73: I know how to use rules too!

Facing Lin Chen's question, which was full of "sincerity" and "curiosity," the entire Tingchao Banquet Hall fell into an unprecedented, suffocating, and eerie silence.

"Opinion"?

A different "opinion"?

Everyone's gaze subconsciously shifted from the Extinction Sword Crone, who was still gasping for breath on the ground, to the shadow-recording stone in Lin Chen's hand, which was emitting a faint glow.

The Extinction Sword Crone's heart skipped a beat at that moment!

An ominous premonition, stronger than when she faced the human emperor seal earlier, instantly enveloped her entire body, originating from the depths of her soul!

"No... impossible!" She roared frantically in her heart, but forcefully squeezed out a sinister sneer on her face.

"Lin Chen! You demon!" She struggled up from the ground, pointed at Lin Chen, and shrieked hysterically: "After all this, are you still trying to use some low-level illusion arts and demonic techniques to confuse the public?! I'm telling you! I, Mie Jue, have lived for hundreds of years, and my actions are upright and honorable. How could I leave you any handle?! Under the discerning gaze of the Lord Inspector, all your schemes and tricks will..."

She hadn't finished speaking.

Lin Chen, however, couldn't even be bothered to look at her again.

He just gave her one last glance with an expression that was close to "pity," mixed with a touch of "looking at an idiot."

"Senior, you misunderstand," Lin Chen's tone was surprisingly calm. "How could this junior possibly have the ability to plant a spy right under the nose of a Nascent Soul mighty figure like yourself?"

He paused, his smile becoming somewhat profound and mysterious.

"It's just that, a while ago, this junior fortunately acquired an ancient secret technique. Although this technique has no offensive power, it does have one small use..."

"—That is, it can 'reappear' the deepest 'Law Imprints' remaining within a space from the past twelve hours."

"Simply put," Lin Chen smiled and added, looking at the Extinction Sword Crone's instantly horrified expression, "it's 'Time Reversal.' Although it can only trace back some blurry images and sounds, it's barely enough to... 'recall' what certain people have said and done."

BOOM—!!!

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall instantly erupted!

Reversing space?! Reappearing Law Imprints?!

What kind of divine method was this?!

This... didn't this mean that if he wanted to, any scheme or plot carried out by anyone within twelve hours would be completely exposed before him?!

The gazes of countless powerful figures directed at Lin Chen instantly skyrocketed from "wariness" to "fear"! This kind of ability was more chilling than any peerless killing move!

As for the Extinction Sword Crone, she felt as if she had fallen completely into an ice cavern!

She remembered!

The last place she gave orders before leading her people into the Death Gate Ghost City was precisely the Myriad Sword Pavilion's secondary residence in Qianlong City! And the timing was exactly within the twelve-hour window!

"No! You're lying! Spreading heresy!" She let out a desperate shriek.

However, Lin Chen was already too lazy to give her any more chances to perform.

He flicked his finger.

A gentle stream of spiritual energy was injected into the shadow-recording stone in his hand.

Buzz—!

In an instant, an incredibly clear, three-dimensional light screen several yards high suddenly appeared in the center of the great hall, like a scroll unfolding from thin air!

Inside the light screen, a scene emerged.

It was a courtyard filled with a chilling, murderous aura. On the plaque above the courtyard gate, three large characters were carved in vigorous calligraphy—Myriad Sword Pavilion!

Inside the courtyard, a figure stood with hands clasped behind her back, giving sinister and vicious orders to Li Hanyue and the others below.

That figure, that voice... everyone present was intimately familiar with it!

It was none other than the Extinction Sword Crone!

One could hear the "Extinction Sword Crone" in the light screen, who was full of vigor and the authority of a Nascent Soul Old Monster, sneering with a tone full of killing intent and disdain:

"The rules of the Qianlong Grand Competition? Hmph! rules are merely shackles used to restrain the weak! Since when did my Myriad Sword Pavilion need to comply with such ridiculous regulations?!"

"I have already bribed the Deacon guarding the Secret Realm entrance in Qianlong City! At that time, I will use a secret technique to obscure the heavenly secrets, suppress my cultivation fluctuation, and enter the Dragon Bone Wasteland under the guise of the Golden Core Stage!"

"Your mission is simple! Join forces with Hua Jieyu of the Hundred Flowers Valley and lead those wenches from the Purple Cloud Holy Land into the Death Gate absolute killer ground! There, I have already set up the inescapable net of the Myriad Slaughter Absolute Shadow Array!"

In the light screen, Li Hanyue's figure appeared, asking with a hint of worry: "Grandmaster, Lin Chen's strength is unfathomable, what if..."

"There is no 'what if'!"

The "Extinction Sword Crone" in the light screen suddenly waved her sleeve, her voice abruptly turning savage and venomous!

"I am taking action personally this time, and he is my target!"

"I don't care what trump cards or fortuitous encounters he has! Under the strangulation of my Nascent Soul cultivation and the two great killing arrays, he is definitely going to die!"

