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 pa.s.s!"

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 antic.i.p.ation 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."

"Yes, my lord." Zuoqiu Ping extracted a jade strip and released it into the air. The jade wand magically glided through the air and flew to the Steward.

The old man reached out a bony finger and tapped lightly on it, and the jade strip began to s.h.i.+ne, projecting a holographic message with hundreds of words. He read it briefly, before handing the jade strip to his colleagues.

The four Stewards traded quick looks when they have finished reading, and the first Steward barked loudly, "XIAO CHEN! DO YOU DENY THESE CHARGES!"

The sudden roar caught everyone outside the hall off-guard that some yelped in surprise. Xiao Chen would have been frightened too if not for his Divine Sense. Instead, he casually howled, "I..." and dragged his voice as long as he could before he finished with a sonorous "DON'T KNOW!"

The members of the court below and the chiefs from the sects and schools frowned at his impudence. Even some outside were stunned beyond words and could only share looks of dismay.

"SILENCE! We'll have none of your insolence in this sacred hall!" The Steward thundered with an authority that said it was used to being obeyed.

Xiao Chen's eyebrows tipped up quizzically. With a frosty voice still and silent, he hissed quietly, "You have read the message imbued into the jade strip on your own, but you did not recite what was said inside. How am I to know what the message was about? Am I to accept the charges quietly if even if the charges against me were contrary?"

Everyone was aghast with shock and surprise by his bravado and hushed whispers began to rise from amongst the crowd outside. "What nerve! Does he have strong support? What is his background?"

"Word has it that he is a disciple of the Ancient Immortal Clan who is now on a pilgrimage."

"No wonder. That explains his arrogance."

The Steward in red was angered beyond words. For decades he had presided over countless hearings, but this was the first time he encountered so arrogant and haughty a defendant. Switching to a cold voice, he read loudly, "Very well! You are hereby charged with intruding the residence of the Zuoqiu Clan with unknown confederates and have murdered the entire household of seventy-four people and have caused the disappearance of the relic, the Fallen Dust Bead. Do you deny these charges!"

Seventy-four? So the Zuoqiu Family is piling all the deaths of their family on me, whether I killed them or not! "So, you are reading the charges as imbued into the jade wand? My Lord Steward! I hope you have not been receiving gifts or bribes to indict me."

A tense atmosphere shrouded over the entire hall like a spectral apparition. The onlookers outside felt a nervous chill as they could feel the anger swelling from the seats above the hanging pedestals. From whence did he find such audacity to speak so rudely to a Steward? Does he not value his life?

"IMPERTINENCE! CONTEMPT OF COURT! HOW DARE YOU! MEN! TAKE HIM..."

But the Steward was cut short by the sound of a throat being cleared that broke his seething uproar. It was the Warden who had long observed everything in silence. Finally, he began to speak. As if ignoring the heated exchange between Xiao Chen and his subordinate, he spoke gently, still wearing his friendly smile like a grandfather speaking to his grandson, "It is only right and natural that you reserve the right to tender objections, Xiao Chen. You only need to point them out nicely."

Everyone was equally astonished. Why was the Lord Warden being so nice to Xiao Chen? In most cases, defendants and accused were usually subjected to a certain amount of torture before the hearing even began. Was he really from a powerful background?

Xiao Chen took a long breath. Indifferently, he began to speak, "I was pa.s.sing Canglan City when the Zuoqiu Clan detained my friend without any reason. Later, they even sent men to murder me. And I was forced to flee to the Changyin Mountain Range with them in pursuit. But I am responsible for no murder. The seventy-four counts of death have nothing to do with me!"

He stopped to look at Zuoqiu Ping and hissed, "I had warned them many times that I only want my friend back, and I will forgo all the hostilities that they've shown me. But they persisted in trying to kill me and the head of their family even tried to usurp my spirit via Spirit Possession. In their haste to kill me, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of members of the Devil's Practice who were the ones actually culpable for the disappearance of the Fallen Dust Bead. I have nothing to do with everything!"

His long address to the judges demonstrated his denial to the charges fabricated against him, and many of the leaders and chiefs present shuffled uneasily. Some nodded approvingly while some shook their head. The old Warden, his cheeks still flus.h.i.+ng with vim and verve, nodded his head gently.

The Stewards began debating amongst themselves on the disputes about the case, and the crowds outside started to murmur on their own, discussing with interest about the fate that awaited Xiao Chen. Realizing that he must do something, Zuoqiu Ping stood up and raised a hand to silence the crowd. He looked up at the Stewards and the Warden and wore a feigned expression of sadness and solemnness, "My Lords. For centuries, we of the Zuoqiu Clan have guarded the Fallen Dust Bead, ensuring its safety and keeping it away from evildoers and scoundrels with great sacrifice and loyalty. But this man has emerged from nowhere and killed not only my grandson, but all seventy-four of my kinsmen! I implore you, Lords, please avenge us!"

The Stewards conferred among themselves again until the Warden spoke at last, "What happened between Zuoqiu Ze, which by extension, includes the Zuoqiu Family, and Xiao Chen, is no business of the League, as per the laws of the League. This is a private matter between both your parties and the League should not have interfered..."

But Zuoqiu Ping did not allow him to finish. "But it is surely not a coincidence that the Fallen Dust Bead was taken the moment this man appeared! He must be related to the evil folk! Please, my Lord Warden, I urge you to launch an inquiry!"

The Warden's head nodded. "There is truth in what you say as well..." He sounded troubled. Looking at Xiao Chen, he asked, "There have been witnesses who claimed that they saw you being closed to the woman of the evil folk. Some even said you rescued her yourself. Is this true?"

Everyone looked at Xiao Chen. The charge of being caught fraternizing with anyone from the Devil's Practice was a grave offense punishable by death. Not even a strong and powerful background could absolve anyone from such a grave sin. There was almost no way Xiao Chen could worm his way out of this and almost everyone was sure that he would be detained for seven days before a formal trial by the Elders of the League.

Perfected Immortal Qing Chen and Fengxi grew worried and anxious, but on the other side of the spectators' bench, the members of clans Zuoqiu and Ling were delighted. Let's see how you explain yourself for saving Yu Linglong from Ye Wuxin! There is no way you'll emerge from this unscathed!

"SPEAK!"

A shrill yell shattered the silence that many jumped in their seats. The voice was deafening; echoing through the hall like a crack of thunder. Slowly, heads began to raise as everyone searched for the origin of the voice, and they no longer saw a benign smile upon the Warden's face. The friendly look from his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold fury in every line of his gnarly face and an aura of power and wrath radiated from him as though he were giving off burning heat.