The Inverted Dragon’s Scale

079 – Under the sword of tribulation!


Who would not be terrified?!

Li Muyang was glad that the little amount of gold inside his crotch was untouched in the end; if he spends his money wisely, find a part-time job at school, deny himself of comforts and have thrifty meals, maybe he won’t need to ask his parents for money. So that he can avoid explaining too much and making them suspicious, if they ran to the ship company only to find out that he encountered this they would be worrying all night, unable to sleep, right?

Li Muyang had always blamed himself for not doing something for his parents, so he tried his best not to give his parents any trouble.

He had no idea that in the blink of an eye he would be blamed for colluding with the enemies—–this is not a joking matter, according to the West Wind Kingdom’s law, if there is a collaborationist they are beheaded immediately.

In other words, if this group of black-robe men were unhappy with him, they could sever him into several chunks straight away and throw him into Fowl Crying Lake to feed the fish.

As for whether or not it was true, is it just according to what comes out of their mouth?
“Do you have evidence?” Li Muyang felt a strong hatred in his heart, an urge to slice this guy more than twenty times, but he tried his best to keep his emotions calm. The angrier he was, the more likely they’d think he’s guilty.

What’s most important now is that the enemies are strong and he’s weak, if he provoked them, he would only be at a disadvantage and suffer a beating?

Li Muyang just now personally witnessed the way each of them soared into the air like they were treading on land, and with the draw of a sword the whole roof of the ship had disappeared. Cui Zhaoren made Li Muyang think of assassin Crow, he thought to himself that even assassin Crow may not escape easily from him.

He should be cautious of what he says. If he really can’t endure it any longer, then he could bring up Cui Xiaoxin’s name and say he’s Tiandu’s Cui family’s son-in-law—–Li Shinian once vaguely mentioned Cui Xiaoxin’s family background. Li Muyang was quite shocked after hearing it but at the same time also very distressed, yet he can only sigh aloud that fate is cruel. This time he could also use the Cui family’s name to scare these damn black-robed idiots—–

“Evidence?” Cui Zhaoren pointed his finger at the several scholars around Li Muyang. “What they say is evidence.”

“You only listened to their side of the story and you firmly believe that I committed the crime of colluding with enemies?”

“There’s so many people on this ship, why did he only speak for you?” An ice-cold smiling expression surface on Cui Zhaoren’s face, his eyes sizing Li Muyang up, thinking to himself what is the possibility of Li Muyang colluding with enemies. “The kingdom’s Monitor Division was escorting important criminals, our whereabouts are extremely secretive, it’s almost impossible for anyone to know of, yet the enemy was able to drill a hole—–Just now you also heard Shi Yuanyang’s words, they had been deceived to come to rob this ship.”

“Also, last night when your money were stolen you led a group of people to search our deck, did you intentionally tried to create chaos for those people, as to divert our attention? So many people also witnessed this, did I say anything wrong?”

“The person asked to search the ship wasn’t me.” Li Muyang hurriedly explained, then pointed to Zhang Linpu standing at the side. “He was the first to suggest to search the ship and he brought people to the stairwell of the third deck. Did you not see? If that’s the case, are they not more suspicious of colluding with the enemies? Because the chaos was first created by them. I’m just a quiet follower.”

“Li Muyang——” Zhang Linpu’s little heart and liver was nearly frightened to the point of cracking, with the look of anger across his face, he lifted his finger, pointing to Li Muyang and lashed out: “You despicable person, don’t try to pull me down. At that time I was arguing with the fat man and almost got into a fight. It was you—–He was speaking for you. Also he scolded us ‘frogs in a well’ and not being aware of the vastness of Starry Sky. Could it be that you two knew each other beforehand?”

“You see, as a matter of fact this even more proves that I have nothing to do with him? If you were to form a secret partnership with someone, shouldn’t you pretend not know each other, or create a number of fierce conflicts to emphasise that they have no relationship with each other—–just like how you argued with him. If we knew each other, why would he speak for me in front of everyone? If we really did worked together, now that he’s successful, why am I still left on the ship?”

Li Muyang stood still looking dejected, then said with a face of injustice: “Because I achieved first place of the kingdom and I was commended. Also, because Jiangnan city’s lord Yan Bolai is my uncle and the lord’s son Yan Xiangma is my brother, so they discriminate me and tried to attack me with cutting remarks——I understand that it’s the taller trees in the woods that get their tops blown off. I also know that the gale always targets the towering trees with dense branches—–but I can’t help it. I did not want to be the first, I also did not want the lord of Jiangnan to be my uncle, but I can’t choose my own background——-”
“———–” Cui Zhaoren felt the urge to sever this kid into two. Is the Tiandu’s Cui family for ignorant childrens like you to be compared to?

