Crying While Filling the Pit I Dug - Chapter 38

Yuan Diening didn’t look at the people and said coldly, “Ling Qianyi, you have spent so much time besieging the Wanshan Sect for a month. What is the purpose of trapping all of us here?”

An old man with a white beard said, “Ling Qianyi, as an upright disciple, you actually surrendered to the Demon Sect, which is simply a shame.”

A Taoist Priest with a whisk in his hand said, “Benefactor Ling, I really can’t figure out what you want to do. If you want to wipe out the Wanshan Sect, why don’t you just encircle it? It’s not like you want to wipe us all out, so why are we trapped here? Except for restricting the freedom of entry and exit, we are treated with courtesy.”

Ling Qianyi was calm, neither angry nor agitated by their insults. Instead, he politely saluted everyone, “Seniors, Ling Qianyi had to use this method this time. Seniors, please forgive me for gathering everyone here.”

Another middle-aged person in Jinyi said, “Ling Qianyi, you are a traitor who betrayed your Master, murdered your fellow disciples, and turned to the Demon Sect. You are playing tricks. If you want to kill us, just do so.”

Ling Qianyi turned to the middle-aged man and said, “Uncle Liu, I joined the Demon Sect because of the so-called ‘murdering Master, fellow disciple, and joining the Demon Sect’. I know that I have never killed a person, wronged a person, and have never done anything to offend my conscience, but in the end, I joined the Demon Sect. I admit this, but I never did anything wrong.”

A gray-haired lady wearing a golden hairpin and gorgeous clothes said, “Then you mean that you are wronged?”

Ling Qian stood upright, then glanced at Song Miaomiao in the corner, saying, “Exactly.”

The white-bearded old man stroked his beard, picked up the teacup, and said sarcastically, “This is really strange, Master Fang, is Ling Qianyi accusing you of wronging him?”

The Taoist squinted his eyes at Master Fang and Yuan Diening, “Master Fang, Mrs. Fang, you two should be the most clear about what happened back then!”

Yuan Diening was angry and sad, saying, “Ling Qianyi, there are witnesses and evidence for what happened back then. You killed my father. What else do you have to argue about?”

The Taoist Priest asked, “Any evidence? Physical evidence?”

Master Fang said respectfully, “My fellow martial artists, my wife and I are not the ones who just ignored the facts and closed the case hastily. The evidence is solid.”

The white-bearded old man put the teacup down heavily, blew his beard, and said, “Then bring out the witness and physical evidence again, and give everyone an explanation, so that everyone won’t have to deal with him here.”

Master Fang hesitated, “It’s not that I don’t have it, but…”

The lady asked, “What is it?”

Master Fang said sadly, “It’s true that Ling Qianyi has taken away the witness. If there is no witness, he can say anything.”

The lady sneered, “So that’s how it is. This scum invited us here to talk empty words, but he just wanted to force us to give false testimony for him.”

Ling Qianyi was also not angry and said, “It is true that Xu Lin was taken away by me back then, and now I will invite him up.”

Ling Qianyi waved his hand, and two black-clothed disciples brought in a plain-clothed man.

The plain-clothed man, Xu Lin, saluted, “Senior Brother, Seniors.”

The lady said kindly, “Are you the witness who identified Ling Qianyi three years ago?”

Xu Lin said seriously, “Yes.”

The Taoist Priest raised his eyebrows and said, “Since you identified the person as Ling Qianyi, why are you hanging out with him?”

The middle-aged man laughed, “According to the way people in the Demon Sect behave, you have identified him and spoiled his good deeds. He should have killed you, but now you are safe and sound. It is really unbelievable.”

The lady said humanely, “There is another possibility, that is, this person is still useful, so he doesn’t need to kill him for the time being.”

Xu Lin turned to face the Taoist Priest and said respectfully, “Back then, I did identify Ling Qianyi as the murderer who killed the Master, but over the years, I have also discovered many doubts about this matter. Ling Qianyi may not be the real murderer.”

Yuan Diening said, “Presumptuous! You are the one who said he killed him, and now you are the one who is saying he didn’t kill him! Do you think you can turn black to white?”

Xu Lin said earnestly, “Back when I was preparing to give the tea to the Master, Senior Brother Ling took the tea and said that he would send it as he was going to the Master’s place. Senior Brother Song also went to the Master’s room to discuss important matters. After a while, when I returned to the Master’s room, Master and Senior Brother Song had been poisoned to death, and Senior Brother Ling was nowhere to be found. After inspection, the tea was poisonous, and only Senior Brother Ling and I were in contact with the tea. I naturally suspected the only person who escaped.”

The Taoist Priest twitched his lips, “Master Xu, did you think he was the murderer at the beginning because he was the only one who had the time and opportunity to commit the crime, and the one who disappeared after the death of the head and fellow discipline? Then say so. You participated in this incident almost all the way, you were the one who testified, you were the one who found the body, and you also had the time to commit the crime. Could it be that you are the real murderer? Are you here to plead guilty today?”

Xu Lin hurriedly said, “I don’t dare, but I swear to the sky that I didn’t do it. It’s because there are so many doubts about this matter now that I can clarify for Senior Brother Ling…”

Master Fang said, “Brother Xu, there is still a piece of physical evidence back then, and that is the book covered in blood that was handed over by you, Xu Lin, identifying Ling Qianyi as a traitor. Is it possible that you want to tell everyone now that the book is fake? In fact, you framed Ling Qianyi for this matter?”

The Taoist Priest asked, “Is the book still there?”

Yuan Diening said, “I have already put away the book, so I’ll ask someone to get it.” 

Yuan Diening whispered a few words to the girl beside her, who nodded and left.

After a while, the little girl came to the main hall holding a wooden box.

Yuan Diening took out the key to open the box and showed the book inside to everyone.

The Taoist took the book and looked at it carefully, then handed it to the lady for inspection, nodded, and said, “It is indeed the handwriting of Master Yuan.”

The lady took the book, hesitated and nodded.

The white-bearded old man and the middle-aged man in brocade clothes looked at it one by one. 

“I often have correspondence with Head Yuan, and this handwriting belongs to him.”

Ling Qianyi finally took the book and said with a wry smile, “The handwriting is his, but it doesn’t mean he was the one who wrote on it.”

The lady said humanely, “What do you mean?”

The Taoist changed his hand to hold the whisk and said, “Ling Qianyi, you mean someone forged his handwriting?”

Ling Qianyi said, “It’s not impossible; come and get a pen and paper.”