But regardless, with the two characters "Shan Luo" written by Lü Jidao before his death, she couldn't clear herself of suspicion.
"Setting aside the possibility of me killing him, just on timing alone, do you think I have the ability to refine medicine and kill someone at the same time? You all saw the thunder last night, right? I was alchemy all night long—do you think I had the time to commit murder?"
Ye Lanshan spoke slowly and deliberately, a faint sneer curling at her lips. Even if someone wanted to frame her, they should at least pick a better time.
At her words, everyone present froze, suddenly recalling the shocking thunder from the previous night. True, at that time, the Valley Master Shan Luo seemed to be refining pills—after all, only she could produce divine pills that summoned thunder, so she simply had no time to kill.
The crowd began murmuring among themselves, their initial belief that Ye Lanshan was the murderer starting to waver. Putting everything else aside, just the timing alone made it impossible for her to have killed Lü Jidao.
"No time to kill, maybe, but you have plenty of people under your command." Luo Yongwu, seeing the crowd's hesitation, gritted his teeth in frustration. This Shan Luo was indeed not easy to deal with.
"Exactly! Last night when I went out, I saw Yundi sneaking into Lü Jidao's courtyard," a young man suddenly said with a careless shrug.
"Are you saying you saw Yundi enter Lü Jidao's courtyard and kill him?" Ye Lanshan remained unhurried and composed, but the slight curl of her lips made her thoughts even harder to read.
"That's right, I saw Yundi go into Lü Jidao's courtyard with my own eyes." The man swallowed nervously, forcing himself to stay calm, but inwardly he felt uneasy. Though Ye Lanshan's eyes held no particular expression, he felt as if she had seen right through him.
"If you saw Yundi enter his courtyard, why didn't you say so earlier? Why bring it up only now when I'm proving my innocence? And if you saw Yundi go into his courtyard back then, why didn't you notice Lü Jidao's brutal death?" Ye Lanshan's words were sharp, and though her demeanor was calm, it carried an inherent authority.
"Well, I didn't think of it at first. If Master Luo hadn't said that, I probably still wouldn't have remembered. Besides, it was late at night—I only glanced and didn't pay much attention. How was I supposed to know this morning that Lü Jidao would end up like this?"
The man pretended to wipe tears with his sleeve, putting on a heartfelt act that convinced most of the crowd.
"What else do you have to say now?" Lü Meng stared at her coldly.
"Hold on, this matter hasn't been fully investigated yet. Don't jump to conclusions too soon. Let's wait for Yundi to come and confront this," Sikong Yanguang said, calming the crowd. He was clearly leaning toward Ye Lanshan's side, but no one could refute him. For now, they had to wait for Yundi to arrive and face the accusations.
"You're saying I killed Lü Jidao?" Yundi laughed at the accusation, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath, as if the idea was utterly ridiculous.
"What's so funny? There's a witness here, so you can't escape," Luo Yongwu bellowed, trying to assert control.
"Oh? Then let me ask you—did you see me kill him with your own eyes?" Yundi's gaze bore into Luo Yongwu, sharp and piercing.
"Setting aside whether we actually saw it, let me ask you—did you go to Lü Jidao's courtyard yesterday or not?" Lü Meng suppressed his anger and asked calmly.
"Yes, I did go to Lü Jidao's courtyard." Yundi admitted it openly, nodding without hesitation.
"There, you've admitted it yourself. So you're saying you didn't kill him? Spill it—why did you do it? Was it Shan Luo who ordered you?" Luo Yongwu was eager to pin the crime on him.
"I only admitted to entering his courtyard, not to killing him. I was chasing an assassin and ended up in his yard by mistake. I didn't even see his face, so how could I have killed him? But Master Luo, you're acting very strange—why are you so desperate to pin Lü Jidao's death on us? Could it be that you killed him yourself, and now you're trying to frame us out of fear of being caught?"
Yundi, being a friend of Ye Lanshan, was no pushover. How could he let Luo Yongwu slander him so easily?
"You—this is utter nonsense! Look at the blood on the ground—it clearly spells out 'Shan Luo' in twisted characters!" Luo Yongwu circled back to that point.
"Ha, if we had killed him, why would we let him write anything? And do you think Lü Jidao, in that miserable state, had the strength to write that word?" Yundi stared darkly at the characters "Shan Luo," which stood like irrefutable evidence, making it hard for them to escape.
"I don't recall us wearing fabric like this." Ye Lanshan seemed to notice something and picked up a thread from the corner of the table. It was a dull brown color, hard to spot, especially such a thin strand.
From this thread, one could imagine the killer's panic—after murdering Lü Jidao, they fled in haste, tearing their clothes on something without even noticing.
"A single thread proves nothing," Luo Yongwu said, surprised that Ye Lanshan had been so observant as to find such a clue in the room.
"It proves nothing, indeed. Elder Lü, could you take me to see Lü Jidao's body again?" Ye Lanshan swept her gaze over Luo Yongwu and the young man. Sikong Cheng must have planted more than just these two in the Medicine Valley.
"Hmph." Lü Meng snorted coldly, and the group shuffled back to where Lü Jidao lay.
"Hair dry and brittle, clothes tattered, covered in wounds—especially severe burn marks. And in his fingernails, we found another brown thread."
So the killer was likely wearing brown clothes.
Following this lead, Ye Lanshan handed the two threads to Lü Meng and said calmly, "The one who killed Lü Jidao might be from Sikong Cheng's side."
She knew that with Lü Meng's abilities, he could certainly find the killer. After all, he was more familiar with the valley's affairs than she was, and he could probably identify who was loyal to Sikong Cheng. If he truly wanted to avenge his disciple, then the murderer of Lü Jidao, along with any accomplices, would not have an easy time.
"Such a clumsy scheme—it seems your father doesn't take me seriously at all," Ye Lanshan remarked, standing beside Sikong Feihe.
"Who told you to be so young? My father probably thinks you're just a greenhorn, not worth his effort. He figures Sikong Feiyu alone can handle you. He never imagined you'd be this formidable. When it comes to scheming, Sikong Feiyu is no match for you."
Even Sikong Feihe sometimes felt that Ye Lanshan was almost inhumanly brilliant—her aura pure and untainted, like a celestial being.
And with her meticulous mind, steady demeanor, and effortless mastery of strategy, coupled with her astonishing talent—becoming a Mystic Divine General and a Divine Alchemist at such a young age—she left no room for anyone else to compete.