Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 171
Chapter 171: Good Luck
“Of course, what I have proposed is a conjecture. Whenever we review a case, we should always boldly speculate on the possibilities, then confirm or disconfirm these possibilities, so that we leave no stones unturned,” Fang Chen said with a smile.
“We want to hold the criminal who committed those vile murders accountable, but more than that, we want to ensure that we have caught the right person. What do you think?”
Conjecture? The crowd slowly snapped out of their daze.
The Auspicious King looked at Fang Chen and asked with a suppressed voice, “You’re saying that Yu Zhang is one of the suspects too?”
Yu Zhang was startled. He instinctively clenched his fists while staring fixedly at Fang Chen.
“Naturally.” Fang Chen smiled. “It’s not just Yu Zhang but everyone who had ties with Zhao Yan, be it good or bad. Xia Song used to be close to Zhao Yan, right? That puts him under suspicion as well.”
The Auspicious King’s face darkened.
Commandery Chief Ouyang looked at Xia Song with a frown.
Xia Song was startled to hear himself being implicated in the case too. He stared at Fang Chen with stupefied eyes.
“That being said, there are different degrees of suspicion too. The suspicion on Xia Song is relatively lighter, so let’s begin with the major suspects first,” Fang Chen said. “Yu Zhang, right? What’s your relationship with Huang Xin? I advise you to be honest, for the Valiant Defenders will conduct a cross-reference on your testimony.”
“Preposterous!” Master Chen angrily flung his sleeves and stood up. He glared at Fang Chen with glowering eyes. “Imperial Duke Fang, it’s embarrassing enough that a depraved man like Zhao Yan came from our South Mountain School, so how can you interrogate our chief student like a criminal too?!”
“Master Chen, Imperial Duke Fang is proposing a conjecture. If Yu Zhang is innocent, you can be assured that Imperial Duke Fang won’t wrong him,” the Auspicious King said.
Commandery Chief Ouyang and the others also advised Master Chen to step down. They secretly glanced at Fang Chen, fearing that the latter would lop off the old scholar’s head in a moment of fury.
Fang Chen didn’t say a word, but Xu Ge sneered, “You seem determined to hinder us from investigating this case. What’s wrong? Conscience-stricken?”
Master Chen slowly calmed down, but rage lingered on his face. He scoffed at Xu Ge’s words, saying, “Me, conscience-stricken? Very well! I shall sit back down, but let’s see what comes out of this interrogation then!”
“Master Chen, you can be assured that I have nothing to do with this matter,” Yu Zhang said with a composed smile. He turned to Fang Chen and replied, “Imperial Duke Fang, I was on close terms with Huang Xin back then.”
“Since you were on close terms, where do you think he is right now?” Fang Chen asked.
“He retired from the school due to personal affairs. I didn’t keep in contact with him, so I don’t know where he is, either.” Yu Zhang shook his head.
There was a brief pause, and a faint sneer emerged on his lips. “I have long heard of Imperial Duke Fang’s astounding means. I wonder if you could root Huang Xin out so that I can prove my innocence. Otherwise, I hope that you can listen to the voice of reason and execute Zhao Yan based on the overwhelming evidence against him instead of siding with him.”
The crowd frowned.
If Fang Chen insisted on protecting Zhao Yan despite not finding Huang Xin, his reputation in the southern region would fall to the gutters. None of the other officials would have dared to make such a bet, knowing that it would be impossible for them to establish themselves in the southern region once they lost the people’s support.
“Imperial Duke Fang, I’ll have my men search for Huang Xin right now. For the time being, why don’t we postpone this trial for a few days?” Jue Panshi stood up and clasped his fist.
Curses echoed from the entrance. Some people were hurling insults, whereas the others were speaking sarcastically.
However, Jue Panshi wasn’t fazed in the least. He was prepared to take Zhao Yan back to the Valiant Defenders’ barracks as soon as Fang Chen gave the word.
