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When Kong Deming and Jing Hongchen, along with a group of masters from the Worship Hall, arrived at the core area of the explosion, they saw that someone had already arrived at the scene and was carrying out exploration and rescue work.
The courtyard hundreds of meters above the underground palace was reduced to a ruin with black smoke rising into the sky. Wearing rescue gloves, Xu Tianxi quickly pushed aside the broken walls and dug out an unconscious palace servant. He shouted, "Old Xiao, there is still a living person here, come and save him!"
"Okay, okay, don't worry. He will not die with me here." Xiao Hongchen took the person from Xu Tianxi wearing a dust mask, and took out a medical box like a magic trick, disinfecting and applying medicine.
In this ruin, there are many level seven and level eight soul guides arranged to isolate the space, which is obviously the work of two people.
After rescuing this person, Xiao Hongchen manipulated hundreds of soul-guided water cannons to put out the fire. Xu Tianxi provided spiritual sharing. The bright moon hanging above his head illuminated the black smoke and eliminated harmful substances. The two cooperated in an orderly manner.
The Gu sisters who were not good enough in acting were sent back first. From the Sun Moon Royal Soul Instructor Academy, a stream of figures were flying here. Except for the middle-aged director Lin Jiayi, the rest were young faces, including young geniuses such as Meng Hongchen and Ji Juechen.
After arriving, this group of people seemed to have received a mission. Each of them was responsible for a piece of ruins. They soon broke through the ruins and rescued the second palace servant, revealing the true face of the broken earth.
Seeing this, Kong Deming nodded slightly, his frown relaxed, and said with a smile: "Master Hongchen, it seems that you have done a good job in managing the Royal Academy over the years, and your ability to handle unexpected crises is very good."
Ye Yulin and other ninth-level soul masters also showed envious eyes. They were not surprised at all that Xu Tianxi and others appeared here. After all, there was the incident of Xingluo City before.
"No, no, it's all thanks to your wise teaching, Master Kong." Jing Hongchen waved his hands repeatedly and spoke modestly, but the upward corners of his mouth that he couldn't suppress finally exposed his true feelings.
There is no doubt that the reactions of these children made him proud in front of his colleagues and Kong Deming. The last time he was so proud was when Xu Tianxi led the team to win the championship, and he walked with the wind.
The familiar wonderful feeling is back!
"The credit is yours, don't be too modest." Kong Deming raised his hand to encourage Jing Hongchen, his eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said quietly:
"But this matter is of great importance. We must investigate who is responsible and no one can escape."
"You dare to detonate an eighth-level fixed-type soul guide shell underground. I want to see which bastard is so bold!"
With his outstanding vision, he could tell at a glance that this "earthquake" was not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. Some idiot detonated an eighth-level fixed-type soul guide shell hundreds of meters underground, and the shock wave was felt throughout Mingdu.
Jing Hongchen lowered his head suddenly, his face turned cold, and he said in a deep voice: "What Mr. Kong said is true. This explosion happened near our Academy. Hongchen has no shirking responsibility. If it was done by my subordinates, I am willing to bear any punishment."
The eighth-level fixed-type soul guide shell is a taboo item second only to the ninth-level fixed-type soul guide shell. If it is detonated hundreds of meters underground, it can cause a huge shock. If it is detonated on the ground, a large area of the Sun and Moon Royal Soul Guide Academy will be wiped out.
Thinking about it now, his back was covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, this was level eight. If it was level nine... the consequences would be disastrous!
"I'm not saying I'm going to punish you, I'm just going to hold someone accountable. Whoever is responsible is still unknown."
Kong Deming waved his hand and floated in front of the two palace servants. He woke them up and asked, "Who are you and what happened here?"
The two servants in the palace had never seen such a horrific scene. Their brains went blank and they trembled as they explained that they were Prince Xu Guozhong's men. The prince had an underground palace downstairs and today he went down to enjoy himself as usual, leaving the two of them upstairs to keep watch.
Suddenly, they both heard a loud noise coming from underground, and the shock wave knocked them unconscious. When they woke up, they saw this scene.
This is not true. When Xu Guozhong went down, he brought all the servants with him. These two people were the ones with the highest cultivation level picked by Xu Tianxi. Gu Yuena changed their memories to make it an ironclad case.
