Chapter 64: Ironclad Proof of Devil Clan Identity?

Shen Yan was still lying in the meditation chamber, not moving a finger, as if his soul had been sucked out. Yet the screen of the phone in his pocket suddenly lit up, flashing with green text: 【External data injection, source: Elder Council Hall】.

The next second, the entire Medicine Valley’s voice transmission array erupted with a deafening hum.

“Effective immediately, an emergency review will be held in the Elder Council Hall—Shen Yan is suspected of using spell programs to induce disciples to experience Devil Clan hallucinations, with conclusive evidence!”

Before the words had even faded, a group of Medicine Boys rushed in with a stretcher, lifted him from the cold jade bed, and carried him away. His eyelids drooped, his breathing was so shallow his pulse was almost undetectable, yet he clutched the phone tightly in his palm, its screen flickering continuously: 【Audio collection initiated】【Video stream capturing in progress】【Frame rate anomaly detected: 97.3% match for memory tampering characteristics】.

In the grand hall, incense smoke curled from the censers, and the elders sat in high seats, their faces dark enough to drip water.

Xie Wujiu stood in the center, holding a crystal lens in his hand, and said coldly, “Everyone, look—this is the residual projection left by the ‘mental contamination program’ written by that programmer.”

With a flick of the lens, an image appeared in the air: a group of Medicine Valley disciples knelt on the ground, their eyes fanatical, shouting in unison, “Our Lord has descended!” In the background was a swirling mass of black mist, vaguely revealing a ferocious face—clearly Shen Yan’s!

“Absurd!” A white-bearded elder slammed the table and stood up. “How dare this boy use spells to manipulate minds and even attempt to create worship of a devil god? His spiritual root should be abolished, and he should be expelled from the sect!”

“Not only that,” Xie Wujiu curled his lips. “The source code spiritual root within him is likely a Devil Clan bionic construct. The anomaly in the meditation chamber last night is ironclad proof of demonic energy resonance! If not dealt with promptly, it may lead to the entire valley’s downfall!”

The crowd erupted in uproar, dozens of gazes piercing like knives toward Shen Yan on the stretcher.

Just then, hurried footsteps echoed from outside the hall.

Pei Yue was helped inside, her face pale, lips bloodless, arms wrapped in cold gauze, swaying with every step. Yet she walked forward step by step, and no one dared to stop her.

“You say he created hallucinations?” Her voice was soft but silenced the entire hall. “Then the footage you released… has a frame rate of twenty-three and a half frames per second, correct?”

Xie Wujiu was taken aback. “What do you know?”

“I know,” Pei Yue sneered. “True memory projections are continuous streams, but your ‘evidence’ has a slight lag every three seconds—this is a typical post-rendering vulnerability in memory tampering spells. You forged it too hastily and forgot to adjust frame synchronization.”

She raised her hand, pointing the tip of her finger toward the crystal lens. “Look here again—the edges of the black mist have jagged noise, remnants of pixel collapse from low-level illusion spells. True demonic energy erosion wouldn’t leave behind such… dregs.”

The entire hall fell silent.

Xie Wujiu’s expression shifted slightly but quickly regained composure. “Is the Saintess trying to exonerate her lover? Emotions clouding judgment are not credible.”

“Lover?” Pei Yue suddenly laughed, her laughter soft yet chilling the entire hall.

She violently tore open her left sleeve.

A dark purple devil mark coiled around her forearm, like burnt vines, its edges faintly shimmering with black energy. The pattern was still writhing slightly, as if alive.

“If anyone has been tainted by demonic energy—it’s me!”

Her words struck everyone’s eardrums, one syllable at a time.

“Twenty years ago, Shen Yan’s mother was poisoned and on the brink of death—it was you who personally administered the Soul-Corrosion Powder! I used the Dark Jade Cold Pulse to draw the poison into my own body, just to keep her clinging to her last breath. This demonic pattern is the price I paid that day, branded into my flesh! Saving a life, only to breed a demon seed? Then tell me, Elder Xie, who is truly the demon?”

The hall fell deathly silent.

