Chapter 84 : Yizhou’s Illusion (Part 12)

Chapter 84: Chapter 84 : Yizhou’s Illusion (Part 12)

Seeing Madam Jiang appear here surprised Sui Sui. He had almost forgotten about this part of the original plot, but why had she appeared so soon? Wasn’t the investigation only just beginning? Had she really already come here to cause trouble?

Sui Sui looked at Madam Jiang again.

In the novel, she was one of the people Sui Sui hated the most. She was unreasonable, shameless, and always spoke as though she held the moral high ground, even when she was clearly the one in the wrong. Because of her, Yizhou would eventually have to endure the horrifying pain of having his Golden Core forcibly dug out.

What made her even more infuriating was the way she always acted as though she were some righteous mother seeking justice. Did she ever look in a mirror before accusing other people of being shameless?

In Sui Sui’s opinion, she was even worse than some of the demon villains in the novel.

Sui Sui quickly reminded Bai Sui Sui who this person was and warned him not to let her bully Yizhou.

"That woman is Madam Jiang. She’s the mother of Jiang Huan, the disciple who was injured in the secret realm. Don’t let her bully Senior Brother. She’s unreasonable and shameless. If you let your guard down, she’ll definitely try to take advantage of Senior Brother."

"Really?" Bai Sui Sui asked

"Of course. So listen carefully—no matter what she says, don’t let her push Senior Brother around."

Bai Sui Sui immediately nodded and agreed internally. "Okay! Sui Sui will protect Senior Brother!"

The moment Bai Sui Sui heard who the woman was, he looked like a hen whose feathers had been thoroughly ruffled. He instantly stood up and moved in front of Yizhou, as though his small body could shield his Senior Brother completely from Madam Jiang’s gaze. He then turned toward her and scrutinized her suspiciously, clearly prepared to defend Yizhou at the slightest sign of trouble.

"Just how thick-skinned are you to still stay here and relax while my son is lying in bed, fighting for his life? It is because of you that he has become like this," Madam Jiang said.

"He is thick-skinned? Then you are just shameless!" Bai Sui Sui immediately retorted, glaring fiercely at Madam Jiang. "How dare you come here and accuse Sui Sui’s Senior Brother when there isn’t even any evidence to support what you’re saying?"

Madam Jiang’s expression immediately darkened. She clearly had not expected a junior disciple to talk back to her so bluntly, and the displeasure in her eyes became unmistakable.

"Is that how you should speak to an elder?" she snapped. "Where are your manners? And besides, he is a Half-Demon who colluded with the demons. If it were not for him, how would my son have ended up like this?"

Bai Sui Sui did not back down. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, looking at Madam Jiang as though he genuinely could not understand her logic. Then his brows slowly furrowed.

"And so what if Senior Brother is a Half-Demon?" he asked. "Does being a Half-Demon mean you can accuse him of anything you want?"

He took a small step forward, his eyes fixed firmly on Madam Jiang.

"If Senior Brother really colluded with the demons, then why would he risk his life to save everyone in the secret realm? He saved so many people, including people who were much weaker than him. Did you forget that?"

Bai Sui Sui’s voice grew more indignant with every word.

"You keep saying that Senior Brother colluded with the demons, but where is your proof? You don’t have any!"

He puffed out his cheeks, clearly becoming more annoyed.

"You’re just making trouble because you’re angry about what happened to your son. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were relying on your status as the Acting Sect Master’s family member to bully people who can’t fight back!"

Madam Jiang’s expression became even more unpleasant when she heard this. Bai Sui Sui’s words had struck a nerve, but she could not simply invoke the Jiang family’s authority to silence a junior.

If she openly used her status to threaten him, it would really make her look like she was bullying a weaker disciple through her family’s influence, and she could not afford to drag the Jiang family’s reputation into something like this. She could only suppress her anger and find another way to justify herself.

"So what?" she snapped. "Everyone already knows that he is a Half-Demon. What other proof do you need? Even if he did not collude with the demons, he was the head disciple leading everyone. My son was injured under his watch. Is he not responsible for that?"

Sui Sui immediately felt his temper rise.

So now that she could no longer prove that Yizhou had colluded with the demons, she had simply changed the accusation to negligence?

How convenient.

