Chapter 441: Scapegoat
Translator: Law Editor: Hitesh
Wulong Yao and Qing Lei came, rushing over indignantly along with Emperor Shun’s personal feathered warriors.
From Chi Ban Mountain to the current location, Ji Hao and a large number of captives had spent a significant half of the month to cover this distance. However, Wulong Yao and Qing Lei arrived in only one and a half hour after they received Ji Hao’s emergency message.
With lightning-dazzling eyes, over a hundred thousand feathered warriors floated in midair, glaring at those warriors from the Ink Ape Clan and the seven other clans, who were now kneeling on the ground in lines. These warriors were tormented by Ji Hao with the soul-shaking clocks for an entire night; both their souls and bodies were terribly exhausted. Torpidly, they knelt on the ground and couldn’t help but quiver ceaselessly, as if they had just survived a grave illness.
What made them terrified, even despair, were not Wulong Yao and Qing Lei who had just rushed over. Based on their positions in their own clans, these warriors could not figure out what the appearance of a Magi Palace’s inner palace elder and the commander of Emperor Shun’s personal army meant.
What actually frightened these warriors to death was an immense pile of human heads right in front of them.
The heads of all direct and collateral relatives of the eight Magus Kings Po killed last night, and all clansmen who were related to them by affinity were chopped off and piled up in perfect order right in this place. The total number of these people was over thirty-thousand.
The blood flowed till it formed rivers, and the strong scent of blood had suffused the entire space. The leaders of Ink Ape Clan and seven other clans, along with over a thousand clan elders, were kneeling on the ground like the humblest slaves, bitterly imploring for Wulong Yao and Qing Lei’s mercy.
All sins were shifted onto the shoulders of the eight Magus Kings. According to the explanation given by the leaders of these eight clans, this was all because the eight Magus Kings were tempted by those valuable captives. They colluded with some unruly migratory clans and recruited a batch of warriors who were willing to pledge loyalty to them. They then audaciously attempted to loot the trophies belonging to the alliance of the human clans!
This was a capital crime. Therefore, the head of everyone who was related to the eight dead Magus Kings had been chopped off and placed there.
The leaders of the eight clans had been showing an extremely humble attitude. They were so servile that they had no dignity that could be mentioned anymore. Moreover, they had been desperately crying and wailing while explaining to Wulong Yao and Qing Lei, claiming that this unforgivable crime was obstinately committed by the eight dead Magus Kings alone.
By now, all people who were related to the eight dead Magus Kings had been killed already. They had partially atoned for their crime with their own lives. According to the leaders of the eight clans, all warriors who had participated in the ‘rebellion’ last night would all be debased into slaves, along with their relatives. Governors in Pu Ban City could unconditionally decide the fate of these people.
Around three-hundred miles away from Ji Hao’s campsite, a few real migratory clans had pitched their camps and were grazing their livestock. Last night, all clansmen of the few migratory clans were slaughtered as well. Every last one of the more than three hundred thousand clansmen of theirs was killed. From the elderly ones to babies, from men to women, not a single one survived.
In addition to this massacre, when Ji Hao led Qing Lei to the scene in a fury, they found that the culprit clans had also put some dilapidated armors on the bodies of these extremely indigent people!
If warriors from the eight clans had successfully looted those slave warriors and slaves last night and accomplished their entire plan smoothly, the clansmen of the few migratory clans would have become the scapegoats, suffering the endless flame of fury coming from the entire alliance of human clans!
Once their plan was accomplished, the Ink Ape Clan and the other seven clans wouldn’t have borne any blame at all. In addition to those armors that came from unknown sources, some uniform armors worn by warriors from Ink Ape clan and the other seven clans were also found on those killed migratory clansmen’ bodies.
If anyone tried to investigate this thoroughly, Ink Ape Clan and the other seven clans could still pass the buck onto these migratory clans — All those warriors they sent to escort captives had died in the battle, and those warriors even had their bones smashed to pieces for the humankind. At that time, how could Emperor Shun and other humankind governors still be heartless enough to blame these few clans for the failed escort?
