For a ti, the hall descended into dead silence; there were only faint sounds of breathing.
"Take the corpse of this Believer of Black Buddha away and keep an eye on it," Jiang Shumo spoke. Several inquisitors subsequently entered through the door and carried the corpse away.
"What do you all think?" Chong Jingtian looked around the crowd.
"This Believer of Black Buddha truly arrived at such an opportune ti," Wei Yufan said leisurely. "Just miraculously when we all happen to be gathered here. Could soone have secretly notified him?"
"When speaking, you must produce evidence." Ming Lin swept a glance over him. The two were already at odds to begin with. "The several Chief Inquisitors emphasized just now that spouting nonsense is absolutely unacceptable."
"Although this Believer of Black Buddha arrived shortly after Zhong Ming, you can't baselessly claim they are related either."
Wei Yufan coldly snorted. The person he was referring to definitively wasn't Zhong Ming.
Zhong Ming's face darkened. Naturally, he knew Ming Lin was rely using "coincidence" as an example.
"Correct," Lei Tieyan opened his mouth. The internal relations within the Adjudication Court were complex and intricate. Since he was in charge of the Judgnt Departnt, the most important thing was to ensure that none of the various factions could find any faults to pick on.
To prove ng Qi had a problem required producing evidence. To prove the Believer of Black Buddha had a connection with Teng Liang similarly required producing evidence.
They couldn't just say they were relying on coincidence; how would that be any different from what Teng Liang had said just now?
Su Chen, on the other hand, remained very calm. He had just eradicated the old lair of a Priest of Black Buddha and discovered traces of Divine Blood. These were all massive rits established upon trampling Believers of Black Buddha. Naturally, absolutely no one would try to pull him into this ss.
"The Evil Gods might be experiencing internal conflict." A Director-level individual speculated, "Let's assu Chu Xuan was killed by ng Qi, and ng Qi subsequently beca a Core Seed; their infiltration objective had already been achieved."
Reaching this point, he paused slightly, sweeping a glance over Chong Jingtian and the others. He felt the topic was sowhat sensitive, involving the issue of the several Chief Inquisitors' faces.
He rapidly skipped past this topic, "However, today, we cleared out the old lair of the Believers of Black Buddha within the city, reaping bountiful results."
"This implies that clearly, it was the Believers of the Faceless Ghost who executed the deed and reaped the benefits, yet the consequences had to be borne by the Believers of Black Buddha, suffering heavy losses."
"For the Believers of Black Buddha to be unwilling to accept this is very normal."
What he said made sense, causing quite a few people to secretly nod. The contradictions and conflicts between these Evil God believers themselves were no less than compared to their hostility toward the Adjudication Court, perhaps even more tragic and brutal.
"Proving that ng Qi killed Chu Xuan and clearing Teng Liang of any problems is genuinely this simple!?" Soone also shook his head. "His talent suddenly increasing is bizarre, but it's also possible that ng Qi took up certain specific professions."
"Just completely relying on those baffling white chains? For all we know, Teng Liang might have laid down so tricks in advance."
Jiang Shumo's eyes flickered. Having personally followed ng Qi, he actually harbored so suspicions toward him as well. However, he truly hadn't discovered anything amiss up until he was deceived away by Bu Siqi.
"Teng Liang, do you have anything you wish to say?" Jiang Shumo suddenly spoke, bringing Teng Liang, who was in custody, back up.
"I didn't kill him; it was suicide. If I wanted to kill him, he wouldn't even have a corpse left." Teng Liang's words remained exactly the sa.
Jiang Shumo's brows knitted tightly, only feeling that this matter was particularly thorny and difficult to handle.
"Even if ng Qi had a problem, it doesn't an Teng Liang isn't without his own. There are far too many unexplainable points," Xue Fei said. "He didn't test Wei Yufan, didn't test Zhong Ming, didn't test Ming Lin, yet out of everyone, he inexplicably chose to test this ng Qi... this isn't sothing that can be explained away byre intuition."
"Right as you lot were about to deal with him, a Believer of Black Buddha actually popped out to clear him of his cris."
"There is absolutely no direct evidence proving a causal relationship between these two points." A Director shook his head, "Xue Fei, stop relying on sophistry."
Seeing the topic circle right back to why he had targeted ng Qi, Teng Liang pondered slightly and said, "If you absolutely must force to give an answer, I can only say this: it was an instruction from Teacher."
