Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 478 - 475: Hearsay Becomes Believed by Many

Chapter 478: Chapter 475: Hearsay Becomes Believed by Many

On Huotong Mountain was the outer palace of the Dragon and Tiger Temple.

On another neighboring peak, a regional assembly of cultivators in Liangzhou, known as the Dragon and Tiger Meeting, took place.

This property, belonging to the Dragon and Tiger Temple, relied on solid financial strength and exceptional martial power for protection. In the land of Liangzhou, it existed like a territorial tiger.

Neither the "Cloud Tower Ghost Market," "Netherworld Square," nor "Wealth Qi Tower" could dare challenge its prestige.

The cold wind was biting, and snowflakes fluttered around.

In an elegant and tranquil teahouse at that place, two people were sitting around a stove.

One, a handsome young monk in moon-white robes with red lips and white teeth, and the other, a bright girl in a water-green silk dress and matching embroidered shoes.

Inside the teahouse, there were monks, Taoists, and laypeople. Aside from these two being exceptionally eye-catching for their stunning looks and overly affectionate behavior, they didn’t particularly draw attention.

Rather, it was those maidens with beast ears and forked tongues that captured more of the tea drinkers’ interest.

"Xiao Yuan, you’ve been looking for a long time. Is there really something wrong with Dragon and Tiger Temple’s mountain gate?"

The girl, one hand propping her cheek and the other lazily stirring the small clay stove in front of her with a fire tong.

A pot of spiritual tea bubbled gradually to a boil while a few rice cakes, prepared to accompany the tea, turned fragrantly tempting on the iron net.

The two were none other than Huang Wu and Wang Yuan, who was in his last "No-Life Dao" vestment of the Golden Cicada, meticulously disguised to avoid scaring others by seeming like a corpse.

Wang Yuan held a teacup, yet his gaze was fixed on the vast expanse of snowy mountains, murmuring:

"The arrangement of government officials, the Dragon and Tiger join the Beidou, brothers united with no hidden worries. Eight thousand mornings encircle a thousand streams, timber and spirit abundantly gather in a grand scheme.

The Dragon and Tiger Temple owned one of the foremost dragon veins in the world. With just minor repairs, they had established an excellent formation known as "Gathering Heaven Heart" upon it.

Gathering the essence of spirit and young talents, the Tao lineage could only grow more prosperous.

And a temple, a palace, and twenty-four gates mostly located on this auspicious prospering dragon, formed the nodes of the overall formation.

Even if sites of spiritual nexus were occupied in advance by his sect, those were the paths of the Iron Coffin Dao and Poison God Dao, both of which had produced numerous "Immortal Officials."

As long as the will of the people along this dragon vein remained stable overall, the formation would operate without any issues.

But why did this "Tribulation Energy" suddenly begin to gather on Huotong Mountain?"

Beneath such a major calamity, the margin for error in divinations grew greater, yet the overhead "Tribulation Energy" remained unaffected.

When circumstances became unbalanced, sliding towards a worse state, there naturally occurred a Heavenly People Perception between Wang Yuan and the Heavenly Dao.

He could accurately foresee any disaster, leaving no chance for him to hide away in the Yin Department.

Regrettably, despite deep contemplation, Wang Yuan failed to discern the clues and had not noticed Huang Wu’s question until she tugged at him, bringing him back to his senses.

Just then, he heard people talking in the teahouse.

"Fellow Taoists, have you heard? The villain Yuan Suifeng has already been captured alive by the Dragon and Tiger Temple."

Slap!

Someone slammed the table violently.

"Captured alive? What for? Why didn’t they execute that villain on the spot?

Yuan Suifeng killed my senior brother. The debt of blood must be paid in blood!"

Another voice spoke, shrouded in mystery:

"Don’t you know this? I’ve heard that Yuan Suifeng is not only the most favored disciple of the Yellow Dragon Sage but also his... illegitimate son!"

"Illegitimate son? Is that true?"

