Xiao Yi furrowed his brows, his expression somewhat pensive.

Just at this moment, the Vice Dean spoke up first, "Brat Xiao Yi, if you trust me, then come with me to the Heavenly Mechanism Hall first."

"We’ll talk about the rest later."

"No rush." Xiao Yi replied indifferently.

His figure flickered as he arrived beside the Senior Swordswoman.

"What were you talking about?" Xiao Yi asked.

"Who brought up the four words Black Cloud Academy?"

The Senior Swordswoman answered, "About a month ago, I ran into a rather shrewish woman."

"As for her name," the Senior Swordswoman frowned, "a yellow-haired little girl, I didn’t bother to remember it..."

"Seemed to be something ’Youh’..." Bai Bingxue picked up the thread, "Oh right, Mo Youh."

"Ye Ming was there at the time too."

Bai Bingxue looked toward Ye Ming.

Below, Ye Ming nodded, then scratched his head, "Back then, Senior Sister Bai and I were traveling outside, and we got lucky, found a few rare Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures."

"Before we could put them away, a red‑clothed woman suddenly appeared and forcibly snatched them."

"After robbing us, she even wanted to kill us to silence us."

"Fortunately the Senior Swordswoman arrived in time and saved us."

"Mo Youh?" Xiao Yi’s eyes narrowed.

In fact, the moment he heard Bai Bingxue say the name "Mo Youh," he knew something was off.

He knew very well that this woman Mo Youh was anything but a good sort.

Streams of Primordial Qi shot out from Xiao Yi’s hand.

An image condensed out of thin air.

In the image was precisely the appearance of Mo Youh.

"Was it this woman?" Xiao Yi asked.

"Yes, yes, yes." Ye Ming nodded repeatedly, "That’s her. I remember there was also a handsome man by her side. She addressed him as Brother Yu."

"Sikong Yu?" Xiao Yi’s gaze turned icy cold.

"Did they use Soul-breaking Needles to injure you?" Xiao Yi thought of how Qing Lin had been wounded back then, his expression changed, and he hurriedly asked.

"Soul-breaking Needle?" Ye Ming frowned, and the next second, he reacted.

"Yes, yes, that woman did have a needle-type Treasure, its power was astonishing."

"We were fine, but when the Senior Swordswoman was fighting her, if she hadn’t been vastly stronger, she would’ve suffered a huge loss."

"What? Damn it." Xiao Yi’s face changed drastically; he hurriedly looked at the Senior Swordswoman, "Senior Swordswoman, where were you hurt?"

"It’s nothing serious." The Senior Swordswoman shook her head, slightly rolling up her sleeve to reveal a portion of her fair, slender arm. "Just my arm."

Xiao Yi glanced at the wound on her arm, his expression turning cold. "It really is the aura of a Soul-breaking Needle."

"Fortunately it didn’t hit a vital point."

"Mm." The Senior Swordswoman let her sleeve fall and nodded. "That needle is indeed somewhat strange."

"Even though it only injured my arm, the wound has been unable to heal. But it’s still no big deal; I’ve already sealed it with extreme Cold Ice. It’s fine."

"And after that?" Xiao Yi pressed.

"After that..." The Senior Swordswoman lifted her head slightly, as if in thought.

Bai Bingxue spoke first, "After that, that shrewish woman called us a bunch of bumpkins and asked if we’d ever heard of the Sword Emperor Origin."

"Master couldn’t stand her acting so arrogant, and besides, she’d hurt us earlier, so Master gave her a good lesson."

"After Master took back the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and Universe Rings she had robbed from Ye Ming and me, that woman fled, injured."

"But before leaving, she threw out some vicious words."

"What vicious words?" Xiao Yi asked with a cold laugh.

Bai Bingxue answered, "She asked if we knew of Black Cloud Academy and Mo Youu, and said that in the future she’d make us repay it a thousandfold."

"Junior Brother Xiao Yi." At this moment, Ye Ming spoke with a complicated expression, "From what you all just said, you were also once a disciple of Black Cloud Academy?"

