Chapter 66 Accusing the Ghost Clan, Ministers Plead Together

Upon the grand hall of the Ninth Heaven, the accuser spoke with absolute certainty, accusing a member of the Ghost Clan of harming his younger sister, Lan Mei, and bringing along Lord Qianzi, the immortal official who had treated her wounds.

High upon the dais, Yuheng twirled a clay jade pendant between his fingers, raised his gaze to the speaker, and asked, "Do you have proof?"

"Lan Qing naturally has proof," the man bowed respectfully to him, then turned to the person beside him and said deferentially, "Elder Jun, you treated Mei'er. Can you tell everyone here today, before His Highness Yuheng and all the assembled immortal elders and friends, what kind of poison Mei'er was afflicted with?"

"Poison?!" The crowd gasped in shock, turning to look at one another as they whispered and murmured among themselves.

"How could it be poison?"

"The little fairy Lan Mei was poisoned?"

"Whose heart is so vicious that they dare to lay hands on someone from our Ninth Heaven?"

"Indeed, this person is far too daring."

Yuheng lowered his gaze, looked at Lord Qianzi, and asked, "What poison was Lan Mei afflicted with? Was she truly injured by someone of the Ghost Clan?"

"This..." Lord Qianzi hesitated, then, under the collective gaze of the crowd, bowed his head and said, "Forgive this old official, Your Highness, but I do not know."

"What?"

"Elder Jun does not know?"

The crowd was shocked once more.

Then he spoke slowly, "However, this old official did indeed treat Fairy Lan Mei for poison over the past few days, and Fairy Lan Mei was indeed suffering from snake venom."

"Snake venom?" The crowd was both shocked and baffled. How was this poison connected to the Snake Clan?

At that moment, Lan Qing stepped forward and said excitedly, "That's right, Your Highness! The poison Mei'er has is indeed snake venom! Even Yun'er, the maidservant by her side, was poisoned by a snake!"

"And the one who administered the poison is none other than that little imp of the Ghost Clan!"

"The Ghost Clan?" Hearing this, the crowd erupted into an uproar.

"Was it truly the Ghost Clan?"

"But why would the Ghost Clan poison Fairy Lan Mei?"

"Indeed, indeed, this is truly baffling."

Yuheng frowned. Clearly, the very words "Ghost Clan" crossed his boundaries, involuntarily arousing a sense of revulsion within him.

"Your Highness!"

Lan Qing shouted, explaining, "Your Highness does not know the whole story."

"That day, Mei'er went to Peach Wood Spring to gather spiritual tea and was bumped into by a little imp of the Ghost Clan. Yun'er, the maidservant attending her, struck the imp with a whip. Yet, unrepentant, that imp actually released a venomous snake to bite Mei'er."

"The venom was intensely virulent, nearly causing Mei'er to lose the use of her leg bones. To this day, Mei'er can only lie upon her bed, unable to walk."

"Your Highness, you must seek justice for Mei'er!!"

"Could such an absurd thing truly happen?" The immortals were outraged.

"Do they hold our Immortal Clan in such utter contempt? Do they hold His Highness in such contempt?!"

"Indeed, Your Highness! If this matter goes unaddressed, the arrogance of the Ghost Clan will only grow daily, and any of us immortal friends could meet the same fate!"

"Today they release a venomous snake to bite Fairy Lan Mei, but what of tomorrow? Ah, what of tomorrow?!"

"Indeed, what of tomorrow?"

"Will they tomorrow release venomous snakes into the Ninth Heaven to bite all of us immortal friends?"

"Quite right, quite right. Your Highness, this cannot be tolerated."

All the immortals bowed in unison. "Indeed, Your Highness, this cannot be tolerated."

"It cannot be tolerated, Your Highness."

"Intolerable."

"Enough!" Yuheng put away the jade pendant in his hand, slammed his hand down on the armrest beside him, and stood up, his expression cold and stern. "Do you have proof?"

"This..." Lan Qing lowered his head, somewhat flustered. He truly had no proof.

However...

"Your Highness!" He raised his head to look at Yuheng, wearing an expression that seemed incapable of falsehood, and urged anxiously, "This official has no proof, but this official would never dare deceive Your Highness! Every word this official speaks is the absolute truth, without a single lie!!"

"And yet, lacking proof, you dare to spout such nonsense here in my Chonghua Hall?"

"No, Your Highness!" Lan Qing dropped to his knees. "This official swears to you that everything said is true, the absolute truth, Your Highness! You cannot refuse to seek justice for this official, to uphold fairness for Mei'er!!"

Seeing his sincerity, the surrounding immortals dropped to their knees as well. "Your Highness! Please uphold justice for Fairy Lan Mei!"

