Hearing Long Haotian's words, Zhang Yang nodded, figuring with Grandfather Zhang Daofeng and Uncle Zhang Yuna'an stepping in, there shouldn't be an issue.

"Yangyang, let's head back first and discuss this. After all, Master Shi Ming is still waiting for us inside. We'll also need to send someone to notify Shaolin later."

The old man seemed to sense Long Haotian's difficulty and spoke to Zhang Yang with understanding.

"Alright, then we'll go back first."

Zhang Yang had no objection, taking Mi Xue's hand and returning to the Long Family Plain with Long Haotian and the others.

Upon returning to the Long Family Palace, Zhang Yang settled Mi Xue down before entering the room Long Haotian had already prepared. Old Man Long Haotian and Long Feng were waiting inside; even Qiao Yihong remained there in his capacity as Protector of the Medical Saint Sect.

"What exactly happened?"

After sitting down, Zhang Yang looked towards Long Haotian and asked quietly. Long Haotian sighed, shook his head, and then turned his gaze to Long Feng.

"Brother Zhang, this matter is rather shameful for us..."

Seeing Long Haotian's look, Long Feng understood. Long Haotian found this difficult to bring up, so it was best for him to speak.

"I believe Brother Zhang still remembers Long Shen?"

Long Feng paused before speaking. Zhang Yang nodded. Long Shen was the fourth-level disciple who had appeared at the Long family previously. Zhang Yang hadn't seen such a young fourth-level master in the family before. He had even treated Long Shen during the defense against the Five Families Alliance, but sadly, Long Shen had perished along with the enemy in the end.

"It's like this: periodically, a portion of our younger generation disciples are secretly sent out to live and cultivate outside, following a path entirely different from that of the Long Family headquarters. These individuals serve as the Long Family's external protectors, only appearing when the Long family faces a grave crisis. Our current generation of external protectors consists of three people, and Long Shen was one of them."

Long Feng finished speaking and glanced uneasily at Zhang Yang. This was originally a secret of the Long family—these were external protectors secretly cultivated by the Xuanyuan Long family. However, Long Haotian had not disclosed this matter to Zhang Yang, who was a Supreme Elder, which was why Long Haotian had looked ashamed when discussing events outside the Long Family Plain.

So that's how it was. Zhang Yang now understood why Long Haotian had hesitated and stopped short of speaking; it was because he had concealed this fact. But it seemed the trouble within the Long family was connected to these external protectors.

Seeing that Zhang Yang showed no unusual reaction after hearing his explanation, Long Feng knew it was best that he didn't blame the Long family for their secrecy. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and continued: "In fact, not all Long family disciples remain within the Long Family Plain. After Long Shen's death last time, the other two external protectors took a group of Long family disciples and remained outside."

"Are they pursuing the Long family traitor, Third Elder Long Jiang?"

Old Man Zhang Pinglu frowned and asked. Seeing Long Feng nod, he waved his hand and said, "Never mind the details now; just tell us exactly what happened."

"Yes!"

Long Feng quickly bowed to the old man and then said, "The news of the ten-thousand-year-old Flat Peach ripening and emerging from Kunlun Mountain was spread by our Long family traitor, Long Jiang. Those two external protectors firmly believed that Long Jiang must be hiding somewhere in Kunlun, so they had been searching for the traitor Long Jiang among the various sects. However, just last night, many sects and noble families suddenly descended upon the Long Family Plain, claiming that our Long family disciples had suddenly attacked their sects, stealing many of their treasures and killing several people."

As he spoke, worry surfaced on Long Feng's face; he seemed genuinely perplexed as to how things had escalated to this point. He continued, "Initially, my father thought these sects were trying to take advantage of the situation to enter our Long Family Plain, so he ignored them. But starting from the latter half of the night, more and more sects and families arrived, some even sending the sect masters of several first-rate major sects to demand an explanation from our Long family. Only then did my father realize something was gravely wrong."

"So, my father specifically invited the two seniors, Zhang Daofeng and Zhang Yuna'an, to accompany him to meet these visiting sect masters. Only then did they discover that the accusations made by these masters and patriarchs against the Long family were not baseless. They had brought several corpses with them when they came to our family. Reportedly, they only managed to kill a few of the attackers after fiercely resisting, which allowed the aggressors to leave these few bodies behind. And these bodies belonged to our Long family disciples."

"When my father saw the corpses of these Long family disciples, he immediately recognized them as the ones who had been following the external protectors outside to hunt down the traitor Long Jiang. Only then did he realize the situation was unusual. How could our Long family disciples attack them? This must be a case of someone framing us. Seniors Zhang Daofeng and Zhang Yuna'an understood this as well, so they asked my father to wait outside the woods for you brothers to emerge, while they accompanied the sect masters back to the scene of the attacks to examine for any clues that might prove someone was trying to frame the Long family."

Old Man Zhang Pinglu glanced at Zhang Yang, his eyes filled with shock.

