Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Earth Emanations Hall was established many years ago. At first, it was a place where various great family clans could resolve their disputes. For example—when two great family clans wanted to fight to their deaths to resolve a conflict, the Earth Emanations Hall would step in to mediate between them. If the Earth Emanations Hall failed to resolve the conflict, the Earth Emanations Sovereign would step in. This was one of the ways that the Earth Emanations Sovereign maintained his power over everyone.
Later, the Earth Emanations Hall developed to become an organization of power. It also represented the Earth Emanations Sovereign’s will.
Once the Earth Emanations Hall decided on a matter, nobody could change its mind apart from the Earth Emanations Sovereign. The Earth Emanations Sovereign himself would normally respect the hall’s decisions as well. Back then—when a family clan outraged the public, the Earth Emanations Hall ruled that they were guilty. In just one day, all of the clan’s disciples were killed. Not one of them survived.
The Earth Emanations Hall was made up of thirteen Hall Lords. These thirteen people were some of the most important people in Earth Emanations Domain. The Clan Heads of the ten indigenous, great family clans took up ten of those spots. Apart from them were Mo Lingqiu, Jiutian Wu, and the Pavilion Lord of Demon-Killing Pavilion—Di Ming.
Xiao Hong felt so worried precisely because the ten indigenous divine races were linked in countless ways. If the Clan Head of the Qin Clan made use of these connections, he would easily get seven of the votes. If the Qin Clan really wanted Jiang Yi dead, Mo Lingqiu would not fall out with them just to save Jiang Yi. After all, Mo Lingqiu was not related to him at all. Even if Jiang Xiaonu came to look for trouble later, Mo Lingqiu did not need to fear because of his identity and skills.
There were many Teleportation Formations on the city plaza of Earth Emanations City. Each city in the prefecture had its own Teleportation Formation. The city plaza was quite huge as well. One city plaza was almost as big as Blue Eagle City. At that moment, the city plaza was filled with countless people. This entire situation had blown up so big that all the family clans received news of it way in advance. All of them were here to watch the drama unfold.
Buzz!
A huge Teleportation Formations flashed and remained lit for a full hour before the light slowly dissipated. Fifth Elder held onto Qin Yuewen while Seventh Elder held onto Jiang Yi. Xiao Hong and Thirteenth Elder followed closely behind these four.
“This is Jiang Yi?”
“He dared to go against the Qin Clan and even take Young Mistress Qin hostage? He is way too gutsy, isn’t he?”
“Hmph, trash like him should be diced into thousands of pieces.”
“Earth Emanations Hall? Isn’t he afraid that he would not be able to walk out once he enters?”
“I heard… this man is hiding the Poison Spirit? That is an extremely frightening and evil demon. If he’s hiding someone like that, he must be some kind of fiend himself!”
“Maybe this man has been overwhelmed by Netherworld Aura. We should kill him!”
“…”
There were many people in the city plaza. After all, it had been a long time since the Earth Emanations Hall conducted a public hearing. This matter involved even the Qin Clan’s Qin Yuewen and Mo Lingqiu. Naturally, many people were interested in seeing how it would unfold. However… from the sound of it, none of them were confident in Jiang Yi. Alternatively, they were all followers of the rich and powerful, and the Qin Clan was way too powerful.
Jiang Yi’s heart jumped. He scanned the surroundings as an ominous feeling rose in his chest. He did not have a very good understanding of the Qin Clan to begin with. From the looks of things now, it looked like the Qin Clan was extremely powerful indeed. For all he knew, he would not be able to return after making this trip to Earth Emanations City.
Since his divine core had been sealed, he was powerless as well. All he could do was be led towards the north of the city plaza where a huge castle stood. This castle was built very specially. From afar, it looked like a huge, violent bear which was primed to charge at anyone who walked past it. The entrance was located at the mouth of the bear.
“Greetings, Lords!”
The gate opened to reveal a row of Earth Emanations Army soldiers. All of them were Heaven Emanations. This group of people was obviously very familiar with the elders of the Qin Clan. After spotting them from a distance, they all bowed and shouted greetings. However, they acted like they could not see Xiao Hong and Jiang Yi. This made Jiang Yi’s heart sink a little more.
Upon entering the castle, they walked into an extremely huge hall. There were many corridors, and one of them even led to the second floor. The three elders of the Qin Clan acted like this was their own home and walked casually towards the second floor. At last, they arrived at another big hall.
The big hall had thirteen seats lined up in front of it. The host’s seats were three black, stone chairs placed in the center. On either side of these three chairs were five other stone chairs. At that moment, no one was seated yet. The entire hall was empty.
