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“This is impossible!” one of them shouted furiously. “We never tortured him!”

“You’re obviously making all of this up!” the other yelled. “Do you know what kind of place the Justice Palace is? How dare you try to defraud this place!”

Seeing how worked up the Captain was, Arch-Immortal Plumdark knew that it was time for her to step in. She strode forward, her Void Returning cultivation base flaring to life. A thousand dao lineaments swirled in her eyes as terrifying fluctuations rolled out in all directions, causing wild colors to flash in heaven and earth. This was the county capital, but Void Returning was Void Returning. Her facial expression was grim and full of anger as she ignored the blabbering footsoldiers and instead looked into the depths of the Justice Palace itself.

“I am Arch-Immortal Plumdark, a human cultivator from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. I came here to escort the new swordsage Xu Qing to the capital, the same one who earned the veneration of the Grand Emperor and was given a 30,000-meter pillar of light. I hereby request that the Justice Palace provide an explanation of what happened to our dao child, Xu Qing. Are the charges true, or was he framed?”

The Justice Palace was a huge organization, and Division 3 was only a small cog in the larger wheel. And yet, both the Captain and Arch-Immortal Plumdark had spoken loudly enough that everyone could hear them. Quite a few Justice Palace cultivators were now looking outside.

At first, the Captain’s yelling had made enough people displeased that they had been considering going out and shutting him up. After all, for a scene like this to play out could really harm the reputation of the Justice Palace. But when they heard him mention that the incident was because of jealousy, they hesitated. The word jealousy inherently related to private, selfish affairs, not the public interest. And it naturally didn’t make sense that members of the Justice Palace should meddle in the affairs of others because of personal interest. Despite that, some people in the Justice Palace were still inclined to shut the Captain up.

Then they heard him mention the 30,000-meter pillar of light and the veneration of the Grand Emperor. At that point, they decided not to get involved. After all, people who had what it took to work in the Justice Palace weren’t idiots. Although they considered Yao Yunhui, the director of Division 3, to be a colleague, when they saw Arch-Immortal Plumdark they couldn’t help but hesitate.

But there was more.

They were also hesitant when they saw the righteous indignation on the faces of the dozens of swordsages who had come along. At that point, no one from the Justice Palace stepped in. In fact, the matter had escalated to the point where the swordsages were preparing to call for backup.

Finally, seeing all that, Zhang Siyun’s mother Yao Yunhui couldn’t hold back any longer.

Having already experienced how difficult it was to deal with Xu Qing, she knew that she couldn’t let the matter drag out any longer. She had to resolve it immediately, lest it lead to further trouble. All in all, she knew full well that she was in the wrong. If things had gone according to her previous plan, it wouldn’t have mattered. But Xu Qing had struck back quickly and efficiently, and with ruthless accuracy.

Looking very grim, she emerged from her office, walked to the gate outside the Division 3 prison, and stepped out into the open.

The two Justice Palace officers breathed sighs of relief and rushed over to offer greetings.

Meanwhile, all of the coalition disciples and swordsages turned their attention to her. Arch-Immortal Plumdark’s energy fluctuations still caused the area to tremble, and her phoenix-like eyes were cold as she looked at this other woman whose beauty was on the same level as her own.

Yao Yunhui stood there silently for a moment. She wasn’t in Void Returning. She was only in Spirit Trove. If she had been facing Arch-Immortal Plumdark alone, she would have been terrified, but considering this was the Justice Palace, she wasn’t afraid. That said, she had come here to smooth things over, so she took a deep breath and bowed to Arch-Immortal Plumdark with clasped hands.

Then she turned to Xu Qing. Looking very apologetic, she said, “Xu Qing, this was a big mistake on the part of my Division 3. As the director, I’ll look into the matter, figure out what happened, and give an explanation. Right now, I can confirm that Xu Qing, as well as all of your people from the Eight Sect Coalition’s subsidiary sect, only came here to cooperate with an investigation. As of now, the investigation is over, and a determination has been made. You are not guilty of overstepping authority.

“That’s why I issued the orders to release you. However, something unusual has clearly occurred. As for what exactly it was, that isn’t important. This matter won’t be recorded in the official prison records, and I take full responsibility for the mistake.”

