Star Gate

Chapter 682: A Dense Multitude of Powerhouses (II)

“Commander Li, I am Chief Justice Qi Zhao of the Supreme Court from the Ministry of the Judiciary. According to the law, the Ministry of Justice needs to appraise and pass judgment on the crimes that these people have committed. Is that their decision letters in the commander’s hand?

“If so, please permit me to peruse them!” A man looked at Li Hao with a smile. Aren’t you talking about law and order? Then give me that! If not, everything you’re doing today is illegal and you, Li Hao, are just abusing your power.

Qi Zhao was undermining the legitimacy of Li Hao’s judgments and sentencing from the roots. His veto was to say you’re wrong. When nobles set their plans in motion, they did so in an airtight manner. Whether it was out in the open or in the shadows, they wouldn’t open with an outright attack on Li Hao. They wouldn’t be able to salvage their dignity and losses even if they publicly executed the young man.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Senior President of the Tribunal were the two positions with the most power under the minister and deputy ministers of the Ministry of the Judiciary. Qi Zhao was a metamorphosis and even stronger than some deputy ministers. He was one who possessed real strength.

Li Hao looked at him, then at the documents in his hands. He smiled at the man. “Chief Justice Qi wishes to audit these files?”

“Correct!” Qi Zhao nodded. “This is the proper procedure and the law. We can neither acquit a criminal nor convict an innocent if there are discrepancies. Commander Li is prejudiced against the nobility and committed to their sentencing before a thorough investigation. That does not conform with the law...”

Li Hao continued smiling and looking at the man. “You are wrong, Chief Justice Qi!”

“Hmm?” Qi Zhao stared at the young man. I’m wrong? How am I wrong?

“The nine ministries enacted a new law twenty years ago!” Li Hao explained calmly. “The new law stated that superhumans and mundanes are to be governed separately. The Night Watchers represent the superhuman, so any that fall under this purview will be part of their jurisdiction. The Ministry of the Judiciary oversees only the mundanes. The Night Watchers are the agency that governs superhumans!

“Are there any mundanes present here?” Li Hao grinned with a shake of his head. “Not only do the superhumans fall to me, but so do you, Chief Justice Qi!” The young man’s tone turned severe. “Do you understand? Also, how do you not comprehend basic law as the highest senior of the Ministry of the Judiciary?”

“There was such a rule twenty years ago.” Qi Zhao frowned. “But the supernatural had just appeared then and laws were not complete. The Night Watchers were just temporarily in charge of the superhumans. Now that twenty years have passed and the times change, so have the laws been reformed. The Ministry of the Judiciary submitted a new proposal several days ago that does not leave the Night Watchers solely in charge of the superhuman...”

“Have the nine ministries and royal family ratified it?” Li Hao looked at him. “If they have, where is the document stamped by the nine ministries and royal family?”

“They naturally have!” Qi Zhao took out papers that Li Hao grabbed for a look. He narrowed his eyes at them.

“The Inspectorate, Ministry of Finance, and royal family have not stamped these.”

“It is enough if the majority agrees!” Qi Zhao refuted calmly. He was prepared as expected since he’d stepped forward.

The Ministry of Finance had shut its doors and washed its hands clean of everything. The inspector general had disappeared—apparently for closed door cultivation. The royal family had always been of the attitude of not signing anything that the nine ministries gave them. Delaying tactics were its usual response.

However, stamps from seven of the ministries was enough. That was over half of the nine ministries.

“Very well, I see.” Li Hao inclined his head with a smile. “But this does not apply to me.”

“Does Commander Li flout the law now as well?” Qi Zhao smiled.

“No.” Li Hao shook his head. “It’s just that these documents do not adhere to regulation! As the party involved, the Night Watchers were completely oblivious about it...”

“I knew about it!” Yellow Dragon strode forward. “I knew of it and agreed to it!”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Li Hao snorted at him. “Do you really think of yourself as something by being a deputy director? Has Director Yao agreed?”

“Director Yao is in poor health, leaving me in charge of the agency. What is so inappropriate about this?” Yellow Dragon looked coldly at the young man.

“Do you have the director’s official seal?”

Yellow Dragon frowned. “Li Hao, there is no use in presenting unreasonable demands!”

“I speak of the law with you, but you tell me it’s unreasonable demands,” Li Hao laughed. “When I speak of fighting with you, you wish to discuss rules and regulations. Do you think people don’t know the one who’s actually being unreasonable? You are neither the director nor have his seal. How is a deputy director qualified to make decisions for the Night Watchers?”

Li Hao ignored him and looked into the sky. There seemed to be a supernatural object there recording everything and beaming to all of the projection screens in the city. He smiled at it.

“An ad-hoc revision of the law is not valid! That does not fulfill procedure or agree with custom. Or do the seven ministries think that the dynasty no longer needs law and order? If that is so, then please dismantle the Ministry of the Judiciary!”

