Panic flashed in Shen He's eyes.
His lie was far too crude to stand up to scrutiny.
But he had been given an absolute order. All he could do now was grit his teeth and howl at the top of his lungs, "I already told you, I just couldn't stand that monkey! Whatever the crime, I alone will answer for it. Kill me or carve me up, do whatever you please!"
He was playing the shameless hard case.
The entire hall fell silent.
Ma Muzhi glanced at Chen Wei out of the corner of his eye. Seeing the chief official give a slight nod, he understood.
"You refuse the wine of courtesy, so you'll drink the wine of punishment."
"You deserve a beating!"
Immortal power pulsed at Ma Muzhi's fingertips, and a Silencing Spell struck Shen He's throat.
Shen He opened his mouth wide, but his howling cut off abruptly. Only muffled whimpers escaped.
Then Ma Muzhi drew an iron staff, raised it, and brought it crashing down on Shen He's back and thighs.
Bam!
Crack!
The sound of bones cracking rang clearly through the main hall.
"What the hell do you think you are? You dare puff yourself up like a big-headed garlic bulb in front of heavenly officials?" Ma Muzhi cursed as he swung the staff, spittle flying everywhere. "Even the Heavenly Court's Star Lords have to treat the fruit trees in the Great Sage's domain with respect! You're a lackey who isn't even on the Immortal Register, yet you dared poison those trees so they'd never bear again? How many heads do you have to spare?"
The staff blurred through the air.
Shen He rolled back and forth in agony, cold sweat pouring off him. With his throat sealed, he could not even scream. He was utterly wretched.
Beside the presiding desk.
Xiahou Lie's eyelids twitched furiously.
The blows appeared to land on Shen He, but each one was really a slap to the mountain god's face. Yet he had just insisted that Shen He had acted against his master's wishes. If he intervened now, he would be shielding his subordinate and betraying a guilty conscience.
He could only stand and watch.
Once Chen Wei judged that things had gone far enough, he caught Xiahou Lie's broad sleeve and drew him toward the side of the hall.
"Lord Xiahou."
"Sorry you had to witness that. Lord Ma has a bit of a temper. He hates evil with a vengeance and won't tolerate so much as a grain of sand in his eyes. Please bear with him, please bear with him."
Xiahou Lie tugged at the corners of his mouth, forcing out a dry chuckle. "A heavenly official disciplining a villain is only right."
"You see things clearly, Lord Xiahou." Chen Wei released his sleeve and chuckled. "Shen He is certainly a rotten piece of work, but I suspect there's more to this. Where would a little lackey get a pill like that? Lord Xiahou, you're a brave man of a caliber rarely found around Flower-Fruit Mountain. And Lord Ma was a hero who subdued Heavenly Horses back when he served at the Imperial Stables."
"I was thinking, why not have heroes investigate heroes, and brave men investigate brave men?"
"Let's work together to dig out whoever is behind Shen He and clean house for you. What do you say?"
His words were cotton concealing a needle.
He pointed out the suspicious origins of the pill, puncturing Xiahou Lie's hopes of hastily closing the case.
Xiahou Lie felt bitter upon hearing this.
Chen Wei had seized upon his own words, yet every sentence smothered him in praise, leaving him no excuse to lash out.
"You're right, Lord Chen..." Xiahou Lie agreed through clenched back teeth.
In the center of the hall.
Shen He lay limp as mud, covered in blood, drawing in more breath than he let out.
Chen Wei turned and paced over to Shen He, looking down at him. "Under the Heavenly Court's ordinances, Article Seventy-Two of the Immortal Law, anyone who privately damages a spiritual root in a registered grotto-heaven or blessed land has committed a crime for which death is insufficient punishment. Since you have yet to join the ranks of immortals, you cannot be sent to the Immortal-Slaying Platform. Instead, you can only be escorted to the Netherworld and handed over to a judge for sentencing."
"The Netherworld's rules are these."
"For damaging a spiritual root, you must first enter Infinite Hell and suffer the torment of blazing fire for seven times seven days-forty-nine days in all. Each day, your organs will be burned, while underworld bailiffs protect your heart, ensuring that you can neither live nor die. Once those forty-nine days are over, your three souls and seven spirits will be extracted and your true spirit shattered. Your soul will scatter into nothingness. You won't even have the chance to fall into the animal realm and be reincarnated."
