Chapter 257: Accountability

Inside the Discipline Hall of the Immortal Ai Sect.

The Grand Elder, along with the Tower Guarding Elder and the Elder of Discipline Hall, had all gathered here.

Standing in the hall were Gu Fan and Xia Qianliu.

At this moment, everyone was staring intensely at Gu Fan, their expressions less than pleasant.

Xia Qianliu stood to the side, looking extremely awkward. However, he was quite puzzled—he had merely said a sentence.

Why had this group of elders brought him here?

Logically speaking, if he hadn’t spoken up, everyone might still be in the dark…

At this moment, the Grand Elder was the first to speak.

“Disciple Gu Fan, within the Trial Tower, you acted out of selfish desire and shook the very foundation of the sect. Confess truthfully—was someone behind this, instructing you to do so?”

Upon hearing this, the other elders immediately reacted.

Absorbing this kind of power of the domain laws only brought harm and no benefit—what kind of disciple would do that?

It was self-damaging with no gain, even endangering oneself. Who would be so foolish unless someone was manipulating them?

Perhaps… there really was a hidden plot behind all this!

Could it be… a spy from another sect?

Gu Fan was completely dumbfounded. How had things escalated to shaking the sect’s foundation? Hadn’t he just absorbed a bit of the power of the domain laws? How could that possibly threaten the sect’s foundation?

And someone instructing him… slapping such a huge accusation right off the bat!

“Disciple Gu Fan, your silence—does it mean you’re admitting guilt?”

At this, Gu Fan quickly put on a wronged expression and said,

“Disciple is being wronged! No one instructed me to do anything. It was entirely my own decision.”

Upon hearing this, the elders were clearly displeased.

No one instructed you? Then are you insane for absorbing so much of the power of the domain laws?

Do you know how long this old man has been anxious over this matter?

Every day, unable to eat or sleep properly, worried that one day he would wake up to find all the power of the domain laws in the Trial Tower gone.

By then, what choice would he have aside from atoning with his life?

“Your own decision? Gu Fan, are you joking? You haven’t even officially broken through to the Solar Radiance Realm, and yet you absorbed that much power of the domain laws? Do you dislike cultivating too fast? Trying to add resistance for yourself?”

The Tower Guarding Elder immediately interrogated.

Gu Fan didn’t quite grasp the meaning behind those words. After a moment, he finally responded,

“The power of the domain laws… isn’t it supposed to help us cultivate?”

The elders were stunned after hearing this.

They looked at one another in disbelief.

The Grand Elder pondered for a moment and tentatively asked,

“You can refine the power of the domain laws?”

“Uh… we’re not supposed to refine it?”

At that, the elders could no longer stay calm. This wasn’t just a question of whether it could be refined!

This thing wasn’t power of the domain laws you cultivated yourself. The power released by the Dao Rule Stone was chaotic.

Could a disciple at your level refine that casually?

Even putting aside how chaotic it was, just the act of sorting it out would consume tremendous time. And with one careless moment, your cultivation could be dispersed by the rampaging power of the domain laws.

In their view, this was a worthless endeavor. No disciple would be foolish enough to do it.

But looking at Gu Fan’s utterly clueless expression, could it be that, in just a short time, he had actually absorbed that much power of the domain laws?

The Grand Elder rubbed his temples and asked again,

“You mean to say you can absorb that power of the domain laws?”

Gu Fan nodded matter-of-factly.

“Impossible! You’re just a half-step Solar Radiance Realm disciple. Even disciples of the Celestial Heart Realm wouldn’t dare absorb that much power of the domain laws so casually. And you’re telling us you could digest it all in such a short time?”

“That’s right, it’s impossible! I wouldn’t believe it even if I were beaten to death!”

At that moment, Xia Qianliu weakly raised his hand.

“Wouldn’t it be more straightforward to just verify this kind of thing?”

After he spoke, everyone nodded in agreement.

“I remember when you defeated Xun Bo before, your mastery of the domain had reached fifty percent. If you’ve absorbed so much power of the domain laws, even if some of it was wasted, it should be at least sixty percent now, right?”

“That’s right. You’ve absorbed so much, over a month’s time should be enough to reach sixty percent.”

Gu Fan nodded, then unleashed his domain.

“In fact, I didn’t waste much. It’s already seventy percent now!”

Within the pitch-black domain, it was filled with power of the domain laws obtained from the Trial Tower.

This scene made the elders’ brows twitch uncontrollably.

As expected, it was this brat. The domain was clearly brimming with power of the domain laws—there was no way to fake that!

The Tower Guarding Elder’s beard trembled with anger, and he looked as if he couldn’t wait to rush up and give Gu Fan a beating.

However, the Grand Elder let out a surprised “Hmm?”

“It really is seventy percent mastery!”

Only then did the others react, and after observing for a moment, their expressions drastically changed.

“He really… reached seventy percent mastery?”

“This guy jumped from fifty to seventy percent in just a month!”

Gu Fan looked a bit helpless and quickly retracted his domain. He was afraid they might take back the power of the domain laws he had already obtained.

“So, Elders, I truly was just cultivating for my own benefit.”

“The key is, this matter shouldn’t fall entirely on my shoulders. No one told me that power of the domain laws couldn’t be absorbed.”

“I only knew that cultivating on the sixth floor provided great benefits to us disciples. Naturally, I thought the power of the domain laws was part of those benefits—otherwise, I wouldn’t have told Xia Qianliu to reveal his identity.”

The Grand Elder looked to the others. Their gazes met, and they exchanged divine sense.

If that was truly the case, then Gu Fan really couldn’t be blamed alone.

After all, he had a unique constitution that allowed him to absorb the power of the domain laws, and no one had ever informed him otherwise.

Naturally, he assumed the power of the domain laws was one of the benefits the sect offered to its disciples.

This misunderstanding was what had led to the current situation.

The Grand Elder lightly coughed, though he still harbored some doubts.

“In that case, Gu Fan, display it here. We need to witness you refining the power of the domain laws with our own eyes.”

As he spoke, he noticed Gu Fan’s wary gaze and continued,

“Rest assured. If what you say is true, I’ll take responsibility to ensure you won’t be blamed for this matter, and the power of the domain laws in your domain won’t be reclaimed.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

That was more like it.

However, by now, he also understood where the problem lay.

It turned out the power of the domain laws wasn’t something just anyone could absorb. For some unknown reason, he could directly absorb and refine it.

This had led the elders to believe it was a matter of common sense that he had ignored.

Gu Fan roughly guessed the reason—it was likely due to his domain.

His domain originated from the lotus seed of the Evil Lotus. In essence, the Evil Lotus was now one with him.

Therefore, the compatibility of this domain with him was unmatched.

This allowed him to refine the power of the domain laws much more easily than other disciples.

With that in mind, Gu Fan simply sat down right on the spot and began to demonstrate his refining ability.

In the next moment, the pitch-black domain unfolded once again.

Everyone watched as Gu Fan’s body continuously glowed, with the power of the domain laws being converted through the domain and flowing steadily into his body.

In just a few seconds, everything was proven.

Gu Fan indeed didn’t need to sort it out—he could directly devour and make it his own.

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