Chapter 706 - Frame-Up
After brief consideration, Shangguan Wu knew what his decision would be.
"Lord Huang, there has never been a rule which explicitly states that battle pets aren't allowed to participate ever since His Highness the Storm Martial Emperor set up this test. What's more, don't you think such a deep and clear mark fully meets the criteria?" Shangguan Wu said plainly.
"This..." Huang Tayun was at a loss for words.
According to the literal interpretation of the rules, this was indeed the case.
"Lord Shangguan, do you mean this mark is deemed valid?" Ximen Yeshui crouched his body and touched the dent on the wall before he spat out a laugh.
The other experts also began to guffaw when they understood what Shangguan Wu implied.
That a small white dog's nose could leave such a deep mark on the Wall of Storm would probably become a legendary story throughout the Chaotic Ruins domain if word got out.
"That's right, my verdict..." In front of the wall, Shangguan Wu raised the corners of his mouth slightly and revealed a small smile, then took another glance at Little Nine, saying, "This mark is valid!"
The Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps began to cheer at once.
In this case, they should have no more trouble getting past the first checkpoint.
Ye Qingyu exchanged a smile with Yu Xiaoxing beside him.
Subsequently, he walked over to the Wall of Storm and readied himself.
However, just as everyone's attention was focused on Ye Qingyu, nobody noticed that, to the left of the wall, Huang Tayun inconspicuously took a step back and placed his left hand into his sleeve with his right hand covering.
As he peered at the jubilant and confident crowd, a terribly sinister cold light flashed across his pupils. He then gently twisted the forest-green gemstone ring.
An awfully strange smile once again showed at the corners of his lips after he performed this action.
In front of the wall, Ye Qingyu worked up his mysterious technique, causing his power to surge and his vigor to become compelling. He was ready to strike.
But just then...
"Eh? Wait... what's going on?" standing beside the crowd, Huang Tayun suddenly exclaimed. He pointed at the wall with an expression of surprise and panic on his face. "Something's wrong, Lord Shangguan. Look, the marks on the wall are... changing."
Wincing, Shangguan Wu looked toward the direction Huang Tayun pointed in.
Others were also startled by Huang's appearance and attitude, and thus subconsciously looked over.
On the Wall of Storm, the nine marks, starting from Yan Buhui's and Yu Xiaoxing's, were undergoing a weird change. They appeared to be gently touched by an invisible palm. Every one of them was being smoothed bit by bit, and gradually disappeared at a visible speed.
"What's going on!?"
"Impossible!"
"The marks are fading!"
"How can that be?"
Countless cries of disbelief.
With bewildered expressions, the contingent stared long and hard at the spots where the marks had been.
The wall presently resembled a giant sea sponge. Within several breaths' worth of time, the nine marks incredibly disappeared one by one from left to right at a visible and extremely slow speed, rendering the wall glossy and completely markless once again.
The nine marks had vanished!
Every one of them.
Not even the slightest trace remained.
Too difficult and frightening to believe!
The contingent fell into overwhelming shock.
A deathly silence.
This feeling was as though the fruit of victory was already in one's hand, but vanished within the palm in the blink of an eye.
The situation had unexpectedly turned on its head.
The hundreds of people on the plaza were unable to accept this outcome.
An extremely unusual gloom.
"How can this be?" Ye Qingyu, too, was immensely shocked, having been getting ready to strike.
Another person who was similarly astounded and in disbelief was the chief examiner, Shangguan Wu.
Over several thousand years, innumerable envoy missions from new domains had come to participate in domain tests, but nothing as strange as this had ever happened before.
Even the Violet Gold Divine Guards, especially the leader, Huang Lin, revealed looks of incredulity as if they just saw a ghost.
Over the years, they had seen many envoy missions coming to take the Wall of Storm test, but had never seen marks that were successfully left on the wall disappearing on their own.
The atmosphere consisted of an unprecedented weirdness and repression.
Huang Tayun, who had appeared flurried all this time and had accompanied Shangguan Wu to examine the wall, suddenly blinked his eyes and slapped his forehead as if he just had a realization. "I know, I understand now... it must be so, it must be."
Shangguan Wu looked at him puzzledly, "Supervisor Huang, what've you understood?"
Everyone's eyes converged upon Huang Tayun.
Ye Qingyu instinctively sensed that the front court supervisor was going to say something unpleasant.
