As the head of the powerful Hui Family, Hui Guoquan was definitely no fool.
For this public trial to even happen, there was no doubt in his mind that Mo Mian’s group must have hailed from some rather illustrious backgrounds.
They looked too young to be officials themselves, but it was more than likely that they were related to officials in the city.
That was the only way they could force Magistrate En into doing something like this all of a sudden.
However, dealing with their background was something that he could worry about later.
Right now, the most urgent thing was still to prevent the public sentencing of his son. Should that happen, things would have reached a point of no turning back.
As long as they could avoid that worst case scenario, anything else could be settled as long as he showed enough ‘sincerity’ to the affected parties!
That was why Hui Guoquan was going all out right now, intending to scare these younglings into doing his bidding for the time being.
The man who had made his move was nicknamed Iron Claw Heng, a powerful martial artist who had served him for numerous years.
With his bulky physique and scary appearance, Iron Claw Heng looked just like a common brute.
However, Hui Guoquan had absolute confidence in his abilities – both his martial prowess and his ability to hold back just enough to not cause permanent injuries.
And as expected, Mo Mian seemed to be frozen in fear as he saw Iron Claw Heng rushing at him, capable of nothing apart from simply standing there like a wooden statue!
The corner of Hui Guoquan’s mouth curled upwards as he saw this.
However, what happened the very next moment caused his smile to freeze over.
While Mo Mian did not move an inch, a figure dashed forward from the side of the hearing chamber to stand between Iron Claw Heng and Mo Mian.
Not only did this figure appear between them in a flash, he even reached out and grabbed Iron Claw Heng’s outstretched arm by the wrist, thereby instantly stopping his advance.
“What?!” Iron Claw Heng exclaimed in shock.
In his years of roaming the pugilistic world, this was actually the first time someone had stopped him with such ease!
On the contrary, the person he was facing right now did not seem the least surprised.
“What? Not convinced?” Pu Feixiang scoffed. “You wanted to deal with my boss with just this? What a joke!”
“Who are y-?!”
Bang-!
Pu Feixiang sent Iron Claw Fist tumbling back with a kick, not even allowing him to complete his sentence.
The poor man immediately fell to the ground, rolling around while hugging his tummy and letting out groans of agony.
It became quite a funny sight to see a menace like Iron Claw Heng roll around on the floor like a child.
However, the ones present could not bring themselves to laugh.
“This...?” Hui Guoquan’s confidence crumbled instantly, his expression turning into one of disbelief.
In fact, it was not just him. Everyone in the audience fell silent from the shock.
Everyone knew of Iron Claw Heng – the terrifying right-hand man of Hui Guoquan.
They were still feeling bad for Mo Mian when they saw Iron Claw Heng act.
Who knew that things would turn out like this?
“What are you waiting for, magistrate?” Mo Mian asked without even giving Iron Claw Heng a second glance.
“R-Right,” En Yongping stuttered as he tried to quickly recollect his thoughts. “If there are no further objections, I hereby sentence Hui Shajing, Hei Helong, Bai Xianfeng, and the 12 other accused to a minimum of ten years in prison, subject to extension depending on their assessed level of remorse!”
Hearing this, Hui Shajing and his men could only lower their heads in resignation.
At the same time, the crowd broke into a huge commotion.
Some expressed disbelief at how a member of the Hui Family was actually being punished.
Some cheered at how these people were finally getting their just deserts after years of unbridled arrogance.
There were even some who wailed in sorrow upon realising that their idol, Hui Shajing, would be imprisoned.
However, one thing was clear – no one was willing to step forward and openly object to the verdict.
“You... you can’t do this!” Hui Guoquan finally regained his senses and said. “Magistrate En! You cannot do this to our Hui Family! Don’t forget that we know things as well!”
“Send away Master Hui and his men! Don’t let them continue blabbering nonsense here!” En Yongping gritted his teeth and hurriedly ordered.
The guards rushed forward at this point, surrounding the Hui Family Head and his men.
“You dare?!” Hui Guoquan threatened. “Just who are these people that made you do this? If I don’t get a satisfactory answer today, don’t think that I will go down without a fight! At the very least, I will not be going down alone!”
“You! Stop spouting nonsense!” En Yongping was fuming by now.
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However, he dared not act lightly either.
Despite being the magistrate, it was not like his actions had always been completely clean and incorrupt either.
Many of such dealings had been with the Hui Family as well, so the latter definitely knew of many of his misdeeds.
If he acted too forcefully and resulted in Hui Guoquan spilling the beans on everything here, he might just end up getting himself on the cultivators’ list of targets as well!
At this point, Mo Mian turned around and slowly approached Hui Guoquan.
“W-What is it?” Hui Guoquan found himself taking a step back despite facing someone who looked less than half his age.
For some reason, he could not help but feel an inexplicable fear towards this young man.
Even his attendants felt the same, and failed to step forward to shield him as they had usually done.
“Did you ask who we are?” Mo Mian asked.
“W-Who are you?” Hui Guoquan managed to say through gritted teeth.
“Have you heard of the Black Tortoise Sect?” Mo Mian replied.
“Black Tortoi- Black Tortoise Sect?!” Hui Guoquan exclaimed in shock. “Are you saying that you are…?!”
“That’s right,” Mo Mian nodded. “Now, do you finally understand the situation?”
Hui Guoquan felt his mind blank out for a moment.
Indeed, everything would make sense if that was the case.
The ease with which they manhandled Iron Claw Heng...
His son giving up without a fight...
En Yongping shredding all pretences with the Hui Family for this public trial, and the way that the trial had been conducted as well...
