Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
One fatal thrust!
Zhao Yajun had never imagined that one day, he would be killed in the Hero Palace before so many grand elders.
While people were still in shock, Jiang Chen was struck by a tremendous force and hit a mountain wall.
The hard rock cracked right away. The longest crack was as long as thirty feet.
Jiang Chen kept spitting blood after landing. He had fractured something.
It was Grande Elder Shui Yuan who had attacked him. He had flown into a rage when he saw Jiang Chen killing in front of so many people. He wouldn’t care even if he had killed Jiang Chen.
Nan Gong and a few other grand elders who knew of Jiang Chen’s deal with the Hero Palace looked at each other. They wanted to help him, but didn’t know how.
Jiang Chen took a self-made recovery panacea and managed to get to his feet.
“That’s the price I paid.”
Jiang Chen didn’t seem regretful. His black eyes were bright.
He was like a treasured sword that had just left its sheath, becoming more and more remarkable.
“If anything happens to Whitty, I won’t let you go, either.” Jiang Chen was pointing his sword at Grand Elder Shui Yuan. He had shocked everyone once again.
Shui Yuan snorted and didn’t bother to react to Jiang Chen’s threat. He checked on Zhao Yajun and found it would be impossible to rescue him. Between his raised eyebrows, the fire of anger was burning brighter and brighter.
“You haven’t realized why you’re wrong. Judging from what you’re doing, it doesn’t seem strange to me that your mount could do things like that.”
“Like master, like mount!” said Du Yue excitedly.
“Haha.
“My Whitty was sleeping quietly and the six of them attacked him. They almost killed him.
“What should I have taught him? To stay still and let them kill him? Should I have taught him to surrender with his paws up when he runs into people with the intent to kill him?”
Jiang Chen was angry, too. He didn’t think it was fair.
And he did make sense. His refuting wasn’t wrong.
Zhao Yajun and the other five had pushed Whitty to that point. They had practically asked for what they had got in the end, but others wouldn’t think this way.
Eighty percent of the people present thought a mount was nothing compared to six people.
How could an animal be comparable to human beings?
If Whitty had been dead, they wouldn’t have come to accuse Jiang Chen. They were there because Whitty had escaped and they had to make the master take the responsibility.
Jiang Chen had killed Zhao Yajun to revenge Whitty. It was an unforgivable crime, a taboo that he shouldn’t have committed.
Nan Gong regretted having allowed Jiang Chen to see Zhao Yajun.
He had thought Jiang Chen would apologize and beg for Zhao Yajun’s mercy.
Jiang Chen hadn’t been the wrongdoer. If he had been, the affair would have been much easier to deal with, but it had turned into an even more serious crime, since Jiang Chen had killed Zhao Yajun with his sword around so many people.
“You could be sentenced to the death penalty for the crimes you’ve committed,” said Grand Elder Shui Yuan.
“According to the Hero Palace’s rule, killers will be killed!” said Du Yue excitedly.
Nan Gong couldn’t keep silent anymore. He said, “Wait. All of us know who is guilty and who is innocent.
The grand elders that had helped Jiang Chen also chimed. They were on Nan Gong’s side.
“It’s Zhao Yajun and his five companions’ fault that Jiang Chen’s mount lost control and ran away.”
“Jiang Chen did nothing, while his beloved mount is missing. He lost his mind due to anger and sorrow. His reaction was completely understandable. The death penalty is too much for him.”
“Senior Nan Gong, Senior Gui Qing, Senior Fei Quan, why are you protecting him?!”
Grand Elder Shui Yuan was confused.
Du Yue thought to himself, “Who is Jiang Chen? He committed such a severe crime, but they’re still trying to protect him.”
Nan Gong and the other grand elders’ defense caused quite a stir.
Who was guilty didn’t matter. It was extremely perplexing that they were still discussing who was guilty and who was innocent after Jiang Chen had killed a man.
“We don’t think we should be led by the nose by the public without considering our principles. Before Jiang Chen attacked, he was a victim,” said Nan Gong.
