Jia Fu was very conflicted.
In his heart, he had already eliminated Fang Yuan's suspicion and was almost certain that Jia Gui was the mastermind behind the scenes.
"But even if I know the truth, what can I do?" A surge of grief and indignation welled up in Jia Fu's heart, "I don't have any evidence in my hands. If I go to father to testify against Jia Gui with just empty words, father might even think I'm trying to frame him!"
Jia Fu was very shrewd; he looked at Fang Yuan, a sharp glint blazing continuously in his eyes.
Jia Jinsheng had traveled far and wide with him. Now that Jia Jinsheng was missing, he, Jia Fu, naturally bore the responsibility of failing to take good care of him! Since he could not testify against Jia Gui, he had to give his father an explanation.
And this explanation was right in front of his eyes!
"That's right, if I use this Fang Yuan as a scapegoat, I can barely manage to give an explanation. As long as I cross this hurdle, it is possible for me to demand it back doubled later." Evil thoughts instantly arose in Jia Fu's heart.
He abruptly raised his pitch and aggressively pressed Fang Yuan again: "Fang Yuan, how do you prove that you did not murder Jia Jinsheng?"
The elders couldn't help but be taken aback. This matter was clearly your Jia family's internal strife, so why are you still holding onto our clansman and not letting go?
Only the Gu Yue clan leader's face sank, his gaze turning stern as he stared fixedly at Jia Fu.
"Fang Yuan, what witnesses do you have to prove your alibi, that you had no time to murder Jia Jinsheng? If you don't have any, then you are the murderer!" Jia Fu pointed a finger at Fang Yuan, eyes glaring wide, his imposing momentum pressing against people.
"He, Jia Fu, wants to push our clan's Fang Yuan out to serve as a scapegoat. This is truly outrageous!" At this moment, all the elders also reacted, their expressions turning unfriendly.
Having engaged in scheming against each other for a long time, with just a slight thought, they comprehended Jia Fu's standpoint and intentions.
"Witness? Of course I have one! I already arranged it long ago." Fang Yuan sneered secretly, but on the surface, he put on a realistic expression of being unable to defend himself, opening his mouth wanting to speak but unable to utter a word.
"You don't need to say anything else, just tell me if you have one or not!" Jia Fu's voice rose again, pressing down on Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan looked indignant and resentful, ultimately seeming to helplessly squeeze two words through his teeth: "I don't."
"Haha. Then you are—" Just as Jia Fu was about to loudly pronounce the sentence.
"Wait!" The academy elder took a large step forward and blocked in front of Fang Yuan, his face solemn, "Of course he has a witness, I am his witness!"
"You?" Jia Fu was shocked and doubtful.
"That's right, it is this old man." Facing the Rank four Jia Fu, the academy elder's tone felt a bit weak. But seeing the encouraging gaze sent by Clan Leader Gu Yue Bo, his confidence steadied, and he raised his head, "These past few days, since Fang Yuan unexpectedly took the lead to advance to the middle stage, I dispatched people to investigate secretly. His every movement each day has been recorded on file; he simply had no time to murder Jia Jinsheng."
"Yes, that's exactly it…" Fang Yuan hid behind the academy elder's back; no one saw the faint trace of a smile playing on his lips at this moment.
Jia Fu's face turned ashen; he had not expected the academy elder to suddenly step forward and guarantee for Fang Yuan.
More crucially, the Gu Yue clan leader did not object either. The significance of this was massive; it meant the Gu Yue clan wanted to protect this Fang Yuan.
"I understand! Because I wholeheartedly wanted to make Fang Yuan a scapegoat, I only acted from my own standpoint and did not consider their feelings. True, once Fang Yuan is made to take the blame, the Gu Yue clan will have to bear the infamous reputation of murdering a Jia family clansman. In the future, they would face the Jia family's retaliation, their reputation would be damaged, and future caravans would not dare to come and trade; that loss would be too massive!"
Thinking of this point, Jia Fu was so filled with remorse that he wished he could slap his own forehead.
The Gu Yue higher-ups had exactly this thought.
Fang Yuan was only C grade. If it really was him who murdered Jia Jinsheng, handing him over would be nothing. But the key was, his suspicion had already been washed clean now. If they still handed him over, wouldn't the Gu Yue clan have to suffer a massive, unnecessary loss?
Knowing that this conflict was already irreconcilable, Jia Fu gritted his teeth and decided to persist to the end. He spoke up: "Since that is the case, then allow me to use the Footprint Gu. Once this Gu is used, it can display the footprints of the recent thirty thousand steps on the ground."
The academy elder immediately gave a displeased, cold snort.
Jia Fu saying these words clearly meant he did not believe him. But he had no reason to block it either, so he turned sideways and gave way.
"Come and test it!" Fang Yuan looked at Jia Fu with a cold sneer and walked over to stand in front of him with his head held high.
He was fully confident because he had anticipated this factor long ago. Therefore, these past few days, he had shrunk back and restricted his activities within the mountain village, completely avoiding setting foot in the stone crevice secret cave.
Under the close scrutiny of the Gu Yue higher-ups, Jia Fu did not play any tricks.
The Footprint Gu had a very special shape, looking exactly like a human foot. Its material was like a piece of translucent frozen milk, giving a smooth and tender feeling, and a layer of yellowish-green fluorescence shimmered on its surface.
Its size wasn't large; it was only the size of a palm.
Holding it in his hand, Jia Fu's primeval essence surged out and poured into the Footprint Gu.
The Footprint Gu grew brighter and brighter, then suddenly, with a soft pop, it exploded into a large cloud of yellowish-green fluorescent powder.
