Hua Xianle

Chapter 36:

You could hear a pin drop from the silence that fell over the office. With her crimes exposed to everyone present, Jiang Yanli was left gaping like a fish, unable to utter a single word.

In the end, the first to speak was Madame Jin, who rose to her feet with an air of rage and utter contempt. “Jiang Fengmian, what your daughter did could have tainted my son’s reputation for the rest of his life. I will be demanding restitution for this, and I will personally see to it that the entirety of the cultivation world knows just how desperate and delusional your daughter is.” Her gaze shot over to Yanli. “No better than her mother… Disgraceful…”

“Madame Jin!” Yanli finally found her voice, though it was laced with desperation as tears streamed down her face. “I- I just… All I wanted was to give us a chance! I never wanted it to come to this!”

“Bite your tongue you loose whore,” Madame Jin spat with the same vitriol she used to address any of the various women she caught her husband with. “We all saw how he rejected you, and yet rather than cease your unwanted advances, you forced yourself upon him just like your mother before you!”

“Enough!” Qingheng-jun interjected, pinching his brow to stave off the growing headache. “Jiang Yanli, what you did was absolutely reprehensible. Never in my life have I seen a woman willingly tear her robes in public to frame a man and force him into marriage. I wanted to believe that you were nothing like your mother, but now it had become clear that you are just as pretentious, desperate, delusional, and disrespectful. If I had a daughter who pulled such a stunt, I would have forced her into seclusion myself!”

Yanli recoiled harshly as Qingheng-jun came out of his rant, panting slightly before forcing himself to breathe. Madame Lan put a hand on his arm to calm him, and everyone waited in silence as the Sect Leader composed himself. As his eyes focused on the Jiangs once more, they were devoid of emotion.

“Thanks to the Jiang Sect, the guest lectures have been an absolute disaster. As such, I have no choice but to expel all Jiang disciples from Cloud Recesses.  This extends to all Gusu territory and any future guest lectures. The only exception will be Discussion Conferences held here, and even then, only the Sect Leader and your most trusted disciple will be permitted entry.”

Jiang Fengmian just nodded, knowing he had nothing to rebuke Qingheng-jun’s declaration. His wife’s actions had been bad enough, but now his daughter too? He held no illusions that his son was innocent and dreaded learning whatever crimes he had committed. Either way, the damage had been done. There would be no recovery from this. Not for a long time…

…

The banishment from Gusu was not the only indignity that faced the Jiang Clan as they made to leave Cloud Recesses. When Jiang Cheng ordered the disciples to gather their things, none of them obeyed. Instead, every last one of them removed their purple outer robes, along with their Jiang clarity bells, dropping them at the feet of the fuming Jiang Heir. They declared that none of them wanted to be associated with the Jiang Clan any longer, how they came to Cloud Recesses to learn, and how they refused to be dragged down by the main Jiang Family any longer.

Luck favored those who chose to leave the clan, as Lan Qiren declared that they could remain in Gusu as rogue cultivators. After all, if Hua Xianle was allowed to stay, why couldn’t they be granted the same courtesy? That and their defection was witnessed by an elder of another clan, which legitimized their declarations in the eyes of the cultivation world.

Jiang Cheng had no choice but to stomp back to his room with the outer robes and clarity bells in his arms. He’d wanted to just leave them there, but Lan-Laoshi demanded he remove them, citing at least seven rules in the process. By the time they were done packing, word had already spread about the truth, courtesy to Huaisang and every eavesdropper and gossiper in attendance.