Upon hearing the patriarch’s words, the Captain immediately felt a bit excited. He turned to look at Sir Bloodsmelter, his eyes brimming with glittering tears. To him, Sir Bloodsmelter was a towering and mighty figure who also overflowed with warmth and kindness. The truth was that he really was the subject of a lot of malevolent gazes from millions of cultivators from two prefectures. For the patriarch to forthrightly speak up for him went to show how much the patriarch approved of him. It instantly turned all of the Captain’s feelings of humiliation into pride. All of a sudden, he realized that there really was such a thing as truth and warmth in the world. It was his Grand-Master that had always loved him the most. And he had always been the most beloved of the grand-apprentices. With that, he forced his eyelids up, causing his head to tilt slightly so he could give Xu Qing a look.21

Xu Qing’s face remained expressionless as he lifted the Captain’s head up high so he could see what was going on. Then Xu Qing turned to the grand elders from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture and Injustice Prefecture and said, “Based on the Secretariat Division’s...6