Below the stage, the female cultivators took out their jade slips one after another to record the key points.
Just then, the hall door was pushed open a crack.
A slender female cultivator in a purple dress slipped inside and sat down in a corner of the back row. Her head was lowered, and her long hair covered most of her face.
Shen Qingci swept her divine sense over.
The cultivator was only at the Qi Refining realm, and on the surface, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, in her sea of consciousness, Shadow One's transmission had already surfaced: “Eldest Young Lady, the target has entered the venue.”
“Your subordinate has confirmed that it is indeed the disguise of the Thousand-Face Illusion Veil.”
“Keep an eye on him. We'll act once he settles in.”
The moment the purple-dressed female cultivator sat down, her gaze locked directly onto Jiang Wan on the demonstration stage.
There was calculation in that look, along with a smug arrogance that screamed of absolute confidence.
Shen Qingci withdrew her divine sense and leaned back against her chair.
Chi Yuan felt that her junior sister was unusually quiet today. Normally, she was always playful and teasing in front of her, but once she entered the Dao Discussion Conference, she had reverted to her dignified demeanor as the Eldest Young Lady of a great family.
She nudged the back of Shen Qingci's hand under the table.
Shen Qingci turned her face, blinked, and silently mouthed: “Watch the show.”
Chi Yuan withdrew her hand.
Jiang Wan was just calling a junior sister at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment realm up to the stage, planning to begin the second phase of the live demonstration, when a hand was suddenly raised.
Right in the middle of the back row, a tall female cultivator at the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, wearing a forehead ornament, stood up. She wore a Daoist robe in the style of a small sect's elder, with a falling-jade plaque hanging from her waist.
“Young Sect Master, please wait a moment.”
“Before the Dao discussion truly begins, I have an urgent matter that I must ask the Young Sect Master and our fellow Daoists here to judge.”
Jiang Wan paused, her hand lifting from the zither strings. “Please speak, Senior.”
The green-robed female cultivator raised her hand and pointed directly at the purple-dressed cultivator in the corner, her voice sharp as a sword drawn from its sheath. “This person is a man disguised as a woman, who has snuck into the Miaoyin Pavilion's Dao Discussion Conference. Why don't you all guess what kind of intentions he harbors?”
The moment the words left her mouth, the entire hall erupted into an uproar.
Over seven hundred female cultivators turned their heads at the same time, their divine senses sweeping collectively toward the purple-dressed figure in the back corner.
Scrutinizing, suspicious, and disdainful gazes stacked upon one another, completely sealing off that corner.
Lu Beichen's body froze instantly.
He had anticipated that there might be some hiccups today, and he also knew that Jiang Wan had two Dao protectors at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm secretly guarding her.
But he had verified multiple times that those at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm could not possibly see through the pseudo Earth-grade Thousand-Face Illusion Veil.
Xiange City was a remote area where Golden Core cultivators were considered rare, and Nascent Soul True Monarchs were few and far between.
How had this female cultivator seen through it?
Was it a coincidence?
Or had something gone wrong somewhere?
Steadying his mind, he stood up. His voice was soft and gentle like a woman's, and his face wore a perfectly timed expression of grievance. “Senior, to accuse me out of thin air is a bit too arbitrary, don't you think?”
“I am Liu Yiyi, an inner sect disciple of the Qinglan Sect. I came here today specifically to observe and learn from the Dao Discussion Conference, and I have not crossed any lines.”
“Please present concrete evidence, Senior, and do not slander another's reputation at will.”
The green-robed female cultivator sneered. Taking two steps into the aisle, she retrieved a talisman from her sleeve.
“The Thousand-Face Illusion Veil is made from the silk sac under the belly of the Thousand-Face Spider Emperor from the Eastern Region. It can alter one's appearance and stature, conceal one's aura, and block ordinary divine sense probes. The concealment ability of this artifact is extremely powerful; anyone below the mid stage of the Nascent Soul realm has no way of seeing through it.”
She looked around, her voice resonant and powerful. “In other words, only those with a cultivation at or above the mid stage of the Nascent Soul realm can tear away this fake skin and see his true face!”