The hall quieted down. Xue Fei gave a cold snort, "You should've said that from the very beginning. Don't think that just because you pushed the bla onto Xia Hanshi's head, you'll be fine."
"Is Xia Hanshi a na you can randomly shout!?"
The previously silent Su Chen suddenly spoke, his gaze sweeping over. A flash of annoyance crossed Xue Fei's face as he responded coldly, "Elder Xia's actions are uninhibited; he won't care about such minor trivialities."
"Xue Fei, exercise so restraint," Jiang Shumo said mildly.
Xue Fei's expression sank. "Whether ng Qi truly had a problem, and how exactly to deal with Teng Liang... there must be a final verdict. Because if not, perhaps there won't be a lack of such 'tests' in the future."
If Teng Liang could "test" ng Qi today, other people could "test" Su Chen and the others in the future as well.
Su Chen continued to remain silent. Having a Believer of Black Buddha co forward was quite a risky move because it was indeed far too coincidental. However, it belonged to the category of choosing the lesser of two evils.
And exactly at this ti, a burst of noisy clamor also transmitted from outside the hall. It was Bu Siqi.
Panting heavily, he looked as if he hadn't stopped for even a single mont, barging straight into the hall and shouting the mont he opened his mouth:
"Chief Inquisitor Xia has sent an urgent report!"
Although Xia Hanshi's intervention arrived late, it had finally arrived. The expressions of the crowd varied greatly.
Before Chong Jingtian could even permit him to speak, Bu Siqi hurriedly spoke:
"My Teacher said: whoever dares to touch a single hair on Teng Liang's head before he returns, had better ensure that both the person who strikes and every single relative and friend associated with them never leave Yingfeng for the rest of their lives!"
"He's rebelling against the heavens!" Chong Jingtian flew into a thunderous rage. Standing up, he yelled sternly, "What does he want to do!? Does he want to rebel and secede from the Adjudication Court!?"
"Does he really think the Adjudication Court has to submit to his whims and read his mood for everything we do!? Xue Fei, you will be in charge of thoroughly investigating this matter. Deal with Teng Liang however he ought to be dealt with!"
Being called out by na, Xue Fei's expression stiffened. He hurriedly said, "Chief, I have to depart Yingfeng tomorrow to execute a mission. It brooks absolutely no delay."
"You can't? Then who do you think can shoulder this heavy responsibility?" Chong Jingtian's brows knitted. "Recomnd soone to ."
Xue Fei was sweating profusely. Raising his head, he looked all around. Everyone's gaze shifted left and right, not daring to et his eyes. The occasional few who accidentally t his gaze all had sharp, vicious looks in their eyes, as if threatening him.
Nobody dared to ignore a threat originating from Xia Hanshi.
Even more crucially, doubtful points had now surfaced on ng Qi's body as well. Nine tis out of ten, he truly did have a problem. When the ti ca, just a single sentence from Xia Hanshi claiming they purposely frad him, and whoever dealt with Teng Liang would simply die for nothing.
"Chief, I believe it's best to investigate ng Qi first," Xue Fei could only say helplessly. "The doubtful points surrounding him aren't small either."
"What are the rest of your opinions?" Chong Jingtian's gaze was icy cold. The crowd didn't dare to raise their heads, responding in low voices, "It's still best to conduct further investigation."
A look of amazent surfaced on Bu Siqi's face. He truly hadn't expected his Teacher's threat to be this effective. He had rely forced himself to bite the bullet and shout it out earlier.
Because executing a Core Seed wasn't a trivial matter, and threats also had to be asured against the situation. If a matter was an ironclad, unchangeable dead end, issuing threats would likely only invoke public outrage.
On his way back, he had quietly sent a ssage to Su Chen to ask what he should do, but the other party actually told him to directly shout it out loud in full view of the public.
To think it actually produced such a miraculous effect. The bones of these people were truly way too soft.
"One after the other... you are all truly the mainstay pillars of my Adjudication Court," Chong Jingtian shook his head in disappointnt.
Everyone secretly grumbled internally. Ever since that Believer of Black Buddha appeared, this matter was no longer an absolute, ironclad certainty. Setting aside what the other party's motive was, ng Qi likely genuinely had a problem.
Even if ng Qi had colluded with Teng Liang, they still needed to investigate things clearly first before anything else.
This Chief of theirs was clearly using their response as an excuse to gracefully step down from his predicant, all while throwing the bla of 'cowardice' firmly onto their heads.
