Chapter 4495 — You Knew All Along?

Everyone exchanged glances. True, the righteous and the heretical could never stand together, and martial techniques could not possibly be shared between them—but Wei Zhao's point was not exactly wrong either…

"Sophistry! One is an ordinary fist, the other is a proper martial technique—are those the same thing?" Hai Wuliang exploded with fury, his face twisted with murderous intent. "Even Cheng Haonan has fled, and you still won't run? Do you really believe the Southern Continent Escort Alliance has sunk so low as to throw in with heretical cultivators? You truly don't even know how the word 'death' is written!"

"Heh, I don't know how to write the word 'death'—do you, then?" Wei Zhao's expression was utterly unruffled, as though he had not even registered Hai Wuliang's accusation. He actually seemed in the mood for a bit of teasing.

Hai Wuliang flew into a rage. Were it not for the constraints of his station, he would have struck the man down himself on heaven's behalf. Given his deep reserves of cunning, a mere sentence or two from Wei Zhao should never have made him lose his composure—but this awkward predicament he and the Four Seas Escort Agency now found themselves in was entirely Wei Zhao's doing. How could he not hate the man?

Now, with a ready-made chance to kill Wei Zhao and vent his fury, of course he wanted nothing more!

Yet in the end, Hai Wuliang did not act rashly, for he did not yet know how Qi Mingyuan would react. If Qi Mingyuan merely stood by, that would be fine enough—but what if he acted too, in order to shield Wei Zhao?

Then it would descend into a chaotic brawl, the situation would spiral utterly out of control, and that would do Hai Wuliang no good at all. The initiative was now entirely in his hands; he had no intention of taking such an unnecessary risk.

Besides, if he killed Wei Zhao, Qi Mingyuan would surely cry murder to silence a witness—and then things would get troublesome indeed!

"Hmph, there's no use in saying more. This chief judge disdains to bandy words with you!" Hai Wuliang turned at once to the crowd and declared in a loud voice: "Wei Zhao used the same martial technique as Wu Baoliang—that is proof enough that he is one and the same as Wu Baoliang and Cheng Haonan. All of them are heretical cultivators. Everyone has seen it with their own eyes; there is no disputing it!"

Fearing that delay would breed change and the night would bring too many dreams, Hai Wuliang was set on nailing the coffin shut at once. After all, Wei Zhao was not the same as Wu Baoliang and Cheng Haonan—three parts was conjecture, seven parts was slander. He had to strike while the iron was hot and settle it on the spot.

"Hold on!" At that moment Qi Wenmo suddenly stepped forward and said in a clear voice: "Ling Yi is an inner disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island. He even carries the pavilion's mission token. He traveled ten thousand li to the Southern Continent this time for the sole purpose of slaying the heretical cultivator Wu Baoliang. I ask you—how could such a man possibly be a heretical cultivator?!"

As the words fell, an uproar swept through the assembly, and everyone began talking at once.

"So he's a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island—then he can't possibly be a heretical cultivator." Many nodded at once.

"Indeed. North Island's strength may not match our Southern Continent, but its cohesion is exceedingly high, and the upper echelons of the Threefold Pavilion are thick with experts—they even have titans of the Profound Ascension and Mountain-Opening stages. They have always styled themselves a great orthodox sect. How could such a place ever take in a heretical cultivator as a disciple?" Those who knew more about North Island were all the more convinced.

"Right, right. North Island isn't like these parts—here heretical cultivators are always lurking about, but over there the Threefold Pavilion keeps everything in perfect order. Never mind their own disciples; even the cultivator tribes all around have no soil in which heretical cultivators could take root." The crowd voiced their agreement on all sides.

Hearing these discussions, Hai Wuliang's expression changed despite himself. At this rate, things would spin out of control!

That Wei Zhao was a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island—even he had not known. After all, Wei Zhao had spoken of his origins only to Qi Wenmo and a handful of others when he first arrived in the Weihu Sea, and had never mentioned it again. Even if Hai Wuliang had sent men to investigate, such a thing could not have been uncovered in short order.

"You can't put it that way. Even if Ling Yi is a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island, that still doesn't prove he isn't a heretical cultivator!" Hai Wuliang hurried to refute.

"Oh? Then by your reckoning, Hai Wuliang, our Southern Continent Escort Alliance would never nestle in the same den as heretical cultivators—but the illustrious Threefold Pavilion of North Island would harbor them instead? Shall we write a letter to North Island and explain your doubts to the pavilion's upper echelons, Chief Escort Hai?" Qi Mingyuan said, eying him askance with a faint sneer.

"That is not what I meant!" Hai Wuliang shrank back despite himself. For all that he strutted and preened in these Southern Seas, looking every inch a local overlord, set beside an island power like the Threefold Pavilion of North Island he was less than nothing—they could send any proper senior figure and crush him in the blink of an eye…

"You keep saying that even a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island can't be proven not to be a heretical cultivator. If that's not what you meant, then what did you mean?" Qi Mingyuan said, his expression darkening.

"Hmph, according to this chief judge's investigation, that Wu Baoliang was once a disciple of North Island as well. Since he turned out to be a heretical cultivator, how can you prove that Ling Yi is not?" Hai Wuliang gave a cold snort, then added: "This chief judge has always held the Threefold Pavilion of North Island in high esteem, but in a power as vast as the Threefold Pavilion, it is only natural that a black sheep or two might slip in unnoticed. Wu Baoliang is proof enough of that!"

Everyone was taken aback once more. The day's business was growing more interesting by the moment—so even this Wu Baoliang had been a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island. That truly was unexpected.

"Wait a moment. Hai Wuliang, you say you investigated?" Qi Mingyuan's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Which means you knew Wu Baoliang's background all along, yet rather than move to stop him early, you sat back and let him enter the arena? Tell us, then—what was your intent in doing so?"

In an instant, the way everyone looked at Hai Wuliang turned intriguing once more. Anyone whose mind turned even a little quickly could guess what lay behind such a thing—but for Hai Wuliang, the assembly's chief judge who proclaimed fairness and justice at every turn, to have done such a thing was sheer hypocrisy.

By the prevailing winds of opinion in the Southern Seas, people would admire a local strongman who dared to act, but a hypocrite who said one thing to your face and another behind your back was despised even more than an outright villain.

"I…" Hai Wuliang broke out in a sweat. Just now he had been wholly fixated on dragging Ling Yi down with him, and had forgotten so glaring a flaw. He hurried to improvise a defense: "My earlier investigation only established that Wu Baoliang was a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of North Island; I could not yet confirm that he was a heretical cultivator. To avoid wronging an innocent, and lacking sufficient evidence, I as chief judge of this assembly could hardly go around casting suspicion on others…" (To be continued..)