The talisman lit up, casting a blinding white light directly onto Lu Beichen. The disguise of the Thousand-Face Illusion Veil was forcefully torn apart by the talisman's power. The purple dress faded, his long hair rapidly shortened, and his frame broadened.
A tall, handsome man now stood exposed before everyone's eyes.
“It's a male cultivator! How dare he sneak in here?”
“What a bastard! The Miaoyin Pavilion's Dao Discussion Conference has always been exclusive to female cultivators. This man is far too bold.”
“To disguise himself just to sneak into a gathering of female cultivators—his intentions are utterly malicious.”
“He was hiding in the corner just now, watching secretly. He must have been harboring filthy thoughts.”
“Qinglan Sect? I've never heard of such a sect. To think they would raise a disciple so despicable.”
“He must give us all an explanation! We cannot let this slide easily.”
Lu Beichen's face turned ashen. Forcing himself to remain calm, he straightened his back and cupped his hands toward Jiang Wan. “Young Sect Master, I admit that I concealed my identity. But please, hear me out. The only reason I presumed to come here today is that my late mother was an acquaintance of Sect Master Jiang when she was alive. I only wished to learn of my mother's origins.”
“Heh, what high-sounding words.”
The green-robed female cultivator's voice rang out again, filled with sarcasm. “If you truly wanted to inquire about your late mother's past, you could have brought a keepsake and visited the Miaoyin Sect openly, explaining your intentions in an upright manner.”
“But you didn't!!!”
“Slinking into someone else's territory under a stolen skin and hiding in a corner to spy—what exactly are you after?”
“Do you think the Young Sect Master is easy to fool, or do you think all the female cultivators here deserve to be kept in the dark by you?”
From another section of seats, a female Nascent Soul cultivator stood up in a rage, her face flushed with anger. “Shameless! The reputation of us female cultivators is pure, and this Dao Discussion Conference is sacred and solemn. How can we allow a petty scoundrel like you to defile it?”
“Using filial piety as a pretext to indulge in peeping—you are nothing but a despicable libertine.”
“Ordinary male cultivators at least understand how to avoid suspicion and behave with propriety, yet you choose to take shortcuts and act so recklessly.”
“Your mouth is full of benevolence and filial piety, yet not a single thing you do is free of underhanded schemes.”
“If no one had seen through you today, did you plan to stay hidden the entire time, freely spying on our secret cultivation methods?”
The surrounding female cultivators chimed in one after another.
“Hypocrite! Using your deceased mother as an excuse is simply monstrous.”
“A person with such a despicable character doesn't deserve to cultivate or seek the Dao at all.”
“His mind is filthy and his conduct is corrupt. He must be severely punished.”
“Young Sect Master, you absolutely must not be soft-hearted and tolerate this. If you let him off today, it will surely lead to disaster in the future!”
Amidst the barrage of angry curses filling the hall, Lu Beichen's entire body stiffened. He could no longer maintain his composed demeanor.
On the stage, Jiang Wan snapped back to her senses.
When she first heard him say he was looking for his late mother's past, a sliver of pity had crossed her mind, and she had almost believed him.
But now, listening to the furious rebukes of the female cultivators and recalling his sneaky, underhanded behavior from beginning to end, that last shred of sympathy completely dissolved into rage.
She had actually almost been fooled by a scoundrel.
Did that mean she, Jiang Wan, was an easy target to trick???
【Damned, wretched man!】
Jiang Wan glared at Lu Beichen. Maintaining her dignity as the Young Sect Master, she asked coldly, “You want to know your mother's origins? Then why don't you tell us: what is her name? When did she meet my mother, and what kind of friendship did they share?”
“You claim to have come all this way to look into the past, yet do you have any keepsakes in hand?”
Lu Beichen's lips parted, but he was temporarily left speechless.
Jiang Wan lost her patience. She stopped looking at him, her expression turning frostier as she said, “Aunt Yu, cripple his cultivation.”
“He acts with underhanded deceit and speaks nothing but lies. He cannot possibly be the son of my mother's old friend.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a female cultivator in plain clothing stepped out from the shadows beside the demonstration stage.
She was at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, with a purple bamboo flute hanging from her waist.
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