Tribulation of Myriad Races

A short while later, General Zhao’s voice rang out from outside the room, “Zhao Rui is here.”

“Please enter, General Zhao.”

General Zhao entered and stood beside Feng Ji. After giving the Invincibles a bow, he said, “Hou Zhen has returned to Great Ming, but the two of us had spent the majority of our time in the pursuit together. Thus, you can simply question me for anything you wish to know.”

Great Song King said, “According to Zhang Ying, the two of you were in pursuit of the Six-Winged Divine Sect members. Tell us the process.”

General Zhao nodded, “After Great Xia found out that Feng Ji’s identity was exposed, I went hunting for the two Sunmoons of the Six-Winged Divine Sect under Marquis Xia’s order. In the middle of the pursuit, they separated. We could only follow one of them. We opted to follow the team led by Silverwing. As for Goldwing, he personally acted to lure the Sunmoons of the eight families away and started leading them all over the Human Realm.”

Great Song King said, “Do you feel that Silverwing had the opportunity to kill Liu Qi and the others during the pursuit?”

Zhao Rui remained silent.

Marquis Xia said, “Answer honestly.”

After a short silence, General Zhao said, “Unlikely. But I only had my attention on Silverwing. I can only say that it was unlikely, but I can’t guarantee that it was impossible.”

“Had you encountered Chen Yong or Feng Ji during the pursuit?”

“No.”

“Would they have the opportunity to kill those people?”

“I don’t know.”

Great Song King nodded. He looked at the woman and said, “Zhang Ying, do you have any questions for General Zhao?”

The woman said, “Goldwing was tangled with us during the pursuit. During the death of General Liu, we were actually in the vicinity of Great Yuan. We are sure that Goldwing wouldn’t have the time to cover the distance and perform the murder. As for Silverwing, it was very unlikely for him to find an opening to do so as well. Only Chen Yong and Feng Ji had remained unmonitored during the murders.”

She asked, “General Zhao, were Chen Yong and Feng Ji avoiding the two of you during the pursuit?”

General Zhao answered, “We don’t have any proof of that, so I can’t answer this question.”

“When you were pursuing Silverwing, did they manage to kill or capture Chen Yong?”

General Zhao sank into a short silence before shaking his head, “Unlikely.”

“Do we even need to ask anything else?”

The woman announced, “They were deliberately avoiding the rescue party. The cultists did not have the opening to commit those murders. Apart from Feng Ji and Chen Yong, who else would kill those people?”

Hong Tan said, “Haven’t you heard of cloning abilities? Also, I suspect you guys weren’t actually tangled with Goldwing. There were eight of you, but a single Sunmoon was able to lead all of you around like he was walking a dog. Are you not ashamed?”

“Hong Tan!”

“…”

The Sunmoons around Yuan Qingdong started shouting in protest.

Hong Tan remained completely calm as he said, “What’s with your response? Am I wrong? Eight Sunmoons were led by the nose by a single Sunmoon for several months. Were you people really that weak or was that deliberate? Or perhaps you were simply providing an alibi for him while he committed all those murders. Who knows?”

Finally, Yuan Qingdong opened his mouth. He sighed and said, “Goldwing was a sixth-stage Sunmoon. He was very strong. The eight of us were only early-stage Sunmoons. We managed to encircle him several times, but he was able to escape each time.”

“In short, you guys are garbage?”

After a short pause, Yuan Qingdong said, “If you insist on putting it that way, then yes. We were too weak. We failed to live up to everyone’s expectations.”

“Qingdong!”

One of them protested unhappily, but Yuan Qingdong was indifferent. Garbage? So be it. There was no need to argue against that. It was pointless. They might as well agree that they were incapable. What would that even do?

After all, they couldn’t change the fact that eight of them had failed to capture one Sunmoon. They wouldn’t be able to explain themselves out of this. Hong Tan was surprised to see that Yuan Qingdong had also learned to act shamelessly.

He smiled and said, “Since you guys are garbage, Goldwing could have totally sneaked away to commit those murders under your nose. Anything is possible. Am I right, Vice Principal Yuan?”

After thinking about it, Yuan Qingdong nodded, “Yes. Anything is possible. We can’t guarantee that anything is impossible. Thus, we need Feng Ji’s statement. After all, he was in the thick of everything. What do you think, Faculty Head Hong?”

After a war of words, they once again returned to where they were. Feng Ji was still the focus.

Hong Tan said nothing. He glanced at both Yuan Qingdong and Zhou Mingren indifferently before lying back on his chair. He patted Wu Jia’s head and spoke through voice transmission, “Stay calm. Your grandteacher won’t give up on your teacher. Listen to your grandteacher. You’re the biggest worry of your teacher. Don’t say anything rash, do you understand?”

Wu Jia nodded silently.

