Chapter 169-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Hearing Ye Zheng's answer, the man was so angry his face twisted, pulling at the scar like a wriggling worm.

He suddenly sprang up, attempting to get close to Ye Zheng. Seeing this, the Knights guarding both sides immediately pinned him down. He let out a roar of unwillingness, looking up at the approaching Saintess.

"Let me go!"

"Oppressing people with power, is this your answer!"

The contrast between the extravagantly dressed, tall and straight Saintess, and the poor, indignant man pinned to the ground by Knights was extremely stark. It stung the eyes and hearts of many people; some in the crowd were already shouting "Let that gentleman go," and even waving their fists.

Amidst the uproar, Ye Zheng remained silent. She raised her hand, hovering it over the man's head.

The next moment, the man's struggling movements stiffened, his facial muscles twitched, and the scar that had nearly killed him began to itch with an icy sensation, making him want to reach up and scratch it, but his hands were buckled by the Knights.

"I can have them let you go, but don't move. The treatment cannot be interrupted."

"Let's heal the injury first; whatever you have to say, you can tell me slowly."

Her voice was extremely inclusive, carrying a hint of helplessness, making the angry man look like an ignorant child in comparison. For a moment, the crowd shouting "Let him go" also fell silent.

Realizing the Saintess was treating him, a look of disbelief flashed across the man's eyes. Immediately after, his body relaxed, and the Knights retreated to the sides, leaving only him half-kneeling stiffly in front of Ye Zheng.

Even if he spent his entire family fortune, he would struggle to find an ability user with the same level as the Saintess to cure his life-threatening scar... But, but he didn't come today to seek Ye Zheng's help; he came to tear off the hypocritical masks of these nobles!

The man abruptly brushed away Ye Zheng's hand and stood up.

He quickly glanced off-stage; his expression wasn't good. Ye Zheng's action had disrupted his rhythm, and the atmosphere that had been whipped up had also cooled down.

"I, Ewan, do not need your charity. Admittedly, your healing level is high, but if the Ye family had used the expenses of raising you since childhood to give us fair compensation instead, such scars would never have appeared on my body."

Ye Zheng smiled, "The Ability Court is currently reviewing this matter. I believe you will soon receive a generous sum of compensation."

The man named Ewan shook his head, his face showing determination. "I didn't come for money; I came for fairness—the victims stay in cramped temporary housing in fear, while the culprit's daughter enjoys the admiration of thousands!"

"I know that by standing here today, I have offended the God of Hope and the Saintess's supporters. I might even be stabbed to death by a Knight on the spot, but I do not fear death."

"I want to make more people wake up. Hypocrites who strike poses are not fit to guide us forward!"

Percy, in the crowd, couldn't help but squeeze forward. Although this man's behavior was somewhat radical, some of his thoughts coincided with his own. The people of the lower district shouldn't trust and rely on Ye Zheng so much; her origin destined that she could never be their Saintess.

What's more, the real Ye Zheng was not a flawless and holy Chosen One at all. She was deeply scheming and unscrupulous... completely different from the Saintess everyone admired.

To some extent, what that man said was all factual. Percy held his breath and looked up, waiting for Ye Zheng's answer like everyone else.

On the high platform, Ye Zheng allowed the man to finish a long string of accusations, then looked at him calmly and replied:

"If the culprit you mentioned refers to my father, Ye Fanjing, he is currently accepting deliberation at the Ability Court in the upper district. I can take you to find him. Even without a permit, I can take you into the upper district."

The people of the lower district must obtain a permit from the upper district to enter; otherwise, it is an illegal act.

Hearing this, the man paused as if he had heard a fantasy. It took him a good while to understand Ye Zheng's meaning, and he stared at her with wide eyes.

"Don't worry. Although you are prepared to face death without fear, I can guarantee your safety."

"Even if you stabbed Ye Fanjing to death on the spot, I could still plead for you in court and exempt you from the death penalty."

Ye Zheng's voice fell calmly, but the man was completely shaken. He suddenly lost his ability to organize language, and his voice became hesitant, devoid of his previous momentum.

"I didn't come to find him today... You say such things... Ye Fanjing is your father..."

Ye Zheng raised her eyebrows. She flung her heavy cape aside, turned to face the dark mass of people below the stage, and pointed one hand at the man on the stage.

"This gentleman, you said you came for fairness, you said that I, as a noble's daughter, am not fit to guide you..."

"But now, I want to betray my father, disobey the laws of the upper district, and take you to find the culprit to reclaim fairness—why did you hesitate?"

Facing Ye Zheng's gaze, which felt almost tangible, the man seemed to have been suddenly thrown into a world of ice and snow, his face turning incredibly pale.

