Gu Zhanting sat on the main trial seat, remaining silent. His gaze lingered on Pei Qingyan and Huo Liancheng for a good while before he finally spoke faintly, “The soul-searching method is harmful to natural harmony. Unless there are no other options, it should not be the court’s chosen measure. You are all pillars of the country, and a multi-party joint trial is the only way to propose such a scheme?”

Pei Qingyan sighed, knowing in his heart that this was merely the emperor’s grand excuse; he simply wanted to protect the Huo family.

The Huo family originally engaged in many unsavory activities for the emperor. Some matters were not the Huo family’s affairs but were, in themselves, the emperor’s matters.

He could only hope this current matter was not one of those, otherwise, it would be impossible to rely on it to shake the Huo family.

Huo Liancheng saluted and said, “Huo Heng has already confessed. The Dream Return County Magistrate Shi Chong is indeed under this minister’s command. Huo Heng and Shi Chong are on good terms, and thus Huo Heng came to know the Infant Ghost through Shi Chong earlier. These were all personal actions, and this minister truly was unaware. Failing to teach properly is this minister’s fault; please Your Majesty punish me.”

Another, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, spoke up and said, “The Infant Ghost’s one-sided words are unreliable, but Huo Heng’s confession is reliable? Your Majesty is benevolent and unwilling to perform soul-searching. Then why not ask for the statement of the involved party, Lu Xingzhou? He is also in the capital.”

For a moment, all sides suddenly fell silent.

Gu Zhanting somewhat playfully looked at the expressions of each party and leisurely said, “Then summon the involved party to inquire.”

Sheng Qingfeng was somewhat anxious. He truly did not want Lu Xingzhou to rashly enter this vortex and wanted him to remain hidden. Whether the Huo family was colluding with the Infant Ghost was a matter of tracing back past history, and what relation did that have to the victim? How would the victim know how you previously colluded? There was originally no reason to summon the involved party; originally, Lu Xingzhou could completely avoid showing his face.

Thus, the Pei family and the Huo family each wanted him to show his face to achieve their own needs.

Now the Pei family owed Lu Xingzhou a favor and was embarrassed to use him as a pawn again, so they did not mention it. The Huo family worried that Lu Xingzhou’s attitude was not right and also did not mention it; originally, it was not Lu Xingzhou’s matter. But unfortunately, the Court of Judicial Review suddenly brought it up. They brought it up, and that was it. Why would the emperor have the interest to actually summon him?

The emperor had spoken; there was no hiding it anymore!

Sheng Qingfeng, helpless, could only instruct the attendants, “Go summon Lu Xingzhou. He should be at my home at this moment.”

A string of ellipses formed in the hearts of everyone present.

Gu Zhanting somewhat amusingly said, “Why is the involved party at beloved minister’s home?”

Sheng Qingfeng saluted and said, “He saved my daughter yesterday. This minister is holding a banquet today to express gratitude.”

Gu Zhanting playfully just wanted to say something when a voice suddenly came from the door, “Lu Xingzhou has already arrived.”

Sheng Qingfeng looked up and saw his own daughter pushing Lu Xingzhou’s wheelchair into the great hall.

Lu Xingzhou gazed at Gu Zhanting and faintly cupped his hands, “Greetings to Your Majesty… please forgive this commoner’s physical inconvenience, unable to fully perform the rites.”

The biggest advantage of pretending to be lame was that even when facing the heavenly king and ancestors, one did not have to kneel.

Gu Zhanting’s gaze fell on his legs but did not immediately suspect anything. He then carefully examined Lu Xingzhou’s overall appearance.

Aside from his disability and sitting in a wheelchair, his outward appearance and demeanor were beyond reproach. Suddenly facing the emperor, and in this environment where court ministers were gathered, the pressure was not ordinary. As cultivators, they were also a group of first-grade strong individuals staring at you.

In this environment, ordinary young people probably couldn’t even speak coherently. This Lu Xingzhou was calm and composed without changing his expression… this performance alone was extraordinary.

No wonder he could assist his daughter in rapidly rising from that stray dog situation in a short time.

He finally smiled and said, “I heard you are coming to participate in the Dan Academy examination. If you can successfully pass, then you will not be called a commoner.”

This attitude caused a slight stir in everyone’s hearts. Even Huo Liancheng and Huo Xingyuan father and son re-examined Lu Xingzhou closely, their thoughts difficult to discern.

Lu Xingzhou said, “I receive Your Majesty’s auspicious words.”

Gu Zhanting said, “In the case of Huo Heng, you are the involved party, and also the victim. Do you have anything you wish to say?”

