"This Mu Yukong, who is he?" Mu Xuefeng asked Mu Chen after he finished giving instructions to one of the attendants. Someone like him wouldn't care to know about someone unremarkable like Mu Yukong.

"He used to be my attendant." Mu Chen shrugged. "When I became a core member and moved into the inner sanctum, he came to me and offered to be my servant."

Mu Chen sighed as he recalled the past. Mu Chen had always suspected the bandit attack on him. But he had thought that even if it had been an assassination attempt, it must have been from some rival family. When he saw Mu Yukong a few days ago, he understood. Mu Chen was almost certain that Mu Yukong had leaked his information allowing his enemy to stage an attack. He had treated Mu Yukong with honesty, yet he had betrayed him. Then the question remained whether the real mastermind was someone from the Family or outside. After the recent assassination attempt, he didn't have much doubt. Since the recent assassination attempt was from someone within the Mu Family, it was very likely that the first one was also from someone within the Family.

Mu Xuefeng didn't ask any more questions. Silence once again dominated the hall. Of course, it was only silent for Mu Chen. The elders had switched to using their divine sense for communication.

Mu Chen himself didn't have anything else to speak about, so he distracted himself by observing the carvings on the pillars and the walls of the Elder Hall. These were the records of the Mu Family's history and glory and had been carved since the establishment of the Mu Family.

Fortunately, Mu Chen didn't have to wait too long. The door of the hall was pushed open and the attendant entered pulling Mu Yukong with him.

Mu Yukong looked very nervous. Mu Chen noticed that he seemed a bit thinner and his presence had diminished quite a bit. It was probably because of the injury Mu Chen had dealt him. It had destroyed his pride as a man.

The attendant brought Mu Yukong next to Mu Chen. Mu Yukong had already recognized Mu Chen as he was brought in. After bringing Mu Yukong, the attendant quickly left.

"Mu...Chen…you..." Mu Yukong's eyes burned with anger and he spat the words through his clenched jaws. But with all the top figures of the Mu Family around, he didn't dare to do anything.

"Huh? Did you say something? Don't you know it's the custom to greet the Patriarch first?" Mu Chen mocked.

Mu Chen's words made Mu Yukong panic. "P-Patriarch!!" Mu Yukong bowed towards the Patriarch in haste as he stood nervously next to Mu Chen. He didn't know why he had been brought here. But he had been forcibly brought here without any explanation or opportunity to resist, making him realize the situation was quite serious. Thin beads of sweat had already formed on his forehead.

Mu Xuefeng lazily waved his hand in acknowledgment. But soon his demeanor changed and he glared at Mu Yukong.

"Are you Mu Yukong?" Mu Xuefeng asked as he scrutinized Mu Yukong. It was no wonder he had never heard of this person before. Mu Yukong was already over twenty-seven years of age. He was only Spirit Condensation, but that too seemed to be a forced breakthrough rather than a natural one.

"Y-Yes...I'm Mu Yukong." Mu Yukong hastily replied.

"Do you know why you have been brought here?"

"If he knew, wouldn't he have already run away?" Mu Chen muttered in a low voice, causing a few elders to chuckle. Mu Xuefeng scowled at him.

"I-I don't know…" Mu Yukong said as he looked at Mu Chen. If eyes could kill, Mu Chen was sure he would have met gruesome death dozens of times by now.

"Mu Chen has accused you of betraying the faith of the Mu Family and going against its dogma. He suspects that you were involved in the bandit attack that happened over a year ago. So he has requested that you undergo the Trail of Truth." Mu Xuefeng said.

"L-lies!! He is lying!! I never did anything like that. Believe me, Patriarch...Elders!" Mu Yukong cried out. Then he turned towards Mu Chen. "Mu Chen! Just because you were jealous that I broke through, you falsely accused me!! I never thought you were such a lowly person..."

"Do I need to be jealous of an eunuch?" Mu Chen sneered.

"Bastard! You—" Mu Yukong roared as Mu Chen's words touched his sore spot.

"The Council has approved." Mu Xuefeng said. His words caused Mu Yukong to shut up like a dumb chicken for a while. His face turned pale as if all the blood had been drained.

"P-Patriarch! Elders! Y-you can't do this to me! I-it isn't fair!" Mu Yukong knelt on both his knees in their direction and pleaded. "I'm innocent!"

"If you are truly innocent, Mu Chen has agreed to compensate with his life." Mu Xuefeng said. "The Mu Family will also compensate you. But this matter is very serious and cannot be glossed over...Elders! Please!"

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Mu Yukong felt all his life had been sucked out of him. He never thought Mu Chen would bet his life, just to ensure he would have to face the Trail of Truth. He was so shocked that he didn't even notice when two of the elders silently appeared next to him.

Mu Chen distanced himself once he saw the elders make a move. Despite his calm exterior, he was also very nervous. He was very confident in his deduction, but if by chance he was wrong, he might end up getting himself killed.

Mu Yukong began trembling once he realized that two of the elders were already beside him. They were the elders Mu Chang and Mu Qiang.

"P-please…" Mu Yukong begged. However, both the elders remained expressionless.

Mu Chang and Mu Qiang grabbed Mu Yukong by his shoulder. Mu Yukong's body turned completely rigid as every bit of his movement was restrained. Even his eyelids stopped blinking. It looked like he had turned into a living statue.