"I will take responsibility for conducting further investigation," Jiang Shumo picked up the conversation thread. "Take the corpse and Teng Liang both away for now."
This matter now had a final verdict. It transitioned from Teng Liang murdering a Core Seed... to murdering a suspected Believer of the Faceless Ghost.
Su Chen exhaled a breath of relief. Pushing things to this stage was enough.
Teng Liang himself was clean to begin with, whereas ng Qi was inherently unclean to begin with. The more thoroughly they investigated, the better.
"Chief!" Seeing Chong Jingtian preparing to leave, Bu Siqi couldn't help but call out.
"What is it now?" Chong Jingtian frowned.
"There's an urgent report—" Bu Siqi explained. Having recovered from his initial shock, a hint of terror also surfaced on his face. "A genuine urgent report."
Chong Jingtian's expression congealed slightly, saying in a heavy voice, "Co with ."
The three Chief Inquisitors left together with Bu Siqi. The crowd present discussed in low voices for a while. Quite a few intersecting gazes converged upon Su Chen, but very soon, they practically all dispersed.
"ng Qi... was truly a disguised Believer of the Faceless Ghost, huh." Ming Lin looked deeply worried. "Can the Faceless Ghost actually achieve things to this degree now?"
Su Chen shook his head and said, "Didn't you hear what the Believer of Black Buddha said? He was likely an Evil God Vessel; he shouldn't be an ordinary believer."
"Thinking carefully about it, that ng Qi was indeed a bit strange," Ming Lin retrospectively speculated. "Taking up the Bloody Butcher profession actually didn't produce the slightest bit of commotion, and the quantity of potions he consud also wasn't quite right. After the arena battles, he even brought Chu Xuan outside several tis."
"Furthermore, given his professional intensity, even if his 3rd-tier was a top-tier class, his 1st and 2nd tiers still dragged him down. How could he have possibly defeated Feng Ze? What the Believer of Black Buddha said is nine tis out of ten the truth."
"I believe in Senior Brother." Su Chen smiled.
ng Qi's problems were undeniable. It was just that before anyone doubted his identity, other people simply wouldn't make too many associative connections.
Now that rely a single question mark had been placed upon him, other people naturally began discovering more and more anomalies.
"But things will be troubleso from now on. Who can guarantee that a second ng Qi hasn't appeared?" Ming Lin sighed.
"The corpse is in our hands. We'll definitely be able to find areas that are amiss," Su Chen said.
"True—" Ming Lin nodded. The two chatted for a short while before Ming Lin took his leave. Su Chen remained behind to wait for Bu Siqi to co out.
It wasn't until two or three hours later that Bu Siqi erged with a sowhat dazed expression.
"Senior Brother." Su Chen suddenly popped out from the shadows, giving him quite a fright.
"—A Believer of Black Buddha actually popped out to identify ng Qi!?" Bu Siqi looked at Su Chen. When Chong Jingtian inford him of this news, he was frightened quite severely.
Only then did he finally understand why Teacher's threat had been so highly effective. Considering doubtful points had already erged, naturally nobody dared to take the risk of offending Xia Hanshi anymore.
"Old Teng... he couldn't possibly have connections with the Believers of Black Buddha, right?" Bu Siqi suddenly asked a whimsical, wildly imaginative question.
Su Chen wore a completely speechless expression. Bu Siqi also realized he had said sothing incredibly stupid; it was just that the sequence of events today had completely overwheld his capacity to process them.
Following Su Chen back to their residence, his face was full of hesitation, looking as if he wanted to say sothing but held back. Ultimately, he genuinely couldn't hold it in anymore and asked, "Su Chen, did Teacher truly tell Old Teng to keep an eye on ng Qi before he left?"
"Yeah. When Teacher told , I was also quite confused. What kind of problem could a cowering, timid guy like ng Qi possibly have?" Su Chen also sighed. "I truly didn't expect this."
When he told Bu Siqi to contact Old Xia earlier, he had specifically instructed him to subtly hint to Old Xia to shoulder the bla for firmly locking onto ng Qi.
Old Xia was indeed reliable; he took the bla straight on without hesitation.
"To think Teacher actually didn't tell again." Sourness bubbled up in Bu Siqi's heart. "Am I really that unreliable!?"
"For matters like this, it's ultimately still better for Senior Brother Teng to shoulder them. Teacher is also rely looking out for you," Su Chen consoled.
