Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Chapter 352 Conflict

The wood priest stroked his beard and said seriously, "Speaking of the reason for Zhu Yue's defection, someone accused him of abusing his power in the Imperial Guard. However, before the royal trial, you, fire priest, demanded that he hand over the insignia ring of the Imperial Guard commander. Zhu Yihu refused to hand it over, and you accused him of disobeying orders and wanted to punish him. Under duress, he left Crescent City. In fact, your actions in accusing Zhu Yue at that time seemed to have many irregularities."

Upon hearing this, the fire priest's expression changed, and he immediately asked, "wood priest, what do you mean by that?" He was already somewhat hot-tempered, and now that he was being directly questioned by the wood priest, his voice rose several decibels.

The wood priest remained calm in the face of the fire priest's outburst, smiling slightly as he said, "Fire priest, please don't be anxious. I didn't mean to accuse you. It's just that Zhu Yue was originally the commander of the royal guard appointed by the previous Blood Witch King. Although he was later accused, he hasn't been tried by the royal court, so in principle, he is still the commander of Crescent City. That is to say, he is still protected by the Royal Grace Charter. He must be convicted by the royal court before he can be punished."

At this point, the wood priest paused for a moment before continuing, "The fire priest should know this best: in order to uphold the fairness and justice of the laws of Crescent City, we must take this seriously and strictly implement the Royal Grace Charter."

After the wood priest finished speaking, he picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip, and moistened his throat.

"So, according to Priest Wood, Zhu Yue is to be put on trial?" Priest Gold's eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed intently on Priest Wood.

"To uphold the fairness of the law, this is what I think," the Wood Priest said, then looked at Qin Xiaochuan and asked, "I wonder what the Uncrowned One thinks?"

Qin Xiaochuan pondered for a moment before speaking seriously: "Actually, before coming to Crescent City, I had already met Zhu Yihu and spoken with him. He said that he did not defect from Crescent City, but because someone in Crescent City wanted to frame him, he had no choice but to leave Crescent City to seek refuge in order to protect himself. After leaving Crescent City, he has been doing his best to protect his clansmen who were stranded outside. Therefore, I do not think he is guilty of defecting from Crescent City. At least the matter should be investigated, and someone who has contributed to Crescent City should not be easily convicted."

The Gold Priest said, "Since everyone has different opinions, let's do the same as before and vote by raising our hands. I agree with the Fire Priest's suggestion." After the Gold Priest finished speaking, he raised his hand, and the Fire Priest naturally followed suit. The Water Priest and Earth Priest, as before, exchanged a glance and chose to remain silent.

Just as the Gold Priest was preparing to vote on the Wood Priest's suggestion, Qin Xiaochuan suddenly spoke up: "Since the Water Priest obtained Zhu Yihu's intelligence, and the Water Priest is responsible for intelligence and diplomacy, we must express our opinion on this matter no matter what."

Upon hearing this, the Water Priest glanced at Qin Xiaochuan, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. The Gold Priest seemed to have forgotten about the upcoming vote, and the council area became very quiet, as if everyone was waiting for the Water Priest to make his statement.

"I still insist that Zhu Yihu should be handed over to the Royal Court for trial." Finally, the Wood Priest spoke up and raised his hand first. Qin Xiaochuan also raised his hand. Both of them looked at the Water Priest. After hesitating for a moment, the Water Priest also raised his hand. The Earth Priest, however, still chose to abstain.

"Priest Gold, it seems that it would be better to consider Zhu Yihu's case more carefully," the Priest Wood said calmly to the Priest Gold after the Priest Water raised his hand.

The Gold Priest looked at the Wood Priest and after a while slowly said, "In that case, bring Zhu Yue back and hand him over to the Royal Court for trial." After saying that, he wrote a line on the document handed over by the Water Priest and stamped it with his signature.

After that, the council meeting ended completely. Qin Xiaochuan and the five high priests dispersed from the council area and returned to their respective workplaces. The fire priest followed the gold priest back to the study under the Tower of Imprisonment.

"What do they mean today? Are they already itching to seize power?" As soon as he entered the study, the fire priest couldn't help but unleash his pent-up anger.

The high priest didn't answer him immediately. Instead, he calmly walked to his desk, sat down, and slowly said, "Don't you think today's meeting was a carefully orchestrated scheme?"

The fire priest stood frozen in place, the anger on his face vanishing instantly. After a long pause, he hesitantly asked, "What do you mean?"

"These two proposals today may seem no different from usual, but they are actually a carefully orchestrated political game," the High Priest said slowly, opening a document on his desk.

"In the first round, they deliberately feigned weakness, giving the uncrowned one the right to vote. Their real purpose was to secure a trial for Zhu Yue in the second round. The Wood Priest said at the meeting that Zhu Yue escaped Crescent City without a trial, so nominally he is still the commander of the Imperial Guard. If the court finds him innocent, he can rightfully regain control of the Imperial Guard. Therefore, their real target today is the Imperial Guard." The Gold Priest's eyes narrowed to peas, and his voice grew increasingly cold.

After the Gold Priest's analysis, the Fire Priest suddenly realized and couldn't help but say, "I never expected that this Uncrowned One would have such methods."

