Chapter 343: Clear My Name

The corpse was soon carried into the hall. It was in a horrible state. Its face had turned black. Blood dripped from its eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It was a rather horrifying sight…

However, Yan Liqiang could still recognize that face. This man was a part of Xu Lang’s gang when Yan Liqiang fought with them in front of the restaurant. Among Xu Lang’s gang, it seemed like this man was only a lackey.

Soon, the prison keeper and the Supreme Court’s coroner arrived at the hall. The prison keeper was obviously frightened. He came in with a petrified look on his face, and kneeled upon seeing the judges. As the person in charge of the jail, he knew what kind of trouble he was in. This case was undoubtedly a high-profile case, referred to the court by the Emperor himself, with the hearing led by three high-ranking officers as judges. That plaintiff died in his custody, so he could used as a scapegoat for that.

“Please have mercy, my lords! This man was under my custody since two days ago. I swear nobody ever visited him, and we never treated him poorly! We watched him closely every day. Food and drink were provided. I have no idea how he died just like that…” the prison keeper begged.

“Silence! We will be the judge of that.” Xu Taiyi’s anger had eased by now. He looked at the coroner who was an old man with a wrinkled face and a body as thin as a stick. Xu Taiyi pointed to the body as he spoke to the coroner, “This is the corpse. You are to check and assess the corpse in front of us…”

“Yes, my lords!” The coroner bowed to the judges and went straight to the spot where the corpse was laid. The coroner sat down the floor and took out a set of hooks, a small spatula, some scalpels, a few chemical bottles, and some interesting tools. Then, he started his work.

Everyone present in the hall was a male, so the coroner took off the corpse’s clothes without much hesitation. He started to examine the body from head to toe carefully. From the hair, the ears, nose, mouth, nails, armpits, buttocks, to even the creek on the corpse’s toes, no spot was left unchecked.

As Yan Liqiang watched, he was silently impressed by the coroner’s professionalism. Without a doubt, this man was probably one of the best coroners available in the Supreme Court, if not the whole Imperial Capital city.

At last, the coroner opened the corpse’s mouth. He took out something from the mouth with forceps. He smelled the small object with his own nose. Then, he poured out some liquid from one of the chemical bottles onto the object. Yan Liqiang noticed a reaction from the object. There seemed to be a slight change of color as soon as the chemical dripped onto the object.

The coroner was now done. He started to pack his tools and covered the corpse with a white cloth. He then stood up and bowed to the three judges, “Reporting to my lords, I have found the cause of death for this man!”

“Speak!” Xu Taiyi ordered.

“This man had hidden poison in his mouth, among one of his teeth. His death was caused by the poison. He broke the tooth and released the poison. He died on the spot. The poison he hid in the tooth was Hell’s Invitation. This poison kills within seconds as soon as it is consumed orally. It is highly poisonous…” The old coroner’s voice echoed throughout the hall.

“How did the man hide the poison in his teeth?”

“One of the teeth in his mouth is fake. It is made of porcelain, and looked like a real tooth, so it is hard to notice. However, this tooth is hollow inside, and the poison is in that tooth. To activate the poison, he only needed to break the tooth by biting it really hard. Currently, there are still fragments of the tooth in his mouth.”

“Do you mean he had been keeping the false tooth with poison inside it before he was brought into the jail? And he committed suicide?”

“Yes, my lord!” The coroner nodded.

Xu Taiyi rubbed his forehead and waved his hand, “Understood. Take the corpse away. And you two, you can leave now…”

“Yes, my lord…”

The corpse was carried away in just the blink of an eye. The coroner and the prison keeper left the hall too. The prison keeper seemed still a little disturbed as he was leaving, but he was clearly not as terrified as he was when he first arrived. After all, it was a planned suicide. Even if the prison keeper was to be held responsible, the penalty would be a lot less heavy.

“My two lords, since we have concluded that the plaintiff died of suicide, what do we do next?”

“Lord Xu, although the plaintiff has passed away, his testimony should still be seen as effective. His suicide will be seen as a separate case, but this hearing should continue…” Pei Daoyuan responded.

Xu Taiyuan looked at Gu Chunyi, and the latter nodded, albeit with an unhappy face. Gu Chunyi glanced at Yan Liqiang with a thought in his head.

　　——At least those fools did something right this time. That Lin Zhe is really cruel. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to convince this guy to kill himself. This gets rid of any chance of getting into trouble, and at the same time, a blow to Yan Liqiang’s face. Lin Zhe is really something. I must be careful in dealing with him. He created such a big mess this time, and I was dragged into it. Luckily the Grand Chancellor sent him back to Hai Province. Otherwise, who knows what might happen if he was allowed to stay in the Imperial Capital. And this guy here, Yan Liqiang, he’s already a pain in the ass at such a young age. Since he doesn’t want to side with us, we must get rid of him soon. We can’t let him gain more power in the Imperial Capital…

Yan Liqiang watched quietly with a blank face, but he secretly kept an eye on the Minister of Justice Gu Chunyi. Thus, he managed to read the thought which flashed through Gu Chunyi’s mind.

As the saying goes, it is hard to fathom a person’s mind. Without the ability given by the Psychic Serpent, Yan Liqiang never would have known this. This highly-ranked officer, the Minister of Justice who was also the judge for this hearing, had the intention to get rid of Yan Liqiang.

This reminded Yan Liqiang of the saying, “Even the most dangerous mountain can never be as dangerous as an evil heart.”

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath as he secretly put on his guard against Gu Chunyi.

“Since my two lords agree, let’s continue with the hearing!” Xu Taiyi laid his eyes on Yan Liqiang’s face and asked sternly, “Did you travel to the Imperial Capital on the fourth of the seventh lunar month, which was four days ago?”

