“Yu Zhang is an outstanding child, just that he’s a bit narrow-minded. Other than that, he doesn’t like women,” Master Chen ignored Yu Zhang’s pleas and said.
He doesn’t like women? The crowd couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
The students widened their eyes as they backed away. Their faces turned green as they seemed to recall something.
“Ah, you probably still don’t know yet. The person he likes is Zhao Yan. Ey, the deeper the love, the greater the hatred.” Master Chen sighed as he looked at the sky. “How many people in this world are able to escape from the tribulation of love?”
Yu Zhang slowly closed his eyes. There was nothing he wanted more than to drop dead right now. He didn’t want to remain in this world for even a second longer.
The crowd fell silent too. Even Zhao Yan was dumbstruck as well. He nearly lost control of his inner ki and went berserk.
Seconds later, Fang Chen turned to Yu Zhang and said, “So what if you like men? You could have daringly confessed your feelings. There might still be a glimmer of hope. Yet, you chose to frame Zhao Yan, and you ended up being reduced to Master Chen’s vile accomplice.”
Yu Zhang didn’t say a word. He suddenly rammed his head against the floor. Bam bam bam!
He put all his strength into it. Just like that, he breathed his last.
“To think things would turn out …” Fang Chen shook his head.
Yu Zhang probably would have stubbornly held on for anything else, but the one thing that he feared the most was to have his sexuality revealed in public.
“Imperial Duke Fang, he’s dead,” Jue Panshi inspected Yu Zhang’s body before reporting.
“We should make an example of him regardless,” Fang Chen said.
“Understood, Imperial Duke Fang.” Jue Panshi nodded.
Just then, someone in the crowd noticed some of the corpses and the two living women. Another uproar broke out as a result. Curses, cries, and furious roars ensued.
Yet, Master Chen watched all of these with an eerie smile, as if he was enjoying the criticisms.
“Your Highness, I’ll leave it to you to clean up the situation,” Fang Chen said.
“I understand.” The Auspicious King nodded.
He ordered Commandery Chief Ouyang and the others to settle this matter. It took two hours before the commotion finally brought down, and the corpses were transported away afterward.
Master Chen was apprehended by the Valiant Defenders and brought to the barracks.
“Fang Chen, how do you intend to deal with me?” Master Chen asked with a mocking smile before he was dragged away.
“You’ll know tomorrow,” Fang Chen replied with a smile.
Zhao Yan watched with a bated breath as Master Chen was dragged away. Moments later, he took a deep breath before looking at the sky with his remaining eye.
“What are you looking at?” Fang Chen asked.
“The sky. It’s the first time I’ve seen it so blue,” Zhao Yan replied.
“It’ll remain blue in the future too, unless it rains,” Fang Chen replied.
Zhao Yan slowly turned to Fang Chen, followed by the Auspicious King, Xu Ge, and the others. Without any warning, he kneeled down and kowtowed to Fang Chen.
Fang Chen didn’t stop him.
Zhao Yan didn’t get up right after kowtowing. Instead, he said with a suppressed voice, “Imperial Duke Fang, I have nowhere else to go. Please take me in. I’m willing to guide the younger Fang Clansmen on their martial arts.”
The crowd was surprised, but it made sense too. Zhao Yan would have never been exonerated from his charges if not for Fang Chen making a move.
No one could have imagined that Master Chen was the true culprit. This filled the crowd with fear, as there were many officials in the South immortal Commander who had ties with him.
“What about the academics?” Fang Chen asked. “I heard you’re good at that too?”
Zhao Yan shook his head. “I’ll never touch academics ever again.”
The surrounding martial artists murmured their approval of his decision. The Auspicious King and a few other officials looked awkward, for they were the ones who advocated academics as a way of life.
“Rise.” Fang Chen nodded with a smile.
Xia Song walked over and awkwardly looked at Zhao Yan. “Brother Zhao, I have misunderstood you. You might not have lost your eye if only I had intervened back then.”
“I lost an eye, but my heart sees clearer than before. This might not necessarily be a bad thing. Imperial Duke Fang might have lost both his eyes, but he sees clearer than anyone else,” Zhao Yan pointed out.
The crowd was stunned. Zhao Yan sure is bold to dare say that!
Unexpectedly, Fang Chen wasn’t angered by that remark. This left the crowd more perplexed. Does Fang Chen have such a high view of Zhao Yan?
“You blame me, don’t you?” Xia Song asked bitterly.
“If I truly blamed you, the Auspicious King Manor would have long plunged into chaos—I have the power to do that. I can see what’s going on. You didn’t help me because you believed that I was the culprit. You did nothing wrong at all. The same goes for the others. The ones who had done wrong are Master Chen and Yu Zhang,” Zhao Yan said.
Huangfu Jie frowned. He first glanced at Fang Chen before turning to Zhao Yan. “What big words you utter. Our Profound Saber Sect doesn’t involve ourselves in other people’s affairs, but we won’t let others easily touch the Auspicious King Manor under our watch.”
Zhao Yan chuckled. He gently beckoned with his hand, and shockingly, all of Huangfu Jie’s seven sabers drifted to his side.
The crowd was flabbergasted.
Huangfu Jie was taken aback too. He tried to pull his sabers back with his inner ki, but it wouldn’t budge at all. It was as if some invisible force was standing in his way.
Wu Zhanghuan and the other martial artists were astounded. Zhao Yan’s martial cultivation is far higher than we expected!
Not even the Profound Saber Sect Master could simultaneously control seven sabers, but Zhao Yan, despite being a student of the South Mountain School, was able to rob Huangfu Jie of his sabers.
“Huangfu Jie, I have told you that the world is larger than you think. You’ll lag behind if you don’t work hard. Zhao Yan has long reached pinnacle Earth Profound. You aren’t a match for him,” Fang Chen said with a chuckle. He turned to Zhao Yan and said, “Return the sabers to him.”
Zhao Yan nodded. With a wave of his hand, the seven sabers returned to Huangfu Jie’s side.
Earth Profound realm?
The crowd was shocked by those three words. Wu Zhanghuan and the other martial artists couldn’t believe that an Earth Profound realm martial artist would land in such a plight.
Had it been them, they wouldn’t have swallowed their indignation. They would have gone on a rampage, especially since there was no one in the South Immortal Commandery who could stop an Earth Profound realm martial artist. They would have to deploy at least tens of thousands of soldiers, and even so, there was no guarantee that they could capture him.
“He’s at Earth Profound realm… I would have never thought there’s such a prodigy in the southern region,” Huangfu Jie said with a frown. He instinctively glanced at Fang Chen.
Zhao Yan could guess what Huangfu Jie was wondering, so he replied, “I’m not a match for Imperial Duke Fang. He could kill me with ease.”
So Imperial Duke Fang is still the more formidable one here, the crowd thought while heaving a sigh of relief.
It was then that the Auspicious King asked, “Imperial Duke Fang, how should we deal with Master Chen? Are we going to publicly execute him tomorrow?”
“That would be letting him off too easily.” Fang Chen smiled.
The crowd realized that Master Chen was going to die a horrendous death.