Chapter 492

491. Chapter 486: Facing Zhongdi

Zhongdi is one of the three who established the Nine Courts Divine Laws, yet the most important.

Because the other two only oversee the establishment of legal clauses, while Zhongdi is responsible for linking all clauses together and ensuring their combined effect.

Most importantly, the entire legal code was constructed by Zhongdi alone.

In other words, all three thousand volumes of the Nine Courts Divine Laws have been refined by Zhongdi, each infused with spatial laws and golden legal authority.

Legal Clause One: Within every hundred years, the one who establishes the Nine Courts Divine Laws has the right to designate one piece of non-fixed evidence as valid, or to declare one already-fixed piece of evidence invalid.

Legal Clause Two: Within every hundred years, the Heavenly Emperor of the Divine Court has the right to designate one piece of non-fixed evidence as valid, or to nullify any legal clause.

Legal Clause Three: When all evidence fails to yield a valid judgment, the one who establishes the Nine Courts Divine Laws has the authority to render a judgment and create new legal clauses.

Moreover, the authority of the Legal Clauses is equal to that of the Supreme Law; even if your legal clause overturns a clause protected by the Legal Clauses, the Legal Clauses' authority still supersedes yours.

Though there are only three Legal Clauses, they guarantee all interests of the Heavenly Emperor of the Divine Court.

When the very foundation of the Heavenly Emperor's interests is at stake, the Legal Clauses are brought forth.

Whenever the Legal Clauses appear, it means Wushang Emperor must win this trial.

Ding Huan silently sneered inside—he found this blatant ear-plugging-to-steal-the-bell act utterly shameless, yet they carried it off as if it were perfectly natural.

Now they're even invoking the Legal Clauses and Zhongdi—could the Divine Spirit Rice really be this vital to Wushang Emperor?

Isn't Divine Spirit Rice just for satisfying cravings, aiding cultivation, and removing poison from pills? How could it possibly be this important?

It seems I was a bit reckless coming here today.

Not because I can't win this trial, but because of Zhongdi.

Zhongdi controls spatial laws and established the Nine Courts Divine Laws—he must certainly be a top-tier Emperor.

Ding Huan and Brother Xingpan barely killed Kongkong Emperor; now another Zhongdi has suddenly appeared, and this shift in power balance is beyond his control.

While Ding Huan was still weighing the pros and cons, an old man stepped forward from the crowd.

Ding Huan's eyes twitched when he saw the old man.

This man was undoubtedly a powerhouse—he had been here for a long time, yet not a single Star Lord, Dao Lord, or other strong cultivator had sensed his presence.

Yet he himself had not sensed the old man at all—could this man's strength surpass Brother Xingpan's?

"Servant Zhongnu greets the Heavenly Emperor; may the Heavenly Emperor enjoy eternal peace," the old man bowed before Wushang Emperor, his tone calm yet exquisitely reverent.

"Zhongdi, please rise—today's burden of establishing the laws is truly my fault," Wushang Emperor even stood up.

Zhongdi nodded, stepped aside, lowered his gaze, and remained silent.

"Ding Luguan, if this case cannot be won, you may publicly cultivate Divine Spirit Rice in the Divine Agriculture Department…"

Brother Pingwei's voice whispered into Ding Huan's ear; Ding Huan noticed Zhongdi's earlobe twitch slightly, and immediately whispered back: "Don't whisper…"

Brother Pingwei's heart leapt—he instantly cut off his next words.

He had intended to tell Ding Huan that publicly cultivating Divine Spirit Rice in the Divine Agriculture Department would be far better than letting Wushang Emperor take it away.

Now that Ding Huan told him not to whisper, the implication was clear: Zhongdi could hear his whispers.

Brother Pingwei fell silent, his mind in turmoil—he had previously known Ding Huan could whisper to Lu Chong Dao inside the Divine Court Hall.

Now he realized Ding Huan's whispering ability surpassed even his own.

His whispers could be detected by Zhongdi, yet Zhongdi could not perceive Ding Huan's whispers at all.

After greeting Zhongdi, Wushang Emperor turned to Ding Huan and said: "Ding Luguan, this is Zhongdi—the one who established the Nine Courts Divine Laws."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Divine Court Hall stared at Zhongdi in shock.

Zhongdi was the one who established the Nine Courts Divine Laws, yet few knew this.

No matter how powerful Ding Luguan is, can he possibly surpass the one who created the Divine Laws?

The Nine Courts Divine Laws were built by Zhongdi; you, Ding Huan, rely on laws others created to argue your case—how could you possibly win?

Ding Huan seized this opportunity to let his spiritual sense sweep unrestrainedly over Zhongdi.

He had wanted to observe Zhongdi's true strength; now that the chance presented itself, how could he let it slip?

Everyone saw Ding Huan's unrestrained spiritual probe, yet no one cared.

They were about to engage in legal dueling—what did a little spiritual probing matter?

Most could only sense Zhongdi's power was unfathomable; Ding Huan's spiritual sense uncovered a result he himself could not believe.

Zhongdi has restrictions inside him?

Ding Huan wanted to activate a Great Cosmos Technique to further probe the location of the restrictions, but that would be far too conspicuous.

