The crowd followed Fang Chen in droves.
Jue Panshi ordered his men to keep a close eye on Yu Zhang lest the latter escape.
Yu Zhang’s face turned pale, and his face further collapsed when he realized that Fang Chen wasn’t heading to his manor.
Soon, the crowd also sensed that something was amiss. The Auspicious King couldn’t help but ask, “Imperial Duke Fang, isn’t this the direction of the South Mountain School?”
Zhao Yan, who was agitated earlier, slowly calmed down, as his eyes gleamed in contemplation.
Fang Chen simply smiled in response and gestured for them to keep up.
Minutes later, the crowd arrived at the school.
Master Chen slowly made his way up to Fang Chen under his students’ Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters.
Master Chen shook his head and replied, “Indeed, you have never said that. It’s a conjecture on my part.”
“Imperial Duke Fang, stop keeping us in suspense,” the Auspicious King said. “More and more civilians are gathering in the area. I fear that things might get chaotic if we continue stalling.”
Fang Chen took a look around and saw that the streets were completely stuffed with people. There were people from all walks of life, be it civilians, vendors, or even nobles.
“Milord, should we seal off the South Mountain School?” Jue Panshi asked with a whisper.
“It’s not the South Mountain School that we’re going to seal off but that courtyard over there.” Fang Chen pointed at an inconspicuous courtyard right beside the South Mountain School.
Many willow trees were planted near the South Mountain School, and that courtyard quietly sat under one of these willow trees. There was nothing special about that courtyard at first sight.
However, the Auspicious King and the others looked as if they had been struck by lightning. Disbelief filled their eyes. Even the nearby civilians were taken aback. Seconds later, whispers broke out amid the crowd.
The courtyard’s owner was none other than South Mountain School’s principal, Master Chen!
“Imperial Duke Fang, what do you mean by this?” Master Chen was so angry that his body trembled, and he clutched his chest.
The nearby students rushed forward to Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters. They consoled him while furiously glaring at Fang Chen.
Only Yu Zhang’s face crumbled. I might still be able to argue my case if he went to my manor, but to think that he went to Master Chen’s courtyard instead…
“This… truly opens my eyes,” Jue Panshi murmured while looking at Master Chen.
He was no kind soul. As a Valiant Defenders’ chiliarch stationed in the southern region, he would have never been able to establish himself here if he didn’t have any means. He had inflicted his fair share of cruelty, and he had made shady deals too.
Even so, he had always kept a bottom line. It was thanks to the bottom line that he was still safely standing before Fang Chen.
He would have never thought that Master Chen, the South Mountain School’s principal, a respected teacher responsible for nurturing the next generation, would actually be such a vile person.
“Master Chen…” Zhao Yan murmured as two streams of tears suddenly flowed from his eyes.
He, as a pinnacle Earth Profound realm martial artist, was as good as an immortal compared to the martial artists living in the South Immortal Commandery. He could sneak into the most tightly guarded places with ease, and he had exploited those skills of his to search for evidence.
But the one place he had never checked was Master Chen’s courtyard.
Is it because I felt conscience-stricken, or is it because I was ashamed?
He had no idea what had stopped him, but he remembered many years back, when he was a child eavesdropping into the South Mountain School, a person quietly squatted before him and asked him if he wanted to learn to read. He nodded in response, and that person brought him into the South Mountain School.
Whenever he spared money to the starving, that person would share his meals with him.
Fang Chen looked at Master Chen with his lifeless, grayish-white eyes, and the latter suddenly turned ghastly pale.
“Seal off this courtyard. Don’t let a single housefly escape. All of the servants and maids are to be taken away for interrogation,” Fang Chen ordered.
“Understood!” Jue Panshi replied. “Break down the door and seal off the courtyard!”
“Yes, Chiliarch Jue!”
The Valiant Defenders immediately encircled the courtyard. They knocked down the courtyard’s door, and it only took minutes for them to arrest all of the servants and maids.
To the crowd’s surprise, all of the servants were disabled in one way or another, be it mute, blind, deaf, or lame.
A hunched old man shakily looked at Master Chen and asked, “Old Master, what happened?”
Master Chen took a deep breath. A cold glint inconspicuously flashed across his eyes. “There’s no need to worry. Imperial Duke Fang suspects me and wishes to search the courtyard. You can patiently wait by the side for now.”
“Yes, Old Master.” The hunched old man nodded.
“It can’t be Master Chen, right?”
“Could Imperial Duke Fang have gotten the wrong person?”
“Master Chen is known to be a kind man. These disabled people are shunned wherever they go, but he took them in and provided them with food and lodging. Where else can you find such a kind person in the South Immortal Commandery?”
Such whispers could be heard.
More and more students gathered around the area. They were furious to learn that Fang Chen wanted to search Master Chen’s courtyard, and they indignantly stood in the Valiant Defenders’ way.
“As much as we respect you, Imperial Duke Fang, we respect Master Chen more. He is our South Mountain School’s principal. How can you insinuate that he’s related to Zhao Yan’s case? This is a humiliation to our South Mountain School!”
The students’ saliva flew everywhere as they scolded Fang Chen. Some of them even exerted their inner ki, prepared to fight the Valiant Defenders over this.
“Take them down,” Fang Chen calmly said.
Seconds later, these students were all arrested by the ferocious Valiant Defenders. Fang Chen walked up to one of the students and patted his head. “I am humiliating you. What about it?”
That student glared at Fang Chen with raging eyes, but he dared not to act up. The person standing before him was Great Xia’s number one expert, after all.
“Arrest them too,” Fang Chen instructed.
He then walked into the courtyard with Xu Ge. The civilians quickly followed along.
Seeing that, Commandery Chief Ouyang quickly turned over to seek the Auspicious King’s opinion. The latter spent a second in thought before saying, “Let some people in.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
It didn’t take long for the usually peaceful courtyard to be filled with a noisy crowd. These people followed Fang Chen as he strutted across the residence.
All of a sudden, Fang Chen suddenly stopped his footstep.
The perplexed crowd stopped as well.
Fang Chen slowly made his way toward a fake mountain and gently struck it. A breeze blew, and the seven-meter-tall fake hill disintegrated into dust.
Wu Zhanghuang and the other martial artists gasped in shock. They couldn’t help but imagine what would happen to them if that palm strike had been directed at them instead.
The Auspicious King and the other officials were startled as well. Most of them had practiced martial arts to some extent, so they understood just how powerful that palm strike was.
Just this palm strike was enough to solidify Fang Chen’s title as Great Xia’s number one expert!