"I want no survivors!"

"What I want is for him, along with everyone from the Purple Cloud Holy Land, to be torn into ten thousand pieces, their souls utterly extinguished!"

...The voice in the light screen continued.

But the entire banquet hall had already... completely stopped listening.

Because everyone's minds had gone blank due to this incredibly clear "truth"!

The light screen was so clear!

The voice was so real!

That undisguised determination to violate the rules! That unconcealed, towering killing intent to put Lin Chen to death!

What an absurd, ridiculous, and... ironic contrast it formed with the image of the "tragic victim" who had been kneeling on the ground just moments ago, crying hysterically and claiming she was merely "seeking justice for her disciple"!

The truth was revealed!

At this moment, time seemed to freeze.

Everyone's gazes, like the sharpest knives, simultaneously shifted from the light screen to the real Extinction Sword Crone, who still maintained her forward posture, her face still etched with madness and venom.

There was no longer any sympathy or pity in those eyes.

Instead, there was contempt, mockery, sudden realization, and... the extreme ridicule reserved for a clown!

"Pfft..."

Someone, the first one, couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.

This sneer was like a signal.

Instantly, the entire hall erupted in a wave of suppressed, yet intensely sarcastic, laughter!

"Hahaha... so... so that's what happened!"

"My heavens, this old hag is truly wasted if she doesn't go into acting! That performance just now almost fooled even me!"

"'Tragic victim'? 'Seeking justice for her disciple'? Tsk tsk tsk, that thick skin probably puts the city wall to shame!"

"She cheated and set a trap to kill and seize the championship, but she wasn't skilled enough and got slapped in the face! Now, she still has the nerve to run here and cry about her misfortune? This is simply... the greatest joke under heaven!"

In the face of ironclad evidence, public opinion instantly completed a thousand-percent shocking reversal!

The more tragically the Extinction Sword Crone had cried and the more fiercely she had sold her misery earlier, the more violent the backlash and mockery she suffered now!

Her persona as a "tragic victim" completely, ruthlessly, and ridiculously collapsed at this moment!

She had thoroughly become the laughingstock of the entire audience!

"No... it's not like that..."

The Extinction Sword Crone's body trembled violently as she frantically shook her head, trying to defend herself.

"It's demonic magic! It's fake! All of this was fabricated by him..."

However, her voice was so weak and pale.

Because even she knew that the images reappeared by the "Law Imprints" were more real and impossible to fake than any shadow-recording stone.

The blood instantly drained from her already pale old face, turning it to ash.

It's over.

She knew that she was completely finished.

The Myriad Sword Pavilion was finished, too.

In the Eastern Barrens, lack of strength is not the most terrifying thing.

The most terrifying thing is "stupidity"!

It was this kind of public execution, where all pretenses were stripped away, and one's darkest, most shameless, and most foolish side was exposed nakedly before everyone!

However.

Just as everyone's attention was focused on the old hag who had already suffered social death.

Lin Chen, however, no longer paid any mind to the Extinction Sword Crone, who had long since turned ashen, as if all her vitality had been drained.

For such a “clown,” trampling her underfoot when she was at her most triumphant was already enough.

He slowly turned around.

All eyes in the grand hall instantly shifted with his turn.

Lin Chen was seen walking with unhurried steps, one by one, onto the high platform.

Finally, he stopped in front of Inspector Codename: Sharp Blade of the Sky Patrol Hall, who had previously righteously declared him guilty.

The expression on his face was still as “innocent” and as “respectful” as ever.

He held the shadow-recording stone, still flashing and continuously playing the “Extinction Quotes,” with both hands, and respectfully offered it to Codename: Sharp Blade.

Then, he bowed slightly and, in a tone full of “innocence” and “confusion,” asked softly in front of all the Eastern Desolation magnates present:

“Lord Inspector,”

“This disciple is dull-witted and has a few questions about the ‘rules’ that I cannot comprehend. I hope Lord will…enlighten me.”

It's coming!

Everyone present felt their hearts suddenly clench!

They knew that the real show was only just beginning!

Codename: Sharp Blade's icy face, upon seeing the shadow-recording stone Lin Chen handed over, had her pupils involuntarily contract sharply!

A premonition of ill omen, a hundred times stronger than what the Extinction Sword Crone felt, rose in her heart!

But she could not retreat!

She represented the authority of the Sky Patrol Hall!

She could only forcibly suppress the tremor in her heart and said in a voice that was still cold, but clearly tinged with stiffness:

“...Speak.”

“Thank you, Lord.”

Lin Chen's “smile” grew even more “brilliant.”

His first question was like a poisoned dagger, accurately piercing Codename: Sharp Blade's weak spot!

“Lord Inspector, this disciple wishes to ask, according to the Sky Patrol Hall's immutable iron laws, what crime is it to ‘publicly bribe an elder, cheat in the Grand Competition, and intentionally undermine the fairness of the Grand Competition’?”

