V4C58: Imposition of Truth

Having met Luo Huang before, she was already familiar with his figure, as well as the cloak of talismans that trailed behind him. As Luo Ling Zan joined the others, he became the second person that she knew to some extent. However, she hadn’t yet encountered any of the others, so she took her time to take in their appearances.

The first two that grabbed her attention were women, although, in her defence, they were simply standing near where the other two had stopped at.

One was a younger woman, physically looking to be no older than thirty, who had her arms crossed and a bold expression, clearly looking down on the world around her. From one look, it was difficult to tell whether this was a malicious view, or if she simply believed that she was stronger than others and should be treated appropriately, but there was little challenge in noticing her beautiful figure and full breasts and ample behind. Those features were on full display with a dress that revealed much of her back, front and sides, with as much of her skin being displayed as not, if not more.

She was also in the eighth stage of Linked Channels, making her the strongest of the six.

Next to her, an older woman that would have been in her forties or fifties had she been an ordinary person stood by with a far more conservative robe, as well as a far calmer and serene expression. This woman wasn’t looking towards any particular guardian and was instead frowning about something.

At the fifth stage of the sixth realm, she was obviously not the strongest, but her energy looked stable and refined, so she had clearly not wasted the time that she had spent to reach her current realm. Perhaps she had gotten into cultivation at a later point, hence causing her lifeforce to diminish and her body to age more than the woman beside her, but had allowed her to cultivate with a greater comprehension of the world and of energy.

On their side, some distance from them and one another, were two men of differing ages. One of them took the idea that Luo Huang had and made his entire set of robes out of talismans, with most of them having dried and crumpled after the length of time that he must have been wearing them. He was in the second stage only, with the quality of his energy being behind any of the other individuals in the room. With his old physical age, white hair, and low cultivation, it seemed that nearly anyone that broke into the sixth realm could replace him, so long as they were from the Luo family and had taken the time to cultivate properly.

Of all of the figures, he appeared to be the most anxious and alert, even while he was inside of their so-called stronghold.

Finally, to his right was a far younger man with a short beard and a cultivation of the fourth stage, as well as regular robes. He looked extremely ordinary, to the point that she suspected that he might be the most average person in his realm that she had ever seen.

‘If he was a woman, he might have the most average boobs, too- No, stop that. Not the right time to be thinking of it… although I am rather sure that he has his own average parts anyway,’ Wei Yi dismissed those kinds of thoughts easily enough, tossing them into the portion of the mental domain that she had chosen to represent the Dao of Lust, and focused on the people themselves and what they might have wanted to attain from the day’s gathering.

Judging purely from appearances and her own views and stigmas, she presumed that the younger woman would be on the side of either Luo Yunzhen or the Greats, depending on which one she valued more, since her general presence seemed to fit those that would favour them. As she already supposed, Luo Huang would prefer Luo Na, and Luo Ling Zan would be neutral, or side with whoever cared the most about the peace and stability of the district. That much she could be relatively sure of, although she had seen quite a few proud people amongst her Arbiters and was less certain about the young woman.

The others were more ambiguous in their allegiances and intentions, so it was far more difficult to guess anything about them from appearance alone.

From the calmer demeanour of the older woman, it could be presumed that she didn’t want conflict either, being a neutral party like Luo Ling Zan, and that the old man might be interested in any faction that could assist his family, or perhaps his cultivation, but the young man at the very right was too average in every way to give him any particular motivations.

Since presuming too many things without reason wouldn’t be beneficial to her, she did not do so, and instead stepped forward to greet them with a calm but proud expression, making sure that she looked the part of a powerful leader.

“Welcome to our stronghold, visitor from the north,” Luo Ling Zan introduced her officially, addressing the others more so than he was speaking to her.

That finally caused the proud woman and the old man to turn their attention to her, as the others had already had an eye on her, with the old man in particular seeming curious about her presence. From his expression alone, it was rather difficult to tell what it was that intrigued him, but she still took note of that just in case. If he knew of the old her, or if he had encountered the red-haired otherworldly demon and was currently mixing them up, then both could be significant to her.

