Chapter 137: Exposure

"Why are you all looking at me? Could it be that you suspect me?" Sensing everyone's gazes fixed upon him, Jin Zhan's heart plummeted. He whirled around and bellowed angrily at them.

"We have been through thick and thin together for so long, do you really think I am capable of such a deed?" Jin Zhan demanded in a deep voice, before turning his gaze toward Qiu Fei with a dark expression. "It is you, Qiu Fei! Everyone knows that Yin Tianfang used to be a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, a traitor who destroyed his sect and killed his master. Everyone knows it was because of him that the Azure Cloud Sect made a move against our Profound Dao Sect. And now, you are walking side by side with that very same traitor. If there really is a mole here, that person must be you!"

Jin Zhan's words caused everyone's gazes to shift onto Qiu Fei. Fairly speaking, Jin Zhan's argument carried far more persuasive weight than Qiu Fei's.

Qiu Fei accused Jin Zhan of being the mole, yet all along the way, Jin Zhan had risked his life to protect them. Qiu Fei, on the other hand, had been staying with Yin Tianfang. They were all well aware of Yin Tianfang's background.

A former disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, a betrayer of his master and sect, hunted down by the Azure Cloud Sect, who had somehow managed to infiltrate the Profound Dao Sect. The Azure Cloud Sect had attacked the Profound Dao Sect precisely because of Yin Tianfang.

Thinking carefully about it, perhaps the Azure Cloud Sect had long harbored intentions of moving against the Profound Dao Sect, only lacking a pretext. Yin Tianfang's appearance had simply provided them with that excuse. For all they knew, Yin Tianfang might have been colluding and acting in concert with the Azure Cloud Sect all along.

The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The looks they directed at Qiu Fei involuntarily shifted.

"Senior Brother Qiu Fei, you..."

"Jin Zhan, you are spouting malicious slander! If you are not the mole, how do you explain the fact that right after we separated, the people from the Azure Cloud Sect immediately pursued you, and as if they miraculously knew your exact location?" Qiu Fei shouted loudly.

"You secretly left behind markers all along the way so that the Azure Cloud Sect could follow them and track you down! Did you really think your actions were completely flawless and unnoticed?"

"You claim I left markers for the Azure Cloud Sect people, but where are those people from the Azure Cloud Sect right now?" Jin Zhan asked with a cold sneer. "If the Azure Cloud Sect people are giving chase, it is undoubtedly your doing. You are the one carrying the tracking compass, which allows you to sense our direction!"

"You..." Qiu Fei trembled with rage. He knew full well that Jin Zhan was the traitor, yet under Jin Zhan's verbal counterattack, he himself looked far more like the traitor in the eyes of the others. Meeting those suspicious gazes, Qiu Fei was so angry he nearly spat blood.

Just as the suspicion in everyone's eyes grew heavier, a streak of white light flashed across the air and landed on the ground, revealing itself to be the Heavenly Winged Demonic Tiger.

Yin Tianfang stood atop the tiger's back, dragging a white-robed young man. The moment he laid eyes on the white-robed youth, Jin Zhan's expression changed drastically.

Casually tossing the white-robed youth onto the ground, Yin Tianfang dismounted from the Heavenly Winged Demonic Tiger and walked step by step toward Jin Zhan.

"You believed your actions were completely untraceable, not realizing that the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," Yin Tianfang said, looking coldly at Jin Zhan with a calm voice. "This person has been in communication with you, which is why he knew your whereabouts and appeared to kill your fellow disciples. Afterward, you would seek out other martial brothers, repeating the same trick, breaking them down one by one, until everyone was ultimately buried in this place."

"I imagine your objective isn't merely to kill these disciples alone, after all, there should be more than just this many who managed to escape from the Profound Dao Sect back then. Besides, those with the highest innate talent are not even traveling with you. Your true target is to eradicate the Profound Dao Sect's most promising disciples, am I right?"

