Li Shuang glanced at Long Yan and calmly gave her answer: "Yes. Long Yan did betray me."
Answering these three questions was effortless for her; she only needed to answer truthfully.
Speaking the truth is always much easier than speaking lies.
The red light in Xie Zhi's eyes brightened again.
The truth!
Again, the truth!
For all three questions, Li Shuang spoke the truth.
The entire audience was in an uproar.
By now, right and wrong were clearly distinguished.
Li Shuang spoke the truth, so the one who lied could only be...
Everyone looked at Ye Zhaozhao and Long Yan.
Ye Zhaozhao's face was ashen. She closed her eyes and said with some despair, "Yes..."
Long Yan's soul body flickered between solid and ethereal with fear. It wasn't until lightning began to flash from Xie Zhi's horn that he frantically said, "Yes... it was I who betrayed Li Shuang."
He dared not lie.
Lightning was the most terrifying existence for a soul body.
Ye Zhaozhao could barely withstand two strikes, but he couldn't even endure one.
The red light flashed again.
Ye Zhaozhao and Long Yan also spoke the truth.
Xie Zhi calmly stated, "Extract relevant images from memory and display them to all."
The images reappeared.
In the scene, Li Shuang used her last shred of spiritual energy to activate a talisman. Her condition was dire, on the verge of exhaustion. She had used a communication talisman to her most respected master, believing that True Master Lingxu would come to save her.
But what awaited her?
It was True Master Lingxu's indiscriminate scolding, the complaints of Sheng Yuan and others, and Ye Zhaozhao's words that twisted black and white!
Now.
Everyone knew that what Ye Zhaozhao had said were all lies.
Such easily shattered lies, even those who hadn't spent much time with Li Shuang wouldn't easily believe.
Yet, the people of Lingxu Peak believed them without hesitation.
In the images.
Everyone clearly saw how the light in Li Shuang's eyes gradually extinguished, and for some reason, their hearts also ached.
Lin Qingling's eyes were red-rimmed.
She knew that Li Shuang must have suffered immense injustice to enter the Path of Ruthlessness. She even roughly guessed the circumstances.
But...
Now, seeing the entire sequence of events, her heart still ached to the point of suffocation.
This child.
She had done everything she could.
She probably didn't understand.
Why.
Why, when she had done nothing wrong, was she rejected by everyone?
Why, when she spoke the truth, did no one ever believe her?
She made efforts again and again, only to be pushed away each time.
Finally.
The light of the communication talisman extinguished, and her heart completely grew cold.
Li Shuang was never a demanding person.
If the people of Lingxu Peak could have given her even a little trust, just a tiny bit, she would have accepted it gladly.
But those people didn't dare to give her even a shred of warmth.
With the communication talisman extinguished, the dying Li Shuang could barely speak a complete sentence.
Lin Qingling dared not look further, for she knew that this was not the end.
In the images.
Li Shuang placed her last hope in Long Yan. And everyone already knew that Li Shuang's hope would ultimately be shattered.
Her master had condemned her to death.
Her junior brothers and sisters loathed her.
At that time, Li Shuang probably thought that her companion, who had been with her for so many years, would never betray her.
But...
Long Yan, instead, manipulated the Dragon Roar Sword and pierced Li Shuang's dantian.
Li Shuang looked up, staring blankly at Long Yan.
She never imagined that it would be the sword spirit she had nurtured for ten years who would deliver this final blow.
The image lingered on Long Yan's ferocious face, then slowly faded into the air.
A silence fell over the scene.
They all knew what happened next: Li Shuang, at the brink of death, comprehended the Grand Path of Forgetfulness, thus saving her life.
After experiencing such despair, those emotions were finally completely sealed away.
Even they, watching the three scenes extracted by Xie Zhi, felt uncomfortable.
But Li Shuang, on the Heart-Questioning Platform, remained calm, as if she were watching someone else's story.
