Chapter 1072: Testifying
Today was the day of the public trial to decide whether Ling Han had defected and committed treason.
It was exactly noon, and the Ministry of War sent out soldiers who brought Ling Han to a public court of the Ministry of War. This place was like an arena. In the center, there was a circular plain, and there were round after round of increasingly tall stairs all around. However, there were no seats.
Only the three judges had seats. They occupied a high pedestal, looking down on Ling Han. Each one of them was in the Sun Moon Tier, and exuded an air unique to elites, forming a kind of intimidating energy by itself.
Ling Han was not wearing any manacles or leg irons. Presently, he was only suspected to have defected and committed treason. However, as long as his crime was not proven, he was still innocent.
He was all alone, standing in the center of the defendant’s place. Meanwhile, there were people standing all around.
Everyone was extremely curious. This man that had stirred countless waves and created endless ripples in the Imperial Capital in the last year… Would this time be his final performance before the end of the show?
Shui Yanyu, Li Weiwei, and Ji Yun’er were here. Lin You, Ma Xing, Ye Chengyun, and other friends were here. Zhao Lun, Shui Yanyu, Jiu Wuqi, and other adversaries were also here, and added with those that were here to watch the excitement, or those that were jealous of him, they were all waiting for the show to begin on the spectators’ grandstand.
“Ling Han, do you plead guilty?” The three judges were Kong Chenghe, Gu Tianchu, and Nanmen Yang, respectively. Presently, this was a stern question from Gu Tianchu, his powerful spirit forming a terrifying spiritual intimidation, aimed directly for the heart.
If it had been any other person, he would’ve probably lost control of his divine sense, and speak out the words at the bottom of his heart in a moment of distraction. The fact that these three could become judges naturally had its own rationale. They had amazing attainments in terms of cultivation of the spirit.
In the first place, Ling Han’s spirit was extremely strong and tough, and added with the fact that he still had the essence of the Demon Master as foundation, to intimidate him was naturally impossible. At least, it was not a feat that could be accomplished by an elite in the medium extreme of the Sun Moon Tier.
He calmly replied, “I do not know what crime I have committed!”
“Insolence!” Kong Chenghe directed a fierce glare at him. “In the public court of the Ministry of War, you still dare to speak falsely? Immediately confess all the details of your collaboration with the Golden Lion Nation!”
Ling Han broke into a smile, and said, “This is something that’s never happened in the first place, so how am I supposed to confess?”
“Humph, we knew that you were going to deny it. Come, summon the first witness!” Nanmen Yang waved a hand.
The first witness to appear was actually Zhao Lun!
Looking at how he walked proudly down from the spectators’ grandstand, Ling Han couldn’t help but shake his head internally. This was really a case of “villain would make a lot of mischief”. ‘You are the son of a Great General, yet keep to beat down a “minor character” like me; do you feel no shame?’
With such temperament, his achievements would be limited.
Others kept saying that Zhao Lun was a genius, and the rate of his cultivation had by now exceeded that of the majority of those elites of the Heavenly Body Tier who had been in the same age bracket, and that in the future, he was definitely going to break through to the Heavenly Body Tier and so on. However, Ling Han hardly had any optimistic opinion of this person.
Among those Heavenly Body Tier elites he had seen, though they all had varying personalities, they all possessed supreme forcefulness without exception, and were extremely confident in themselves. But in Zhao Lun, he only saw pettiness and determination to avenge every smallest fault. This kind of character was destined to be incapable of crossing over the barrier to the Heavenly Body Tier for eternity.
Indeed, Zhao Lun was presently able to advance rapidly in his cultivation. Firstly, it was because his cultivation level was still low, after all, so he could soar. Secondly, it was because he had a good father, who was willing to snatch all kinds of natural treasures for him. Otherwise, it definitely would be impossible that he would advance into the Sun Moon Tier in the next millennia.
‘F***, you actually dare to look down on me?’
Zhao Lun had been glaring at Ling Han, and when he saw the disdain in his eyes, he almost exploded in fury.
