Chapter 1845 How Should He Be Punished?
In the Empty Imperial Palace, Princess Donghuang and others were standing on the steps. Below them, mighty figures from various factions were all here.
The Empty Imperial Palace's Palace Lord walked forward and bowed slightly. "Your Highness, the mighty figures who fought in the Divine Prefecture fought bravely in a bloodbath and were lucky to have come out alive."
Princess Donghuang looked at the crowd and spoke, "Thank you all of you for giving your all in the War of the Original Realm. We will record down the names of everyone who has participated in the war and the course of the war. We will reward you based on your contributions."
The mighty figures all nodded. Although they had defeated their opponents, the atmosphere in the Empty Imperial Palace was slightly weird at the moment, and there was not much joy. After all, the one who had performed most outstandingly in this battle was Ye Futian, and the mighty figures from all factions had all suffered losses.
"Ye Futian did his best to turn the tide this time. He should be given the most credit," the Empty Imperial Palace Lord said while smiling. He had previously thought that they would definitely lose this battle. However, Ye Futian unexpectedly turned the tide of battle singlehandedly and led the mighty figures of the Divine Prefecture to victory.
The mighty figures from the Heavenly Mandate Academy all smiled. Ye Futian's performance in this battle was amazing.
However, there were also allies who looked thoughtful. Emperor Nan of the Nantian Divine Kingdom then spoke up, "Although Ye Futian's efforts in this battle started to turn the tide, we won the war because everyone fought courageously. Everyone who participated in the battle was the same, and those who died also made their own contributions. Let's divide the credit equally."
Many people looked towards Emperor Nan, and many of them looked shocked. He was an ally of the Heavenly Mandate Academy and regarded Ye Futian highly. Although they had an ordinary relationship, he let his daughter go to the Academy to cultivate. Some people even claimed that he was preparing to entrust Ye Futian with taking care of Nan Luoshen. Hence, they could all tell how highly he regarded Ye Futian.
However, his words at this point seemed to be spoken to erase Ye Futian's credit.
Lord Taixuan, the Divine Palace Palace Lord, and others quickly reacted and understood what Emperor Nan meant. Lord Taixuan also spoke, "Your Highness, as a member of the Divine Prefecture's Heavenly Mandate Academy, everything that he did in this battle is what was expected of him. There's no need to reward him. What Emperor Nan said is extremely true. Those who died and sacrificed themselves in this battle should be honored even more."
Their words made the atmosphere in the Empty Imperial Palace even weirder. There was no atmosphere of victory at all, and many top figures were standing there silently. The silence was a little terrifying.
They locked their gaze on Ye Futian like hunters staring at their prey.
Of course, Ye Futian understood as well. He bowed and said, "Your Highness, I am originally from the Divine Prefecture. It is my duty to serve the Divine Prefecture. I do not need any reward."
Princess Donghuang looked at Ye Futian. She naturally sensed the weirdness of the atmosphere as well.
"Your Highness, I feel that Ye Futian is guilty." At that moment, a voice sounded. This voice was thunderous, and everyone in and outside of the Empty Imperial Palace could hear it clearly as it even echoed. In an instant, everyone focused their attention on the person who spoke.
The top figure of the Shen clan, Shen Gao.
He stepped forward and stopped below the steps. He looked at Princess Donghuang and said, "I feel that Ye Futian should be executed for his crime."
The moment he mentioned execution, everyone within and outside the Empty Imperial Palace was shocked.
The cultivators from the Original Realm outside, who had waited for the mighty figures to return in victory, were all a little confused.
Ye Futian is guilty and should be executed?
Ye Futian singlehandedly turned the tide of the war of the three factions, but now he should be executed?
Everyone was a little confused, but they soon realized what it meant. No wonder Emperor Nan and the others tried to erase Ye Futian's contributions, and Ye Futian himself dared not ask for a reward.
If they looked at it thoroughly, Ye Futian's "crimes" and "contributions" were seemingly a little complicated.
"He should be executed?" Princess Donghuang spoke while looking towards Shen Gao. Beside her, Cao Jun and Du You also looked towards Shen Gao. They naturally knew this top figure of the Shen clan.
"Yes," Shen Gao spoke up. "The battle of the Original Realm is a battle between the Divine Prefecture, Dark Court, and Empty Divine Realm. But Ye Futian deliberately hid his strength and did not do his best, making the war extremely passive initially, and we even almost lost the Original Realm. Ye Futian was powerful but deliberately hid his strength. He must have sinister intentions.
"Besides, if it wasn't for the threat to the Heavenly Mandate Academy's own allies as well as Ye Futian himself, he might have continued to hold back and chose to retreat, and he did do so on the battlefield. He deceived the princess as well as everyone in the Divine Prefecture by deliberately not fighting. I think that if our opponents didn't gang up on Ye Futian and his companions, Ye Futian would have just let the battle of the Original Realm be lost without displaying his strength. He does not care about the Divine Prefecture and Original Realm.
"Also, and most importantly, the various forces of the Divine Prefecture participated in the battle and bathed in blood. Many of their strongest fighters died on the battlefield. Even though they were not strong enough, they still defended the Original Realm with their blood. Ye Futian is a member of the Divine Prefecture. If he didn't have the strength, no one would say anything. But he was able to defend the Divine Prefecture, yet he let it all happen, watching many of the people of the Divine Prefecture who participated in the war die on the battlefield. This includes many members of the Shen Clan.
