The two Justice Palace officers who had brought Xu Qing out were absolutely stunned. At the same time, they were furious, as they hadn’t tortured Xu Qing at all. Nor had anyone else in Division 3. In fact, no one had even so much as looked at Xu Qing during the three days he was locked up.11

“This is impossible!” one of them shouted furiously. “We never tortured him!”1

“You’re obviously making all of this up!” the other yelled. “Do you know what kind of place the Justice Palace is? How dare you try to defraud this place!”0

Seeing how worked up the Captain was, Arch-Immortal Plumdark knew that it was time for her to step in. She strode forward, her Void Returning cultivation base flaring to life. A thousand dao lineaments swirled in her eyes as terrifying fluctuations rolled out in all directions, causing wild colors to flash in heaven and earth. This was the county capital, but Void Returning was Void Returning. Her facial expression was grim and full of anger as she ignored the blabbering footsoldiers and instead looked into the depths of the Justice Palace itself.3

“I am Arch-Immortal Plumdark, a human cultivator from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. I came here to escort the new swordsage Xu Qing to the capital, the same one who earned the veneration of the Grand Emperor and was given a 30,000-meter pillar of light. I hereby request that the Justice Palace provide an explanation of what happened to our dao child, Xu Qing. Are the charges true, or was he framed?”6

The Justice Palace was a huge organization, and Division 3 was only a small cog in the...0