Chapter 1027: Ao Feng Testifies

But Ao Feng had no choice. Unless he wanted to die, unless he meant to fall at this very hurdle, he had to do it.

He knew perfectly well that stepping forward would create no end of trouble for him. How, for example, was he supposed to explain his movements at the time? But that bastard Niu Youdao did not care about any of that. Niu had told him to figure it out himself. Once Ao Feng was pushed forward, none of what came afterward would be Niu Youdao's problem. Every remaining difficulty would belong to Ao Feng, and he would have to find a way to make his own lies hold together.

Ao Feng had originally wanted to gamble that Niu Youdao would not dare expose him. After all, the story Niu Youdao had coached him to tell could not withstand the light of day either. If Niu dragged Ao Feng into the open and those lies were exposed, Niu himself would not escape involvement.

Ao Feng had gambled that Niu Youdao would not dare. The gamble had failed. Misty Pavilion had driven Niu Youdao into a dead end, and Niu Youdao had decided to risk everything, forcing Ao Feng to make his choice.

Ao Feng regretted it bitterly now. Ever since Niu Youdao had found him and dropped that one sentence on him, he had regretted failing to restrain his own greed.

Everyone watched as he came forward. Niu Youdao watched him too, a flicker of amusement passing through his eyes.

Ao Feng glanced at Niu Youdao after emerging from the crowd. Once he stopped in the open, he said calmly, "I saw it."

Niu Youdao turned and cupped his hands as well. "Mr. Ding, that's right. It was him. When I was robbed, this gentleman happened to pass by and witnessed it with his own eyes."

What Niu Youdao said no longer mattered. Niu Youdao himself was no longer the focus.

There was now someone who could testify that Misty Pavilion personnel had violated the rules. That was no small matter.

Ding Wei did not even look at Niu Youdao again. His eyes remained fixed on Ao Feng as he asked gravely, "If I remember correctly, you are Ye Nian's disciple, Ao Feng?"

Ao Feng cupped his hands slightly. "I am."

"You..." Xuan Yao had just started to speak when Ding Wei abruptly raised a hand and stopped him. He did not allow Xuan Yao to continue. Ding Wei intended to conduct the questioning himself. "You are certain you personally witnessed Misty Pavilion personnel robbing Niu Youdao?"

Ao Feng gave a slight nod. "I happened to be passing nearby. I saw it."

Ding Wei said, "You will be held responsible for every word you say. There must be no falsehood whatsoever. Do you understand?" In truth, he was still warning Ao Feng to think carefully before speaking. The moment the words left his mouth, however, Ding Wei regretted them somewhat. He should not have said something like that in public. If it reached the Sacred Venerable's ears, it would not sound good.

Ao Feng said, "I did see it."

Seeing him persist, Ding Wei's Adam's apple shifted slightly. He did not press the warning any further and merely nodded. "Good. Then describe exactly what you saw."

Ao Feng said, "I don't remember the exact date. It should have been not long after we entered the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. I noticed someone wearing clothes of a different color..." He turned, looked at Niu Youdao, and raised a hand to point at him. "Him. At the time, I didn't know who he was. I only learned that just now. His clothes struck me as strange. They were neither Misty Pavilion's attire nor the red robes worn by the various sects. I didn't know what kind of person he was, and curiosity got the better of me, so I quietly followed him to see what was going on."

"Not long afterward, two more Misty Pavilion men appeared and blocked his way. I don't know what they said to each other. It seemed they started fighting almost the moment they met. During the pursuit, Niu Youdao threw down his pouch as bait. The two men seized the pouch, and Niu Youdao got away. As he fled, he passed the small grove where I was hiding and saw me. All I witnessed was those two men taking Niu Youdao's things. Whether the pouch contained Demon Fox vertical eyes, I don't know."

Niu Youdao secretly approved. Ao Feng's account was quite watertight, and he had fleshed out Niu Youdao's instructions with convincing detail. Niu immediately spoke up to support him. "That's right. What they stole from me were the Demon Fox vertical eyes I had hunted."

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie looked at each other. They knew all too well that while traveling with Elder Niu, they had never laid a hand on a single Demon Fox. Where had these Demon Fox vertical eyes come from? What eyes could anyone possibly have robbed from him? Had he somehow obtained them later and then been robbed?

Even if the two of them were fools, they could see what was happening. Wasn't this Ao Feng the very man Elder Niu had learned about while interrogating those two captured Misty Pavilion cultivators, the grand-disciple of Du Wuxu whom Elder Niu had questioned them about so carefully? Ao Feng was plainly helping Elder Niu.

Neither man understood what was going on, much less why Ao Feng would step forward to help him.

They could be certain Elder Niu had not known Ao Feng before entering the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. Otherwise, he would never have needed to interrogate the captured Misty Pavilion men about him.

Something had obviously happened to make Ao Feng help him.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie were equally certain they had never seen Ao Feng while they were with Elder Niu. Their thoughts naturally went to the periods when Niu Youdao had disappeared on his own. Elder Niu must have done something during that time. As for what, they could not imagine it. The possibilities lay beyond anything they knew how to comprehend.

At least to the two of them, the situation was almost unbelievable.

If even the people beside Niu Youdao found it unbelievable, how could anyone else possibly imagine that Niu Youdao and Ao Feng were colluding, especially when Ao Feng had spent so long stationed inside Wuliang Garden?

When Niu Youdao spoke, Ding Wei merely glanced at him. As far as Ding Wei was concerned, Niu Youdao was saying something irrelevant now. He ignored him and continued questioning Ao Feng. "Since you saw them, do you know who those two robbers were?"

Ao Feng said, "I do. One was named Fu Ming. The other was Chi Liukuan."

