Tribulation of Myriad Races

Feng Ji kept claiming that he was the killer, refusing to explain himself. This was a very troublesome case to handle.

The interrogator asked question after question to no avail. In his fury, he finally started considering torture. He furiously said, "Feng Ji, think carefully. If you remain stubborn, you will die."

Feng Ji ignored the threat.

Seeing that Feng Ji was indifferent, the interrogator sighed. Torture was actually quite pointless against someone who was not even afraid of death. And Feng Ji didn't have any weaknesses. If he had a family or children, they could probably make use of that.

But he had no one. Threats were useless against him. When the interrogator was feeling extremely helpless, someone spoke up, "Everyone, may I ask some questions?" Everyone looked over. It was Zhou Mingren. A lot of them were astonished. Wasn't Zhou Mingren supposed to be keeping a low profile?

He ignored everyone and softly said, "Can I ask a few questions?"

Marquis Xia gave him a deep look before nodding, "Yes."

Zhou Mingren smiled and looked at Feng Ji. "Feng Ji, since you are prepared to die, I reckon you won't leak anything even if your memories are searched. If my guess is right, you are probably prepared to detonate yourself once an Invincible tries searching your memories."

Feng Ji said nothing. A clamor erupted in the hall.

Zhou Mingren continued speaking calmly, "Do you think you can hide everything with your death? If my guess is right, your friend must have requested something of you before abandoning you. He's not worried about anything else, but his student, who he views as a daughter, is someone he will always worry about. His teacher and student are all in a difficult situation. I believe he didn't send you back to take the blame for him, right?"

Feng Ji said nothing, but his emotions were turning unstable.

"Do you think he can survive this? Even if you die for him, do you think he will stop? If he's willing to turn around, he would have done so when the Six-Winged Divine Sect withdrew. But he didn't Clearly, he is prepared to go all the way on this path. Feng Ji, why seek death? If people keep dying after your death, you would have died for nothing.

"Are you sure that he will let go of his grudge after you die? Do you think that he will stop? Impossible. Everything you're doing here is pointless, do you understand? You will only let him down. He must have said something similar to you, right?"

Feng Ji trembled slightly. Not far away, Hong Tan shut his eyes. Zhou Mingren was right. Chen Yong wouldn't stop. Feng Ji could die for Chen Yong today. But what about the future deaths? Could Feng Ji still take the blame after his death?

Hong Tan suspected that his student would probably do something big today. He wouldn't allow Feng Ji to take the blame for him. Hong Tan understood his student well. That would never happen.

Right at that moment, Marquis Xia's eyes flickered. He silently took out a voice transmission talisman and checked the incoming message. At the same time, many people in the room did the same.

Soon, someone interrupted the trial and said, "Can we stop this temporarily? I have something to report to the three lords."

Great Han King seemed to be in deep thought when he heard that. He softly said, "Speak."

"Lord, just a moment ago, a Mountainsea was killed in Great Jin."

"..."

Silence descended.

Great Han King asked, "Is it similar to the previous deaths?"

"Yes."

A clamor erupted in the room. Feng Ji's face sank.

Great Han King sighed, "Got it."

He looked at Feng Ji and said, "Feng Ji, just say something. Your silence is already pointless."

Feng Ji solemnly said, "I already said all I have to say."

Zhou Mingren said, "Feng Ji, must you do this? He did not send you back to die. Why seek death? What's the point? His student is right here..."

"Old bastard! What are you trying to say?"

Wu Jia's head had been lowered the entire time, but she suddenly looked up and glared at Zhou Mingren with red eyes.

Su Yu trembled when he saw the sight of that. Why did that carefree senior sister of his turn into this? His departure and his martial uncle's incident seemed to have greatly transformed this girl. Zhou Mingren glanced at her and said nothing.

Marquis Xia was the one to berate her, "Wu Jia, sit down. How brazen! Hong Tan, keep her under control. How can she be without manners in the presence of Invincibles?"

Hong Tan patted Wu Jia's shoulder and said, "Sit down. The little girl has the tendency to scold me for no reason. No matter what, I'm her grandteacher. She should learn to respect me."

He looked at Zhou Mingren and smiled, "Old Zhou, don't misunderstand her. The girl was venting her anger on me since her cultivation hadn't been smooth for the past few days. I guess I should stop spoiling her. I'll be sure to discipline her after this."

Zhou Mingren said, "It's fine. Do as you please, Elder Hong."

Pressed down by Hong Tan, Wu Jia was unable to move. She lowered her head and returned to silence.

Zhou Mingren continued, "A similar murder has just happened in Great Jin. The culprit is very likely to be the same person. In that case, Feng Ji is probably not the murderer. But he might be an accomplice. Or this might be an accomplice of his trying to divert blame from him. Whatever the case, the latest murder is definitely not performed by Feng Ji.

