648 Sure Enough, It’s the Inevitable Routine of High-Level Crime

The Immortal Seven Area had a radius of dozens of miles, divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. There were more than one thousand cultivators from seventy-six second to third rate sects stationed there.

Most of these more than a thousand cultivators felt a strong and imposing sword intent from the middle level and were very attracted to it.

When they reached the middle level, all that they could see was the brilliant golden light. The sword light of the Western Continent Holy One was powerful but not tyrannical. They were bathed in it like cold springs, which made people chilly and refreshed.

"What sword strike is this?"

Swords were lethal weapons. The more brilliant and dazzling the sword strike was, the more dangerous it was. However, what they saw and felt in person were quite different from common sense. Soon, there were cultivators who could not help but feel confused.

"Could it be that this is a rescue sword?"

There were killing sword and rescue sword in the world. Although the proportion of people who cultivated this sword was less than one-tenth of the total sword cultivator, it was indeed true that some people used the sword as a tool to cure illness and save people, cutting stubborn diseases, and breaking senility… However, although the sword light from the middle level was not murderous, it lacked the generosity and affinity of the rescue sword.

"You guys don't need to guess, it's neither a killing sword nor rescue sword."

The high-rank sects of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals were filled with talented and knowledgeable people. Therefore, in this area, the cultivators who had seen and heard a lot were naturally not only Supreme Ting Feng. After witnessing Aya's golden sword light, there were other people who could also see the origin. One of them was an elderly cultivator who was sitting cross-legged in mid-air and with a lotus-shaped platform blooming under him.

It was a master from the zen school who had the almighty Luohan body. His life was long, and his knowledge was extensive. A person of good moral standing and reputation.

"Zen Master Forlorn, do you recognize this sword?"

The Zen Master said, "This is the Sword of Judgment… Unexpectedly, there's someone in this world that could use this sword strike. I originally thought that it has been lost for a long time since the last Age of Chaos."

"What? The Sword of Judgment? Could you please enlighten us?"

"Simply speaking, the so-called Sword of Judgment could be regarded as the reinforcement for the Sword of Truth. Everyone knows the Sword of Truth well, so there's not much to explain here."

The cultivators around him nodded inwardly.

The so-called Sword of Truth could be used to determine whether there was shame in people, commonly used to identify lies, to distinguish between true and false.

However, the Sword of Truth had many shortcomings. The most important point was that it relied too much on the subjective will of the target. For example, a person who clearly acted in a bad way but was extremely selfish and had a distorted view of life would always believe in their own way of doing things, thus, even if the Sword of Truth came to them, they would not be harmed.

What was more, after cultivating a clear immortal heart, it was easy to hypnotize oneself and had their will firmer. Therefore, for many people with high cultivation base, it was very difficult for the Sword of Truth to be effective.

"The Sword of Judgment could cut out a person's source and put it naked under the sword for trial. At that time, regardless of how many means—deceiving oneself or deceiving others, or deceiving one's wisdom—they would not work. Because people could not lie to their source."

After that explanation from the Zen Master, very soon, someone quickly thought out, "Isn't that similar to soul-searching spell? Forcibly robbing people of their memories, very vicious."

Zen Master Forlorn said, "It's quite different. After the soul-searching, the person's soul is destroyed and could no longer be destroyed. But the Sword of Judgment only cut out its source in the sword light. After the sword strike is performed, everything could be restored to its original state. Moreover, even it's soul-searching, there's still the possibility of being deceived. Soul distortion, memory forging, self-deception… all of these could interfere with the soul-searching. However, the Sword of Judgment could directly point to the source, which could be rated as mysterious and divine. However, if you want to cultivate this sword, you must have a heart of absolute justice in addition to having top-level swordsmanship. When the judge gave out the sword, he would be placed in a trial. He must first judge himself by the trial to ensure that the sword is not sent for his own benefit so that he could be qualified to judge others. Otherwise, the sword would bite back and the wielder would be miserable."

"It turns out to be so. I heard that the Knight King was famous for being fair on the Western Continent. Looks like the rumor is true. Then it's not surprising that she could wield this sword."

"Hey, what do you want to say by that? Isn't that the same as saying there's a problem with Supreme Ting Feng? Just now, the Knight King accused him of stabbing his own side in the back during this Grand Competition, I wonder what would be his explanation to that?"

Zen Master Forlorn shook his head. "It's pointless to speculate blindly. Since the Knight King's Sword of Judgment has come out, we just have to wait and see."

In the meantime, the Knight King's trial had officially begun.

—

When Supreme Ting Feng regained consciousness, he found himself standing naked in a golden sea of light.

Neither the great hall of Heavenly Book Building nor the Immortal Seven Area of the City of Immortal was there beside him. In front of him, Aya, holding a sword, stood on top of a high mountain. Her eyes looked down disdainfully at him, like the sky overlooking the ants.

"I ask you, are you guilty of crimes?"

Supreme Ting Feng felt his mind was clear and without any distracting thoughts. All his attention was focused by Aya's question, and his subconscious mind began to think about it. Then, involuntarily he came out with an answer that felt unbelievable to him.

"Yes, I am guilty."

Aya asked in a deep voice, "What are your crimes?"

