Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 154
Chapter 154: The Mastermind
In the Palace of Great Peace, most of the officials of the imperial court had been dismissed, except for Li Guozhu, Jiang Yushu, Ye Dongming, Tao Mingsheng, the Fifth King, and a few other major officials of Great Xia.
All of them looked at Fang Chen with grim faces.
Meanwhile, Fang Chen was informing Elder Jinnan about the atrocities the Blood Spirit Cult had committed in the capital over the last few years.
Elder Jinnan’s face turned grim. Shock flickered across the eyes of the Great Xia’s emperor.
Xia Yun turned livid, as his forehead and back were slicked with cold sweat. He would have never thought that such a vile cult had set its eyes on Great Xia.
“Imperial Duke Fang, you’re saying that Master Xu Hui is a Blood Spirit Cultist, and he made use of the orphans and vulnerable in the Compassion Halls to forge Blood Pills?” Jiang Yushu slowly spoke up to clarify the matter.
Fang Chen nodded.
The crowd finally understood why Fang Chen raided the Compassion Hall and killed Xu Hui all of a sudden. Back then, they thought that Xu Hui was just a martial artist who practiced demonic arts, but who could have thought that he was actually a cultivator?
Not to mention a Blood Spirit Cultist who had infiltrated their midst!
“Is the recent massacre of the southern region’s Heavensword Mountain Villa the doing of the Blood Spirit Cultists too?” the Fifth King asked.
“That’s right.” Fang Chen nodded.
“Is Qin Dong a Blood Spirit Cultist too?” Tao Mingsheng asked with a pale face.
“No, he’s a mortal. However, he colluded with them because he wanted to exploit their powers for his own benefit,” Fang Chen replied.
The crowd first heaved a sigh of relief before tensing up once more. Wait, there are people in the capital who colluded with the Blood Spirit Cult? Does that mean that there are more people related to the Blood Spirit Cult among us?
“Daoist Fang,” Elder Jinnan said with a heavy tone, “are you certain that you have eliminated all of the Blood Spirit Cultists in Great Xia?”
That was the most important matter at hand.
“Yes, I have eliminated all of them.” Fang Chen nodded.
“That’s a relief…” Elder Jinnan exhaled deeply. His eyes slowly swept across the people gathered in this room as he said, “So, this matter will be settled once we root out the mortals colluding with the Blood Spirit Cult.”
“The battle at the Three Realms Mountain five years ago…” the Great Xia’s emperor hesitantly spoke up. “Was the Blood Spirit Cult involved in it? They needed sacrifices to forge their Blood Spirit Divine Pill, so the hundreds of thousands of casualties back then…”
Fang Chen nodded. “The Blood Spirit Cultist exploited that fight to forge six Blood Spirit Divine Pills. I haven’t become a cultivator back then, so I didn’t notice a thing.”
“What a bloody competent emperor you are!” Xia Yun suddenly roared at the Great Xia’s emperor. “A cultivator has been murdering your people, and you didn’t sense a thing at all?!”
“Old Ancestor, I…” The Great Xia’s emperor couldn’t answer those words.
“He’s not to be blamed. He’s a mortal; how could he sense a cultivator’s means? The Blood Spirit Cult would have remained unnoticed to this day if not for Daoist Fang being taken in by a powerful cultivator,” Elder Jinnan calmly pointed out.
“Imperial Duke Fang, do you have a lead? Who are the depraved ones in the capital who stooped so low as to collude with the vile Blood Spirit Cultists?” the Great Xia’s emperor asked.
Behind Elder Jinnan, Xia Yu tried his best to remain calm as he followed the crowd and looked at Fang Chen with curious eyes, but deep down, he fervently prayed for Fang Chen not to look at him.
“The ex-commander of the Valiant Defenders, Xiao Shence, was one of them,” Fang Chen said.
The crowd gasped as they exchanged gazes. To think that the aide of the Great Xia’s emperor, Xiao Shence, was colluding with the Blood Spirit Cult!
This… The Great Xia’s emperor turned pale. He suddenly looked deflated as if someone had sapped his energy, and he feebly asked, “Imperial Duke Fang, do you have evidence?”
