The quiet murmurs exploded into a cacophony of voices. Sect leaders, and disciples, speaking over one another until the banquet hall was filled with unintelligible noise. There were small snippets that Luo Qingyang could pick out. Outraged gasps. At least one particularly loud voice demanded to know who this person was. Luo Qingyang made sure to keep her breaths steady despite her nerves.

She had seceded from her sect. She had seceded from her sect. Luo Qingyang carefully breathed through the panic. Nie Huaisang had warned her it might be necessary, but some part of her hadn't really thought she would need to follow through with it. Sure, she wasn't an inner disciple, but she was still one of the best disciples in her sect.  She had brought more contributions to the war than even her sect leader. Luo Qingyang thought her sect would back her up. It stung to learn that their support ended as soon as it became inconvenient for them.

"A rogue cultivator has even less right to demand the attention of the gathered sect leaders. Not to mention the preposterous claim that you are bringing in Sandu Shengshou's killer, when multiple witnesses clearly saw that it was Wei Wuxian who cut Sect Leader Jiang down." Jin Guangshan said with narrowed eyes.

Luo Qingyang's eyes narrowed slightly. Sure, it looked like Wei Wuxian had been the one to kill Jiang Wanyin. The mirrors and notes in her qiankun pouch suggested otherwise. Luo Qingyang tensed as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Jin Guangyao had motioned several guards to step forward, presumably to escort Luo Qingyang from the hall. Luo Qingyang had barely opened her mouth to make her case when Yanli spoke.

"I wish to hear what Luo Qingyang has to say." Yanli's voice carried through the room. The guards that had begun to step forward hesitated and Luo Qingyang allowed her gaze to turn to the woman dressed in lavender and white.

Luo Qingyang hadn't seen Yanli since this all started. She'd had no chance to talk to her before interrupting this conference. No chance to share what she had found with her privately. She hadn't been able to stand by Yanli's side while she grieved over her little brother's corpse. Instead, Luo Qingyang had been gathering evidence. Then figuring out what to do with that evidence. Then, as much as Luo Qingyang wanted to go to Yanli to discuss what she had found, she had known that taking it to Nie Huaisang was the wiser choice.

"Jiang-guniang, I understand your feelings, but to entertain Luo-guniang at present would be inappropriate. She has entered the hall of a great sect during an official gathering, interrupting the proceedings with baseless accusations. It is kind of you to hear her out. Especially since she is a cultivator who has defected from her sect rather than obey her sect leader. But, to allow this to continue sets a terrible precedent." Jin Guangyao said in a soft, pitying tone.

Luo Qingyang wanted to punch him. Not just because she was disturbingly aware of what he had been doing to Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er. Any one who talked down to Yanli like she was ignorant, deserved to be punched.

"Lianfeng-zun, I will address you with respect, please do me the same courtesy." Yanli replied in a soft tone.

Luo Qingyang suppressed a smirk. There was ice under those gentle words. Yanli spoke quietly not because she could not speak louder, but because it forced others to quiet down if they wanted to hear what she said. Luo Qingyang doubted anyone else noticed anything off in Yanli's voice. She was known to be kind and gentle. They didn't understand Yanli had steel in her spine. They didn't know she could hide knives under gentle words.

"I beg your pardon Jiang-guniang. I meant no disrespect. I only wished to caution you from behavior which could be seen as improper." Jin Guangyao's brow furrowed gently with innocent confusion.

"My little brother is dead." Yanli said, a pained exhale following the soft statement. "I am Sect Leader Jiang." There was a slight tremble to her voice, but the statements were clear.

Jin Guangyao's expression froze momentarily. Clearly surprised by the assertion. He shouldn't have been. Yanli had already served in the role of Sect Leader during the war. Even once Jiang Wanyin returned, they functioned more like co-leaders than sect leader and subordinate. Perhaps in another sect the death of the sect leader before he had married and produced heirs would have disrupted the line of succession, but not YunmengJiang.

Luo Qingyang hadn't been all that fond of Jiang Wanyin. He was temperamental, getting angry and making it everyone else's problem. She didn't like the stress it put on Yanli, but Yanli loved him. Yanli Loved him and, for all his faults, Luo Qingyang could admit that Jiang Wanyin did love his sister. Jiang Wanyin might have been unintentionally condescending towards Yanli, but he wouldn't stand for anyone disrespecting her. Jiang Wanyin supported her rather than contradicting her in public settings. So much so that people often took Yanli's word to be the same as Sect Leader Jiang's during the war. Yanli already had the loyalty of the disciples. Shei had always been well loved by her sect, and Jiang Wanyin would not have put up with any new recruits who looked down on her.

