Chapter 1896 - Is There Law?

‘Green Willow’ Fang Chengzhi was a typical example of the lingering Cultivators who were panicking.

For him, he could never have imagined the nightmarish days in the past month.

He seemed to have fallen from the high clouds into a bizarre, ridiculous new world, where every rule was exactly the opposite of his prior knowledge.

In this place, the sun was square, the fish flew in the sky, the low-level Cultivators in the Refinement Stage could shout and order the higher-level Cultivators in the Building Foundation Stage, and even the bumpkins whose spiritual roots were not activated could sh*t above the head of the noble Cultivators!

There was even one time when he saw a young man with hair as messy as a nest and a weirdly-designed red vest arguing with a crying family member of a soldier of the ‘Angry Fire Army’. The guy was surrounded by vague spiritual energy, implying that he must be a Cultivator, but he was simply snatched by the rude woman who had not even washed her feet, unable to free himself. Two dirty children even smeared their tears and snot on him, but he was not infuriated at all and simply apologized in embarrassment.

But later, Fang Chengzhi was informed that the young man wearing the red vest and squatting on the ground casually, allowing the young children to crawl on him and pluck his eye, was actually Vulture Li Yao, a super expert from the Star Glory Federation who had beaten Elder Scorching Sun into a pulp with the black Cloud Qin Gold Statue and dismantled the one-armed Gold Statue into pieces!

Fang Chengzhi was so shocked that his eyeballs almost hit the ground.

Was there any law or reason in this place? What kind of world was this?

Fang Chengzhi had been born into a wealthy family and had always enjoyed the respect of other people. For him, the previous month had indeed been tough.

All the sects of unaffiliated Cultivators who attended the Rising Sun Ceremony were suspected of violating the ‘Divine Wrath Order’ and joining Elder Scorching Sun. In short, they were rebels.

The crime of disobedience could be severe or petty. Some people would be punished more harshly than others. The common middle and small sects might pass, but the Green Cloud Sword Sect, as an offshoot of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, had come to pay respect to Elder Scorching Sun. It was certainly a more severe betrayal!

Therefore, after a large batch of starships arrived with the Exos of the federation and temporary prisons and interrogation rooms were established, and when the large-scale scrutiny and vetting began, Fang Chengzhi, his father, and the members who belonged to the offshoots of the six major sects all received the strictest investigation.

Fang Chengzhi was escorted by two Cultivators of the federation in weird armor into a very tiny cell that was temporarily set up. It was almost a flawless iron coffin that did not have the slightest gap after the door was closed. Fang Chengzhi was so scared that he thought he was going to be buried alive.

After living in unease if not tears for three days, somebody finally came to interrogate him, but being interrogated was no less insufferable than being caged in the iron coffin.

He remembered a ferocious-looking man who played the bad cop and a seemingly gentle woman who played the good cop. Despite all their rhetoric, their sole purpose was for him to confess the ways that the Green Cloud Sword Sect earned its revenue to cover the maintenance of the enormous sect, including the daily consumptions of the Cultivators in their training.

They were demanding the tiniest details. He was asked to confess if his sect had exploited the people, sold or bought goods through violent methods, acted as loan sharks, or even trained with living people or their souls.

Of course, if he ‘could not remember much about his own sect’, he could also confess the similar clandestine businesses of the sects that bordered the Green Cloud Sword Sect. It did not matter if what he knew was just a groundless rumor; the Cultivators of the federation would check the facts later. As long as any of the information he confessed was verified, he would be considered a contributor, and he would even receive ‘points’.

Despite his horror, Fang Chengzhi was not out of his mind. After experiencing two sessions, he realized that the issue at hand was not insurgency at all, and the enemy was obviously trying to destroy the roots of the Green Cloud Sword Sect!If you like reading comics please visit Webnovel.live

After figuring that out, Fang Chengzhi immediately made up his mind not to give in at all. He was going to teach the wretched Cultivators of the federation a good lesson about the resolution of the Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector.

However, his interrogators were not infuriated by his reluctance at all but simply sent him back to his prison. Then, they asked him to think about it more carefully. “Right now, we have not decided the nature of the Green Cloud Sword Sect. This is not an interrogation but an interview to learn more information from you. If you are not willing to talk, we will not force you to.

“However, you are not the only person who knows the situation of the Green Cloud Sword Sect. Some fellow Cultivators from other sects do know a thing or two about it. For example, the fellow Cultivators from Red Tiger Hall told us a lot of stories about you.

“Of course, we do not want to be prejudiced, but if everybody in your sect is as ‘determined’ as you are, I’m afraid that we will have to adopt Red Tiger Hall’s side of the story and decide your nature with their testimony.”

