Chapter 116: Framed for Murder (4)

Hearing the accused call out for the accuser with such familiarity and friendliness brought a strange expression on the faces of everyone present.

Steward Lu, the person in question, also slowed his steps and unconsciously turned to look toward Wuzhi. His eyes caught sight of that friendly smiling face shining brightly and waving at him.

Steward Lu felt a chill and a shiver crawl down his back. He hastened his steps and was quickly installed into a witness box.

Without wasting any time, another prosecutor rose from his chair, faced Steward Lu, and asked, "Name?"

"Lu Ku."

"Designation?"

"I am a designated first-class steward of the Mu Household."

"Can you confirm that the person standing on the other side is the one whom you accused?"

"Yes. I believe that he is the person who killed first-class servant Mengmeng," Steward Lu replied with firm conviction. Not a trace of uncertainty or hesitation was found in his words.

A collective round of gasps echoed within the Disciplinary Hall. Elder Tie let out a loud snort and mockingly said, "Heard enough? What other evidence do you want?"

Wuzhi let the old fool's words enter from one ear and exit through the other. He faced Steward Lu and patiently asked, "Did you see murder Mengmeng?"

Hearing his question and direct words, Steward Lu flinched. He looked away and nervously answered, "N-no, I did not."

"Steward Lu, are you a practitioner? And if yes, what rank are you?" Wuzhi suddenly changed the direction of his questioning.

Unsure why this question was being asked, the accuser honestly replied, "Yes, I am a practitioner. I am of the Second Rank." A hint of pride could be heard in his words.

"Ah, a Rank 2 cultivator. You must be pretty special amongst the servants," Wuzhi off-handedly remarked. An uncomfortable expression appeared on Steward Lu's face.

Shaking his head, Wuzhi asked, "Since you did not see me commit the crime and neither are you a high-ranked cultivator, why me, Steward Lu? Why do you think that I am the murderer?"

He then chuckled and continued. "I admit that I am not the most generous of tip givers but those twenty coins are all that I had on me, you see. Perhaps, had I known that my destitute tipping would've caused to incur hatred toward me then I would have given you something more valuable."

"Objection! Lord Elders! His words are irrelevant." A prosecutor roared and objected.

The council of elders nodded their heads and said to Wuzhi. "Mr Wuzhi, please stay on topic."

"Understood, Lord Elders," replied the scholar. "Steward Lu, what led you to accuse me as the murderer?"

Steward Lu inhaled heavily and looked around. To say that he didn't find his current situation to be unnerving would be a lie. However… he resolved his heart. Whatever the outcome, he simply had to stick to his orders and go through with this. Success would bring him unimaginable wealth while failure…

…would see him dying a grave-less death.

"On the night of the 1st Day of the First Month of the Year 736, I was responsible for settling the guest, who is standing on the opposite side over there, in a courtyard within the Inner Residence. I brought over a few servants to help with the task of cleaning and preparing the courtyard; Mengmeng was one of them."

"After the guest was settled, he stopped me on my way out and handed me a pouch of money. He told me that he had taken an interest in one of the maids that I had brought along with me and asked if I could help him with this matter."

"As stewards of the glorious Mu Household, we are taught to uphold honour and virtue as our guiding principles. We are also taught to look after one of our own and to never submit before an outsider, whoever they might be."

"I denied his request and the guest proceeded to get angry. He threatened to complain about me to my masters and ruin my job. While feeling afraid, I still stuck to my principles and was firm in my denial. We then parted on bad terms with him telling me that I would regret it."

"As I found the character of the guest to be immoral, I did not have the servants visit the residence to bring him dinner. Moreover, I also warned them to stay away from him."

"It was only on the next day when I heard the news that Mengmeng had been murdered, did I realize that the servant whom he had taken an interest in was Mengmeng. I did notice the two of them exchanging hushed whispers on the way to the assigned residence."