"My apologies, Sect Leader Jiang." Jin Guangyao said with a perfect bow. Luo Qingyang hoped it stung to be corrected in front of an audience.

"Luo Qingyang," Yanli's voice grabbed her attention. "Please explain how you came to accuse this person of the death of my little brother, the late sect leader, Jiang Wanyin." Yanli held her head high. Luo Qingyang was so proud of her.

"Of course, Sect Leader Jiang." Luo Qingyang bowed low to Yanli. Hoping to convey her deep respect before she launched into her explanation. "I had been touring the gardens of Koi tower when I came upon Lan Wangji and his daughter. It looked as though he had only just found her. She was crying and terrified. She was able to tell us that she and Wei Wuxian were being held prisoner. That she had managed to escape when Wei Wuxian was being moved from his cell, by following a servant. There was a servant's entrance leading underground right next to where we found her. Lan Wangji needed to take his daughter to receive medical attention. I volunteered to try and locate Wei Wuxian.

"The hallway in question led almost directly to a heavily warded cell. At the time of my arrival this cell was empty, but it was obvious that it had been inhabited recently. Beyond the entrance the room itself was divided into two connected cells. There were dirty blankets and buckets of refuse in each, indicating that two people had been held there. We had been told Wei Wuxian had been moved from the cell recently, so I continued my search in hopes that I may find where he was moved to. What I found was deeply disturbing."

Luo Qingyang paused for a breath, and for once no one tried to interrupt. Present it like a story, Nie Hauisang had advised. Don't leave them a pause without dropping enough bait to keep them hooked. She reminded him that she was not a professional storyteller, but he had waved her concerns aside. Promise them a scandal. Gossips love a good scandal. Luo Qingyang couldn't exactly argue that Gentry Cultivators weren't a bunch of annoying gossips, so she supposed his logic was sound.

"The next door I opened led to a room filled with resentful energy. There were corpses strapped to tables. Some of them had arrays painted onto their skin. Others were cut open. Their organs had been removed and talismans I had never seen before had been stuffed into the empty cavities. There were notes and papers scattered across a large desk. I didn't wish to linger for long. Seeing that the room was empty of anyone save the corpses strapped to the tables, I quickly left to continue my search.

"This brought me to a small, heavily warded room next door. The first thing I saw when I entered this room was a man, chained to the floor and struggling to stand. I didn't recognize him at the time. He was dressed similarly to how Wei Wuxian often dressed, but up close it was clear he was not Wei Wuxian. I tried talking to him, but he was unresponsive. He seemed to either not understand me or wasn't coherent enough to answer. The man was surrounded by a strange array cast in light. I didn't want to return to the room filled with corpses, but I hoped the notes I had seen might mention something about how to dismantle the array."

Luo Qingyang took a moment to breathe. Noting the many eyes, watching her with interest. Nie Huaisang had clearly been onto something when he coached her on how to present this information. A subtle glance toward the head of the room revealed Jin Guangshan fanning himself with a bored expression. Next to him, Madam Jin sat looking openly furious although the way her gaze shifted between Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao made it clear who she thought was responsible for this mess.

Luo Qingyang passed over Jin Zixuan quickly. He looked completely bewildered, like he couldn't comprehend what was happening. At least that meant he wasn't involved, but that level of surprise didn't inspire much confidence in his observation skills. Even Madam Jin didn't seem all that surprised, and Luo Qingyang honestly doubted the woman had known much of anything about what had been going on beneath Koi Tower.

Jin Guangyao's expression was a perplexed facade. Luo Qingyang internally cheered at the sight of the man thrown badly enough that it was actually easy to see that his expression was feigned. Luo Qingyang could practically hear Jin Guangyao furiously trying to come up with a way to turn this back onto Wei Wuxian or anyone else. Because the man wasn't stupid enough to think Jin Guangshan would take responsibility for the orders he gave. The man would pin all of this on Jin Guangyao and he wouldn't even feel inconvenienced by it.

