9: They confessed, they confessed everything!

Inside the palace, two young men were walking toward the main hall.

Zhou Yan: "Fellow Daoist Jiang, is it my imagination, or does it feel like many pairs of eyes are staring at me?"

Jiang Hongyue looked at Zhou Yan, specifically at his dark-gold pupils.

I remember Zhou Yan's eyes were a brilliant gold last night; how did they turn dark-gold this morning? Combined with the special aura surrounding him...

Could it be that what he awakened yesterday wasn't just a special talent, but some kind of ocular Divine Ability?

Recalling the eye contact from last night and that powerful sense of pressure, which had prevented him from resting well all night, Jiang Hongyue couldn't help but sigh. A Prodigy is truly a Prodigy; to be this incredibly strong before even stepping into cultivation... This means my spot as a preparatory Inner Disciple is definitely secured!

"As expected of Fellow Daoist Zhou, to be able to sense the surrounding Cultivators so easily."

"For Fellow Daoist to possess such powerful perception before Guiding Qi into the Body, you must have awakened some top-tier ocular technique. At this rate, you might even become a True Disciple the moment you enter the sect!"

Zhou Yan had originally just wanted an answer from Jiang Hongyue, but he felt like the more he tried to clarify, the more misunderstood he became.

He didn't have any Divine Ability; these eyes just had slightly cooler special effects. In fact, to be less conspicuous, Zhou Yan had even intentionally lowered the particle effects.

The reason he could 'perceive' people around him was because the mini-map was densely packed with little blue dots representing unknown units and little green dots representing friendly units.

You know that eerie feeling when there's clearly no one in the room, but your phone camera locks onto five or six faces? It was like that.

Of course, Zhou Yan couldn't show it now. Since his persona was that of a Prodigy, he had to maintain it without letting it crumble. So, he would just let the misunderstanding continue for now.

The two arrived before the hall and saw rows of people in prison uniforms. Some were weeping bitterly, some looked calm, and some had shouted until their voices were hoarse.

"Are all of these people from The Dong and Zhou Families?" Zhou Yan asked Jiang Hongyue.

"Yes, even some Household Servants who were granted the Family names are here. There are about 600 people in total."

"I see. The whole big Family is here; how harmonious."

"How about this: I'll head back to the flying boat cabin to rest for a while. I didn't get much sleep last night either."

"Afterward, please tell the Sovereign for me not to be too cruel. I have a kind heart and can't bear to see human suffering. Aside from those who haven't practiced Demonic Techniques, just end the rest with a single blade. Don't torture them too much."

After speaking, Zhou Yan turned around and headed toward the side hall where the flying boat was parked.

"Huh? Kill them all?"

Watching Zhou Yan's receding figure, Jiang Hongyue scratched the back of his head, then looked back at the hundreds of people kneeling in the clearing, every single one of them tainted with Devilish Qi.

Reasonably speaking, since Zhou Yan has a special ocular technique and can sense hidden Cultivators, he should be able to see through this Devilish Qi as well. So why did he say that?

"Oh!" Jiang Hongyue had an instant realization. The key was the last sentence: 'Don't torture them too much.' Those two Family heads are definitely not simple; Zhou Yan must have seen something with his eyes. It looks like I need to use some severe methods on those two old fogies!

At this moment, Zhou Yan had no idea what a massive impact that one sentence would have on the entire Hanning Kingdom.

He continued toward the flying boat, pondering in his heart.

The Dong and Zhou Families did indeed have a grudge against him, but he was usually very compassionate. If he were actually forced to do it himself, he would surely soften his heart. Thus, Zhou the Benevolent decided to follow the principle of 'the gentleman stays far from the kitchen' and just wait for the notification.

Returning to the cabin, he saw that the two Fellow Daoists with very little presence were still there.

"Did you two not get off the boat at all yesterday?" Zhou Yan asked, curious.

"..."

"..."

The two ignored Zhou Yan and continued with their own business.

"Hmm? What's going on? Am I being isolated?"

Refusing to give up, Zhou Yan continued to try and strike up a conversation, but after talking for a long time without any reaction, he started to feel a bit annoyed.

He hadn't done anything to them. It was Jiang Hongyue who made them serve tea and water; he had been quite polite to them. Why were they giving him the cold shoulder right from the start?

Zhou Yan walked up to one of them. "Fellow Daoist, this is really not right. Why are you ignoring me and pretending you can't hear?"

Only then did the person look up and see Zhou Yan. Caught off guard, he quickly said, "I didn't know Brother Zhou was here, please forgive my offense. My name is Buwen, and that is my younger brother, Buyu."

"I am truly sorry for not greeting you earlier."

