“Slap—”
The sword light twisted midair and finally landed on the crystal.
The crystal shattered into countless pieces, no longer able to play anything.
Jiang Ke’er seemed to have just realized what happened, staring blankly at the remnants of the crystal in her hand.
“You actually…”
“Oh~ I accidentally broke your little thing~” The recruiting Sword Cultivator deliberately dragged out his words, looking at Jiang Ke’er out of the corner of his eye with the utmost sarcasm.
“Too bad, your lifeline is gone~”
“Outrageous!” Wu Butou knew that the Sword Cultivator’s actions were equivalent to contempt for the law, destroying evidence right in front of him.
But now that the evidence was gone, the most he could charge him with was something like disturbing public order.
In the end, he had successfully deflected the blame, letting the Donglai Sword Sect off the hook.
The Sword Cultivator glanced smugly at Jiang Ke’er.
‘Heh, a snot-nosed little girl. Trying to mess with me? As if.’
“You actually…”
Jiang Ke’er was shaking with rage.
Then she started sobbing and crying right on the spot!
“Oh dear, a little brat really is just a little brat,” the Sword Cultivator continued his sarcastic act.
“Can’t reason, so you just cry? Crying won’t make a crystal appear, you know~”
Jiang Ke’er kept crying, clutching the shattered crystal remains.
The Sword Cultivator watched her miserable expression with satisfaction, putting on a fake sympathetic face.
“Don’t cry, little sister. It’s just a broken crystal. I’ll pay you back however much it costs…”
“Fifty million Magic Crystals, then.”
Jiang Ke’er grinned, and the tear stains on her face vanished like magic in an instant.
“Uh… huh? What???” The Sword Cultivator’s face stiffened, caught off guard.
“This is a heirloom jade left to me by my grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s great-grandmother. It’s made from the finest Wei Jade, the last piece of Wei Jade in the world.”
Jiang Ke’er tilted her head with a smile and held out her hand.
“Material cost, labor cost, maintenance cost, age cost, plus mental damages for breaking a family heirloom… I’ll cut you a deal… total fifty million Magic Crystals, thank you. So many people and Wu Butou saw you smash that jade. You wouldn’t try to welch, would you?”
The Sword Cultivator was completely dumbfounded.
This trap… completely blindsiding…
“Wasn’t that… a Recording Crystal just now?” he asked Jiang Ke’er with difficulty.
“You idiot, the Recording Crystal is right here.” Jiang Ke’er raised her hand and pulled a hairpin from the back of her head.
“It’s just to swindle—cough! It’s just to be on guard against arrogant jerks like you. I’ve made it a habit to have a Recording Crystal hanging behind my head.”
‘What the hell…’
At such a critical moment, instead of pulling out the Recording Crystal, you inexplicably whip out a family heirloom? What’s wrong with you?!
The Sword Cultivator’s mental state collapsed.
But looking at the hairpin in Jiang Ke’er’s hand, a murderous intent surfaced on his face again.
“Don’t even think about it,” Jiang Ke’er tapped the small crystal on the hairpin lightly.
“Can’t you recognize it? This brand is the famous ‘Life-Saving Artifact: Friend of the Weak.’ This Recording Crystal was insanely expensive—I invested all my savings into it, but it’s worth it!
If I die, or if my hand slips, the contents of this crystal will instantly upload to my Xiushiquan, letting the whole world know the ugly face of the Donglai Sword Sect… How about it? Want to try?”
The Sword Cultivator’s lips trembled. He suddenly felt the world was a very dark place.
“Fifty million,” Jiang Ke’er smiled at the Sword Cultivator.
“Out of friendship, I’ll round it down to zero for you. How about one hundred million?”
‘What?’
‘WHAT?!’
“Pfft—” The Sword Cultivator spat blood on the spot.
“Wu Butou, I want to sue the Donglai Sword Sect for damaging my personal property and openly resisting His Majesty’s new policy.” Jiang Ke’er bounced the hairpin in her hand.
