Chapter 1888 — 1888: Exposing Bai Zhan's Crimes

Once the wooden box was in his grasp, Elder Bai swallowed nervously, his fingers tightening around the edges as he stared at it in silence.

Despite the many protective arrays guarding the box, to Elder Bai, they were nothing but child's play—a minor inconvenience at best. After a moment of silence, he deactivated all of the arrays and opened the wooden box, revealing another object inside.

"A spatial ring?" he muttered with raised eyebrows.

He turned to look at Yuan and asked, "What is this? How is this evidence?"

"With all due respect, why don't you take a look inside that spatial ring first?" Yuan calmly responded.

"Hmph."

Elder Bai gave a cold snort before looking inside the spatial ring with his divine sense.

The moment his consciousness touched the contents inside, his expression froze.

"T-This is—?!"

His eyes widened in shock, and in the span of a breath, that shock twisted into horror. His face drained of color, his fingers trembling slightly as he pulled his divine sense away, as if he had been burned.

Seeing Elder Bai's reaction, Yuan narrowed his eyes and spoke, "I can assume that I've proven myself, right?"

"T-This doesn't prove anything! How do I know that this was truly done by my grandson?! For all I know, you could've planted this evidence here!"

Yuan sneered, "This is my first time entering this place, so how could I have planted the evidence?"

"Then how did you know about this evidence?!" Elder Bai roared.

If Yuan had never been to Bai Zhan's Immortal Cave, how did he know about the wooden box and Bai Zhan's spatial ring? This didn't make any sense to Elder Bai.

Yuan shrugged, "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Try me!"

After a moment of silence, Yuan spoke with a smile, "I came from the future."

"Y-You what?" Elder Bai's eyes widened with disbelief at Yuan's outrageous and delusional claim.

"See? I told you that you wouldn't believe me." Yuan sighed as he shook his head.

"Anyway, I have already given you the proof that Bai Zhan was never a good guy. If you still don't believe me, there's nothing I can do but accept my death."

Elder Bai gritted his teeth in silence.

Eventually, he said, "I will spare you… at least until I finish my investigation, so don't think for a second that you're free yet."

"I understand."

"You are also prohibited from leaving the sect until then," Elder Bai added.

"I wouldn't be able to go anywhere even if I wanted to as an Outer Court disciple," Yuan shrugged.

Elder Bai glared at him before speaking in a commanding tone, "Get out of my sight."

Yuan didn't say another word and immediately left Bai Zhan's Immortal Cave.

Once Yuan left, Elder Bai fell to his knees and began puking.

"Bai Zhan… please tell me this isn't true… that you didn't do these horrific acts…" he muttered with a desperate look on his face.

Sometime later, Elder Bai sealed Bai Zhan's Immortal Cave and returned to his own living quarters. Inside, he retrieved Bai Zhan's spatial ring and, with a flick of his wrist, dumped its contents onto the cold floor.

Thud.

A series of dull impacts echoed through the room.

Bodies.

Several human bodies lay sprawled across the floor, eerily motionless. At a glance, they appeared healthy, as though they were simply sleeping. However, spatial rings are not capable of containing living beings, so these people were already dead.

Elder Bai stood rigid, staring at the lifeless figures before him, his mind a storm of emotions.

These weren't just random people. They were all wearing the Immortal Monastery's Outer Court uniform, and Elder Bai even recognized some of their faces—but not because they were prominent disciples.

"They are all female disciples who went missing many years ago…" Elder Bai trembled as he muttered this to himself.

The fact these missing disciples' corpses were found inside Bai Zhan's Immortal Cave could only mean that he was involved in their disappearance and death.

After mentally preparing himself, Elder Bai began examining these corpses' condition. It didn't take long for him to find evidence that linked them to Bai Zhan.

To his horror, these corpses had been defiled. Not only had they been defiled, but Elder Bai could find Bai Zhan's bodily substance still inside their body.

Since these corpses had been stored inside a spatial ring, which perfectly preserved everything, this meant Bai Zhan's substance was still fresh, as if it had only recently been produced.

As for the identity of the substance's producer, Elder Bai didn't even need it to be examined to know it belonged to Bai Zhan because it contained Bai Zhan's unique spiritual energy.

When Elder Bai reached this point, he could no longer continue being in denial and had to admit that Bai Zhan was responsible. After all, unless Yuan had somehow acquired Bai Zhan's bodily substance and planted it inside these corpses, there was zero chance Yuan could've framed Bai Zhan.

After examining the corpses, Elder Bai turned his attention to the pile of clothes that came out with the bodies. They were all clothes meant for females, and Elder Bai could only think of one reason why Bai Zhan would have them.

"He was most likely dressing the corpses up and treating them as if they were dolls…"

After putting the pieces together, Elder Bai stood in utter silence.

His gaze remained fixed on the corpses strewn across the cold floor, his mind whirling as the truth settled in—a truth he had never imagined, never wanted to believe.

The realization felt like a blade twisting in his chest.

His beloved grandson, Bai Zhan, had not been the righteous, honorable cultivator he had so fiercely believed in all these years. He had been hiding something monstrous—something that no excuse could justify.

The pain of betrayal burned hotter than anything he had ever known.

Then, without warning—

BOOM!

Elder Bai's rage erupted like a violent storm, his spiritual energy surging uncontrollably. The very air trembled, his overwhelming power causing the walls of his quarters to crack under the sheer force of his fury despite the defensive formations placed on them.

"Bai Zhan, you shameful bastard! You're lucky that you're already dead, or I would've killed you myself!" His voice thundered, filled with grief, fury, and unbearable shame.