"Absolutely! I heard that although Yuan Suifeng made a grave mistake,

the old Yellow Dragon not only did not exercise righteousness over kinship, he also intends to use the treasured heirloom ’Yellow Dragon Mace’ to rescue him, preparing to let him inherit the position of Sect Master,

turning this ’Dragon and Tiger Temple’ into a hereditary temple for his descendants!"

"How could this be? Yuan Suifeng has killed many talented youths from various sects, not sparing many of his own fellow disciples.

Hiss! Could it be...

that he was actually operating under Yellow Dragon’s orders, conspiring father and son, to eliminate competitors for succession?"

"This fellow Taoist speaks wisely.

They just need to quietly maneuver and shift all the infamy onto some ’Weird’ entity, thus cleansing themselves completely.

Later, as victims, they can take over the position of Sect Master Marshal without opposition.

The old Yellow Dragon really has played a clever game!"

"We even sent our elite disciples to help them capture the rebel, and this old man was clearly scheming against us! We cannot let this go!"

"If they can’t satisfy us, we will just destroy their temple platform!"

"..."

Wang Yuan and Huang Wu also couldn’t help but perk up their ears, attentively listening to this gossip-filled chatter, and the more they listened, the more it seemed to make sense.

"So that’s it, no wonder it seemed like there was something unsaid, I..."

At this moment, the "Small Book of Life and Death" suddenly emitted a halo of black and white divine light, enveloping the two of them within.

Hiss––!

It felt as though someone had stuffed a handful of snow down their collars, instantly clarifying their vision.

As if awakening from a dream, they immediately realized that this hearsay, although possible,

was wholly based on the premise that the "illegitimate child was real," concocted and conjectured from shady speculations by several individuals.

All was based on "I heard," lacking any solid evidence and hardly convincing.

Just as Wang Yuan turned to look at the other customers in the teahouse, his indigo pupils slightly contracted.

"This is..."

This glance was significant; through the eyes of Unsightly Observation, he saw next to every table in the teahouse a weird figure standing prominently.

Though generally human in form, they each bore a shoulder with three tiger heads.

The three mouths murmured and whispered incessantly.

Especially during other’s discussions, they occasionally interjected, guiding the direction of thoughts, speaking weird human speech, conversing in human terms but with weird meanings.

And then their ethereal, transparent figures, akin to invisible pieces of information, split into two, then into four, four into eight...

They spread without any cap through the whole of Liangzhou, at the small meetings at the Dragon and Tiger Temple, at White Dragon Mountain, and within all the Tao Lineages involved in the "Array・Gathering Heaven Heart".

The whole scene unfolded in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Both the Iron Coffin Dao and the Poison God Dao, neighbors that had supported the Dragon Elephant Dao loyally for thousands of years, were caught up in this as well.

Even the Green Seal Sages within their sects began to waver, and even those whose resistance far exceeded that of ordinary people could hardly help but doubt Yellow Dragon’s intentions.

Even within the Dragon and Tiger Temple internal discord was brewing, significantly weakening the unity.

This alignment of the Dragon Elephant Dao’s array, ley lines, and the human willpower connected everything in heaven, earth, and humanity, benefiting all mutually.

At this moment, to divide the people’s hearts was to also divide the power of Hutong Cave Heaven.

What was more terrifying,

was that everyone, caught in the throes of calamity with tribulation energy seeping into their brains, was completely unaware that they were actually speaking to a Weird.

Only Wang Yuan, protected by the "Small Book of Life and Death" and aided by the "Eyes Colored Deep Indigo", could sense their presence.

"Heart Communication Conch" spoke into his ear:

"[Weird·Three Men Make a Tiger]: Originally a metaphor that illustrates how repeated claims by many can turn a rumor into perceived fact.

It shares some clever tricks with the "Tongue Blossoms Aspect".

Just need nine truths to one lie, continuously repeating it can convince the other party of the speaker’s narrative.

Even those of high realm, after hearing it several times from different people, can be influenced to a certain degree.

Even using those nine truths to craft an enticing rhetoric, it can lead the masses to complete the idea themselves, ultimately deceiving themselves.

