Chapter 830 The Starhound Tribunal
The Great Ascension Realm Starhounds had fared somewhat better. Kael’s Grand Celestial Manifestation had left them severely wounded, but alive.
Every cultivator below the Great Ascension Realm, however, had been crushed into pulp. There was no possibility of reviving them.
“I assumed all of you had fled.”
Kael crossed the distance in a flash and appeared directly before the surviving Starhound experts.
“K-Kael?” A ninth-tier Stellar Realm Starhound stared at him. “Where is our Patriarch?”
“Your Patriarch?” Kael raised an eyebrow. “After everything he did to humanity, what fate do you think awaited him?”
“I never imagined the Starhound Race would be brought to this.” The Starhound’s bloodshot eyes burned with hatred. “You killed our Patriarch and so many of our elders. Now you’ve returned to Starhound Valley. What more do you want from us?”
“Summon every member of the former Patriarch’s council, every military commander, every slave-compound overseer, and every official connected to the order to exterminate humanity,” Kael said.
“Bring the Starhound Race’s records as well. I will hold a tribunal here in Starhound Valley.”
The ninth-tier Stellar Realm cultivator studied him carefully.
“You intend to gather our leadership in one place and kill them all.”
“I intend to determine who issued the extermination order and who carried it out,” Kael replied. “Those responsible for massacres will die. Those who surrender, present their records, and are not proven guilty will live.
“Ordinary members of the Starhound Race will not be punished for crimes they did not commit.”
“And if I refuse to summon them?”
“Then I will travel from planet to planet and conduct the investigation myself,” Kael said. “Refusing will not save the guilty, but I will not hunt innocent Starhounds merely because they share the same blood.”
The surviving leaders exchanged uneasy glances.
“If we cooperate, can you guarantee that those found innocent will be released?”
“Yes.”
Kael’s answer came without hesitation.
“But anyone who destroys evidence, attacks a witness, or attempts to take human hostages will be treated as an active combatant.”
At last, the ninth-tier Stellar Realm cultivator took out his Astral Compass.
“By order of the acting council, every Starhound official connected to the campaign against humanity is to report to Starhound Valley. Bring all relevant military orders, slave registers, and planetary records. Do not delay.”
Kael surveyed the ruined valley, then spread his Spiritual Sense across the entire Starhound homeworld.
“All humans on this planet, come to Starhound Valley.”
His voice reached every human on the planet with perfect clarity. On a single world, an Eternal Realm cultivator was, for all practical purposes, an omniscient and omnipotent god.
Figures soon began streaking across the sky. Flying swords cut through the air as large numbers of humans converged on the ruins of Starhound Valley.
For all their brutality, the Starhounds had still needed humans to forge artifacts and refine pills. They had therefore spared a small number of humanity’s most useful members.
Every survivor was gaunt and malnourished. Most were artificers, alchemists, Formation Masters, or talisman crafters—people whose skills had made them valuable to the Starhound Race.
Humans devoted solely to cultivation had already been exterminated.
The survivors knew what had happened. When Kael summoned the Grand Celestial Manifestation, every living creature on the planet had witnessed it.
“Are you the renowned Lord Lin?”
“Lord Lin!”
“Greetings, Lord Lin!”
The humans dropped to their knees in succession.
Kael clasped his hands behind his back and calmly accepted their bows.
“You may rise,” Rook declared on Kael’s behalf.
“Yes!”
The humans rose to their feet.
“Every Starhound cultivator will kneel.”
This time, the command came from Josiah, the middle-aged cultivator who had escaped the Starhound Galaxy.
“You dare give us orders?”
The surviving Starhounds refused to move.
“Is there a problem?”
Flames danced within Kael’s right eye.
Kael’s pressure descended upon the surviving Starhounds. Their bodies trembled, and their knees struck the ground one after another.
The rest immediately submitted. They sank to their knees, forced to look up at the humans standing around them.
Kael surveyed the gathering, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
He still had important matters to attend to in several months.
Time passed.
Four months later, a vast number of Starhound cultivators had gathered on their homeworld.
The newcomers arrived to find Starhound Valley reduced to ruins and several of their elders kneeling on the ground. The sight stopped them cold. They immediately realized they had been deceived.
But now that they were here, escape was impossible.
Kael’s Spiritual Sense had covered the entire Starhound homeworld from the moment they arrived. None of them could summon the courage to flee.
“Lord Lin, nearly all of the Starhound Race’s high-ranking cultivators should be here,” Josiah murmured beside him.
Kael slowly opened his eyes and regarded the dense ranks of Starhound experts without a trace of emotion.
Every Starhound who had answered the summons had reached at least the Deity Transformation Realm.
Anyone below that realm would provide him with almost no Eternal Points.
Besides, the universe required a certain degree of ecological balance. Kael could not truly erase an entire species from existence.
Most of the cultivators who had answered the summons had served as officials, military commanders, or slave-compound overseers. Their cultivation realms would not determine the verdict. Only the records and testimony would.
The tribunal began immediately.
Over the following days, the human survivors compared their testimony with military orders, slave registers, and planetary records. Those against whom no evidence was found were separated from the accused and permitted to leave.
Kael then gave the remaining commanders one final choice.
“Lay down your weapons and accept judgment. Those who surrender will be sentenced according to their crimes. Anyone who attacks the witnesses will die here.”
A small number of Starhounds dropped their weapons and knelt. The rest exchanged glances.
Without warning, a Stellar Realm commander hurled his spirit sword toward the nearest human witness.
“Kill the witnesses and break out!” he roared.
Hundreds of Starhound officers attacked with him, while the others attempted to flee.