No one answered him. Qi Zhao pursed his lips and looked at Yellow Dragon. This guy hadn’t been able to secure a document stamped by Yao Si. He couldn’t even handle such a minor matter!

Meanwhile, Yellow Dragon cursed to himself. Yao Si had completely shut himself up lately. He neither participated in anything nor received visitors. All he said was that he wasn’t involved in these matters, so how was Yellow Dragon supposed to produce a document bearing his seal?!

“Therefore, the law is still the law of before!” Li Hao smiled. “Please stop interfering with me, I am about to proclaim these people’s crimes to give everyone an explanation and a reason for them to accept their deaths. I ask the world if these nobles should die!”

The two wanted to speak further, but the look in Li Hao’s eyes abruptly chilled and aura surged out of him, pressing down so firmly on them that they could barely breathe. The two men were startled—they were metamorphosis experts!

“Wu Yu...” Li Hao began.

......

Everyone in the city listened intently to the words coming out of the screen.

At this moment.

Powerhouses stood in a high building. Some scanned the surroundings, others quietly watched the screen, while some wore faint frowns.

“He can’t be allowed to read aloud like this. The blow to us will be too strong if he continues!”

“No, give him time, let him read!” coughed an old man. “Some people aren’t here yet. According to my knowledge, some of the Silver Moon savages are still on the way. These people will all run away as soon as Li Hao dies, which will put you in a difficult spot. As for what he’s reading, it will all become fabrication as soon as he dies. There’s nothing important about it!”

This was a rare joint operation; everyone hatched their own plans and ideas about the upcoming clash. However, they needed to wait! They needed to wait for some more Silver Moon martial masters to arrive so they could capture all of those barbarians in one go.

If they took action now before the right timing, they would have issues killing Northern Fist and Tyrant Blade. Neither of these men had been spotted. They knew about Yuan Shuo arriving, as well as Huang Yu.

That was far from enough. Were Earthturner Sword or Light Sword present? How about Sky Sword? He might come even if the others didn’t, since he wasn’t as far away as them.

“This will create quite a disturbance...” someone murmured. Li Hao was proclaiming all of their crimes in exceedingly loud voices. Projection screens were set up everywhere in the city and the entire city listened to the roll call.

“So what?” laughed one of his peers. “Even if the crimes are real, the children will all be found innocent in the end. The people won’t dare resist in the future!”

Their most important goal was to kill Li Hao. So long as they killed the brat and all of his people, none of these rebels would dare show their faces in the future.

“Have these juniors really committed so many crimes over these past years?” Some turned their attention to what was being read. “This old man recognizes some of them and they’re biddable enough in normal times. How could they have committed such wrongs?”

There were certain martial masters-turned-supernatural among the older generation. They’d been in closed door cultivation all this time and felt uncomfortable at what they were hearing.

“Some of them have indeed crossed the line... We should punish them after this and privately execute a few of them to intimidate the others.” Some nobles nodded, but were still in disagreement at Li Hao’s public executions.

They wouldn’t declare war on Silver Moon right now if Li Hao had done all this in private. Private and public were two entirely different concepts. Some people might not agree with the crimes that’d been done, or felt that the nobles had done absolutely nothing wrong. However, the masses and nobility should not be treated the same when they committed wrongdoing. Levying the same punishment on them and openly executing the guilty was a challenge to the nine ministries and royal authority.

Powerhouses who were dissatisfied with their proposed course of action said nothing further.

......

Li Hao sped through the list of crimes. A slow unrest gradually built within the city. Deep, pained sobs emitted from victims—the victims that were alive. Some were filled with righteous indignation, but there was nothing they could do. Some prayed quietly that these people must be killed. They’d only thought that it was a killing of nobles before, that it would be such a satisfying act. But why was it satisfying?

They didn’t know.

But in this moment, they gnashed their teeth with fury! What a bunch of animals! They all deserved to die! They all needed to die! Why did people want to protect animals such as these!

......

On the city walls.

Li Hao read for a long period of time, answered by ringing silence around him. Yellow Dragon, Qi Zhao, and a few others frowned wordlessly. That the powerhouses in the shadows hadn’t made their moves meant that they didn’t feel it was the right time to yet. However, the transgressions were hard to hear. It felt like millions of gazes were converged upon them, wanting to flay them alive through the sheer force of their eyes.

It took roughly an hour for Li Hao to finish the list of three hundred.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg!” he called out. “But we are short on time and cannot fully investigate all of the accusations, so we casually chose three hundred out of 2642 nobles! It is likely that at least ninety percent of the rest bear crimes on their heads!

“This is only the first batch today. There will be a second batch, third batch in times to come... These people ride roughshod over the people, turn a blind eye to the law, kill without regard for life, and are completely unredeemable. According to the law, they should all be executed!

“This is the judgment of the Skystar Commander Office, that they all be beheaded and displayed to the public! Prepare their execution!”

Three hundred Silver Moon Guards walked out with their weapons.