"He should be put to death for his crimes!"
Shen Gao's voice was powerful, and the sound rang out continuously, causing this space to tremble. His voice reverberated in the mighty figures' eardrums.
What he said was all true. Ye Futian could not deny it, and all the mighty figures saw it with their own eyes.
He had indeed not unleashed his full strength before.
"The Golden Divine Nation was ordered by the princess to participate in this war and lost many cultivators because of this war as well. Among the casualties, there were those of the royal bloodline who died fighting. Yet there are people who have the ability to turn the tide of battle but deliberately hide it, resulting in the unjust death of all the strong fighters. They should be executed for their crimes."
The Golden Divine Nation's Gai Cang stepped out and spoke aloud, "Princess, please convict Ye Futian to pay tribute to those who died unjustly in this battle."
The mighty figures of two top powers stepped out and declared Ye Futian guilty. It was as if Ye Futian's strength to take this victory had instead become the reason to convict him. That was because he had hidden his strength previously.
Outstanding trees will always get destroyed by the wind first.
What's more, Ye Futian was so magnificent today. How could those factions that already had grudges against him let him go like that?
Therefore, Emperor Nan wanted to diminish Ye Futian's credit at the first opportunity.
However, it seemed that those factions were not going to let go.
This time, if they did not make trouble, the princess might value Ye Futian even more highly. If she did so, it would spell disaster for them.
Hence, they struck preemptively.
"Princess, please convict Ye Futian." Another person stepped out and spoke. This time, it was a mighty figure from the Martial God Clan. He said, "There are also many people from my clan who died in battle."
It was as if those who died in this battle were blaming Ye Futian just because he did not do his best and hid his power.
"Princess, please convict Ye Futian."
"Princess, please convict Ye Futian."
Multiple voices rang out as more and more factions walked out. The various factions that had allied with Ye Futian in the war all came out, including the faction holding back the Dou tribe, as well as the Clan of the Seven Slayers in the Emperor Star Realm, the School of the Emperor Star.
"Princess, the Holy Land of Taichu and many other Divine Prefecture factions came to the Original Realm to participate in the war and gave their all. Yet, some people pretended to care about the Divine Prefecture but really only cared about their own interests, causing many innocent people to die in battle. They also deceived you and everyone in the Divine Prefecture. Even though they have contributed to our victory, their crimes are still unpardonable."
The powerful fighters of the Holy Land of Taichu also walked out. This time, so many forces walked out at the same time that it created a great movement. Now, they wanted to use the movement to get rid of Ye Futian.
Many people did not expect; even the strong fighters behind Princess Donghuang were a little surprised.
They did not expect that so many people wanted Ye Futian dead. So it seemed that being too outstanding was also dangerous. It would make people feel threatened, especially those factions that had a grudge against you.
They, in turn, would be afraid.
"Princess," At this time, Emperor Nan spoke up, "although Ye Futian hid his strength before this war, he had been fighting as best as he could and killed many strong opponents. It was only after the major factions retreated that he prepared to retreat with the people of the Divine Prefecture. He was only forced to fight a battle of life and death later on, and he did not have absolute confidence that he would win. If not for the cooperation of the cultivators of the Mountain Realm and strong fighters of the Divine Prefecture, he would also be in extreme danger. On the battlefield, one should always improvise. Ye Futian must have hidden his strength to take the opponents by surprise and kill them, and he did do so. I think that even if he is guilty, his merits are enough to offset his crimes."
Lord Taixuan also stepped out to speak, "I also agree with what Emperor Nan said. Even though Ye Futian has made mistakes, he could be considered to have given his all by using his strength to turn the tide and win this War of the Original Realm. I hope that Your Highness will make a clear decision."
Several people spoke up for Ye Futian one after another, and this time, they were all allied forces of the Heavenly Mandate Academy.
Princess Donghuang looked at Ye Futian and said, "Don't you have anything you want to say for yourself?"
"Your Highness, after I fell into a coma in the Shadow Realm, I was able to control some power of Yin, but I do not know exactly how strong the power of Yin is. I did my best to kill the enemy on the battlefield. After the major forces retreated, I planned to temporarily evacuate with the Divine Prefecture army and then hunt them down one by one with more certainty. I hid my strength to retain the element of surprise. When I was surrounded, all I could do was fight back desperately. How could I have predicted the outcome?" Ye Futian responded, "As to why they are like this, Your Highness must know, they have been at war before, so, naturally, they want me dead."
Princess Donghuang nodded, "You do have a grudge with one another. The Tianshen Academy has never cared about these matters and has no grudge with either side. Does the Tianshen Academy think that Ye Futian is meritorious or guilty?"
The College Chief of the Tianshen Academy, Jian Ao, raised his head. He stepped forward and said, "Princess, the Tianshen Academy cultivators have had direct contact with Ye Futian on the battlefield before. At that time, many people were discussing that Ye Futian had saved many Tianshen Academy disciples. Although I thank him for that, if we look at everything that happened today, Ye Futian does have the suspicion of deceiving Your Highness and the powerful fighters from all factions of the Divine Prefecture." Jian Ao opened his mouth and said, "As for the specific merits, I believe Your Highness already has her judgment."