I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 714: The Unforgivable Crime

While Xueyin leaned forward, the sect leaders glared at the golden dragon as he described their enemy.

Tian Long, especially, felt a bitter taste fill his mouth, quickly overwhelmed by the sourness of betrayal, which was reflected in his raspy voice. "Why did you wait three days to speak about what even we don’t know? That’s not how you treat your closest friend—that’s not something I would do."

The dragon harrumphed. "Concealing information from your friends for your own benefit is exactly something you would do." He shook his head. "But in my case, things are different. I’m a golden dragon. Honor is more than a concept—it’s a guiding principle. He showed mercy to me, to all of you, and I repaid him with three days of silence."

As Tian Long’s lips twisted open to unleash a venomous answer, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head, each joint cracking like rusted metal, until he met Xueyin’s narrowed eyes.

"My time is not to be squandered by your questions. Do not challenge my patience by speaking without my authorisation."

Tian Long shrivelled beneath the palm, his lips snapping close. Pupils constricted, legs trembling, and afraid to even breathe, he lowered his face and remained as still as he could.

Pleased by the silence, Xueyin cast Tian Long out of his thoughts. He nodded at the dragon, his lips curling slightly. "Continue to share your information, honorable friend."

"I’m afraid there is not much more." The dragon sighed. "The mage took Elder Shen Wu as his master, who seems as clueless as the sect leaders about his real identity. Most disciples reviewed the alchemy store he ran as better than our branch of the alchemy union when it came to low-level pills. Hmm... What else?"

He tilted his head, a pensive frown creasing his brow for a moment. "Oh, there’s that, too. He’s accompanied by a girl he introduced as his sister. Their flirtatious behavior drew the disgust of many elders. But now that I think about how he deceived us all, they were probably never blood-related. As for where they came from..."

He closed his eyes with a long exhale, hesitation gnawing at him for a split second. The figures of the cow, crane, serpent, and spider flashed in his mind. Memories of their banters and shenanigans, their warm welcome when he had visited the valley half a century ago...

A soft smile curved on his lips. He was indeed different from Tian Long. "I don’t know. They seem to have unearthed a recommendation letter I wrote decades ago to infiltrate our sect."

The air grew sticky in Tian Long’s throat, almost suffocating him. Glares from the other sect leaders drilled scalding holes in his back, each adding to the shameful truth scaling his very mind. The infiltrator had come from his sect! And the dragon remained silent not because of honor, but because he was responsible with his damned recommendation!

His blood burned like magma in his veins, his skin reddening and steaming. This wouldn’t end here. The dragon, the elders, and everyone who stepped into the mage’s shop; he would investigate, then punish anyone who withheld information. Expelling, public lashings and executions—a great purge that would wash his tainted name and make the contemptuous fools glaring at him remember. Remember that he had brought the Jin Long sect to the peak of the central region. And if to do so, he had to bare his ruthless fangs like in his youth. So be it.

But Shen Wu and his brothers, no matter if innocent, would taste his wrath first. They kept squirming under his skin like cockroaches. Cripplement had been far too lenient. It was time to finish what he had started decades ago.

As vengeance filled Tian Long’s mind, Xueyin tucked his fingers around his chin.

"The origins of a rogue mage matter not. What are his elemental affinities, the tools he uses, and the realm... Mages call it tier, right?" He waved his hand dismissively, as if mocking the twenty sect leader’s defeat. "The tier he has achieved."

"I felt vibrations and light. He registered using the five elements, which bring his affinities to seven. But there might be more. As for his tier and tools..." The dragon scratched his head with a giant claw. "Does it matter when his fortress was strong enough to withstand even spiritual ascension realm experts and magical beasts?"

"Seven affinities? The mark of a monster in the making." A playful grin spread across Xueyin’s face. "Do you think his flying toy can resist me?"

The dragon’s voice grew solemn. "I believe you can sunder the barrier with the blessed land in a single swing."

"Hahaha. That’s indeed what would most likely happen." He spread his arms wide, auburn hair dancing as he chuckled. "And guess what? I know where he is—all three dao ancestors do."

A stunned silence engulfed the crowd, only broken by the dragon’s whispered question. "How?"

"Because that fool grew overconfident and committed a crime we can’t forgive."

Xueyin’s answer sent another wave of shock through the crowd, which was amplified by his chilling tone and twisting lips.

"He dared to annihilate the Verdant Peak sect in the Western region. Sky-blue hair and eyes, light affinity—it checks out. They’re the same person."

His spatial ring flashed, and a long sword, sheathed in a scabbard painted burgundy like dried blood, appeared. Gripping it, he smirked at the sect leaders. "You’ll have to excuse my early departure, for Yuehua Ji is already on the move."

Without a second wasted, his figure blurred in dark and red streaks, roaring gales shoved aside wherever he passed.

In a heartbeat, the dragon’s gaze lost Xueyin’s track, but his thoughts still lingered on the last name. It rumbled through his mind, scraping at his spine like frozen needles.

Many rogue mage orders could do just that to claim their resources. Yet none did, at least not for the past ten millennia, not after the Dao ancestors caught, then quartered them over fiery pits personally in a show of horror and a clear message: this was the cultivation realm. We tolerate mages only because the archipelago exists. Do not abuse our hospitality; do not target those who administer our lands.

And Yuehua Ji... had been the one who resented mages the most ever since the archipelago claimed a part of her region.

Adam was done for, it was as true as his breath was ragged. But now that she had made a move, even death became a luxury he would most likely not enjoy for many years...

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