"Here is what I think might've happened; Mengmeng is a very innocent and kind girl. Perhaps, she felt pity towards the guest and had visited him with dinner after all the other servants had fallen asleep. The guest, who might've been pining for an opportunity, must've tried to force himself on her. Mengmeng would've refused, the two of them would've gotten into a heated quarrel and at the end of it, he must've stabbed her with the knife and killed her."

Exhaling deeply, Steward Lu finished. "That is what I think happened."

A prosecutor nodded his head after he had finished and said, "We have several other witness testimonies from the other servants in the scene. They confirm the facts spoken by Steward Lu. This is an open-and-shut case, Lord Elders. Wuzhi is clearly guilty."

Silence fell within the Disciplinary Hall. All eyes were focused on the scholar. The kind-looking elder upon the council faced Wuzhi and solemnly asked, "Do you have anything else to say, Mr Wuzhi?"

Wuzhi sighed quietly. He then stood tall and said, "Final question; why a knife? Of the endless ways and methods to kill, why would I choose a knife?"

Elder Tie derisively chortled at that and mockingly said, "What other method could a crippled bastard use?"

'Ah.' A subconscious smile appeared on Wuzhi's face. There was the final confirmation that he needed. Truth be told, there was a reason why Wuzhi was facing this trail with such a passive attitude; it was because there was something that he needed to confirm.

Elder Tie's subconscious mocking provided him with that final piece of confirmation. Now, he had a good idea of who his opponents were.

Wuzhi inwardly sighed. While he considered most of the words spoken by Elder Tie to be the ramblings of a crazed dog, there was one thing that he agreed with. This farce had indeed gone on for far too long.

"You know," he suddenly spoke out loud to no one in particular. "If you want to frame somebody, you have to first get your facts right. You have to design a completely watertight situation. 'Framing someone' is not akin to tying a noose around their neck and asking them to jump."

"To properly 'frame someone' is to make them walk into a quicksand pit of your creation so that no matter how much it is that they struggle and scream, their ending will be confirmed."

"What nonsense are you—!" Elder Tie furiously began only to be immediately interrupted by Wuzhi.

"You say that I used a knife to kill this person because that was the only means available to me," said the scholar. "Because I am a non-cultivator."

"Well, I am sorry to disappoint, but you must update your information." He raised his cuffed hand into the sky and formed a hand sign with it. Immediately, an unimaginable amount of aura and energy radiated off of Wuzhi's body.

The air within the Disciplinary Hall froze and seemingly solidified. The others that were present within felt like they were immersed in a pool of water as the sheer volume and density of Wuzhi's energy drowned the entire space.

Elder Tie seemed to have gone dumb with surprise. His mouth hung agape as his tongue subconsciously muttered. "…Rank 5."

While he hadn't progressed too far in his non-traditional, self-created cultivation system and possessed a combat power that could only be called 'piss-poor,' Wuzhi was a genuine Rank 5 cultivator.

Or at least, that was how much of the boundless World Energy that he could channel all at once at his current level.

"I could simply spit and my spit would kill a mortal," joked Wuzhi, his words couldn't be any further away from the truth. Still, it didn't matter because his external aura matched a peak Rank 5 practitioner, mere steps away from entering Rank 6.

Everyone looked horrified as if they couldn't believe this sudden twist. Steward Lu, who was previously standing tall with false pride and bravado, fell to the ground after losing strength in his knees. His mind was completely in denial over Wuzhi's power reveal; didn't that person say he was only a crippled mortal, weaker than even him?

"Now that I have revealed my strength, all of you do realize how childish and stupid this entire trial is, right?" Wuzhi asked with a smile.

Just as Elder Tie was about to roar something, a sharp voice cut across the dense atmosphere and tickled the ears of everyone present.

"Just what is going on in here?"

Wuzhi immediately spun around, bowed, and greeted, "This humble scholar Wuzhi greets Second Madam."

The Golden Sovereign Mu Wudi's second wife, the azure-robed [Wisdom Path] cultivator, Su Li, had arrived.