Chapter 231 - The Hearing (1/2)
“Lord Adjudicator Yang!” One of the Envoys stammered, “How can we be of service?”
The man in red smiled thinly, ignoring the question. He closed his paper fan and gestured at Xiao Chen with the same hand, “Is this him? The infamous Xiao Chen?”
“Yes!” The other Envoy barked, trying to sound brave, although no one present could ever miss the hint of fear in his faltering voice, “We are transporting this fugitive under the orders of Adjudicator Liu! Please allow us to pass!”
But the man in red simply chuckled and replied nonchalantly, “No. This business shall concern you no longer. Leave this man to me. I will take him in.”
The Envoys stirred, becoming terrified and tense. One of them remarked, “We’ve gone through great lengths to arrest this man! It’s only right that we take him to Adjudicator Liu directly! Are you trying to take our credit!?”
“I will repeat myself only once,” said the man in red with a steely tone in his voice, “Leave.”
“YOU! HOW DARE YOU!” Another Envoy glowered angrily, quietly channeling his powers in anticipation of an altercation, “Just because you’re from the Fiery Red Corps, you think you make the decisions here?!”
“So what if that is the case?” The man in red retorted, “You wish to challenge me?” Without waiting from any replies from the Envoys, he swung his paper fan with a lazy swing of his arm, sending forth a burst of sweltering energy that crashed into the Envoy who had dared provoke him, sending the poor man careening down the steps.
The other Envoy spat vengefully, “HOW DARE YOU, YANG YANYU! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE US! We’ve almost lost our lives trying to arrest this man!”
The eyes of the Yang Yanyu narrowed immediately. With a stony expression, he flicked his fingers and delivered a bullet of auric force into the still-standing Envoy, sending him tumbling down the steps too.
“Insolence. How dare you address me by my name directly.”
He glanced briefly at Xiao Chen and muttered to him, “Let us go then. There’s nothing to ogle here.”
Xiao Chen said nothing and walked past the man, moving up the steps. “Hmph,” Xiao Chen snorted, musing quietly to himself, “What a dog-eat-dog world here too, for all the righteousness and good they so profess.”
“Hmph?” Yang Yanyu repeated what Xiao Chen said, his glare cold and furious before what rage it contained quickly subsided. He swung his sleeves, and he walked up to the steps at Xiao Chen’s heels.
Thoughts swirled in Xiao Chen’s mind. Fengxi had informed him prior to his arrest that various branches and chapters of the Immortals’ League operated around the Violet Manor, and their personnel were divided into a hierarchy of ranks: at the lowest, was the bulk of the organization’s grunt force, the Constables of the League. Aside from dull and menial work, the Constables patrolled the cities and maintained law and order. The Constables were mostly captained by Envoys, whose job responsibilities included apprehending wanted fugitives and outlaws and escorting them for trial.
Above them, were the Adjudicators, high-ranking judges which governed their subjects with supreme authority, and they were in turn overseen by the rest up the levels of the League’s hierarchy: the Stewards, the Wardens, the Elders, and lastly at the top of the ladder, the Four Sacred Guardians, respectively.
They climbed to the top of the stairs and reached a large square that opened before them. A stately citadel stood at the other end of the square, and they walked through the square to find many people waiting outside the gates of the citadel. As they got closer, Xiao Chen saw that they were students of various schools and sects who had arrived at Tianyuan City, with a few members of the citadel’s staff attending to them.
They were ushered inside past the gates and entered the great hall. Five pedestals hovered in mid-air at the end of the hall, and upon each were the presiding members of this hearing. Below them, on both sides of the aisle, were seats occupied by various elders, leaders, and mentors from the sects and schools who had come to witness the event. Master Xuanji of the Wuyin Monastery was seated on the left, along with several members of the Zuoqiu Clan and a few staff members of the hall. From the edges of his eyes, Xiao Chen was not remiss in noticing that they were joined by a few kinsmen of the Ling Clan, while Perfected Immortal Qing Chen and Fengxi was sitting at the right flank with the rest of the Jade Qing Sect company.
“Big Brother Xiao Chen! Here we are!”
Xiao Chen heard Murong Xian’er calling him and looked to her direction. She saw her through a window. They were outside, perching atop a tree to see what was going on in the hall. Even though Xiao Chen and the Envoys had set off earlier, Perfected Immortal Qing Chen and his contingent of students from the Jade Qing Sect were here before them.
Yang Yanyu looked out the window as well, having heard Murong Xian’er’s voice. “What beauties they are! Never would any man harbor any discontent if he could have just one of them for a wife,” he sang softly. But he quickly recomposed himself with a feigned cough and cleared his throat and continued leading Xiao Chen deeper into the hall.
The pedestals hovered imperiously overhead when they reached the center of the hall. Standing on the ground, bathed in a brilliant glow where a shaft of sunlight shot in from a hole upon the eaves of the hall, Yang Yanyu bowed and gave a salute. “I am Adjudicator Yang of the Fiery Red Corps, I have brought Xiao Chen here.”
Seated on the pedestal on the center was the chief of today’s hearing, a Warden of the League. He was an old man with rosy cheeks and a benign smile. He nodded gently at Yang Yanyu. With a nudging gesture from the Stewards seated on the flanks of the Warden, Yang Yanyu quietly shuffled aside, allowing two guards to escort Xiao Chen to the defendant’s stand to await trial.
The many eyes of the Elders, Leaders, and Mentors of various schools and orders trained upon Xiao Chen, studying him intently. Is this Xiao Chen? He’s able to stand tall even before few of the most powerful men in the domain. He is indeed as proud and as courageous as rumors go. What a pity that we do not have talents such as him.
But Xiao Chen was also making observations of his own. The Warden who was presiding this hearing seemed to possess powers of the Nirvana Realm and the four Stewards should at least possess powers above the levels of the Nascent Soul Realm. Even though the Warden looked like a nice and friendly person, he exuded an indomitable aura that would frighten everyone else in the hall.
A palpably tensed mood pervaded the inside and outside of the hall. No one dared to speak in the uneasy hush. Xiao Chen noticed the presence of Zuoqiu Ping and a few of his kinsmen; all of whom were wearing smug and vicious smiles, gloating over their evident triumph for seeing Xiao Chen being tried. Zuoqiu Que was there too, and his presence worried Xiao Chen. He was a Tier-4 Elixir King, a position which bestowed him great respect and prestige even in the Middle Continent; and Xiao Chen was beginning to worry if he had bribed the Stewards to help sway any decision against him…
Corruption and bribery were commonly rife in the Human World. How could the Cultivation World be any different?
One of the Stewards, an old man clad in red, motioned to Zuoqiu Ping and boomed. “Present your accusations.”