The youthâs voice boomed throughout the nine floors.
âThis kid doesn't seem too bad. Whose kid is he? He has quite the air of righteousness!â
Many quickly noticed him.
âHeâs Lin Jianchen, the second son of the Third Branch Master, Lin Xiaoyun. He should be in his forties.â
âHeâs just passed his thirties and is very domineering. Very much the style of the Lin Clan.
His name implied that he may have some link with Lin Jianxing.
âIs that Lin Feng still not coming out?â
âHe knows he screwed up, so heâs hiding inside. Weâve all seen too many criminals like him.â
People all craned their necks.
âLin Jianchen, go in and catch him before he escapes!â many shouted.
Lin Jianchen and his teammates looked at each other. âTake action!â
At this moment, a white-haired youth leisurely walked out from the dark cultivation room.
âWow, such a turn-out!â Tianming was startled to find thousands gathered around. He hadnât come out as he had been using the carefree wonder, the Greenspark Tower, and his strong Primordial Chaos Beast Physique to wipe the drug from his system. It was quite the drug; it had even seeped into his albi. It could drive him mad and inflame his passion, causing his judgment to be affected. Confusion had been the druggerâs true purpose. Tianming had spent quite a bit of effort to calm himself down, otherwise, he would have been easily led around by the nose.
Suddenly, a voice boomed like lightning, âLin Feng!â
Tianming turned and saw a handsome man with a righteous aura dressed in sword robes. [1]
âHow daring of you! You relied on your status as a direct descendant to threaten and force yourself upon a lady of your clan. You ignored the rules of the family and harmed the image of the clan. Such vile deeds have made you the shame of the clan. We have witnesses and evidence, so our Myriadsword Patrol will apprehend you and bring you to the Hall of Discipline today!
Many people started clapping at Lin Jianchenâs words.
âHe deserves it.â
âItâs karma coming for him.â
âThis Lin Feng was born with a decent appearance, but what a filthy man he is on the inside.â
âI mean, itâs obvious when you remember who his father was.â
Lin Jianchen led his teammates toward Tianming to apprehend him.
Tianming stepped back, his expression confused. âWait, what? Forced myself upon who? Witness and evidence? Show me first.â
Lin Jianchen stopped and looked toward Lin Xingqing and her companions.
âShameless! When we came up, we saw you assaulting Big Sis Xingqing. You even ripped her clothes!â
âIf you werenât too weak, how could Big Sis Xingqing have escaped?â
âGo and die!â
Those ladies all began angrily cursing him.
âLin Feng. They personally witnessed it, what do you have to say?â Lin Jianchen frowned.
âAre these your witnesses? Theyâre all her friends, how can their words count?â
âThen what do you think?â Lin Jianchen frowned, clearly wanting Tianming to dig his own grave.
âClearly, theyâre framing me.â Tianmingâs reply was full of confidence. Just as Lin Jianchen had wanted, his fearless expression set everyone off.
âHow could anyone be so shameless!â
âTheyâre from your own branch! A bunch of young ladies and you claim theyâre framing you? How could they have the courage?â
âThis bastard!â
Lin Xingqing and the other ladies were furious as well.
âDonât argue with him, thereâs no point.â Lin Xingqing panicked.
âBig Sis Xingqing! No need to be scared, everyone here will help you!â
âNo one will believe his defamation. Think of who his father was, can this sort of person be brought up well?â
As Lin Jianchen had planned, Tianmingâs rebuttal had incited public wrath.
âDonât let him drag it out. If his grandparents come, black will become white.â
âYes!â
As part of the audience, Tianming sighed in amazement. âImpressive. They know how to feign weakness and win sympathy from passers-by with a sense of justice. If enough people say it, you can stick any label on me and turn me into a public enemy.â Disciples of a sixth-level nova source world really knew how to play the game of manipulating emotions.
Nobody present knew the truth; or rather, the truth didnât matter. They were more willing to believe a group of weak-looking women than the infamous son of Lin Mu.
