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Chapter 681: In Court

Court was held daily in the morning, but not all officials were eligible to be present.

Those who had matters to report were expected to be present; those who didn\'t, to excuse themselves. Not all officials had the privilege to attend, but most did.

The standard court sessions were intended to deal with urgent business; larger court sessions, which all officials were expected to attend, were held only monthly or even once every few months.

Such court sessions were meant to report on events that affected the kingdom on a large scale, and which none of the individual officials had the authority to adjudicate.

These larger court sessions were held whenever such an event occurred, and the number of people in attendance was a metric for how important the event was.

This time around, all eight princes and all officials were formally mandated to be present, and even the heads of the major clans of the kingdom had been summoned. Such a major court session hadn\'t been held in a very long time, and everyone present naturally realized that something massive must have happened.

The second prince\'s death and the attack on the capital all pointed toward one culprit: an alien race, the Jinghun.

Few knew of the Jinghun, not even the royalty. When they tried to learn more through their information networks—the other alien races present in the realm—they were immediately and uniformly told that the Jinghun were trouble, that they stirred up trouble and were wrapped up in trouble and always left trouble behind them.

Whenever the Jinghun appeared in the third realm, they manifested disaster after disaster.

Their racial ability was also a pain to deal with. Given the extent to which they could manipulate genetic lifeforms and the trouble they caused, they were a higher-priority target than genetic lifeforms for more races.

The royalty and court officials were naturally worried about the presence of the Jinghun in this realm given their unsavory reputation, and this court session was undoubtedly intended to deal with that problem.

The session began with the usual salutation to the king of the realm: "May his majesty live a thousand years!"

The gathered figures all bowed to the king of the realm. After the funeral, the king of the realm looked far older and more weary than before, but the domineering aura around him had only grown stronger.

"I assume everyone has heard of what happened during the royal hunt?" the king of the realm asked.

One of the officials called out, "It was a heart-wrenching disaster, your majesty—all our hearts are with you!"

"A sudden disaster caused the death of tens of thousands of troops. We grieve their loss, especially the loss of the second prince."

"Indeed! Losing the second prince in this freak accident is a terrible blow to the future of the kingdom."

"An accident?" the king of the realm echoed. "No, this is no accident! According to an internal investigation, the culprit and mastermind behind this attack was the Jinghun clan. I hereby pronounce them wanted criminals!"

"A wicked race, wicked! We\'ve been far too kind and lenient toward these aliens—no such disaster would have occurred otherwise."

The Wang clan head\'s eyes stared grimly at Zhang Lie with anger and hatred.

Jian Mo hadn\'t returned from the hunt, and the unexpected defection of the Wang kinsmen from the third prince\'s retinue had led to the alliance between the Wang clan and the third prince formally breaking down.

The Wang clan head blamed all this on Zhang Lie—everything had been going well until his arrival!

However, the Yinlian, Heijie, and Zijing all looked toward the Wang clan head after he made this pronouncement.

The Heijie representative chuckled coldly as he stated, "The capital has just suffered from a grave disaster. What do you intend to accomplish by sowing discord within the kingdom at this critical juncture?"

The Yinlian representative called back, "It looks to me as though the Wang clan head is trying to mire the entire capital in chaos!"

The Wang clan head hurriedly appealed to the king of the realm. "Your majesty, did you hear what these vile aliens are saying? We can\'t trust them—they might stab us in the back out of nowhere! Your majesty, I implore you to expel them from this world!"

The king\'s eyes narrowed. When the crown prince caught that subtle gesture, he spoke up. "Clan Head Wang, it\'s too reckless to make such a move, especially before we find the Jinghun clan."

The Wang clan head shook his head and replied firmly, "It\'s precisely because we\'re in such a situation that we have to act even more urgently!"

The king of the realm finally spoke up, his voice overwhelming all others. "Clan Head Wang, do you think me such an easy person to fool?"

The Wang clan head shivered, lowering his head and not daring to speak further.

The crown prince continued, "We can\'t afford to make hasty generalizations just because of the actions of the Jinghun and Jindao. I believe that there are aliens who truly deserve our trust and cooperation—aliens like Master Hong."

The Wang clan head lowered his head and gnashed his teeth—that Master Hong the crown prince spoke of was exactly the enemy he wanted to expel!

"If not for Master Hong\'s generous aid, I would have perished during the hunt as well," the crown prince finished.

The Wang clan head sighed. "I understand, your highness."

The king of the realm turned to the crown prince. "Crown prince, you were present at the royal hunt, and you were one of the earliest to come to the camp\'s defense. What are your thoughts on the incident that day?"

The crown prince stepped forward out of the throng of officials.

"Your majesty, may I begin by summarizing the affair as I understood it?"

"Naturally."

"This incident began at the royal hunt. A beast stampede overtook the hunting grounds, one comprising large quantities of third- and fourth-level beasts.

"Following information provided by Master Hong, we were able to identify crystalline purple shards on the heads of the rampaging beasts, which he claimed to be the characteristic of beasts under the mental compulsion of the Jinghun clan."

Many of the officials turned to Zhang Lie then.

The crown prince continued, "I returned to base camp with a group of elites, whereupon I met Master Hong returning with the ninth prince. With his help, and with the help of the second prince and his forces, which returned next, we stopped the beast stampede in its tracks.

"Subsequently, a mythical fifth-level beast appeared, seemingly under the control of the Jinghun as well. His majesty managed to handle the crisis, but unfortunately, my second brother perished in the aftermath."

The atmosphere at court seemed to suddenly grow heavy.

"Later on, we learned that the stampede was meant to divert his majesty\'s attention and weaken his strength. Our opponent\'s true objective was the imperial treasury. We learned that, while we faced off against a beast stampede, so did the capital. The Jindao made their move then, and they rushed toward the imperial treasury."

Everyone present had suffered the effects of the incident for themselves.

"Thanks to his majesty and Master Hong, the capital was saved from the beast onslaught, but the mastermind behind the attack managed to steal three treasures from the treasury."

The king of the realm interjected, "Are there any results from interrogating the members of the Jindao?"

The official overseeing the interrogation spoke up. "Your majesty, the Jindao are proving resilient to our tactics. We need more time!"

"You have three days—give me results as soon as possible!"

"Three days, your majesty? Three days is a little—"

"What, is it too long? If you don\'t have results for me within three days, I\'ll have you replaced with someone who can get me those results!"

The official gulped. "Yes, your majesty!"