"Who provided Han Suzhen with the Flood Dragon flesh?" Zhang Chen asked.
"If nothing unexpected happened, it should have been Mr. Wu secretly pulling the strings, leading Han Suzhen to get the Flood Dragon blood and flesh," Xie Lingyun responded. "There are four forces that can obtain the Flood Dragon blood and flesh: one is the court, the other is the Inspection and Supervision Department, then there are the Yellow Heaven Dao and Prince Pingbian’s Mansion. Any of these four forces could be involved."
"We can rule out the court and the Inspection and Supervision Department; that leaves the Yellow Heaven Dao and Prince Pingbian’s Mansion. One of these forces must be secretly allied with the Academy," Xie Lingyun analyzed.
"It’s too complex! The stakes are too high!"
Zhang Chen looked at the fallen Han Suzhen. At this moment, everyone else was avoiding her corpse as if it were a plague, sucking in a deep breath. He took one step forward, intending to walk towards Han Suzhen’s body.
Xie Lingyun hurriedly grabbed Zhang Chen’s shoulder and held him down: "What are you doing?"
"She was my master, and now she’s dead. As her disciple, it’s only right for me to take care of her body, isn’t it?" Zhang Chen replied.
"But the Prince Pingbian’s Mansion is watching. If you expose yourself, it will be difficult to escape alive," Xie Lingyun pressed on Zhang Chen’s shoulder, advising him not to be too impulsive.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen gave a wry smile: "You advise me not to be too impulsive, yet as a man, there are things I can do and things I cannot. I can be a little cautious, but to call me a coward, I fear I cannot accept."
Zhang Chen was not being reckless; he had an idea in mind. Exposing himself at this moment was very dangerous, but it was definitely an opportunity to draw everyone to the tomb’s entrance.
As long as he drew enough hatred, then everyone would follow him into the tomb, one by one.
The one precondition, of course, was that he had a chance to escape.
If he were alone, he obviously couldn’t escape, but there was the Young Master, who would definitely help secure his chance to escape.
Though his relationship with Han Suzhen was transactional, she was indeed devoted to him. Despite societal pressures, she accepted him as a disciple, and even at their last parting, she gave him a letter allowing him to attend lectures at the Academy. Han Suzhen could definitely be considered a qualified master!
Zhang Chen shook off Xie Lingyun’s grasp, threaded his way through the crowd to the scene, and knelt in front of Han Suzhen. In the next moment, the Soul Hook chain activated, and sure enough, its skill directly marked the soon-to-dissipate soul of Han Suzhen.
Then Zhang Chen pulled with the chain, dragging Han Suzhen’s soul into his sleeve and into a porcelain vase. He then slapped a Sealing Rune on it to prevent her soul from scattering.
Then Zhang Chen went to her corpse, gazing at Han Suzhen’s body with a look of sorrow in his eyes: "I need to find a way to preserve her physical body. There might still be a chance to revive her in the future."
Zhang Chen crouched down, touching Han Suzhen’s body with his fingers. In the next moment, her body petrified, turning directly into a stone statue.
The Young Master, who was holding Han Suzhen’s corpse, was stunned. He suddenly felt the weight in his arms increase as the entire body turned into a stone statue, leaving him momentarily dazed.
"Preserve the master’s body first; there might still be a turning point in the future," Zhang Chen whispered.
The Young Master heard this, a gleam flickering in his eyes. He glanced at the stone statue in his arms, then at Zhang Chen, and finally turned to sweep a gaze at Prince Pingbian’s Mansion. He lowered his voice to say, "How did you come out? Aren’t you afraid Prince Pingbian’s Mansion will cause trouble for you?"
"I want Prince Pingbian’s Mansion to cause trouble for me. Then, I’ll draw everyone to the tomb, and I’ll rely on you to cover for me," Zhang Chen whispered in his ear.
The Young Master nodded imperceptibly: "These bastards, they dared to kill my cousin. Everyone here, one at a time, will be trapped in the tomb, cursed one by one."
"What exactly happened? Do you know the ins and outs?" Zhang Chen asked.
The Young Master took a deep breath, feeling helpless: "It’s Mr. Wu who’s behind it all. This is all his plan! He’s so obsessed with seizing Chen Sanliang’s teachings that he deceived even me."
But what could he do now that he knew the culprit? It was like suffering in silence. Han Suzhen dared to strike against the Academy’s Mr. Wu, but even the Han Family could not restore their honor in such a situation.
Han Suzhen was just a woman of the Han Family; the Han Family couldn’t afford to offend the colossal Academy, especially when they’re at fault.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen raised his head to look at Mr. Wu and Chen Sanliang on the high platform, his mind filled with thoughts and a sense of injustice circulating within. He felt that he should do something for this pitiable woman.
Even if it’s something small!
After all, when Chen Sanliang’s manuscript was seized, it was due to his own chest of gold that caused the trouble. Otherwise, Chen Sanliang might still be developing in obscurity.
On the high platform, Chen Sanliang stared at Mr. Wu, whose face was pale due to excessive blood loss, his eyes full of anger: "This is your conspiracy! You’re the chief culprit of this incident, deserving of death! You’ve gone to extremes to steal my achievements."
"Chen Sanliang, you’ve become a mad dog, biting people randomly," Mr. Wu replied expressionlessly. "You and your wife had malicious intents, wanting to use means outside the discourse. In the end, even your disciple couldn’t bear it and directly backstabbed you. And you still have the face to shift the blame onto me?"
"Such shameless acts, even your own direct disciple can’t tolerate. It seems you’ve long lost your righteousness and humanity. Do you even deserve to continue reading? What principles and doctrines do you teach? Even your carefully cultivated disciple didn’t hesitate to betray you. You’ve failed too much as a person. Your sneaky actions caused your wife’s death. Losing righteousness and moral principles, even your direct disciple couldn’t stand it and chose to backstab you. Do you deserve to pursue scholarship? Do you deserve to argue doctrines with me?" Mr. Wu’s voice was filled with cold sarcasm.
The betrayal of a disciple, especially one who killed his wife, was an arrow that pierced Chen Sanliang’s heart.
All his philosophies on Confucianism, courtesy, morality, and honor were shattered to pieces by his disciple’s actions.
Your disciple betrayed and killed your wife; what does your scholarship even mean?
It’s nothing but empty and useless Chapters!
As Mr. Wu spoke, the Vast Righteous Qi gathered on Chen Sanliang began to dissipate. He stood like a candle flickering in the wind, faltering, unable to find words in front of Mr. Wu, so agitated that he couldn’t even speak.
Below the stage, Zhang Chen watched the scene unfold and felt a stirring in his heart: "The discourse has already begun, and indeed, the true discourse is simple and unadorned. It’s not a debate about knowledge but about defeating you outside of it."
Without a doubt, confronted with the ironclad facts, no matter how many questions Chen Sanliang had, he was left speechless.
A thousand words of debate couldn’t compare to the scene that had just occurred.
"If I were you, I wouldn’t keep pursuing knowledge; I’d just go home and farm. Despite decades of study, you fall short of your disciple in terms of righteousness. Your disciple knows righteousness better and sees that Han Suzhen’s actions are against it. She chose to correct the disorder and uphold righteousness, and you still blame me? I’ll give you another chance: was Han Suzhen wrong or not?" Mr. Wu’s voice was like knives, continuously cutting at Chen Sanliang, every cut deadly without drawing blood.