The seven members of the Silver Blade sect lowered their heads, with their shoulders trembling as they had Yang Qing recount the charges against him.
Their sect master, Shao Rong, was the one hit the hardest. He grew increasingly pale and he had sweat all over with every word Yang Qing uttered.
With how affected he was, Yang Qing was even worried he would collapse before the case began. He used a small art that transmitted a bit of his qi to sect master Shao Rong to help calm his nerves.
The sect master nodded gratefully to Yang Qing with a pitiful smile when he detected the sudden changes to his body.
Even though he was still pale, his state seemed a little bit better.
"The Mountain Guarding Array Manor stands accused of being derelict in its duty and incompetent in its services.
Those are the charges filed against you by Senior Tang Qi. The protection array he had commissioned your organization failed to work as intended, otherwise, his cultivation abode would not have been exposed and ransacked there after.
I have with me a copy of the agreement, and I believe you have one too, Senior Su Ye?" asked Yang Qing as he directed his question to the slender, stern-faced middle-aged man with blue robes and black hair tied in a ponytail.
"We do," answered Su Ye as he took out a yellow scroll from his sleeves.
"Could I have it please, so I can confirm if the details on these two scrolls match?" asked Yang Qing.
The founder of the Mountain Guarding Array Manor agreed to his request as he handed the scroll over.
Yang Qing placed the two scrolls side by side as he examined both of them. From the details written, down to even the seal used and the material of the scroll, to confirm they were indeed from the same source.
The scroll was the written agreement between the Mountain Guarding Array Manor and Tang Qi.
He had requisitioned them to create six top-tier orange-grade formations in his cultivation abode.
As per the agreement Tang Qi would provide the materials, while the manor would provide labor and the array which was why the cost of the whole thing was 670 high-grade spirit stones which if converted to middle-grade spirit stones would have been 670,000 middle-grade spirit stones, which was a pretty hefty sum, especially for an itinerant cultivator.
In terms of pricing, it was fair since laying down top-tier orange-grade arrays could cost 300 high-grade spirit stones per formation. Tang Qi had gotten a rather good deal on it for only paying a third of it.
All six of the arrays Tang Qi had set up were all non-lethal and were mostly illusory and befuddling arrays along with an isolation and shield array.
Yang Qing could understand why Tang Qi went for non-lethal arrays. One the cost would be cheaper in comparison to killing arrays. One killing array usually went for the same price as three non-lethal arrays combined, and also the other reason, which was the most important one, it was because he was going into seclusion.
A killing array would easily disrupt his seclusion if triggered, in comparison to non-lethal arrays.
The scroll not only listed the arrays laid down but also included the materials Tang Qi offered to be used for the arrays. Next to his ingredients was the list Mountain Guarding Array Manor would have used had they been the ones to provide the materials.
As far as Yang Qing could tell, when it came to secondary materials, what Tang Qi offered was a bit low in quality in comparison to what the Mountain Manor had suggested, however, the quality didn't differ by much.
When it came to the core materials, which were the main anchors of the arrays, what Tang Qi provided was even better than what the Mountain Manor had suggested. Therefore when it came to malfunctioning of the arrays, the materials had nothing to do with it.
As long as one had a good core material to support the entire formation, they could get away with skimping down on the secondary materials with no degradations in the power of the formation.
Included within the scroll, was an agreement by both parties, that the formation was functioning as it should have, and lastly there were the names of Meng Bai and Tang Qi at the bottom.
"You can check to confirm the authenticity of the scroll Tang Qi provided as evidence, and compare it with yours.." Yang Qing said as he passed both scrolls over to Su Ye.
Su Ye at first seemed hesitant to compare them since in his mind, if the scroll Tang Qi provided was a fake, there would have been no need for them to be called over for the case.
The fact that they were summoned, meant the scroll was real. However, Yang Qing's next words stopped him from refusing.
"Please confirm it Owner Su Ye as it is part of the regulations governing these proceedings.." Yang Qing said with an austere expression leaving no room for refusal.
Su Ye went through both scrolls with apt attention before he handed it to Yang Qing admitting that the scroll was indeed theirs, and the terms indeed matched.
"Good, now we can begin...I'm sure Yu Gen has already informed you beforehand but I will reiterate it once more.
Once you stepped through those doors, you have all wholly subjected yourselves to the ruling of the Order whichever outcome it may be, and should you refuse, you are subject to the penalties attached to the refusal.
I hope you have all prepared yourselves..." Yang Qing said as he eyed the three parties, who all nodded in affirmation.
"Okay, now that we are all in agreement, I will take turns hearing accounts from all of you. For purposes of expediency, we will start with you Senior Tang Qi, and then we will move on to you, sect master Shao Rong before we finally finish with you, owner Su Ye and Meng Bai.
Senior Tang Qi would you please?" Yang Qing said as he motioned for the itinerant cultivator Tang Qi to begin.
"Th..ank you fffor the op..opportunity Judge Yang Qing.."
Tang Qi stammered a bit as he began his introductions. It was mostly out of nervousness but also his lack of skills in communicating with people especially considering how for the past 230 years he had been in closed-door seclusion and most of his life he has mostly lived alone.
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