As to make a decent first impression, she spoke first, lightly nodding to them, “Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Wei Yi, of the Ascendant’s Arbiters. You are all the guardians of the Luo District, correct?”

“Indeed. I am Luo Ru Qiu, and it is excellent to meet someone that is taking so much action at a young age. Your exact goals may differ slightly from what our district believes in, but it is still something that our people should learn from. There are far too many amongst the Luo family that tend to avoid seeking change to the world,” the younger male guardian stated.

“Change is not always needed, Ru Qiu,” the older woman shook her head, her serene expression only deepening, “I, for one, believe that if we had remained calm and not gotten ourselves into conflict, then we may have been better off… My apologies. I am Luo Shiling. You said you were Wei Yi, no? Were you the one that had gotten herself involved in a battle between two small groups within the district some time ago? What were they… Brotherhood of Power and the…”

“That was my relative. If you come across her in the future, please tell her to stop with her obsessing with removing hearts. Some people tend to do better with them than without.”

“Indeed, that is so…”

The older woman didn’t really know how to proceed, so the younger lady standing next to her took over, proclaiming, “Ru Qiu, despite his faults, is far more accurate in this case. We need to act as the world is changing, and we should not be simply staying in the past while everything around us changes for the better… or for worse, in certain cases.”

As the woman said that, she locked eyes with Wei Yi and looked at her with a blatant dislike in her eyes. Regardless of the reason behind it, that made it highly obvious that this woman wasn’t going to be neutral, nor on Luo Na’s side, so she was likely to support either the Great Families or Luo Yunzhen. With how stern her look was, it seemed that this wasn’t a random decision on her part, and so it would be difficult to change her mind and convince her to go to the other side without a particularly extreme method, or some extremely persuasive evidence that she didn’t believe she had.

“Long Meng, your words are unnecessarily direct…” the older man, clothed entirely in talismans, said, “I say that we should greet one another peacefully.”

“I am sure that you would always proceed like that, Luo Jian,” the proud woman replied, “Simply being polite to people isn’t going to solve your problems, and neither will that woman. You might as well drop it and not bother.”

“That is not the kind of view and perspective that us, guardians, should have, Luo Long Meng,” Luo Ru Qiu shook his head, “A traveller from afar comes to us and wishes to share information, so why should we meet them with unpleasantness and conflict? I say that we instead greet her properly, then get onto the matters that we had initially wanted to discuss without any of the current tension. Surely that would be preferable?”

“No, seeing as we’ve brought in someone like her, there should be an interrogation!” Luo Long Meng said, “Did you attempt to break the peace, Wei Yi?”

Seeing as the woman had suddenly forced the conversation towards this, their brief period of introductions had to be ended. The others might have had other matters to discuss, or questions to ask of her, but even if they were really keen to ask them, they understood that it was better to speak to her after it was decisively concluded that she wasn’t going to be deemed an enemy.

After all, if they decided to share something important with her and she was then concluded as being a foe to the Luo District, they would be implicated as a result, which would hardly be beneficial to them in any way. Even if they would be able to get away from any kind of punishment as a guardian, then they would be in a worse position as there would still be suspicion about them as a result, both from the neutral and opposing sides. This was also why Luo Huang looked at her for a brief moment but did not keep his gaze upon her, as it wouldn’t do him any favours if he was seen as collaborating with her.

If anyone cared about this at all, then they would obviously recall the fact that he had been the one to bring her into the district and had clearly gone somewhere more private to speak with her, but that wouldn’t be brought up until it was beneficial to someone to do so.

That was done just in case it turned out that she was somehow highly beneficial to those siding with Luo Yunzhen, thus making it a bad idea for them to promptly associate with someone that had also been helped by the opposing side, since that could make them suspicious as well. In essence, this was all complicated politics, and Wei Yi had to get involved for now. Eventually, she would have the freedom to do as she likes, but until then, she had to do as the people of the Luo District did.

“Very well. Come with me, Wei Yi of the Ascendant’s Arbiters, and do not mobilize your energy. We have a way to ensure that the trial is fair, and it will be applied to all of us,” Luo Huang spoke, waving towards the staircase, “You may be a strong individual, but there are six of us, and we can and will subdue you if you provide a reason for us to do so.”

