Chapter 172-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Wen Jian was writing a document at his desk, each stroke leaving a deep mark on the thin, brittle paper.
Hearing a knock on the door, he steadied his trembling hand, put down the pen, picked up a silk headscarf to cover most of his face, and voiced permission for the person outside to enter.
"Lord Pope."
The man dressed as a priest spoke with great reverence: "The Ability Court's verdict on Ye Fanjing is out. His position as Chief Judge has been revoked, and he also faces subsequent penalties for some old cases. Confiscation of property and land is certain. It will be hard for the Ye family to turn over a new leaf."
Wen Jian hid most of his face in the white headscarf. His exposed lips had become very thin due to aging, like withered dry flowers. When he smiled, there was none of the usual warmth, only mean-spiritedness and insidiousness.
"Good, good." He praised repeatedly with a smile, then asked, "Those people, are they still guarding outside the Curia?"
"Yes."
To deal with him, Ye Zheng and Ye Fanjing actually dragged out that case from fifteen years ago. It was just accidentally killing a maid; he had used money to settle with her parents at the time. Unexpectedly, they dug this up and even used connections to mobilize the upper district court to detain and try him.
He was not an incompetent person like Ye Fanjing. The Curia's knight orders were at his disposal. From priests and nuns to bishops, the vast majority were his people. Who within the Curia dared to be disrespectful to the Pope?
Those law enforcers couldn't possibly dare to break in and arrest him. Once they acted, he could also use Curia Law to sanction them.
The trickiest part of this matter was the damage to his reputation. If these law enforcers hadn't mobilized, such hearsay matters could easily be quelled.
But those guys stood neatly like wooden stakes at the entrance of the Grand Cathedral, confirming his crimes in front of the populace!
Wen Jian didn't care what those commoners thought. That he could sit on the Pope's throne at a young age was largely due to the support of the great nobles. But with things developing to this stage, he could already feel the wavering of those old fellows.
Ye, Zheng. He gritted his teeth and recited this name in his heart. It was she who incited Ye Fanjing to deal with him. She couldn't wait to pull him down.
Wen Jian fell into deep thought sitting at the desk. The reporting man stared carefully at his reaction, seeming to hesitate about saying something more. He saw Wen Jian suddenly pick up the pen, sign quickly on the document, then let out a breath and put the pen down again.
Ye Zheng indeed dealt him a heavy blow, but the price he made her pay was her family!
The Ye family was already notorious. Even if Ye Fanjing was on good terms with the Emperor, the Emperor couldn't go against the direction of the lower district's denunciation to protect him. Rather, sacrificing a Ye family to quell the incident was the most cost-effective deal for the Emperor.
If he could find Wen Xiaoxing, then he had plenty of time to fight Ye Zheng. A Saintess without family protection and power would be crushed to death by him sooner or later.
If he couldn't find him... Damn it, he shouldn't have been impatient and released a monster he hadn't even thoroughly researched to deal with Ye Zheng. In the past, he could easily cut off the life connection with his creations, but Wen Xiaoxing was truly a ghost story, making Wen Jian suspect if he really created him.
If he still couldn't find Wen Xiaoxing, he feared he wouldn't be able to personally topple Ye Zheng before he died.
But it didn't matter. He had just determined the candidate for the next Pope. That was a young man with means and background. And Ye Zheng should never think about climbing up; she could sink to the bottom forever holding the sinking ship of the Ye family. This was the price for her overstepping!
Wen Jian stood up from his chair. He walked somewhat stooped towards the door. With the dignity of the Pope, he would personally order the expulsion of that group of law enforcers outside the Curia who didn't know death.
The reporting man hadn't organized his language yet when he saw Lord Pope walking out with vigorous strides. He was a bit surprised. Recently, Lord Pope had been burnt out by various troublesome matters and looked ten years older. It had been a long time since he seemed so powerful.
But remembering the news he hadn't finished reporting, the man felt even more apprehensive. He hesitated in place for a while, then chased out the door.
Walking in the corridor, he suddenly turned pale with fright.
"Lord Pope!"
A group of clergy were surrounding the Pope who had fainted on the ground. The man pushed them aside and took a closer look, his expression becoming even more horrified—
The headscarf that always covered the upper half of the face had been torn off. The man discovered with horror that the Pope didn't just look ten years older. The deep wrinkles, dense spots, and sparse white hair were all telling him that the man in front of him, who should have been in his prime, had suddenly aged decades!
When Wen Jian woke up supported by the crowd, he didn't even realize his headscarf had fallen off. His ears still echoed the discussion of those nuns about what happened in the Divine Plaza today.
"Lady Saintess said she would ensure her father receives due punishment. She said she would use the Ye family's assets to subsidize the victims..."
"Lady Saintess cut her hair to show her determination, destroying the suddenly descending Demonic Domain on the spot. Thousands cheered..."
"No, no, Ye Zheng, you... how dare you..."
Wen Jian was carried back to the lounge by the crowd, spitting a mouthful of blood on the way, which scared everyone into even more of a flurry.
"Monster, a true monster..." He mumbled inarticulately.
The Ye family and Ye Fanjing were her discarded pawns from the beginning. She used the discarded pawns she had long intended to get rid of to inflict heavy damage on him, and he was still stupidly complacent!
Wen Jian considered himself ambitious and unscrupulous, climbing up on the bones of countless people, never regretting it. But today, for the first time, he felt regret.
It must be the Gods punishing him, punishing this turbid world, sparing no cost to send down a terrifying and vicious monster like Ye Zheng!