However, a conspicuous voice suddenly echoed above the commotion. “Step aside, I have a matter I need to talk to Imperial Duke Fang about.”
This is… Seven Profound Saber Huangfu Jie’s voice?!
The Auspicious King and the others were taken aback. They quickly turned their heads over, and indeed, Huangfu Jie was making his way through the crowd with a few other people.
Yu Zhang frowned. What is the Profound Saber Sect’s Huangfu Jie doing here? What does a martial artist of the pugilistic world have to do with this case?
Huangfu Jie walked up to Fang Chen with his group. He first bowed to Fang Chen before saying with a gleeful smile, “Imperial Duke Fang, I have found the person you asked me to look for.”
The crowd was taken aback. Fang Chen has already tapped into his connections with the pugilistic world to look for Huang Xin?
The Auspicious King examined the group who had come with Huangfu Jie, trying to figure out which one was Huang Xin. Master Chen did the same too. Only Yu Zhang remained composed, not bothering to take a look at all.
“My luck is not bad.” Fang Chen smiled.
A man in his thirties stepped forward and greeted Fang Chen with a clasped fist, “Imperial Duke Fang, I am Wu Zhanghuan, a disciple of the South Immortal Commandery’s Flying Crane Sect.”
Flying Crane Sect’s Wu Zhanghuan?
The crowd was getting more confused.
The Flying Crane Sect is a minor sect in the South Immortal Commandery. They usually maintained a low profile, so there was not much attention on them. It was hard to imagine how the Flying Crane Sect was involved in this case.
“I thought Imperial Duke Fang had found Huang Xin,” Yu Zhang replied with a hint of sarcasm.
“Imperial Duke Fang, how is the Flying Crane Sect involved in this?” the Auspicious King asked.
Fang Chen chuckled. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I flipped through the case scroll…”
The crowd was baffled. They looked at Fang Chen’s grayish-white eyes. Flipped through the case scroll? How can a blind man flip through the case scrolls? Ah! Fang Chen’s subordinate must have read out the case details for him.
However, this showed that Fang Chen had reviewed the case last night, signaling that he was concerned about this case too. This prompted the crowd to take another look at Zhao Yan.
Why is Imperial Duke Fang so concerned about a mere criminal?
“I did notice Huang Xin while looking through the case, but I don’t think he would be around anymore,” Fang Chen said with a smile. “So, I asked Huangfu Jie to dispatch his sect members to look around and see if there’s any news concerning Huang Xin.”
The crowd turned grim.
It might not have sounded like anything much, but they could imagine the huge operation that had gone on last night. The Profound Saber Sect likely approached all of the major powers in the South Immortal Commandery in the span of a night.
This was a feat that even the Auspicious King was incapable of.
“Tell me what’s your relationship with Huang Xin,” Fang Chen asked Wu Zhanghuan.
Wu Zhanghuan took a deep breath before replying, “Actually, I don’t have any direct ties with Huang Xin, but years ago, shortly after Zhao Yan’s case, I took in a pregnant woman.”
A pregnant woman? The crowd was baffled.
Only Yu Zhang was startled. His heart began beating fast, though he tried to control his expression so as to not let anything slip.
However, Zhao Yan looked at Yu Zhang with contemplative eyes. As a pinnacle Earth Profound realm martial artist, he could hear Yu Zhang’s heartbeat loud and clear like the toll of a bell.
“This pregnant woman was severely injured; she took a sword to her abdomen. I thought that she was a goner when I took her back to the Flying Crane Sect, but she surprisingly held on and even gave birth to a daughter,” Wu Zhanghuan said.
“What does that have anything to do with this case? Is she one of the victims?” Master Chen asked with a frown.
Wu Zhanghuan looked at Master Chen and calmly replied, “That woman told me that she had already sworn her life to a scholar, but that scholar offended a powerful individual, and that person sent people after their lives. That scholar is Huang Xin from South Mountain School!”
Boom!
It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck everyone present. If someone had gone to that extent to silence Huang Xin, the chances were that there was something amiss about this case!