"Feng Ji, you can no longer hide anything. If I were in your position, I would try my best to protect myself and fulfill my friend's wish. That is better than seeking a pointless death. What do you think?"

A look of pain covered Feng Ji's eyes. Why? He knew that Chen Yong was definitely the one who had performed the latest murder to divert the blame from him. Why? Was Chen Yong really not going to turn around from this?

Chen Yong's request sounded in his mind again and again. Take care of Jia for him… Zhou Mingren's words caused endless pain in Feng Ji's heart. He was not afraid of torture. He wouldn't give any Invincible the chance to search his memories. But was there still a point in dying? He clenched his teeth tightly.

At this time, Hong Tan finally addressed Feng Ji, "Feng Ji, don't take the blame rashly. Don't die for the sake of something like loyalty. Just speak the truth."

Hong Tan scanned the room and coldly continued, "Everyone here must be curious if my student was the murderer, right? Feng Ji, if you saw what happened, just speak the truth. If you didn't see anything, be honest about it as well. Don't take the blame just because you personally believe that Chen Yong is the murderer. We should not let human emotions cloud our judgment when upholding justice."

"Also, who can be sure that the murderer is Chen Yong?" Hong Tan said, "Even if the murderer has the same appearance and aura, there are too many people out there with great disguise abilities. Do you think that Chen Yong will be judged guilty based on some words? If that's sufficient, I would like to confess that I had personally witnessed Old Zhou killing his student, Zhou Pingsheng. Don't mind me, that was a random example."

"Is something the truth just because I claim that I saw it?" Hong Tan sneered.

Someone among the crowd was offended by the sneer. He shouted furiously, "Hong Tan, what is the meaning of this?"

Hong Tan nonchalantly said, "What do you mean? I mean nothing. My student is missing. Feng Ji is dumb and weak. I doubt he knows anything, but even if he did see something, who can guarantee that what he saw was the absolute truth? We can only be sure of the truth when we caught the murderer red-handed. Are you familiar with the concept of innocent until proven guilty? In fact, I have been suspecting that my teacher was assassinated by a human Invincible back then. Can I get that Invincible punished just by putting forth a name?"

The moment those words were said, intense source qi and willpower undulations erupted inside the room. His words shocked everyone there. This was the very first time Hong Tan had ever said those words. He had actually uttered those words in the presence of three Invincibles.

Great Han King frowned and said, "Hong Tan, don't speak nonsense."

Hong Tan smiled and bowed, "Forgive me, Great Han King. That was merely a random example. Some people keep believing that they can definitely corner me and my student. But in the world of cultivation, anything is possible. Is it very difficult to commit a crime after disguising yourself as someone else?"

Right after that, his appearance changed to Zhou Mingren's appearance. Then, he changed to Marquis Xia's appearance. He said, "What can something like appearance prove? As for aura, what can you sense if I'm stronger than you? Unless you can catch someone red-handed, laying the fault on anyone is nothing but a joke."

Zhou Mingren and the others frowned silently. Meanwhile, Feng Ji's eyes lit up. Su Yu exhaled in relief. This grandteacher of his was finally doing something after spending the majority of his time in seclusion or outside the academy.

Hong Tan said, "I suspect that my student is dead. He's being made a scapegoat for someone else. I am confused as to why the Sunmoons of the eight families spared the two Sunmoons of the Six-Winged Divine Sect. I am also doubtful about one thing. Prior to that, the Six-Winged Divine Sect had been allowed to travel unimpeded in the Human Realm. Just who is covering up for them? Who has been protecting them? I suspect that my student is either dead or imprisoned somewhere..."

Hong Tan sighed, "Lords, if you can help me locate my student, I'll be thankful. Sigh. As for the dead military officials, the fellows from the Six-Winged Divine Sect must be the culprit. Should we launch a manhunt on their two surviving Sunmoons? We can try killing them and see if there are any new murder cases. If the murder stops, then we can be sure that they are the murderers."

The expression of Yuan Qingdong, who had been staying silent, suddenly changed as he sent a voice transmission somewhere. Meanwhile, he continued staring blankly without saying anything.

Immediately after, the woman beside him shouted, "Hong Tan, you're twisting facts with sophistry!"

Hong Tan said, "Holy Envoy Zhang, what do you mean by that? Did I say anything wrong? Be specific."

The woman said, "If Chen Yong isn't the murderer, why did Feng Ji take the blame? Also, the Sunmoons of Great Xia and Great Ming were also involved in the hunt for the two cult Sunmoons. How were they supposed to find an opportunity to commit these murders with so many Sunmoons on their tail? I wish to invite Director HHou and General Zhao to testify. I want to see if they will lie in front of Invincibles."

Hong Tan smiled, "Do what you want."

The woman then looked at the Invincibles. Great Han King remained silent. Great Song King was the one to reply, "In that case, let's have Hou Zhen and Zhao Rui testify. Where are they?"