Several elder elders showed shock on their faces, and someone whispered in astonishment, “The Dark Jade Cold Pulse… that’s the demon-sealing constitution lost to Medicine Valley for a century!”

Xie Wujiu’s eyes flickered violently before he sneered, “Clever words and deceitful speech! You reveal your demonic pattern today, perhaps precisely to cover up your identity as an inside agent! Why didn’t you report it back then? Why speak of it only now?”

“Because after that day, someone used a Forbidden Technique to erase all records,” Pei Yue stared at him, enunciating each word clearly, “except… the imprint in my bloodline.”

She bit the tip of her finger, letting blood drip as she drew a blood talisman in the air.

In an instant, the demonic pattern erupted with an eerie glow, projecting a fragmented image—

Torrential rain poured through the night. A woman, holding an infant, knelt before the gates of Medicine Valley, covered in blood, pleading desperately. A young Pei Yue rushed forward, spreading her arms to shield the woman, allowing a mass of black mist to surge toward her and instantly sink into her arm…

The image abruptly cut off.

The great hall was utterly silent.

Just then, Shen Yan’s phone vibrated violently, the screen flashing with a glaring line of green text:

【Detected maternal gene segment】

【Matching target: Pei Yue – Dark Jade Cold Pulse activated state】

【Similarity: 99%】

A “beep—” sounded, the notification tone clearly echoing throughout the hall.

The faces of several elders turned pale.

“What… what does this mean?”

“Shen Yan’s mother was once under the protection of Medicine Valley? And… shares a bloodline connection with the Saintess?”

“If this is true, wouldn’t that make him of orthodox origin? How could he be a Devil Clan spy!”

Xie Wujiu finally changed expression, his fingers subtly moving within his sleeve as he quietly activated the defiled spirit talisman buried in the hall’s formation eye—once detonated, he could immediately frame Pei Yue for losing control of the Demonic Energy within her.

But as soon as he made his move, three sharp “dings” sounded from the ground.

Three silver needles precisely struck the array eye nodes, frost instantly spreading and condensing into a small ice mirror, magnifying and projecting the notification on the phone into the air.

“The evidence you need isn’t just in the code,” Pei Yue gasped, looking around at everyone. “It’s also in my fate.”

Slowly, she raised her hand and pressed it against her chest. “If I truly were a demon seed, I could detonate the residual poison in my body right now and perish with all of you—but I haven’t. Because what I uphold is the way of Medicine Valley, not hatred.”

The entire hall fell silent.

The chief elder slowly rose, his gaze shifting between Shen Yan and Pei Yue before he finally spoke solemnly, “Shen Yan is to be temporarily confined in the quiet chamber beside the Cold Jade Room, under observation for seven days, with no contact allowed with outsiders. Pei Yue must also enter seclusion for self-reflection. Seal the information—no leaks permitted.”

“As ordered,” the attendants around them responded in unison.

Pei Yue, supported by others, turned to leave, her steps unsteady, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, yet her back remained straight.

Shen Yan remained unconscious. As he was carried out of the hall, his fingers curled unconsciously, and his phone screen flickered on and off.

One final line of green text slowly appeared, then quietly vanished:

【Warning: Emotional Variable has rewritten the gene verification protocol—trust is truth.】

As the stretcher passed through the corridor, a gust of wind swept by.

The screen of the phone in his pocket lit up one last time, reflecting Pei Yue’s receding figure.

In the next moment, the screen went dark.

A medicine boy reached out to help him put the phone back into his pocket, his fingertip just touching the device—

“Snap.”

A crisp sound.

The phone’s back cover automatically popped open, and a faintly glowing golden droplet slid out, falling onto the stone floor and instantly turning into a wisp of blue smoke.

The medicine boy was startled and looked down.

Where the droplet had evaporated, the ground was left with an extremely small rune mark, shaped like two intertwined bloodlines or an unfinished code bracket.

Before he could call for anyone,

In the distance, Xie Wujiu stood at the end of the dark corridor, the jade slip in his hand slightly warm as a secret message quietly transmitted beyond the mountains.

(End of Chapter)