The three elders of the Qin Clan and Qin Yuewen entered without saying anything. Just like that, they waited silently for everyone else to turn up. Xiao Hong kept silent as well. Jiang Yi thus had no choice but to remain quiet.
An hour later, ten people walked out of the two corridors on either side. Jiang Yi scanned all of them and realized that Mo Lingqiu was among them. There was another familiar face. Jiang Yi stole a couple of glances at this man and discovered that it was the Pavilion Lord of Earth Emanations Domain’s Battle God Pavilion, Jiutian Wu.
“Greetings, Lords!”
The three elders of the Qin Clan immediately got to their feet and bowed down. Xiao Hong already bowed. Seventh Elder released Jiang Yi’s neck, causing Jiang Yi to stare at him, stunned for a couple of moments. Then, he bent down slightly and said in a low voice, “Greetings, Lords.”
The thirteen people said nothing. Instead, they looked for their own seats to sit down. Mo Lingqiu, Jiutian Wu, and a middle-aged, white-haired man dressed in the Demon-Killing Pavilion’s battle armor all sat on the three seats in the middle. The other ten sat on either side of them.
This is the clan head of the Qin Clan, right?
Jiang Yi caught sight of an elderly man on the host’s seat on the left. His gaze was icy. He saw the three elders of the Qin Clan avert his gaze and Qin Yuewen’s indignant expression and teary eyes. Jiang Yi finally understood something. The fact that this elderly man could sit on the first seat on the left showed that the Qin Clan was indeed the greatest family clan under the Earth Emanations Sovereign.
Mo Lingqiu sat on the seat in the middle. On his left was Jiutian Wu, and on his right was the Demon-Killing Pavilion’s Pavilion Lord. He scanned Jiang Yi and company and said, “I understand a bit of the situation, but I don’t think everyone else knows anything. Qin Wu, tell us what happened in full detail.”
“Yes, Assistant Pavilion Lord!”
Fifth Elder nodded and said in a gentle voice, “This is what happened: Little Yue went to North River City’s Fire Abyss recently to kill Chaos Beasts and train her skills. However, while she was training, someone tried to kill her. Someone purposefully led an Ancient-Grade Chaos Beast towards her, intending for her to get severely injured. This person also assassinated one of the Heaven Emanations from my clan. When we discovered that this person was the Poison Spirit, another Heaven Emanations from my clan exploded himself, trying to seriously injure the Poison Spirit.
“Another Heaven Emanations sent a voice transmission to Little Yue, telling her everything that had happened and informing her that he had already captured the Poison Spirit. However… by the time we arrived, this clan member was already dead, and the Poison Spirit was nowhere to be found.
“I immediately sent people to search around. Little Yue met Jiang Yi by accident outside the city. At the time, Jiang Yi was seated on a divine boat alone. He refused to allow us to search his boat. It is very likely that he was the one who rescued the Poison Spirit. Jiang Yi even used his divine boat to knock into Little Yue’s divine boat, invaded it, and killed another Heaven Emanations from my clan.
“Finally, he took Little Yue hostage and teleported all the way to Blue Eagle City. Little Yue’s reputation has been dragged through the dirt. This man has caused my Qin Clan’s reputation to be utterly destroyed. Please, Earth Emanations Hall, help us seek redress!”
Fifth Elder was very careful about his choice of words. He chose not to exaggerate nor insist that Jiang Yi was the one who had the Poison Spirit. This was the Earth Emanations Hall. If he said anything wrong, people would easily use it against him. Among the ten Clan Heads here, a significant fraction of them were allies of the Qin Clan. However, there were others that the Qin Clan had never gotten along well with.
Qin Yuewen did not open her mouth at all. At a place like that, she did not have any right to speak. Although she was throwing a huge hissy fit, she knew the rules. All she could do was put on the most pitiful expression that she could. The entire time, she looked as though she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
Mo Lingqiu nodded and then turned to Xiao Hong. “Xiao Hong, is what Qin Wu is saying true?”
Xiao Hong remained silent for a moment and then cupped his hands. “I don’t know what happened at North River City. However, I did see Jiang Yi taking Qin Yuewen hostage and teleporting all the way to Blue Eagle City. Of course… when they arrived at Blue Eagle City, Jiang Yi released Young Mistress Qin. Qin Wu then gave orders for Jiang Yi to be taken down.”
“En!”
Mo Lingqiu nodded and finally faced Jiang Yi. With a cold tone, he said, “Jiang Yi, what do you have to say? If you have no argument, I am going to give my judgment!”
“Uh?”
Jiang Yi’s heart immediately sank. From his tone, it seemed like Mo Lingqiu was not prepared to protect him this time.