The Saintess's resounding words echoed in every corner of the Divine Plaza. People were first awestruck, then erupted into intense discussion.

Percy was stunned. The buzzing sound of people chattering around him gave him a headache.

"That's right, why doesn't he go directly to find Ye Fanjing?"

"Talking about not fearing death, isn't he just relying on the Saintess's good temper to pick a soft persimmon (bully the weak)?"

"The Saintess's identity was selected by the Sei Curia and the Gods, not bought by the Ye family. What does he want to do? Make the Saintess never set foot in the lower district again?"

"The Saintess's Knight Order is entirely made up of commoner girls. Isn't it clear to everyone how much she looks after us? Just because the Saintess is kind, must she be treated so harshly..."

Ideally like a tide, doubts rose one after another. The man on the high platform racked his brain, feeling he had found a good point, and launched another inquiry.

"Saintess Ye Zheng, although Ye Fanjing is a sinner, he is your father, the closest kin who provided for you to grow up!"

"To prevent your father's crimes from staining your identity as a Saintess, you actually want me to go kill him. Is your conduct really worthy of the identity of a Saintess?"

After the man roared, he stared straight at Ye Zheng, as if confidence had returned to him.

Let alone a Saintess, any ordinary person who was this indifferent to their father would be condemned by human nature, let alone Ye Zheng, the philanthropic and noble Saintess in people's hearts?

Hearing the man's sonorous and forceful questioning, Ye Zheng just lowered her head and smiled. When she looked up at the man again, the smile in her eyes vanished in an instant.

Bang!

Amidst everyone's exclamations, Ye Zheng took off the glittering and magnificent crown and smashed it fiercely onto the ground.

Her long black hair cascaded down, moving slightly with the wind, yet she did not look disheveled. Immediately after, Ye Zheng untied her cape and the outer coat embroidered with gold thread and gems, throwing them onto the ground. Only a simple white robe remained, yet her tall and straight figure became even clearer, more eye-catching than the statue of the God of Hope behind her.

"From the moment the Saintess takes her oath, her life belongs to the Gods and the people. In my fourteenth year, I became Saintess Ye Zheng, not the Ye family's Ye Zheng."

"In order not to fail the identity of the Saintess, I have always placed the Saintess's duties first. When personal emotions conflict with fairness and justice, even if it is painful, I must abandon personal feelings..."

Ye Zheng's voice lowered slightly, carrying an imperceptible tremble, as if her heart was also tangled in pain.

But many people detected the Saintess's complex state of mind from her words. Even if a father commits a mistake, who can punish him with total coldness and impartiality? The Saintess, however, proactively let her father accept punishment to safeguard fairness and justice. How painful must her heart be?

In the crowd, many emotionally rich people already had red eyes.

"As a Saintess, I did not supervise my family well; as a daughter, I did not achieve love and respect for my father."

Ye Zheng took a deep breath and picked up the scabbard on the table. Many people thought it was a prop left behind from the previous theatrical performance, but when Ye Zheng picked it up, those with quick minds had already guessed the sword's identity in surprise.

"I cannot fulfill both identities, so I must abandon one of them."

Gold light flashed, carving a sharp arc in the air. Ye Zheng drew the Divine Sword!

"My family comes from the mysterious ancient East. There is a saying there: a child's body and hair are given by their parents and cannot be damaged."

Ye Zheng raised her hand to gather her long black hair in front of her. She held the sword in her right hand and stroked the satin-like black hair with her left.

The black hair flowed with luster under the sunlight, more charming than a night sky full of stars. People's admiring gazes focused on such beautiful black hair, wondering how much energy and money had been spent to grow such long hair?

"Such beautiful long hair, yet it consumed considerable money and energy to maintain. I do not like it, but to pay tribute to the first Saintess, every generation of Saintess must have a head of beautiful long hair."

"But its existence is not beneficial to my work. It is merely a magnificent burden, a useless waste."

Portraits of past Saintesses were preserved in the Sei Curia, each one a gentle and beautiful "Saintess" figure.

They did not have the same real power as the first Saintess, only a similar appearance.

"Today, I will simultaneously violate my parents' kindness and the Sei Curia's precepts—cut them off, cut off the useless burden."

Ye Zheng held up the long hair with one hand, and slowly raised the Divine Sword with the other, hovering it over the black hair.

"From now on, I have only one identity—the Saintess who leads everyone towards light and happiness!"

The man on the stage had long lost his voice, staring at Ye Zheng with eyes trembling in shock like everyone present. He knew he had completely lost; no one could remain unmoved by the Saintess's determination.

Just as thousands of people looked up in unison, ready to witness this historic moment, and excited shouts were about to burst forth, a white light screen suddenly blocked the sun, quickly surrounding the entire Divine Plaza from top to bottom.