Lu Xingzhou said, “Regarding the so-called Hehuan Saintess and the like, although there was a demoness present at the scene, it cannot be judged if she was the mastermind. Theoretically speaking, Infant Ghost is a third-grade demon cultivator, and Hehuan Saintess has just debuted and is only a fourth-grade. Who is the master and who is the follower? Isn’t that reversed? If you ask for my personal thoughts, I would suspect this is a form of self-hypnosis protection, intended to prevent others from performing shallow soul-searching and to confuse perception.”

Pei Qingyan suppressed a laugh. Meng Guan’s face was expressionless.

Gu Zhanting also seemed to have a hint of amusement, “So you believe that behind the Infant Ghost is indeed the Huo family?”

“I do not know the previous matters and dare not speak recklessly. I can only say that it was indeed Huo Heng and the Infant Ghost who jointly attacked me.”

This time even Gu Zhanting was stunned for a moment. This fellow truly wasn’t following the lead to attack the Huo family?

Was he truly intending to recognize his ancestors and return to the clan, or did he have other ideas?

Yet, he heard Lu Xingzhou continue, “This commoner has another matter to file a complaint about!”

Gu Zhanting smiled with great interest, “What complaint do you wish to file?”

“This commoner files a complaint against the fifth young master of the Huo family, Huo Jin, for colluding with the demon path’s Yanluo Hall and hiring assassins to kill. First, under the pretext of Huo Jin inviting, he invited Chu Qingchen, a direct disciple of the Hwan Flower Sword Sect, to a banquet and set up an ambush to assassinate him. Later, he used the same trick, inviting me to a banquet, intending to intercept and kill me on the way. Fortunately, this commoner had early preparations and did not repeat brother Chu’s misfortune.” Lu Xingzhou again cupped his hands, “Hwan Flower Sword Sect is a famous sect in the world. Brother Chu is ranked seventh among new talents with unlimited future. He was harmed by collusion with demon cultivators. Please Your Majesty make a decision!”

The whole scene was silent as cicadas in winter.

Gu Zhanting raised an eyebrow, his face becoming very expressive.

He had seen through it. This Lu Xingzhou had mostly guessed that he did not want to use the Infant Ghost case to move the Huo family, otherwise, he would not have delayed until today and waited for Huo Heng to be escorted to the capital. So he simply didn’t argue about this case. In any case, the Huo Heng case could at least implicate the Huo family for not governing their family strictly, and punishment was unavoidable. He simply added another blow, placing the hat of colluding with demon cultivators on Huo Jin.

No matter how Huo Liancheng tried to clear his own relations, the family’s reputation would become a laughingstock in the world, and he would also solidly attract the hatred of the Hwan Flower Sword Sect.

Sheng Qingfeng’s face was similarly very expressive. Colluding with the demon path’s Yanluo Hall? Are you talking about yourself?

Huo Liancheng hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, Huo Jin has never left the capital. How could he know the so-called Yanluo Hall demon cultivators? Huo Jin invited Lu Xingzhou to a banquet simply because they had a conflict previously and he wanted to resolve this enmity. Linking the Ye Wufeng case with this invitation to a banquet makes no sense.”

Gu Zhanting smiled, “Lu Xingzhou, accusations must have evidence. You cannot simply speculate based on someone inviting you to a meal, can you?”

“Of course there is evidence.” Lu Xingzhou took out a small mirror from his chest, “This is a recording mirror from Yanluo Hall. Yanluo Hall generally uses this to record files for large transactions. It is both to account to superiors that they did not kill randomly and to prevent employers from going back on their word.”

Huo Liancheng and Huo Xingyuan immediately changed color.

Not many people in this world knew about Yanluo Hall’s rule of secretly leaving evidence. Even if they knew, where did you get this mirror?

Beside them, Sheng Yuanyao smilingly took the mirror and handed it up to her old dad. She was the bystander who watched Lu Xingzhou go to the Yanluo Hall branch to retrieve the mirror. The people from Yanluo Hall even knelt and saluted Lu Xingzhou… Oh right, this recording rule was personally set by Lu Xingzhou a few years ago.

Eating this melon was very enjoyable.

Huo Liancheng said, “Wait, how did you get your hands on Yanluo Hall’s things? Isn’t it forged?”

“Ha… Grand Tutor Huo has been at home walking birds for too long, so his news is not well-informed?” Lu Xingzhou said faintly, “Last night, Yanluo Hall released an announcement saying that Ye Wufeng disregarded the rules and had already been expelled. His evidence of crime was delivered to the door by Yanluo Hall to show a clear separation.”

Sheng Qingfeng quietly asked, “Your Majesty…”

Gu Zhanting nodded, “Play it.”

Ripples flashed in the mirror. The image inside was not very clear, but Ye Wufeng and Huo Jin’s faces could still be clearly recognized.

“If we create an environment where Lu Xingzhou is alone, will the Soul Detainer dare to make a move to kill?”