“Noted. There’s no need to worry about me since I have gone through worse than simple questioning. Some of you may have heard about it, but if you did not, then I shall not waste your time for now. After all, if you have no idea whether I am speaking the truth, then what difference do my words make?” Wei Yi asked none of them in particular, adding, “I could say whatever I want, however I want, and so long as I am not blatant in a single lie, then none of you would be any the wiser… Nor would any of you trust me.”

“In that case, I see no reason why you are still speaking,” Luo Long Meng spat, being only an inch from actually spitting at her, “Your voice is unpleasant.”

“Just because you fail to have the voice of a goddess doesn’t mean that you must attack others for being better than you, Long Meng,” Luo Shiling said, her voice somehow getting calmer as she said so, “We will all talk properly, and if she benefits the Luo District, then nobody here would have a good reason to attack her in any way.”

‘Hm. I don’t think that she is helping me out as a result of some preference for Luo Na, the Arbiters, or anything else of the sort, so… is she just intent on keeping the peace? Her planar energy seems to be regular fire-type energy, from a high-grade technique but nothing else, so this doesn’t seem to be some kind of unusual method of cultivation. Is it possible for someone to want to avoid conflict to this extent?’ Wei Yi questioned mentally, trying to figure out whether or not this was some act as she followed them up the stairs and to one of the upper floors of the large structure, all while carefully looking around herself with spiritual perception to avoid any potential traps.

The tower was large, large enough to tower far over every single other building in the district, and each floor was only high enough to allow for a tall person to be just barely unable to reach the ceiling of most floors. As a result, there were more than ten floors, and she was brought up to the seventh.

There, a large portion in the centre of the floor was empty, surrounded by seats that were all pointed towards the middle. It resembled a stage or a tribunal, with ten seats at the very front being taller than the rest and glowed with a slight aura of planar energy that was surging from within them through thin lines carved into their surface. Each one slightly differed from one another, and six of them currently carried a different energy within them, causing the planar energy to be shaded various shades of flaming orange and red.

From this alone, it was not difficult to guess that they belonged to the individual guardians, all of whom practised fire-type techniques. Some were superior to others, but none of them were as significant as the Searing Inferno practised by Luo Na, which subsisted of consuming one’s own lifeforce for the sake of developing the most powerful talismans possible.

It was significantly stronger than anything that could be manifested by a cultivator that didn’t make use of a technique like that, which did make Wei Yi wonder why she or Luo Yunzhen weren’t one of the district’s guardians. With the deficiency of sixth realm cultivators in the current world, each one of them would have been a significant addition to the strength of the Luo District, which could have been highly beneficial if the Empire of the Dawn attacked. Then again, if an attack like that occurred, anyone in the Luo family would likely participate nonetheless, whether or not they were officially a guardian, so perhaps their significant belief towards one side or another in the current conflict prevented them from entering a position that should have been neutral, and dedicated to the Patriarch.

‘None of them are likely particularly worried about the Patriarch at the moment, which is amusing due to their stations, but I can see why that happened. In the middle of changes, revelations and conflict, someone that chooses no side nor presents his own perspective wouldn’t be very popular,’ Wei Yi thought, ‘It might also be that he wasn’t very persuasive when talking about neutrality. In that case, he might have been a poor leader overall.’

“Go into the middle and stand there. We will make use of the talisman and present the situation to you,” Luo Huang stated, seeming to take on the responsibility of explaining things to her.

“Not going to introduce the talisman to me first?”

She asked the question even while she was able to sense one of the others heading towards a part of the surrounding seating area, where a large talisman not entirely unlike the massive illusory talisman she had experienced during the duels that the Brotherhood of Power participated in. From that alone, before it was activated, she wasn’t able to fully comprehend its functionality and purpose, but the few symbols that she was able to connect with others were rather encouraging – no, extremely encouraging, as it seemed to be something that she had wanted for some time.

When put together, those symbols would permit the transmission of memories from one’s mind to the outside, and some of the other symbols utilized had the potential to mark lies when spoken with the knowledge that one’s words were untrue.

