The moment Jiang Wang leveled this accusation, the crowd erupted in astonishment.

Accusing Granny Bizhu, who had guided Zhu Biqiong to commit heinous crimes by order of Hai Jingping, was in fact the very person who had guided Zhu Biqiong?

“You’ve lost your mind! Spouting such nonsense!” Granny Bizhu retorted, her face contorted with fury. “I have no children of my own, and I treat Suyao and Biqiong as my own flesh and blood. Everyone on Floating Island knows this! I raised those sisters with my own hands, and no matter how busy I was, I always made time to personally teach them Dao techniques. Why would I ever harm them?”

“Ya’er was unfortunate, lost in the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm. All I have left is Qiong’er!”

She chuckled miserably, pointing at Jiang Wang, then at Hai Jingping. “But you, you people!”

Her expression turned ferocious. “You can’t stand to see goodness, you can’t stand to see this old woman doing well. Biqiong was so pure and kind, yet you enticed her down a path of ruin, leading to the consequences of today!”

She wept and laughed maniacally. “The sect rules are like mountains, I cannot disobey them. This old woman personally crippled her cultivation and sent her to the Sea Prison. My heart, my heart is shattered!”

She glared at Jiang Wang and Hai Jingping with venomous eyes. “This old woman wishes she could devour your flesh and drink your blood raw! I will be your enemy in this life and the next, and in every life after that!”

To anyone watching, her performance was undeniably genuine.

Among the crowd, aside from the few who truly understood Jiang Wang, most of the gazes directed at him turned hostile.

At this moment, Jiang Wang suddenly recalled that night on Camelback Mountain.

Back then, Hai Zongming, in order to lure him out, had also put on a moving display of remembrance for his deceased wife, deeply touching and poignant.

These two truly were worthy rivals of each other.

However, Granny Bizhu’s impassioned act surpassed even that of Hai Zongming.

Furthermore, at this very moment, she did not forget to drag Hai Jingping down with her. Behind this behavior lay a greed that had seeped into her very bones. She wanted to seize everything she could, to plunder everything she could possibly take.

Jiang Wang seemed to see a gaping maw behind her. And behind the interlocking fangs was an abyss that could never be filled.

“Heh.” Jiang Wang shook his head.

He no longer indulged in this old crone’s charade, regardless of how she played the victim to garner sympathy. Instead, he spoke with an unusually cold and harsh tone: “I would like to ask Chong Zhenren, and all the friends within Sea Fishing Tower who know Zhu Biqiong, how could Zhu Biqiong, on her own, possibly have known about Hai Zongming’s movements? How could she have sensed Hai Zongming’s killing intent, how could she have known that Hai Zongming was going to chase after me? Such high-level intelligence, is that something a naive little girl like Zhu Biqiong could have discovered?”

“Therefore, I say, there is a traitor in our midst!” Granny Bizhu immediately declared. “Either someone from the Qi nation, seeking to eliminate any future obstacles for your genius. Or someone from within our Sea Fishing Tower…”

She glanced at Hai Jingping with resentment. “…Someone seeking to eliminate their rivals!”

Hai Jingping, remembering Chongguang Zhenren’s instructions not to escalate the conflict, had endured time and again. But at this moment, he finally couldn’t hold back any longer. He said coldly, “Why couldn’t that traitor be you?”

“Ha!” Granny Bizhu had been waiting for this very sentence. She immediately stated, with resounding force, “Qiong’er is right here, why don’t you ask her!”

She slowly walked toward the barely breathing Zhu Biqiong, squatted down, and gently cupped Zhu Biqiong’s face in her hands. Softening her voice, she asked, “Good child, tell everyone. Was it me who told you to deliver the message, to harm Elder Hai Zongming?”

At this time, Zhu Biqiong was so weak that she could barely open her eyes, but from the corners of her eyes… blood was flowing.

Her tears had run dry, and now she wept blood.

She was a crybaby. After her sister Zhu Suyao’s death, she spent every night weeping.

How could she endure hardship, how could she bear the pain of having her cultivation destroyed?

She definitely could not bear… the truth that Granny Bizhu wanted her dead.

Weeping bloody tears, she was incomparably sad, but she still struggled to say, “It was… my own… doing.”

“Good child…” Granny Bizhu used her trembling, withered hand to wipe away the bloody tears. Weeping, she said, “Even at a time like this, you still want to shield that heartless man.”