With that, she took out a jade slip which she examined, as if to confirm certain details of the investigation. There were deep layers of meaning to her words. On the surface, they seemed like an apology. Yet she made that apology as the director of Division 3. In other words, she was implying that everything that happened was the result of bad behavior on the part of her subordinates. As a result, she didn’t implicate herself personally. What was more, she said that everything was related to an investigation, and that Xu Qing and the others had been freed because of that. That made it seem like it wasn’t a personal issue. That was another way she distanced herself from it personally. Finally, there was the hint of a threat in her words.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. As for the Captain, he looked closely at Yao Yunhui. Though the initial scenario had been handled clumsily, the resolution wasn’t that bad.

“I’ve already started looking into the reason why this all happened,” she continued, “and I’ll have an answer soon. In the meantime, I can see that Xu Qing’s injuries are serious. Please take this spirit-gathering pill to help with the healing.” Looking very apologetic, Yao Yunhui took out a medicinal pill that shone with dazzling light, making it obvious it was extraordinary. “Rest at ease, all of you. Forget about the 30,000-meter light and the veneration of the Grand Emperor. Even ordinary mortal citizens are treated the same in the Justice Palace. We enforce the law in a fair and impartial manner. That’s our duty.”

With that, she placed the pill off to the side. Around then, her jade slip flared with light. After looking at it, her expression turned grave and she looked at the two officers. “As it turns out, it was you two! You took it upon yourselves to torture him!”

Before the two officers could open their mouths, Yao Yunhui suddenly waved her hand. The two of them screamed, then tumbled backward, blood spraying out of their mouths. When they flopped to the ground some distance away, it was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive.

“Lock them up.”

Some other Division 3 officers flew out and took away the two officers.

Yao Yunhui had handled the matter quickly and efficiently. Little did anyone know that the message she had received confirmed that the surveillance jade slips in the prison had been disabled, meaning that there was no evidence of what had really happened.

Having handled the two subordinates, she looked at Xu Qing and Arch-Immortal Plumdark. Clasping hands in embarrassment, she said, “I was negligent in my management, and as a result, Xu Qing endured humiliation. Considering how hurt you are, Xu Qing, I suggest you go back and get some rest. Now that I understand the details of what happened, I’ll prepare a report and send it to you right away. Later I’ll come pay you a visit in person.”

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly. It was impressive that Yao Yunhui could resolve matters so quickly. He could tell that if he kept pressing the issue of being wounded, the situation could change, and he would come across as overbearing.

On the one hand, it was good to know that this incident wasn’t going to harm his record. That said, he didn’t think he had struck back viciously enough. Therefore, he opened his mouth as if to say something.

Unfortunately, his wounds were so severe, and he was so weak, that he couldn’t speak or send out divine will. The Captain quickly leaned over and put his ear to Xu Qing’s mouth. A moment later, his anger turned to outright disbelief.

“WHAT?” he shouted. “Little Junior Brother, are you telling me that the two swine who nearly killed you also stole 30,000,000 spirit stones from you?”

Yao Yunhui’s eyes narrowed and her heart started to race a bit. Yet again she was coming to understand how difficult it was to deal with Xu Qing. Although she thought she had already negated his ability to strike back at her, all it took was a fraction of a moment for him to shift tactics and once again start causing problems.

30,000,000 spirit stones was no small amount even to her. To be extorted in such a manner made her feel like she was being forced to swallow a big pile of dog excrement. Yet she couldn’t reveal anger publicly. All she could do was inhale deeply, force herself to calm down, then smile and nod.

“I’ll look into the matter. If I find—”

Before she could finish speaking, Xu Qing coughed up another huge mouthful of blood, and his aura became even weaker than before. Rage filled the Captain’s face as he fed medicine to Xu Qing and laughed bitterly.

“Is this really the Justice Palace?” he mused in a very loud voice. “They beat people up at random and even steal from them! Oh, little Junior Brother, did we really end up at the county capital of humankind? The dao of heaven won’t permit this! The—”

When Yao Yunhui saw that the same routine was starting again, veins bulged on her forehead, and her fury spiked. However, she knew that she couldn’t let things continue to play out. Gritting her teeth, she interrupted the Captain.

“It will take time to investigate, but in the meantime, Division 3 will make an advance payment of 30,000,000 spirit stones!”

As she spoke the words, she felt like her heart was bleeding.

When the Captain heard her words, his heart started beating faster. Licking his lips, he leaned closer to Xu Qing again, but this time, Xu Qing didn’t say anything.

