The prison guards also understood their point of doubt. Even they did, and even they felt quite surprised by the demeanor of the person enjoying the last meal before execution. They immediately nodded and bitterly confirmed, "Indeed, it is the last meal before execution."

Alright then, everyone looked at Shi Chun's indifferent attitude, speechless. To have such openness in this situation was truly an eye-opener.

Yin Luo did not forget the main issue and turned his head to ask Yin Xu, "Is it him?"

This immediately triggered Yin Xu's hatred. Gritting his teeth, he said, "It's him. I would recognize him even if he turned to ashes."

A familiar voice sounded, and Shi Chun, while munching on something, looked up, recognized the voice carefully, stood up hurriedly, swallowed the food forcefully, and said with uncertainty, "Yin Xu?"

Yin Xu shouted sternly, "Shi Chun, you deceitful scoundrel! You deceived me horribly!"

As for how horrible, words were no longer needed. Shi Chun looked at her broken arm and leg appearance, and it was enough to cause awkwardness. He roughly guessed that his impersonation of the Qingqiu Ancestor's old friend had been exposed.

He had used this to get quite a bit of help from others.

As expected, seeing the situation, Yin Luo asked, "It's you, impersonating a friend of our Qingqiu Ancestor?"

As he spoke, he motioned for Shi Chun to come closer with a crooked finger, indicating for her to let him take a good look at what kind of character he was.

How could Shi Chun go closer to seek provocation? With things having reached this point, he simply resorted to playing rogue. He bent down to pick up a wine jug, took a drink leisurely, and exhaled the alcohol, saying, "I didn't deceive her. Ask her yourself. I never said from start to finish that I was a friend of the Qingqiu Ancestor. She's the one who kept misunderstanding. It's her own wish to curry favor with her ancestor. I'm unfamiliar with the place, and she's a local authority. What could I do against her but perfunctorily agree? Yin Xu, think about it yourself. Did I ever admit it? Didn't I say I wasn't sure? How should I know you'd believe that?"

He seemed completely fearless, genuinely indifferent. The red-clothed woman had agreed with him, saying it's a small matter and that her cousin will handle things with the Qingqiu Fox Clan afterward.

"You..." Yin Xu pointed at her, trembling with rage. There was no way around it. Thinking slightly, indeed, he had never confirmed that he knew her ancestor. From start to finish, it was all her wishful thinking.

Shi Chun shrugged, as if to say he was also helpless, and continued to drink with his head raised.

Dao Zhen, standing by, watched this and that, carefully and coldly observing the situation. It seemed he could indeed see that neither side was acting.

An angry Yin Luo suddenly reached out, his face darkened, and grabbed through the air towards the cell. Shi Chun was immediately seized by a force through the air, slipped, knocked over the food tray, and the wine jar shattered with a crash against the cell bars, almost squeezing his face out through them.

Yin Luo grabbed him by his collar, pulling him face to face, nostrils flaring slightly near his face, coldly saying, "You've got guts, daring to desecrate my Qingqiu Ancestor!"

Shi Chun's face was pinched so tight that he couldn't speak.

A nearby woman in palace attire hurried forward, placing a hand on Yin Luo's arm, urgently advising, "This is not a place for the Clan Leader to act recklessly, please stop."

Nearby, Dao Zhen, fearing things were getting out of hand, also reminded, "He is about to face severe punishment, so why would the Clan Leader invite unnecessary trouble?"

"Hmph!" Yin Luo pushed him aside.

Under the restraint of mana, Shi Chun yelped in pain, tumbling backward several times and only stopped when he slammed into the inside wall.

By the time Shi Chun, gritting his teeth, had climbed up, the footsteps of Yin Luo, Yin Xu and Dao Zhen had already faded away.

A prison guard remained on the scene, kindly asking from outside the cell, "Are you okay?"

He didn't want anything happening to the prisoner under his watch at the last moment.

Shi Chun rubbed his shoulder and approached the bars, asking, "That woman has quite the temper, who is she?"

The prison guard sighed, "Forget it, she is someone you can't afford to offend, the current Clan Leader of the Qingqiu Fox Clan."

"..." Shi Chun stood speechless, no wonder he heard someone call her Clan Leader earlier. It seems he would need to have the red-clothed woman get her cousin to have a good talk with her later.

Immediately, he self-mockingly smiled, lucky to have been personally reprimanded by the Qingqiu Fox Clan's Clan Leader.

"Sigh, but whether you offend her or not no longer matters, you're about to depart anyway." The prison guard sighed, waved a hand, and turned to leave. A few steps later, smelling the aroma of food and drink, he turned back and used his magic to clear away the mess on the ground, asking before leaving, "Shall I get you another serving, to eat your fill before departing?"

Shi Chun found it amusing, "If I could depart, would I have come here on my own?" But there was no need to explain, so he waved his hand to indicate it was unnecessary…

As Queen Xin and the Demon Queen were conversing in the hall, they turned to look at Yin Luo and others who had returned.

The Demon Queen directly transmitted her voice to ask Dao Zhen, "What's going on?"

Dao Zhen transmitted his voice back, "There's nothing much, just verifying the identity."

Queen Xin inquired of Yin Luo who had returned, "Clan Leader Yin, how is it, are you sure?"

Yin Luo nodded, "This Shi Chun is indeed the very Wang Ping. As I said, I will personally oversee the execution; no one can plead for him, he must die!"

Speaking to this point, and indeed not going to save anyone, the last trace of suspicion in the Demon Queen's heart disappeared. She was convinced that Shi Chun's previous involvement with the Qingqiu Fox Clan was all nonsense due to fraud, and it truly had nothing to do with the Qingqiu Fox Clan.