"The three questions are over." Xie Zhi let out a burp, and its phantom plunged into the statue.
Then.
The light dissipated, and the statue returned to its original unconscious state.
The Heart-Questioning Platform closed once again.
Ye Zhaozhao's body trembled uncontrollably.
Three questions.
They had exposed all her baseness and cunning.
She could even feel it.
The most resentful gazes came from Lingxu Peak.
Her master and senior brothers, whom she had tried to please for ten years, would probably hate her to the bone from now on.
A hint of grievance also welled up in Ye Zhaozhao's heart.
She might have wronged Li Shuang.
However, she had been meticulously trying to please True Master Lingxu and Sheng Yuan for ten years, day in and day out.
They had also gained many benefits from her.
Now, by what right were they looking at her like this?
"With the three questions on the Heart-Questioning Platform, everything is clear," Lin Qingling said, glancing at Meng Yifei. "Little Shuang has suffered so much injustice these past days. Now that the truth is out, delayed justice should finally arrive!"
Meng Yifei looked at True Master Lingxu.
True Master Lingxu's expression was stiff. After a long moment, he looked at Li Shuang and softened his tone: "Little Shuang, I only just learned that the truth of the matter was like this! I was also deceived by that wicked disciple!"
True Master Lingxu quickly cut ties with Ye Zhaozhao. He looked at Ye Zhaozhao with a stern expression: "Lingxu has no disciple like you. From now on, you are no longer my disciple, nor are you a person of Lingxu Peak! How you choose to walk your path from now on is up to you."
Ye Zhaozhao's body trembled even more violently.
She knew.
After the Heart-Questioning Platform, she had no place in the Sword Sect.
But.
By what right did True Master Lingxu speak to her with such righteous indignation!
A huge surge of anger rose from the bottom of her heart. Ye Zhaozhao suddenly forced herself to stand up. She looked at True Master Lingxu with hatred: "What kind of damn master are you? Do you think I really care about being your disciple? Even if I'm not a good person, what about you? What good thing are you!"
"Leaving everything else aside, just talk about this Tianshan Snow Lotus! Were you really so mentally unstable that you needed such a spiritual medicine?"
Ye Zhaozhao's voice was sharp.
True Master Lingxu's expression immediately changed. He sternly said, "Nonsense!"
He raised his hand, intending to silence Ye Zhaozhao.
Lin Qingling sneered and directly blocked True Master Lingxu's spiritual energy: "Let her finish! I want to see what you two dogs can bite out of each other!"
Being called "dogs biting each other," Ye Zhaozhao no longer cared. She now had only one thought: even if she died, she would drag these hypocrites of Lingxu Peak down with her, one by one!
Had things reached this point solely because of her fault?
Were these people truly just deceived by her, the great villain?
Ridiculous!
Ye Zhaozhao stared intently at True Master Lingxu, speaking like a madwoman: "You think I don't know. You never made any mistakes in your cultivation, nor were you ever mentally unstable. You deliberately spread rumors that you needed the Tianshan Snow Lotus simply because it was priceless, and you coveted it! The snow monster in the snowy mountains grows stronger with stronger opponents; you couldn't get the snow lotus yourself, so you wanted us to get it for you! Only that Li Shuang was foolish enough to take enormous risks and desperately pick the snow lotus for you!"
"Nonsense!" True Master Lingxu was furious and tried to attack Ye Zhaozhao again.
This time, it was Meng Yifei who intervened.
"Sect Master, she's talking nonsense," True Master Lingxu said, somewhat flustered.
Meng Yifei calmly replied, "It's harmless to listen."
Originally, he thought that True Master Lingxu was merely greedy and stingy due to his cultivation path.
But now, it seemed that his path had gone astray.
It was time to carefully evaluate how to deal with this Peak Master of Lingxu Peak in the future.
A look of satisfaction appeared on Ye Zhaozhao's face, and she opened her mouth to continue speaking.