Chapter 2145 - Public Enemy
The youth’s voice boomed throughout the nine floors.
“This kid doesn't seem too bad. Whose kid is he? He has quite the air of righteousness!”
Many quickly noticed him.
“He’s Lin Jianchen, the second son of the Third Branch Master, Lin Xiaoyun. He should be in his forties.”
“He’s 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.
“Is that Lin Feng still not coming out?”
“He knows he screwed up, so he’s hiding inside. We’ve all seen too many criminals like him.”
People all craned their necks.
“Lin Jianchen, go in and catch him before he escapes!” many shouted.
Lin Jianchen and his teammates looked at each other. “Take action!”
At this moment, a white-haired youth leisurely walked out from the dark cultivation room.
“Wow, such a turn-out!” Tianming was startled to find thousands gathered around. He hadn’t 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 drugger’s 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, “Lin Feng!”
Tianming turned and saw a handsome man with a righteous aura dressed in sword robes. [1]
“How 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 Jianchen’s words.
“He deserves it.”
“It’s karma coming for him.”
“This Lin Feng was born with a decent appearance, but what a filthy man he is on the inside.”
“I mean, it’s obvious when you remember who his father was.”
Lin Jianchen led his teammates toward Tianming to apprehend him.
Tianming stepped back, his expression confused. “Wait, what? Forced myself upon who? Witness and evidence? Show me first.”
Lin Jianchen stopped and looked toward Lin Xingqing and her companions.
“Shameless! When we came up, we saw you assaulting Big Sis Xingqing. You even ripped her clothes!”
“If you weren’t too weak, how could Big Sis Xingqing have escaped?”
“Go and die!”
Those ladies all began angrily cursing him.
“Lin Feng. They personally witnessed it, what do you have to say?” Lin Jianchen frowned.
“Are these your witnesses? They’re all her friends, how can their words count?”
“Then what do you think?” Lin Jianchen frowned, clearly wanting Tianming to dig his own grave.
“Clearly, they’re framing me.” Tianming’s reply was full of confidence. Just as Lin Jianchen had wanted, his fearless expression set everyone off.
“How could anyone be so shameless!”
“They’re from your own branch! A bunch of young ladies and you claim they’re framing you? How could they have the courage?”
“This bastard!”
Lin Xingqing and the other ladies were furious as well.
“Don’t argue with him, there’s no point.” Lin Xingqing panicked.
“Big Sis Xingqing! No need to be scared, everyone here will help you!”
“No one will believe his defamation. Think of who his father was, can this sort of person be brought up well?”
As Lin Jianchen had planned, Tianming’s rebuttal had incited public wrath.
“Don’t let him drag it out. If his grandparents come, black will become white.”
“Yes!”
As part of the audience, Tianming sighed in amazement. “Impressive. 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.” 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 didn’t matter. They were more willing to believe a group of weak-looking women than the infamous son of Lin Mu.
“Lin Feng, if you want to dissemble and use your status to bully others, do it at the Hall of Discipline. Don’t ruin the business and embarrass us before outsiders.” Lin Jianchen’s 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 didn’t expect Tianming to take out a gold-and-black sword and rest it on his shoulder.
“You dare to resist?” Lin Jianchen roared.
Tianming smiled and shrugged, looking at Lin Jianchen’s 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.
“How’re you related to Lin Jianxing?” Tianming asked.
The question gave Lin Jianchen pause. He hadn’t expected Tianming would ask that in this situation. “He’s my cousin, why?”
They indeed weren’t siblings. Lin Jianchen was the son of the Third Branch Master, but Lin Jianxing wasn’t Lin Xiaoyun’s son. That meant that Lin Jianchen was higher in status. However, he was younger and hadn’t reached Lin Jianxing’s level yet.
One of the youths next to Lin Jianchen whispered into his ear, “Team Leader, the hysteria herb won’t last for long. We should kill him while it’s in effect! Don’t let him babble on!” This was their purpose in drugging him. To them, Tianming’s seemingly suicidal actions were a result of the hysteria herb; otherwise, shouldn’t he be quaking in his boots right now?
“Go!”
However, they didn’t expect Tianming to swing his sword and his expression to turn frosty. “Don’t move!”
“You want to resist arrest? Another crime!” Lin Jianchen was furious.
“A load of hogwash. Don’t 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 Patrol’s responsibility is to maintain order within the emporium. You’re 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?” Tianming’s words smoothly flowed, giving pause to the patrol team.
“What? Want to bully a newcomer?” Tianming snorted and flicked his sleeves. “The 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?”
Security guards! They really hadn’t expected Tianming to remain so fearless even now. The audience was furious at his logic.
“How can you be so fearless when you’re just relying on your grandparents?”
“He really has no shame.”
“If he escapes the law like this, those ladies from just now will have a bad end. Their corpses may mysteriously show up some day.”
“So scary….”
Some Lin Clan disciples helplessly said, “He’s right.... According to the house rules, the patrol team may even get into trouble if they touch him.”
“We have to wait for the Hall of Discipline!”
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.
“He wants to run!”
“Don’t let him escape!”
“If he gets to those protecting him, he’ll turn black into white and may even frame those ladies!”
“Please help in the name of justice, everyone!”
“I’ve always hated this kind of beast the most!”
When Tianming jumped down, he was followed by several thousand people. Clearly, his identity as Lin Mu’s son and a brewing scandal had led to a lot of attention.
Many people made space when he came down.
“What happened?”
“I heard that the son of Lin Mu assaulted several subordinates on his first day as supervisor.”
“I heard he even killed a few people to cover it up.”
“Lin Feng, was it?”
“That’s him!”
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 Translator’s Notes section for Ryogawa’s brilliant depiction of sword robes ☜
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