“Your Huo family plays a good scheme. You say he will be alone, but at that time, wouldn’t everyone witness that Yanluo Hall killed Lu Xingzhou, completely shifting the blame?”

“The Soul Detainer is overthinking…”

“Then give me proof.”

“How to prove it?”

“There’s a guy named Chu Qingchen. I found him unpleasant to look at… You first create an environment for me to kill him, to prove how you do it.”

“Bang!” Gu Zhanting angrily slammed the table, “This is what you said you didn’t know! Hwan Flower Sword Sect is a famous righteous sect. Chu Qingchen might become a pillar of my Great Qian in the future. Is his life just like this, sent off in the game between your playboys and the demon path?”

The influence of Hwan Flower Sword Sect was not a joke either. In modern times, it would be like rights playboys murdering a 985 master, surely a trending topic.

Even more infuriating was that this was just a game-like addition, existing as a “deposit.”

If the sect master of Hwan Flower Sword Sect knew about this, they would surely fight to the death with the Huo family.

But who knew Yanluo Hall still had this kind of evidence recording? Unexpectedly, they even actively delivered it!

Lu Xingzhou leisurely said, “It seems the Huo family’s fourth son is not good, and this fifth son is also not good…”

From his words, it could be roughly judged that he was still only targeting these useless sons of the Huo family and did not intend to expand to the entire Huo family. Huo Liancheng and Huo Xingyuan couldn’t help but understand this meaning. They knelt on the ground together, “Your Majesty, this minister has not governed his family strictly and is willing to accept severe punishment.”

Gu Zhanting looked at Lu Xingzhou. Lu Xingzhou just smiled slightly and said nothing more.

Gu Zhanting took a deep breath and said faintly, “Huo Heng and Huo Jin colluded with demon cultivators, harming the country’s new talents. The evidence is conclusive. From today on, revoke all their hereditary ranks, cane them one hundred times, and imprison them for three years. Huo Heng is already seriously injured, so the caning punishment is temporarily exempted. Huo Xingyuan has no method for teaching his sons and has not governed his family strictly. Demote his rank by one level and order him to compensate the victims, Hwan Flower Sword Sect and Lu Xingzhou, until the victims are satisfied!”

The Huo family father and son kowtowed, “Thank Your Majesty for the grace.”

Pei Qingyan, Sheng Qingfeng, and others watched from the side, their hearts somewhat shocked.

They had originally thought Lu Xingzhou needed to rely on them to deal with the Huo family, but this matter had actually not relied on them for anything from beginning to end. It could be said that it was entirely Lu Xingzhou’s own operation.

Although he did not shake the foundation of the Huo family… the blow was also not insignificant. The Huo family, originally claiming a prosperous population with six direct sons, now had one dead in Xia State and two imprisoned for three years with bad reputations, basically wasted.

Only three remained. Thinking that Lu Xingzhou was still watching their every move moment by moment, they were probably also frightened and unable to sleep peacefully.

He was truly attempting, with one person’s strength, to gradually lead the entire Huo family into fear and torment.

But with this strength contrast resembling a mantis trying to stop a chariot, what would he do if the Huo family went all out? The Huo family had not forced the issue to that extent before, not wanting to gain a “kill son” reputation. That didn’t mean they truly couldn’t kill. If they were truly forced, there was no reason why they couldn’t kill.

Pei Qingyan calculated in his heart. Seeing that Gu Zhanting seemed about to leave, he suddenly stepped forward and saluted, “Your Majesty, speaking of family style… this minister also wishes to ask for punishment.”

Gu Zhanting was startled, “Oh? What matter, beloved minister?”

“Eighteen years ago, this minister indulged for one night and left a daughter wandering in the jianghu, yet was always unaware. I have only recently found her. I am ashamed as a father.”

Not to mention Sheng Yuanyao’s eyes instantly brightened, even Gu Zhanting became interested, “Tell me about this matter. What do you want?”

Pei Qingyan kowtowed, “This minister is willing to accept any punishment, only seeking a hereditary rank for my daughter, so that she may not suffer the slander of being an illegitimate child and return to the family door grandly.”

Gu Zhanting thoughtfully said, “This matter of yours… is also greatly damaging to your own reputation. Even if you feel guilty towards the child, you should discuss it with me privately… Throwing this out at this time, is there a bit of an inside story?”

“Yes.” Pei Qingyan said seriously, “My daughter wandered in the jianghu. It was Young Master Lu Xingzhou who took her in and helped her find her relatives. This is a great kindness. Pei is saying this matter publicly just hoping that some people will know that if there are any more assassination attempts similar to Ye Wufeng’s, then it will be equivalent to assassinating my daughter, and the Hedong Pei family will be irreconcilable with them!”