Grand Elder Shui Yuan couldn’t agree with Nan Gong. He said, “But he killed Zhao Yajun. In his eyes, a man’s life is more worthless than that of an animal!”
“Exactly. He indulges his mount to an exaggerated extent. I wonder whether he’ll show respect to his parents when they die!” Du Yue said sarcastically.
The people present split into two groups, too: the innocent-and-guilty group and the noble-and-cheap group.
But it didn’t take long for the innocent-and-guilty group to be put at a disadvantage.
Their rival group only needed one argument to silence them—which is more important, a man or an animal?
They refused to see the crucial point. They had seized on one argument that they thought was the most important and made it outweigh anything else. Besides, Jiang Chen had killed a man in the presence of the public. Soon, the Hero Palace was filled with denouncements of Jiang Chen.
“Shui Yuan, in your opinion, what should we do with him?” said Nan Gong.
Shui Yuan didn’t know how important Jiang Chen was to the Hero Palace.
He hoped Shui Yuan could realize from their conversation that it wasn’t that simple and concede a little bit as a result. It would be easier for both of them.
In short, they wouldn’t allow Jiang Chen to die, but Shui Yuan had been injured by Whitty.
And Whitty had escaped from him. Many people thought it was because Shui Yuan was too weak.
This was where part of his anger came from.
His anger had culminated when Jiang Chen had killed Zhao Yajun.
“What he did was inexcusable. If we excuse him, there will be no rules in the Hero Palace.
“He has to die!”
Shui Yuan waved his arm and said, “We should kill him without showing any mercy!”
Nan Gong and the other grand elders shook their heads. The Hero Palace had only told the secret to some of the elders with consideration to their characters.
“Jiang Chen was framed and targeted. He killed out of anger. Zhao Yajun started all this and was the one to blame. I don’t think we should kill Jiang Chen!” opposed Nan Gong.
Soon, the innocent-and-guilty group and the noble-and-cheap group evolved into groups in favor of killing Jiang Chen and against killing him.
It was the group in favor of killing him that was at an advantage.
The public wrath would be impossible to cool if Jiang Chen didn’t die.
“Haha, I was in the Time Palace doing my best to work for the Hero Palace and I finally made a breakthrough after a great effort.
“But the Hero Palace can’t even protect my Whitty.”
Jiang Chen laughed loudly. He coughed intensely due to his injury, but he didn’t care.
“You’d better kill me!”
He stared at Shui Yuan and said, “Otherwise, I’ll kill you, and you!”
He directed the last two words at Du Yue. He was eager to draw his sword out again. If he hadn’t been injured, he would have attacked them right then.
“Jiang Chen!” Nan Gong became anxious. It was really bad timing to threaten them.
“How dare you!”
Shui Yuan flew into a towering rage. He was going to kill Jiang Chen then and there!
“Wait.”
Suddenly, a voice was heard, but no one appeared. It was only a sonorous voice echoing in the mountain.
“Leader!”
Everyone became serious. They greeted the voice altogether with respect.
The leader of the Hero Palace?
Jiang Chen looked around, but saw no one.
“Shui Yuan, why is Jiang Chen guilty?” the leader’s voice came again. It seemed his voice was everywhere.
What?
The leader’s question shocked everyone, although they had anticipated the leader had come to prevent Jiang Chen from being killed.
It looked he didn’t even want Jiang Chen to be punished.
“His mount…” Shui Yuan hurried to say.
“What’s wrong with his mount? Are you expecting a monster not to fight back at the risk of its life?” the leader interrupted him.
Jiang Chen had said the same thing, but it had hardly changed anyone’s mind.
Now that the leader had said it, the whole audience started to ponder upon that and agree to it.
The noble-and-cheap group stopped talking and started to reflect on their earlier attitudes.
“Zhao Yajun and the other five caused the Hero Palace a great loss due to their stupidity. You want to punish Jiang Chen instead of them. I can’t begin to understand why.
“Let me ask you again. Did his mount hurt others except you after that?”
Shui Yuan thought for a while and shook his head. “No.”