However, the Captain then clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it onto the floor tile next to him. The floor tile shattered. Eyes bloodshot, he howled, “WHAT? You mean that they also took away the seventeen deadly spell formations and fifty-seven magical devices I gave you as a gift?”

The Captain looked so full of grief he might have a heart attack.

Xu Qing looked at him and could tell how passionate the Captain was at the moment, so he nodded.

Yao Yunhui was panting for breath at this point, and her emotions were almost out of control. As she glared at the Captain, she started to realize that he was actually a lot more annoying than Xu Qing. She was just about to say something when a stream of terrifying divine will emerged from the Justice Palace and scanned the area. When she felt that divine will, Yao Yunhui shivered as she realized that her actions had attracted the displeasure of her superiors. Gritting her teeth, she forced a calm look onto her face.

And yet, she had underestimated the Captain. When he saw the calm look on her face, the Captain howled in grief.

“The three magical treasure fragments that Master gave you were also taken? And they didn’t even let you keep the more than 10,000 spirit stones our swordsage friends gave us to purchase local specialty products for them from Seven Blood Eyes? Those swordsages worked hard for that money!

“Huh? Are you telling me that the three heavenly palace pills Arch-Immortal Plumdark gave you were also seized?”

Arch-Immortal Plumdark’s face darkened as she looked coldly at Yao Yunhui. As for all the swordsages, including Chen Tinghao, they had odd looks on their faces as they looked at the Captain. But they also nodded.

Seeing all that, Yao Yunhui could hardly suppress her fury. Her eyes pulsed with rage. This wasn’t just extortion, it was group extortion, and she almost couldn’t maintain control.

Seeing that, Xu Qing’s fingers twitched as if to say “alright, good enough, quit while you’re ahead.” He had the feeling that if they pushed things any further, they would make fools of themselves in trying to be clever.

The Captain wasn’t quite ready to give up, though, and was about to continue when Xu Qing coughed up yet another mouthful of blood.

Finally, the Captain closed his mouth. Looking furious, he put Xu Qing onto his back and walked over to Arch-Immortal Plumdark. As Yao Yunhui glowered at them, they left.

***

After they were gone, the area was silent for a moment. Then a voice spoke from the divine will that had come from the Justice Palace.

“Director Yao, this is the Justice Palace, the judicial center of humankind. You have the right to seek justice for humankind, not resolve personal vendettas. You have overstepped your authority here.”

Yao Yunhui shivered and bowed her head.

“We just received an official inquiry from the Swordsage Palace. That inquiry contains one sentence with seven words.

“Do you have a death wish, Yao Yunhui?”

Yao Yunhui inhaled deeply. A moment passed, and then she quietly said, “Palace Lord, your humble servant admits her error.”

“Shape up.” Having said that, the divine will from inside the Justice Palace vanished.

Yao Yunhui stood there for a long moment, then turned expressionlessly and walked back to her office.

Upon entering, she saw Zhang Siyun waiting for her, concern on his face. “Mother—”

“Yun’er,” she interrupted, “those two colleagues of yours are no simpletons.”

Zhang Siyun shivered and wasn’t sure what to say. Before he could do anything, Yao Yunhui pulled her hand back and slapped him hard. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as he was thrown off his feet to slam into the wall. His internal organs trembled, and more blood sprayed out of his mouth as half his face swelled up.

“Pathetic!” she growled through gritted teeth. “Your father was pathetic, the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society is pathetic, and you’re just as pathetic!”

Only now was she able to vent her fury by means of that slap.

Zhang Siyun didn’t dare to offer a single retort to his mother. He didn’t even dare to wipe the blood off his face. He just kept his head bowed. He had experienced this kind of thing many times growing up.

After cursing Zhang Siyun, Yao Yunhui walked around and sat behind her desk. Taking a deep breath to settle her emotions, she took a bowl of silver fungus soup from off to the side and took a sip. [1]

Her face was absolutely flawless, and her eyes were like jewels as she looked in the direction of the Eight Sect Coalition’s subsidiary sect. Then she smiled faintly.

“Warning? Me? I guess that just makes things more interesting.”

1. Silver fungus, also known as snow fungus, snow ear, white jelly mushroom, and white cloud ears, is a species of fungus commonly eaten in China. I actually love it, along with the thicker and black-colored ‘wood ear fungus.’ When growing, it looks quite beautiful. However, when put into soup (or hotpot) it quickly turns into a gelatinous, shapeless mass, so I’m not going to share a picture of that lol. ☜