"I thought the array might be responsible for the man's state, and that dismantling it might allow him to provide me with information of Wei Wuxian's whereabouts. I returned to the room filled with corpses, this time turning my attention to examine the notes scattered on the large desk. What I found was almost more alarming than seeing so many cut open bodies.

"There were notes about making and manipulating fierce corpses. It described flooding a tomb with resentful energy to raise the long buried dead. There were notes about the effects of corpse poisoning and the results of attempting to utilize it to turn living people into controllable puppets. Not just theoretical notes but describing attempts to do so. There was an account of deliberately contaminating a well with corpse poison in an attempt to transform an entire town. There were drawings of the Yin Hufu, some with notes in the margins. Some of the notes described failed attempts to recreate it. Others speculated about materials or techniques to try for future attempts.

"I was disturbed. Clearly copying Wei Wuxian's cultivation wasn't enough for the people behind these notes. They were developing ideas of their own. Ones they used against innocent commoners. I turned to the cabinets that lined the walls. There I found many objects, including Wei Wuxian's flute, Chenqing, beside an empty sword stand. I didn't see Wei Wuxian's sword, but it seemed likely that both had been confiscated from him.

"Just as I was about to take another look at the desk I noticed an odd mirror on one of the shelves. I recalled that there had been a mirror that looked just like it affixed to the wall in the other room. There was a scroll on the shelf and I opened it to see if it might be related to the array. There was a picture of two mirrors. The scroll described them as soul-transmitting mirrors. They share a physical resemblance with light-transmitting mirrors, and could be used to allow two people to swap bodies with one another temporarily, either willingly or unwillingly.

"I returned to the other room and renewed my attempts to speak with the man chained to the floor. It was a slow process. He seemed disoriented, and I thought he may have been drugged. Eventually he identified himself as Wei Wuxian."

Luo Qingyang anticipated the sudden outburst of gasps and people speaking over one another. She had honestly gotten through more than she thought she would before being interrupted. She endured the noise, waiting for her opportunity to continue.

"You said it was not Wei Wuxian in the room? Which is it?" One outraged voice cried.

"Corpse Poison in a well... Didn't something like that happen in Xiaoguan recently?" Someone questioned, more loudly than necessary. Luo Qingyang hadn't heard of that, but she supposed that explained why Nie Huaisang had insisted that be one of the examples she shared. She had collected a lot of incriminating notes and paperwork. Enough that she'd spent the whole night going through them with Nie Huaisang, trying to figure out how best to present the evidence to the sect leaders.

"The Fu clan's ancestral tomb was flooded with resentful energy too. Many of their long buried dead were transformed into fierce corpses by it. At the time I thought maybe the rumours were right and Wei Wuxian had actually run off and was doing these terrible things. But now... Well it doesn't make much sense does it?" Another gossipy voice that spoke much louder than needed if he was really only talking to the person next to him.

"Right, right. And didn't Sect Leader Sun and Sect Leader Fu both oppose Sect Leader Jin about the creation of the Chief Cultivator position?"

"And then both of them suffered tragedies involving resentful energy?" Another voice continued where the first left off.

"Not just that, but there were notes about it. Experimenting with resentful energy on your enemies? Dishonourable." A third person continued.

Luo Qingyang marvelled at just how gossipy the gathered cultivators were. Had they always been this bad? Were these people all just fleshing out the accusations her story implied on their own? I mean, that had kind of been the intention. Instead of saying, 'I found evidence that the Jin did X.' Nie Hauisang had told her to create a story with her words.

Don't start with an accusation and say you have evidence. The Jin will just refute it and no one will even bother to look at a pile of papers. Describe the scene. He'd gone on a flowery diatribe from there about painting a picture so the audience could smell the stench of the bodies and feel the dirt and inhumanity the captives had suffered. Luo Qingyang had given him a flat look and reminded him that she was a cultivator, not an orator.

Nie Huaisang was a bit miffed at that, but then pulled out some specific examples from her pile of evidence she should share and gave her a rough framework to follow. A rough framework that had a few notable twists compared to what had actually happened in her search for evidence. She didn't feel bad about that.