A single stone caused a thousand ripples.

The way people looked at Jiang Wang in the arena instantly changed.

Why was Jiang Wang so desperately trying to save Zhu Biqiong? Why hadn’t Zhu Biqiong implicated any “accomplices?” Everything seemed to be explained.

And as the crowd clamored with speculation, Granny Bizhu took the opportunity to hug Zhu Biqiong tightly, blocking her feeble attempt to shake her head.

“You are too cruel.”

Jiang Wang’s hand, gripping his sword, had knuckles that were white. He could barely suppress the urge to draw his sword, but he managed to restrain himself. “Even at a time like this, you still want to exploit her. You still have the heart to use her!”

Clutching Zhu Biqiong, Granny Bizhu abruptly turned her head. “You rogue, Jiang! If you still have any affection for her, then don’t let her suffer any longer. Let her be rid of her pain!”

She was tormenting Zhu Biqiong to force Jiang Wang to submit.

In her eyes, young people who fell in love were often fools. Utterly stupid, pitifully foolish.

Once Jiang Wang could no longer bear Zhu Biqiong’s suffering, he would fall into her trap.

“The person who truly cares about her only wants her to live!” Jiang Wang said through gritted teeth. He did not look at Zhu Biqiong, but faced the main seat on the Sky’s End Platform. “Everyone here can see, fellow Daoist Zhu Biqiong, what a pure and kind person she is. Even at a time like this, she is unwilling to lie.”

He controlled his emotions, trying his best to speak more clearly and logically. “Everyone here is intelligent. Think about it, what would it take to get this silly girl to do something? Would you need to directly order her? As long as you fully understand her personality, tell her a little of the information you want her to know, she will proactively do it. And who, pray tell, knows her the best?”

“I raised her for twenty years! Would I raise her just to send her to her death?” Granny Bizhu finally released Zhu Biqiong, turned around to face Jiang Wang again, her voice choked with emotion. “For twenty years, she has been safe and happy. You have only known Biqiong for a short time, yet you have reduced her to this!”

Jiang Wang didn’t waste words with her. He directly addressed Chongguang Zhenren: “I would like to invite a few friends to come up here and testify for me!”

He didn’t compete with the old woman for the sympathy of the observers, because in the face of evidence, those sympathies would not stand.

Granny Bizhu naturally refused. “The Sky’s End Platform is not a place for just anyone to come up!”

Jiang Wang said coldly, “My friend’s surname is Zhongxuan, given name is Sheng. He is the direct descendant of the Zhongxuan family, the first in line to inherit the position of family head. The Zhongxuan family owns two islands at sea, Winterless and Surpassing Carriage! I wonder, does he have the qualifications?”

Chongguang Zhenren showed no joy or anger, and only said, “Summon them.”

“Also,” Jiang Wang added, “I would also like to invite the Sect Master of Five Immortals Gate from Upper Xia Island, Xu Zhilan, and the Elder of Five Immortals Gate, Fan Qingqing!”

Zhongxuan Sheng had not appeared all this time because he had been secretly negotiating with Five Immortals Gate. After all, Five Immortals Gate had relied on Granny Bizhu for many years, and breaking away and opposing her was not an easy decision to make.

But Zhongxuan Sheng had ultimately managed to finalize all the conditions before the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony, helping them make a decision. And today, with Granny Bizhu’s tightly controlled subordinate forces, he would see her off!

Granny Bizhu was struck as if by lightning. She, who had always been so emotionally charged, was visibly stunned. For someone as experienced as she was, this was almost impossible.

Chongguang Zhenren sighed inwardly. How could he not know that this Elder Bizhu had already been caught by her weakness?

But on the surface, he only said lightly, “Invite all those who can testify to come up here.”

“Why trouble Chong Zhenren with a mere ‘invite’?”

This voice was somewhat deep and resonant.

Following the voice that descended onto the Sky’s End Platform was a middle-aged man with regular features but an unsmiling face. He wore plain black clothes, his hands empty, and looked unremarkable.

But the portly Zhongxuan Sheng, the heavily armored Fourteenth, and even the Sect Master of Five Immortals Gate, Xu Zhilan, and the Elder of Five Immortals Gate, Fan Qingqing, all stood behind him.

Because he was the Fourth Son of Marquis Bowang, the Lord of Winterless Island, Zhongxuan Minghe!