This, if it was indeed what she thought it to be, would allow her to not only convince some of the guardians of the Luo District, but, if she was able to transmit this to everyone in the world through some miracle, she could singlehandedly reveal everything about the Great Families to the entire Western Continent in a way that would simply be undeniable. Not everyone would know about the talisman, and some would obviously doubt that it was real or that she was actually using it, but all that would be needed to prove it would be for the people to investigate the Greats on their own.

At that point, if they were going to continue their current trend of suppressing information and trying to weaken the world, they would be forced to act, and the façade would break.

In fact, if she had the chance to share knowledge worldwide, she could also elevate the level of techniques used by the whole world by a significant degree, as even a weakened and distilled variation of her Ascendant’s Path, like the techniques she gave out to her troops and subordinates, far overpowered the vast majority of the techniques that she had seen out there in the world. There might be those that are better for specific individuals, being techniques that are perfectly suited for someone’s body and mind, but overall, her creation would still win out the vast majority of the time, especially when united with certain combat techniques.

She could spread some of the techniques that she had used before, those that have become less useful after the creation of Obliteration and the like, and the entire world would suddenly be raised to the level of deities so long as they can comprehend it. That might even do some good by limiting conflict, since everyone would have the same techniques and would be aware of how much damage they could do.

‘That’s one more thing to add to the list of options, then. I hope that I have a chance to do this, since it could be incredibly useful for my plans, and the world as a whole,’ the Ascendant thought as she stopped in the centre of the central area.

“Your name is Wei Yi, correct? Do whatever gesture you wish to and promise that you shall be honest.”

The one speaking was Luo Jian, and he was one that had brought out the talisman and now hung the large item from the railings of the seats, placing it right in the middle of the ten seats at the front so that it would be right before Wei Yi. Although the talisman was clearly aged and burnt, with parts having deteriorated quite significantly, the vital parts still remained and it might be able to continue acting for countless years if it was used in moderation, and with careful maintenance and repair in the future. With such talismans, it was possible to fix up portions that were burned away, although this would never fully allow it to recover.

Their only other alternative would have been to create a permanent talisman, but those were difficult to make for a great number of reasons. Simply finding a large enough material that conducted and stored planar energy without any innate energy of its own with enough surface area to store all of the symbols needed to allow for this talisman to function would be excessively difficult.

“Will you do the same, guardians of the Luo District?”

“Why must we?” Luo Long Meng asked, scoffing at the notion, “We are all honest, and we have no reason to trick someone like you.”

“Is that so? Are you going to tell me that none of you have any particular preferences or desires? Please, none of us are stupid enough to believe that. If everyone is honest, if any accusations are made using that talisman, and if all of us can be certain that everything said is entirely accurate, then nobody would be able to claim that we were mistreated during this trial… Since that is what this is? You wish to confirm whether I am some kind of invader?” she replied.

“The talisman is likely to suffer too greatly. Each additional person consumes more of the Imposition of Truth than lone individuals,” Luo Ru Qiu pointed out, “That being said, your suggestion is very good. Having an insurance of our honesty isn’t too bad.”

“I happen to be a talented talisman master. If I can ensure that the talisman isn’t consumed, what then?”

“You tampering with the talisman would make you far less likely to be honest, bi- woman,” Luo Long Meng barely stopped herself from insulting the Ascendant, although the expression on her face was more than sufficient to make it perfectly clear what she had wanted to say. There weren’t many other words that started with that sound, and none of them would have applied anyway.

“Oh please, who do you take me for? Let me show you what I can do,” she suggested.

“Swear upon the talisman first, and we will then go along with it if you can confirm that you are not deceiving us,” Luo Huang stated, interrupting whatever Luo Long Meng was about to say.

This much was all that she could reasonably ask for without being either blatantly impartial or in the seventh realm, since that would allow her to state whatever she wanted without anyone having the power to argue with her, so she wasn’t going to try and push her luck too far. She could have done so, but it would have been a little too risky for her to actually consider it a worthwhile pursuit, as it could backfire absolutely horribly.

For that reason, she did not hesitate in simply looking at the talisman and saying, “I promise to be honest.”

