After the midday meal, a great crowd of tribespeople packed so tightly around the Council Hall that not even water could have seeped through.
People whispered among themselves, offering their opinions and occasionally arguing. An elderly woman stood in the crowd, her heart filled with unease.
Yun Tian sat on the raised dais. Once Yun Fei finished reading out the account of events, he demanded loudly:
"Bu Xing, kneeling before this court, do you admit your guilt?"
"I do."
Bu Xing knelt on the floor and struck his forehead against the ground.
"Killing your own kin is a grave crime. A life for a life is the immutable law of heaven and earth. I sentence you to death. Do you accept this judgment?"
"I do not! Those two committed adultery first. If anyone was guilty, they were the ones who first violated our rites and laws. I killed guilty people. Why should it come to this?"
Indignant, Bu Xing tried to rise, but A-Da held him firmly down. Outside, the elderly woman's vision went black when she heard the death sentence. She nearly collapsed, but the people beside her caught her.
"Their illicit affair violated our rites and laws. It was indeed a grave crime, but not one deserving death."
Yun Tian picked up a wooden block and slammed it against the table.
"But you defied the Ritual Bureau and took it upon yourself to kill. That is your first crime. You murdered your own kin and sowed unrest among our people. That is your second crime. To vent your anger, you killed two people and left your aged mother fretting all day. That is unfilial conduct, your third crime. Do you admit to these three crimes or not?"
Bu Xing raised his head. He had never considered so much.