Ding Yun had only recently risen to prominence, and her influence within Jinghua Prefecture was sufficient. Her actions over the years were enough to make the people of Jinghua Prefecture believe she was not that kind of person.
However, outsiders were unfamiliar with her.
Her actions also had little impact on outsiders.
This made her easily susceptible to rumors.
As the saying goes, a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. Similarly, rumors, when spread and spoken frequently, can easily be taken seriously and believed implicitly.
The public opinion quickly became unfavorable to Ding Yun.
Ordinary citizens who spoke up for Ding Yun were attacked as being paid to lie with their eyes open, earning ill-gotten gains with a clear conscience.
Both online and in the real world.
The criticism against Ding Yun was almost one-sided.
The collective voices of the people were overwhelming.
"It's terrifying. Even though we are beastmen, we should still prioritize humanity over beastly instincts. She actually ate her own biological parents at birth. This is worse than any wild animal. Even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs, and the reverse should be true. This Cang Yun is truly a born demon!"
"I used to be a neighbor of the Cang family. Let me tell you, the non-natural death rate of their children was extremely high, especially in the years when Cang Yun was young. At one point, twelve children died in a single year.
Back then, the reports stated accidental deaths, and some starved to death, but now I suspect they were all eaten by that Cang Yun, and her adoptive parents were threatened."
"Is that true? That's too horrific. Is she even human? Oh, wait, she's not human at all."
"You guys are being too ridiculous. Who would believe such nonsense? You all know how big a bear beastman cub is at birth, and if you don't know, can't you just search online? They're not much bigger than puppies, how could they eat people when they're that small?
Does she have a black hole in her stomach!"
"Are you paid to say that? Isn't it normal for a demon to do things that go against convention? In the past, no one could become a Venerable before the age of twenty, yet that Cang Yun became a Venerable at twenty. In the past, no beastman could devour their parents at birth. What's so strange about her being able to devour them? Nothing that happens to her is strange."
"Whether she's a demon or not aside, and whether she ate her biological parents or not, it's a fact that she was cruel to her adoptive parents' children. She's already so prominent and wealthy, yet she still only gives her younger siblings the most ordinary jobs, earning only a few thousand dollars a month. Isn't this considered cruel?
She's not their biological sibling.
If they were her biological siblings, she probably would have arranged the best conditions for them long ago, with executive positions and dividends."
"Are some people sick? Are you all blind to the fact that Cang Yun used to work nineteen hours a day to help raise her younger siblings? Can't you see?
Besides, her siblings haven't said anything.
Why are you all acting so indignant..."
"My worldview is shattered..."
"I think that while other things might be false, the fact that she cultivated an evil technique is definitely true. Historically, the youngest person to break through to the Venerable realm was sixty years old. And not only was he immensely talented, but his family was also one of the four great families of Emperor Star back then, with access to all sorts of top-tier spirit beast inner cores and so on, as many as they wanted.
He barely managed to break through at the age of sixty.
But what does Cang Yun have? She has no biological parents to rely on, and nearly two hundred dependents below her.
Her true rise to wealth and prosperity has taken less than five years, and she announced her breakthrough to Venerable three years ago. In such a short period, it's absolutely impossible to achieve success through normal cultivation. She must have cultivated some evil secret method, just like in some stories where one enters the demonic path!"
"She should be made to hand over her demonic cultivation methods!"
"Hand them over for you to cultivate..."
"I finally understand. This is clearly an organized and premeditated smear campaign. Do you have any shame? Smearing the future sole hope of the beastmen like this."
"They keep repeating the same few points. Besides her adult siblings still needing to work, there's no smear that provides any concrete evidence.
Don't talk about Cang Yun's siblings not being biological. Even if they were, there's no rule that an elder sister must look after her younger siblings. Someone earning less than three thousand a month, instead of focusing on earning more, has the leisure to speak up for a group earning over ten thousand a month. It's unfair."
"Why isn't Governor Cang coming out to refute these rumors!"
"Yes, if she doesn't refute them, even those of us who speak for her feel a bit hesitant, afraid of being proven wrong."
"But honestly, with the matter escalating this much, her biological parents haven't spoken out. It's likely they're dead, otherwise why wouldn't they speak? If her biological parents were bad, they would have come forward for some benefit. If they were good, they would have rushed to stand up for their daughter and refute the rumors.
So, the fact that her biological parents have passed away.
There's definitely no problem with that!"
"Then I guess there are some things that are difficult to refute, like the point that she ate her biological parents at birth. The slanderers have no evidence, and it would be difficult for her to find evidence to refute it."
"The cultivation technique is probably similar. She can't possibly reveal her entire cultivation method, can she..."
