The avatar saw the loss of composure from the usually stoic Purple Vine and smirked as she replied to the question saying, "It is true."
"I personally can confirm that he has broken into this sect at least twice, and that's only because he came to tell me or exposed himself those two times he sneaked into the sect."
"The first time I knew that he sneaked into the sect, he was at the fourth mortal coil. The only reason anyone found out about it was because he came to see me."
"He had roamed the sect earlier but came to check out the rising star of the Purple Flower sect before he departed. At that time, I was at the cusp of advancing to the fifth mortal coil. So if he were not curious about me, he wouldn't have appeared to fight me."
"The second time he sneaked into the sect was the time that he broke into the treasury in the inner sect and stole some things. At that time, one of the many alarms in the treasury went off and alerted me to his presence."
Then she sighed and said, "So if Sword Flash wanted to sneak into our sect, he wouldn't need to do something as elaborate and time-wasting as using someone to sneak into the sect. There is just no way that ordinary formations can block him."
"Even if you were right and Sword Flash can attach hidden pocket spaces to things and sneak them across the formations, all he will need to do to bypass the formations is to throw the object he has attached the hide space to across the three formations."
"Our formations can't block objects unless we activate the barrier completely, so he doesn't need someone to smuggle the objects into the sects. He can just throw them."
"Even if we activate the barriers completely, we still wouldn't be able to detect hidden pocket spaces. And even if we could, why would he attach the hidden spaces to living and eye-catching objects?"
The two listening golden core elders couldn't answer that question because they were reeling from shock. It was as if their entire world had been turned upside down.
What they thought was a safe sanctuary had suddenly turned into the backyard of a terrifying enemy. It would take them a long time to reconcile themselves with their new reality.
The Patriarch saw this and sighed.
Then she said to them, "I'm sure that Sword Flash must have broken into the sect many times before the first time he came to me and some more times after the alarm notified me of his intrusion. Those two aren't the only times. I have learned to live with this knowledge, and so must you."
Purple Vine was still shocked, but she recovered faster than Green Vine. She bowed again to the patriarch.
She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what to say. She was simply lost for words.
Eventually, she said, "You are a wise patriarch."
Green Vine still hadn't recovered, though. His gaze was vacant and distant, as if he were having a nightmare. It was clear that he wishes terribly that what he had just heard wasn't true.
The patriarch didn't try to convince him anymore. But she explained the situation to them.
She said, "I didn't tell you that in order to torment you. I told you so that you will recognize what kind of situation we are in and why we need the help of the Blood Skull sect."
"The person whose help we really need is Sword Flash. There is also the fact that the Blood Skull sect has living ancestors at rank 6, while we don't. If they can help us, we will surely win this war with the Red and Blue Fire sect. So nothing must come in the way of gaining the help of the Blood Skull sect."
Purple Vine nodded and said, "I understand, patriarch. I will try to do my best to secure the assistance of the Blood Skull sect."
The avatar of the patriarch nodded in satisfaction. It was at this point that Green Vine voiced his discontent.
He said, "But that violet freak killed my son. He killed my only son. Am I to do nothing and let him go?"
The avatar rolled her eyes inwardly and thought to herself, "What a troublemaker. Fortunately, he has no chance to reach the fifth mortal coil, or I won't be at peace with leaving the sect in his care."
She wanted to say, "Yes. Let it go without doing anything. There is more at risk here than your vendetta."
But she knew that if she said that, he wouldn't let it go. She either had to appease him somehow or apprehend him and lock him up until that Daoist Lightning Tyrant leaves the sect.
So in order to appease him, I said to him, "Don't worry. I won't let you let it go without doing anything. I will give you an opportunity to beat him up."
That still wasn't good enough for Green Viper. His face remained sullen as he said, "Just beat him up? That's not enough to avenge my dead son. I want to…"
At this point, she had had enough of him. So she raised her voice at him and said, "Enough. You are not even sure if he is the killer of your son or not. Just because he killed so many people doesn't mean that he was responsible for the death of your son. Now you will take what I have to offer, or you will have nothing."
She was really angry, and it showed in her aura. If he didn't pay attention to the tone of her voice, just the power of her presence blasting at him and nearly making him faint was more than enough to let him know that she had reached her limit of tolerance for him and was getting angry at him.
So he quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your help, patriarch. I will accept it graciously."