Fang Chengzhi grew anxious the moment he heard that.

Red Tiger Hall was a neighbor to the Green Cloud Sword Sect. It had its own origins and backgrounds and had recently expanded its territory into the Running River State. Naturally, there had been conflicts between the two sects.

The two parties had a lot of fights regarding the ownership of farmland and mines. Although it would be exaggerating to say that they were mortal enemies, a lot of people on both sides had been killed in the past decade.

Fang Chengzhi had no doubt that Red Tiger Hall would show no mercy at all when there was an opportunity to hit them when they were down. There was no telling how they would frame the Green Cloud Sword Sect. How could their testimony be trusted?

Fang Chengzhi craned his neck and was about to shout, but the investigator of the federation simply slammed the door impolitely and sealed it again, not opening it anymore however he slapped it from inside.

Fang Chengzhi felt like crying and could not help being more regretful in the next few days. While cursing the cruelty of the investigators, he was even more angry about the viciousness of Red Tiger Hall. The grudges, both old and new, all surfaced in his heart, and he membered all the nasty things that Red Tiger Hall had done in the past.

When the prison cell was opened again, two bizarre-looking spiders came to bring him for interrogation. He forgot all about his unwavering position and confessed everything that he knew as quickly and promptly as possible.

Getting to the bottom of it, Fang Chengzhi truly felt that he had been wronged.

The Green Cloud Sword Sect, with the Purple Pole Sword Sect backing it, had endured for almost a hundred years and was a deeply-rooted sect in the Running River State. It wanted anything but trouble in its own territory, and it was quite merciful to the peasants and folks in its territory. There was no need for it to resort to the illegal activities at all.

That was what the small, unsupported sects had to do at the primitive accumulation phase when they intended to become rich quickly!

As for ‘Green Willow’ Fang Chengzhi himself, although he had never really cared about the ignorant common folk, no young Cultivator could reject the cheers of the ordinary people after they resolved the trouble of the people. He had gone through much trouble to earn his reputation in the Running River State. It would be a great disgrace for him to bully the common folk. He would not do it even if somebody asked him to with a dagger held to his neck.

Under the ‘guidance’ of the two investigators, Fang Chengzhi confessed everything he knew obediently. Naturally, he did not forget to put himself and the Green Cloud Sword Sect in a better light, claiming that his family had always been fair, just, and merciful in maintaining order. At the very least, it was not an entirely false statement when the sect was compared to the few forces that had risen more recently.

“The Green Cloud Sword Sect is a righteous sect with a long history that has always considered it our responsibility to dispel evil and protect the local area,” Fang Chengzhi declared matter-of-factly. “We have committed none of the atrocities that you mentioned!

“However, when it comes to Red Tiger Hall, the Rowing Mountain Guild, the Black Leaf Gang, and the other mediocre sects, they have monopolized many trades, sold or purchased goods through violence, practiced usury, and done so many other heinous things that I cannot finish describing in three days!”

Red Tiger Hall, the Rowing Mountain Guild, and the Black Leaf Gang were all neighboring forces to the Green Cloud Sword Sect. They had a lot of friction among themselves, but this time, they had put aside their contradictions and gone to join the meeting in Angry Fire Mountain at the same time, only to be caught by the Star Glory Federation together.

Fang Chengzhi imagined that those son of b*tches would not say anything good about the Green Cloud Sword Sect. As the saying went, better to attack than to be attacked. It was better to bite them first.

At the very least, compared to the sects that had risen recently with blood on their hands, the Green Cloud Sword Sect truly deserved to be called a ‘righteous’ sect.

“We appreciate your attitude very much, Fellow Cultivator Fang.” The two investigators looked quite happy. “We have recorded all of the intelligence that you offered. As long as any entry is verified, you will be given one point, which will do good to yourself, your father, and your sect!”

In his ignorance, Fang Chengzhi did not understand exactly what ‘given one point’ meant, but a huge event that took place another day gave him yet another great shock. He was petrified again.

That day, almost a hundred fellow Cultivators from the Running River State were summoned to a deck on a starship to attend the execution of a death sentence.

The guy who was tied up and about to be killed was none other than Xue Longhu, the leader of Red Tiger Hall, their old nemesis.

The crimes that had caused him to be sentenced to death were ridiculously petty in Fang Chengzhi’s eyes. They were all the unimportant things such as monopolization, forced transactions, gang fighting, and so on.

The most severe crime of all was the one where Xue Longhu used a boy and a girl to attract a one-thousand-year-old ‘Bleak Fire Black Horn Snake’, and the two children were accidentally swallowed by the animal.

Also, the two children were not stolen by him at all but bought from a slave market. It was a fair transaction from beginning to end. They should be his property, dead or alive!