Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1109

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“My apologies, Island Master.” Lin Ming sincerely said. He clearly knew that Xiao Skywhite reprimanded him in order to protect him in this situation.

However, White Brook refused to let go. “Xiao Skywhite, I have something to say today. This junior is not someone from my Carefree Island and he actually comes here to spout utter garbage, questioning me in front of everyone present and slandering the clean reputation of my White Family. If I were to let this go today, then what face would I have left!”

Someone like White Brook, who had occupied such a high and lofty position for all this time, was the same as someone who sat upon the imperial throne to mortals. He was like someone who had been an emperor for dozens of years already and was long used to all ministers and everyone else below him being utterly servile in his presence. But now, there was actually a boy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was daring to impugn his honor in front of everyone, and also question his words. From this alone, the results could be imagined.

“Elder White, may I ask why you would say that?” Lin Ming coldly asked, sneering inwardly.

“If you say that Mirrorjade betrayed you, then where is the evidence? Take out the evidence then! You blaspheme the dead and also destroy the innocent name of my White Family. Since you dare to do so, you had better take out the evidence, otherwise don’t blame me for being rude!” White Brook slowly fell down from the red mountain peak he stood on, coming to a floating position in front of Lin Ming as he looked down at him with thick condescension.

“I have evidence, but I’m afraid that you don’t dare to examine it.”

“What?” Blue veins began to pop up on White Brook’s forehead. His anger had finally reached the extreme. “If you have evidence then of course I must examine it! If you cannot take out evidence then I want you to die as reparation!”

“Die as reparation? Hahaha, hahaha!” Lin Ming laughed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “If I cannot bring out evidence then you want me to die as reparation? Your White Family is far too arrogant. Then let me ask you, what if I can take out evidence? Will you die instead?”

Lin Ming didn’t fear White Brook, thus he repeatedly poked and challenged him with words. This caused the many Elders present to feel horrified, as if their hearts were being tightly gripped. If he enraged White Brook there truly wouldn’t any good outcomes for him.

“What… did you say?” White Brook’s face became as gloomy as dark water. His words were slow and pronounced.

“I already spoke; could you not understand my words? The one who said White Mirrorjade was a traitor was Gudao Ming. I only repeated what he said. And yet, if I cannot take out further evidence, you want me to die?

“And in turn, if I can take out evidence, you actually won’t need to pay any price, but you will still remember this grudge and take revenge against me in the future? Is there such a truth in this world? If this isn’t overbearing then what is?”

“Hahahahaha!” White Brook laughed out loud. “Just who do you think you are? You think you can speak reason with me? You think you can speak what is fair to me? Do you think you have these qualifications!? In the world of martial artists, strength is supreme! Fairness and reasoning only apply to those that are similar in strength! You are nothing but a little Life Destruction ant. Even if you are extremely talented, that only makes you a slightly larger ant! If I wanted to deal with you, that would be no different from a common mortal stepping on an ant, and who can stop me? Who can stop me!? And you still think that you can talk about fairness with me? Just how stupid can you be!?

“If I kill you, that is because you have harmed the reputation of my White Family! The reputation of my White Family is thousands of times more precious than your life will ever be! Your death is still far from enough! And yet you want to threaten me and have me take out my life to accompany you? Just weigh how much your life is worth and realize how laughable you are!”

……..

As White Brook was yelling at Lin Ming, an inner court Elder carelessly turned over the combat report jade slip passed out by Xiao Raingem. “Hm? This jade slip is actually divided into two parts. If one doesn’t pay attention, they wouldn’t realise there is further information on the back. Isn’t this just deliberately looking for trouble?”

Normally, a martial artist could look over a jade slip extremely quickly; it only took a single sweep. But, Xiao Raingem’s combat report jade slip was deliberately divided into two, and the middle section was blank. This created a gap in the reading, just like in a notebook where there were only words recorded on the first few pages and the last few pages, with the entire center blank. Most people who saw the blank portion would naturally assume that there was nothing left, thus they wouldn’t continue.

Of course, for the martial artists present, as long as they wanted to, they could instantly read over the entire jade slip.

As this inner court Elder read the last portion of the jade slip, he nearly choked on himself and rolled down the mountain. He looked at Lin Ming with an incredulous expression, “Am I dreaming? White Mirrorjade actually died to this Lin Ming. This boy… is he insane? If White Brook finds out about this then… that would simply…”

Because White Brook and Lin Ming’s dispute was too eye-catching, several Elders didn’t finish reading the jade slip. Ye Rosewater was also worried about Lin Ming. Lin Ming was simply playing with fire here. Why would he offend Highest Elder White Brook just because he wanted to sass back?

Facing White Brook’s horrifying pressure, Lin Ming seemed completely unaware of it all. He smiled and asked, “So, if my humble and lowly life can actually damage the reputation of the noble and glorious White Family, isn’t that a reason for me to feel honored? Hahaha! But Elder White, you said that it was impossible for White Mirrorjade to be the traitor. Since you’re so sure of yourself, why are you worried that I can produce evidence?”

“Lin Ming, if you can take out evidence then I will personally remove White Mirrorjade’s name from my family tree! Otherwise, hehe…”

“Remove a name? Remove the name of a dead person? Is that the price that your White Family will pay? How valuable.” Lin Ming mocked. But, he also knew that it was impossible to get White Brook to bet his life for any reason. With his status, he would never make such a bet with a junior.