Using their own spear to attack their own shield!

He began to use the “rules” to judge the guardians of the “rules”!

Codename: Sharp Blade's face instantly paled a shade!

How could she answer?!

To say guilty? Then what was her act of supporting the Extinction Sword Crone just now?!

To say innocent? Then where was the authority of her Sky Patrol Hall?!

However, Lin Chen gave her no time to think!

His second question followed immediately!

“This disciple also wishes to ask, what crime is it to ‘deliberately set an ambush during the Grand Competition, intending to murder the ultimate champion of the Grand Competition, and disrupt the order of the Eastern Desolation's ancient legacy’?”

This question was even more damning!

It directly reclassified the Extinction Sword Crone's actions from “cheating” to a “great crime” of “disrupting order”!

Codename: Sharp Blade's body had already begun to tremble slightly! Her hands, placed at her sides, clenched uncontrollably!

And Lin Chen seemed to think she wasn't dying fast enough!

He took a step forward, extended the shadow-recording stone in his hand further, his face filled with a thirst for “knowledge”!

His third question, like an earth-shattering hammer of judgment, struck fiercely at Codename: Sharp Blade's head!

“Finally, this disciple has one last question that I simply cannot understand!”

“You, as the supreme guardian and enforcer of the ‘rules’!”

“When faced with a crime, without distinguishing right from wrong, without investigating the truth of the matter, you publicly stood up for the ‘cheater,’ vouched for the ‘perpetrator,’ and sought to immediately judge the true ‘victim’!”

“Such conduct...”

Lin Chen's voice paused slightly. He raised his head, his “innocent” eyes looking directly into the depths of Codename: Sharp Blade's eyes, which had begun to show shock and panic!

“—What crime is this?”

The entire hall fell silent!

One could hear a pin drop!

This series of damning questions, filled with “rules,” was like continuous bolts of divine lightning from the nine heavens, striking Codename: Sharp Blade's head one after another!

Leaving her no escape! No retreat!

Her face turned from white to green, then from green to purple, her whole body trembling violently, as if she would explode on the spot the next second!

She was caught in an absolute, impossible dilemma!

To judge the Extinction Sword Crone?

That would be tantamount to publicly admitting that she had been blind! Deaf! Indiscriminate of right and wrong! Utterly foolish! It would be like giving herself a resounding slap in the face! Her authority as an Inspector would be utterly gone!

Not to judge the Extinction Sword Crone?

That would be tantamount to openly violating and trampling upon the “iron laws” of the Sky Patrol Hall, which she herself represented, in front of all the magnates of the Eastern Desolation! She would fall from a guardian of “rules” to a destroyer of “rules”!

No matter what she chose, it was… a dead end!

Humiliation!

This was the ultimate, and most cruel, humiliation!

Lin Chen had used her own most proud “rules” to build a perfect… cage for her!

Finally.

Lin Chen looked at this woman, whom he had forced to the edge of a cliff, her spirit on the verge of collapse.

The smile on his face became even more “harmless.”

He used a tone that was almost a whisper, full of “curiosity,” to deliver the final, and most fatal, blow to this “judgment.”

“Can you… use your supreme ‘rules’…”

“...to publicly enlighten this disciple?”

“...”

Just as Inspector Codename: Sharp Blade and the already distraught Extinction Sword Crone were both trapped in this awkward predicament of being caught between a rock and a hard place, with death on all sides.

Just as the atmosphere in the grand hall had solidified to a freezing point, on the verge of exploding completely.

A woman's voice, filled with “grace” and “wisdom,” as if it could soothe all anxieties, finally, slowly, rang out from the most distinguished guest seat on the side of the main platform, second only to the City Lord and the Inspector.

“Alas…”

It was a soft sigh, full of “helplessness” and “regret.”

“Lord Inspector, why must you be so angry?”

Everyone looked in shock at the sound!

They saw that in the Crimson Flame Divine Palace's seating area, a woman dressed in a crimson-gold palace gown, with patterns of fiery divine birds seemingly flowing on her skirt, slowly put down her teacup.

Her beauty was breathtaking, and a cinnabar mark between her brows added several points of divinity and nobility. Her temperament was not the fiery explosiveness of flames, but rather a quiet, profound wisdom and composure, like a star, yet containing endless energy.

She was, besides Lin Chen, the most dazzling presence in this Qianlong Grand Competition!

The Saintess of the Crimson Flame Divine Palace—High-Grade Fertilizer!

She should have been Lin Chen's strongest competitor!

At this moment, her sudden Opening instantly made everyone feel incredibly startled and confused!

What was she going to do?

High-Grade Fertilizer's wise eyes, which seemed to see through everything, slowly turned to Lin Chen, a smile full of “goodwill” and “wisdom” appearing on her face.

“In my opinion…”

Her gentle and pleasant voice clearly echoed in everyone's ears, instantly dispelling the terrifying pressure that was enough to crush Codename: Sharp Blade.

“Perhaps there's another hidden story to this matter…”