But in Kong Deming's eyes, there was no sign of falsification in the two people's answers, and there was no abnormality in their mental fluctuations.
After all, if you say Miss Silver Dragon King is cute and adorable, she might hit you; but if you question her ability, she will just curl her lips slightly. Gu Yuena's strength is still unquestionable, and Kong Deming did not find any problems.
This answer also made the faces of ninth-level soul masters such as Kong Deming, Jing Hongchen and even Ye Yulin turn completely grim.
"Master Hongchen, Xiaoye, go down and see if that dead dog Xu Guozhong is still alive."
Kong Deming's face was ashen, and his clenched fists made the air explode. He was obviously extremely angry. "If he is not dead, let him live for a while. I will personally judge this beast!"
"Yes!" Jing Hongchen and Ye Yulin both responded and dived into the ground like lightning.
A moment later, the two men flew back to the ground with only the upper body of Xu Guozhong left, and threw him to the ground.
Jing Hongchen said with disgust: "This bastard is not dead yet, but his remaining good leg is also gone. It can be said that evil will be punished!"
Ye Yulin angrily shouted, "This beast has indeed built a luxurious underground palace down there, with beautiful rockeries and water, and even hot springs. There are also a lot of gold and silver, most of which have turned to ashes. I wonder how much he has embezzled over the years!"
Jing Hongchen took out an account book and handed it to Kong Deming, saying, "This is something I took out from his arms. It records the whereabouts of a lot of money from smuggling transactions. Please make the decision, Mr. Kong."
Kong Deming took the book and flipped through a few pages. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he snorted coldly and cursed, "A bunch of useless people!"
It recorded the whereabouts of the gold and silver smuggled by Xu Guozhong over the years, involving many princes of the royal family and the emperor's crown prince. It was Xu Tianxi who took it out of his storage ring and stuffed it into his arms, in order to make Kong Deming completely disappointed in these bastards.
What Xu Tianxi said about uprooting Xu Tianran was not empty talk. What he understood by uprooting was to make the three clans responsible for the crime. All members of the royal family who had some stain would be within the scope of punishment.
In Xu Tianxi's opinion, too many royal families would be a huge burden on the country's finances. In the past life, there was no shortage of feudal dynasties on Blue Star that were sucked dry by royal families. A group of them had to be cleaned out regularly to reduce the burden on the country.
Ye Yulin took out a recording ball and said with an unpleasant expression, "This was also taken from his arms. It involved his conversation with Xu Tianyuan, the head of the Imperial Dragon Soul Mentor Group, which mentioned His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"Xu Tianyuan? How much interaction does he have with this bastard?"
Kong Deming took the recording ball, listened attentively, and his expression soon turned ugly.
"Brother Tianyuan, I am deeply grateful for your rescue last time. These gifts are not just a token of respect. We should have more exchanges in the future. We have had a very pleasant cooperation over the years..."
"You are in charge of the Imperial Dragon Soul Mentor Group and are a well-known figure in our clan. Have you ever thought about moving up a level in the future? For example... becoming the head of the Mingde Hall? As long as you follow the right person, all of this is possible!"
"Haha, Brother Tianyuan, don't worry too much about Jing Hongchen. Who is he? He is just a lackey of our Xu family! Let me tell you, not only I dislike Jing Hongchen's smug look, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also dislikes this ignorant guy."
"In the hearts of His Royal Highness and I, only people like you, Brother Tianyuan, are the most suitable to control the Sun Moon Royal Soul Instructor Academy and Mingde Hall. Brother Tianyuan, you should think about whether you want this opportunity to follow the dragon. You won't learn from Jing Hongchen, right?"
"To be honest with you, Brother Tianyuan, we have already prepared a way to deal with Jing Hongchen. It is not easy for us to touch him, as there are many people in the Three Kingdoms who want to attack him. As long as we let the news out, someone will attack Mingde Hall. Brother Tianyuan, please do not let the Royal Dragon Soul Instructor Group go to rescue us..."
"Hahahaha, Brother Tianyuan is indeed a smart man. It turns out that you have wanted to kill those guys for a long time. Then we brothers will work together for a wise master from now on. You and I have witnessed everything today, hahahaha..."