Bu Siqi repeatedly nodded. "That's true. Just look at Old Teng; I'm afraid he's going to be stuck dwelling in the Judgnt Departnt for a very long ti now."
"It was originally a massive rit. Who knew ng Qi would commit suicide so decisively?" Su Chen sighed, changing the topic, "What kind of urgent report did Teacher send?"
Bu Siqi's thoughts were highly convoluted. Only upon hearing Su Chen's words did he abruptly snap back to reality, slapping his thigh. "I almost forgot! A truly massive incident has occurred."
"In the southern cities like Baihe, Zixiao, and Biyue, traces of massive, large-scale activities by Evil God Cultists have been discovered. Teacher successively killed three City Lords, along with a massive batch of managent personnel—amounting to several thousand people in total!"
"And even despite all this, those guys still managed to find a loophole. One particular city was very nearly successfully blood sacrificed."
An expression of deep shock surfaced on Su Chen's face, yet internally, he wasn't the least bit surprised.
"Do you know what the most ridiculous part is? Teacher actually notified the other four Chief Inquisitors who headed over with him in advance, making straight beelines for those several cities, as if he knew long ago that there were problems with those specific locations!"
Bu Siqi incessantly sighed in admiration. "Teacher is becoming more and more uncanny. How exactly did his nose grow? To think he can sll the stench of those Evil Gods even while sitting all the way here in Yingfeng!"
The Adjudication Court had nine Chief Inquisitors in total. Ever since Chong Jingtian beca the Chief Inquisitor, he no longer left Yingfeng. The other eight were frequently outside.
This ti, utilizing the intelligence they had uncovered through the extermination of the Pang Family, the Adjudication Court dispatched several Chief Inquisitors to head toward the suspected regions.
"It's just a pity—" Taking a sharp turn, Bu Siqi suddenly spoke in a cold voice: "That damned Wei Yinshuo actually didn't take Teacher's words to heart at all, directly resulting in two cities being subjected to blood sacrifice! His own whereabouts are currently unknown as well."
"Oh?" Su Chen's expression trembled. Wei Yinshuo's whereabouts are unknown? The matters of the world are truly fickle and unpredictable, huh...
Bu Siqi nodded. "This is exactly today's urgent report. As for those previous matters regarding ng Qi, the Chief told ."
"Furthermore, Teacher also discovered traces of activity by people from Yuandu."
"Yuandu?" Su Chen revealed a questioning look. This was sothing he genuinely didn't know about.
"Exactly." Bu Siqi added, "Within those cities, other than Evil God Cultists, there were also traces of activity from the 'Holy Church' of Yuandu."
Yingfeng, Yuandu, Lieyang, and Tianqing—these four cities governed Crimson Thunder Planet. This was information Su Chen had already learned while on his way to Yingfeng.
The four cities each had their own unique characteristics. Yuandu's 'Holy Church' was one of them. Put simply, they also believed in deities, only they worshipped so-called righteous deities.
"I have no idea what those old charlatans are scheming." Bu Siqi sneered repeatedly. "They've only been peaceful for a re ten years, yet they want to stir up trouble again. Truly not knowing whether they want to live or die."
Perceiving the icy coldness in Bu Siqi's words, Su Chen couldn't help but ask, "Aren't the relations between the four cities that of a united front to govern the planet?"
"A united front?" Bu Siqi sneered mockingly. "That's all a scam. Between the four cities... even if you can't call them mortal enemies with generations of blood feuds, it's pretty damn close."
"Yingfeng definitely wasn't the first city to appear upon this vast earth. Once its developnt reached a certain stage, year after year of warfare, slaughter, and assimilation comnced, eventually forming the current layout."
"It might be because the four cities eventually discovered that completely eradicating each other was impossible, that they suddenly eased their relations, initiated trade and communication, and gradually erased the historical records of the wars."
Su Chen listened very earnestly. This information wasn't recorded in any public docunts whatsoever. This was the first ti he had learned about it as well.
He continued to inquire for more details, but Bu Siqi didn't know much either. He only knew that the relations between the four cities had only begun to ease starting from ten years ago.
"Furthermore, the easing of relations happened very inexplicably." Reaching this point, Bu Siqi also grew interested. "I was roughly around your age back then. The day before, I was still paying close attention to the state of the battle between Yingfeng and Yuandu, filled with righteous indignation."
"Yet the very next day, they announced a ceasefire. It was incredibly bizarre, you know?"
(End of this chapter)
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