SWDnovel Chapter 133 School Affairs Meeting Convicts Qin Cang
Chapter 133 School Affairs Meeting Convicts Qin Cang
The day after the secret realm ended, before dawn, the plaza outside the school administration hall was already packed with people. Not onlookers, but on guard. Enforcement warriors dispatched by the Martial Arts Alliance, clad in uniform black armor and with standard longswords at their waists, stood in a circle along the pillars surrounding the hall, one every three steps, motionless. The hall doors were tightly shut, and a deep red carpet covered the steps leading to them, stretching from inside the hall to the center of the plaza, damp with morning dew, its color a dark, congealed blood.
The interior of the main hall was vast, with a high dome and carved beams and painted rafters. In the center was a crescent-shaped long table, covered with a dark blue velvet cloth. On the cloth were all the evidence brought back from the secret realm neatly arranged: the Evil Shadow Sword lay horizontally on a wooden frame, the black mist on the sword long since dissipated, revealing the dark iron color beneath; fragments of the Blood Sacrifice Jade Pendant were pieced together, the cracks clearly visible, like a mask that had been broken and barely glued back together; the secret letters of the evil clan were sealed in a transparent jade box, the distorted characters on the letters faintly discernible in the dim light of the jade box; the scrolls of the Qin family's collusion with evil spirits throughout the ages were piled up like a small mountain, the paper yellowed, the edges worn, and some of the writing blurred, but the four large characters "Qin Family Evil Cases" on the cover were still clear.
Behind the long table sat the seven members of the Board of Trustees. The elderly man in the center, with gray hair and a gaunt face, was Zhou Yuncong, the chairman of the Board of Trustees. He was over seventy years old, and his cultivation was unfathomable. He rarely showed his face. To his left sat two inspectors sent by the Martial Arts Alliance, and to his right were the deans of various departments. Chen Feng sat at the end, with a thick stack of testimonies spread out in front of him.
Qin Hao was escorted to the hall by two martial arts enforcers, awaiting trial. He wore a greyish-white prison uniform, his hands bound in front of him by spirit-binding chains that hung from his wrists to his knees, rattling with each step. His hair was disheveled, his face ashen, his eyes sunken, and his lips chapped and cracked. The once spirited young master of the Qin family now resembled a fish pulled from the water, mouth agape but unable to utter a sound. His meridians were sealed, and his cultivation was severely diminished; he barely had the strength to stand, only managing to stay upright thanks to the support of the martial arts enforcers on either side.
Qin Cang stood below the main seat, only a few steps away from the long table.
He wore a dark blue formal suit, made of fine fabric and tailored to fit perfectly, with a silver school badge pinned to his collar. His hair was neatly combed, and his beard was clean-shaven. His expression was calm, even carrying a hint of grievance and bewilderment at being wrongly accused, like an innocent elder facing a bizarre accusation.
But his eyes betrayed him.
His pupils involuntarily contracted as his eyes swept over the evidence on the long table, a sharp, piercing pain. His hands hung at his sides, fingers slightly curled, fingertips tapping lightly along the seams of his trousers—a small gesture reserved for extreme tension. His breathing was shallow and rapid, his chest heaving almost twice as fast as usual. He was afraid. Not afraid of the people present, but afraid of the evidence, afraid of the old grievances he thought would never be brought up again.
"Vice Principal Qin Cang." The Martial Arts Alliance Inspector's voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the spacious hall. He wore a black official robe with a silver belt around his waist. The robe was unadorned, except for a golden scale emblem embroidered on his chest. His fingertips tapped lightly on the table, the sound unhurried but each tap like a hammer striking an anvil.
"The three major incidents—the Black Wind Ridge evil clan stronghold, the ambush on the outskirts of the secret realm, and the Blood Sacrifice Altar—are all supported by witnesses and physical evidence. You secretly plotted and instructed Qin Hao to collude with the Black Serpent evil followers, using the Soul-Controlling Gu to corrupt the ferocious beasts in the secret realm, attempting to steal the Martial Emperor's inheritance. The evidence is irrefutable; what else do you have to say in your defense?"
Qin Cang's lips twitched slightly.
His gaze shifted from the inspector's face, sweeping over the evidence on the long table, then over Qin Hao's ashen face, finally settling on the painted mural on the dome of the main hall. The mural depicted an ancient battle scene—the first Martial Emperor rode a magnificent white horse, wielding a long sword, followed by twelve guards, charging towards the overwhelming army of evil races. The Qin family ancestor stood behind the Martial Emperor, tall and imposing, with a resolute face, holding a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, his gaze as firm as iron.
Qin Cang stared at the mural for two seconds, then looked away, faced the long table, and bowed slightly.
"Your Excellency Inspector, this so-called evidence is nothing but a fabrication by Lin Chen and his group. Qin Hao is young and was misled by evil people, going astray. It has nothing to do with me." His voice was calm and his tone sincere, like a heartbroken elder defending a younger generation. "Lin Chen coveted the Qin family's resources and deliberately framed them; his intentions are despicable. My Qin family has been loyal to the Martial Arts Alliance and Star Martial University for generations, and we would never betray humanity."
When he said this, his expression was impeccably sincere. Even his eyes were slightly red, like an innocent person who had been wronged and was about to cry.
Chen Feng stood up.
He wasn't wearing his usual black officer's uniform; instead, he was in a military uniform, dark green woolen, with the rank of colonel on his shoulders. He pulled a document from the thick stack of testimonies in front of him, held it above his head, and spoke in a loud voice.
"This is a joint testimony from the forty-one surviving freshmen of the secret realm, signed and sealed, and every name can be verified. The testimonies are consistent—Qin Hao personally admitted on the outskirts of the secret realm that the Qin family colluded with the evil race, and Qin Cang's name was mentioned multiple times by the evil followers on the blood sacrifice altar."
He took out another one.
"This is the interrogation transcript of the captured evil cultivators. The seven evil followers gave consistent testimonies, all identifying Qin Cang as the liaison between the Qin family and the evil race. Over the past three years, Qin Cang has secretly provided Xingwu University with internal intelligence and blueprints for forbidden techniques in secret realms. Qin Cang is the one behind every instance of resource leakage and evil followers infiltrating the campus."
He paused, then pulled out a thin sheet of paper from the very bottom of the testimony.
"Bai Xuan has voluntarily confessed. He accepted bribes from the Qin family, deliberately made things difficult for Lin Chen and other students from poor families in class, suppressed dissent, and disrupted the normal teaching order. His confession details the time, place, and amount of each bribe, as well as the specific content of each instruction from Qin Cang. All of the above confessions corroborate each other, and there is no possibility of forgery."