Sui Sui remembered that, in the novel, Jiang Huan had always been overly confident in his own abilities. During the battle in the secret realm, he had insisted on attacking a demon whose cultivation was far beyond his own. Yizhou had already warned him not to act recklessly and had even tried to stop him, but Jiang Huan had refused to listen and charged into the battle anyway.

His injuries had been the direct result of that decision.

Yet now, Madam Jiang was standing here as though Yizhou had personally pushed her son into danger and forced him to take that path.

Sui Sui quickly urged Bai Sui Sui to speak up.

"Is it still Senior Brother’s fault that your son was too much of a show-off, biting off more than he could chew even after being warned so many times not to act recklessly?" Bai Sui Sui demanded. His brows were tightly furrowed, and the more he spoke, the more indignant he became. "Senior Brother was trying to protect everyone in that secret realm. Was your son the only person he was responsible for? Was he supposed to ignore everyone else just to keep an eye on him?"

He took another step forward, his small body instinctively shielding Yizhou behind him.

"Then go ask the hundreds of people Senior Brother saved in the secret realm. Ask them whether he was irresponsible. He risked his life to save people who had nothing to do with him, and now you’re standing here blaming him because your son refused to listen to his warning?"

Bai Sui Sui’s cheeks puffed up in anger.

"If you really care about righteousness so much, shouldn’t you be praising Senior Brother for saving so many people instead of coming here to blame him for something that wasn’t even his fault? If you ask me, one Jiang Huan getting injured in exchange for hundreds of others survival—what exactly is wrong with that? Isn’t saving the greater number of people what you people love to call righteousness?"

"You! You little—do you even know who I am?" Madam Jiang’s face flushed with fury. She took a step forward, her eyes burning with anger as she pointed accusingly at Bai Sui Sui. "How dare you speak to me like that? I am going to make you pay for this!"

Yizhou, who had remained silent throughout the argument, finally saw that things were only getting worse. He glanced at Bai Sui Sui before turning toward Madam Jiang, his expression still calm despite the increasingly heated exchange.

"Madam Jiang, I understand that you are worried about Jiang Huan. I also regret that he was injured. But before he entered the battle, I did warn him. I cannot control every decision my junior brothers make. If there is something I am responsible for, I am willing to answer for it. But I cannot admit to something I did not do."

His voice was steady and respectful, without the slightest hint of hostility. He was not trying to argue with her or defend himself through anger; he was simply stating what had happened.

For a moment, Sui Sui thought that Yizhou’s calm explanation should finally be enough to settle the matter.

Unfortunately, Madam Jiang clearly had no intention of letting it end there.

Madam Jiang stared at Yizhou for a moment. Seeing that she could neither reason with Sui Sui nor win the argument through words, she quickly changed her approach and turned her attention toward Yizhou instead.

The anger and viciousness on her face gradually faded, replaced by an expression of sorrow and helplessness, as though she were nothing more than a desperate mother who had been pushed to her limits.

"Little Yizhou, I know you are a sensible child. I am not trying to make things difficult for you. I am only a mother worried about her son."

She lowered her gaze and wiped away a fake tear, letting out a soft, weary sigh before continuing. "Jiang Huan is lying in bed right now with his cultivation badly damaged. As his mother, how could I possibly just stand by and watch him suffer without doing anything? You are his Senior Brother who watched him grow up. Surely you wouldn’t want to see your own junior brother become crippled for the rest of his life right?"

Hearing this, Sui Sui almost wanted to scoff. Watched him grow up? Yizhou had only been in the Wenjian Sect for five or six years at most. Besides, Jiang Huan was practically the same age as Yizhou, so why was Madam Jiang talking as though Yizhou had personally raised her son?

Yizhou’s brows furrowed slightly as he listened to Madam Jiang’s words. Although he found her reasoning somewhat strange, he was still unwilling to ignore Jiang Huan’s condition. "If there is anything I can do to help Jiang Huan, I will do my best."

Madam Jiang’s expression immediately softened when she heard this.

"That is all I wanted to hear." She paused for a moment before continuing in a gentle voice that sounded almost maternal. "The physicians said that Jiang Huan’s Golden Core is almost beyond repair. If we could replace it with another powerful Golden Core, there may still be a chance to save his cultivation."

Her gaze slowly settled on Yizhou. "Your Golden Core should be suitable right?"