Zhongdi is crucial—if he could be won over, he would be a tremendous asset.

Thinking this, Ding Huan stepped forward to Zhongdi, raised his elbow, and said: "Junior Ding Huan has long admired Elder."

In truth, Ding Huan did not know Zhongdi's name.

This was the Immortal Hand Greeting—if the other ignored it, they disrespected you.

If the other respected you, they would raise their elbow and lightly touch yours.

Those in the Hall found Ding Huan's gesture amusing.

Ding Huan was called First Law Official by Wushang Emperor, but Zhongdi was the one who established the Nine Courts Divine Laws—who would respect this "First Law Official"?

Besides, Ding Huan had just brazenly probed Zhongdi with his spiritual sense—clearly showing disrespect.

Would Zhongdi possibly return the Immortal Hand Greeting to such a person?

To everyone's surprise, Zhongdi glanced at Ding Huan—and then raised his elbow, returning the Immortal Hand Greeting.

In the instant their elbows touched, Ding Huan activated the Zhou Tian of the Great Cosmos Technique at maximum speed, then withdrew it.

Zhongdi gave Ding Huan a look of deep meaning, then lowered his gaze again.

Ding Huan stepped back beside Brother Xingpan, his heart reeling.

Zhongdi's external cultivation level appeared normal, yet his entire body—including his soul sea—was bound by soul restrictions, and every meridian was crisscrossed with dense restriction patterns.

Only Ding Huan could unravel this method.

Ding Huan knew well that even he needed at least the Realm of Luotian Immortal to unlock it.

It was impossible for him to remove the seals on Chong Emperor right now.

"Since everyone has seen it, let's begin," said Wu Chang Emperor, glancing at Ding Huan before addressing the assembly.

Min Yuan, Chief Flagbearer of the Immortal Law Department, replayed all the crystal balls once more, then said:

"Chong Emperor, just now Ding Luguan argued that these pieces of evidence cannot be fixed. According to Article 631 of the Nine Courts' Immortal Law: 'When Dao Yun evidence is not unique, the evidence is invalid.' He rejected this evidence."

Chong Emperor's eyebrows slightly lifted, just as he was about to speak, when Ding Huan's voice whispered into his ear: "Senior Chong Emperor, only I can remove the Dao Seal patterns on your body."

Chong Emperor's gaze flickered slightly—among so many people in the Precious Hall, only Ding Huan had seen the Great Dao Seal patterns within him.

Moreover, just now, Ding Huan's whisper had gone undetected by anyone else?

Soon, Chong Emperor confirmed: Ding Huan's whisper had truly been heard by no third party.

This was an extraordinarily remarkable young man; if he could not eliminate this youth today, the youth's future was boundless—potentially surpassing everyone here.

Chong Emperor fell silent. He had two ways to deal with Ding Huan.

The first was to challenge Ding Huan to a Law Duel, then use legal statutes to confirm the validity of the crystal balls presented by Mi Zhong and Chu Xingren.

The second was straightforward: use his privilege of Lawmaking to directly declare the crystal ball evidence valid and refute the claim of evidence fixation.

Now the question was: did Ding Huan know about Lawmaking?

If Ding Huan knew about Lawmaking, then for him, it would certainly be preferable that Chong Emperor use Lawmaking to validate the crystal balls.

Because this privilege could only be used once. If Ding Huan could refute this privilege, he would have a chance to win.

If Chong Emperor chose not to use Lawmaking and instead engaged in a Law Duel, even if Ding Huan won, Chong Emperor could still suppress Ding Huan later with Lawmaking.

Which method should he choose?

If Ding Huan had not whispered to him, Chong Emperor would have absolutely used Article 19,321 of the Court Law fused with Sub-Law 380,009 to refute Ding Huan's challenge.

After a moment's hesitation, Chong Emperor decided to test Ding Huan's abilities.

If Ding Huan had no real skill and merely claimed he could remove the seal patterns, it was nonsense.

Chong Emperor spoke calmly: "According to Article 19,321 of the Nine Courts' Immortal Law, when evidence can be forged and is not unique, the Dao Yun fluctuations at the time may be cited to fix the evidence."

"Chief Flagbearer Min, do you have a Dao Yun image crystal ball of Lu Lu Renjia from elsewhere?"

"Yes," said Min Yuan, raising his hand to launch a crystal ball. "This is the image crystal ball of Lu Lu Renjia watching for recruitment notices in the Immortal Court Plaza."

The crystal ball activated; in the void projection, Lu Lu Renjia wore a simple immortal robe, his face weathered, staring intently at the recruitment notice for the Ministry of Officials.

Ding Huan inwardly admired—it truly was the image of him watching the recruitment notice, no falsification.

"Ding Luguan, is this person you?" Chong Emperor asked Ding Huan, his tone calm.

Ding Huan nodded: "Yes, it is me."

He was helpless—earlier, he had claimed the Agricultural Department's images were fake and easily fabricated, yet they refused to produce a truth-detection artifact to test them.

If he now claimed the man in the image was not him, he was certain they would immediately produce a truth-detection artifact.

What realm was he in? To resist a primordial-level truth-detection artifact was unrealistic.

Once proven to have lied even once, all his eloquence would be useless.