“Bring it up,” Fang Chen ordered.
Huang Sihai nodded before walking out of the Palace of Great Peace. Moments later, he, Niu Jue, and a few other Valiant Defenders returned with Xiao Shence in their custody.
Xiao Shence’s face was pale, and he struggled to even walk. Those with sharp eyes could tell that his martial cultivation had been crippled!
“Young master, Xiao Shence was carrying this bottle of pills,” Huang Sihai reported as he passed a porcelain bottle over to Fang Chen.
Fang Chen uncorked it and took a sniff before tossing it over to Elder Jinnan.
Elder Jinnan first examined the bottle before taking a sniff, and his face swiftly turned grim. He proceeded to toss the porcelain bottle to Abbess Moonchaser.
Seconds later, Abbess Moonchaser revealed her conclusion, “It’s a bottle of Blood Pills, medicine concocted out of blood essence. It’s a vile concoction. It could raise a person’s martial cultivation, but it’ll also gradually erode their rationality and drive them berserk.”
“Xiao Shence, you have disappointed me!” The Great Xia’s emperor glared at Xiao Shence.
“Your Majesty, I was merely looking for greater power to protect the country. I didn’t do anything wrong!” Xiao Shence suddenly burst into laughter. He suddenly searched the room before finally laying his gaze on Fang Chen.
“Fang Chen, I don’t understand why I always lose to you. From a young age, your talent for martial cultivation far surpasses everyone else. Even when your martial cultivation was crippled at the Three Realms Mountain, you still found a way to become a cultivator. Why does heaven favor you so much?!”
“Where is Enforcement Envoy Liu?” Fang Chen asked.
“Hahaha!” Xiao Shence burst into frenzied laughter. “I thought you were a prophet? Why don’t you root him out yourself?”
It was only then that the crowd understood that Xiao Shence was the one who helped Enforcement Envoy Liu, the person behind the Compassion Hall’s case, escape.
Li Guozhu and the others berated Xiao Shence for his depraved ways.
Fang Chen chuckled. “He’s an insignificant figure. I doubt he even knows the existence of the Blood Spirit Cult. Finding him isn’t important to me. In fact, I’d say that a mere commander of the Valiant Defenders like you isn’t qualified to directly come into contact with the cultivators of the Blood Spirit Cult. I know just how proud cultivators can be.”
Elder Jinnan had weird expressions on their faces when they heard those words.
“You received these Blood Pills from the person behind you, right?” Fang Chen asked.
The person behind Xiao Shence?! The faces of the crowd tensed up.
Xiao Shence’s eyes flickered. He clenched his jaws and said, “I’m the only one whom the Blood Spirit Cult has come into contact with. Fang Chen, don’t even think about using this chance to eliminate your rivals in the imperial court!”
“Imperial Duke Fang is a cultivator! He need not stoop so low to meddle in the imperial court!” Tao Mingsheng roared. “Confess who the person behind you is, or else even slicing you into a thousand pieces won’t be enough to placate our anger!”
“Lord Tao, I remember you used to hate Fang Chen a lot. Why are you suddenly changing your tune?” Xiao Shence sneered.
Tao Mingsheng was choked by those words. Many emotions flickered across his face, and in the end, he grimly replied, “I admit that I have my conflicts with Imperial Duke Fang, but those are minor matters. Someone dares to take the lives of our people lightly. That is something I will not stand for. Don’t try to change the topic here!”
“Fang Chen, you said you want to know who’s behind me?” Xiao Shence laughed. “I’ll tell you right now. Minister of Rites Tao Mingsheng, Minister of Military Personnel Ye Dongming, Minister of Justice Jiang Yushu… Ah, there’s also the Fifth King and Li Guozhu. These are the people behind me!”
A huge uproar broke out.
The Fifth King bellowed, “A dog on the verge of death still wants to bite us?”
“The person behind you is Xia Yu, right?” Fang Chen calmly pointed out.
The Palace of Great Peace descended into silence. Disbelief flashed across Xiao Shence’s eyes, and his eyes began to waver.
Xia Yu trembled. He immediately raised his finger at Fang Chen and bellowed, “Don’t you malign me!”