âLin Feng, if you want to dissemble and use your status to bully others, do it at the Hall of Discipline. Donât ruin the business and embarrass us before outsiders.â Lin Jianchenâs goal had been reached. Unless Tianming cut open his stomach, there was no way to prove there were drugs in his system. The patrol quickly charged forward once more.
However, they didnât expect Tianming to take out a gold-and-black sword and rest it on his shoulder.
âYou dare to resist?â Lin Jianchen roared.
Tianming smiled and shrugged, looking at Lin Jianchenâs disciple card. He was a second son of the clan and a grade-four disciple! His occupation was the team leader of Team Seventy-Three of the Myriadsword Patrol.
âHowâre you related to Lin Jianxing?â Tianming asked.
The question gave Lin Jianchen pause. He hadnât expected Tianming would ask that in this situation. âHeâs my cousin, why?â
They indeed werenât siblings. Lin Jianchen was the son of the Third Branch Master, but Lin Jianxing wasnât Lin Xiaoyunâs son. That meant that Lin Jianchen was higher in status. However, he was younger and hadnât reached Lin Jianxingâs level yet.
One of the youths next to Lin Jianchen whispered into his ear, âTeam Leader, the hysteria herb wonât last for long. We should kill him while itâs in effect! Donât let him babble on!â This was their purpose in drugging him. To them, Tianmingâs seemingly suicidal actions were a result of the hysteria herb; otherwise, shouldnât he be quaking in his boots right now?
âGo!â
However, they didnât expect Tianming to swing his sword and his expression to turn frosty. âDonât move!â
âYou want to resist arrest? Another crime!â Lin Jianchen was furious.
âA load of hogwash. Donât try to pull a fast one. I may have just come here yesterday, but I already know the Lin Clan House Rules like the back of my hand. Listen up: number one, all fighting is prohibited within the Myriadsword Emporium! Number two, the Myriadsword Patrolâs responsibility is to maintain order within the emporium. Youâre to deal with troublemaker customers, not your own clan members. You lack the authority to bring me to the Hall of Discipline. Third, if you try to attack me here, you all are the ones disrupting order and violating the house rules. Understood?â Tianmingâs words smoothly flowed, giving pause to the patrol team.
âWhat? Want to bully a newcomer?â Tianming snorted and flicked his sleeves. âThe patrol is a nice way of saying security guards. A security guard wanting to arrest a supervisor? Did you even stop to think how ridiculous that sounds?â
Security guards! They really hadnât expected Tianming to remain so fearless even now. The audience was furious at his logic.
âHow can you be so fearless when youâre just relying on your grandparents?â
âHe really has no shame.â
âIf he escapes the law like this, those ladies from just now will have a bad end. Their corpses may mysteriously show up some day.â
âSo scaryâ¦.â
Some Lin Clan disciples helplessly said, âHeâs right.... According to the house rules, the patrol team may even get into trouble if they touch him.â
âWe have to wait for the Hall of Discipline!â
Tianming smoothly made his next move. As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped out of the ninth-floor window and landed on the street outside.
âHe wants to run!â
âDonât let him escape!â
âIf he gets to those protecting him, heâll turn black into white and may even frame those ladies!â
âPlease help in the name of justice, everyone!â
âIâve always hated this kind of beast the most!â
When Tianming jumped down, he was followed by several thousand people. Clearly, his identity as Lin Muâs son and a brewing scandal had led to a lot of attention.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Many people made space when he came down.
âWhat happened?â
âI heard that the son of Lin Mu assaulted several subordinates on his first day as supervisor.â
âI heard he even killed a few people to cover it up.â
âLin Feng, was it?â
âThatâs him!â
Tianming could already hear the rumor mill working full time to exaggerate things as soon as he arrived. The crowd had also swelled to tens of thousands of people.
1. See the Translatorâs Notes section for Ryogawaâs brilliant depiction of sword robes â