The look in Feng Ji’s eyes changed as he suddenly said, “I’ll testify. The truth is that I remembered nothing after waking up. When General Wu caught me and questioned me about my purpose there, I thought that Brother Chen had escaped after committing the murder. Worried about him, I decided to confess to the crime.”

A clamor erupted in the room. Feng Ji had finally changed his testimony.

Feng Ji said, “I don’t know anything. I only remember that Brother Chen was there to save me when I was being hunted. After an ambush, I lost my consciousness. Ever since then, I had been delirious. I only regained my clarity of mind after the arrest. Elder Hong was right. I was stupid. I nearly ruined myself. And I shouldn’t have talked so much nonsense and caused everyone to suspect Brother Chen.”

“Bullshit!”

The woman berated, “You were delirious? Previously, you claimed that you never met Chen Yong. But now, you’re claiming that you met him but you were delirious. Feng Ji, after changing your statement repeatedly, how can we still trust you?”

Feng Ji said, “Like I said, that was a mistake as I didn’t think it through. Now, I finally realize the right thing to do. I should tell the truth and have the Invincible lords here rescue Brother Chen instead. Also, Goldwing and Silverwing might not be the whole of the Six-Winged Divine Sect. After so many years in the sect, I suspect that there are actual six-winged divines hidden in the sect. These divines might be the murderers. Why did none of you notice anything?”

“…”

Hong Tan smiled. This was what he wanted. It wasn’t a good idea for Feng Ji to plead guilty. Instead, he should deny involvement. Where was the proof? The multiple character faction had been trying to find the traitor Invincible for many years. They had their suspects, but due to a lack of proof, they couldn’t do anything.

Thus, these people would need solid proof if they wanted to pin the crime on Chen Yong. Did they think that they could corner the multiple character faction so easily?

Suddenly, someone else spoke, “Lords, I have something to say.”

An expert clad in amor stood up and said, “During the murder of Liu He, I was the first to reach the crime scene. There, I found a drop of blood left behind by the murderer…”

Hong Tan yawned and said, “Is there anyone else with you? How are you sure that the blood was left by the murderer? The cult has the habit of framing their crimes on others by leaving blood behind. Don’t tell me that you have my student’s blood in your possession.”

The armored individual frowned and said, “On that day, multiple officials of the Rising Sky Army arrived together. There is no doubt that a drop of blood was found there. As for whether that was planted by the cult, we couldn’t reach a conclusion right now.”

He took out a drop of blood.

Great Han King grabbed the drop of blood. After taking a look, he tossed it to Silk Destroying King and said, “Silk Destroying, try to see if you can reproduce the appearance of the blood’s owner.”

“Sure.”

Silk Destroying King smiled. Suns and moons spun in his eyes, as though time itself was being turned back. Under everyone’s shocked gaze, the drop of blood started projecting a human silhouette.

With a taut face, Su Yu looked over nervously. Was that his martial uncle’s blood? And were Invincibles really capable of something so magical? From a drop of blood, they could actually reproduce so many things. This had touched upon the realm of time.

After a while, the silhouette became clearer and clearer. When Feng Ji saw it, he exhaled in relief and said, “This is a member of the Six-Winged Divine Sect. He’s a vice sect master, a seventh-stage Mountainsea called Redwing. I did not expect him to be the murderer.”

Hong Tan gave the armored individual a deep look and smiled calmly. A middle-aged man with gloomy eyes appeared before everyone. The projection looked incomparably lifelike.

After taking a look at the projection, Silk Destroying King casually dispersed it and shook his head, “He’s already dead. There is no pull toward his blood. Since the murders have continued even after his death, there might be more than one murderer. There is also a possibility that this drop of blood is unrelated to this case.”

Feng Ji said, “There must be more than one murderer.”

“…”

Silk Destroying King smiled but he didn’t say anything.

In truth, everyone was already sure who the murderer was. They only lacked proof. They could easily deduce that Chen Yong was the culprit.

Silk Destroying King sighed and said, “It’s pointless to continue talking. Since Feng Ji’s statements contradict each other, we need to search his memories. Even if Feng Ji is innocent, after pleading guilty, we need to make everything clear. Of course, we will hide your secrets for you, Feng Ji. The search will also injure you somewhat. If you’re found to be innocent, we will compensate you for this. Otherwise…”

Most people were fine with that, but Hong Tan protested, “This is unacceptable. Memory search will ruin one’s very foundation. Feng Ji is a hero who had spent decades as a spy in the cult. How can he be subjected to this treatment? As for his contradictory statements, he had already given the reason for that. It is unreasonable to perform a memory search based on suspicions alone. If I suspect that Old Zhou killed my student, are you going to search his memories as well?”

Zhou Mingren smiled and didn’t argue.