Elder Wuhen of the Carefree Sect's face darkened as he said coldly, "Jiang Chen, you're treating the Carefree Sect differently from everyone else — could it be that you have something to hide? The more you pull this act, the more suspicious you become."
This old fox hadn't said a word until now, clearly calculating the entire situation. He had even prepared to tamper with Jiang Chen's body directly.
As long as he could leave a deadly poison on Jiang Chen, there would be no need to worry — this fellow would obediently hand over a Heaven Grade spiritual medicine to buy his life.
No matter how valuable a Heaven Grade spiritual medicine might be, it couldn't compare to one's own life.
It had to be said — Elder Wuhen's plan was calculated brilliantly.
But Jiang Chen's words had once again thrown a wrench in Elder Wuhen's scheme.
Without being able to get close for a search, planting anything on Jiang Chen would not be so easy. And weren't both Elder Yun Nie and Elder Xiang Qian sharp-eyed? Under their supervision, poisoning someone without anyone noticing would be far from simple.
Jiang Chen, however, spoke in an unhurried manner: "Why should I care if you suspect me? Most people here suspect me — otherwise we wouldn't have this whole charade. What makes you so special that I should make an exception for you?"
At that moment, Elder Xiang Qian spoke up: "Enough. Cut the nonsense. I can guarantee that once I've conducted my search, nothing will be missed. I will handle this matter fairly. Wuhen, whether or not your Carefree Sect gets involved makes little difference."
The Grand Sacred Hall had always been overbearing, and with Elder Xiang Qian's words, Elder Wuhen had to weigh his options carefully.
Though seething with anger inside — feeling Elder Xiang Qian was far too domineering — Elder Wuhen didn't dare act out in front of the Grand Sacred Hall.
He let out a sinister smile: "When Big Brother Xiang makes the move, Wuhen naturally defers. But I'm worried this kid is too cunning. With thousands of stalks of Saint Infant Grass at stake, I still think it would be better to handle it personally. This is also taking responsibility for young Wang Han of the Sacred Sword Palace!"
Elder Chen of the Sacred Sword Palace nodded: "Exactly. I think Elder Wuhen is the most impartial. If he can't search, I won't accept it."
Elder Tan Lang of the Three Star Sect was thoroughly irritated: "I don't care about your endless rambling. I'm searching first. Jiang Chen, open your Storage Ring. Don't resist with your divine sense — I'll scan your entire body with my spiritual consciousness."
Jiang Chen smiled faintly: "Be my guest."
With that, he opened his Storage Ring and allowed Elder Tan Lang's divine sense to seep in.
Beyond Elder Tan Lang, the other sect elders also sent their spiritual consciousnesses probing through the storage ring, sweeping back and forth.
Jiang Chen simply wore a cold sneer on his face and said nothing.
Back on the road, he had anticipated that Wang Han might try to frame him. So he had taken precautions early on, hiding all the valuable things he had obtained inside the Wanhao Stone Nest. The Stone Nest possessed a unique spatial dimension capable of housing tens of millions of Gold-Munching Mice — storing Jiang Chen's spiritual medicines was naturally no problem at all.
Otherwise, even setting aside the Saint Infant Grass, even if he put away the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine and all the Earth Grade spiritual medicines, the sheer volume of the remaining spiritual medicines would still be enough to scare anyone to death.
After all, Jiang Chen had deployed hundreds of Gold-Munching Mice to gather spiritual medicines — the total haul was absolutely staggering, even exceeding the combined collection of the other fifty-plus people present.
As for what he had obtained from Du Lihuang and Wei Qing, those had naturally been hidden away as well.
Thus, inside his Storage Ring, apart from a batch of True Saint Grade and Saint Grade spiritual materials, there were only several hundred thousand high-grade Yuan Spirit Stones — all things everyone already knew about.
There were also some pills, but nothing particularly rare.
As for the remaining three Ten Thousand Years Pills, Jiang Chen had hidden those too — they were items that absolutely could not be exposed.
The elders' spiritual consciousnesses refused to leave any corner of Jiang Chen's storage ring unexamined. They searched and searched, and in the end — forget about thousands of stalks of Saint Infant Grass, they couldn't even find a single one.
For these elder-level old monsters, Jiang Chen's storage ring was practically destitute, with absolutely nothing of note.
Forget about making their hearts flutter — there was barely a single spiritual medicine that could cause even the slightest ripple in their emotions.
Elder Tan Lang was the first to retract his spiritual consciousness. He then swept his senses around Jiang Chen's body, found nothing extraordinary, and finally shook his head, glancing at Wang Han with a half-smile.
It was clear that Elder Tan Lang also believed it was quite likely that Wang Han had deliberately slandered Jiang Chen.
The elder from the Northern Abyss Sect also stepped up to conduct a perfunctory search before walking away with a smile.
Elder Xiang Qian searched even more thoroughly than Elder Tan Lang, but still came up empty-handed. In the end, he shook his head: "Brother Chen, your Sacred Sword Palace is always causing trouble. I believe young Jiang Chen is innocent."
The moment Elder Xiang Qian said this, everyone on the Danqian Palace side let out a collective sigh of relief. Especially Mu Gaoqi, who had been tense the entire time.
It wasn't that he believed Jiang Chen had obtained thousands of stalks of Saint Infant Grass — he was worried that Jiang Chen had gotten Du Lihuang's and Wei Qing's storage rings. If the contents of those two were exposed, it could very well trigger a sect war.
That was exactly what Mu Gaoqi feared most. So while everyone had been searching, he had been drenched in cold sweat. Hearing Elder Xiang Qian's words, the heavy stone suspended over his heart finally came crashing down.
Elder Wuhen sneered: "My turn now, isn't it?"
By this point, Elder Wuhen had already confirmed that Jiang Chen must have tampered with something. Otherwise, where had that Heaven Grade spiritual medicine gone?
Both Elder Wuhen and Elder Wuqi knew perfectly well that Jiang Chen possessed a Heaven Grade spiritual medicine.
But clearly, the first three had found nothing of the sort. This proved Jiang Chen had made his preparations long in advance!
Under the supervision of Elder Yun Nie and Elder Xiang Qian, Wuhen began his search with painstaking thoroughness.
But, just the same, he came up with nothing.
However, Wuhen was meticulous above all else. He desired to catch Jiang Chen's vulnerabilities more than anyone. After scanning Jiang Chen's storage ring for a long while, he suddenly spoke up: "These stones — what's the deal with them? They look rather strange."