Chapter 321: Execution Trial
Chapter 321: Execution Trial
“The Execution Trial will now begin!”
Those words seemed to linger in the air, giving seriousness to the situation. John frowned as he heard this, but was not too shocked. It was one of the possibilities that he had accounted for when coming to the Bloodfiend Sect, and now he had to find a way to worm out of it.
Otherwise, he would have to crush the talisman the Sect Leader gave him, thus ending the mission early.
John suddenly felt the divine senses of ten Meridian Forging Elders press down on him, closely inspecting him. He remained as calm as possible while the inspection took place, and after some time, the senses faded away.
“You appear to be unharmed, almost as if you fled the battlefield before battle even started,” one of the Elders suddenly spoke up.
“You will tell us what happened,” the leading Elder instructed. “And do not think to lie to us, or your punishment will be far worse.”
John’s face remained calm, but internally he was scoffing at the Elder who had just spoken.
‘Such feeble intimidation tactics. Although I suppose it would most likely work on almost any other disciple.’
However, John understood the severity of the situation, at least from the perspective of the Bloodfiend Sect. They had sent out over a dozen disciples, as well as two Elders of the sect on the slave hunting mission. From that group, only one had returned, and the rest had been seemingly wiped out.
“What happened to the squadron you were with?” another Elder asked.
John looked at that Elder, his face completely calm, as if he didn’t consider this an execution trial at all. His attitude slightly shocked the Elders, as they had been expecting him to be panicked and fearful. Such trials almost always ended with the death of the accused.
“We were ambushed by the Heavenly Lightning Sect,” John replied, getting straight to the point.
“The Heavenly Lightning Sect? It’s as we suspected then,” one of the Elder’s mused out loud. “What happened during this ambush, and why were you the only one able to leave alive?”
John paused for a moment, getting his story straight before he began to speak to the Elder’s before him.
“We had already captured the slaves of the first target village, and were en route to the second village. All of a sudden, a squadron from the Heavenly Lightning Sect showed up, and attacked us without warning,” John began to explain.
“What color robes were they wearing?” an Elder interrupted him.
“Black and red,” John succinctly answered.
“Black and red…The War Hall,” the Elder spat out his words with a curled mouth, as if he was disgusted just saying the name.
“The War Hall is getting more and more bold with their actions,” another Elder stated. The lead Elder raised his hand, silencing the other Elders.
“Go on,” the lead Elder instructed John.
“As I was saying, we were ambushed. The squadron from the Heavenly Lightning Sect had twelve disciples, and one Elder at the peak of the Meridian Forging Realm. When they attacked-“
“Are you lying to us?” one of the Elders suddenly burst out with a raised voice. “If what you say is true, then how is it possible that your squadron got wiped out? With their combined power, the two Elders in your squadron should have been able to fight evenly against their Meridian Forging Elder. Not only that, but you had sixteen disciples, while they only had twelve. How is it possible that you not only lost the battle, but were wiped out to a single man?”
The Elder’s all focused on John intently, looking for any signs that he was lying.
“I’m not lying,” John replied with a calm voice. “When the battle took place, Elder Firo and Elder Weller attacked the Heavenly Lightning Sect Elder, while us disciples clashed with theirs. The battle was going in our favor, until a disciple from the Heavenly Lightning Sect started to fight Elder Weller,” John explained.
He wanted the details to be as true as possible, to expose as little lies as possible. The Bloodfiend Sect already knew about his true identity and abilities, so hiding information about it was futile. John’s plan was to embarrass the Bloodfiend Sect and the Elder’s, so that the blame did not fall on him, but the sect itself.
“This disciple, who only had a cultivation at the Late Core Formation Ream, fought evenly with Elder Weller, and finally managed to kill him,” John explained.
“Do you take us for fools,” one of the Elders suddenly erupted out in an angry voice.
“You expect us to believe that a disciple fought an Elder, while being that much lower in cultivation?” another Elder chimed up, his voice calmer.
“Wait a minute,” another Elder spoke up. “Do you not remember the reports from the Sect Leader?”
His words caused the Elders in the room to stop and think for a moment, at which point all their eyes lit up at the thought of a possibility.
“What did this boy look like?” the lead Elder asked.
“He had long black hair, a powerful body, and incredible lightning powers, far more powerful than I’ve seen any other disciple of that sect use,” John replied.
“It does match the descriptions we were given,” one of the Elder’s mused.
The others fell silent, several of them having gloomy looks on their faces.
“If he is already fighting against Meridian Forging Elder’s, then his progress is much faster than we expected. We must inform Sect Leader Allfiend about this,” one of the Elders spoke out.
John remained silent, but internally he was smiling mockingly.
‘It seems as if my fame has already spread amongst the Elder’s of the Bloodfiend Sect.’
The Elder’s discussed this matter between themselves for some time before they once again focused on John.
“Continue,” the lead Elder instructed.
“As I was saying, this boy, after killing Elder Weller, aided the Heavenly Lightning Sect Elder in slaughtering Elder Firo. After that, they killed the rest of us disciples, leaving only me left standing,” John explained.
“And how is it possible that they left you alive?” an Elder asked, not believing John’s words. “Why didn’t they just kill you with the rest?”
“Because,” John replied with a smile. “They couldn’t find me.”
“They couldn’t find you? How is that possible?” an Elder asked in a questioning tone.
“I had been fighting with several of their disciples, and was pushed to the edge of death. However, I managed to turn the tides, and killed one of their disciples. In the chaos of battle, they lost track of me, which is when the Heavenly Lightning Sect Elder and that other boy started slaughtering our disciples.
Seeing this, and knowing that fighting was sure death, I concealed myself,” John explained.
“Concealed yourself? Explain,” an Elder asked for clarification.
As if expecting this, John suddenly withdrew his aura into himself, not letting a single shred of it escape. This was his concealment arts that John had learned on his own, and honed further by training with the Vice-Sect Leader. When he employed it, he was almost unnoticeable.
The Elder’s in the room all raised their eyebrows in surprise, and began to scan John with their divine sense. Although they could see him, their divine senses washed right over him. Unless they were paying incredibly close attention, it was easy to pass over him without noticing.
After a brief inspection, the Elder’s pulled back their divine senses, and began to discuss the matter amongst themselves.
John stood there silently, waiting for them to address him once more. After several minutes, they turned back towards John.
“What you have told us makes sense, and is valuable information for the sect. However, you still abandoned your squadron, and did not fight to the death alongside them. According to the Sect laws, such a thing is punishable by death. What do you have to say to this?” the lead Elder spoke out to John.
John frowned as he heard this, and his next words stunned the Elder’s into silence.
“Fuck the Sect laws.”