“I can swear on my uncle, Jiangnan city’s lord Yan Bolai’s, honour, I had never done that robbery or helped the enemy. If I did, let my uncle not die peacefully. If you wish to criminate someone, there will be no difficulty in finding a suitable pretext. The crime of colluding with the enemy, I, Li Muyang really cannot carry it.”

“———–” Cui Zhaoren’s sword was swaying non-stop in his hand, he felt he had lost control of the righteousness within his body. Must do something that suppress the evil and give peace to the good people to resolve this.

“Whether or not you colluded with the enemies, you and I can’t decide——” The murderous spirit within Cui Zhaoren’s eyes began to saturate the air as he glared coldly at Li Muyang. “Come with us to the Monitor Department and everything will be made clear.”

Monitor Division is known as the kingdom’s iron prison, it is said that life is no better than death in there. Even if celestial beings entered they would also be stripped of their layer of gold and their strength of faith taken away.

Li Muyang obviously would not go.

He can’t go.

He does not possess the nature of rather die than to surrender nor does he have the moral character to sacrifice for justice, and moreover he would not let you torture him in every possible ways to just wait for a sea of fire to throw himself into and reborn into Nirvana——his mouth is not very tight and his bones are not very strong. And he’s only just turned a little whiter, more handsome, he doesn’t want to be thrown into the prison and become a ghost or a useless person.

“I can’t go.” Li Muyang said. “I’ve been enrolled into Starry Sky Academy, a senior personally came down to Jiangnan on a crane to announce the good news to me, he also repeatedly told me to be present during the period of enrolment.”

“Starry Sky Academy?” Cui Zhaoren’s eyes widen with a gleaming radiance, looking at Li Muyang in disbelief.

“Yes.” Li Muyang said proudly. Thank heavens! Finally found a strong backer. When he mentioned Jiangnan City’s Yan Bolai and his Son Yan Xiangma this guy did not pay any attention——It seems Yan Bolai’s power were not that impressive.
Cui Zhaoren’s eyes were flashing, once again inspected Li Muyang seriously from top to bottom.

The situation became much more complicated.

This guy was actually admitted into Starry Sky Academy, this is indeed beyond belief.

“You say you’ve been enrolled into Starry Sky Academy?”

“Yes.”

“You were selected based on the results of first place in the exam?”

“Yes.”

“Hah——–” Cui Zhaoren sneered out loud.

Each year, there is someone who achieves first in the exam. As long as there’s an exam, there will always be a first place.

However, not every first place could be admitted to Starry Sky Academy.

Also, to be admitted into Starry Sky Academy with the results of the first place in the imperial exams——–besides Li Muyang, only the ‘immortal poet’ Li Qiubai thousand years ago achieved this.

Assuming Li Muyang did not tell any lies.

He wanted him to lie, because it’s very easy to find out if he was first place in the exam or if he was actually enrolled into Starry Sky Academy.

However, if he’s not lying, then there must be someone powerful behind him——

Cui Zhaoren suddenly started to believe that Li Muyang had indeed colluded with the enemy.

Cui Zhaoren slowly walked towards Li Muyang and said with a smile: “It seems you need to take a trip with us——-Don’t worry, you won’t miss the enrolment period.”

As he spoke, Cui Zhaoren pulled out his sword, thrusting towards Li Muyang’s head.

Kill!

No matter if you’re the first place in the kingdom or you’re a student of Starry Sky Academy, now that you’re on this ship and treaded on muddy water, don’t expect to escape in one piece.

If someone died, so what if they were first in the exam, so what if they were admitted into Starry Sky Academy.

As long as you’re charged with the crime of colluding with the enemy, even if Starry Sky is unhappy, they still have to respect the kingdom’s decision——Monitor Department is acting on behalf of the emperor, would they retaliate just because a student did not enroll?

Moreover it’s a dead student.

As for the person behind helping Li Muyang, Cui Zhaoren’s simply does not care at all.

Since he’s not able to confirm Li Muyang’s background and can’t determine if he’s on his side—–at this critical juncture, if he’s not one of his people then he’s an enemy.

If he’s dead, he’s dead, what can they do?

Grim-faced bodhisattva, bodhisattva protecting the country, cold-hearted killing.

This matter was too abrupt; nobody thought Cui Zhaoren would suddenly draw his sword to kill.

The sword sprung up like a sudden clap of thunder, then like a shooting star streaked across the sky.

The scene passed by in a twinkling; no one was able to react.

This is one of the top masters in the kingdom. Those who encountered grim-faced bodhisattva Cui Zhaoren’s ‘Sword of tribulation’ that could change endlessly would have countless thoughts and inspiration.

Facing the ‘Sword of tribulation’, it is hard to pass your tribulation. This was a common phrase in West Wind Kingdom. What it complimented on was the compatibility and fearsomeness between the technique ‘Sword of tribulation’ and the [Secrets of the hundred and eight thousand heaven’s will].

As for Li Muyang—–

The moment the long sword was unsheathed, Cui Zhaoren already regarded him as a dead person.