Chapter 654: Willing to Even Sell Out Your Own
Translator: Pika
The Embroidered Envoy were quite annoyed to begin with after being targeted by Cheng Xiong. How could they let this chance go?
Soon afterwards, the Embroidered Envoy arrested Cheng Gang. At first, Cheng Gang insisted that he knew nothing, but everyone knew that he was close to that courtesan queen Shuangyue, staying at her side almost every night. Who would believe him if he said that they didn’t have anything to do with each other?
The Embroidered Envoy thus carried out torture, their specialty, to teach Cheng Gang a lesson.
Then, ‘confessions’ were obtained from Cheng Gang under torture. He admitted to leaking out news to the assassin, and that was why the assassins were able to invade so easily.
Zhuxie Chixin didn’t let them go yet. He continued his investigation. Soon afterwards, he ‘found out’ that Cheng Xiong was the one who incited all of this, that he was already bought out by the assassins.
Zu An clicked his tongue in wonder when he heard of all of this. This fella is quite vicious! Cheng Xiong targeted the Embroidered Envoy, and now, he got revenge ten times over.
Having an ally like this gave him a strange sense of peace.
Of course, having this type of person as an enemy would be a huge headache.
Cheng Xing was shocked and furious, yet he couldn’t interfere with the Embroidered Envoy’s investigation at all. As such, he immediately began to contact all of his connections.
After all, he was one of King Qi’s important personnel. Even though the Qin clan’s brothers were quite upset at what happened in the government brothel, they couldn’t let Zhuxie Chixin harm King Qi.
As such, King Qi’s faction rose up as well. Many people brought up the grudge between Cheng Xiong and the Embroidered Envoy, saying that letting them investigate this matter will disturb public justice.
In the court, King Qi’s faction and the crown prince’s side were all reciting quotes from the classics one after another. They were clearly on the verge of cursing each other to hell, yet they still didn’t speak any obscenities. It really was quite impressive.
Later on, even the emperor was hard-pressed under all the noise. As such, he ordered for the Commandant of Justice and Security Officer to investigate this case alongside the Embroidered Envoy, thus having three departments involved.
The Commandant of Justice was one of the nine ministers in charge of punishment and the prison, the highest judicial structure of the central authorities. This was similar to the later world’s supreme court.
The Security Officer was in charge of the capital’s public security, so they overlooked the capital city and its surrounding area’s officials. This was equivalent to the later world’s Ministry of Public Security, prosecutor’s office, discipline inspection commission, and other similar organizations.
Meanwhile, the Embroidered Envoy was the royal family’s covert organization, equivalent to ancient china’s infamous Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Bureau.
These three groups were now working together. This was something never before seen.
The Commandant of Justice quickly took Cheng Gang. They were not like the Embroidered Envoy with their interrogation by torture, but rather amiable. Not only did they get Cheng Gang treated, they even brought him food and drink.
Ignoring everything else, Commandant of Justice Jiang Boyang was under King Qi’s faction.
Soon afterwards, the Commandant of Justice overthrew the Embroidered Envoy’s judgment. Furthermore, they criticized the Embroidered Envoy for extorting confessions for their personal grudges.
Zhuxie Chixin obviously claimed that this was slander. At the same time, he bit back, claiming that they were ganging up for personal interest, because Cheng Xiong would often bend the law in their favor.
These two factions started another huge clash in the court. What followed was the investigation of the Security Officer.
Everything was transferred from the Commandant of Justice to the Security Officer. Cheng Gang fell from heaven down to hell again.
After staying with the Commandant of Justice for a few days and being treated with all types of medicines, his injuries from the Embroidered Envoy already pretty much healed. Yet when he arrived at the Security Officer’s place, he was immediately beaten as soon as he arrived.
The wounds that had scabbed opened up again. He screamed for mercy.
After his hell-like experience with the Embroidered Envoy, he knew that gritting his teeth and bearing the pain was completely useless. He still had to speak in the end.
The only difference was whether he was going to confess after he couldn’t take it anymore, or save himself the pain.
As such, the Security Officer quickly obtained his oral confession that he was colluding with the assassins, and he was acting under his father’s prompting.
King Qi’s faction was shocked and furious. After all, the Security Officer used to be one of their men, but the assassination attempt on Zu An when he first entered the palace stripped him of this role. The previous Security Officer was transferred away to the position of supervisor of attendants.