At those two names, Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie exchanged another look. They were hardly unfamiliar with them. Weren't those the two Misty Pavilion cultivators Elder Niu had captured, whom Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie had later killed separately with their own hands?

The men had been dead by their hands for ages, and now they were supposed to have robbed Elder Niu? Not even ghosts could pull off something like that.

The two could now be absolutely certain: Ao Feng and Elder Niu had joined hands.

Their hearts began beating faster. They could vaguely feel that an astonishing drama was unfolding before them, and Elder Niu was almost certainly playing a crucial role in it.

Coming here had gradually overturned some of the assumptions the two men had always taken for granted. What kind of existence was Misty Pavilion? It was an institution capable of making the whole of Zijin Cave tremble, an institution no one dared defy in the slightest. Yet since bringing them into Sacred Realm, what had Elder Niu done?

First, the two of them had personally killed Misty Pavilion men. Now they were witnessing Elder Niu collude with Ao Feng and twist truth and falsehood in front of so many Misty Pavilion personnel, right in front of Misty Pavilion's Presiding Administrator. Before this trip, neither man would even have dared imagine such a thing.

All they could do was marvel at Elder Niu's nerve. Why did it feel as though, in Elder Niu's eyes, Misty Pavilion was not particularly frightening at all?

Thinking back to Zijin Cave, to how openly their own master had shown dissatisfaction and disdain toward Niu Youdao after he joined the sect, the two men could not help breaking into a cold sweat on their master's behalf.

Fu Ming? Chi Liukuan? Ding Wei's pupils contracted. He knew those two names.

Beside him, Xuan Yao immediately lowered his voice and reminded him, "Sir, they're from our Dayuan Sacred Land. Both happen to be on the missing list. How..."

Ding Wei did not need the reminder. He remembered them perfectly well. One icy glance from him silenced Xuan Yao.

Below them, unrest had already broken out among the Misty Pavilion contestants. The sect cultivators might not know who Fu Ming and Chi Liukuan were, but most of the Misty Pavilion participants knew which side the two men belonged to.

Now the matter had implicated Dayuan Sacred Land, while Dayuan Sacred Land's own people currently presided over Misty Pavilion. Quite a few people sensed that there was a spectacle to watch and settled into the mood of spectators.

Ding Wei asked heavily, "Ao Feng, how can you be certain it was those two? Were you familiar with them? As far as I know, you have been stationed inside Wuliang Garden for a long time and rarely interact with people outside. Yet you can name both of them without hesitation?"

Other matters could be handled roughly. Once his own side had been implicated, Ding Wei naturally seized on every point that could be questioned.

Ao Feng said, "I wasn't familiar with them. But after I saw them rob someone, I started paying attention. Later, when Misty Pavilion's contestants gathered inside the Desolate Marsh Deadlands, I made a point of identifying them. Does the Presiding Administrator expect me to possess no curiosity whatsoever?" There was an edge of counterattack in the words, carrying the confidence appropriate to Du Wuxu's grand-disciple.

Ding Wei did not argue with him. He merely said, "Those two are missing. You say they robbed someone, but for the time being there is no way to find them and verify your account."

"Finding them is impossible," Ao Feng replied. "They're already dead."

Ding Wei narrowed his eyes, immediately seizing on the opening. "How do you know they're dead?"

"I saw it myself."

"How did you happen to see them die? Don't tell me you killed them."

Ao Feng remained calm. "The Presiding Administrator is overthinking it. I only noticed them because of what I saw earlier... Since we've reached this point, I won't speak in circles. Men from Dayuan Sacred Land had actually dared act so brazenly. I wanted to collect some evidence of their wrongdoing, so I followed them. As it turned out, they were bold enough to attack sect cultivators again. This time they ran into a hard target and were killed instead."

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie were both startled. Was Ao Feng talking about them?

After thinking about it, however, they decided they were worrying unnecessarily. What had actually happened did not match Ao Feng's account at all. He was plainly colluding with Elder Niu, and Elder Niu would never lift a stone only to drop it on his own foot.

The cultivators from the various sects were shocked as well. Someone among them had actually dared kill Misty Pavilion personnel? That seemed impossible.

The sect cultivators began looking around at one another in doubt, suddenly finding everyone suspicious.

The Misty Pavilion personnel likewise turned their gazes toward the sect cultivators, scrutiny written plainly in their eyes.

Ding Wei said heavily, "Ao Feng, in other words, you saw the sect cultivators who killed those two?"

"I did. I saw them clearly."

"Could you recognize them if you saw them again?"

"Yes."

Ding Wei waved toward the sect cultivators. "The people from the various sects who made it back are all here. You may as well look carefully and identify them."

Ao Feng did not even turn around. He merely shook his head slightly. "There's no need. The people who killed them definitely aren't here. They're all dead."

Ding Wei's tone abruptly turned icy. "Dead again? Another case where the dead cannot testify?"

Ao Feng said, "Fu Ming and Chi Liukuan first attacked one man. The person they attacked was probably an Elder from one of the sects; I didn't know him. Later, two disciples who should have belonged to the same sect rushed over and joined the counterattack. In the end, the two disciples who arrived were killed, but with all three fighting together, they also killed Fu Ming and Chi Liukuan. That Elder escaped despite suffering serious injuries. His limbs were mutilated, and he relied on spiritual power to get away. I followed him. I had intended to lend a hand and preserve him as a witness, but then he encountered other sect cultivators, so I stayed hidden. I thought those people would help the wounded man. Instead, they took advantage of his condition, seized his belongings, and killed him. Perhaps I've spent too long inside Wuliang Garden. Coming out to take part in this contest has truly opened my eyes. Only now have I realized just how many people are bold enough to defy Heaven."

[End of Chapter 1027]