Chapter 818 The Sunlance Tribunal
“Exactly! The Golden Dragons have made our lives a living nightmare. Whenever a talented human cultivator emerged, they invented an excuse to throw them into the Dragon Pool and feed them to their hatchlings.”
“My son was tested and found to possess four Spirit Roots. The very next day, someone beat him to death in the mines. My son...”
“My older sister awakened the Golden Dragon Bloodline. The Golden Dragons claimed they wanted to nurture her talent and took her to Sunlance Academy. The next day, they sent back her body. Every drop of blood had been drained from her, and her clothes had clearly been removed.”
“My grandson did nothing more than talk back to a low-ranking Golden Dragon cultivator. Less than three days later, they sent him to mine Stellar Ore. He vanished in the mines, and we never saw him again.”
One human after another rose to condemn the Golden Dragon Race, their voices raw with outrage.
“Did you hear them?” Kael rose abruptly from his seat. “Now get on your knees.”
Gawain’s legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees before Kael.
Kael descended from the platform, his leather boots clicking against the jade floor. Without ceremony, he took Sunlance Academy’s defensive array compass from Gawain.
“Where are the control seals for the Soul-Locking Collars?”
“Here.”
Gawain retrieved a thin booklet from his spatial ring. It contained the authorization seals for every Soul-Locking Collar.
Kael accepted it and swept through the contents with his Spiritual Sense, committing every seal to memory.
“Effective immediately, Sunlance Academy will establish a tribunal,” Kael declared. “Every former dean, elder, military commander, slave-compound overseer, and Dragon Pool keeper will be investigated.
“Human witnesses may present testimony, but testimony alone will not determine guilt. The academy’s records, slave registers, and stored images will also be examined. Anyone proven to have ordered massacres, managed slave compounds, or treated humans as livestock will be sentenced.”
Kael’s voice carried across the martial plaza.
Gawain stared at him warily.
“And what sentence do you intend to impose?”
“That will depend on the crime,” Kael replied. “Those responsible for mass murder will die. Those who enforced the slave system without personally committing murder will have their cultivation sealed and be required to serve a fixed sentence.
“But I will not condemn four entire races for the crimes of their rulers. Ordinary Golden Dragons, Heavenly Dragons, Wyrms, and Serpents who lay down their weapons and release their human servants will not be harmed.”
The members of the four races exchanged startled glances. None of them had expected Kael to make such a distinction.
“Arthur, divide our people into three groups,” Kael continued. “The first will gather testimony from the human survivors. The second will secure Sunlance Academy’s records. The third will work with the artificers to modify a limited number of Soul-Locking Collars.
“The collars are to be used only on convicted offenders whose cultivation cannot otherwise be restrained.
Their punitive functions may remain, but the control seals will be held by Arthur and the senior human leaders. No ordinary cultivator will be permitted to activate them.”
“Understood.”
Arthur immediately began assigning the human cultivators to their respective duties.
The Golden Dragons and the other three races remained uneasy, but the terror in their eyes gradually diminished. Kael had come to punish their leaders, not to place an entire people in chains.
“For the next year, every former academy official and every cultivator accused of participating in the slave system will remain under investigation,” Kael said.
He looked toward the senior members of the four races.
“Cultivation realm alone is not proof of guilt. Those who never held office, guarded a slave compound, participated in a massacre, or benefited directly from the Dragon Pool may register their names and leave Sunlance Academy.
“Those named in the academy’s records will have their cultivation temporarily sealed. If the investigation proves them innocent, the seal will be removed and they will be released.”
Relief appeared on the faces of several cultivators, but others became even more anxious.
“This is a farce!” a Stellar Realm Serpent shouted.
Instead of fleeing, Osric Cang suddenly released a burst of Origin Power toward the building where the slave registers were being stored.
The Goshawk Patriarch reacted instantly. He dragged Osric out of the sky and pinned him beneath one foot.
“You intend to destroy the evidence?” Kael asked.
Osric struggled violently.
“Those records belong to Sunlance Academy! Humans have no right to examine them!”
Flames flashed within Kael’s right eye.
Osric’s head burst apart.
“You were ordered to submit to an investigation,” Kael said, sweeping his gaze across the gathering. “He attacked the people protecting the evidence and attempted to destroy the records. That is why he died.
“Anyone who surrenders peacefully and is not proven guilty will leave this place alive. Anyone who attacks the witnesses or destroys evidence will be treated as an active enemy. Does anyone else misunderstand my order?”
Caedran sat hunched in the second row, refusing to meet Kael’s gaze.
The Heavenly Phoenix Race had once ranked among Sunlance Academy’s five most powerful races. Yet Kael had not ordered them to wear Soul-Locking Collars.
The instant that thought crossed Caedran’s mind, a hand settled on his shoulder.
“Caedran.”
“Kael? You...”
Caedran went rigid.
“What do you want?” he asked, unable to keep the unease from his voice.
“Are there any female cultivators in the Heavenly Phoenix Race close to my wife Seraphyne’s age?”
“There are. What do you intend to do with them?”
None of Caedran’s usual confidence remained.
“Ask whether any of them would be willing to travel to my homeworld. They may also join my Star River Sect. I assure you, the treatment they receive there will be no worse than anything your race can offer.”
Caedran finally released the breath he had been holding.
At least Kael was not proposing what he had feared.
“Rest assured. Once I return to the Heavenly Phoenix Race, I will arrange for several of our young women to visit the human homeworld.”
He spoke with as much dignity as he could muster.
“Good. You’re welcome to visit as well. By human custom, I should address you as my father-in-law.”
“Father-in-law?”
Caedran’s jaw dropped.
Kael turned back to the former academy officials and accused cultivators whose names appeared in the recovered records.
“If you are willing to enter my Inner Cosmos, restrain your Origin Power now. I will take you inside and release you one year from now. If you refuse, you will share that Serpent’s fate.”
He pointed toward the headless corpse.
“Lord Yu!”
The senior cultivators of all four races looked toward Gawain. He possessed the highest cultivation among them.
“Do as he says,” Gawain finally said after a long silence, his voice numb.
Kael walked to the first cultivator and enveloped him in gray light. The Golden Dragon vanished into his Inner Cosmos, where his cultivation was immediately sealed.
Then came the second.
The third.
The fourth.
At last, only Gawain remained.
Conflict twisted his features.
“Kael, if the Golden Dragon Race did not need me alive to preserve its bloodline, I would never submit to such humiliation.”
Without a word, Kael drew Gawain into his Inner Cosmos.