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LanFen wasn't sure how much time passed before her ears twitched at a set of distant, light, approaching footsteps. She recognised a familiar aura, but wasn't sure whose.
The doors were opened a few minutes later, and Lu FengHo stepped in with two other disciples.
"Handsome Elder brother!" She said weakly. The prison arrays had been slowly making her weaker and weaker, despite the protective layer over her skin. "You finally came for a visit!"
Lu FengHo put a fist to his mouth and gave a small cough. "Ahem. Zhao LanFeng, you are to be judged before the Clan Leaders. The heads of all the sixteen major clans, have gathered to hear you out and judge you."
LanFen could not resist bending her lips into a smile. "Sixteen? Don't you mean fourteen?" her smile then turned purely evil. "Don't tell me the people from the East and South Dragon Clans actually managed to attend."
"You unrepentant fellow-!" One of the disciples.
"Please come with us." Lu FengHo simply said. He was a bit surprised that Zhao LanFeng didn't seem all that badly affected by the array.
Usually, the two disciples would have to help the prisoner walk, after a night under the prison arrays.
'Exactly how powerful is this fellow?'
He ordered the disciples to bind Zhao LanFeng's hands again with the spirit-binding ropes, and then lead him out.
"Handsome elder brother, you're a witness!" She stepped happily out of the oppressive array. "I walked out on my own two feet... Tell the fatty that he owes me three kowtows!"
.
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LanFen was led to the central hall of the Shuǐ Mansion. An ornate, wide, pillared hall called Enlightenment Hall.
'What a cliché name...' LanFen thought to herself.
The front of the hall was lined with seven small tables on one side, and eight small tables on the other side. And then One table on the raised platform in the middle.
These tables were occupied by the Clan Leaders.
Tea and cakes, and occasionally, wine, were arranged atop the tables.
Behind each of the tables were two smaller tables, each occupied by whoever had accompanied them for the hearing. It could be their sons, daughters, top disciples, fellow cultivators, some were perhaps, even siblings.
As one of her feet crossed the threshold into the room, LanFen realised the kitchen servant from the previous evening had not been joking!
The aura in here was bearing down on her, even worse than in the prisons, try to force her to kneel!
It was deliberate.
In a bid to intimidate her, quite a few of the Clan leaders had released their spiritual energy, and were directing it to her!
The same thing she had done to Shuǐ YiShan the previous evening, but far worse, and from numerous powerful cultivators at once.
Still, LanFen wasn't prepared to give them the satisfaction, especially since, as oppressive as their collective aura was, it wasn't much worse than the prison array.
Though her hands were bound behind her back, she secretly drew a small air talisman, and an invisible version of the thin mist, surrounded her.
It wasn't as powerful as the shield she had used in the prisons, but she could at least remain standing, choosing to stagger painfully behind Lu FengHo, rather than kneel in surrender.
The Clan leaders ranged from grey-haired old men, to younger, middle-aged men. There were three female Clan Leaders, two of which were middle-aged, and were gazing at 'LanFeng's' face with barely disguised admiration.
The third Lady was the eldest person in the room. A strict-looking gray-haired senior, who watched LanFen with a mix of curiosity, amazement, and admiration, but mostly an open disapproval.
Almost as if she was silently saying, "How dare a fine young genius like you, waste your powers to kill innocent people?! If you were my grandson, I'd beat you into non-existence!"
As LanFen passed her, it became obvious that she wasn't one of those directing their auras at her, but LanFen felt more intimidated by her, than the rest!
LanFen had caught sight of one of the Clan leaders, who had snow white hair. One of his companions had the same colour of hair. Same light irises, and similar in age...
'The Twins of Frost, Ming Shen Zhu and Ming Shi Zhu... The elder of the two, Ming Shen Zhu, is the Clan leader of the Snow Clan, a prominent minor clan, situated right here in the Western region' LanFen mentally recited.
In fact, thanks to almost half a year of information gathering, LanFen found she could identify all the leaders, with their clan insignia.
At the forefront of the hall, on a raised platform, sat the Clan Leader of the Shuǐ Clan, or ShuǐLiu Sect, Shuǐ ChangSheng, their host. He was a handsome man of fifty-one, but still appeared not a day older than forty.