Sui Sui’s expression changed instantly. He had expected Madam Jiang to ask Yizhou for something, but he had never expected her to go this far and still want to go back to the original route.

"How can you be so shameless?" Bai Sui Sui blurted out. "You really want Senior Brother’s Golden Core?"

Madam Jiang frowned at his reaction, clearly displeased by his interruption."I am only suggesting a way to save my son. Besides, Yizhou is still young and exceptionally talented. Even if he loses his current Golden Core, he can cultivate another one in the future."

Sui Sui almost laughed. "So because Senior Brother is talented, you think his Golden Core can simply be taken whenever you need it?"

Madam Jiang’s expression immediately turned cold as she glared at Sui Sui. "Shut up. This is between Yizhou and me."

She turned back toward Yizhou almost immediately, her expression softening as though the hostility from moments ago had never existed.

"Little Yizhou, I am not asking you to do anything unreasonable. Give your Golden Core to Jiang Huan, and let this matter end here. We can consider everything that happened in the secret realm settled. If you are truly innocent, then you will still have your future, while my son will have a chance to recover his cultivation."

Yizhou remained silent for a moment. Clearly, he was having difficulty finding the right words to respond to Madam Jiang’s unreasonable request. After thinking calmly for a few moments, however, he finally shook his head.

"Madam Jiang, I am willing to compensate Jiang Huan for the part I am responsible for. If there are injuries that need to be treated or rare ingredients and materials that are difficult to obtain, I am willing to help find them. If there is something I can obtain in the future that can help with his recovery, I will give it to him. But asking me to give up my Golden Core is another matter entirely."

Yizhou’s expression remained calm as he continued. "Jiang Huan was injured because he chose to fight that demon despite my warning. If there is another way to help him, I will not refuse. But this one I must reject." His tone remained respectful, but his meaning was unmistakably firm.

Perhaps if this had happened in the past, Yizhou might have agreed.

Even if he had been unwilling, even if he understood that giving up his Golden Core would destroy the cultivation he had worked so hard to build, the old him might still have chosen to endure it for the sake of his junior brother.

He had once believed that if he had the ability to help someone, then he had a responsibility to do so. No matter how much it cost him, he had never been someone who could simply stand by and watch another person suffer.

But things were different now.

He had seen the faces of the people he once trusted. He had heard them accuse him without evidence and watched them turn their backs on him when he needed someone to speak for him. He had learned the hard way that his willingness to sacrifice himself did not mean that others would value it.

After everything that had happened, he could no longer bring himself to throw away his own future for people who would never hesitate to abandon him.

More importantly, there were people he did not want to let down.

He looked at Bai Sui Sui who had stood up for him without hesitation. Despite being so much weaker than everyone else present, he had still argued with them, stubbornly defending Yizhou when even those who had once been saved by him refused to speak.

And then there was Bai Suichen, inside the secret realm, Bai Suichen had risked his own life to protect him. Now that his mind had cleared, Yizhou had never forgotten that. He still carried a sense of guilt whenever he thought about it, and he knew that there was no way he could repay such a debt with mere words.

For now, Yizhou had only one goal. He needed to recover and he needed to become strong enough to protect himself and repay the people who had genuinely helped him.

Hearing his refusal, Madam Jiang’s expression changed immediately. The sorrow and helplessness that had covered her face disappeared, replaced once again by the vicious look she had shown earlier.

"I knew it!" Her voice was filled with anger. "I knew it! You were only pretending to be good. What use is it that you stayed in the Wenjian Sect if you are not even willing to help your juniors?"

She pointed toward Yizhou, her expression twisting with resentment. "You refuse to sacrifice your Golden Core for your own junior brother, yet you still have the nerve to call yourself innocent? In the end, you are nothing but a demon bastard!"

Sui Sui’s anger flared immediately. He was just about to retort when a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

Several elders and disciples suddenly appeared at the entrance. The leading elder stepped forward, his expression solemn as he looked toward Yizhou.

"By order of the Acting Sect Master, Disciple Yizhou is to report to the Punishment Hall immediately. The investigation has been completed. The elders will now deliver their verdict regarding the accusations against you."

Yizhou looked toward the elder, his expression remaining calm, though a faint crease appeared between his brows.

Sui Sui, however, immediately became tense.

The investigation had ended far too quickly.