The Legend of the Devil
Ch. 165 - Death Penalty of Jiazhen Wu
The situation in the center of the Diqiu Empire city was extremely lively and boisterous. People were crowded around a man who was talking in a loud voice. He said that Emperor Ziran had committed fraud and manipulated the death of a swordsman named Kang Jian.
The public looked shocked and confused, some of them shouting and protesting against the accusations, while others doubted his utterances because they believed Ziran Zhao could not possibly do such a thing.
Even some of them started to hold weapons and asked for stronger evidence. However, the man was calm, seemed confident in his statement and continued to speak in an increasingly loud voice. The atmosphere grew increasingly heated as time went on, there were booing and opposing voices from some who disagreed with Jiazhen Wu.
As the situation grew increasingly heated and out of control, the city's on-duty soldiers arrived at the scene to help control the crowd. They form a line and try to separate the people involved in the debate.
Jiazhen Wu still conveyed all the conjectures and evidence she had, it was unclear what she meant. On the other hand Xue Zhan was trying to understand what the man was doing.
Why did he announce it in front of the people and not go directly to Emperor Ziran alone? Xue Zhan frowned. Could it be that if he delivered directly, the man would be silenced and put to death?
By speaking before people at least all the information he had gathered was known to everyone. Even though he had to bear severe punishment. Xue Zhan did not understand why Jiazhen Wu took this kind of desperate action. Being too panicked, Xue Zhan had forgotten about Xiang Yi Bai and Fenghuang who were left behind and they were separated from each other.
Meanwhile, the crowd continued to grow and the situation grew increasingly uncontrollable.
The city soldiers in charge tried to control the crowd and maintain order, but it seemed difficult to calm down everyone involved in this incident.
Some people who disagreed with the claims expressed continued to try to approach Jiazhen Wu and attack him with harsh words. The city soldiers who tried to obstruct them were eventually forced to use force to maintain order and disperse the crowd.
Jiazhen Wu seems to already know where this all ends up and does not care about the consequences.
Xue Zhan knew that Jiazhen Wu was a famous swordsman who was respected by many, yet she could not imagine that Jiazhen Wu would take such a big decision.
What happened until Jiazhen Wu changed, she had absolutely no idea who the person before her was now.
Xue Zhan saw how the crowd reacted to Jiazhen Wu's accusations. Some were visibly angry and regarded the accusation as an insult to the Emperor, while others began to consider the evidence presented by Jiazhen Wu and believed his conjecture.
As the situation heated up, a man suddenly appeared who looked very angry and wrathful. He was the Diqiu Empire's Supreme Warrior Chief who was appointed by Emperor Ziran himself. He denied Jiazhen Wu's accusations and called on the public to remain calm and not believe the news of the bird that was not yet certain of its truth.
"I don't think, after all the good the Emperor has given you and your clan, you easily betrayed and stabbed His Majesty in the back. What a shameless thing!"
snapping, both of his thick eyebrows tightly knit each other. It seemed that the man would not hesitate to draw his sword to kill Jiazhen Wu even though they were friends.
Namu Jiazhen Wu remained firm in her stance and countered with even more cynical words, stating that they were the ones who were actually deceived by Emperor Ziran.
The debate is getting heated. Jiazhen Wu was arrested and taken to court for trial by the Council of Nine. He was accused of defaming Emperor Ziran and was considered to have committed treason against the state.
The Council of Nine is famous for its cruelty. They had no compassion and often took cruel decisions, even to the point of putting to death someone who was an imperial important person himself.
There was a small mutter as Jiazhen Wu was dragged away by the city officials.
"Even the death penalty won't scare me. I've lost everything. I lost my wife and son without knowing who killed them." He stared deep into the Emperor's palace. "If you're the killer, I'll never forgive you, Ziran Zhao."
Xue Zhan quickly caught up with the group.
He wandered the bustling streets leading to the palace, disguised among a busy crowd of people figuring out what was happening. He avoided the gazes of the soldiers and kept from being too flashy. After a while, Xue Zhan arrived in front of the palace gate and entered quickly before the soldiers suspected him.
He was trying to figure out where the Chief Warrior had taken Jiazhen Wu by circling the wide hallways and trying to avoid the palace maids by pretending to join a group of nobles to avoid suspicion.
Eventually Xue Zhan found Jiazhen Wu taken to the Palace Hall where Emperor Ziran had been waiting with the Nine Councils and the others.
The man's face was heavily wrathful. But still held back in order to convey clearly his words.
"You are making a very serious accusation, Lord Jiazhen," Emperor Ziran said in a stern tone. "I never killed Kang Jian. I'm an Emperor, I don't need the strength of a swordsman to defend my throne. Especially just for strength, covering up disgrace, burying information or all kinds of accusations that you've made on me."
Jiazhen Wu looked at the Emperor with contention. "You betrayed our trust. You said earlier that you would deploy troops to find out who killed my wife, but until now there's never been any news of all that nonsense."
Anyone who saw Jiazhen Wu would probably understand what she was going through. Decades ago, he lost his wife in the war. Many strange things do not find the answer even though time has passed. All the emotions he harbored for so many years without sound finally broke out. Jiazhen Wu was hit hard after the death of his wife and now he also lost his son.
But that was not an excuse to defame Ziran Zhao.
"You manipulated Kang Jian's death, unleashing the demons massacred this empire a dozen years ago, killing those who had information and deceiving everyone in this Empire!" firmly loud. "Because of you, I lost a lot of things. Even though I am exerting everything for this Empire ... All free. You and the Nine Council are here allied with the enemy. You want it too, don't you? All that sky heirloom?"
Everyone was shocked to hear Jiazhen Wu's words.
All allegations and evidence were issued by Jiazhen Wu's right hand in public. Sounds reasonable and starts to raise bad issues about Emperor Ziran. The man cleared his throat easing the commotion.
"Your evidence and conjecture are completely untrue, this is an accusation not the truth" Emperor Ziran replied calmly. "Don't until you make an irreparable mistake, Mr. Jiazhen. The Nine Councils are already considering the death penalty for you. Do you really want to end your life like this?"
Xue Zhan looked at the increasingly tense state between Emperor Ziran and Jiazhen Wu on the other side of the room.
"Bring Mr. Jiazhen to the dungeon. The death sentence for him will be decided in 24 hours."
Sure enough, without mercy Ziran Zhao immediately decided. It doesn't matter that they used to be best friends. No wonder, even the Nine Councils directly approved his decision. This included a fatal and intolerable matter that Jiazhen Wu had to bear the consequences of her own actions.