The Saintess, judged as vicious by people from two worlds, had finished her sermon. She struggled to break free from the crowding and cheering crowd, following the Holy Journey Knights Order back to their base in the lower district.
After destroying the Demonic Domain, she promised people that Ye Fanjing would be punished and the Ye family's assets would be used to subsidize the victims, once again drawing continuous cheers—
Although she couldn't influence the Ability Court's judgment on Ye Fanjing, Wen Jian certainly wouldn't let Ye Fanjing off.
Entering the base of the Holy Journey Knights Order, Wen De took her into a room specially cleared out for her.
The Ye family residence might be disposed of in a few days. She would give everyone a generous severance package. Then Ye Fanjing would live in prison, Ye Di would board at school, and as for her mother, she could move to the base to live. This was the safest place... and close to her old home in the lower district.
And if everything went smoothly for her, she would probably be living in the Curia permanently in the future.
Ye Zheng subconsciously played with her fresh short hair. She stopped Wen De who was about to leave and asked, "By the way, Wen De, were there any abnormalities on the periphery during my sermon?"
Today's Demonic Domain came too coincidentally, forcing her to pay attention. Although the result wasn't bad, and instead made this sermon a complete legend.
But if it happened to be a Demonic Domain that countered her ability, then her efforts would have been ruined...
Wen De recalled carefully and said: "Cheng Cheng stopped a Curia knight who tried to create chaos. He used some means to get out of him that he was instructed by the Curia's Bishop Joseph."
Ye Zheng nodded. Bishop Joseph was Wen Jian's man. It was within her expectations that he would send someone to create chaos, so she had asked Wen De to lead elites to patrol.
"Anything else?"
"Else?" Wen De knitted his brows, suddenly said "Ah," and continued, "Miss Bai Muqing also came, as well as Wu Shu, and that blue-eyed kid. They all took action when the Demonic Domain appeared. If we're talking about abnormalities..."
"Miss Bai Muqing left very hurriedly in a direction after the Demonic Domain disappeared. I don't know what it was about."
Ye Zheng remembered Bai Muqing's current identity as a knight. She might have received some mission. However, she still secretly noted this abnormality in her heart.
"Thank you for your hard work, Wen De. Let everyone go and have a good rest."
Seeing Wen De off, Ye Zheng's smile gradually disappeared. A delayed exhaustion surged up all at once. She lay on the tidy bed, recalling today's events in her heart.
Closing her eyes, she asked: "System, how many Action Points are there currently?"
[Popularity Value 244678, Remaining Action Points: 700]
[Your popularity has risen very fast recently, no need to worry about Action Points at all!]
"Is that so."
Cutting her hair deducted 200 Action Points, but the warning and severe pain from the first time she tried to cut her hair didn't happen again. There was only the lightness after shearing off the burden.
[Because the readers' expectation of you is no longer a beautiful healing-type Saintess. Appearance is the most insignificant link in your persona composition.]
Ye Zheng unconsciously raised a hint of a smile. truly wonderful. It turned out that many people in another world helped her cut off the burden together.
She didn't believe in fate, but today's miraculous Rain Realm Demonic Domain gave her an interesting thought. Somewhere in the unseen world, perhaps someone was weaving a path to freedom for her.
Ye Zheng really wanted to take out her phone and see what interesting comments the girls in the other world had made, but she was too sleepy now. Her eyelids closed uncontrollably. Better to look after waking up.
When Ye Zheng woke up, it was already the morning of the next day.
Without hair reaching her ankles, Ye Zheng felt that even her sleep quality seemed to have improved. She didn't have to worry about crushing her hair and pulling her scalp in pain.
She still remembered planning to check the manga update and forum before sleeping. Just as she was about to take out her phone, a slightly urgent knock sounded.
Ye Zheng walked to the entryway. Upon opening the door, Wen De handed her a gilded letter with a serious expression.
Taking the envelope, Ye Zheng restrained her lazy expression.
"This was sent urgently by the Madame's people."
"A letter from His Majesty the Emperor, indeed cannot be slighted."
Tearing open the seal, she took out the gilded letter paper. The handwriting was heavy and powerful, and a lion emblem was printed at the bottom of the paper, symbolizing the Royal Family.
Wu Shu took the letter paper and walked to the window, carefully reading it by the bright morning sunlight. Her lazy drowsiness was swept away, her face becoming increasingly grave.
This was the Emperor's autograph, consoling and praising her bravery and wisdom in a kindly tone, informing her of the specific time for the Ability Competition award ceremony, and also mentioning the Dragon Bone.
[The Demonic Dragon's spine will be displayed in front of everyone at the ceremony. This is the reward for the champion and the district the champion belongs to.]
"...Something's wrong."
Wu Shu turned the letter over and over to look at it, the unease in her heart expanding. The Dragon Bone was the reward she dreamed of, correct, but as the core secret of the Empire, the Dragon Bone was never displayed in front of people.
This time, the Emperor actually wanted to publicly exhibit the Dragon Bone using the Ability Competition award ceremony.
As the champion of this session, Wu Shu should have felt honored—if not for Ye Zheng hinting and reminding her in the final match.
No, even without Ye Zheng's hint, just looking at the Empire's surging wind and clouds recently, smart people knew they shouldn't show off too much at this point in time. Especially a commoner like her; who knows if she's being used as a gun by some big shot again.
More unexpected to Wu Shu than winning the championship was that the championship title was actually so hot to handle, leaving her at a loss.
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