Chapter 322: Which side are you on?

"What do you mean? When did I ever bribe people to spread such rumors? Perhaps it was actually somebody else?" Duan Li replied, his voice remaining calm while playing with his chin, suppressing himself from cackling.

From the outside, it would seem like Duan Li was treating this matter casually, like a bad joke even. However, if one were to really observe him right now, they would definitely feel their backbones to tremble and their backs drenching in sweat!

After all, Duan Li's eyes was now slightly narrowed into slits and within them could be traced a mix of two emotions that was hidden quite well.

One part of him was amused by Feng Li's antics.

While another part of him..

Was furious!

It was like the eyes of a predator that only needs to clench their fists slightly, where their prey will then immediately squeal, before exploding into mangled bits and pieces!

It would've been so easy for Duan Li to kill him right now for his insolence, but he wanted to know first on how far the latter were planning to go with this farce.

Additionally, while Feng Li was a despicable person, he wasn't someone that had the guts to go out in the open like this unless someone was supporting him from behind!

"I wonder why he is trying to slander me like this.."

As Duan Li stared right into Feng Li's eyes, trying to understand why the other party was doing this, he finally shook his head.

Oh little Feng Li, I've left you alone and never once tried to harm you on purpose, yet here you are.. continuing to create problems for me despite being taught a lesson before..

Hais!

"Regardless of the reason, for you to slander me like this and calling me out in the public, henceforth, your fate is now forfeit!"

As Duan Li made this declaration in his mind, the clap of thunder suddenly exploded in the sky, shocking everyone.

BOOMM!!

It was like the quill of heavens had just made a single scribble to cancel out someone's name from his future fate!

Feng Li was also startled by this abrupt phenomena and he suddenly felt chilly, as if something was about to happen to him. After a moment however, he shook the feeling away and continued with his speech.

I should be fine if I do it according to the plan!

"Enough of your lies!" Feng Li bellowed, not letting Duan Li off the hook as he continued to push on, his face turning savage.

"While Duan Li is a name that is not that common, the Jiu Empire has a total population of several millions. As such, it wouldn't be impossible for there to be a few individuals with the same name. Like you for example!"

"As someone who shares the same name as his Excellency, you should've tried your best to not dishonor it. Yet, not only is your attitude arrogant, sullying his Excellency's humble personality, you also dared to impersonate yourself and proclaimed to be him!"

"There should be a limit to one's greed, but you have gone too far! A Core Formation realm cultivator like you dared to claim yourself as the Imperial Overseer, do you think that we are stupid? Impudent!" Feng Li's voice becoming louder and louder to the point where every sentence was him shouting with all his heart.

Turning to face the people around him, his face was flushing red due to his excitement to see Duan Li being destroyed and humiliated. "Everyone, I know that I am not strong enough to fight nor capture him alone, but together, we can uphold justice! Who is with me?" he said, using the most sincere face he could make while saying that final sentence.

Tap! Tap!

Some people then suddenly stepped forward, but contrary to his expectation that these people would back him up, they instead prostrated on the ground, trembling while facing Duan Li!

What the heck?

"Your Excellency! We have nothing to do with this braindead man! We implore you to show mercy to us!"

"Your Excellency! We are only part of the crowd here because we admired you! We do not think that the situation would suddenly become like this!"

"Yes, your Excellency! We do not doubt on who you are, so we beseech you to please quell your rage!"

These group of people that prostrated on the ground towards Duan Li were small in numbers, only a few dozen. However, upon seeing their reaction, the crowd that were initially unconvinced began to hesitate!

"Hey... I don't think that they are lying! Look at that, their body are shivering man!"

"But that man's words is quite logical as well.. How could the Imperial Overseer be someone that has such a low cultivation level? Shouldn't he at least be at the Nascent Soul realm?"

"You don't know? Duan Li is that junior that had only enroled himself just recently! Yet, not even a single year had past and he is already at such a level!"

"That's right! In addition, he was the hero that slayed thousands of monsters by himself during the monster stampede! He was also crowned as the champion in the recent tournament!"

All sorts of discussion broke out as the crowd became divided. Some who had witnessed Duan Li's coronation personally back then were shivering non-stop, afraid that the fools around them would cause Duan Li to become really offended and massacre them all.

Who could stop a raging Imperial Overseer? Not only that there was no one above that rank, the other party had also fought against a true immortal and was able to win!

People like them? Wouldn't a sneeze from Duan Li would be enough to shatter all their bones?

Meanwhile, some that knew Duan Li by his previous reputation also genuinely believed Duan Li to be the Imperial Overseer, while some were still having some doubts.

Finally, there were people that vehemently rejected the idea of Duan Li being the Imperial Overseer. The rest remained neutral.

"I don't know man! I don't want to be complicated in this! I'm leaving!"

Slowly, one by one began to leave the crowd. The matter of whether Duan Li was truly the Imperial Overseer or not was not something to be taken lightly of. After all, the Tian continent placed hierarchy on top of everything else, and every cultivator must respect the chain!

If their guess was right and Duan Li was truly the Imperial Overseer, then perhaps good things might happen to them. However, if they were to guess wrong, and it turns out that the Imperial Overseer was someone else, then their lightest punishment would be beaten to death!

Against such odds, it would be better for most of them to not have anything to do with the current situation!

In the end, almost half of the initial crowd left while the remaining ones stood on the believers and non-believers side.

"Damn it... curse those cowards!" Feng Li inwardly cursed towards the people that left.

Still, this kind of things are actually accounted for inside the plan, so I just have to act accordingly...

Cough!

Giving a light cough as a signal, the people he planted within the non-believers side suddenly stepped forward and growled angrily, "We should capture him together guys!" after which, some of them nodded while joining behind Feng Li, readying their stance to pounce at Duan Li at any moment now!

"Its useless to struggle! Surrender yourself!" Feng Li said to Duan Li with a huge smile, agitated that he was about to finally destroy Duan Li for good!

Hais!

With a soft sigh, Duan Li raised one palm to the air before pressing them down.

"Suppress."

...