Queen Xin smiled slightly, "When the time comes, heads will roll. We won't let the Clan Leader make this trip in vain."

As she spoke, she tilted her head to indicate something.

Someone next to her immediately went to operate a magic artifact. In a short while, a light screen appeared inside the hall, continuously adjusting and changing, ultimately focusing on the execution ground in the Royal Capital. The scene in the Heavenly Mirror showed a crowd of people at the execution ground…

Inside the prison, Shi Chun, who had just taken a heavy fall, was spreading his legs and twisting his body to relieve the pain in his muscles and bones when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching.

He was somewhat puzzled. The frequency of people visiting today was indeed a bit high. He remembered that after being thrown in the last time, almost no one paid him any attention. What was going on today?

Before long, three people arrived and stopped outside the cell, headed by an old acquaintance of his, Wei Mo, dressed in casual clothes.

"Lord Wei," Shi Chun approached with a shameless smile to pay his respects, still using the old title.

Wei Mo tilted his head to signal, and then the cell door clattered open.

Wei Mo walked in, glanced around the cell's environment, and frowned slightly at the smell of spilled food and drink, but didn't mind it too much. It wasn't he who was locked up here, and he believed Shi Chun didn't need this bit of care.

Anyway, to get back to the point, "Shi Chun, is there anything else you want to explain?"

This was also the purpose of his personal visit.

Shi Chun smiled bitterly, "I've said everything I need to say. Once you verify the facts, you'll be able to prove my innocence."

Wei Mo: "Unrelated to the case. What I mean is, do you have anything to confess that could save your life? Any item or any information will do. Among those scheduled for execution today, some have confessed to major information and earned their redemption, receiving a special pardon from the Royal Court at the last moment. This is also your last chance, don't waste Young Master Nan's good intentions."

Originally, it wasn't his job to ask this. His role ended when he caught Shi Chun and handed him over, but Young Master Nan had found him, appealing to emotions and reason, saying that Shi Chun's current situation was also due in part to the support Wei Mo provided when he was the Domain Master.

And there was the previous promise when persuading him to turn himself in: if it was proven that he was not involved, he would be released. That was why he had come forward. Now, to be executed like this, isn't it going back on your word?

He was persuaded by Young Master Nan, and after receiving some gifts from him, he reluctantly approached Jiahuan to see if he could help Shi Chun grasp this last chance for survival.

Even if Shi Chun could hand over the refining key method for a Fifth-grade Body-Stabilizing Talisman or some secret technique for locating the Divine Fire, he could use it to report up the chain and strive for a stay of execution first. As long as he could survive the initial storm, things might turn around.

In fact, he hadn't wanted to catch Shi Chun initially, but he had no choice, as he was directly assigned, with no other option but to exhaust all means to apprehend him.

However, Shi Chun wasn't playing along. Shi Chun believed he had plenty of things on hand that could save his life at this critical moment, but he had long prepared a backup plan for self-rescue. The East Victory Royal Court was being led by the nose according to his plan, so he didn't need to expose his trump card.

Threats, intimidation, these tactics didn't work on him, confident that he was someone who had weathered storms before.

Hence, he once again smiled bitterly, "Lord Wei, it has come to this. If I had something to save my life, would I not have said it?"

Wei Mo said in a serious tone, "Shi Chun, you should think it through. If you don't confess now, once the restraints are placed on you and you're dragged to the execution platform, it'll be too late for you to talk. No one else would be as verbose with you."

Shi Chun sighed and lamented, "Lord Wei, if I had something to save my life, I wouldn't be in this predicament. Also, I still don't understand. I have confessed everything I should; have you not verified it? In such a short time, you decide to execute me without clear investigation. What kind of logic is this? If verifying or not doesn't matter, why bother catching me in the first place?"

Wei Mo poked him in the chest, "In the affairs of the world, if reasoning worked, there wouldn't be so many disputes, grievances. You, coming from the Land of Exile, should clearly know how to face reality. The execution is imminent, leaving you with no escape, this is reality; protecting yourself is reality! I'll ask you one last time, will you confess or not?"

Shi Chun pulled a long face, "Lord Wei, do you think I want to die? I really have just this bit of knowledge, truly nothing to confess."

"Whew!" Wei Mo exhaled heavily, walked silently to the front of the cell bars for a while, then patted his hands and made a gesture.

Immediately, two Heavenly Court personnel brought out shackles, pinning down the questioning Shi Chun and kneeling him down. The manacles were of a '工'-shaped chain, binding the hands and feet behind, with a chain in between keeping a person in a kneeling position without standing.

There were many to be executed this time. To prevent anyone from shouting or making absurd claims when on the execution ground, they directly placed a restraint, rendering Shi Chun mute, unable to speak.

Hearing the clatter of chains, Wei Mo turned to look, and asked one last time, "Will you confess or not?"

The restrained and kneeling Shi Chun shook his head stubbornly, being obstinate as ever.

It seemed the fellow really didn't know the refining secret method for the fifth-grade body-stabilizing talisman, and it appeared that the secret technique for finding the Divine Fire was indeed with Situ Gu. Wei Mo sighed, believing he had done all he could, with nothing more to say. He had no authority to delay further, so he promptly turned and left.

The sound of chains resounded as two Royal Court guards lifted Shi Chun by each arm, directly dragging him out of the prison.

Even at this point, Shi Chun remained convinced that the Royal Court was trying to bluff him, conducting one trial and then execution, who would believe it?

Thinking he had prepared various backups, he remained calm and composed, outwardly maintaining an innocent and helpless facade.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.