The crowd listened in silence, simply watching the Crow, waiting for him to continue.

Of course, the Crow was eager to go on. Finally finding an outlet, he wanted to say as much as he could. Moreover, Ye Tianfan and the others were all Taichu Sect disciples. If they believed him, perhaps he could salvage his reputation, or even better, they might denounce his heartless apprentice who had betrayed him.

The Crow had almost no strength left. Even if he healed his meridians and resumed cultivation, his talents were far inferior to what they once were, giving him no hope of achieving revenge in this lifetime.

If these righteous disciples heard of his plight, maybe they would avenge him. Maybe, just maybe, right?

So the Crow continued, "I was truly desperate at that time. Never did I expect my apprentice would treat me like this. First, he crippled me and then left a trace of his Spiritual Power in me to keep me barely alive, dangling me at his doorstep while pretending to be out training. He left me to hang for over three months. Just think, who goes on a journey and takes their entire household, even servants, with them? Does that sound like training?"

Ye Tianfan, not knowing the full story, refrained from commenting, but Senior Brother Yun Tian found the reasoning sensible. If it was truly training, why would he bring along the whole family, causing the Crow to be suspended for three whole months?

"After he released me, he asked if I knew where the Myriad Thunder Moves was. When I refused to tell, he continued to torture me, using more Spiritual Power just to keep me from dying, and I hated him for it. Finally, seeing that I would rather die than speak, he slaughtered people resembling his family right before my eyes, then abandoned me in a desolate field. Knowing how much I valued my reputation, he used such a method to ruin it completely," the Crow said tearfully.

Senior Brother Yun Tian spoke, "These are old grievances; I can't confirm whether what you're saying is true. For now, we'll set aside the past. Just tell us why you're here. Are you behind the zombies in this small town?"

"No, it's not me. I'm here to investigate this as well!" the Crow denied immediately.

"Investigate? What are you investigating?" Senior Brother Yun Tian was puzzled by what the Crow was after. Although he used to be a very righteous man, after the incident, he had been automatically associated with the dark side. Therefore, Senior Brother Yun Tian couldn't fathom what he could be investigating.

"I'm here to trace the origin of these zombies. I suspect it's linked to the Thunderbolt Sparrow, and I need evidence to accuse him in front of you righteous ones," the Crow explained.

"Thunderbolt Sparrow? Why suspect him?" Senior Brother Yun Tian was baffled. How could he be involved?

"Are you trying to frame him because of a grudge?" Yun Tian was still skeptical of the Crow. Naturally, one can't just take someone's word without evidence.

"How could I? The reason I suspect the Thunderbolt Sparrow is because he is the current Hall Master of the Demon Path Corpse Refinement Hall. I suspect these zombies are linked to the new Corpse Control Powder he's developed. That's why I'm here, looking for clues and hoping to find evidence," the Crow revealed the real identity of Thunderbolt Sparrow.

"What? The Hall Master Dong Xing of the Corpse Refinement Hall is him?" Yun Tian asked in surprise.

"Yes, it's as you imagined. It's him. If you don't believe it, just think about any evidence of his existence before he was sixty," the Crow responded.

Yun Tian thought carefully about Dong Xing's information. It seemed that when he debuted, he was already over sixty, and indeed, there were no records of his deeds before then, only after.

But Yun Tian quickly stopped dwelling on it. It was pointless now; they should report this to the sect. Dong Xing was a formidable opponent, at the Hundred Convergence level. How could just a few of them handle such a strong adversary? That's ridiculous. Moreover, their task this time was not to besiege the Corpse Refinement Hall but to uncover the truth about the zombies.

"Have you discovered anything yet?" Yun Tian asked Crow.

The Crow hesitated as he looked at Senior Brother Yun Tian, but maybe believing him to be his hope for revenge, he spoke, "Yes, their bodies come from the basement of the mayor's mansion in the center of Copper Gong Town. I often see zombies being thrown out from there."

"Is that so?" Senior Brother Yun Tian decided to check it out, dividing everyone into two teams. Bai Feng and others formed one team, while Ye Tianfan joined Senior Brother Yun Tian. Bai Feng's group stayed behind to watch the Crow, ensuring he didn't escape; whereas Ye Tianfan went with Senior Brother Yun Tian to probe the mayor's mansion, leveraging their higher strength and quality of Magical Treasure for safety.

Ye Tianfan nodded at the arrangement. Teaming up with Senior Brother Yun Tian guaranteed safety, even if they encountered a Hundred Convergence level being. While escape wasn't a certainty, at least one of them should make it out.

After assigning the tasks, Senior Brother Yun Tian immediately summoned his Flying Sword and headed towards the town center, with Ye Tianfan following closely behind.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the town center. Senior Brother Yun Tian left his Qilin Seal behind with those watching the Crow. If the Crow had any hidden tricks or cast an Illusion Technique, without the seal's suppression, their people would be like lambs to the slaughter, which is why he left it there.

Besides, Ye Tianfan had two Defensive Magical Treasures that could be relied upon upfront.

"Junior Brother Tianfan, summon your Xuanhuang Tower, and let's go in together." Senior Brother Yun Tian instructed Ye Tianfan to bring out the Xuanhuang Tower since they wouldn't enter without ensuring safety. Who knew if there were any traps inside?

Ye Tianfan nodded, then invoked the Xuanhuang Tower to front their path. For added security, he also summoned the Xuanlong Seal. Though a significant amount of Demonic Qi still lingered on the Xuanlong Seal, it was now significantly less than before.

Using the Xuanlong Seal in the short term wouldn't contaminate Ye Tianfan's Spiritual Power.

However, Ye Tianfan refrained from placing the Xuanlong Seal above his head, instead allowing it to float beside him, ready to be deployed at any moment.

Ye Tianfan didn't believe that any ambush could break through two layers of defense at once.

Should both defenses be shattered by a single strike, he would concede, acknowledging it would at least be a level beyond Hundred Convergence, at which point, fighting is futile, surrender would be the only option.

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