“The hairpin recorded everything just now too. But I believe you, Wu Butou, will surely enforce the law impartially, firmly carry out the imperial court’s will, and never shield any local strongmen!”
“That… naturally…”
Wu Butou was drenched in cold sweat. He tremblingly pulled out a small porcelain bottle and swallowed a large handful of pain-relieving Dan Medicine—his head was throbbing.
This would probably become the biggest case he personally handled in his entire life.
“Hold! Hold on!”
Seeing Wu Butou snap open the cangue, ready to place it on someone’s head, the Donglai Sword Sect’s Sword Cultivators panicked: “Wu Butou, wait a moment! Let us consult the Sect Leader!”
“Mm,” Wu Butou nodded.
“The Donglai Sword Sect’s guilt is confirmed. You’d better handle this seriously. If you don’t handle it well, I shouldn’t need to say the consequences…”
The Donglai Sword Cultivators shuddered.
Yes, if handled poorly, the Donglai Sword Sect would become the chicken the New Emperor killed to scare the monkeys.
Being erased from Shenzhou would be the least of it… if the New Emperor happened to be in a bad mood, they might even get the ‘execution of the entire clan’ package!
The Sword Cultivators quickly reported the situation to the sect.
The Sect Leader arrived soon.
As soon as he landed, he gave each Donglai Sword Sect disciple present a hard slap across the face.
“I told you to follow the New Emperor’s rules and honestly take in disciples. What have you done?!” The white-bearded Sword Cultivator Sect Leader cursed on the spot.
“You Outer Sect Disciples, with ill intentions, deliberately ruining the reputation of the Donglai Sword Sect! From today, all of you get out of the Donglai Sword Sect!”
‘Good move.’
Jiang Ke’er watched from the side and almost wanted to praise the Sect Leader.
Such a practiced operation of using temporary workers as scapegoats—well, he was a Sect Leader after all!
After cursing, the Sect Leader cast a contemptuous glance at Jiang Ke’er and Wu Butou… Now, what could they do to the Donglai Sword Sect?
At most, they could lock up the perpetrator.
No matter how hard a small cultivator at the Three Talents Stage tried, they couldn’t come up with a hundred million in compensation.
And the perpetrator had already been kicked out of the Donglai Sword Sect, so there was no way they’d take the blame or pay the money for him.
“Alright, I’ll upload it then.” Jiang Ke’er said, her finger about to press on the hairpin.
“Stop!” The Donglai Sword Sect Leader’s expression changed.
“Let’s negotiate further. I’m willing to pay a certain amount to buy your Recording Crystal.”
Jiang Ke’er smiled.
“You were just bluffing.”
The Donglai Sword Sect Leader’s face darkened, and the triumphant aggression from before instantly vanished.
He hadn’t expected to encounter such a troublesome person in this desolate little fishing village—one who saw through his bluster at a glance.
In fact, even if the perpetrator had been kicked out as a temporary worker, releasing this video would still cause a huge stir in the Cultivator Realm.
Outsiders wouldn’t care about temporary workers. Even if it really was the perpetrator’s own fault, they’d subconsciously link it to the sect.
And at this moment, the New Emperor’s desire to establish authority had reached a fever pitch. He’d been waiting for a martyr to walk right into the line of fire.
“Who knows if he was really expelled from the sect?” Jiang Ke’er said slowly.
“The New Emperor doesn’t care about right or wrong. What he wants is an opportunity—a legitimate chance to kill a chicken to scare the monkey. As long as it’s what the people want, that’s enough…”
The Donglai Sword Sect Leader fell silent.
“And the destruction of the Donglai Sword Sect is what the people want. Because everyone knows that the actions of lower-level disciples can’t be unrelated to the upper management. Especially when your deeds are plain for all to see. Even if it’s unrelated, it must be related!”
With that, Jiang Ke’er extended her fair, clean hand again, revealing the innocent, bright smile of a little girl.
“One hundred million Magic Crystals, thank you.”