So, this was an interrogation against him?
Long Chen looked forward and saw nine platforms at the front of the palace, each with an Elder seated upon it. On the third platform to the left, he saw Elder Long who smiled and nodded toward him.
As for the others, he didn’t recognize a single one. The one who had shouted was a fierce-looking elder with triangular eyes and pockmarks on his face. His chin was sharp like a shovel.
Looking around, Long Chen saw hundreds of disciples of the torture chamber. They had staves in their hands, looking coldly at them like they were convicts.
He also saw a giant mirror reflecting all of them very clearly up on the roof. That mirror seemed to reflect their hearts. Looking at that mirror, Long Chen felt very odd.
“Brazen Long Chen, you’re still in the mood to look around? You caused thousands of Heavenly Dragon warriors to die to the claws of the demonic beasts, and you’re still not kneeling and accepting your punishment?!” shouted the pockmarked elder sternly.
“Are you talking to me?” Long Chen pointed to himself in surprise.
Elder Long almost laughed. Long Chen was truly skilled at acting stupid.
“Who else would I be talking to?! Everyone else, shouldn’t you kneel already?!” shouted the pockmarked elder.
Shen Chengfeng and the others helplessly knelt. These were the rules of the joint hearing. However, Long Chen said, “Hold it.”
Long Chen stepped forward. He looked left and right, and then right at the elder. “I didn’t clearly hear what you said just now. You want me to kneel? Did I mishear?”
“You didn’t mishear. Kneel and face your punishment!” barked the elder.
“Oh, I understand.” Long Chen nodded. He suddenly laughed.
“Arrogance! You are looking down on the joint hearing. Capture him!” The pockmarked elder waved his hand, causing the hundreds of disciples to prepare to attack.
Long Chen hastily waved his hand. “Alright, don’t fuss. Hurry and take your medicine. Your illness is getting worse.” He took out a ball of medicine and looked at the elder worriedly.
The disciples stared at him oddly, their staves still in the air, not knowing what to do.
“You… you’re the one with the illness!” raged the elder.
Long Chen suddenly became angry. “You mean you don’t have a mental illness? How is that possible? Then why would you want me to kneel? It seems that your illness has grown worse. I, Long Chen, will only ever kneel to my father or mother. I don’t kneel to the heavens, so who do you think you are to dare tell me to kneel? All people in this world must kneel to the Sovereigns, but both Sovereign Mo Li and Sovereign Yun Shang call me brother. Who the fuck do you are to ask me to kneel? Count yourself lucky that this place isn’t the Martial Heaven Continent, or I’d have beaten the crap out of you.”
Everyone, from the disciples to the Elders, simply stared in shock as Long Chen cursed him. Was he planning on flipping the very heavens?
The pockmarked elder stood up furiously. “You-!”
“What you?” interrupted Long Chen. “I came here due to a collaboration with the divine families. I am not your dog. What right do you have to interrogate me? As for the people behind me, they have not done anything wrong, so why should they kneel? Even if you were a person of great moral repute, great virtue, and the wisdom of age, then people would only kneel due to your character. But a piece of trash like you wants to order people to kneel? This so-called joint hearing hasn’t even reached a conclusion, yet you want people to kneel? Go fuck yourself. Why not just directly say our punishment and have it be over with if you’re going to be like that?”
Shen Chengfeng and the others were too shocked to react. Long Chen was absolutely wild. It was forbidden to even make loud sounds here, yet he was directly cursing one of the Elders.
“Brazen!” roared the elder.
Long Chen shrugged. “I’ve always been brazen.”
The elder suddenly grabbed a red signboard on his platform. “Come, have him-”
“Slow down,” Elder Long suddenly spoke up. “Don’t you think that your actions are against the laws of the divine families? You would directly give the order for an execution just to vent your personal rage? This joint hearing is not just under your purview. It is overseen by the Jiang, Long, Ye, and Zhao families. Can you please not act like we don’t exist?”
Long Chen smiled and spoke spiritually to Shen Chengfeng, “Do you see? You can be arrogant if you’re qualified. If that idiot wasn’t too far away, I would be slapping him. Even then, I guarantee they would be helpless to touch me. Look at your own trump cards and not just the ones in your hands. You can look at your backers as well.”
Shen Chengfeng suddenly understood. Long Chen could be so fearless because he knew that Elder Long would stand up for him. Long Chen wasn’t a member of the divine families, and he hadn’t left any evidence to be used against him. Adding on the support of the Long family, he naturally didn’t fear anything.
Shen Chengfeng thought of himself. He had always been cautious, careful not to cause any trouble for the Long family. Now he realized that he had been wrong. What the Long family wanted was a chess piece with vision, a chess piece that was not just a simple pawn.
As long as he showed enough power, the Long family would do everything they could to protect and support him. It just depended on what you could offer the Long family as well.
Through his own actions, Long Chen had shown Shen Chengfeng many things. He had always disappointed the Long family, and the only reason they hadn’t replaced him was probably because of his loyalty. Or perhaps there just wasn’t a more suitable candidate.
“Long Chen has shouted and cursed the members of the joint hearing. This great disrespect toward the divine families must be punished, or what about our dignity?” demanded the pockmarked elder.
“Can killing people display the dignity of the divine families? That doesn’t seem right. The joint hearing hasn’t even started yet. Things are still unclear, yet you want to kill people? If that were to spread, how would people view the divine families? By using the execution order without any hesitation, are you ignoring the opinions of the other Elders present?” asked Elder Long lightly.
These sharp words that contained no fury left the pockmarked elder without words. In the past few years, he had always been the one overseeing and making the decisions in this room. It had been a long time since the last joint hearing. Hence, Long Chen’s arrogance had made him want to have a show of power to subdue him, but that came back to bite him instead.
That was not in accordance with the rules of a joint hearing, and Elder Long had caught that. For a moment, his face was simply red as he had no idea what to say.
“Elder Long, Long Chen is the one who spoke so rudely to the overseer. The overseer is a human with his own feelings. Although just now he was a bit impetuous, it was still caused by Long Chen. Don’t you think you’re showing bias by blaming the overseer?” said a dark-faced Elder to the right.
At first, Long Chen hadn’t noticed, but upon hearing his voice, he exclaimed, “Aren’t you Ye Yaochen? What happened to you? Did you go coal digging?”
“Shut up! My life and death energy is constantly circulating, so my face sometimes becomes dark,” said the Elder who was precisely Ye Yaochen.
Killing intent raged in his eyes. His face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Due to a slight slip in his cultivation the past few days, his death energy had surged, and he had yet to balance it with his life energy. His face was normally never this dark.
“Ah, so that’s the case. But don’t feel bad. Although my face is white, my heart is as black as yours. For you to express that openly shows the difference between us. I must learn from senior,” comforted Long Chen.
“You…” Ye Yaochen clenched his fists so hard that they creaked.
“Let us proceed with the actual joint hearing. If this continues, won’t the disciples laugh at us?” Another elder spoke up, frowning. This white-haired elder managed to subdue the tense atmosphere. The pockmarked elder sat down.
As the overseer, the pockmarked elder started things off. “Are you Long Chen, Shen Chengfeng, and the rest of the eighth legion?”
This was the formal start of the joint hearing. He was now following the exact rules to avoid Elder Long causing trouble for him.
Under the normal flow, Long Chen and the others would bow and respond in the affirmative. But Long Chen didn’t do so.
“Are you blind? Can you not see for yourself?”