The newly appointed Security Officer was Cao Xing, the crown prince lesser tutor’s father, so he was definitely on the crown prince’s side. Now that he was given this opportunity, he was definitely going to make full use of it.
However, there were still quite a few of Murong Tong, the past Security Officer’s past subordinates there. Soon afterwards, there were people who denounced Cao Xing’s investigation as a confession obtained from torture. The court thus entered another uproar.
…
After listening to Zu An’s explanation of what happened during this period, the long haired Yun Jianyue walked over to the window and gazed towards the distant throne room. There was a sneer on her face. “Those court officials all speak of compassion, duty, propriety, and integrity, yet they’re all acting under selfish interests. Such chaos will one day lead to a calamity.”
Zu An said, “With the most powerful emperor overseeing them, what kind of calamity could happen even if these people argue?”
Yun Jianyue said with a profound voice, “But the emperor will still perish one day.”
Zu An was startled. He asked, “How are you so certain?”
Yun Jianyue replied, “There has always been a rumor that the emperor was seriously wounded from his battle against the Fiend Emperor, to the extent where it lowered his lifespan. However, no one knows if this is real or not. When I fought him, I became certain that he was indeed injured.”
“But that was what, just a split second?” Zu An couldn’t help but say in mockery.
You have successfully trolled Yun Jianyue for +444 +444 +444…
Yun Jianyue gave him an annoyed look. Why was this guy so annoying sometimes?
A while later, she said in annoyance, “With the emperor’s cultivation, I wouldn’t have been able to get away if he wasn’t injured.”
Zu An was shocked. “You’re already a grandmaster, but even you can’t even get away? Is the difference that great?”
“Why do they call him an Earth Immortal? To a certain degree, he is already a half immortal. For the rest of us, even the very best are still mortals. There’s obviously a huge difference.” Yun Jianyue’s tone carried a bit of helplessness. At the same time, her eyes were full of longing towards that cultivation realm.
She snapped out of her daze a while later and gave Zu An a meaningful look. “Thankfully, your Phoenix Nirvana Sutra cannot grant him true immortality, or else if the emperor doesn’t die, then people like us will never have a chance to rise up.”
Zu An knew that she was still trying to get information out of him. As such, he replied, “Relax, he can’t gain immortality through my Phoenix Nirvana Sutra.”
Of course, whether or not he could get it himself was a different story.
Yun Jianyue sighed in relief when she obtained his confirmation again.
Zu An suddenly realized something. Whether or not the emperor was going to die wasn’t something he should be concerned about. What he had to focus on was Cheng Gang’s case. “By the way, even though Cheng Gang’s father has been pronounced guilty by both the Embroidered Envoy and Security Officer, the Commandant of Justice will insist that there is no crime. Even though Cheng Xiong has already been taken into custody, with this stalemate, aren’t we still missing the important, decisive evidence?”
Frankly speaking, his retaliation against Cheng Xiong was already done extremely successfully. He almost instantly brought down a glorious Left Guard General and threw him into prison. However, King Qi’s faction had substantial power, so he didn’t know whether or not Cheng Xiong really will be found guilty in the end.
A mysterious smile appeared in Yun Jianyue’s eyes. “I don’t think that’s anything difficult at all.”
Zu An was listening with his ears pricked. He became impatient when he saw how she deliberately kept him in suspense. “Big sis sect master, please tell me! I’m dying from the suspense!”
When she saw how nervous he was, Yun Jianyue felt a bit more at ease. She suffered way too much during these days with him, tossed and turned until even her way of thinking changed greatly.
“Did you forget about the people of the Holy Sect that were captured?” Yun Jianyue said. “The proof has always been there. We’ll just have to see whether or not you’ll make use of it.”
Zu An felt as if a streak of electricity ran through his head. He was just about to grasp it, yet it seemed to slip past. Thus, he could only ask Yun Jianyue. “I hope big sis sect master can grant me your teachings.”
Yun Jianyue seemed satisfied with his attitude. She then said, “Find a way to contact them. As long as they admit to colluding with Cheng Xiong, then Cheng Xiong will undoubtedly die.”
Zu An gave Yun Jianyue a complicated look. This woman was so vicious she would even sell out her own people! Those captives were already doomed, yet she still wanted to make the most out of them even before they died.