The excited cheers instantly turned into screams of fright, and the crowd surged in panic—the Demonic Domain had descended!

The Demonic Domain had descended.

The sword with which Ye Zheng was about to cut her hair stopped. She looked up and stared at the white light screen without the sun. Her black eyes roiled with intense emotions, and the muscles on her face twitched unconsciously. She looked like a heavy dark cloud brewing a storm.

Is it a coincidence or man-made? Why choose this point in time!

Although there were quite a few ability users in this plaza, there were too many people. Just one monster appearing could hurt many!

Fate was simply playing a huge joke on her. The Divine Plaza was rumored to be protected by the statue of the God of Hope and was one of the safest places in the lower district, where Demonic Domains almost never appeared. Yet she had collided with such a small probability at this critical moment.

Seeing the Demonic Domain descend, Wu Shu on the spire stared vigilantly below. Bai Muqing, on the periphery, rushed into the white light screen against the flow of people.

Before rushing into the Demonic Domain, Bai Muqing seemed to sense something and paused for a moment, but still chose to enter the Demonic Domain first.

Below the stage, Percy was trying to comfort the panicked crowd. The crying of children and the calls for help from adults drowned out his voice. Given the current level of chaos, people would probably die from a stampede before the monsters even appeared.

He looked in Ye Zheng's direction, his mood complex. Ye Zheng's speech and actions just now had impressed even him. Just when she was about to completely turn the tables, the sudden descent of this Demonic Domain turned her efforts into bubbles, and public opinion would only get worse.

This wasn't Ye Zheng's fault; fate just insisted on pushing her into the teeth of the storm. One could only admit bad luck.

On the high platform, the unlucky Ye Zheng still maintained her posture of looking up. Her pupils had shrunk almost to the size of pinpoints. Dark clouds actually began to condense in the sky, and she could sense water vapor evaporating—this was a Demonic Domain with water as its core!

The wind grew stronger. Ye Zheng looked around with her long hair in disarray.

Under the panicked gazes of the Knights and the man on the stage, Ye Zheng suddenly laughed aloud. Grabbing her flying long hair with one hand, she raised the golden sword, placed it against the hair at her neck, and slashed downwards—

The black long hair instantly cascaded to the ground, and the damp wind blew through Ye Zheng's short hair.

The short hair was uneven in length on both sides; the right side was slightly longer, flush with her jaw, while the left side was slightly shorter. But Ye Zheng had no time to care whether her hair was neat.

Her severed hair still remained on the blade. Ye Zheng held the golden sword high, pointing it at the dark clouds that were constantly growing in the sky.

When the first drop of corrosive rain fell on the tip of the sword, the [Stream] wrapped around the blade shot upwards along the rain streaks, like a greedy snake swallowing the long lines of rain, weaving the strange rainwater into a large net in mid-air in the blink of an eye.

Someone was the first to get drenched by the corrosive rain, their skin scalded red. Some cried and screamed, while others shouted hoarsely to remind those around them to cover their heads with clothes. Just when the scene was in incomparable chaos and despair, voices started shouting "Look up"!

Unknowingly, no more raindrops were falling.

The rainwater from the dark clouds gathered into a waterfall-like curtain of water, surging towards the Divine Sword raised by the Saintess on the high platform.

The Saintess had actually already cut off her long hair. She stood steadily on the high platform, holding the Divine Sword with both hands and swinging it upwards. The water curtain split the dark clouds in the sky like a blade, and splitting along with it was the white light screen symbolizing the alternate dimension!

Everyone looked up and gazed at this scene, deeply branding it into their eyes. Ye Zheng, waving the Divine Sword, no longer had the Saintess's trademark beautiful long hair, but at this moment, not a single person questioned that she was the Empire's Saintess, the Saintess capable of leading everyone towards light and happiness!

The white light screen descended unexpectedly and vanished quickly. The people who were rejoicing that they stood on the periphery and escaped the Demonic Domain looked puzzled. Watching the Divine Plaza return to normal and hearing the deafening cheers coming from inside, they subconsciously surged towards the plaza again.

"Ye Zheng!"

"Saintess Ye Zheng!"

Cheers from all directions almost overturned the entire square; even the magnificent statue of the God of Hope seemed to be shaken.

Ye Zheng watched the enthusiastic people below with a smile, her hand gripping the hilt of the sword tightly. She didn't speak; she waved the sword towards the sky, triggering even higher waves of sound, attracting a steady stream of people rushing here to witness the Saintess's sermon that could be called a miracle.

When the first drop of rain landed on the tip of her sword, Ye Zheng understood: this time, fate was lifting her to go higher!

It was destined that she would lead this era into a new epoch!

Author's Note: Next chapter, I will finally write about the forum...

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