Heaven Dou City, deep within the dungeon.
It was dark and damp, steeped in the stench of rot and blood.
Creeeak—
The heavy cell door was pushed open.
An obese figure walked in, his face brimming with gloating delight.
It was Ma Hongjun.
He looked at Ning Lin, chained to the wall in ragged clothes, his little eyes filled with satisfaction.
"Well, well, if it isn't our upright, incorruptible City Lord Ning, who loves his people like his own children?"
Ma Hongjun spoke in a mocking tone, his ugly face looking especially twisted in the dim firelight.
"You're honest, you're an incorruptible official, you work yourself to the bone—but so what?"
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, speaking with venom.
"Aren't you still locked up here like a dead dog?"
"Soon, you'll be put on public trial, condemned by a thousand pointing fingers, and your name will stink for ten thousand years!"
Ning Lin slowly raised his eyelids and glanced at him, a mocking smile curling his lips.
His gaze was like that of someone watching a fly buzzing at his feet.
Disdain.
Utter, absolute disdain.
Ma Hongjun instantly lost his composure.
What he hated most was Ning Lin's lofty, superior air!
"You still fucking dare to laugh!"
He flew into a rage, raised his fist, and swung it toward Ning Lin's face!
"Fatty, stop."
A calm voice came from the doorway.
Tang San walked in slowly and stopped Ma Hongjun.
"Brother San!"
At the sight of Tang San, Ma Hongjun immediately put away his vicious expression and replaced it with a fawning smile.
"This bastard's too arrogant! I couldn't help wanting to teach him a lesson!"
Tang San's gaze was calm. He did not even glance at Ning Lin.
"No hurry," he said indifferently.
"Once the trial ends in three days and he's convicted, you can do whatever you like with him."
"Heh-heh, you really do think of everything, Brother San!"
Ma Hongjun rubbed his hands together, his smile utterly vile.
"When the time comes, I'll make sure he learns what it means to be denied both life and death!"
Tang San nodded slightly, his expression haughty.
To him, Ning Lin was already a turtle trapped in a jar, a dead man unworthy of another moment's attention.
Just then, another figure appeared at the cell door.
Yu Xiaogang.
He stood with his hands behind his back, his expression arrogant. His gaze swept the dim dungeon before finally settling on Ning Lin.
When he got a clear look at Ning Lin's face, Yu Xiaogang froze for a moment.
That name... that face...
He remembered!
The man who had stolen Bibi Dong from him back at Spirit Hall!
Yu Xiaogang knew nothing of what had later happened in the secret chamber. As far as he remembered, Ning Lin had merely been humiliated by Qian Xunji and driven out of Spirit Hall.
In an instant, all his old humiliation, jealousy, and hatred surged into his heart.
Seeing Ning Lin in such a wretched state filled him with a sick pleasure, and he could not help bursting into laughter.
"Ning Lin! So it's you!"
Yu Xiaogang slowly stepped forward and looked down at Ning Lin, his face full of mockery.
"I never would have imagined it. After all these years, you've actually sunk this low!"
He deliberately puffed out his chest and straightened the robe that marked his status as an imperial adviser.
"You probably haven't heard, have you?"
"I am now the Blue Lightning King, personally appointed by the Heaven Dou Empire. Everyone throughout the empire shows me due respect!"
He pointed at Tang San beside him and boasted.
"See him? This is my personal disciple, Tang San! The greatest genius in the world today, a future god!"
"And you?"
Yu Xiaogang's tone suddenly turned cruel and venomous.
"A corrupt official who evades taxes and lines his own pockets! A traitor who colludes with foreign enemies and sells military intelligence! A beast who assaults female Soul Masters in the street!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Weren't you so pleased with yourself when you stole Bibi Dong from me back then?"
"What, failing to make anything of yourself wasn't enough, and now you've become a prisoner everyone wants to beat?"
"This is retribution!"
A flicker of curiosity crossed Tang San's eyes at those words.
He looked at Yu Xiaogang and asked, "Teacher, do you know this man?"
"Know him? That's putting it mildly!"
Yu Xiaogang snorted and immediately began embellishing his account, feeding Tang San his version of events that turned black into white.
In his telling, he and Bibi Dong had been a match made in heaven, bound by deep and devoted love.
Ning Lin, meanwhile, had been a despicable, shameless interloper who deceived the young and naive Bibi Dong with honeyed words, tearing apart their ill-fated pair of lovebirds.
He portrayed himself as a great romantic who had been wounded by love and departed in sorrow.
Ning Lin, on the other hand, was a villain through and through.
After hearing him out, Tang San smiled in understanding.
His gaze toward Ning Lin gained another measure of contempt.
So this man was not only a criminal, but also a shameless wretch of such low character.
He patted Yu Xiaogang on the shoulder and reassured him.
"Teacher, don't worry."
"Someone like him isn't worth your anger."
"This time, he's as good as dead."
Tang San turned around and finally looked Ning Lin squarely in the eye.
His gaze was calm, yet carried the confidence of someone who held everything in his grasp.
"Ning Lin."
He spoke slowly.
"You may feel wronged, but that is simply how this world works."
"You stood in Fatty's way, and you once brought shame upon my teacher."
"So, for my brother, and for my teacher."
"I can only ask you to go to your death, City Lord."
As far as he was concerned, every link in the chain of evidence, every witness and every piece of physical proof, had been arranged as seamlessly as a heavenly robe.
He had personally designed this trap.
Ning Lin had no chance whatsoever of turning the tables.
With that, he prepared to turn and leave, sparing no further glance for this doomed man.
And yet.
Throughout it all, despite being humiliated by each of them in turn, Ning Lin's face showed neither the slightest anger nor a trace of fear.
He merely watched the capering clowns before him in silence.
There was even a faint, amused smile on his dirt-streaked face.
His gaze was so composed that he seemed not a prisoner, but a spectator seated in a theater, enjoying a ridiculous farce.
Tang San flicked his sleeve and left, his retreating figure aloof and proud.
Yu Xiaogang followed close behind, his face filled with the smug delight of a petty man tasting success. As he passed Ning Lin, he did not forget to cast him a contemptuous glance.
Ma Hongjun left last. With a snicker, he made a throat-slitting gesture at Ning Lin before following the others, thoroughly satisfied.
Creeeak—
The heavy cell door closed again.
The dungeon returned to deathly silence.
The farce that had just played out seemed not to have stirred even the slightest ripple on the lake of Ning Lin's heart.
The amused smile on his face had never faded.
Capering clowns.
Nothing more.
He slowly closed his eyes, sank his awareness into his body, and began taking stock of his gains from this journey.
Although this visit to Spirit Hall through editing history had been full of twists and turns, the wealth of his gains had far exceeded his expectations.
Before you continue