The recording ended here. Kong Deming's face looked extremely ugly, his shoulders trembling. He crushed the recording ball with a "crack", took a deep breath, and said to Jing Hongchen in a deep voice:
"I will definitely give you an explanation for this matter."
He was so angry, these bastards really made him angry. It was a small matter for them to collude with others to smuggle and make some gold soul coins, but in order to deal with Jing Hongchen, they even sold out the information of Mingdetang. They really deserve to die!
"asshole!!!"
At this moment, Jing Hongchen, Ye Yulin, and all the ninth-level soul masters who came with him had anger in their eyes. Xu Tianxi, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen were even more furious. They each took out their weapons and attacked Xu Guozhong, who only had the upper body left. It seemed that they were determined to skin him alive.
Kong Deming tried to stop the three men. Xu Tianxi raised his head and gritted his teeth, saying, "Teacher, this bastard sold out his country's core intelligence and colluded with the three empires for his own selfish interests. I will never forgive him!"
"He is ten times or a hundred times more hateful than any enemy outside. The dean has worked hard over the years, and Mingde Hall has made countless contributions to the empire. But he wants to destroy all of this for his own selfish interests. He is the biggest sinner in our Sun Moon Empire in a thousand years!"
"Tianxi's original intention of establishing the Ming Soul Guard was to kill all the evil soul masters who were causing troubles in the world and defend our sun and moon. This thief's harm is a hundred times worse than that of the evil soul master. Tianxi, please kill this thief for the teacher and let his head be known to the world!"
Xiao Hongchen bowed his head and echoed angrily, "That's right! Grandpa Kong, this bastard wants to harm my grandfather. If I, Xiao Hongchen, don't kill him, I will be unworthy of being a member of the Hongchen Family in this life, and I will never be able to walk around the mainland again!"
They were the ones who asked Xu Guozhong to record the recording, and they were the ones who framed Xu Tianyuan, Xu Guozhong's ally and the most powerful figure in the royal family. However, it was absolutely true that Xu Guozhong and Xu Tianran teamed up to harm Jing Hongchen, and it was also absolutely true that Xiao Hongchen hated and wanted to kill him.
"If Grand Master doesn't allow it, my brother and I will kneel here until dawn!" Meng Hongchen, who had no idea of the cause and effect but knew that he had to avenge his grandfather, spoke in a sharp voice, as if every word was spoken with tears of blood.
The three of them looked at each other, moved their knees at the same time, and were about to kneel down to Kong Deming.
How could Kong Deming let them kneel down in front of so many people ? He shot out three soul lights in succession to help the three people up, his face softened a little, and he consoled them in a kind voice:
"Don't worry, although I have royal blood, I will never protect these bastards! Everything must be done for the benefit of the empire. Xu Guozhong deserves death for treason, but it is not his time to die yet!"
"Tonight, I will personally interrogate all of his accomplices and report to the court tomorrow. Anyone who has anything to do with him will be punished to the point of maximum punishment, with no mercy!"
"When this thief is executed someday, I will allow you to supervise his execution!"
Xu Tianxi and the other two said in unison: "Teacher (Grandpa Kong) is wise!"
Jing Hongchen's expression brightened, and Ye Yulin and other level nine soul teachers said in unison: "Teacher is wise!"
"What the hell is wisdom! If I were truly wise, I wouldn't have allowed these bastards to live until now. These beasts in the royal family really deserve to be killed!"
Everyone flattered him, but Kong Deming did not appreciate it. Instead, he cursed the royal family and himself. He was so angry that he seemed to want to kill Xu Guozhong and his followers.
He thought for a moment, then his eyes fell on Xu Tianxi, and he ordered, "Tianxi, you're back just in time. I heard from the head of Hongchen Hall that your cultivation has greatly improved, and your strength is no longer what it used to be."
"Your Minghun Guards were set up to deal with evil soul masters. Now that the evil soul masters are about to die, even bigger pests have emerged. I will allow you to investigate the crimes of the royal family in the future. Once you find that these bastards are suspected of colluding with foreign enemies, I will allow you to execute them first and report later!"
Xu Tianxi's expression changed when he heard this, and he immediately nodded heavily, saying in a voice that shook the world: "Please rest assured, Teacher! Tianxi will not stop until all the Sun and Moon traitors are killed!"