The moment he finished speaking.
Just as expected.
Shen He's expression changed drastically. His pupils lost focus, and his entire body began trembling uncontrollably.
He had thought that taking the blame would mean, at worst, being beaten half to death by the mountain god. Afterward, he would still receive a reward.
How could he ever have imagined that his soul would be scattered, with no chance of rebirth for all eternity?
Shen He's eyes filled with pleading. Clearly, he was ready to confess.
At the sight, the corners of Chen Wei's mouth rose almost imperceptibly.
He was just about to lift his hand and remove the Silencing Spell, pressing his advantage to pry the lackey's mouth open.
Bam!
The mountain god temple's double doors were violently smashed open from outside.
Wood splinters flew everywhere.
A hulking figure blundered in. He stood twelve feet tall, his black fur bristling, clad in heavy armor with his front thrown wide open to expose two massive, solid pectorals. Tattooed squarely between them were two crossed, blood-red axes?
Big Bear charged straight up to Xiahou Lie and demanded angrily, "Lord Xiahou! Why haven't the mountain excavation papers for my territory been approved yet? The lesser demons under me are all waiting to get to work! Who's going to answer for the delay?"
Chen Wei's brow lifted slightly.
He had come neither earlier nor later, but charged in demanding paperwork at the very moment Shen He was about to talk?
The performance was clumsy, but the timing was perfect.
At this, Xiahou Lie put on a helpless, apologetic expression. "I'm truly sorry. It isn't that I've deliberately delayed things. As you can see, immortal officials from the Heavenly Court have arrived with orders to thoroughly investigate the case involving Flower-Fruit Mountain's fruit trees. With orders from my superiors, how could I dare neglect them?"
"Naturally, everything must give way to the investigation."
"All other matters involving Flower-Fruit Mountain's local customs and livelihoods, mountain excavation and road building included, must wait!"
He planted an enormous hat of blame on Chen Wei's and Ma Muzhi's heads.
Delaying development.
Ignoring people's livelihoods.
The mountain god temple's administration had ground to a halt entirely because the heavenly officials wanted to investigate the fruit trees.
Hearing Xiahou Lie's words, Big Bear abruptly turned around, glaring at Chen Wei with eyes like bronze bells. "Damn it! Flower-Fruit Mountain, Fruit-Flower Mountain, whatever! So my territory doesn't matter? The monkey's trees count as trees, but the livelihoods of my people don't count as livelihoods?"
He was bullying and utterly unreasonable.
Having said that, Big Bear gave them no chance to argue. Both his hands reached for his waist.
Shing!
Two sharp knives flashed coldly as he drew them.
"Insolence! You dare draw weapons before imperial envoys!" At the sight, immortal energy surged around Ma Muzhi as he prepared to subdue him on the spot.
At that critical instant.
Something happened that none of the immortals had expected.
Big Bear gripped both knives tightly. Instead of lunging at Chen Wei or Ma Muzhi, he swung his arms inward, aiming at his own broad, solid chest.
Shunk!
Shunk!
Two dull sounds rang out as blades pierced flesh.
Big Bear had actually turned the knives on himself and plunged them into his pectorals right up to the hilts?
He had smashed through the doors in a fury, pointed at the immortal officials' noses while cursing them, and angrily drawn two knives.
Then.
Stabbed himself twice?
What kind of move was this?
Big Bear swayed, then dropped heavily to one knee.
Blood gushed from his chest and streamed down his belly.
He raised his head, grinned at Chen Wei, and spat out a great mouthful of blood. "If you don't give me an answer today... I'll die right here in this main hall! I'm a Merit Demon King officially registered with the Heavenly Court! You two... won't escape responsibility!"
Was he staging an injury to extort them?
He was using self-mutilation to pull the most shameless trick of all.
If Big Bear really died here, then regardless of how the fruit tree investigation turned out, Chen Wei and Ma Muzhi would have to shoulder the blame for driving a Merit Demon King to his death and return to the Heavenly Court to face an inquiry.
Before you continue