan Nu Palace?"

"Even a fool can see that someone is deliberately targeting them. It’s most likely related to that Crown Prince Consort from the Eastern Palace. After all, both Elder Yuheng and Elder Saint Heart ran into trouble while targeting the Crown Prince Consort. Not even a fool would believe there’s no connection."

...

The news spread like wildfire. In just half a day, it had swept through all of White Jade City.

"I can’t believe there’s more to the Xuan Nu Palace affair. This time, the one exposing everything is their Second Elder, Elder Saint Heart. She’s said to have reached the Super Grade Late Stage in her cultivation and is one of Xuan Nu Palace’s top three experts. She definitely wouldn’t be lying."

"That Bing Qing Fairy is really something else, huh? Elder Yuheng only exposed one of her harems, but it turns out she has four of them, with nearly a thousand male concubines in total. She really plays around."

"So those Xuan Nu Palace disciples who married into various great families are all spies? For real? This can’t be a frame-up, can it?"

"Heh, all those factions and families spent so much money and effort to marry a disciple from Xuan Nu Palace, only to bring a spy into their homes. Xuan Nu Palace truly has no shame. How could the major powers and families possibly let them get away with this?"

...

Naturally, the strongest reactions came from the families who had married disciples from Xuan Nu Palace. They immediately began secret investigations and, sure enough, discovered many suspicious things. They acted swiftly.

The Southwestern King publicly divorced his Main Consort, who was from Xuan Nu Palace, and imprisoned her for interrogation.

In the Minister of Rites’ Mansion, the minister’s wife, who was renowned for her virtue, was discovered to have been secretly selling out her family’s interests to Xuan Nu Palace.

Even more shockingly, a Prince discovered that his most beloved Consort had been secretly drugging him, and the child she bore was not even his.

...

One case after another left the outside world dumbfounded. The families, Sects, and Gangs that had taken in disciples from Xuan Nu Palace were especially humiliated, and all of them scrambled to conduct internal purges.

Xuan Nu Palace, a Renowned and Righteous Sect with a legacy of over a thousand years, seemed to become a pariah everyone wanted to strike down, seemingly overnight.

Even Emperor Xia was enraged. He sent people to investigate Xuan Nu Palace and arrest the female spies who had been named.

"What a fine Xuan Nu Palace, daring to extend their reach into Our Imperial Court!"

Emperor Xia laughed in his fury, then continued his investigation, only to discover that Xuan Nu Palace had been secretly backing multiple Princes and Princesses in an attempt to manipulate the imperial succession.

To say nothing of the Jianghu, many Sects and Gangs also made their moves. Under the combined assault from the Imperial Court and the Jianghu influences, Xuan Nu Palace suffered heavy losses.

Xuan Nu Palace repeatedly tried to explain, claiming it was all slander and that the two Elders had been bewitched into saying such things. But faced with concrete evidence, their efforts were futile; none of the other powers believed them.

Many of the disciples Xuan Nu Palace had married off, even those who were completely innocent, met with misfortune. They were either divorced or imprisoned.

During this time, some Xuan Nu Palace disciples, in order to protect themselves, came forward to expose that they had not wanted to act as spies. They revealed they had been coerced by Xuan Nu Palace through threats and enticements, forced to provide intelligence and information. If they refused, the Sect threatened to expose them, or even harm their husbands and children.

It was only in the face of Xuan Nu Palace’s threats that they had complied. This revelation further accelerated Xuan Nu Palace’s decline. Its various branch altars fell one after another, and many disciples from within announced their departure from the Sect.

If the previous affair with the male concubines had merely turned Xuan Nu Palace into a laughingstock, then this spy incident had completely dug out the Sect’s foundation, making it a public enemy.

In Xuan Nu Palace’s Main Altar, Bing Qing Fairy stared at the battle report in her hand, her face deathly pale. She slumped limply onto her jade throne. "It’s over. It’s all over!"

Her bright eyes were filled with despair. The "successive betrayals" of Elder Yuheng and Elder Saint Heart had shoved Xuan Nu Palace directly into a pit of fire.

Even though she knew the two had been set up and hadn’t acted of their own free will, Bing Qing Fairy was still filled with resentment. She cursed them both for their lack of skill, for being so easily bewitched and doing something so damaging to the Sect.

But she seemed to forget that if not for her own orders, the two would never have repeatedly gone to make trouble for Yun Liyue, which is what led to this disaster.

Originally, Xia Wuyang hadn’t even been thinking about them. After all, he had so many enemies around that he couldn’t possibly clean them all up.

Who would have thought Xuan Nu Palace would be the first to jump out? In that case, they couldn’t blame him for being ruthless and dealing them a devastating blow.