Mu Qingyun suddenly reached out and grabbed Long Chen’s hand. She wrote into his palm, “Why are Chu Kuang and the others brought in at a different time than us?”
With the suppression of the divine statues, they were unable to communicate spiritually. This was to prevent people on the trial from secretly colluding.
However, they were incapable of communicating spiritually even without the suppression of those runes. Hence, Mu Qingyun used this method to communicate. Otherwise, even a whisper would be heard by all.
Long Chen smiled and gave her a thumbs-up for this smart idea. He wrote into her hand. “According to the laws, those determined to be guilty appear afterward so that they are under greater mental pressure.”
“The trial isn’t over. How did they determine that they’re guilty?” asked Mu Qingyun.
“So many people died, and he was the one who brought them out. How could he not be guilty? If everyone that I brought out died, I would also have to bear the responsibility. Even if it was someone else intentionally harming me, I must bear some responsibility for the dead,” replied Long Chen.
Mu Qingyun clapped her forehead. She suddenly recalled that there was truly such a rule in the academy. This was precisely why hunting parties required a certain number of people, equipment, and information on the terrain. That way, if there were casualties, the leader of the group would not be blamed.
However, if people were to simply leave on their own accord and casualties appeared, then the leader would bear responsibility for it. Because Mu Qingyun had never led people out for personal reasons, she had forgotten this rule.
Now that she thought of this, she looked at Long Chen gratefully. Long Chen had actually been willing to risk bearing responsibility for this, but he had never said anything.
Seeing the two of them writing on each other’s hands, Luo Ning’s mouth curled. She reached out to Mu Qingyun’s other hand and intentionally made it so that Long Chen could see what she was writing.
“Shameless.”
Long Chen looked at her. So she had actually taken such a matter as him taking advantage of Mu Qingyun.
Long Chen smiled at Luo Ning and wrote a few words in the air. Due to how messy he wrote it, she couldn’t see clearly. He repeated it, but she frowned, still unable to comprehend.
Long Chen then extended his hand, indicating for her to give her hand to him so that he could write on it. Hence, Luo Ning extended her hand.
Long Chen solemnly grabbed her hand and rubbed her fingers, the back of her hand, and the palm several times. After a long time, Luo Ning was still waiting to see what he was doing.
Luo Bing couldn’t bear watching any longer and nudged Luo Ning. Only then did Luo Ning see Long Chen’s evil smile. She immediately retracted her hand and glared at him furiously.
Long Chen wrote a few words in the air to her. Now she understood what he was trying to say.
“You misunderstood me before. I’ll show you what true shamelessness is.”
Luo Ning was enraged, feeling like she had been duped. But even as she opened her mouth, Luo Bing covered it.
Long Chen smiled and returned to his own seat. Suddenly, a black thing passed by him. When he looked more closely, he jumped out of his seat.
“What is that?”
Three people had walked into the trial hall just as Long Chen and the others were communicating secretly. No, more accurately, two had walked in, while another one was being carried by the other two.
The one who made Long Chen jump was someone who looked like he was made of coal. His mouth, nose, and ears were gone. His barren head only had a pair of eyes glaring at Long Chen like a viper.
“You’re…”
“Long Chen, sit down!” shouted the magistrate.
Only then did Long Chen sit down. Looking at that charcoal, from his gaze, Long Chen realized that it was Chu Kuang.
The current Chu Kuang wasn’t arrogant at all. He had been turned into a puppet that couldn’t even move; he couldn’t even sit. He had to be leaned against the chair.
Long Chen almost laughed. It seemed that while the Flame Setting Divine Bead had saved his life, it had cost quite a bit.
What he didn’t know was that when Chu Kuang was underground, the elder he had brought with him was Chu Yishan, and the latter had immediately activated the Flame Setting Divine Bead when the explosion occurred, but they were rather unlucky. They ended up stuck in a crack, while the torrent of lava exploded. That torrent kept them sitting in a small corner for a long time.
This resulted in the power of the Flame Setting Divine Bead being used up. At that point, even a Four Peak expert would be killed.
Chu Yishan was part of the Chu family, and in the end, had managed to charge into the torrent with the last bit of the Flame Setting Divine Bead’s protection, allowing him and Chu Kuang to fly out.
However, the explosive power was too great. Although they managed to succeed in the end, a huge amount of fire poison had entered their bodies. Chu Yishan was a Four Peak expert, so he was able to resist it. But Chu Kuang couldn’t.
Even after escaping, Chu Kuang had lost half of his life. If it weren’t for Chu Yishan bringing him back to the academy promptly so that he could be healed, he really would have been crippled.
Although his life was saved, the fire poison couldn’t be rapidly expelled. He had to endure the pain of the fire poison coursing through his veins every day, while he was also turned into his current coal-like state. That was the result of the fire poison igniting his body. What was outside of his body could be considered the ashes of the burning of his body.
It was like there was a pile of wood within his body that he couldn’t extinguish. If he extinguished it, then the flame of his life would also be put out. The only method was to let the fire poison burn itself out, but he also had to heal the rest of his body as it burned in order to protect the core. That was the only way to expel the fire poison, but it was also the most painful way.
Mu Qingyun also jumped in shock when she saw Chu Kuang’s current state. She hadn’t expected the insufferably arrogant Chu Kuang to be turned into a human stick.
Luo Ning was smiling to her heart’s content. This feeling was even better than killing Chu Kuang.
“To have just escaped from calamity, even if you survive, there must be some suffering. Congratulations, congratulations.” Long Chen cupped his fists toward Chu Kuang’s malicious gaze.
Flames almost exploded out of Chu Kuang’s eyes. He had almost lost his life just now. Even at this moment, he didn’t know how it had happened. This blow was truly great.
“During the trial, you may not privately speak to each other. You get a warning for the first infraction, but the second infraction will result in the fire whip,” barked the scarred elder.
Long Chen curled his lips. He naturally knew that the first offense was just a warning, which was why he intentionally provoked Chu Kuang. Only a fool would do it a second time.
The trial had officially started, so Long Chen reserved his own emotions. Now, these two old ghosts were waiting for a chance to blame him, and he couldn’t give them that chance.
“It’s time for both sides to narrate what happened. Long Chen, you go first,” said the head judge.