"Please uphold justice for Fairy Lan Mei!"

"Uphold justice for Fairy Lan Mei!"

"Uphold justice!"

The magnificent and resounding voices shook the Ninth Heaven inside and out, leaving even the duty-bound Heavenly Gate generals too terrified to slack off.

Lord Qianzi looked at the sea of kneeling people, then glanced up at their Highness Yuheng, letting out an involuntary sigh as he thought to himself that the heavens were about to change.

The Ghost Clan—that was an existence even the Immortal Clan feared.

Why... oh, why must it come to this?

Yuheng curved his lips in a faint, chilling smile. "Since that is the case, and all my lords make this request, how could this prince possibly refuse?"

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Someone come! Go to the Underworld Ghost Clan and tell King Yama to bring along the little imp who injured Lan Mei at Peach Wood Spring that day."

"Understood, this general obeys."

The crowd bowed low. "His Highness is wise."

Yuheng sneered. "Whatever you have asked for, right or wrong, you shall bear the consequences yourselves."

The immortals trembled, dropping to their knees with a thud. "This official wouldn't dare. Forgive us, Your Highness."

"How can this be a matter of forgiveness? This prince concerns himself only with right and wrong."

If they were right, helping them was only proper and his bounden duty.

If they were wrong, bearing the consequences was something they had eagerly begged for upon themselves, having nothing to do with him.

A tremor ran through the hearts of the crowd, leaving them uncertain whether this plea of theirs had been right or wrong after all.

Only the accuser lowered his head with a radiant smile, kowtowing to him and saying, "Thank you for your fairness, Your Highness."

Yuheng slowly seated himself, his expression devoid of ripples as he said, "Justice has not been served yet. You are thanking me too early."

"Your Highness?" Lan Qing raised his head in bewilderment, unable to fathom the meaning behind those words.

He only heard Yuheng say airily, "Let us see what the people of the Ghost Clan have to say."

...

Underworld

Wuqing Hall

The little dumpling sat upon the floor, staring in utter distress at the piles of scrap paper scattered all around. "Grandpa Weng, are you certain the method you mentioned actually works?"

"Of course it works!" Weng Ze's spell-weaving hands never stopped; his extended fingertips hovered mid-air, manipulating a floating long brush to leave line after line of characters upon the white paper.

"This is called striking the ox across the mountain, otherwise known as remote arts."

"As long as you master it, even if the magical artifact is not in your hands, you can manipulate it remotely to kill whoever you wish to kill."

Having heard his explanation, the little dumpling's face scrunched up even tighter. "If I can't even write characters in the air yet, how could I possibly manage remote killing?"

Was he perhaps overestimating her abilities just a little bit?

"Of course you can!" Weng Ze withdrew his spell, letting the paper and brush in mid-air drift softly down.

He turned to her and said, "Little Highness, you must believe in yourself."

"I'd rather believe in the carrots Mother Meng brings me." The little dumpling collapsed limply onto the floor, her expression full of defeat.

When on earth would she ever learn this?

She grunted a couple of times to express her dissatisfaction, but suddenly remembering what she had just said, she sat bolt upright with her eyes shining brightly.

"Carrots!!"

"Mother Meng!!"

Reaching into the cosmos pouch at her waist, the little dumpling pulled out the Sound-Connecting Bell and happily sent a signal to the person on the other end.

Since she couldn't go out, couldn't she at least have Mother Meng bring some carrots in for her?

Hahahaha, why was she so clever?

"Jingle-ling~"

"Ling-ling~"

"Little Highness?" Mother Meng's puzzled voice immediately rang out from the other end.

"Mother Meng~" the little dumpling called out sweetly.

"Oh, Little Highness, do you need something?"

"Yes! I was wondering if Mother Meng could bring me a few carrots. Would that be alright?"

"Naturally, that is fine." Mother Meng chuckled at her sweet tone, but then, recalling something, she turned serious. "However, I dare not come to see you right now."

"Why is that?" The little dumpling sat up straight and asked into the Sound-Connecting Bell.

"Because King Yama is currently searching for the little imp who went to Peach Wood Spring a few days ago and injured Fairy Lan Mei."

"What?!"

"Indeed. His Highness Yuheng gave explicit orders that King Yama must bring that person along to the Ninth Heaven."

"Is, is that so?"

"That's right. So, Little Highness, I won't be coming over."

You had better fend for yourself.

Mother Meng felt a bit helpless. The trouble was about to reach the little dumpling's doorstep, yet she was still thinking about eating carrots?

The Little Highness certainly had a big heart.

However...

Over on the Immortal Clan's side, they really knew how to shift the blame onto the victim!

(End of this chapter)