Mu Chen watched with both interest and nervousness. This was the first time he was seeing this technique executed. He had only heard of it before. The principles behind the technique itself weren't hard to understand. One of the elders was completely suppressing Mu Yukong's cultivation. The other was hammering his spirit with his divine sense.

Under the consistent impact of divine sense, the victim would eventually lose his will and his spirit would become sluggish. At that time, the attacking divine sense could infiltrate the victim's spirit and hijack it. Once the spirit was seized, the attacker could sneak his own thoughts into the victim's mind. Because his spirit was seized, the victim would not be able to distinguish his thoughts from someone else's. At this point, it was just a trivial matter to trick the victim into disclosing even his darkest secrets.

Under normal circumstances, the spirit and consciousness would naturally reject the existence of any foreign element, because such existence was detrimental. But since the technique relied on invading the victim's spirit and consciousness, it would leave lasting effects on him.

In crude terms, this was no different than physically beating the truth out of a person's mouth. Depending on how severe the beating was, it could leave the victim handicapped.

Mu Chen watched with expectation as he saw the elders perform the Trial of Truth on Mu Yukong. Although it looked like nothing was happening, he knew currently Mu Yukong was struggling against one of the elders' divine sense.

In just a few minutes, Great Elder Mu Chang nodded towards Great Elder Mu Qiang. Elder Mu Qiang withdrew his hand from Mu Yukong's. Mu Yukong stiff expression slowly disappeared, replaced with an idiotic expression. His tongue lolled out and he even started drooling.

"It's done!" Great Elder Mu Chang informed the Patriarch.

Mu Xuefeng nodded towards elder Mu Chang. "Since it is your life that is on the line, you can question him." Mu Xuefeng said to Mu Chen.

Mu Chen looked at elder Mu Chang.

"You may ask him anything and he will reply with the truth." Great Elder Mu Chang nodded. "As a Great Elder, I can assure you that I will not manipulate the interrogation in any or whatever form."

Mu Chang made a promise. In the end, it was only the user of the technique who could be certain of the truth. If others wished to know something, they would have to pass their questions to the user, who would in turn ask the victim. The victim was tricked into speaking out the truth by the user of the technique. So the user of the technique could ask a different question instead of the intended one, thus getting a different answer.

Mu Chen took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself. With Great Elder Mu Chang's guarantee, he could be assured. After all, Great Elder Mu Chang was one of the oldest and most impartial elders on the Council.

"What is your name?" Mu Chen asked Mu Yukong, who was in a trance.

"Mu...Yukong." Mu Yukong replied. His voice was low and his manner of speech was slow, as if he was talking in his sleep.

"When I became a core member, why did you approach me? Did someone send you?" Mu Chen's heart began to beat a bit faster as he asked his question.

"It was...my own...choice. You were talented...My future...would have better...prospects...if I served...under you." Mu Yukong answered.

Hearing Mu Yukong's answer, several of the elders just shook their heads. Most of the family members who lacked prospects would willingly serve under talented individuals, it was rather common.

But it caused Mu Chen to be perplexed, because he did not expect such an answer. He had been guessing that Mu Yukong was sent to spy on him. Could it be that Mu Yukong was innocent?

No! Wait! Even if Mu Yukong was sincere in the beginning regarding being his attendant, it didn't mean he was loyal throughout, Mu Chen thought. Although, his deduction was slightly off, that did not mean he was completely wrong. In a way, this was much worse than him being a spy since the beginning.

"Tell me, a year ago when I was attacked by the bandits...did you tell others about which route I was going to take?" Mu Chen once again asked.

That time, Mu Chen had decided to dive a bit deeper into the Dark Forest on his own. So he had separated from Zhou Mei and Mu Yukong. In order to convince Zhou Mei that he had taken all necessary precautions, he ended up discussing all his plans in detail. Mu Yukong was also close by listening.

"Yes…" Mu Yukong's answer immediately made several of the elders change colors. But Mu Yukong was still speaking, so they maintained silence.

"...I was offered a Realm Breakthrough Pill. So I informed them about Mu Chen..." Mu Yukong said. Realm Breakthrough Pill was a cultivation pill that could help a cultivator forcefully break through a cultivation realm. Although it only worked at lower levels and had some side-effects, it was still very coveted by many cultivators. But it was difficult to concoct the pill and the materials were hard to find, making it very valuable.

Mu Yukong's confession confirmed part of Mu Chen's guess. All the elders, and even Mu Xuefeng felt vexed and incredulous. The future of a genius of the Mu Family was destroyed because of the greed of a person from the family itself.

The tension within the room soon became palpable, because Mu Chen's next question would expose the true culprit.

Mu Chen was also a bit thrilled, because his guess was correct. His bet paid off.

"Tell me?! Who was it? Who did you help plot against me?" Mu Chen was a bit agitated. With the Council of Elders present, even if it was Mu Xuefeng, he wouldn't be able to protect that person.

"I didn't know...who it was…at that time..." Mu Yukong said, causing Mu Chen's enthusiasm to be immediately deflated.

"...but I found out...later" Mu Yukong's next words once again rekindled Mu Chen's excitement. "...it was Mu—"

Mu Yukong froze. His eyes became bright and clear. That sloppy expression of his disappeared, as if awakened from a long dream. But soon after, it was replaced by one filled with panic and desperation.

"Save...me!" Mu Yukong groaned as he grabbed his chest. His eyes had turned wide in shock and horror. His body turned limp as he fell.