"Something big is happening, everyone, quickly watch the live broadcast!"
"Quickly watch the official live broadcast from Jinghua Prefecture!"
"Cang Yun seems to be refuting the rumors!"
...
Faced with the sudden smear campaign, Ding Yun was indeed troubled. Moreover, some rumors were indeed difficult to prove her innocence. Although she could use the principle of "the clear will clear itself" to express her stance, this explanation was too weak.
So weak that it could be interpreted as a complete denial.
Or it could be interpreted as a complete default.
Therefore, after some thought, Ding Yun finally decided to go live. It was only after the number of viewers in the live stream exceeded one billion that she formally began to explain two issues:
"Recently, there have been many rumors smearing me. Although most of these rumors are quite laughable and no one with even two years of education should believe them, given their detrimental impact, I still need to refute them.
I will not refute the excessively absurd claims.
And I'm too lazy to mention those that are already reasonable.
The first point I want to refute is the rumor that I devoured my parents at birth. My memory of this is very clear. It was not I who devoured my parents, but I who was abandoned by them. My biological father, due to my appearance, suspected my mother of infidelity. They had a big fight.
It eventually ended in divorce, and I was abandoned.
The specific details will be revealed later. I will use a brain memory reader to retrieve my memories from that time.
And upload them to the official platform for playback.
As for why my biological parents misunderstood, the reason is very simple. You can all check the scarce panda knowledge found by ancient biology research forums on Emperor Star. Newborn pandas have no fur and look like newborn rats. Their size is also similar to newborn rats.
They are not much bigger.
The smallest weigh just over one ounce, and the largest are less than half a pound.
I was small at the time, so I looked even more like a hairless rat. Even my adoptive parents thought I was like a cub of the hamster species.
That's why they took me back to raise me!"
After explaining this part, Ding Yun proceeded to live stream the retrieval of the original body's memories from birth using the brain memory reader.
And uploaded them to the official platform for playback.
Following this, of course, was the continuation of the refutation:
"The second rumor is that I cultivate evil techniques, and that I devour the bloodlines of other beastmen. I can demonstrate my cultivation live for you to see. Whether I cultivate evil techniques or not, I think it will be clear soon."
After saying this, Ding Yun, without any hesitation or concealment, manifested her ancient Yin-Yang Panda true form, which was a hundred meters tall. Using the Dharma Form and Heaven Manifestation divine ability, she directly transformed from a hundred-meter giant bear into a ten-thousand-meter giant bear, a pillar supporting the heavens, capable of plucking stars from the sky, reaching approximately this level.
After such a massive transformation.
Ding Yun immediately began to cultivate. While doing so, she activated the Heaven Devouring Earth Devouring divine ability she awakened after evolving her bloodline to the Yin-Yang Panda bloodline. Instantly, everyone clearly saw countless cosmic energies and the energies emanating from the surfaces of planets transforming into energy torrents that Ding Yun easily absorbed. Even the sunlight within tens of thousands of miles was transformed into a beam of light, directly swallowed into Ding Yun's belly to be digested.
And this was not the end.
As her internal energy finally became abundant, Ding Yun leaped out of the beastman planet and flew to the boundary between the beastman planet and the star. She once again activated the Heaven Devouring Earth Devouring divine ability, frantically devouring solar energy. At this moment, the live broadcast from the space satellite showed that the star was being deformed by the terrifying suction from Ding Yun's mouth, and its fearsome temperature consequently dropped.
The infinite solar energy rapidly disappeared.
The temperature of the beastman planet began to drop sharply.
However, Ding Yun did not intend to extinguish the star, so after absorbing solar energy for over a minute, she stopped the Heaven Devouring Earth Devouring divine ability and returned to the beastman planet.
She then resumed her normal human form and said:
"You all saw it just now. This is my awakened innate divine ability. Do you think my cultivation speed through normal energy absorption is faster, or my cultivation speed by devouring beastmen and practicing your so-called evil techniques is faster?
If I were to use this divine ability to devour beastmen.
Do you think anyone would be left on the beastman planet?
I don't want to hear such absurdities again. Furthermore, I have investigated all those who smeared and slandered me this time. I will give you three days to apologize on online platforms and reveal the mastermind behind this, as well as your actions during this period. Then I will spare your lives.
I hope you will not bring about your own doom.
If I have to take action myself, I will not be lenient.
As for the several masterminds, my bloodline also comes with some curse-related divine abilities. I can't help you much, so I can only wish you the 'Five Decays of Heaven and Man'."
After saying this, Ding Yun closed the live stream without even looking at the barrage of comments in the chat.
She then continued with her normal work.
At this moment, the entire beastman planet exploded.