167: Eliminating traitors is a hot potato.

Central Plains Aristocratic Family?

Rebels?

When Shen Yuanmo's calm yet resonant words echoed throughout Qingzhou City, time seemed to freeze completely at that moment.

Below, whether it was Shen Qiming and the others who had collapsed to the ground, or the ordinary Cultivators kneeling in despair, everyone's minds went blank with a 'buzz'.

What did they hear?

The Wang Family… colluding with a Central Plains Aristocratic Family? Are they rebels?

And Shen Yuanmo is eliminating traitors on behalf of the Immortal Dynasty?

This... how is this possible?!

The moment this thought arose, they themselves suppressed it.

They looked at the figure in mid-air, clad in a green robe, facing the Imperial Dynasty Inspector at Great Perfection of Nascent Soul Stage and hundreds of Black Armored Imperial Guards alone.

Yet, his expression remained unchanged, and an utterly absurd thought suddenly surged in their hearts.

Perhaps... he's telling the truth?

Otherwise, where would he get the courage? Where would he get the confidence?!

"Central Plains Aristocratic Family?"

In mid-air, Southern Frontier Inspector Han Dang's face, twisted with anger, suddenly stiffened upon hearing these four words.

His sharp, hawk-like eyes stared intently at the purple Jade Slip in Shen Yuanmo's hand, and an unprecedented solemnity emanated from him.

As an Imperial Dynasty Inspector, he knew better than anyone the terrifying weight represented by the words "Central Plains Aristocratic Family"!

Those were colossal entities in the core of the Immortal Dynasty, capable of shaking an entire region with a single stomp of their foot!

How could the Wang Family, a Fourth-Rank Family residing in the Southern Frontier, be connected to such existences?

"Nonsense!"

Han Dang's first reaction was disbelief!

He believed this was absolutely a monstrous lie concocted by Shen Yuanmo to save his life!

"Facing death, you still want to absolve yourself with such absurd lies? Do you think this envoy is a three-year-old child?!"

He roared, and his large hand suddenly reached forward!

An irresistible, immense suction instantly enveloped Shen Yuanmo.

However, the target of this force was not Shen Yuanmo himself, but the purple Jade Slip he held in his palm!

Whoosh!

The Jade Slip flew out of his hand, transforming into a purple stream of light, and instantly landed in Han Dang's grasp.

Han Dang clutched the Jade Slip, a sinister sneer on his face.

"Good! This envoy will see with his own eyes today what kind of story you, Little Beast, can concoct!"

"If this envoy finds even half a word of falsehood in here..."

Before he finished speaking, he fiercely probed his vast, sea-like Divine Sense into the Jade Slip!

He wanted to expose Shen Yuanmo's ridiculous lie in front of everyone in the city.

Then, with thunderous might, he would completely crush him and the entire Shen Family into dust!

However, in the next instant.

Han Dang's sneer completely froze.

His pupils, in an instant, contracted to the size of needlepoints!

On his stern and majestic face, a trace of bewilderment flashed first, followed by intense incomprehension, and then, unconcealable shock!

Finally, all emotions transformed into a towering, almost reason-burning... rage!

Boom!

An aura more terrifying than any before erupted from him with a roar!

The space behind him, under the impact of this aura, began to twist inch by inch, emitting unbearable 'crackling' sounds!

What did he see?!

Inside the Jade Slip, those secret agreements, one by one, spanning hundreds of years, pierced into his Divine Sense like the sharpest daggers!

[In the year 2987 of the Qianyuan Calendar, Wang Ding, the Old Ancestor of the Wang Family, encountered Song Qi, the Third Elder of the Ziyang Song Family, in the Central Plains. He presented a Blood Coral, a specialty of the Southern Frontier, gaining Elder Song's favor and becoming an affiliate.]

[In the year 3015 of the Qianyuan Calendar, with the secret support of the Ziyang Song Family, the Wang Family successfully ascended to Fourth-Rank, was granted the title Governor of Qingzhou, and managed Qingzhou on behalf of the Song Family.]

[In the year 3102 of the Qianyuan Calendar, the Wang Family secretly transported seventy percent of Qingzhou's annual tax revenue, totaling three hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones and various resources equivalent to one million Spirit Stones, to the Song Family in the Central Plains. The Song Family reciprocated with one Third-Tier Formation blueprint and ten bottles of Third-Tier Medicinal Pills.]

[In the year 3356 of the Qianyuan Calendar, the Wang Family offered resources to help a direct descendant of the Song Family successfully form a Nascent Soul. The Song Family was greatly pleased and specially bestowed a set of the ancient killing Formation, the Four Symbols Heaven Locking Array, stating that this Formation could help the Wang Family completely control Qingzhou and transform this place into the Song Family's 'back garden' in the Southern Frontier!]

...One by one! Every single detail!

Time, location, people, transaction content—everything was recorded clearly and plainly!

How was this a lie?!

This was clearly an ironclad... treasonous contract!

"Bastard!!"

Han Dang let out an earth-shattering roar in his heart, his Divine Soul trembling!

He finally understood!

He finally understood why a mere Wang Family dared to be so arrogant and tyrannical in Qingzhou, raising four Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, forcing even neighboring families of the same rank to bow to them!

He finally understood why the Wang Family could produce an ancient killing Formation like the Four Symbols Heaven Locking Array, which was rarely found even in the Immortal Dynasty's Imperial Guards' armory!