"Unfortunately, we two brothers have had natural defects since birth. He cannot speak and is deaf. I am slightly luckier; though I am deaf, I can at least speak."

"However, although I know some lip-reading, I need you to stand directly in front of me for me to understand your meaning. I hope you can forgive the offense."

After saying this, Buwen pulled Buyu over and made several hand gestures. Buyu also panicked and repeatedly bowed to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan hurriedly apologized to the two of them, stating he wouldn't disturb them further, and then rushed back to his room in the cabin.

After sitting for a while, Zhou Yan suddenly stood up, slapped himself across the face, and lamented, "I really deserve to die!"

"Ding, Experience Points +1."

Huh? What's going on? Why do I get experience for hitting myself? Was my behavior just now really that immoral, so hitting myself counts as hitting a villain, and the heavens gave me Karma?

He felt like this must be fake. After all, how could hitting oneself grant experience?

"How about... I try another slap?" Zhou Yan was still somewhat skeptical.

*Slap.*

"Ding, Experience Points +3."

"Holy crap! It actually increased?"

*Slap, slap, slap!* Three more slaps followed.

"Ding, Experience Points +1, Experience Points +1, Karma +1."

"..."

Following that, the sound of rhythmic slapping echoed from the guest room. Unfortunately, Buwen and Buyu outside couldn't hear anything due to their poor hearing, so they didn't discover the anomaly or come to stop Zhou Yan.

Meanwhile, in the palace's main hall, the Sovereign sitting high on the dragon throne had a grim expression.

He hadn't originally cared much about the matter of The Dong and Zhou Families. In the end, it was just a Prodigy appearing, and the families themselves had issues; since they had displeased the Prodigy, he would just remove them in passing.

After all, among those who could climb to high positions, who could truly claim to be clean?

But he was shocked by what he found. A total of 637 people were arrested from the two families, including the elderly, the weak, women, children, and even Household Servants—and without exception, every single one of them had practiced Demonic Techniques.

Those who knew the Hanning Kingdom might think it had been invaded by the Demonic Path; those who didn't might think the Hanning Kingdom was a vassal state under a demonic sect.

"Your Majesty, this humble official has completed the investigation. Aside from Prodigy Zhou's branch, the Zhou and Dong families each have one other branch remaining outside. I hear they are small branches with only a few people left."

"According to the interrogation of the ringleaders, this was because the elders of those branches were unwilling to cooperate with demonic cultivation."

"If it weren't for the fact that Prodigy Zhou's elders had made significant contributions to the clan, they probably would have been exiled to some other small town as well."

"Furthermore, based on the information tortured out of them, they also..."

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice stopped mid-sentence, suddenly at a loss for words. Cold sweat poured down as he hesitated on how to continue.

*Slam!*

"Speak!"

The Vice Minister's hands, held in a respectful salute, trembled, and his waist bent several inches lower.

"They also have connections with the Miechen Sect and Joyous Union Sect of the Desire Realm. In fact, there are more than just these two families in our kingdom who are currently in contact with them."

"Wh... What?" Hearing this, the King of Hanning, who had been sitting upright, turned pale and slumped onto the dragon throne.

The ministers in the hall began to discuss fervently, and the entire hall became as noisy as a marketplace.

The Sovereign remained slumped on the throne while the officials below argued without restraint. It looked like the situation was about to spiral out of control.

"What is there to panic about!" The familiar Foundation Establishment pressure swept through the hall once again, and everyone fell silent.

Though their hearts were still uneasy, they all knew that the one truly in charge now wasn't the Sovereign, but the great sect Disciple standing to the left of the dragon throne.

The main hall was dead silent, leaving only the wailing from outside.

"Bring... bring those two old fogies up."

Seeing the Sovereign's despondent look, Jiang Hongyue felt somewhat helpless. After all, since it involved the Desire Realm, he couldn't blame him for acting this way.

Not long after, four attendants entered the hall, dragging two old men who looked like dead dogs.

As soon as they entered the hall, the two began to shout.

"This old man confesses! I confess everything! I peeked at people bathing when I was 3, forced people to watch me bathe when I was 5, and at 12 I went to the brothe—"

The other was not to be outdone.

"This old man confesses too! I confess! It was I who secretly acted to ensure there was no rain for three days and no thunder for five days across the country. I stole 10 million taels of silver from the national treasury to go drinking at flower houses..."

Jiang Hongyue looked at the two semi-delirious men and asked the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice:

"What is this?"

The Vice Minister was no longer trembling. He put his hands on his hips, his mouth curling into a smirk as he said:

"This is the strength of our Ministry of Justice."