Muring Yue paused, sensing Tian Lei's normal reaction. She turned her head toward him, narrowing her eyes. "Wait… do you even know what Dual Cultivation means?"
Tian Lei scratched his head, trying to recall. "A cultivation technique where two people cultivate together… at least, that's what the name says."
Muring Yue's gaze became more intense. "So, you really don't know?" she asked, her voice dripping with a mix of amusement and mockery.
Tian Lei paused. "I mean… it's about cultivating together?" he ventured.
"Dual Cultivation means what you will do on your first wedding night," she replied with a sly grin.
Tian Lei froze. "Wait, that kind of cultivation?"
Muring Yue leaned in closer, her tone lowering. "Yep. It's using Yin and Yang energies together—combining them in harmony. Your Yang energy with someone's Yin energy… and much more," she said teasingly.
Tian Lei blinked, processing. For a moment, a slight blush appeared on his face. "I see… so it's not just about cultivation but about... intimacy, right?"
"Exactly," she replied, her voice softening just a touch. "It's part of the spiritual connection. But if you don't want to know more, that's fine."
Tian Lei shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, it's not like I'm interested in... that kind of cultivation right now."
Soon, Yuyan and Tian Lei descended, arriving at the village. They inquired about the other cultivators who had come with them.
"they said that you two fell in hands of bandits and that they have returned to sect to get more reinforcement," the village chief said, his voice tense.
Yuyan and Tian Lei scoffed at the news. With a quick exchange of glances, they mounted their horses and prepared to leave the village. The village chief watched as they rode off toward the sect.
Within half a day, they returned to the Heavenly Sword Sect, ready to face those bastards who backstabbed them.
Mei Ling, Zhang Wei, and Lin Yue—
These were the three who had betrayed Tian Lei and Yuyan, acting under secret orders from someone within the inner sect. They had spread false reports, claiming the two had fallen into the hands of bandits, hoping to paint them as failures or even have them forgotten.
As Tian Lei and Yuyan returned and approached the sect gate, several disciples gathered around. A senior disciple pointed in surprise. "Halt! Show your idendity!" he demanded.
Tian Lei and Yuyan nodded, dismounting from their horses as they handed over their sect passes at the gate.
The disciple on duty took one look at the passes and froze. "What? These are real?" he muttered in disbelief, glancing back and forth between the documents and the two cultivators standing before him.
Another disciple stepped closer, confused. "But… weren't these two listed as deceased?"
"They must be fake," a third one whispered. "Or forged by someone."
"No," the first disciple said, now visibly shaken. "The seals are authentic. Everything checks out."
More disciples began to gather, murmuring among themselves.
"But they were supposed to be dead!" someone hissed. "Captured by bandits and never seen again!"
Suddenly, an elder arrived, sensing the rising commotion at the sect gate. His expression was stern as he stepped through the crowd. "What is going on here?"
One of the disciples stepped forward hesitantly. "Elder… it's Tian Lei and Yuyan. They've returned. Alive."
The elder's brows furrowed as he studied the pair. His gaze sharpened. "Weren't tyou two supposed to be dead? The other three who went with you two reported your deaths!"
Yuyan stepped forward, her expression calm but there was undelyiung fury to them. "Elder, it was them. They betrayed us. They backstabbed us and colluded with the bandits," she said clearly. "We survived after falling from a cliff, recovered in a nearby village, and during that time, we gained a breakthrough. We've now reached the peak of Body Forging Realm and then kiled those vabsist ."
She even tok out frozen heads oif bandit leader to show proof.
The elder's face froze as he absorbed her words and as he looked at the frozen svered heads. After a long pause, he nodded solemnly. "Guards," he called out sharply, "summon Discipline Hall immediately and bring those three—Mei Ling, Zhang Wei, and Lin Yue. As for you two, come with me."
Tian Lei and Yuyan followed him into the sect's inner grounds, where the Discipline hall is located
Meanwhile, in a quiet courtyard within the sect, the three traitors were cultivating, unaware of the storm about to descend. Moments later, members of the Discipline Hall burst in and surrounded them. Before they could react, they were restrained and dragged away under the watchful eyes of senior disciples and outer sect members alike.
Whispers quickly spread across the sect.
"They betrayed their teammates?"
"Framing fellow disciples? That's a serious crime!"
The buzz of gossip built like thunder as word of their arrest and Tian Lei's return rippled through the sect.
Soon, in the austere halls of the Discipline Court, dozens of elders and senior disciples gathered. The atmosphere was tense. The Sect Master had taken a seat at the high platform, flanked by several inner sect elders. Tian Lei and Yuyan stood calmly to one side, while Mei Ling, Zhang Wei, and Lin Yue were kneeling before the court, their hands bound by sealing talismans.
The Sect Master's eyes were sharp, like swords ready to be drawn. "You three stand accused of abandoning your fellow disciples during a sect mission, submitting false reports of their deaths, and colluding with bandits. What say you?"
Mei Ling was the first to speak, panic in her voice. "Sect Master, it's a misunderstanding! We were ambushed, and we truly believed they were dead. We fled for survival!"
Zhang Wei quickly added, "Yes, we barely escaped ourselves! We reported what we saw!"
Yuyan stepped forward. Her gaze was cold and unwavering. "Lies. You had time to run, but you also had time to take the mission scrolls and tokens. You knew we were alive—your plan was to let us die so you could gain credit or avoid the blame for failure."
"Not only that," Tian Lei said as he stepped forward, voice cold and steady, "they backstabbed us—literally. They drove their swords into our backs and mocked us while doing it. They even claimed it was under the orders of someone from the inner sect."
The Sect Master's face darkened.
He looked down at the three accused, his voice like thunder. "Never in the history of our Heavenly Sword Sect—one of the greatest sects in the Five Heavenly Regions—have we witnessed such disgrace."