"That shrewish woman is your fellow disciple?"

"Fellow disciple?" Xiao Yi shook his head.

Hearing this, Ye Ming let out a breath and broke into a grin. "I knew it. Junior Brother Xiao Yi, you’ve always been measured. How could that kind of overbearing, vicious woman be your fellow disciple?"

Xiao Yi smiled faintly and patted Ye Ming on the shoulder.

The next second, he turned around and stared straight at the Vice Dean.

"Vice Dean, I suppose you have nothing more to say."

"If I’m not mistaken, the one who truly issued the wanted order was Mo Youh."

"And her purpose was revenge." Xiao Yi’s voice was cold to the extreme.

The Vice Dean’s expression changed, but he still said in a deep voice, "It has nothing to do with her."

"I told you, it might be a misunderstanding. Medicine Venerate Hall did indeed have a batch of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures plundered, that’s why the wanted order was issued."

"That was nothing but a pretext." Xiao Yi said coldly.

He was no fool; naturally he had figured it all out in an instant.

"No wonder these wanted orders were clearly issued from within Black Cloud Academy, yet had to be announced by the Main Hall Masters and Vice Hall Masters of each hall."

"No wonder those Main Hall Masters and Vice Hall Masters who issued them are all your friends."

"Because the Eight Palaces all have iron rules, yet these wanted orders were basically just an outsider trying to use them to settle a personal vendetta. Under normal circumstances, they could never have been issued."

"Unless those Main Hall Masters and Vice Hall Masters were willing to cover for you, willing to forcibly find some ’heinous crime’ as an excuse and directly issue the wanted order."

"If Vice Dean insists on quibbling, that’s fine too." Xiao Yi continued coldly.

"As far as I know, while Black Cloud Academy does have the special privilege of issuing wanted orders, the premise is that it has to be related to the missions of the Eight Palaces themselves."

"Only then will the Eight Palaces issue an internal, hall-level wanted order."

There are two types of wanted orders.

One is issued by factions, Martial Artists, or individuals.

This is just like the usual missions posted by various forces in each hall, to be carried out by Martial Artists such as Demon Hunters, Wind Masters, and so on.

The wanted order itself has nothing to do with the halls.

It’s merely equivalent to a bounty‑type wanted order.

The second type is the Eight Palaces’ own wanted order.

This kind of wanted order is equivalent to the halls’ "official" wanted order, carried out by powerhouses of the Eight Palaces and the Law Enforcement Team.

The ones issued now are clearly the latter.

"All I need to do is see what justification the other five halls used to issue these wanted orders."

Xiao Yi looked toward Bai Yue, Xu Heyan and the other Main Hall Masters and Vice Hall Masters.

The group of Main Hall Masters slightly turned their faces away, avoiding Xiao Yi’s gaze, merely saying coldly, "You are not a Martial Artist of our halls. What right do you have to examine our records?"

Xiao Yi let out a cold laugh. "You seem to have forgotten, I’m not asking you."

"If you can’t give me a sufficient explanation today, none of you are leaving here alive."

"Hmph." The group of Main Hall Masters snorted coldly, saying nothing.

"Not handing them over, is that it? Fine." Xiao Yi nodded and looked at the Chengfeng Hall Master.

"Chengfeng Hall Master, can I trouble you for a favor?"

"Of course." The Chengfeng Hall Master smiled, already understanding. "Hengtian, make another trip."

"Wanted orders from each hall are supposed to be publicly announced anyway; the detailed record files aren’t some big secret."

"I trust they’ll be very easy to look up."

"Alright." The Hengtian Palace Master nodded, his figure flickering as he disappeared into the distance.

"Huu." Only then did the Vice Dean finally take a deep breath.

He knew there were indeed some things that could no longer be concealed.

"Willing to admit it now?" Xiao Yi stared directly at the Vice Dean.

The Vice Dean’s face was complicated, even heavy, but he still gave a slight nod.

...

Second update.