Chapter 571: Confession Of Long Jin.
Chapter 571: Confession Of Long Jin.
Long Jin was leading the people inside the city fortress. He had no idea what to do, because Hao Ren and Ye Lan were so strong that they would easily kill him. However, as they crossed the gates of the city, Ye Lan waved her hand and opened two space portals. Long queues of soldiers walked in with synced steps. They gained a lot of attention from the people of the city. They were shocked, and the citizen began to mumble, "Are we being attacked? Who are these soldiers?"
Sunset Peaks was a place that housed elders, and the wizened people who came here seeking recluse. The youngsters didn’t like to stay here much because with the steps taken by the government of the Crescent Moon Empire, the conditions have improved and they all could get stronger and wiser by travelling outside the small city.
However, the elders here were not weak either. Just when the people were talking amongst themselves, an old man remarked, "Looking at the emblem on the chests of these soldiers, I think they are a part of the imperial army."
As soon as the remark was made, the rest of the crowd fell silent. This was not something they had expected. They all looked at the speaker and one of the people asked, "Old Lin, how do you know that these soldiers are a group of the Imperial Army?"
The old man sighed and said, "Have you all gotten demented enough to forget what I used to do before coming here?"
An old lady thought for a bit and exclaimed, "You were an attended in the Crescent Moon Palace!"
Old Lin nodded and said, "That is why I have been telling you all not to let that punk pollute your minds, but you don’t listen. Now see, the Imperial Army is here, do you know who will be following? A Ye General, the absolute war gods of the Empire. Watch how they uncover the truth of the situation created by that bastard Long Jin."
He didn’t lower his voice as he spoke, and everyone heard it, even the marching soldiers heard it and they cast a faint gaze towards the old man. Just then a calm voice sounded, "Old Man Lin, this is where you have been living all this time? You sure gave Aunty Kama a panic attack after leaving service."
The voice was faint, but it made Old Lin stand up straight in attention as he turned to look at the source of the voice, he shivered and bowed his head as he said, "I have seen, the Head."
Ye Lan shook her head and waved her hand to raise the old man’s head as she said, "You are no longer serving, so why are you bowing to me?"
The old man smiled faintly and then he asked, "Your Grace, has something dreadful happened in the city for you to come?"
Ye Lan was one of the war gods, and addressing her as ’Your Grace’ was right. The girl shook her head and said, "Yes, but it is not that bad, I have it under control. Also, can you tell the people to be present at the city square later on?"
Old Lin was confused but he still nodded, and Ye Lan walked over to his side, she didn’t mind the gazes of the citizen, her cultivation base was hidden and so the people could not sense it at all. The young lady said, "Tell the people that the Dragon of the Empire has descended in the Sunset Peaks. They can come over when he addresses the masses later."
That said, she vanished from the spot, leaving behind a shocked Old Lin. The people noticed that after the young lady vanished, their friend was frozen in his stance and even more than that, his body was shivering. The man from earlier asked, "Old Lin, what did that young lady mean? Who was she? Is she a maid that you know from the palace?"
Old Lin snapped out of his daze and said, "Old Kim, you must never utter those words again or you will not be living to regret them."
The people were shocked and Old Lin continued, "That Young Lady was Ye Lan, the person who manages the personnel in the Crescent Moon Palace. However, don’t be fooled by her delicate looks. She is strong enough to kill us all in a blink."
Some believed while some scoffed and one even said, "Lies! How could she be so strong when her body is not even radiating any spiritual energy?"
Old Lin looked at the speaker and said, "Then I dare you to go and try something. You country bumpkin, did you not hear that when someone reaches a high level of cultivation their bodies appear nothing different than that of a mortal?"
His confident tone and the questions shocked the people. Just then Old Kim asked, "Then what did she mean for you to tell us?"
Old Lin recalled the main task and gulped a mouthful to compose himself and said, "She said that the Dragon of the Empire has descended in the city. From what I know, the Dragon Of The Empire, is a title that is designated to only one person in the entire nation. That person is none other than His Excellency, the Emperor, Hao Ren."
His words caused the people to shiver, they didn’t expect for such a thing to happen.
...
On the other side, Hao Ren walked in the center, with his body hidden by the glimmering armor worn by the soldiers. His two children were looking around with great curiosity. They both could not control their eyes from darting around the various points in the city. The young man was happy to see his children enjoying the surroundings. He teased them and told them about many things, and he could tell that his children were not ordinary so they could perceive the meaning in his words.
Soon, they reached the City Palace, and Hao Ren took the seat of the City Lord, and Long Jin was left shocked. Soon enough, the rest of the city officials came over, and they were standing before Hao Ren with their hands folded in front of their chests. The young man confused as of who called these people over, when Ye Lan appeared beside him and said, "I called these people over, so that we could find out the things Long Jin has been hiding."
Hao Ren asked, "What makes you think that they will confess now?"
Ye Lan thought for a minute and replied, "They will, I have given them a fair chance, if they dared to hide back the things that actually happened, I will see them in the dungeon of the palace and they will be begging me to not make any move against them."
Hao Ren shook his head and said, "Love, this much anger, make sure you don’t show too much of it to Ling and Xuan."
Ye Lan nodded with a faint smile. Hao Ren looked at the man standing in the center of the court and said, "When you had first won the examination seat for the Governor, we were grateful that someone young had come in and would make some changes. However, the ones that you have made were not anywhere close to what we expected of you. What do you have to speak in your defence?"
Long Jin was speechless, he had never thought that someone like Hao Ren would meddle in this affair himself. Thinking about the relation this man had with Han Lingxue, it was not exactly too odd, it was just that Long Jin never considered this. To him, the family left Han Lingxue alone so that she could grow stronger, but now that they have come to his doorsteps, this derailed his plans. He was using the art of speech to force Lingxue to come and meet him and then he would have used his trick to control his destiny.
However, with Hao Ren in front of him, he had no confidence and said, "Your Excellency, I have no idea what crime have I committed."
This was the facade that he had created before the rest of the city folks. Also, he had never left a proof behind, so who would believe even if Hao Ren himself said that Long Jin was guilty? Hao Ren sighed and said, "Governor Long Jin, please tell them all that you have done against the empire by using your position as the city lord all this while and also tell them why you did it."
Long Jin took a deep breath and he said, "I hogged all the funds that were delivered to me for development, and although the city can more or less govern itself, I still embezzled the funds and delayed the tax payments that caused the other departments to lay sanctions on the city and because of this the income of the people fell too. Then I blamed it all on you, and your wife, saying that you wished to abandon the people.
I did all this so that I could force Han Lingxue to come and meet me, and then I would have used the aphrodisiac scent to consummate the relationship with her and be her dao partner. Then I would climb the social standing by showcasing my wit."
Hao Ren looked at the man with a cold face and said, "What shall we do with him? Let us hear the city officials speak first."
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