Supreme Ting Feng answered mechanically, "First of all, I manufactured public opinion and caused Senior Red Blood Poison and several other loose cultivators to fail due to excessive praise. I used my own network to publish dozens of articles in XX, XY, XZ and other publications. Those articles declared that many of the loose immortals in Nine Regions are actually not weaker than the selected elites of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. The strength of those elites is only a false impression created by public opinion. And that the loose immortals just lack a real opportunity to show themselves… at the same time, I also sent people specifically to spread opinions around those loose cultivators. For example, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals dissuaded the loose cultivators from participating in the competition because they don't want the loose cultivators to win and thus weaken their authority… I wanted to stimulate the fighting spirit of Senior Red Blood Poison and other loose immortals, so that they would volunteer to go to the stage and fight with the Earth Immortals and die on the stage..."

"Did you know beforehand that there would be such an outcome?"

"I know very well that they are, by no means, the opponent of the Earth Immortal, and that they would surely die in the battle. In fact, that's exactly what I'm aiming at. Because only when they die can I take this opportunity to attack the current management of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. Not long ago, I just wrote an article and gave it to my maid, Mo Xiang, to publish anonymously, but it was destroyed by her just now."

"Why do you want to attack the management of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals?"

"There are many reasons. The most important one is that I hope to use public opinion to create momentum so that I have the opportunity to rise to power. Secondly, I hate Wang Lu very much. He is too young but so talented. I'm not willing to be instructed by him, and I hope that I can replace him."

"Do you know the consequences of doing so?"

"I know that it will likely to lead to a civil strive within the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals and a rout in this Grand Competition. However, even if it's a lost, it is only the failure of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals in Nine Regions. For me and the Heavenly Book Building, it would do more good than harm."

"Do you have any accomplishes?"

"Yes. It's hard for my own sect to do this alone. Therefore, I also contacted the leaders or elders of Autumn Leaf Valley, Heavenly Thunder Temple, and Flowing Cloud School respectively."

…

Aya's ice cold trial had been going on. Meanwhile, in Immortal Seven Area, more and more cultivators had come and listened to Supreme Ting Feng's horrible confession of the crime. All of them were dumbfounded.

"Are… what he just said true?"

"There are no lies under the Sword of Judgment. Moreover, the crimes he confessed could be checked completely, so there should be nothing wrong with it… I was just going to ask why the atmosphere of public opinion during this time is so strange, as if there's someone manipulating behind the scene, I just couldn't think that it would be Supreme Ting Feng!"

"Are these people crazy? For their own selfish interest, they could even ignore the victory and defeat in the Grand Competition!"

"Well, I've heard that Heavenly Book Building and Ten Thousand Arts Sect has a grudge, but I never imagined Supreme Ting Feng would choose such an extreme way to deal with it! Autumn Leaf Valley, Heavenly Thunder Temple, and Flowing Cloud School are all, even more, following their selfish interest!"

During the discussion, the people's emotion gradually became more agitated. During this period of time, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals had lost more than won, and thus unavoidably anger brewed in people's heart. Right now, since the crimes of Supreme Ting Feng had been exposed to the world, he quickly became the target of public criticism.

"This man deserves to be cut into pieces!"

"I think it's time to cripple his cultivation base and remove his primordial spirit from his body to refine magical treasure."

"Alas, if he has already undermined a big matter, even if you skin him alive, it would be of no use! Fortunately, Daoist Master Wang Lu was already aware of it and let Knight King judge the truth with the Sword of Judgment."

"Yeah, if it weren't for Knight King's timely action, I'm afraid we would all be deceived by him, and it would lead to a bad result. And then each of us has to bear the blame…"

And just as the public opinion gradually shifted, Aya's trial finally came to an end.

The crimes of Supreme Ting Feng had already been revealed, his co-conspirator had also been mentioned one by one. Thus, there was no need for the Sword of Judgment anymore, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals had its own way to deal with it.

This time, the steamrolling action had already achieved a great victory.

Thereupon, Aya asked the last question.

"... Apart from the previous crimes, what other crimes have you also committed?"

Supreme Ting Feng was silent for a moment, as if he originally was extremely resistant to say the answer. However, under the Sword of Judgment, there was no lie, nor could there be any concealment.

"During the period of alliance, I have secret affairs with the wife of the leader of Flowing Cloud School and the Sixth Elder of Autumn Leaf Valley."

At this moment, as the judge, Aya, who should be impartial and just, could not help but have the corner of her mouth tremble.

And for Supreme Ting Feng, after those words came out, he was like a broken dam.

"In fact, it's not just during this operation… over the past hundred years, I have had secret affairs with more than one thousand female cultivators. Many of whom were already in stable relationships. But I like this kind of married woman the most, they are as sweet as syrup. It seems that only in this way could my status…"

"…"

"I also had affairs with handsome male cultivators. But because of their way of play, I quickly abandoned them, one of which accidentally died in the middle of the act due to the extreme play."

"…"

"In addition to that, I once also had a relationship with a minor…"

"Enough! No need to say anymore! The trial ends here!"

Aya, with flushed cheeks, fiercely waved the sword to withdraw the sword light that was everywhere and then turned around to leave in a hurry, just like a defeated soldier who abandoned his armor and fled to the wilderness.