While Minister Tong, the Minister of Justice, pointed a finger at Sun Jiao and roared with righteousness Liangqiu Kai leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together.

He had contacted his cousin Sun Lu using a sound transmission talisman which could transmit sound across a long distance. As luck would have it Sun Lu was inside the Sun Sanctum looking for a way to heal her daughter.

If she had been outside the Sun Sanctum then the transmission wouldn’t have reached her as the Sun Sanctum was an isolated space. Only a special technique, such as Sun Lu’s message bird, could pass through the gate.

After contacting her and explaining the situation she had come up with this last desperate gambit. If Sun Jiao was arrested then she could negotiate his release in exchange for her son.

Minister Tong himself didn’t have the confidence to go head to head with a Sun family prince, but with the promised backing of Sun Lu he wouldn’t hesitate to enact justice.

With no other choice Liangqiu Kai was put in the middle of his scheming cousin and Sun Jia. After conveying his cousin and third prince’s support to Minister Tong he had reclined in his chair and tried to hid the pressure he was under.

Sun Jiao naturally knew none of this and only knew that the man was working on his own. Xiaobo had already given him instructions on a sure fire way to handle an arrest, so he was completely unperturbed by the Minister of Justice’s actions.

With a small smile on his face Sun Jiao stood up and crossed his arms before replying in with an amused tone.

“Oh? With what charges? What evidence?”

Minister Tong withdrew a small jade slip and gripped it tightly with a look of concentration.

“I’ve recorded the charges and witness testimony of over two thousand crimes including multiple count of murder, kidnapping, torture, and theft.”

Handing the jade slip to his right Minister Tong waited for the slip to go around the table before continuing.

“As you can see I am certainly justified in arresting him and bringing him before the Emperor.”

Sun Jiao frowned at that. Minister Tong wasn’t paying giving him any face and instead addressed the other ministers in the room.

“Hey old man.”

Minister Tong brow crumpled as he turned towards Sun Jiao.

“That’s all?”

“T-t-that’s all?”

Minister Tong’s mouth dropped as he stammered and then flew into a rage.

“What do you mean that’s all! You’ve ruined over two thousand lives and those are just the ones that are willing to testify anonymously! That’s not including the countless others that are too afraid to come forward! The leading cause of death in Chengjing city isn’t disease, starvation, or some other accident, but you! For the past 5 years more people have died than the 20 years before your birth combined!”

Out of breath from speaking too quickly Minister Tong took in a deep breath and went to continue. He was sure that those statistics weren’t real but he’d gotten carried away and his face was flush with the excitement of it all. He had wanted to charge Sun Jiao for a while now and with the third princes backing he could finally put away this criminal so how could he not be excited?

Sun Jiao didn’t have the patience to continue listening.

“You dog shit detective. I meant the evidence not the crimes. You’re in charge of policing and you can’t even figure that out? Based on the crime in the city being out of control I already had low expectation of you, but you’ve some how managed to surprise me.”

Hearing that crime in the city was out of control the other ministers all had the same thought.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

‘WHO’S FAULT IS THAT!’

Certainly there was others committing crime in the city, but that was all tacitly allowed as anyone that could start a criminal organization Chengjing city would have to have a powerful backer. In fact organized crime was ironically quite particular about obeying the rules and would punish those that caused any real problems to disappear.

When crime was considered it was individual crime that counted as other crime was just business as usual.

Minister Tong’s mouth, which had been open, snapped shut as he grit his teeth in anger. A small trace of blood leaked out the side of his mouth.

As Minister of Justice he needed strength to capture the most heinous of criminals so his strength wasn’t comparable to the other council members. The other ministers lacked talent and had only reached the Third or Fourth layer late in life; else why would they have bothered with the mundane world and not focused on cultivating? Minister Tong had reached a strength similar to the former Minister of Generals who had reached the Sixth Layer.

Being called a dog shit detective had truly infuriated him and he couldn’t help releasing his strength to pressure Sun Jiao. Like a dam bursting at the seams a pressure exuded his body and rushed towards Sun Jiao, but just before it reached him he felt eyes of a predator gazing at his neck causing him to restrain himself.

Minister Tong may have had his intelligence insulted by Sun Jiao but he wasn’t stupid enough to follow through with an attack on a Sun family member in front of Sun Shen.

“You little demon all those witness testimonies are not enough for you?”

“The word of a commoner against mine? Worthless. Even a million commoner’s lives aren’t equal to mine so how could their word out weight mine? I say I’m innocent.”

“Insane! They have no reason to lie and are actually risking their lives for justice. Even if ninety percent of them are lying it’s reason enough to have you executed!”