Later, when this was all over, Luo Qingyang would talk to Yanli. Yanli deserved to hear what parts of the story were fact and what parts were supposition presented as having more evidence than they actually did. It was the life of her living brother weighted against the need for justice for the brother who had died. The truth was complicated and murky, and Yanli deserved to decide for herself what justice would look like without the rest of the cultivation world deciding they got to choose for her. Luo Qingyang believed Yanli would understand the liberties Luo Qingyang was taking with the truth.

"Naturally I was skeptical. I asked him questions that only Wei Wuxian could have answered. Then I asked him why he didn't appear to be himself." Luo Qingyang paused to see if anyone would fill in the answer.

"It's the soul-transferring mirrors!" Someone shouted, excited to share the conclusion they had come to. Luo Qingyang nodded in acknowledgement.

"Indeed. He told me that he had been forced into this body by the soul-transferring mirrors. That the owner of the body, Xue Yang, was somewhere in Wei Wuxian's body." Luo Qingyang heard a few murmurs in response to that. She hoped it was people thinking about the implications of that.

Yanli's eyes had widened slightly. Luo Qingyang watched as her shoulders began to relax. Yanli understood what Luo Qingyang was implying with this. Hopefully she wouldn't mind that Luo Qingyang hadn't actually gotten a chance to talk to Wei Wuxian while he was in Xue Yang's body. The information about the mirrors was true, and Xue Yang had been talkative. Xue Yang was someone who loved to brag and had absolutely no loyalty. Maybe that would have been enough, but Nie Huaisang had made a sound argument about stacking the odds in favor of their desired outcome as much as possible.

If Wei Wuxian was found guilty of killing Jiang Wanyin, the Jin would face no repercussions for their actions. No one would care that they kidnapped someone from another sect. No one would care that they kidnapped a child and used her as leverage to force cooperation. Wei Wuxian would either be executed, or there would be another war.

"It took some time, but we were able to reverse the array to send Wei Wuxian back to his own body. It was obvious to me once the change took place. Xue Yang attacked me almost immediately. Fortunately he was still chained to the floor, so it wasn't difficult to take him into custody. He was quite talkative. He said he had been ordered to attack the participants in the hunting grounds and if the opportunity presented itself, to kill Jiang Wanyin." Luo Qingyang shared solemly.

"Why would the Jin attack their own event?" A curious voice asked. Luo Qingyang held back a smirk. She was not the first one to name that the Jin were behind all of this, even if her story made it perfectly clear that they were.

"The goal was to turn any of Wei Wuxian's remaining allies against him. The Jiang and Lan being first on the list." Luo Qingyang filled in.

"Ahhh, of course. Sect Leader Jin was complaining about the GusuLan sect's search efforts. The Jiang contributed a lot of disciples to the search too. Clearly he was worried they were getting too close." Someone whispered loudly.

Sect Leader Jin slammed his fan down on the table in front of him.

"What nonsense! Are we meant to take this girl's words as fact? She simply walks in and tells us something happened, and we are supposed to believe it is true?" Jin Guangshan shouted in indignation.

"Of course not." Luo Qingyang said with a small smile. She reached into her quankin pouch and removed a stack of papers. She bowed towards Yanli. "Sect Leader Jiang. This is the evidence I collected while searching for your brother. It includes the notes about trying to recreate the Yin Hufu, the notes I mentioned about experimenting with resentful energy on living people, and the function of the soul-transmitting mirrors. Please review it carefully."

"Absurd, how is Yanli meant to know whether any of those documents are real." Jin Guangshan said, clearly insulted. "They could be fabrications you made up, or unrelated cultivation manuals that she could misinterpret."

That was not a subtle jab at Yanli's cultivation or experience. Luo Qingyang resisted the urge to jump to her defence. As much as she wanted to, it would just undermine Yanli to have someone else defend her.

"Sect Leader Jin can be forgiven for his ignorance regarding my capabilities. After all, he was not on the battlefields where I led troops. Nor was he in the war camps I organized. Had he been there, he would know that the Jiang have many talented cultivators who lend me their skill and expertise if ever I find my own not up to the standards of excellence I hold for myself and my sect." Yanli stated after waving a disciple forward to collect the documents Luo Qingyang was holding out. "I also wonder... Does Sect Leader Jin address every young sect leader so informally? Or is it only me that you insist on treating like a child? I don't believe I've heard you addressing Zewu-jun so familiarly and he is younger than I." Yanli's tone was still soft and polite, but the words were a slap in the face. Yanli was pissed.