Book 4: Chapter 135: Determining Punishment

Gu Hai used the Marionette Controller to control the two thousand angels to charge down towards the surrounding island masters.

“Ah? Quickly, run!”

The five hundred renegade island masters fled in all directions in horror.

Cui Tong had died, Jiu Ming had fled in a sorry state, and the two thousand angels were controlled like puppets. Continuing to fight would simply be seeking death.

“Hahahaha! Are you only just thinking of escaping? It is too late! It’s too late for you. Nine-Four Island Master, you chased us so relentlessly earlier. To think that you are thinking of leaving now!” the island masters who were chased in a sorry state earlier roared excitedly.

Their decision to persevere and remain on the Han Nation’s side had been right; they won their bet. It turned out that the Han Royal Emperor was so formidable. Only how many years had passed, and the Han Royal Emperor had already become so strong?

Had they joined the Han Nation a few years later, perhaps no one would care about them.

The three hundred island masters excitedly pursued those who fled. When the two thousand angels charged down, the five hundred renegade island masters had nowhere to flee to.

On the other side, the five hundred black tortoises who were Cui Tong’s subordinates showed expressions of despair.

“Miao Chen, capture all these external enemies and traitors with us,” Gu Hai instructed.

“Yes!” Miao Chen shouted in response.

Although the holy flame injured him earlier, he was still a Heavenly Palace Realm cultivator. How could these island masters compare to him?

Boom!

Miao Chen quickly charged down and sealed the renegade Nascent Soul Realm island masters.

The Golden Core Realm traitors in the surroundings lost the will to fight. The treants poured out, and Gao Xianzhi’s First Corps experts rushed over, immediately suppressing them.

Soon, they finished dealing with all the external enemies and internal chaos.

Gu Hai’s flying ship flew around Nine-Five Island. The other cities were fine. Only the areas near the imperial palace had suffered great damage and countless casualties among the innocent citizens.

The flying ship landed slowly on the Soaring Palace Hall’s plaza.

“Salutations, Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty! May Your Majesty live for ten thousand years!” the officials saluted excitedly.

“Imperial Father!” Gu Qin called out excitedly.

“So many citizens died?” Gu Hai frowned.

Gu Qin said with a faint, bitter smile, “It was all these angels. Initially, this son used the Life Trapper Saber to lay a ritual array. However, these angels went about rampantly killing people to break the ritual array. I had to use the ritual array to suppress them, instead. This gave Jiu Ming an opportunity to break the simplified Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Ritual Array—the ten large holes that Imperial Father saw earlier.”

“Angels? Rampantly killing?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes at the nearby two thousand angels, whose cultivations were sealed.

“You had best let us go now. Otherwise, Second Young Master will not let you off!”

“Gu Hai, immediately let us go if you don’t wish to die. Otherwise, our master will make sure that you will not even get to reincarnate!”

“Gu Hai, you are dead now. Kneel and beg for mercy, surrender yourself to capture, and our master might forgive you!”

The angels glared at Gu Hai. Even now, they still showed an attitude of superiority, their eyes gleaming with murderous intent as they looked at him.

“Humph!” Gu Hai snorted coldly.

Then, Gu Hai turned his head to look at the five hundred island masters.

“Your Majesty! We…we were wrong!”

“Your Majesty, we got befuddled by greed. Your Majesty, please forgive us!”

“Your Majesty, spare us! We will never do this again!”

The five hundred renegade island masters pleaded for mercy.

Some of the three hundred loyal island masters in the surroundings showed enmity in their eyes, but others wanted to plead for mercy for these five hundred renegades.

Gu Hai looked at the five hundred renegade island masters and said coldly, “We do not care if you harmed the citizens or not. However, a nation has its laws. You defected without resigning from your posts. That is treason. Gu Qin, what is the punishment for treason?”

“The nation’s law states immediate execution!” Gu Qin shouted.

“Execute!” Gu Hai glared.

“Ah! Don’t! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! We will be loyal to the Han Nation and make contributions to redeem our offenses. We are Nascent Soul Realm cultivators!” the various island masters pleaded anxiously.

Gao Xianzhi led his men in carrying out the mission.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

The execution blades immediately swung down, and the heads of five hundred Nascent Soul Realm cultivators flew off. Blood spurted more than three meters high. The execution blades even contained a shredding force that entered their bodies, shredding the sealed nascent souls.

Bang!

The five hundred Nascent Soul Realm cultivators’ corpses toppled to the ground.

The Han Royal Dynasty officials fell silent as they looked at these five hundred corpses in shock.

To many people, they were immortal venerates. Yet, Gu Hai killed them all in the blink of an eye.

Those who wanted to plead for mercy for the renegade island masters frowned. Then, they calmed down after letting out a drawn-out breath.

This was not simply a punishment but a display for everyone to see. Traitors and treason would be punished by execution, according to the law.

“As for the Golden Core Realm traitors, Chen Tianshan will deal with them,” Gu Hai instructed.

“Yes!” Chen Tianshan answered.

Speaking of which, it was Chen Tianshan who recruited these people. He should share the blame for their defection. However, not only did Gu Hai not blame him, but he even handed the right of judgment to him.

Chen Tianshan took a deep breath, feeling extremely frustrated over these traitors. While Gu Hai did not blame him, Chen Tianshan blamed himself. As he looked at the distant subdued traitors, a faint chill flashed in his eyes.