The dead wouldn’t talk. All those migratory clans’ people were silenced. Therefore, surely no secret would have been leaked.
This was a nearly perfect plan. However, because of the existence of Ji Hao and his teammates, the leaders of the eight clans were now huddled on the ground like wild dogs with no spines and had been crying their hearts out. They couldn’t do anything but declare while buttering that all this had absolutely nothing to do with them.
Indeed, at first glance, all this seemed to have nothing to do with them.
Nevertheless, although the eight Magus-King-level elders were killed already, all these warriors captured alive on the scene were still alive. If Wulong Yao and Qing Lei did want to investigate this thoroughly, they could still find enough evidence.
Ji Hao stood behind Wulong Yao and took a glance at Po, who was now with a bland face.
Last night, Po made his move which was as powerful as a genuine thunderbolt and killed the eight Magus Kings within a moment.
‘Is brother Po unmerciful? Or is he too lenient？’ wondered Ji Hao.
Last night, if Po had captured the eight Magus Kings alive, it would have been highly possible that once Wulong Yao and Qing Lei arrived, the eight Magus Kings would have given in to the pressure and made an oral confession. If that had happened, the number of human heads piled up in this place would have been at least ten times bigger!
For the clans that dared to encroach the properties of the entire alliance of human clans and dip their fingers in the trophies that belonged to the whole humankind, probably only very few clansmen of theirs could survive the punishments that would have come their way. The Ink Ape Clan and the other seven clans would have literally suffered a true massacre.
Po killed the eight Magus Kings in a cruel and decisive way, and the lives of tens of thousands of people were taken because of this. However, by killing the eight Magus Kings, Po had also managed to create a slim chance of survival for the majority of clansmen of the eight clans.
Glancing at Po who had been remaining silent all this while, Ji Hao took a step forward, saluted to Wulong Yao and Qing Lei, and said, “Elder Wulong, Lord Qing Lei…Regarding this, since it all started with the reckless decisions made by the few elders…the infants in their clans are innocent after all.”
Wulong Yao’s eyebrows twitched. He glanced at Ji Hao, then slightly lowered his head.
Qing Lei remained silent for a while. All of a sudden he pulled out his sword and wielded it across the air. Following his move, the heads of the eight clan elders flew high into the air. A few feathered warriors dove down from the sky, grabbed the long hair of those few heads and carried the heads back up into the sky.
“After all, we have to bring something back for the lords from all the clans… the heads of a few elders? Not enough!” Qing Lei put his sword back into its sheath and nodded at Ji Hao. From the manly and serious face of his, a faint smile emerged. “Little one, not bad! Hm, you’re gonna make a big deal in the future. Back at Pu Ban, come to drink with me!” said Qing Lei.
Followed by his resonant order, Qing Lei and all the feathered warriors rose into the air, hovering for a while then flying towards Chi Ban Mountain.
Wulong Yao took out a handwritten letter, handed it to Ji Hao and patted heavily on his shoulder while saying, “All warriors who participated in the robbery last night are granted to you as your personal slaves…Among those non-humankind slaves and slave warriors, you can select the best ones and buy them out at eighty percent of the market price. Count these as the rewards for the credits you made last night.”
Wulong Yao then pressed his hand hard on Ji Hao’s shoulder and continued with a deep voice, “Ji Hao, you’re a good-hearted boy. But…Ink Ape Clan’s suzerain clan was Water Ape Clan, a powerful clan of the north. That was a clan under the protection of Wuzhi Qi’s family. Do you think the few small clans which can’t even be counted as mid-scale clans actually dared to cast their greedy eyes on the trophies of the entire humankind themselves?”
Ji Hao paused shortly. ‘Does this have something to do with Wuzhi Qi again?’ thought Ji Hao, ‘If it’s so, then the one who has been supporting Wuzhi Qi is Gong Gong Wuyou! It’s Gong Gong family! Those guys do have the guts!’