Zhang Yang's brows were tightly knitted, lost in thought.

"What happened underground? Could it be related to this framing of our Long family?" Long Haotian looked at Zhang Yang, then at the old man, and asked worriedly.

The old man shook his head. Underground, Di Wanfang, the Great Perfection expert of the Demonic Sect, was missing or dead. After he was taken away by Zhou Gu, the Great Perfection expert of the Zhou family, the entire Southern Border Demonic Path forces withdrew from Kunlun, naturally leaving no time for such an act.

As for the Hua family, the Li family, and the three families of Wudang, they certainly wouldn't commit such an act. Whoever framed the Long family must be someone else entirely.

"Third Elder Long, Long Jiang!"

Zhang Yang suddenly looked up and exclaimed.

"What!"

"What!"

Hearing Zhang Yang, Long Haotian and Long Feng immediately cried out in surprise. However, Long Haotian then shook his head repeatedly, saying to Zhang Yang, "Impossible, impossible! Although Long Jiang was once our Long family's Third Elder, his status as a traitor was made public long ago within the family. Not only all disciples of the Long family but also people from every outside sect know he is our traitor. Even if he were hiding in Kunlun now, he would be recognized the moment he appeared. Our Long family couldn't possibly have missed any news."

"That's right, Brother Zhang. That traitor Long Jiang is now a rat crossing the street and dares not show his face. Furthermore, according to the visiting sect masters, they saw the leader, and although that person possessed the strength of a fourth-level Inner Strength expert, he was not the original Third Elder Long Jiang."

Although the most obvious suspect was the long-unseen traitor Long Jiang, he truly lacked the capability to orchestrate this. Even Long Feng couldn't believe it.

"The traitor of the Long family, is it only Long Jiang?"

Qiao Yihong, who had remained silent, frowned and suddenly asked Long Haotian and Long Feng, his voice low but dropping like a bombshell among the group.

"You must not speak recklessly!"

Long Haotian slammed the table in front of him, glaring at Qiao Yihong. If the man hadn't been a Protector of the Medical Saint Sect, he might have slapped him by now. Any sect or noble family, especially a super-clan like the Long family, could not tolerate others suspecting the loyalty of their own disciples. After all, the development of every sect and clan depended on their loyal disciples; doubting one's own ranks was akin to tearing down one's own Great Wall.

Long Feng also jumped up agitatedly, turning crimson with anger as he pointed at Qiao Yihong: "I don't know why Third Elder hates our Long family so much that he repeatedly tried to destroy us, but every single disciple of the Long family is incomparably loyal, especially those disciples following the external elders outside to hunt down the Third Elder. They all deeply despise him. Moreover, how could they possibly do something that damages the Long family!"

"But you also didn't anticipate that your Third Elder Long Jiang would betray you, did you? Now that you don't even know why he betrayed you, how can you be certain that he is the only one who has betrayed the Long family?"

Qiao Yihong, having worked as a private investigator, naturally possessed an instinctive knack for suspecting such conspiracies. However, the reactions of Long Haotian and Long Feng also greatly annoyed him, and he immediately stood up, confronting Long Feng and Long Haotian equally, unwilling to back down.

The argument among the few made the old man shake his head; after all, he was still heavily injured, and even with the effects of the Minor Rejuvenation Pill suppressing his condition, his energy was not what it used to be.

"Enough, stop arguing, all of you."

Seeing the intense friction erupting between Qiao Yihong, Long Haotian, and Long Feng, even Zhang Yang felt a headache coming on.

Only when Zhang Yang spoke did Long Haotian let out a cold snort before sitting back down. Long Feng and Qiao Yihong also said no more, settling back into their places.

"Never mind, we'll discuss this when Grandfather and Uncle return. For now, the Long family needs to bring its disciples under control."

Zhang Yang shook his head, casting a thoughtful glance at Qiao Yihong, then spoke to Long Haotian and Long Feng.

"Brother Zhang, what exactly happened underground that caused the Demonic Sect, the Zhou family, the Li family, the Hua family, and the five Wudang branches to withdraw from the Kunlun competition one after another?"

Long Feng nodded, but he was still very puzzled by the events in the woods.

"Di Wanfang, the Great Perfection expert of the Demonic Sect, is missing or dead, and Hua Feitian, the Great Perfection expert of the Hua family, is severely poisoned. As for Li Jianyi of the Li family and Zhang Hefeng of Wudang, both Great Perfection experts, they sustained minor injuries. Naturally, those families would withdraw from the competition for the ten-thousand-year-old Flat Peach."

The moment Zhang Yang finished speaking, Long Haotian shot up from his seat in shock, his eyes wide open, completely unable to absorb what Zhang Yang had said. As the patriarch of the Long family, he understood the weight of a Great Perfection expert better than anyone. A Great Perfection expert was the very pillar of a sect or clan. For four Great Perfection experts to end up in such a state—who would dare believe it if they heard?