The Gold Priest shook his head and said, "It's not necessarily all his plan. The Wood Priest must have given him a lot of advice. For so many years, the Wood Priest has been fighting us openly and secretly. On the surface, he seems gentle and kind, without any flaws, but in the dark, he has always been resisting us. He has always been a formidable enemy."

The fire priest seemed to look down on the wood priest. Hearing the gold priest praise the treacherous man who had embarrassed him in the meeting, he couldn't help but sneer and say, "So what if they gained the upper hand once? As long as Zhu Yue is found guilty in the royal court, his position as commander of the royal guard will be completely stripped. Then what they did today will be nothing but a waste of effort, or even their own destruction."

The Golden Priest gave him a cold look and said, "Do you really think it was just a coincidence that the Water Priest brought up Zhu Yue's matter at the meeting today?"

"you mean?"

The Golden Priest snorted and said, "The Uncrowned One said that he had already seen Zhu Yue before coming to Crescent City. In other words, they already knew Zhu Yue's whereabouts, but chose to reveal this information to the Water Priest at this time. Since they dared to hand over Zhu Yue, they must have made thorough preparations beforehand."

Upon hearing this, the Fire Priest suddenly realized and said, "When we handed Zhu Yue over to the Demon Hunters, we originally intended to use them to eliminate the traitors on Fanli Island, while also inciting conflict between our race and humans. It was a brilliant plan to kill two birds with one stone. However, we never expected that Zhu Yue would be rescued on Fanli Island. Now it seems that the people who rescued Zhu Yue were probably the Uncrowned Ones. If that's the case, does the Water Priest's actions today mean that he has also sided with the other side?"

The Gold Priest said, "Hmph, that old fox, the Water Priest, will never easily gamble before the situation becomes clear. Today, he was at most used as a pawn. Of course, he must know he was being used, otherwise all his years of intelligence work would have been for nothing. He was just going with the flow and adding fuel to the fire to see who would win between the two sides. Then he could immediately choose a side to avoid losses."

"Those two, the Water Priest and the Earth Priest, are shameless and despicable; they're complete opportunists," the Fire Priest said angrily.

"No," the Golden Priest said dismissively. "I need them to remain neutral. As long as they don't get involved, the current situation won't be disrupted, and we can maintain the initiative."

"So what are your plans next? The Wood Priest is getting a bit too aggressive these days, we can't keep backing down," the Fire Priest asked.

"From the moment he returned to Crescent City, the Uncrowned One came prepared. In fact, if he had remained inactive, I wouldn't have been able to do anything about him. But today he finally couldn't resist and started to make his move. It seems that the rat by your side is still somewhat effective." The Golden Priest said calmly, seemingly not taking Qin Xiaochuan's threat to heart.

"You mean Xing Ning? You know perfectly well that she is a Blood Guard, an absolute confidante of the previous Blood Witch King. I don't understand why you keep her around all this time," the Fire Priest asked in confusion.

The Golden Priest smiled faintly and said, "This is exactly what we've been planning. This tactic is called 'beating the grass to scare the snake.' Only when the uncrowned one feels a sufficient threat will he take action. Only when he acts before his coronation can we expose his weaknesses and completely cut off his path to kingship before he is crowned."

The fire priest asked, "Now that the serpent has moved, what should we do? We can't just ignore it. If things continue like this, the water priest and the earth priest will eventually side with them."

The high priest, however, remained calm. Leaning back in his chair, he didn't answer but instead asked, "If Zhu Yue is brought back to Crescent City and handed over to the royal court for trial, what do you think will determine the final verdict?"

The fire priest analyzed, "I had one of my guards accuse him of abusing his power. Whether he is guilty depends on the key witness and evidence. The person who accused Zhu Yue is the key to determining whether Zhu Yue is guilty."

At this point, the fire priest seemed to have a sudden realization and continued, "I understand. Whoever controls the accuser can decide the final verdict. I will go and take that person into custody immediately."

The Golden Priest shook his head and stopped him, saying, "You only see the surface of this matter, but not its essence. On the surface, the outcome of this trial depends on the Royal Court, but in reality, it depends on the prestige of me and the Uncrowned One. To put it bluntly, this trial is a battle of prestige between the two of us. Whoever can demonstrate greater prestige before the trial will win, and whoever wins will have a greater say in Crescent City in the future."

"If that's the case, then the accuser should be detained even more; we can't give them any chance to win," the fire priest said.

The Golden Priest calmly said, "Since they issued the challenge, they must know the key points. Do you think they would launch an attack without any preparation? If I'm not mistaken, the accuser has probably already been taken into custody."

"If that's the case, wouldn't we be in a very passive position? Without this witness, it would be difficult to prove Zhu Yue's guilt." The Fire Priest frowned.

"When fighting an enemy, never follow in their footsteps or try to defeat them using their methods. Since they have launched a challenge through a court trial, we must bypass their methods and deliver a fatal blow from another angle," the Golden Priest said coldly.

"What do you mean?" The Fire Priest's eyes were filled with expectation; he believed the Gold Priest could offer a better solution.

"Since the outcome of this trial has been decided as a contest of prestige between him and me, then let him completely lose his prestige in Crescent City. It's time for that rat by your side to play her true role." The Golden Priest gave him a deep look.