With a whoosh, the fluorescent powder enveloped Fang Yuan, circled around him once, and then flew out of the discussion hall's main door.
Along the path where the fluorescent powder flew, a continuous series of footprints instantly appeared on the ground.
These footprints all emitted yellowish-green fluorescence, their size exactly identical to Fang Yuan's two feet. It was exactly his trail of entering the discussion hall just now.
The footprints extended all the way from the Clan Head Pavilion, reaching the academy dormitories, and then just looped around the academy area. Aside from that, it merely reached the inn in the mountain village.
The yellowish-green fluorescent powder flew less and less, eventually completely disappearing on the thirty-thousandth footprint.
The result was out. After everyone checked it, they immediately knew that Fang Yuan was completely innocent, without any suspicious points.
Jia Fu let out a deep sigh and took out a small and exquisite jade box from his chest.
He opened the jade box; inside the jade box lay only a single jade piece.
The jade piece presented a translucent emerald green color, and inside it, a Gu worm was sealed.
This was a stick insect. Its body was slender and long, colored like jasper; its entire body looked like a round bamboo tube.
Stick insects generally had a body length exceeding an open palm, but this one didn't; it was only the length of a fingernail cover. On its surface, a faint white light also radiated.
"A cyan jade body, covered in white luster, this is the Bamboo Gentleman!" Instantly, an elder recognized this Gu worm and exclaimed in amazement.
Even Clan Leader Gu Yue Bo was moved, unable to resist advising: "Brother Jia, this Bamboo Gentleman is a Rank four Gu worm, refining it is not easy. Why must you waste it here?"
Jia Fu shook his head and looked at Fang Yuan: "I obtained this Bamboo Gentleman by chance when opening rocks in my youth. The rock was only half-opened, and I didn't open it further. As everyone knows, this Gu worm feeds on sincerity and is naturally capable of detecting lies. Only an absolutely sincere gentleman who has never spoken a single lie since childhood can refine and feed this Gu."
"Fang Yuan, you just need to open the rock completely and take the weak Bamboo Gentleman into your aperture. Whatever I ask you, you answer. Then take this Gu out again, and let everyone see whether this insect has changed color or not. As long as it changes color, it proves you are lying!"
"Absolutely no problem." Fang Yuan showed no trace of hesitation, immediately opening the jade piece and doing exactly as Jia Fu said.
As soon as the Bamboo Gentleman appeared in his aperture, it immediately emitted a faint green glow that illuminated the entire primeval sea.
Fang Yuan instantly felt that as long as he spoke a single lie, this Bamboo Gentleman would be able to sense it, causing its body to change from green to another color.
But his reason for agreeing so readily was backed by confidence.
"Spring Autumn Cicada!" With a single thought from him, the slumbering Spring Autumn Cicada instantly awakened and emitted a wisp of aura.
This aura was incomparably magnificent and immediately suppressed the Bamboo Gentleman to death.
The green light emitted by the Bamboo Gentleman instantly retracted into its body with a swoosh. Its entire body curled up, shivering with fear. Where would it have the spare heart and energy to sense lies?
Jia Fu began to ask questions, his first sentence pointing straight to the core: "Fang Yuan, did you harm my brother Jia Jinsheng?"
"No!" Fang Yuan answered resolutely and decisively.
Jia Fu asked again: "Do you know any other news about him?"
Fang Yuan shook his head: "I do not know."
Jia Fu asked once more: "Was there anything untrue in what you just told everyone?"
Fang Yuan shook his head again: "No."
"Alright, you can take the Bamboo Gentleman out now." Having finished asking three questions, Jia Fu said.
Fang Yuan took out the Bamboo Gentleman. Everyone looked over, only to see that the surface of the Bamboo Gentleman was still a jade green color, without any change.
All the elders let out a sigh of relief.
Jia Fu's expression also softened. He put away the Bamboo Gentleman and cupped a fist towards Gu Yue Bo: "I have offended greatly this time, Brother Gu Yue."
"No matter, allowing the truth to come to light is also what we want to see." Gu Yue Bo waved his hand, then sighed, "It's just a pity for this Bamboo Gentleman."
The Bamboo Gentleman had the ability to detect lies, its rank was as high as Rank four, making its value immense. However, feeding and refining it was extremely difficult. It could only be refined by an absolutely sincere gentleman. If any other Gu Master who had spoken a single lie tried, refining the Bamboo Gentleman would definitely fail, and the Bamboo Gentleman would die on the spot.
Its food was sincerity. As for living in the aperture of an absolutely sincere gentleman, it could only survive by consuming the gentleman's sincerity.
Now, this Bamboo Gentleman had been opened out, extremely weak, but lacked food to recover its vitality. After Fang Yuan had just used it like this, its death was already a foregone conclusion.
Jia Fu merely shook his head, looking at the dying Bamboo Gentleman in his hands, seemingly unregretful.
He said in a deep voice: "I have done my utmost to investigate this matter, unfortunately my ability falls short. When I return to the clan this time, I will hire the Divine Investigator Tie Xue Leng with a heavy sum, and will definitely investigate this matter clearly! Farewell."
After saying so, he cupped his fist to Gu Yue Bo, turned, and left. Clean and efficient, he actually showed a bit of graceful demeanor.
Watching the retreating figures of Jia Fu and his people, Gu Yue Bo let out a long sigh: "You all can leave too."
He waved his hand at the elders, then as if thinking of something, added: "Academy elder, stay behind."
Without missing a single hair, Fang Yuan walked out of the Clan Head Pavilion safe and sound.