She had a very limited belief in the value of promises and the like, simply because she knew that they couldn’t function unless both parties had the exact same degree of value in their promises and wishes. This could never be guaranteed without knowing someone well, and without knowing that there would be no reason for them to change their minds. As such, she had no method in which she would usually swear or promise anything, and the last time she had tried, she had gone against it nearly right away. Fortunately for her, this was not a requirement for the activation of the talisman, and the many intertwining characters upon it lit up with a vibrant flame.

A wave of energy flooded towards her, surrounding her and reaching towards her mental domain, although the tendrils of energy did not outright touch it. The nearly invisible light did wrap around her entirely, seemingly scanning the outside of her mind for signals of deception.

‘Alright, this is better than I was hoping for. I should be able to deceive this a few times if I need to, but I think that going more than twice will be pushing it a little,’ Wei Yi smiled internally, the activation of the talisman providing her with a great deal of insight into how it actually functioned and thus permitting her to not only find a few ways to overlook it, but also gave her enough understanding of how to do as she had promised.

“So, Wei Yi, will you be able to grant the rest of us the same effect?” Luo Huang asked.

She smiled, “Of course. I will not tamper with it in any way, either, so you can be sure that when one of you says something, it will be the truth.”

Her words prompted no reaction from the talisman or the energy around her, as she did not lie, nor did she even attempt to hide a lie beneath the truth. Although she could have modified the talisman structure in such a way as to be able to trigger a reaction akin to the one caused by falsehood when she wanted to, it would be both risky and rather foolish if she tried to make a statement look false when it blatantly wasn’t. It would be too risky, and her statement only applied to the current situation, not the future. She could interfere with the talisman effect at any time without risking a lie.

That was one of the many flaws with the talisman, although that much was to be expected from a seven-star talisman. If it was made by someone in the ninth realm, and was nine stars in quality, or perhaps even ten stars, then it might lack such a flaw, but before that, a flaw of failing to interpret intention and to broadcast meaning was to be expected.

“In that case, do go ahead. We will monitor you carefully,” Luo Huang said, although he was also a little wary of her. Even with the knowledge that she was on Luo Na’s side, he was still cautious.

The Ascendant nodded and placed her hands together, shutting her eyes as she focused upon the Dao of Law, as well as the countless chains that bound everything together, moving them in certain ways to allow the world to proceed as it was. Since her minor awakening to the nature of the Dao in the Bai and Chao Districts, her Vision of Law had somewhat receded, but she had managed to capture some portions of it and could return to full awareness of the chains through intense concentration.

Luckily for her, she was able to accomplish that in minutes with the benefit of her mental cultivation, which had stabilised somewhat thanks to the lesser gap between her mental and planar realms, so she managed it after a moment.

Once the chains were all locked onto, she reached out for a few of them with her energy, lightly tapping and manipulating them according to her will. Since she was going to maintain her version of the talisman as close as possible to the item itself, there was no need to figure out the exact nature of the chains and what they caused – although she was still paying attention to it simply due to the research value of comprehending the chains of reality – only replicate them accurately. That much could be done with enough focus, and she was being permitted it for now, and she expected to keep it in a moment.

After all, while some might get rather impatient simply watching her sit around and do nothing, the moment that they saw the outcome, they would have no reason to stop her.

Just as she predicted, Luo Long Meng sat up in her seat and prepared to say something when she suddenly saw the air in front of Wei Yi light up with a strange light that seemed to lack colour, and yet had a vibrancy that couldn’t be missed. It was incredible, and with every moment, the light expanded into symbols, and the symbols formed a single cohesive fabric that merged into a talisman-like structure, except it was clearly ethereal.

The talisman made of lightless light was weak and barely seemed to remain stable, but it did.

“Now, everyone, if you could promise to be honest, then we may begin,” Wei Yi raised her head and put her hands behind her, quickly hiding the fact that a number of small lacerations formed within her skin, all over her skin. They were small, but together they quickly turned her hand red, forcing her to cover it up with her mental energies and the other hand.

Since she hadn’t even been using her hand for the purpose of activating and touching the chains, she was rather worried what might occur if she had tried doing something even more complex.