It turned out they weren't subjects of the Immortal Dynasty at all!

They were dogs raised by the Ziyang Song Family in the Southern Frontier! Vicious dogs used to swallow the Immortal Dynasty's territory and amass wealth for themselves!

A bone-chilling coldness shot from Han Dang's soles straight to his crown!

This matter had far exceeded his expectations!

This was no longer a simple case of a small Ninth-Rank Family arbitrarily killing an Immortal Dynasty official!

This had escalated to the most brutal and bloody power struggle among top aristocratic families within the Immortal Dynasty!

It was a major case of treason, capable of shaking the very foundation of the nation!

He suddenly looked up, staring at Shen Yuanmo again.

This time, the contempt, anger, and Killing Intent in his eyes had all vanished without a trace.

In their place was an unprecedented, incredibly complex emotion.

There was shock, apprehension, and even a hint of... fear, which he himself was unwilling to admit!

This young man... he wasn't some reckless fool who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth!

He was a vicious wolf who had calculated everything to the extreme!

From the moment he destroyed the Wang Family, he knew who stood behind them!

From that moment on, he had prepared this 'death-exemption token' that could change the face of the Central Plains!

Then, when the Immortal Dynasty's people arrived, he would personally hand this bomb, capable of detonating the entire upper echelons of the Immortal Dynasty, to this very Inspector!

In an instant, Han Dang felt that the purple Jade Slip in his hand had become ten thousand times hotter than a burning branding iron!

He had fallen into an unprecedented, inescapable predicament!

What to do?

Handle this matter impartially and report it to the Immortal Dynasty's Divine Capital?

That would be equivalent to Han Dang himself personally handing a sharp sword to those factions in the imperial court who were enemies of the Ziyang Song Family!

With the Ziyang Song Family's power dominating the court, he, a mere Southern Frontier Inspector, would likely 'accidentally' die in the mouth of some Yao Beast before even leaving the Southern Frontier.

And his entire Family would disappear from this world!

Then... forcefully kill Shen Yuanmo, destroy this Jade Slip, and pretend this matter never happened?

That's even more impossible!

That would mean Han Dang himself would become an accomplice in harboring traitors!

Shen Yuanmo dared to make such a big fuss about this; who knows if he has other contingencies!

Once the truth comes out in the future, Han Dang would be a historical sinner for deceiving the emperor and shaking the nation's foundation! He would also die without a burial place!

Forward is death!

Backward is also death!

At this moment, Han Dang, this Great Perfection of Nascent Soul Stage Inspector, who held the power of life and death in the Southern Frontier.

For the first time, he felt what it meant to be in a dilemma, what it meant to wish for death!

Unbeknownst to him, fine beads of cold sweat had already seeped onto his forehead.

Just as his mind was turbulent and he was engaged in a fierce internal struggle.

Shen Yuanmo's calmly unsettling voice gently sounded again.

"Lord Inspector."

He looked at Han Dang, whose expression was constantly changing and whose eyes were struggling, and a faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, do you think my Shen Family's extermination of the Wang Family is a merit, or a fault?"

"My Shen Family, on behalf of the Immortal Dynasty, has removed the cancerous tumor that has plagued the Southern Frontier for hundreds of years, severing the Ziyang Song Family's claws extended into the Southern Frontier."

"I wonder if the Immortal Dynasty should reward, or... punish?"

Boom!

These words, like an invisible heavy hammer, struck Han Dang's heart fiercely!

This was a checkmate!

This was a blatant, undisguised checkmate!

Shen Yuanmo had fiercely thrown this hot potato, which could determine the lives and deaths of countless people and shake the entire Southern Frontier, to him!

Han Dang's body trembled violently.

He tightly clutched the Jade Slip, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He fell silent.

For a long time.

So long that countless Cultivators in Qingzhou City below didn't even dare to breathe, and the entire world fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone's gaze converged on him, awaiting his final judgment.

Finally.

Han Dang slowly loosened his clenched hand.

He carefully placed the purple Jade Slip into his Storage Ring, as if it were a rare treasure.

Then, he took a deep, deep breath.

He looked up, meeting Shen Yuanmo's gaze again. His eyes, once filled with majesty and Killing Intent, now held only a profound, complex, and dry emptiness.

"This matter... is of great importance, far beyond what this envoy can decide."

His voice was no longer as booming as thunder; instead, it carried a hoarseness that even he himself hadn't noticed.

"This envoy must immediately return to the Divine Capital and present all evidence to His Majesty, for His Majesty to personally decide!"

"Before... before your Shen Family's merits and faults are decided..."

He paused here, as if using all his strength to squeeze out the rest of his words through gritted teeth.

"The affairs of Qingzhou will temporarily be... overseen by you!"

As his words fell.

Han Dang didn't spare Shen Yuanmo another glance, as if even looking at him was an ordeal.

He abruptly turned and stepped onto the black war behemoth.

Without the slightest hesitation, without a single wasted word.

Buzz—!

The colossal warship, as vast as a mountain range, let out a muffled roar. The space around its hull twisted again, forming a gigantic black vortex.

The next moment.

The warship, along with the hundreds of murderous Black Armored Imperial Guards, completely vanished into the vortex, as if they had never appeared.

The sky returned to clarity.

Sunlight once again bathed the land.

A seemingly inescapable, monstrous crisis, an Immortal Dynasty's punitive expedition capable of annihilating any Family.

Was thus... effortlessly resolved by Shen Yuanmo!