Indeed, the latter spieled assertively, "Lord Shangguan, I understand why this situation arose. The Wall of Storm was put in place by His Highness the Storm Martial Emperor, and thus it retains a little of His Highness' will. He was always open and honorable, and made strict demands of his sect disciples, especially regarding their moral conduct which he paid great attention to. If I'm not wrong, a residual strand of his consciousness within the wall is unhappy with this envoy mission's behavior, and thus he disapproves of this new domain. This must be the case!"
An electric beam zapped through Ye Qingyu's heart when he heard these words.
He already knew what Huang Tayun was going to do next.
To one side, Shangguan Wu looked slightly dazed as his gaze drifted, seemingly lost in thought.
Almost at the same time.
The guard leader, Huang Lin, who was keeping watch outside the test plaza, suddenly understood something as well. He swept a glance at Huang Tayun, and seeing the latter's encouraging eye signals, he immediately stepped forth and said, "Lord Shangguan, I have an important matter to report."
Shangguan Wu took a glance at Huang Lin, his eyes revealing a hint of abhorrence, "What's the matter? Come report again when we're done here."
A vexed look appeared on Huang Lin's face, "My Lord, the matter concerns the present situation."
"Hmm?" Shangguan Wu stared fiercely and forcefully at Huang Lin. It took dozens of breaths before his expression relaxed slightly, "Alright, speak up."
Huang Lin heaved a sigh of relief.
It felt as though he was being trialed by a fiendgod when Shuangguan Wu gazed fiercely at him, causing him to lose his breath. He steadied his mind and walked up resolvedly, then disclosed in a loud voice, "Examiner Lords, I was on my regular patrol in the city yesterday when I encountered a bunch of shameless thieves who openly stole things in the city. Their leader was none other than the Heaven Wasteland's Ye Qingyu..."
After hearing the story, Shangguan Wu gave a violent start and snapped, "Is that true? Huang Lin, every word you said is very important. Do you understand what you're saying?"
Biting his teeth, Huang Lin replied, "I certainly understand. Many people can attest to this matter. After stealing the most valuable treasure of [Refine Armor], Ye Qingyu and his sidekicks were arrested by me and sent to [Lightless Dungeon] to await trial. However, they then used some sorcery to escape from the underground prison. Believing the domain rating to be an important matter, I decided to let them off for the time being, and planned to come down hard on their crime after the rating was over. But I never expected His Highness' will to be aware of their despicable character... This must be why they're unable to pass the test!"
A commotion broke out as soon as these words were spoken.
The entire test plaza was in shock.
"What? Theft?"
"Underground prison? Lord Ye and the others were arrested yesterday?"
"Bullshit!"
"What a pack of lies! How could someone of Lord Ye's status steal things?"
"Indeed, you must be slandering the War God!"
Within and without the plaza, every Heaven Wasteland envoy was infuriated. Their voices and looks became fierce as they rebuked the leader of the Violet Gold Divine Guards, Huang Lin, one after another.
It would not do for them to see the War God in their hearts be framed as a thief.
Seeing the uproar and chaos around him, Ye Qingyu neither sought to explain nor said a word.
Huang Tayun snorted and said, "A bunch of lower domain bumpkins.After coming to Sunrise City, they saw that the shops were selling things which would be considered the most precious treasures back in their domain, and inevitably had some greedy ideas. Hmph, this kind of thing has happened many times prior to his."
Shangguan Wu turned his eyes toward Ye Qingyu with a slight frown.
Sneering endlessly, Huang Tayun added, "Lord Shangguan, the matter is already obvious. Huang Lin has also said that both testimony and material evidence are available. Since these people have committed a crime, we cannot defy the will of His Highness the Storm Martial Emperor and allow the domain of this despicable gang to be independent. This test must be considered to have failed!"
The Heaven Wasteland experts gathered in the middle of the plaza shuddered when they heard this.
Huang Tayun clearly has sinister motives to keep making things difficult for the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps. What are his motives?
In the twinkling of an eye, the contingent fell into an extremely tiring predicament.
Anger, worry, and doubt showed on everyone's frowning faces.
In front of the Wall of Storm.
Ye Qingyu knew he had to do a little something at this time.
The incense stick in the distance was fast burning out. No matter the case, if this situation dragged on until time ran out, they might eventually be able to explain their way out of the stealing accusation, but their rating journey would also come to an end.
After some thinking, Ye Qingyu peered at Shangguan Wu, who had remained silent.