Zhu Zhang's overpowering presence left all the onlookers muted. He clicked his tongue and asked Li Meirong, "Years ago, I took you into my own coalition. I saw a potential in you and yet, here you stand before me, accused of murder. Tell me, do you have anything to say refute the allegations against you?"

At this point, Li Meirong already knew that telling the truth would get her nowhere. An explanation would not suffice to redeem her innocence, that much was obvious from the way she was manhandled, shackled and forced to kneel, accused on the cold floor.

Additionally, her "judge" was lying through his teeth.

What potential? She was never even given a single guidebook nor a single lesson in training and left to handle menial chores in the outskirts of the island?! Clearly, Zhou Zhang only picked her up to observe her due to his unfounded suspicions regarding her aura.

She sincerely lamented her decision. It would have been so much easier to just escape from the forest grounds, but the wish to prove her innocence brought her back. She had lived here for five years and grew attached to the sect, her acquaintances, her cabin and herbal garden...yet in the end, it was inevitable that she would be accused one way or another.

She needed to stall for time in order to find a way to unlock the spirit sealing chains placed upon her wrists.

Luckily for her, nobody had even entertained the thought she could possibly possess the ability to harness her internal powers, and with their ignorance, the security remained lax. Li Meirong wiggled her hands, it hurt to squeeze her limbs out of the restraints, but if she managed to keep rubbing her flesh against the iron binds, eventually, her sweat could help her slip out and break loose.

Grinding her teeth, Li Meirong calculated her words with care as her clear gaze was directed at the marble floor, "It was not murder, but an act of self-defence. Senior Wei and Senior Ying Yue plotted against me after striking a deal with a demonic cultivator named Sheng Jing Wu. I managed to save myself with the help of my spirit beast after they summoned a Fire Drake in attempt to kill me."

The crowd raged when they heard her words. A Fire Drake was no simple beast, it was considered a high-ranked, intelligent spirit capable of mass destruction.

Li Meirong heard one of the attending disciples snort behind her. "Who's going to believe this crap?! Do you think we're all clueless like you? For a cultivator to take down a Fire Drake, even with the assistance of a spirit beast familiar, he would need to be at least at the early stages of Core Formation! You don't even have the privilege to cultivate. What would you know?!"

The attending disciple's declaration brought a chatter of responses in general agreement.

"That's right, that's right! You're such a vicious woman! A furnace staying in the sect will pollute our reputation!"

"Who knows what she did to her Seniors? Turns out the girl is not only a slut but a scheming murderer!"

"Captain Liang was right, we should have expelled her years ago…"

"Silence! This is a trial, not a market!" Zhu Zhang's voice mercilessly thundered across the hall, before lifting his hand up high in the air and clenching it tightly into a fist, sending a powerful surge of an oppressive aura outwards and knocking the breath out of all the babbling attendants. His stern expression halting all the cultivators from jumping to accuse like a herd of sheep.

His obsidian eyes locked accusingly onto the audience. After bringing order back to the hall, he went to sit upon his designated seat. A cup of warm tea had been arranged on a low table at his side beforehand.

Zhou Zhang steadily lifted the cup to his thin lips, breathing in the fragrance.

Finding the scent acceptable, he took a small sip and continued his interrogation, "Rise. You claim a spirit beast assisted you, but all the spirit beasts governed under the sect have to be accounted for and you are merely an outer sect disciple, thus you have not been granted a spirit nor demonic beast companion. Who was it that aided your battle against the drake?"

Flustered, Li Meirong didn't want to raise her head only to be greeted by the accusing stares she was certain were waiting for her, but after the Grandmaster commanded her, she was left with no choice in the matter. She focused only on the Grandmaster and avoided looking directly at his eyes as she kept on rubbing her wrist raw against the binds.

Li Meirong didn't think that after all those years of keeping her trump card hidden just in case, the truth about Chou's existence would come out now of all times. Being condemned by Zhu Zhang's scrutinizing gaze caused a confession to spill from her lips.

Forcing herself not to stammer, Li Meirong said, "I have a companion that I found when I was in the Wild Lands years ago, he is a Plant Spirit named Chou. When the Seniors summoned the Fire Drake, Chou grabbed and hurled their bodies into the drake's mouth, causing the explosion."

Another collective murmur commenced in the crowd. Even the ever composed succeeding disciple Liang widened her eyes in surprise.

For a cultivator to make a contract with a Spirit Beast or Plant Spirit, they must have at least some knowledge of cultivation or else, why would the spirit bother to make a contract to begin with? Additionally, the stronger the cultivator's foundation was, the higher level the spirit he would be able to contract with.

For a Plant Spirit to have sufficient strength to fight against a Fire Drake was a tale unheard of. Not only would the Plant Spirit have to be of a superior rank, but it would be fighting against a spirit that's a fire element. Vegetation and Flora Spirits were known to be the weakest against fire.

As for Li Meirong? She only has average spiritual roots, the most basic of foundations and no practice in cultivation. Now apparently, a Plant Spirit won against a Fire Drake?

The story sounded less credible the more Li Meirong tried explaining!