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“Yes, I did!”

“Did you meet Xu Lang and his friends on that day?”

“No, I did not!” Yan Liqiang shook his head.

“Tell us the purpose of your visit to the Imperial Capital that day. Where did you go? How long did you stay? Do you have a witness?” Xu Taiyi asked a few questions in a row.

Yan Liqiang calmly responded to the questions as he recounted his story of his meal that day up until the point where he got off Lu Peien’s carriage…

“What happened after that?” Xu Taiyi continued asking.

“Then I walked out of the city gates and went back to Deer Villa!”

“Do you remember what time you returned to Deer Villa?”

“I am not sure, but it should be around a quarter to twelve. The Imperial Capital was already on night curfew by that time.”

“Do the two lords have any questions to ask?” Xu Taiyi looked at the two partners at his sides. They both shook their heads in silence.

“Since the two lords have no more questions to ask, let’s summon the witnesses Yan Liqiang mentioned earlier for questioning.” Xu Taiyi paused before he raised his voice to give an official order, “Summon the witnesses into the hall!”

A pair of men appeared into the hall as first account witnesses. They were a waiter and a cashier of the Sky Beyond Restaurant respectively. They did not dare to fake their stories at this point, so they recounted what they saw on the day of the incident, which matched perfectly with what Yan Liqiang had said.

As soon as they finished their testimonies, Xu Taiyi waved his hands, signaling the officers to escort them out of the hall and bring in another pair of witnesses. The next pair of witnesses were Lu Peien and Steward Yao from the Soul Mountain Sect’s Imperial Capital division. Not only did Steward Yao testify that Yan Liqiang was in Glassy Sky’s dining hall the whole time that day, he also brought along another written testimony from Zhang Yourong.

This again matched perfectly with Yan Liqiang’s testimony.

The third batch of witnesses were a few Deer Villa guards. They all testified that Yan Liqiang returned to Deer Villa by a quarter to twelve at night.

After the third batch of witnesses left the hall, Xu Taiyi summoned a special ‘guest’ as the fourth witness. However, this time, the witness was an object instead of a person. It seemed like a rather mysterious crystal ball, with the mist rolling around inside like a thunderstorm. It must have been a precious item as the bailiff carrying it into the hall was holding it in a tray with extra care.

“This is the Gem of Spiritual Qi. It can identify a person’s level of cultivation. You claim you are only a Supreme Martial Warrior, but it would be a shame if nobody could prove it. Now, please infuse your cultivated inner Qi into the Gem of Spiritual Qi, and we will know exactly what level of cultivation you have attained!” Xu Taiyi said to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang stared at the crystal ball as he nodded. He infused his inner Qi into the ball, and the crystal ball instantly lit up like a lamp. It gave out a soft golden glow for a full ten seconds before the light finally vanished.

Xu Taiyi signaled the bailiff, and he took away the Gem of Spiritual Qi.

“On the fourth night of the seventh lunar month, Yan Liqiang came to the Imperial Capital. He had a meal with his friends, and stayed in the restaurant until it was closing time. We have multiple witnesses that testified that Yan Liqiang was back at Deer Villa at around a quarter to midnight, when the Imperial Capital was on midnight curfew. On the same night, a murder took place in the Imperial Capital. Xu Lang and his company were murdered in their house. While Yan Liqiang’s cultivation was at the level of Supreme Martial Warrior, the murdered victims were a Supreme Martial Warrior, two Martial Masters, and two Martial Grandmasters. Looking at this, I opine that Yan Liqiang is incapable of committing the crime as accused!” Xu Taiyi said in a firm voice. He then turned to his colleagues, “What do you think, my lords?”

“I agree with Lord Xu!” Pei Daoyuan said with a solemn face, “I believe Yan Liqiang was unable to commit the crime on the fourth of the seventh lunar month. It is impossible for a Supreme Martial Warrior to murder two Martial Masters and two Martial Grandmasters plus a Supreme Martial Warrior without making any noise. Although it was true that Yan Liqiang was not seeing eye to eye with Xu Lang and his friends, this crime was obviously committed by another person. This has nothing to do with Yan Liqiang. I suggest that the Ministry of Justice open up another investigation to catch the murderer!”

“I… have no objections!” The Minister of Justice looked at Yan Liqiang with defeated eyes as he reluctantly agreed.

“Great. Now, I should declare our verdict on this case. Yan Liqiang did not commit the crime on fourth of the seventh lunar month. This is a false accusation. The accuser has committed suicide due to fear of prosecution. This officially concludes the hearing!” This verdict by the Supreme Court was a powerful statement that instantly cleared Yan Liqiang’s name, and gave the dead accuser a reason to die at the same time — suicide due to fear of prosecution. Obviously, this was a ‘fullstop’ to end any further discussion on the topic. Everything ended here. Such was the way of politics.

Yan Liqiang read between the lines of Xu Taiyi’s words then bowed to him. “Thank you, my lord!”

“Alright, Commandant Yan, you may leave!” Xu Taiyi nodded at Yan Liqiang before he stood up and left the hall.

It was now noon, and Yan Liqiang’s innocence had been declared.

As Yan Liqiang walked out of the Supreme Court, a crowd of familiar faces surrounded him. They were all smiles as they were happy for Yan Liqiang.

“Shall we go for lunch at Sky Beyond Restaurant?” Yan Liqiang asked before Hu Haihe and the rest of the friends opened their mouths.

“Sure!”

“Let’s go then! To Sky Beyond! Lunch is on me…!” Yan Liqiang rubbed his belly as he looked up at the sky, “My belly is making grumbling noises already…”