’Three Men Make a Tiger’ then spreads by ’Word of Mouth’, positioning oneself in an unbeatable situation."

Wang Yuan suddenly stood up, eyes scanning the increasingly disordered aura among the surrounding mountains.

"Yellow Heaven Righteous Dao has made its move!"

From this, he confirmed that the traitor in the Dragon Elephant Dao was not the target of the rumor attack—Sect Master Marshal Yellow Dragon.

Regrettably, under the suspicious circumstances, even if the illegitimate child were true, he could not clarify the constructions of the people even with a hundred mouths.

It is always easier to spread rumors than to refute them.

Coming from an age of information, Wang Yuan knew too well the power of cyber violence and rumors.

This mere Weird, if used correctly, could be as effective as an army of thousands, more effective than a hundred thousand soldiers of the "Heavenly Water Army".

Moreover,

Spreading deceptive rumors was indeed the forte of the "Yellow Heaven Righteous Dao" back in the day.

The "Yellow Heaven Righteous Dao", which first cried out "The Blue Sky is Dead, Yellow Heaven is Rising" 1600 years ago, was truly the best at inciting rebellion in the mortal realm.

In comparison,

the No-Life Dao, which called out "When Buddha descends, Ming King is born. Change the heavens and earth, create Qiankun!" and "Don’t say the Stone Man has but one eye, for it stirs the Turbid River and rebels against the world," is merely a junior.

The latter has [Singing Rhyme Child] specifically targeting humanity.

The former naturally has its own heavy-duty weapon against humanity, always ready to exploit any crack.

Meanwhile, at the base of White Dragon Mountain.

Facing the pointed questioning by Sage Yuxiang, Yellow Dragon, already in a heavy mood, looked even more upset.

Twenty years ago, feeling trapped and with little time, Yellow Dragon bloomed late in life, fathering a son with a mortal woman.

It’s not that he didn’t want to have children with Lady Jiao or Lady Hu, but the higher their realms, the harder it was to conceive.

This is akin to apex predators at the top of the food chain always being fewer than those at the bottom.

With a Taishang above him, preventing further pursuit of immortality,

he naturally reverted to mortal thinking, wishing for a lineage to continue, ideally inheriting his position as Sect Master Marshal.

This is all human emotion.

If it weren’t for this disaster, Yuan Suifeng was supposed to be the most likely to become Green Seal and take over the Sect Master position from the Dragon and Tiger Temple.

Yellow Dragon had intended to make this process more legitimate, beyond reproach, thus deliberately concealing his relationship with Yuan Suifeng.

Yet he believed that he had not jeopardized the interests of the Tao Lineage or oppressed other disciples.

Since everything had now turned to dust, he simply admitted it.

"Suifeng is indeed my son!"

But just when Yellow Dragon himself admitted,

Sage Yuxiang’s face broke into a triumphant smile.

Behind him, an unusually massive form of "Three Men Make a Tiger" abruptly materialized and then explosively dispersed into hundreds, even thousands of figures, all crying out:

"He admitted it!" "He admitted it!" ...

Spreading like "mass messaging" in every direction.

As Yellow Dragon’s spirits plummeted, he finally realized something was amiss, his gaze sharpening abruptly.

"Junior Brother Yuxiang, what are you doing?!"

Yuxiang did not reply or take the opportunity to attack. As a "Dharma Image" Sage, it was impossible for Yuxiang to ambush him.

Instead, he and the prepared Sage Changlu quickly retreated, heading for the opposing camp.

Meanwhile, the effort he spent in discovering the secret of the illegitimate child, secretly harming Yuan Suifeng, and gradually leading him astray finally paid off.

With the "testimony of the party involved" as reinforcement, the power of the rumors fully detonated.

Boom—!

The ley lines beneath tremored violently, Gathering Heaven Heart malfunctioned, and the power transmitted from Hutong Cave Heaven sharply decreased.

To make matters worse,

with the deeply concealed betrayal of Manxiang Palace, which knew every secret of the Dragon Elephant Dao,

the original situation of six against six suddenly shifted to four against eight!