Chapter 589: “Slapping the Mob (7)”
Both the revered Gu Li Sheng and the respected Fan Qi had stood forward and told everyone the whole truth behind the matter and used their unblemished reputation and fame to vouch for Jun Xie’s integrity. Compared to the flimsy reasonings behind those vicious rumours, the proofs and evidences those two produced were found to be much more trustworthy and ultimately more believable!
One was the Head of the Spirit Healing faculty, and the other was the Headmaster of the entire Zephyr Academy. These two entities, with the esteemed positions they held, gave them the highest authority above anyone else in the whole Zephyr Academy, and they did not need to go to such an extent to protect a quiet and inconspicuous freshman for no good reason!
At that moment, all the negative names that Jun Xie had been branded with were completely cleared. No one would still dare to link Jun Xie to all those baseless and unfounded rumours ever again!
What all the disciples felt for Jun Xie now was no longer hatred or disgust, but they found themselves filled with shock and amazement for the youth.
Not even in their wildest dreams, would they have expected that the truth would turn out to be like this!
The very one they had all cursed and sworn at all this while, was in actual fact the biggest victim in this whole episode!
In fact, the one who had in actuality taken over someone else’s position in the Spirit Healer faculty was not Jun Xie in the first place, but was Li Zi Mu!
“I can vouch for his character as well! Jun Xie is nothing like what the rumours are saying about him! If not for Jun Xie, I would not have been able to get out of the Battle Spirits Forest alive!” A thin and weak youth had suddenly stepped out of the crowd and loudly proclaimed after bolstering his courage to speak up.
“I can vouch for him too!”
“And me!”
In quick succession, over ten disciples had stepped out from among the gathered mass of disciples. They were all without exception, from the team that had been with Li Zi Mu when they had initially gone into the Battle Spirits Forest.
“I was Li Zi Mu’s assigned mentor right from the beginning. Initially, I had been just like all of you and completely believed everything that Li Zi Mu said, and gravely misunderstood Jun Xie. But it wasn’t until the Spirit Hunt that I realised I couldn’t have been more wrong! The despicable one was never Jun Xie, but Li Zi Mu!” The youth who had mentored Li Zi Mu stood forth unabashed, and told everyone all that had really happened in the Battle Spirits Forest, without leaving out a single detail.
The words he was telling now, was exactly what he had repeated countless times before. When Jun Xie was being mercilessly cursed and sworn at, he had valiantly tried to defend Jun Xie then.
But, being just the ordinary disciple that he was, no one believed a single word he said!
But today, things were completely different!
Those very same words, when spoken aloud before the crowd today, caused an uproar to sweep through the sea of disciples present!
They had never imagined that Li Zi Mu could be so despicable and shameless. Besides having been the one that took Jun Xie’s position, he had still gone around and spread false rumours about Jun Xie’s duplicity and despicable intentions. Li Zi Mu had even abandoned his teammates during the Spirit Hunt who had gotten themselves injured by saving him. He had at the first instance, shamelessly clung onto the powerful Fan Jin for protection and Jun Xie had magnanimously not taken it against Li Zi Mu and accepted him readily!
The real truth behind all of it threw Li Zi Mu’s name into the mud and it completely turned Jun Xie’s image in the minds of everyone present!
All those youths who had previously endlessly lambasted Jun Xie before, all those youths who had previously cursed Jun Xie mercilessly in the past, and also all those who had fervently wished that Jun Xie would be expelled from the Zephyr Academy, now all hung their heads low guiltily, filled with regret and shame, not daring to even look at Jun Xie.
At that moment, they all wished the ground would just open up, and swallow them whole, hiding them from the guilt and embarrassment they all felt, as their cheeks burned up, in a bright red glow.
They were unable to face anyone, when they realised just how dumb they had been.
They had been led around by the nose by those false rumours, they had naively believed what their ears heard. Even when the truth of the matter had not been clear, they had blindly followed the crowd and followed those vicious rumours, to time and again, falsely accused and smeared Jun Xie’s name.
It was just as Gu Li Sheng had said. Their very actions, had brought great shame to the Zephyr Academy’s name!
Gu Li Sheng observed with satisfaction the reactions of all the disciples before him. “Today, before the presence of everyone here, I would like to once again, extend my invitation to Jun Xie, to return to the Spirit Healing faculty. I hope you will accept.” Gu Li Sheng asked in humility as he looked at Jun Xie, slightly lowering his head, to demonstrate the guilt he felt, towards the little lad.