Chapter Fifty-Six: Kneel!

“These things prove nothing at all. They’re citizens of your country—of course you could easily coerce them into slandering us!”

One man stepped out from behind Scholar Li, the leader among them, a trace of smugness in his eyes. This was their prearranged strategy: deny everything to the end!

Scholar Li frowned, but said nothing; there was little else he could do at this point.

“Denying it to your last breath? That’s fine by me…” Zhou Tian shook his head with a slight laugh. Smug, are you? The more self-satisfied you are now, the deeper your despair will be when the truth is revealed!

“I have other evidence…”

The man’s heart skipped a beat, panic flooding over him. Yet he recalled that, in the VIP chamber earlier, they had reviewed everything again and again. Aside from eyewitnesses, they had left no evidence behind.

“Prince Zhou, if it’s just more testimony, don’t bother. One-sided words can’t prove anything. These people might have been manipulated by someone, so their words can’t be trusted!”

Iron Ox stepped forward to speak. Internal rivalries and intrigue within the Da Luo Academy were fierce, owing to the complex web of interests, but now was a time for unity.

Zhou Tian paid no mind to their words. He retrieved a lustrous jade slip from his robes and tossed it to Uncle Zhou at his side.

Uncle Zhou activated the projection within the jade, revealing the very scene that Master Zixu had entrusted to Zhou Tian!

The faces of those across from him contorted in shock, their pupils contracting, sweat pouring down in disbelief.

“How could this be? We…”

“Prince Zhou, may we verify the authenticity of this projection?”

Sensing that his own side was about to give themselves away, Ziqing quickly interjected, cutting off any further admissions.

“Of course…”

Zhou Tian showed no sign of regret. He guessed that those men were about to claim they’d carried blurring arrays to prevent their actions from being recorded—if they argued in earnest, it would be hard to prove much.

He handed the jade slip to Scholar Li, unafraid that they might destroy the evidence. With an Emperor present, they would have to think twice before making any reckless moves!

Scholar Li received the jade, activated the internal projection array, and scrutinized it closely before frowning and saying,

“This is indeed an image drawn from a Saint King’s soul.”

As a Saint King himself, he could easily distinguish the authenticity of such projections. He checked only the genuineness of the image, not the details within—thus failing to spot the part Uncle Zhou had altered.

The faces of those behind Scholar Li turned ghostly pale, lips quivering, speechless with disbelief. How could there be a Saint King? How was this possible?

“However, this does not rule out the possibility of forgery.”

Scholar Li sighed, going against his conscience as he spoke. It was true that one could forge such evidence—by tampering with a Saint King’s memory before extracting it, though this would damage the Saint King’s soul and might even cripple him.

No one would risk destroying a Saint King to frame a few cultivators of the Law Phase Realm, not even Tianqin.

Still, he couldn’t just watch his students die here—they were, after all, pupils of Da Luo Academy, and his own charges.

After his statement, those behind him let out a visible sigh of relief—the emotional highs and lows were almost too much to bear.

“Scholar Li, do you believe what you just said?”

Zhou Tian’s cold laugh rang out.

“No matter what, with my level of cultivation, I can’t tell if this projection has been tampered with. Let’s wait for someone of higher rank from the academy to decide.”

Scholar Li clung to his stance, hoping that once his own people arrived, they could drag out the dispute. Even if the evidence was accepted as genuine, his students’ lives might yet be spared.

“Li Lingyi, you are elder and a scholar of Da Luo Academy—I have always respected you for that. Yet I never imagined you would stoop so low, denying clear and irrefutable evidence. Such shamelessness!”

Zhou Tian shouted, stepping forward, dark hair billowing though there was no wind, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Li Lingyi—the scholar’s full name.

Li Lingyi’s face darkened with anger. He was of the same generation as Zhou Yi—perhaps less dazzling, but still well-known in his own right. Now, to be rebuked by a mere youth was almost too much to bear.

A mighty aura surged forth. The sound of ancient scholars chanting scripture filled the air, and behind him, the phantoms of sages holding their classics appeared—reclining or sitting, forming a sacred land of scholars. Righteous energy swept for thousands of miles, his tongue forming lotus blossoms.

“Zhou Tian! You’re just the son of a great father—what right have you to speak to me this way? When your father and I competed in the same era, you hadn’t even been born!”

Though Li Lingyi’s momentum was overwhelming, Zhou Tian, shielded by Uncle Zhou, felt nothing. Cradling Tianling in his arms, he stepped calmly forward and sneered,

“What right? Old relic, let me show you what it means to have the right!”

“Kneel!”

Empowered by the accumulated deaths, the [Holy Word] was unleashed, a nameless might descending.

Thud!

Under the incredulous gaze of the entire Futiang Prefecture, Li Lingyi’s knees struck the platform with a resounding crash. The righteous energy behind him, the phantoms of the sages, now seemed bitterly ironic.

“Master Li!”

“Master Li!”

Iron Ox and Ziqing rushed forward in shock, supporting Li Lingyi, their bodies aglow as they summoned all their strength to try and lift him.

Li Lingyi’s face flushed crimson, white runes erupting across his body as the phantoms of the sages grew more solid. He struggled to rise, but no matter how he tried, it was as though his knees had fused to the ground, completely immovable.

What was this bizarre power? Wasn’t Zhou Tian said to have no cultivation at all?

He could sense that the force compelling him to kneel was indescribable, and not the work of Uncle Zhou in secret.

He felt it, and so did everyone else in the VIP chamber. Unconsciously, they all rose to their feet.

The four great generals of the border, the Grand Preceptor, the Prime Minister, King Xiaoyao, the Dukes, and the leaders of the great powers from other prefectures—all their overwhelming auras burst from the VIP chamber, transforming the entire arena into a wild, primal battlefield, as if gods and demons were locked in combat.

Colossal skeletal beasts loomed like soul-reaping fiends, blood-soaked fangs exuding demonic energy, two divine swords pierced the sky, the all-seeing eye gazed down, grand murals of a flourishing age unfolded, a towering Buddha wore a benevolent smile, a Daoist reclined on auspicious clouds, hidden stiletto daggers glinted in the endless light, and a dark mech with three pairs of iron wings—these were the manifestations of their indomitable wills.

The common spectators shivered in terror. Why had so many great personages gathered today? Each aura hung in the sky like a blazing sun; divine senses swept the arena, shaking the void itself. Uncle Zhou, standing by Zhou Tian’s side, frowned slightly, lifting his eyelids.

A muffled groan echoed from the void. In the VIP chamber, all those who had just unleashed their divine senses coughed up blood and hastily withdrew them, remembering—too late—that an Emperor stood beside Zhou Tian!