Finally, Gu Hai looked at the five hundred black tortoises who followed Cui Tong.

These black tortoises appeared worried as well.

“Your Majesty, can we pardon these black tortoises? I’ll deal with them. After all, my black tortoise race is few in number now. It would be a pity to kill them,” Miao Chen immediately pleaded for mercy.

The black tortoises looked at Miao Chen. Some were grateful, but others were disdainful.

“Furthermore, they did not harm many citizens and did not cause much destruction, only some fires,” Miao Chen said bitterly.

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly. “The black tortoises? Are you sure you can subdue them?”

“Huh?” Miao Chen felt slightly startled at first. Then, he showed a faint, bitter smile; he could not be sure of that.

“Since Elder Miao spoke up, we will give you face. As such, those who are willing to follow Miao Chen can live. Kill the rest,” Gu Hai said seriously.

Miao Chen opened his mouth, but he had no good objections.

The black tortoises goggled.

“I…I am willing!”

“I am willing to follow Elder Miao!”

“I am willing as well!”

Many of the black tortoises chose to follow Miao Chen to survive. However, there were some holdouts.

“Humph! Follow Miao Chen? In your dreams! Even with Elder Cui Tong dead, there is still Elder Cui Yin. You have offended the Solar Divine Palace and will suffer a horrendous death sooner or later!” one of the black tortoises cried out.

[TL Note: The given names of Cui Tie, Cui Tong, and Cui Yin mean iron, bronze, and silver, respectively.]

Boom!

Gao Xianzhi made his move, immediately chopping off the head of that black tortoise. The eyes of that black tortoise remained open wide, as though saying in disbelief, To think that you just killed me without hesitation?

After one was killed, the other black tortoises immediately submitted. At least by following Miao Chen, they could survive.

When Gao Xianzhi killed a black tortoise, Miao Chen’s eyelids twitched. However, he did not say anything. He could tell that Gu Hai was helping him subdue the black tortoises.

Upon seeing that all the black tortoises were willing, Gu Hai said indifferently, “Since you are willing, you can be granted amnesty from death. We will not impose any harsh punishment, either. This is the time for you to prove your sincerity.”

“Huh?” The black tortoises looked at Gu Hai.

“The angels in front devastated and massacred the Han Nation citizens. To give the Han Nation citizens an account, we want you to kill these angels before the citizens,” Gu Hai said coldly.

“Ah?” The black tortoises goggled.

“Gu Hai! How dare you?! How dare you kill us?!” The angels immediately glared at Gu Hai in rage and horror.

However, the black tortoises remained silent. This is forcing us to express our stance and pick a side?

If we kill the angels, we will completely fall out with the Solar Divine Palace.

“What’s wrong? Are you not willing?” Gu Hai asked coldly.

“We will do it!” the black tortoises answered with bitter expressions.

After killing these angels, they could no longer turn back.

“Activate the sound amplification ritual array!” Gu Hai said.

“Yes!” Gu Qin quickly activated the ritual array, broadcasting Gu Hai’s voice to great distances.

“Citizens of Nine-Five Island, we have returned late, causing you to suffer attacks from external enemies. Some of the citizens even lost their lives despite being innocent. However, if anyone dares to hurt our citizens in the Han Nation, we will take revenge for you. These bird men, who call themselves angels, killed without a thought. Now, I will execute them before everyone!” Gu Hai shouted.

Gu Hai’s voice immediately spread all over Nine-Five Island.

Several flying ships carried the black tortoises and the angels high into the sky, allowing the many citizens to see them when they looked up.

“Execute!” Gao Xianzhi shouted.

The black tortoises appeared conflicted as they stepped forward with gritted teeth.

“Gu Hai, how dare you?! How dare you?!”

“For daring to kill us, you are dead for sure!”

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

The angels clamored.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Heads flew off, sending blood spurting all over the sky.

Countless citizens looked up. When they saw that their emperor had sent people to execute the demons who killed their friends and families, tears fell from their eyes, which they had just wiped dry.

“Father, His Majesty has taken revenge for you! His Majesty has avenged you!”

“My son, can you see? His Majesty killed the demon that killed you!”

“Mother, His Majesty avenged us!”

Loud lamentations arose everywhere.

“Many thanks, Your Majesty! Many thanks, Your Majesty!” Loud sobs came from all directions.

Gu Hai now let out a soft sigh.

Soon, the black tortoises returned after killing all the angels. Now, there was no turning back for them. They could only follow Miao Chen.

Miao Chen sensed that the gazes of these black tortoises as they looked at him had changed significantly, no longer rejecting him as much.

“Since you now follow Miao Chen, you are now the national beasts of the Han Nation. The change in weather you caused earlier resulted in fires breaking out everywhere. This is your chance to make up for it. Go treat the injured citizens and fix the damage. Miao Chen will monitor you!” Gu Hai said.

“Yes!” the black tortoises answered.

By now, the frost crows had already put out all the fires and flown back.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The frost crows cried out as they quickly flew back into Bing Ji’s sleeves.

Rumble…!

In the blink of an eye, nearly ten thousand frost crows vanished before everyone, confusing them. How could Bing Ji’s sleeves contain so many frost crows?

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