Chapter 1571: The Ruthless Imperial Family
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After hearing Situ Zhuo’s Voice Transmission, Duan Ling Tian stared at him before he said with hidden meaning, “I can’t believe Second Young Master Zhuo also knows about the Devil Inscription. Looks like you must also know where the Devil Inscription on Young Master Hang came from, right?”
Duan Ling Tian did not use Voice Transmission this time. Instead, he had directly spoken out.
At this moment, Situ Hou’s gaze turned sharp immediately as he stared as Situ Zhuo as though he wanted to see if Situ Zhuo would deny it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What the h.e.l.l is Devil Inscription? I’ve never even heard of it before.” Situ Zhuo did not expect Duan Ling Tian would speak out. He was instantly enraged. However, he did not dare to show it. He could only pretend as though he did not know anything.
“You don’t know anything about the Devil Inscription, Second Young Master Zhuo? That’s weird… But you’re the one who brought up Devil Inscription to me earlier. Moreover, you even asked me to just stand aside and watch. Could it be that I was mistaken?” Duan Ling Tian smiled.
“Don’t slander me!” When Situ Zhuo noticed Situ Hou’s gaze that was turning sharper, his face turned grave immediately, and he glared at Duan Ling Tian. “Who are you exactly? What intention do you have? How dare you try and sow discord between Brother Hang and me!”
“Slander you?” Duan Ling Tian smiled. “Second Young Master Zhuo, you keep saying I’m slandering you. How about this? Why don’t we both swear on the lightning penalty oath and see who is the one doing the slandering?”
As Duan Ling Tian spoke, he raised his hand, preparing to p.r.i.c.k his finger and swear by the lightning penalty oath.
“Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re worthy for me to swear on the lightning penalty oath for?!” A hint of panic flashed in depth of Situ Zhuo’s eyes, but he maintained his composure on the surface. He only smirked before he turned to leave. He did not even bid farewell to Situ Hou and immediately turned to leave with the masked man.
At this moment, a gust of wind blew past, and Situ Hou disappeared from his spot. When he reappeared, he was blocking Situ Zhuo and the masked man’s way.
“Elder Hou, what are you doing?” Situ Zhuo asked with a frown.
“I actually think both of you should swear on the lightning penalty oath to prove your innocence, don’t you think so?” Situ Hou said nonchalantly.
The moment Situ Zhuo heard this, his face turned slightly grave. “Elder Hou, who is he for me to have to swear on the lightning penalty oath? Don’t forget, this is the Situ Clan! Don’t tell me you’re actually helping an outsider, old man?”
‘I’m not helping anyone. Even if I want to help, I’m merely helping you to prove your innocence,” Situ Hou continued saying.
Situ Hou suddenly made his move at the moment Situ Zhuo’s face turned grave and could not come up with a reply.
He directly went past Situ Zhuo and attacked the masked man behind him. The aura of a Saint Stage powerhouse swept out toward the masked man like a dark cloud. Horror instantly dawned on the masked man who was taken by surprise.
Although the masked man was quite powerful since he was at the Imminent Saint Stage, he had not broken through to Saint Stage. Due to this reason, there was a large gap between his strength and that of a Saint Stage powerhouse.
Facing the hostile Situ Hou, the masked man did not dare to slack at all and unleashed all his techniques without restraint.
In his opinion, if he had shown restraint in front of a Saint Stage powerhouse, it was equivalent to him digging his own grave. Due to this reason, the masked man had inadvertently revealed the fact that he was a Devil Cultivator.
When the masked man revealed his strength as a Devil Cultivator, Duan Ling Tian who was standing at the side could sense the agitation of the Devilseal Tablet in his Spatial Ring.
Duan Ling Tian ignored it completely since there was no need for him to make a move at all.
“As expected, you’re really a Devil Cultivator!” After the masked man revealed he was a Devil Cultivator, Situ Hou smirked. His compelling aura turned even stronger. It was obvious he meant business now.
Horror dawned on Situ Zhuo’s face. He crushed a jade token in a panic.
After the jade token was crushed, an extremely fast ray of light flashed across the sky. Like a star, it disappeared the moment it appeared.
“A jade token inscribed with a Warning Saint Inscription?” Duan Ling Tian raised his brows. He was not unfamiliar to this kind of jade token. Back when he was in the Moon Illumination Sect and had partic.i.p.ated in the Hunting a.s.sessment, he had also obtained a similar kind of jade token.
However, compared to the jade token he obtained previously, Situ Zhuo’s jade token was obviously more advanced.
At the very least, the warning produced by the crus.h.i.+ng of the jade token even took Situ Hou who was a Saint Stage powerhouse by surprise.
Naturally, this was because Situ Hou’s attention was not on him. After Situ Hou discovered the masked man was a Devil Cultivator, he no longer showed any mercy when he attacked. With a turn of his palm, he easily blasted the masked man to death.
“Situ Zhuo! How dare you collude with a Devil Cultivator to kill your senior!” After killing the masked man, Situ Hou looked at Situ Zhuo coldly. His voice was extremely icy when he spoke.
Even at this point, Situ Zhuo still maintained his composure and said nonchalantly, “Elder Hou, I didn’t know he was a Devil Cultivator.”
“You didn’t know he was a Devil Cultivator?” Situ Hou smirked. “It’s better to just leave this matter to the Enforcement Elder then.”