"Yin Tianfang, you traitor who destroyed your sect! Back then you conspired with the Azure Cloud Sect to move against our Profound Dao Sect, and today you are trying the exact same trick again, attempting to drive a wedge between us fellow disciples. Such vaulting ambition! Junior brothers, do not be deceived by them!" Jin Zhan's expression contorted slightly as he shouted loudly.

"Junior brothers, attack with me and kill them!" Just as his voice fell, Jin Zhan swept his sleeve, and a flying sword shot forth, transforming into a streak of blinding light that flashed across the air. After piercing straight through the heart of the white-robed youth, it slashed toward Yin Tianfang with renewed momentum.

The white-robed youth lowered his gaze to look at the wound on his chest, then raised his head once more to stare at Jin Zhan, his eyes filled with venomous hatred. With a heavy thud, he collapsed to the ground, completely devoid of life.

Yin Tianfang stood there calmly, watching the incoming flying sword. He raised a finger and tapped it gently in the air. A series of ripples instantly spread through the void, causing the hurtling flying sword to freeze abruptly in mid-air.

Seeing this, Jin Zhan's heart sank. Clenching his teeth, spiritual energy surged violently from within his body, and forming hand seals with both hands, he desperately drove the flying sword. The sword trembled lightly in the void, yet it remained completely unable to advance even an inch.

Yin Tianfang flicked his finger. A crack instantly appeared on the surface of the flying sword, spreading rapidly across the entire blade until the entire weapon shattered into countless fragments that rained down upon the ground. As his mind-linked flying sword was destroyed, Jin Zhan suffered a heavy backlash; he let out a muffled groan and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

"Junior brothers, what are you all standing around for in a daze? Kill this person for me!" Jin Zhan roared fiercely at the Profound Dao Sect disciples behind him. Everyone exchanged uncertain glances, temporarily at a complete loss as to what they should do.

"If I wanted you dead, you would have already perished long ago," Yin Tianfang glanced indifferently at Jin Zhan and said, "You were so impatient to silence him, but do you honestly believe killing him would change anything?"

"If I truly desired your deaths, I could have dispatched you the very first time we met. Why would I bother wasting so many words?"

"Hmph, you naturally have your own hidden agenda, how could we possibly know what it is?" Jin Zhan sneered coldly.

Hearing this, Yin Tianfang narrowed his eyes, a fierce, biting murderous intent bursting forth. With a tip of his foot against the ground, his figure vanished instantly. When he reappeared, he was already standing directly in front of Jin Zhan.

A bone-chilling murderous intent permeated the air. Looking at Yin Tianfang, who was now within arm's reach, Jin Zhan felt a profound and suffocating terror take root in his heart, causing even his soul to tremble. The freezing murderous intent enveloped him, making him feel as though he had been plunged into an icy abyss.

"In my eyes, you are nothing more than a lowly ant; killing you is as easy as turning over a hand," a chilling voice echoed softly beside his ear. Before he could even react, Yin Tianfang grabbed him by the throat, lifting his body slowly off the ground.

Jin Zhan's face turned beet red. Gazing into Yin Tianfang's icy eyes, he felt as though his very spirit was about to be frozen solid by that frigid glare.

"If I wanted to kill you all, I wouldn't need anyone else's help whatsoever. I can slaughter every single one of you entirely by myself!" Yin Tianfang swept his gaze across the crowd and spoke slowly. Although those words were harsh, they were an absolute fact. With his cultivation peak at the early stage of the Core Formation realm, Yin Tianfang needed no assistants to slaughter these people. Furthermore, he even had the Heavenly Winged Demonic Tiger by his side.

He didn't even need to make a move himself; merely setting the Heavenly Winged Demonic Tiger loose would leave these people with zero chance of survival.

"You claim I harbor other motives, perhaps assuming that I intend to use your hands to track down the others. But do you really think that since Qiu Fei is with me, I would still have any need to rely on you? Everything you know, he knows as well. What reason do I have to spare your lives?"