“Elder White, you said that regardless of what the evidence is, you will investigate it yourself. Then, I will take out the evidence. If you don’t dare to examine it then don’t say that my evidence is wrong.”

“Then take it out!” White Brook coldly said, his eyes filled with a thick killing intent. “As long as you don’t try to play some tricks with this evidence then I can naturally verify it!”

“Good!” This was the effect that Lin Ming wanted. If he didn’t anger White Brook and took out the half-dead White Mirrorjade, then White Brook would probably storm off from the scene. As for agreeing to search White Mirrorjade’s soul, that was something he would never do.

“I apologize to all Elders here. Because of some reasons, there were some matters that I intentionally needed to hide from you all. In truth, White Mirrorjade wasn’t dead at the end of the Red Desolate Mystic Realm expedition. But, there’s not much of a difference now!”

Before Lin Ming left the Red Desolate Mystic Realm, he severed White Mirrorjade’s true essence, causing him to perch on the edge of death. A mystic art like the soul searching technique worked best when the party it was being done to was on the verge of death.

A martial artist had two kinds of death. There was the death of solely the human body, where the soul was still able to be preserved. If one suffered some sort of tremendous attack, it was likely they would die along with their soul. If that happened, their memories would also fade away and it would be impossible to use the soul searching technique.

As Lin Ming spoke, he threw out the nearly dead White Mirrorjade from his spatial ring. At this time, White Mirrorjade’s entire body was covered in pieces of flesh and blood, and he no longer seemed even human. His organs were all smashed apart and almost all of his blood had drained out. His chest cavity was open, filled with blood plasma. His exposed heart had nearly stopped beating; he would die soon.

White Brook didn’t even immediately recognize White Mirrorjade. It was only when he faintly felt a familiar aura coming from this ruined White Mirrorjade…

“Mirrorjade!”

White Brook’s eyes turned blood red. As he looked at Lin Ming, his killing intent had already reached infinite dimensions and his anger was erupting. “You turned him into this!?”

“Yes.” Lin Ming confidently acknowledged.

“Die then!”

White Brook suddenly attacked. As he lifted his hand, the power of his inner world came billowing outwards, forming a raging blue storm that rushed towards Lin Ming.

And at this time, Xiao Skywhite was already prepared. He gathered his hands together and countless grand runes appeared, aligning into mystical patterns behind him. These patterns forming a massive suction force that completely inhaled the surging blue storm that White Brook sent out.

The runes that Xiao Skywhite used were the supernatural power contained within Carefree Palace itself. It had to be known that the entire Carefree Palace was a titanic spirit artifact. It was a war fortress, and the only one with the authority and ability to control it was the Island Master!

Although Xiao Skywhite’s strength was inferior to White Brook’s, in Carefree Palace, White Brook was not Xiao Skywhite’s match.

“Xiao Skywhite, you dare to stop me!?” White Brook vehemently sputtered.

“Elder White, please proceed according to the rules!! If you want to deal with Lin Ming, then you must have the truth on your side!” Xiao Skywhite’s voice was cold. Because White Brook was his senior, Xiao Skywhite was respectful in the way he spoke to him. But, this did not mean that Xiao Skywhite feared White Brook. “It has already been stated that there is a chance that White Mirrorjade was the traitor. Lin Ming has already brought out the evidence to prove this point, and Elder White has also agreed to examine the evidence. If Lin Ming cannot take out true evidence then it won’t be too late to kill him. If you recklessly attack him now, then you will be accused of killing a witness to cover up your own crimes.”

As Xiao Skywhite spoke, more and more runes formed behind him, faintly forming an energy barrier that surrounded Lin Ming. This was clearly to protect Lin Ming.

“Xiao Skywhite! Good! Very good!” White Brook said the word ‘good’ twice, clearly angry to the extreme.

Then, he turned to Lin Ming, his eyes sharp as if he wanted to stab countless holes into Lin Ming, saying, “Where is the evidence!?”

Lin Ming shrugged. “Elder White, at this point, you should have already guessed it. The evidence is White Mirrorjade himself. Search his soul and investigate him. If you do not believe me then you can have the Disciplinary Elder, Island Master Xiao, or even yourself investigate him!”

“What did you say!?”

White Brook’s eyes turned blood red. The soul searching technique was originally an extremely dark and malicious demonic art. After searching someone’s soul, the subject would normally turn into an idiot. Although the soul searching technique was a cruel and sinister move, it was actually very easy to use. It was impossible to search out incomparably complex things like alchemy techniques, array formation techniques, or cultivation methods using this technique, but searching for just simple information was actually straightforward. Thus, even if one was an Elder of the righteous path, this was still doable.

“Elder White, you said that if I had evidence, you would investigate it yourself. Then, don’t blame me for this. Moreover, White Mirrorjade is already dead, so there is no meaning in you showing any sort of compassion to him.”

As Lin Ming spoke, White Mirrorjade seemed to confirm Lin Ming’s words. White Mirrorjade’s body twitched one last heart and then he lay completely motionless, with even the last puttering beats of his heart dying down.

Like this, the White Mirrorjade that had been considered by everyone as the best candidate to be the next Island Master had died.