The moment his words left his mouth, he took a step forward and was ready to catch Situ Zhuo and bring him to the Enforcement Hall.
At this moment, a gust of wind swept past, and a middle-aged man with a medium-built body suddenly appeared in front of Situ Zhuo. He looked at Situ Hou calmly as he asked, “Elder Hou, I wonder what kind of mistake my son made to the point that you want to bring him to the Enforcement Elder.”
“Situ Ming, you have a truly good son!” The moment Situ Hou saw this middle-aged man, he frowned before he snorted coldly. “Today, I’ll bring him to the Enforcement Hall no matter what for colluding with a Devil Cultivator to kill his senior! This sin is not small at all!”
“Situ Ming?” When Duan Ling Tian heard the way Situ Hou addressed this man, he could not help but take another glance at him.
He had also heard of this name, Situ Ming, before he came to the Situ Clan. He was Situ Clan’s Second Master. In the Situ Clan, his position was just below the Clan Leader, Situ Hao, and the three Supreme Elders. He was also a Saint Stage powerhouse.
The moment Situ Hou’s words left his mouth, he proceeded to catch Situ Zhuo.
This time, Situ Ming did not stop him. He merely looked on with a calm expression on his face.
When Situ Hou brought Situ Zhuo away, he turned around and took a good look at Duan Ling Tian. After that, he finally followed Situ Hou and went to the Enforcement Hall of Situ Clan.
‘This Situ Ming is not a simple person… I’m afraid Elder Hou won’t be able to deal with Situ Zhuo this time,’ Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
The result was just as Duan Ling Tian had predicted. Although Situ Zhuo was punished, he was only punished with reflecting in the Enforcement Hall for three months.
“Why is his punishment so light?” Duan Ling Tian felt puzzled.
“Situ Zhuo kept insisting he had no idea the masked man was a Devil Cultivator… Not only that, but he pushed all the blame and the things about the Devil Inscription to the masked man I killed. He said he was unaware the Devil Cultivator had inscribed a Devil Inscription. Due to this reason, the Enforcement Hall merely punished him for befriending a Devil Cultivator,” Situ Hou said in a deep voice. A hint of displeasure could be seen in his eyes.
“They should ask him to swear by the lightning penalty oath to prove his innocence. I think he won’t dare to make the oath. If that’s the case, that enough to prove he’s the person pulling the strings from behind the curtain,” Duan Ling Tian chimed in. He felt this would be a good solution to this problem.
“It’s not so simple.” Situ Hou shook his head and smiled wryly.
After that, Duan Ling Tian got a better grasp of the situation.
As it turned out, the Situ Clan was not as united as it seemed. On the surface, the Situ Clan had their Clan Leader, Situ Hao. However, nearly half of the high-ranking officials in their clan were on Situ Clan’s Second Master, Situ Ming’s side.
In reality, there were two forces in the Situ Clan.
Not only that, but there was a total of five Saint Stage powerhouses. Apart from Situ Ming and Situ Hao, there were another three.
Situ Hou was one of them, and he was on Situ Hao’s side.
One of the two other Saint Stage powerhouses was on Situ Ming’s side.
The last one, on the other hand, remained neutral.
The person who remained neutral was also the strongest powerhouse in Situ Clan. He was the person with the highest position in the Situ Clan, even higher than Situ Hou — who was already older than Situ Hao by a generation — by a generation. The Situ Clan’s members addressed him as Ancestor.
According to Situ Hou, the ancestor of their Situ Clan had not shown his face for many years.
The last time he showed himself was when Situ Hao had just succeeded the Clan Leader’s position.
“I can’t believe the Situ Clan’s situation is actually this complicated… In this case, will this matter be swept under the rug just like this?” Duan Ling Tian asked.
“Since nothing happened to Little Hang, I guess that’s how it’ll be. Although the Situ Clan appears wonderful, it has internal and external strife. Even Clan Leader doesn’t dare to simply find fault with Situ Ming and his people. If things go out of control, it’ll definitely sway the foundation of the Situ Clan, and this would give an opportunity for the enemy to invade.” Situ Hou sighed. Although he was unwilling, there was nothing he could do. After all, this was how things were done.
“Enemy? I thought the Situ Clan has the Windfall Nation’s Imperial Family behind them?” Duan Ling Tian frowned. “Don’t tell me there are people who dare to disregard the Imperial Family and go against the Situ Clan?”
“Imperial Family?” When Situ Hou heard this, he shook his head. “Put aside how ruthless the Imperial Family is, the relations.h.i.+p between our Situ Clan and the Imperial family is only built on Imperial Concubine Li alone. Those forces who dare to go against our Situ Clan more or less have a similar relations.h.i.+p with the Imperial family. Some of them are even closer to the Imperial Family than we are. The open and hidden struggles of our clans are also tacitly approved by the Imperial family. Actually, the Imperial family will be even more worried if we get along. If we do get along, the Imperial Family might even purposely sow discord between us.” When Situ Hou reached the end of his sentence, he sighed.
Duan Ling Tian nodded, he could totally understand this.
There was no doubt Windfall Nation’s Imperial family would not hope for the seventh-rate forces to get along with each other. If that was the case, these seventh-rate forces might rise to the top quickly and threaten the Imperial Family’s position.
In order to eliminate this threat, the Imperial Family, naturally, would be more than happy to watch the little fellows below them fight.