“Talking to me about percentages! Ha! If there is even a one percent chance all of them are lying you’ll have sentenced an innocent member of the Sun family to death? If after my death it’s proven I’m innocent how will you plan to compensate me then huh?  How would you compensate a dead man?”

Sun Jiao waited a moment as if waiting for Minister Tong’s reply. Before Minister Tong could speak however Sun Jiao continued.

“That’s what I thought. As for your numerous witnesses how hard would it be to find thousands of mortal slaves willing to testify? Just because you have a couple thousand witnesses we should assume they’re telling the truth because you found a lot of them? Doesn’t that mean that you can kill another minister just by finding a couple thousand liars?”

Minister Tong’s fist clenched, but he couldn’t reply. He had met these witnesses and knew every one of their backgrounds. These were good people with friends and family in the community and not just slaves found in one of the mortal worlds. He could explain their backgrounds, but the prince could say he made those up as well.

If he had time he could bring them forward one by one in front of the council, but he had already declared his intent and had to follow through or he would miss this opportunity.

Sun Jiao ignored Minister Tong’s reaction and continued speaking.

“Well? What proof do you have that can’t be made up? Do you have a weapon that belongs to me? My clothes with blood on them? What hard evidence do you have!?”

The ministers all nodded their heads. It made sense to require hard evidence. Finding witnesses would be easy and even making up a background for each of them wouldn’t be difficult! Simply find a thousand mortal slaves, integrate them into a normal life, and fifty years later you would have thousands of witnesses with background that could say whatever you want! Time was nothing for cultivators so a weapon that could kill anyone would be well worth the preparation. They weren’t thinking about if these witnesses were a weapon or not; they were only thinking they should have thought of it first!

“Hahahaha!”

Minister Tong had lost himself to his anger, but after thinking a moment he remembered his trump card and couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

‘I have you now you lying bastard! I, your father, will not let you slip out of this one!’

He thought to himself before speaking out loud.

“What proof could I have? Weapon? You always use your fist or we can’t find a body. Clothes with blood? How could I search for that without offending the privacy of the Sun Family? I don’t have hard evidence, but I can prove that you’re guilty of at least one crime worthy of death.”

He pulled out another jade slip and pressed it to his forehead before passing it around.

“I’m willing to undergo soul interrogation to prove that the scene shown is real.”

The ministers all took turns inspecting the slip before passing it to Sun Jiao.

After sinking his Will into the jade slip he saw through Minister Tong’s eyes. The vision showed a man testifying several crimes Sun Jiao committed and then to prove his conviction he willingly shattered his own soul.

After finding out reincarnation was real and that only true death was a shattered soul Sun Jiao pitied the man. This caused a frown to appear on his face which Minister Tong took as a sign that Sun Jiao was trapped.

“You can see the man shattered his soul. No person could make another shatter their own soul against their will. Only someone that truly wanted justice would sacrifice himself like that. This proves that he was telling the truth. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Minister Tong’s anger had dissipated with his laughter and he felt a sense of calmness wash over him. This is the feeling he got when justice was served. It was the entire reason he went into policing. He enjoyed the feeling of executing a criminal and now that he had revealed his final card he could already see the metaphorical axe falling on Sun Jiao’s neck.

Despite this feeling Minister Tong didn’t relax. He had a small irritation that he couldn’t quite place. This wasn’t like the irritation a hemroid caused him when he sat down, but a feeling he got when his instincts picked up on something he didn’t.

Minister Tong thought it over, but couldn’t quite place what it was until he noticed the look on Sun Jiao’s face.

Sun Jiao had frowned, but it had only been for a moment. Now he returned to his calm demeanor and didn’t show any signs of panic.

“Able to keep your calm huh? Your character might not be worthy of the Sun surname, but at least your nerves are. Why haven’t you said anything though? Speechless?”

The ministers knew Sun Jiao was guilty, but without proof they were willing to let him go. That was before there was a witness willing to shatter his soul to prove himself. Now there was no room for doubt and even the emperor would have to sentence him to death.

All the ministers were impressed how well Sun Jiao was taking it. Facing the executioner’s blade with solid resolve wasn’t easy, but Sun Jiao’s behavior was just that.

“I was wrong Minister Tong. You aren’t dog shit as a detective.”

Minister Tong couldn’t help but let a smile of triumph appear on his face as Sun Jiao spoke.

“No. That’s too good.”

The smile didn’t last long however.

“If a fly ate dog shit, then shit into a pile every day for a year and a dung beetle rolled it all up into a ball. You would be that ball.”

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!?”

“I said when it comes to detective work you’re a year’s worth of fly shit rolled up into a ball.”