Qian Renxue placed the arrest order on the stone dais. Two rows of kneeling people immediately appeared below it, and her mother's voice descended from the throne, telling her to burn the paper.
She looked up.
The Bibi Dong on the throne was younger than she was today, still dressed in the papal robes of those years. Holy light fell over the end of the order, and Xiao Wu's name faded stroke by stroke. If she let the fire finish burning, every report on the arrests before her would disappear with it.
Qian Renxue pressed her palm against the edge of the paper. The old scar on her palm ached in the heat.
"Give it to me."
"Xue'er, would you oppose me for these people?"
She did not approach the throne. Instead, she pulled out the report at the very bottom. The deacon who had signed it had once led men to block a road on orders, arresting an old man who delivered meals to Soul Masters. The report also listed the old man's son as an accomplice.
Someone below the dais raised his head and cursed her and the Pope, saying they both owed their lives; another hurriedly lowered his head, hiding his bloodstained hands in his sleeves. Golden flames crept closer along her chest. If she unleashed her domain, everyone kneeling before her would be crushed down at once, and there would be no more clamor.
She turned to the next page of the file, letting the names on the paper reveal the figures one by one.
The old man had no Soul Power, while the man who had blocked the road was the squad leader from back then. He had used the arrests as a pretext to seize grain from the villages along the way. A deacon