Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 186 The war is coming

“The vice president of the association has already come forward to clarify that he and Sima Wu no longer have a master-disciple relationship, and they have not been in contact for five years. This matter has nothing to do with him. Moreover, because Sima Wu was once his disciple, he felt guilty for neglecting his duties and resigned from the position of vice president.”

Zhuang Chenyue explained on behalf of Li Qing.

"There's no way he can testify now, so let him say whatever he wants!"

"Yes, if he's innocent, why would he sell his family property and have his wives and concubines run away?"

"And where are the five weapon refiners he brought with him? Why did only he come back?"

The weapon refiners started talking, each offering their own opinion. Zhuang Chenyue had nothing to say. He didn't know much about the matter either, but he wanted to suppress it because they were colleagues and he had received some benefits from them.

The Refiners' Association is a very powerful organization on the Tianxuan Continent. If the Refiners' Association were drawn into this vortex, Mo Yuming would gain more moral support. This is why Mo Yuming went to great lengths to amplify this matter. Thus, a relatively unknown refiner stepped forward.

"Fellow colleagues, even the dead can testify to this. We upright weapon refiners don't want to take the blame for those who have committed many evils. This was given to me by a friend through a third party."

I believe all of you who are weapon refiners should know exactly what this is. I'll now show you the evidence. I just received it myself and haven't had a chance to look at it yet, so let's take a look together!

He activated a spirit stone he was holding, and an image of Sima Wu being interrogated appeared in mid-air; the fact that Sima Wu had provided swords, talismans, and spirit stones to Eunuch Pao and his group was revealed to everyone.

"As expected, those rumors were true. Sima Wu is only a level two weapon refiner. It's understandable that he would sell some swords to the accomplices of the Sin Clan, but he can't refine talismans and spirit stones. His master must have provided them to him, and then he would pass them on to those people. The fact that Li Qing and his group coincidentally appeared there during those days explains the situation."

Everyone started talking.

“This only proves that Sima Wu is connected with the accomplices of the Sin Clan, not that Li Qing is related to them. Even if Li Qing provided Sima Wu with those talismans and spirit stones, it doesn’t directly prove that he is related to the accomplices of the Sin Clan,” Zhuang Chenyue said.

“President Zhuang is right, those aren’t enough to prove anything. Let’s see what this one records!” Another weapon refiner also raised a spirit stone in his hand.

The Spirit Stone revealed images of Li Qing and his group being interrogated, showing everything from their initial explanations to Huo Chengde giving him the Spirit Stone and telling him to return to Zhongyuan City to clear his name.

"Isn't that enough? If he really has nothing to do with the accomplices of the Sin Clan, why is he unwilling to show those images? That would prove his innocence and also rescue the disciples he brought with him. Why would he lie and say that the disciples got separated during the chase? I think he must have something to hide. That's why he doesn't dare to come forward and clarify!"

Some weapon refiners who watched the video immediately shouted.

"I'm not entirely clear on this matter either. If what the video says is true, then what he did is incredibly unethical. I'll have someone bring him out right now so everyone can have an explanation." Seeing that the matter could no longer be concealed, Zhuang Chenyue didn't care about anything else; his position was the most important thing.

“I also have the footage that Risei doesn’t want to release. A friend just sent it from Uehara Castle. Let’s all take a look at what it is.”

An old weapon refiner activated the spirit stones in his hand: one was an image of Wu Ji's inner sect elder, Wu Ci, colluding with high-ranking officials of the Great Xia Empire to secretly set up the image stone to frame Mo Yuming and others; another was an image of another inner sect elder of Wu Ji leading his subordinates to deliver five remnants of the criminal clan to Shangyuan City, where they were abducted; and the last was an image of Inspector Wei of the Feather Palace interrogating Eunuch Pao.

Upon seeing the images, the hall of the Refiner's Association immediately erupted in chaos.

"Wu Ji is truly an accomplice of the criminals! She even dared to kill the inspector!"

"He's so insidious! He tried once and then did it again!"

"All the criminals were brought from Zhongyuan City. This means that the city lord of Zhongyuan City is involved in this matter. They are afraid that the matter will be exposed, so they even dared to kill the inspector of the Feather Emperor Palace. It seems that Zhongyuan City will be unstable. If the Refiner Association does not make a statement, it seems that we have to make plans to relocate."

……

All the weapon refiners began to discuss it, their emotions running high. Seeing this, Zhuang Chenyue couldn't calm things down either, so he shouted:

"Distinguished masters, as the branch president of the Central Plains City Refiners Association, I apologize for my oversight in this matter. I hereby solemnly announce that, based on Li Qing's previous actions, regardless of his intentions, he has damaged the reputation of our Refiners Association and greatly affected the image of our association in the minds of the public, especially since he once served as the vice president."

Therefore, I hereby declare that, effective immediately, Li Qing is stripped of his weapon-refining qualification and is forever barred from refining weapons under the name of a weapon-refiner. He is also permanently forbidden from setting foot in the Weapon Refiner's Association.

Before Li Qing, who had just been escorted out, could even speak, he heard Zhuang Chenyue strip him of his weapon refiner qualification.

He was so angry that he fainted. The two cultivators escorting him threw him out of the association's hall. Immediately, several unidentified people emerged from the crowd outside the hall and dragged the unconscious Li Qing away.

"As for what choices our Zhongyuan City branch will make in the future, that will have to wait until we convene an elders' meeting and report to headquarters. We can only deal with you after headquarters makes a decision. But don't worry, this matter is of great importance and it won't be long. I will inform you all as soon as headquarters has the results!"

Zhuang Chenyue said.

Right there in the hall of the Refiners' Association, the refiners were discussing incessantly how to make their choice.

Across the street in the city lord's mansion, a group of people were arguing incessantly. Wu Heng, sitting on the city lord's throne, was exhausted, his eyes bloodshot; he hadn't slept for three or four days.

It's not that he doesn't want to sleep, it's just that he simply can't fall asleep. Even a blink of an eye is enough to wake him from a nightmare.

In fact, ever since the inner sect elders took away the last five remnants of the sinful clan, Wu Heng had been somewhat apprehensive.

He was constantly worried that things would be exposed. Especially in recent days, many bad rumors had been circulating in the city, making him even more uneasy. He couldn't clear his name like he could in other cities, because those criminals were imprisoned here, and not just once.

Using the criminal race for political purposes is a double-edged sword. If used well, it's fine; if not, it will hurt oneself.

He and Wu Ji are now in the same boat, neither of them can shake the other off! He originally thought that with Wu Ji holding the line, he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

But before long, the plot was exposed, and the several Heavenly Realm experts they sent were all captured one after another. He was accused of harboring criminals and becoming an accomplice of the criminals along with Wu Ji.

Moreover, all nine of Wu Ji's secretly stationed troops had been wiped out, and now a large number of remnants were gathering in the city. He was caught in a dilemma, unable to accept or refuse them.

In the end, they had no choice but to follow the elders' advice and incorporate the more than 10,000 deserters into a legion. They temporarily set aside a piece of land from the garrison camp outside the city lord's mansion to settle them, and waited for Wu Ji's instructions before making any further plans. After all, these soldiers were all conscripted by Wu Ji from various cities, and Wu Ji had to make the decision on how to arrange them.

With the flames of war about to reach the city gates, and countless messages already sent out, Wu Ji and he still hadn't reached any conclusion.

Wu Heng was extremely anxious and kept urging his elders and generals to come up with a plan.