He was also giving LanFen a look she couldn't read, but she paid it no mind and just looked away.
Slightly behind him, to his left, was Shuǐ YiShan, who stared at LanFen with a surprised look.
Shuǐ YiShan flushed and looked away, when LanFen's eyes met hers...
Was this really the fearful Xuè Shèngrén from the previous day?! If not for her secret, undying love for Lu FengHo, even her own heart might be moved by that face!
Slightly behind Clan Leader Shuǐ, to his right, was Shuǐ ChénLín, his eldest son and successor.
"Hmph." She met his dark gray gaze briefly, then let her irises shift away.
At both ends of the platform were four young cultivators, two on each side. These were called the 'Shining Four'. Personally trained since their childhood, by Clan Leader Shuǐ and the Shuǐ Clan Elder.
Clan Leader Shuǐ rarely went anywhere without them, and it was rumoured that he was grooming them to become Shuǐ ChénLín's protectors, after he became Clan Leader.
Down the platform, to Clan Leader Shuǐ's right was the Clan Leader of the Northern Dragon Clan, Kong JuLong, a senior of almost eighty.
Compared to Kong JuLong's brusque nature and natural scowl, Shuǐ ChénLín could almost be pictured as a smiling fairy, handing out sugar-coated fruits!
Behind Kong JuLong was a similarly aged, right hand man, and his younger Son, Kong Zihao, who was rumored to be his favourite.
Down the platform, to Clan Leader Shuǐ's Left, was the New Clan leader of the Southern dragon clan, LanFen's cousin from her mother's side, Wang FeiYang, who seemed afraid of his own shadow.
Frankly, LanFen was even surprised he had come...
Because of the unfortunate life he had lived, he was naturally frightened of everything, and he had just become Clan Leader less than ten days ago.
Behind him were two disciples.
LanFen had destroyed almost all the strong Wang Clan (Southern dragon clan) cultivators, but there were still a few left.
Obviously, the reason Wang FeiYang had chosen to come with disciples, instead of the more experienced cultivators, was probably because they were the only ones who wouldn't openly disrespect him.
On Wang FeiYang's left, was an empty table...
The table which should have held the Eastern Dragon Clan.
Despite LanFen's hate, seeing the empty table awoke a small feeling of regret she did not want to feel ...
She had detested them for so long, and her hate had only increased recently, but though she had destroyed it with her own hands, it had still been her father's clan.
Also, there was no denying that there had been several innocent people who had died by her hands... The only thing she regretted.
The empty seat seemed to remind her of what she had done, and of the emptiness in her own heart, but before she could dwell on it further, she and Lu FengHo had reached the front of the hall.
He gestured for her to step forward, then gently kneed behind her right knee, forcing her to kneel.
"It will go smoother for you if you're obedient, and you act repentant." He whispered softly, before straightening and stepping away.
'Ei? Is he trying to help me?' She thought to herself.
"My Glorious Clan Leaders, Esteemed Cultivators, Disciples, Lords and Ladies..." Clan Leader Shuǐ's Head servant, an elderly man called Hu ShangKuo, addressed the crowd with a humble bow. "We welcome you all to this grave hearing."
He stepped down from the raised platform. "Before you today is the criminal, Xuè shèngrén."
There was instant muttering amidst them.
A lot of them could not understand how this lean, young man, with a face like preciously refined jade, and a figure that surely wouldn't endure a good punch, could be the fierce bloody sage they had been hearing about!
Still, several of them had no doubt.
After all, they had unleashed their deathly aura to 'intimidate' the young man and yet, he had walked in with nothing but a stagger.
The edges of LanFen's lips lifted slightly.
Hu ShangKuo, "Xuè Shèngrén has been rising to fame for a while now, which has culminated in the slaughter of the two leader clans, the Eastern Dragon Clan and the Southern Dragon Clan.
"We are here today to judge and agree on a sentence!" Hu ShangKuo finished, then bowed and exited backwards.
"Let us begin without delay." Clan Leader Shuǐ took over and the hearing began.
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