The junior officials were starting to feel a little embarrassed at being cut off so pointedly, and they shrank back into the crowd.
Just then, one of the heavenly officials spoke up, his voice booming. “What does it matter if you believe them or not?! You’re already lucky that no one has exposed all the fine deeds Your Highness has done here in the Mortal Realm, and you still ask them to keep a secret for you? Why are we obliged to keep your secrets? What a joke!”
It was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been thrown in Xie Lian’s face, followed by a blade piercing his heart. “No! I…”
Another heavenly official piped up. “You wouldn’t fear mere talk if you hadn’t done anything immoral. You’re the one who’s gone corrupt, and you blame others for not keeping their word? Keeping such unjust affairs under wraps would be the real crime!”
“No!” Xie Lian cried. “I…”
He wanted to say that he had his reasons, that he hadn’t wanted to do it. But deep down, he also knew that his reasons weren’t important. All that mattered was that he did indeed try to rob someone!
A stain like this was like a brand of shame on his face, and it made him feel infinitely small before these heavenly officials, too afraid to even raise his voice to defend himself. Seeing that his will was fading, one of the martial gods stepped forward.
“Your Highness, now do you understand why we don’t want you here to cultivate with us?”
Xie Lian lowered his head and tightened his fists.
The martial heavenly official continued, “We are not walking the same path, and travelers of different paths shall not meet. You should leave.”
The way he said that so presumptuously, understanding suddenly dawned on Xie Lian. At the end of the day, they were throwing around all these insults and accusations solely to make him give up this spiritual land!
His fists clenched so hard that his knuckles cracked, and a lump weighed heavy in his throat for a while before Xie Lian said darkly, “…I’m not leaving. I will stay here and train.”
Right now, his anger toward the thirty-some heavenly officials had surpassed his embarrassment. Now that things had gone this far, what did he have left to lose? He might as well go all out. Instead of running away with his tail between his legs, he’d rather stand his ground, thick-skinned and immune to their barbs, and keep them from getting their way.
Xie Lian’s head snapped up. “I will train here,” he repeated. “This mountain does not belong to any of you, so none of you have any right to ask me to leave!”
Now that he’d hardened his attitude, the thirty-some heavenly officials’ faces darkened. Xie Lian heard them muttering amongst themselves.
“Why does he even bother?”
“I’ve never seen anyone so shameless…”
They could gripe all they wanted, but Xie Lian would stay where he was. Even if his heart was bleeding profusely from being stabbed by spears of lips and swords of tongues, he would stubbornly refuse to move an inch.
The martial heavenly official said, “It seems Your Highness is bent on having his own way and making everyone else unhappy in the process.”
“Kick me out if you’ve got what it takes! Even if you want to, none of you have the skill!” Xie Lian said coldly.
At that, many of the heavenly officials’ faces dropped and they pulled out their weapons!
Of course they would—Xie Lian’s words had been a grave provocation to any martial god, and many of those present were just that. There was no way they could pretend they hadn’t heard.
Xie Lian was quickly surrounded, but he wasn’t scared at all. He had no blade in his hand except the branch he had been using as a walking stick.
One of the martial gods said severely, “Your Highness, if you apologize immediately, we will pretend you didn’t offend us.”
“If I’ve made anyone unhappy, I’m not sorry,” Xie Lian replied. He pointed forward with the branch in his grip. “Because none of you are fit to be gods!”
A wave of outrage broke out around Xie Lian.
Someone snorted. “We’re not fit? And someone who robs mortals is worthy?!”
Xie Lian couldn’t hold back anymore, and he didn’t want to either. He swept the branch through the air and charged at them, yelling, “You bullies!”
The martial gods readied their weapons to welcome his attack, and the other heavenly officials standing in the back cried out to Xie Lian, “It’s not like we forced you to rob people! Why are you blaming us?!”
But they were too happy too soon. They’d assumed that Xie Lian would be easy to take down, considering he had no spiritual powers or weapons. Yet unexpectedly, even though Xie Lian wielded only an ordinary branch, it was no different from a vicious blade in his hands. His strikes were incredibly strong and forced his opponents back. Only a few moments had passed, and many of the martial gods’ swords were nearly sent flying. They were even scared of being sliced by the sharp winds the branch’s swings stirred up. Every single one of Xie Lian’s opponents fled to hide at the back of the group.
These esteemed heavenly officials couldn’t even defeat a banished mortal—what an embarrassment!
Just then, one of the heavenly officials watching the fight from a distance shrieked.
“What’s this?!”
His cry alarmed the other heavenly officials. “What’s going on?!”
The screaming heavenly official seemed to be in excruciating pain; he was doubled over and covering his face. “A…a ball of ghost fire just hit me in the eye… Did he do this somehow?!”
This was the official who had pointed at him and declared him a thief. Xie Lian snorted. “Ghost fire? If you want to steal this spiritual land, at least be frank about it. There’s no need to slander me any further!”
His fury flared again, and his attacks grew more brutal. Every single spear and blade wielded by that circle of martial gods was knocked away by Xie Lian’s entirely normal branch, and the weapons clattered as they scattered across the ground.
At that moment, someone yelled, “We caught it! We caught it! Look!”
Xie Lian paused and steadied himself. The heavenly officials were in a tizzy. One of them was gripping something in their hand and raised it high for all to see.
“There really is a ghost fire! He’s playing dirty! We’ve got proof!”
Xie Lian looked closely, and sure enough, it was a little ball of haunting, blazing ghost fire.
“I don’t even know what’s going on! How dare you accuse me of playing dirty just because you caught some ghost fire!” Xie Lian cried out angrily. “It’s not like ghost fires are rare! Do you see my name written on it?!”
The heavenly official who had shrieked was clutching his eye. “Why would a normal ghost fire attack my eyes? If it isn’t under your control, why would it act like this?”
“And I say it’s some wandering spirit from the mountain that was frightened by you lot and came crashing in here by accident in a daze! Your ‘proof’ is nonsense!” Xie Lian rebuked.
The martial god who had first attacked grabbed the ghost fire. “Who cares whose control it’s under? Just disperse a harmful thing like this!” he said as he gripped it harder, looking like he planned to snuff out the spirit’s fire.
Seeing this, Xie Lian blurted, “Let it go!”
He couldn’t bear to have wandering spirits be dragged into their quarrel. He rushed to fight the martial god and retrieve the ghost fire. Since Xie Lian intended to rescue the spirit, he had to hold back a bit, and the two were soon at a standstill.
Suddenly, a few of the heavenly officials called out from behind them. “You’re here?! Come quick! Come see for yourself what’s going on!”
It sounded like someone had arrived.
“You’re finally here!” another heavenly official cried.
“We’ve been waiting for you! Come give us a hand!”