Everything made sense if they were indeed cultivators from the Black Tortoise Sect!
En Yongping could not help but let out a sigh of relief upon witnessing this.
Without the cultivators’ permission, he had not dared to tell Hui Guoquan about the full situation. But now that the latter knew the truth, he should know what to do from now on.
“Father, please leave,” Hui Shajing pleaded once more.
This time, what Hui Guoquan heard was not the voice of a frightened son, but the voice of a son who was willing to sacrifice himself to avoid implicating the family.
“I… I understand, esteemed sir,” Hui Guoquan muttered under his breath, though his eyes were still rather out of it.
He had never expected that his son would actually get into trouble with cultivators from the mighty Black Tortoise Sect.
Now that the cultivators were involved, there was no way he would be able to help Hui Shajing even if he were to pay up with the entire Hui Family and pull all his connections!
If anything, there was only one possible option left…
Thud-!
In front of everyone watching, the ever-so-imperious Hui Guoquan suddenly fell to his knees in front of Mo Mian.
“Please, spare my son, esteemed lord,” Hui Guoquan pleaded. “I’m not sure what he did, but if you need someone to bear the consequences, you can take me instead!”
Everyone was shocked to see this side of him, surprised at the lengths that he was willing to go for his son.
In the end, as much as he was a tyrant in the city, Hui Guoquan was still a father at heart.
However, Mo Mian’s eyes only turned cold.
“Don’t flatter yourself. Your life is not worth anything to us, and neither is his,” Mo Mian answered. “Instead, take this as a simple warning. Ten years is not a long time. While your son faces the consequences for his crimes in prison, you should be doing the same outside. If things have yet to change by the time he is released, then the next round of punishments will no longer be this lenient!”
“Y-Yes, esteemed lord…” Hui Guoquan answered in a trembling voice.
“And you as well,” Mo Mian suddenly turned towards En Yongping, much to the shock of the crowd. “Do not go overboard with your actions in the future, or you will not be let off lightly as well.”
“Y-Yes, esteemed lord,” En Yongping hurriedly answered.
Such a turn of events caught everyone by surprise.
For the magistrate himself to be issued a warning in court, it was usually something that would not end lightly for the perpetrator.
However, Magistrate En actually chose to take it with such grace. That was something beyond the understanding of many.
However, those in the know understood exactly why this was the case.
After all, they had clearly heard Mo Mian state his background earlier.
They would be more surprised if En Yongping had tried to retort instead!
“All right, since the sentence has been passed, I shall trust that you will take care of matters here then,” Mo Mian said. “Is there anything else that you need us for?”
“Please don’t worry, esteemed lord. I will definitely take care of things here,” En Yongping replied. “And no, there is nothing else that requires your attention.”
“Good,” Mo Mian nodded. “In that case, let’s take our leave.”
With that, the group of five, dragging along the restrained Honey, promptly left the hearing chamber under the gazes of everyone present, though the emotions behind these gazes differed from person to person.
Fear.
Admiration.
Confusion.
Curiosity.
And even hatred.
The people present bore different feelings towards them, depending on whose side they were on and how much they knew about the world.
But no matter how they felt towards the party, there was no doubt about one thing in everyone’s mind – the dynamics within Mountainhorn Town were going to change drastically going forward.
***
“What an unnecessary waste of time,” Honey could not help but comment as the party retrieved their spirit horses. “If you want to punish them, wouldn’t it be both easier and quicker to just use force? If you want them to change, wouldn’t it be easier to just demand that of them from the start? Why go through all that trouble?”
“We are not members of your unorthodox sect,” Mo Mian retorted. “We do things the proper way. Ordinary mortals need to be trialled through their own processes. Otherwise, what’s the point of law and order if everyone can just do whatever they want?”
“Whatever you say,” Honey shrugged.
“It’s done,” Zhao Yunxiao clapped the dust off his hands as he stepped back to admire his masterpiece.
While the rest were talking, Zhao Yunxiao had managed to attach a small carriage seat next to a spirit horse.
“Thank you, Junior Martial Brother Zhao,” Chu Han said.
Zhao Yunxiao’s experience in preparing his own equipment had come in handy this time, allowing him to do this quickly, therefore saving them the time and effort needed to look for a craftsman.
After all, they could not possibly carry Honey along while riding their spirit horses back.
Such close proximity to an enemy would be dangerous. Even though her meridians had been sealed, who knew what other tricks she had hidden up her sleeves?
Forcing her to walk while dragging her along would not work either, as it would then take far too long for them to get back to Purple Plum Mountain.
“Is that cute little seat for me?” Honey mused. “Who will I be riding with?”
“Me,” Mo Mian answered matter-of-factly. “Now, let’s get going.”
“No, I refuse to get in if I am not riding with him,” Honey pointed at Pu Feixiang.
“Me again? Why do you have to keep targeting me?” Pu Feixiang complained.
“Because you are cute, of course,” Honey blinked blankly at him. “Do you not want to ride with me?”
“You…!” Pu Feixiang could not help but feel like he was being made a fool of.
“Just ride with her then,” Chu Han said with a sigh. “It’s just for a day anyway.”
“Fine...” Pu Feixiang grumbled.
“It’s been hard on you, Senior Martial Brother Pu,” Zhao Yunxiao patted him on the shoulder as the duo walked past each other.
“Oh? Are you the most junior here? I was sure that he is the one,” Honey exclaimed in surprise upon overhearing this, turning her attention to Zhao Yunxiao. “In that case, why don’t you ride with me instead? No, I refuse to ride with anyone except for you!”
Zhao Yunxiao: “...”
Pu Feixiang: “…”