‘You are now a prisoner, a commoner’—no matter what, he would not recognize Ling Han’s official rank—’an ant from a small world, a mere cultivator of the medium extreme of Mountain River Tier! What right do you have to look down on me??’
He was the son of the Great General Zhao, and this identity was enough to dominate over 99% of all the people in the empire!
‘Just see if I won’t get you killed!’
Zhao Lun revealed a cold smirk, and uttered, “Zhao Lun pays respects to the three lords!”
These three judges were all officials of the Ministry of War, and had official ranks. Furthermore, they were all in a higher position than Zhao Lun. In a public setting, even Zhao Lun could not dispense with etiquette. Otherwise, it would not be an insult to the three of them, but an insult to the political system of the empire.
“Heir Zhao, you may dispense with the formalities!” Though Kong Chenghe and the others accepted his respects calmly, they immediately greeted him cordially. How could they slight the son of the Great General Zhao?
“Bootlickers!” Li Weiwei mumbled. Her voice was not low, either.
Out of those present, probably only Li Weiwei, Sha Yuan, Zhao Lun, and a few other descendants of noble clans would dare to look down on the judges like this.
Kong Chenghe and the other judges looked rather awkward, but they could not afford to offend the daughter of the Left Minister, either. Most importantly, she had not pointed right at their noses and cursed at them.
“Silence!” Nanmen Yang rebuked. The aura of the Sun Moon Tier rolled out, and instantly caused everyone’s faces to pale. It was practically hard for them to even catch their breath.
Kong Chenghe opened his mouth, and said, “Heir Zhao, you were one of the commanding officers in this military expedition, and personally led the assault squad to launch a sneak attack on the Golden Lion Nation. Please describe in detail the proceedings at that time.”
“Yes.” Zhao Lun appeared very humble, giving enough face to these three people. “The Ninth King and I had come up with a countermeasure, and leading the troops, we set off and crossed the furious river…” He began to relate the happenings of that day. He was impartial in this recounting, though, and did not deliberately frame Ling Han for anything.
…It was because even without him making a move here, the subsequent over dozen “witnesses” were the true fatal attack.
Zhao Lun smirked coldly. He had mentioned the Ninth King a few times, and that was to mock Ling Han. Such a huge thing had happened, yet the Ninth King had not appeared at all. She had not even spoken one word on his behalf!
‘You must be very disappointed, right?’
This was natural. Who did not know of the Ninth King’s esteemed, noble status? Furthermore, there was an unwritten rule, and that was that none of the Nine Kings—just like Her Imperial Majesty, the empress—married!
Since the eight Kings before her were thus, he was sure that the Ninth King would be no exception.
Her relations with Ling Han were too close, so Her Imperial Majesty would definitely interfere personally!
It had to be known that it was not that Zhao Lun had not had designs on the Ninth King before. He was confident as he was a man of striking appearance, and one with extraordinary talent, who was furthermore the only son of the Great General Zhao. Though he was inferior to the Ninth King in terms of status, was there any other in the entire empire that could be match for her?
However, he had only ingratiated himself with the Ninth King once, and when he returned, he was sternly warned by the Great General Zhao not to have any designs on the Ninth King. He was not to even think of anything of the sort, or the Great General Zhao would have no choice but to personally behead him and offer his severed head to the empress in apology.
It was that serious!
‘I, Zhao Lun, am not fit for her, so who do you, an ant from a small world, think you are?’
Finally, Zhao Lun added his own analysis. “At the time, I was wearing the treasured armor my father had given me. After fully awakening it, I could possess defenses on the level of the consummate level of the Sun Moon Tier, and would be capable of flight. Even so, it was still extremely difficult for me to charge back, and bring back information about the invasion of the Eternity Sky Majestic Empire. Finally, the Eternity Sky Majestic Empire knew that their plans had been foiled, and thus chose to command the Golden Lion Nation to retreat.
“I would like to ask: if even I had such difficulty breaking out of such a heavy encirclement, and the subordinates that I had brought had all fallen into enemy hands, how could possibly a mere cultivator in the medium extreme of the Mountain River Tier manage to escape?”
Zhao Lun pointed at Ling Han, accusing him in a stern tone.