Chapter 371: The thousand dao city 40.

Ji Ruyan’s expression softened slightly.

"Thank your master."

Chen Zhaoran nodded.

Before leaving, he hesitated.

"There is another reason I came."

Ji Ruyan waited.

"Not everyone in Heavenly Sword Sect believes those accusations."

He lowered his voice.

"Some elders are very angry. Some think the evidence appeared too quickly."

Ji Ruyan looked at him.

"Can they help?"

Chen Zhaoran shook his head.

"Not openly yet."

"Why?"

"Because the people pushing this have powerful allies."

He bowed again.

"But there are people watching."

Then he left.

Ji Ruyan watched him disappear into the city.

Su Lian walked up beside her.

"See?"

Ji Ruyan looked at her.

"What?"

"Not every man in every male sect hates us."

Ji Ruyan smiled faintly.

"I never thought that."

"You were thinking it yesterday."

"I was angry."

"That is different."

Ji Ruyan nodded.

"Yes."

The news gave them something they badly needed.

Not a military advantage.

A political one.

The conspiracy was not yet complete because the wider cultivation world had not fully turned against them.

There were cracks in the alliance.

Mo Yuxin noticed those cracks and quietly decided not to widen them yet.

She wanted the conspirators to reveal themselves.

Su Yubing agreed.

Their nights became quieter after that.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing had been staying in a guest residence near the eastern courtyard. It was not luxurious, but it was private. There was a small garden with a stone bench and a narrow stream.

One night, Su Yubing sat beside the stream while Mo Yuxin rested her head in her lap.

Su Yubing gently combed through her hair with her fingers.

"Comfortable?"

Mo Yuxin closed her eyes.

"Very."

"You look like you are about to fall asleep."

"I am listening."

"Listening to what?"

"You breathing."

Su Yubing smiled.

"That is ridiculous."

"I like it."

They stayed that way for a long time.

Then Su Yubing asked, "Do you think these people know how strong you are?"

Mo Yuxin opened her eyes.

"No."

"Should we show them?"

"Eventually."

"How much?"

Mo Yuxin thought.

"Enough."

Su Yubing smiled.

"Very precise."

Mo Yuxin reached up and took her hand.

"I do not want you to worry."

Su Yubing leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"I am not worried about us."

"I know."

"I am worried about them."

Mo Yuxin glanced toward the distant Battle Maiden compound.

"So am I."

Su Yubing gently stroked her hair.

"Then we help them stand."

"Yes."

The final piece of the puzzle came from Luo Qinghe.

She returned from Purple Heaven Valley carrying a collection of sealed bottles and a small book.

Ning Shuyue looked at the book.

"What is that?"

"A list of medicine orders."

Qinghe sat down.

"The traitor we suspected was not acting alone. There are six other people involved. Most are not senior elders. They are clerks, store managers, transport coordinators, and two alchemists."

Su Yubing looked at the list.

"That means the conspiracy is operating through ordinary people too."

Qinghe nodded.

"Exactly. That is how they move things without attracting attention."

Mo Yuxin scanned the names.

One was familiar.

"This person manages the western medical warehouse."

Qinghe nodded.

"Yes."

"He also signed three transport orders connected to the missing disciples."

Everyone became quiet.

Suddenly the disappearances, medicine thefts, and altered records fit together.

The missing disciples had not vanished randomly.

They had been intercepted during transport, their identities altered in the system, and then moved through warehouses controlled by people inside different organizations.

The conspirators did not necessarily need to kill them.

They only needed them gone long enough to create fear and confusion.

Mo Yuxin looked at Su Yubing.

"We have enough to start pulling at the thread."

Su Yubing nodded.

"But we still need the main organizers."

"Yes."

Ye Qinglan stood.

"Then we find them."

The next morning, the sect sent a controlled shipment through one of the last safe routes.

It was bait.

The shipment contained ordinary medicine, but its containers carried tracking marks prepared by Su Lian.

Several Battle Maiden disciples escorted it.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing stayed far enough behind to avoid revealing their presence.

The shipment passed the first checkpoint.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Nothing happened.

Ji Ruyan began to relax.

Su Lian did not.

"Something is wrong."

Ji Ruyan looked at her.

"What?"

"Our tracking mark stopped moving."

Ji Ruyan immediately signaled the escort.

The disciples halted.

They were standing beside an old stone bridge.

The bridge crossed a narrow river and connected two warehouse districts.

No people were nearby.

No carts.

No merchants.

Nothing.

Then the bridge lit up.

A formation appeared beneath the entire convoy.

The escort members drew their weapons.

Ji Ruyan shouted, "Formation attack!"

The ground exploded.

Masked cultivators appeared from the warehouses.

This time there were more than twenty.

There were nearly eighty.

The first attack struck the defensive barrier.

The barrier cracked.

Ji Ruyan moved immediately.

Her sword cut through the nearest attacker.

Su Lian activated three formations at once.

The convoy guards spread out.

The fight became chaotic.

The masked cultivators were stronger than expected.

Several were at Nascent Soul.

Ji Ruyan fought three at once.

She blocked one sword, dodged another, and kicked the third attacker into the river.

Su Lian’s formation trapped five more.

But the enemy kept coming.

Then Mo Yuxin stepped into the battlefield.

She did not shout.

She did not draw a weapon.

She simply walked between the fighting cultivators.

The next sword aimed at Ji Ruyan stopped in midair.

The attacker froze.

Another spear heading toward Su Lian stopped too.

Then every masked cultivator in the area was forced to the ground.

The entire battlefield became silent.

Mo Yuxin looked around.

"Enough."

A few attackers tried to resist.

Their spiritual energy collapsed instantly.

Su Yubing walked toward her.

"Are you finished?"

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Yes."

"Good."

She looked at Ji Ruyan.

"Are you injured?"

Ji Ruyan shook her head.

"No."

Su Lian ran to her.

"You were hit."

"It is only a scratch."

TO BE CONTINUED,