Chapter 124: All This is Nonsense
At the foot of Mt. Liangjie, Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the cultivators arrayed all around him. Crown Prince Qi was a font of pride, Crown Prince Yan cold and aloof, and the group of clan heads mocking to varying extents.
"Is everyone here? Let's get started, then," Xia
"Where's your Seal of Great Wei, lad?" Crown Prince Yan asked.
Xiao Nanfeng manifested the Seal of Great Wei. As he imbued it with his spiritual power, it began to glow with golden light. The various clan heads each imbued spiritual power into their clan seals, which resonated and began to tremble. This was immediate confirmation that Xiao Nanfeng did bear the authentic Seal of Great Wei.
Xiao Nanfeng stored the seal once again. "As successor to Emperor Wei, I have invited everyone here to discuss the merit afforded the gravekeepers over the last millennium."
"Our merit over the last millennium? Ha! And who are you to judge us so?"
"I speak of the gravekeepers' merit over the last thousand years. You're not a gravekeeper—what are you concerned about?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
Crown Prince Qi: ...
"I know of your tenets, that you should have made all your future heirs and descendants into gravekeepers themselves, but worry not. I have become the successor to Emperor Wei, and I don't intend to hold you strictly to those tenets. I speak solely of the first-generation gravekeepers," Xiao Nanfeng clarified.
"What does that have to do with us?" Crown Prince Qi asked coldly.
"As the descendants of the first-generation gravekeepers, you have the right to understand their actions and the merit therein."
"Oh?" The crown princes and clan heads sneered, as though wary that Xiao Nanfeng was attempting to hatch some plan or another.
"The first generation of gravekeepers was conscientious and assiduous in their duty of guarding Emperor Wei's tomb, even despite the travails of the divine domain. They remained focused on their duties, on guarding the emperor's tombs, and even grooming their descendants to take on the same responsibilities. For their loyalty and dedication, they should be rewarded," Xiao Nanfeng continued seriously.
"Hmm?" The crowd was taken aback.
Xiao Nanfeng's praise wasn't something they had been preparing to deal with.
"How will you reward us, then?" Crown Prince Yan called out.
"The first generation of gravekeepers should be rewarded, not you," Xiao Nanfeng corrected.
Crown Prince Yan: ...
"The first generation of gravekeepers should be rewarded, but not the second generation and beyond. From then on, Emperor Wei's tombs were ransacked; this was something all clans whose representatives are here participated in. I'm sure you're all aware of this matter?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, almost rhetorically.
Everyone stared coldly at Xiao Nanfeng, clearly feeling no guilt about the matter.
"Robbing an emperor's tomb is a crime of treason. Descendants of honored officials though they might be, all such gravekeepers could, in principle, be punished with the eradication of their bloodline," Xiao Nanfeng continued.
"Oh?" Everyone stared disdainfully at Xiao Nanfeng.
"However, Emperor Wei has fallen, and the divine empire of Great Wei is no more. We need not adhere so strictly to matters of law. The first generation of gravekeepers should be rewarded for their actions, but the subsequent generations were responsible for grave misdeeds. Shall we annul the rewards owed to the first generation and the punishment owed to the subsequent generations, then?" Xiao Nanfeng asked seriously.
The gathered cultivators looked at each other, not understanding just what it was that Xiao Nanfeng was trying to do. Did he convene this conference just to tell them that they would neither be rewarded nor punished for their actions? They cared not for such matters.
"So what?" Crown Prince Yan called out.
"Next, we'll discuss the treasures and pills taken by the gravekeepers," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
"Did you say all this as an excuse to claim our relics and treasures?" Crown Prince Qi roared in laughter.
"Ha! Do you think we'd give you our possessions? You must be an idiot." Crown Prince Yan added.
The clan heads smirked at each other and sneered at Xiao Nanfeng. Clearly, none of them were going to engage with such an unreasonable request.
"The treasures, relics, weapons, and pills of the first-generation gravekeepers belong to them and them alone. I make no claim to such property, and I speak not of them," Xiao Nanfeng clarified, shaking his head.
The cultivators glanced at Xiao Nanfeng, still not understanding his point.
"I speak of the relics owned as public property of the divine empire of Great Wei, the Immortal's Destruction, the Red Dragon's Immortal Bell, the Divine Immortal Whip, the Immortal-Punishing Hammer, the Immortal Warehouse, the Spirit-Vanquishing Immortal Pagoda, and so on. Such relics were loaned to the various governing bodies of the empire of Great Wei, and the gravekeepers have no claim over them. Now that all of you have distanced yourselves from the divine empire of Great Wei, and I have become the successor of Emperor Wei, these relics are owed to me," Xiao Nanfeng continued.
"Are you joking with us?" The clan heads all began to laugh at Xiao Nanfeng in mockery.
"Do you know where these relics are currently located?" Crown Prince Qi asked.
"I am aware. Except for the Immortal's Destruction and the Red Dragon's Immortal Bell, all the other relics have been brought to the divine domain by your ancestors, then left there as they perished."
"Then what do you expect us to return?" one clan head challenged.
"The Hall of Specters bears records that claim that the first generation of gravekeepers did not bring these relics with them as they answered the summons of the divine domain, knowing that these relics were too vital to the function of the empire to be replaced. Their descendants, however, had no such qualms. They took the relics with them and lost them in the divine domain."
"So what?" the clan head asked again, furrowing his brows.
"Shouldn't you return these relics that you've lost? If someone borrows gold from you and spends it all, does that free them of the responsibility to return the gold to you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The gathered clan heads: ...
"The first-generation gravekeepers' merit defrays subsequent generations' wrongdoing; merit and demerit has been tallied. We speak now of loans and repayment. Is there a problem?" Xiao Nanfeng looked at the gathered cultivators.
Everyone: ...
They all understood Xiao Nanfeng's point now—he had made such a big fuss about merit all in order to reclaim these artifacts!
"Those relics were lost not by these clan heads, but by their long-dead ancestors. Claim those relics from them!" Crown Prince Qi called out.
"Their ancestors may be dead, but their estates can be used to repay this debt in kind. For the price of these relics, I demand all that they own in the humans' domain." Xiao Nanfeng had no intention of giving in.
"You want us all to go bankrupt to repay you?" The clan heads sneered.
"I understand now. You're intending to use this preposterous notion of loans to force the gathered clan heads to help you unify the humans' domain!" Crown Prince Yan exclaimed.
"And to think we devoted so much effort planning against conspiracy and contingency!" Crown Prince Qi huffed in laughter. "All this just to hear your childish delusions?"
"Ridiculous in the extreme." The clan heads had no intention of repaying this 'loan'.
Just then, a flare shot into the air from afar, startling the gathered cultivators. More and more flares erupted all over the mountains and forests, causing the cultivators' eyes to widen.
"The Taiqing disciples I brought to threaten Nanfeng—something's happened to them!"
"That's my subordinates' flare. Did something happen to mine too?"
"Nanfeng had to be delaying intentionally. That's why he made such a big fuss about nothing!"
"Has his goal always been the Taiqing disciples that we brought with us to threaten him?!"
The cultivators understood what had happened quickly. They turned on Xiao Nanfeng together.
"I had no choice, after all. Your officers and soldiers would be far too wary otherwise. They keep the Taiqing disciples under constant surveillance, and my people would have had a hard time rescuing them. With me revealing myself here, however, they would focus on me instead. All that nonsense was worth it, wasn't it? I rescued all those hostages I came here for." Xiao Nanfeng smiled.
Everyone gaped in shock, then fury. This whole conference was just a sham!
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