Chapter 835 The Nighthawk Tribunal
“I’m leaving. For now, make your homes here.”
Kael had no intention of wasting another moment. He boarded his vessel and headed for the nearest teleportation array.
It did not take him long to reach the formation. White light flooded his vision, and he reappeared at the border between the White Tiger Galaxy and the Nighthawk Galaxy.
The White Tiger cultivators guarding the array had yet to learn what had happened on their homeworld. Even so, the lethal pressure radiating from Kael discouraged them from questioning him. They simply pretended not to see him.
Kael summoned his vessel again and set a course for the Nighthawk Galaxy.
Partway through the journey, he engaged the vessel’s automatic controls and entered his Inner Cosmos. The instant he arrived, he lay down and fell asleep.
Breaking free from the Spirit-Suppression Ring had consumed a great deal of his Spiritual Sense. He would need a long period of uninterrupted sleep to recover.
Time passed.
Kael had no idea how long he had been asleep when his eyes suddenly snapped open.
He immediately left his Inner Cosmos and swept his Spiritual Sense through the surrounding space.
Two meteors collided nearby without warning. At the same time, the planets in a small star system ahead appeared to be orbiting several times faster than normal. They were moving so quickly that they were on the verge of breaking free from their star’s gravitational pull.
“Aethera, what’s happening?”
“The galaxy is resetting,” Aethera replied urgently. “The planets are accelerating, and their gravitational balance is beginning to collapse. I believe the reset is speeding up. At this rate, the black holes will devour the entire Blood Jade Galaxy in less than a thousand years. You need to hurry.”
Aethera had finally gained access to a steady supply of Immortal Spirit Liquid. She had no desire to die before she could enjoy it.
“I understand.”
Kael took control of the vessel and plunged into the Nighthawk Galaxy.
Unbeknownst to him, a far more advanced vessel was following close behind.
The entire craft was transparent, blending almost perfectly into the darkness of space. Even if a powerful cultivator swept it with their Spiritual Sense, they would perceive nothing more than a faint, indistinct cloud of cosmic dust.
...
Three months later, on the Nighthawk homeworld, Kael looked out over the vast crowd of humans below him.
More than three hundred senior members of the Nighthawk Race had been dragged onto the tribunal platform. Among them were four Eternal Realm cultivators. Kael had sealed their cultivation and placed Soul-Locking Collars around their necks.
He had also released the humans traveling inside his Inner Cosmos so they could participate in the tribunal.
“Lord Lin, Nighthawk Patriarch Veylan Mo slaughtered countless humans during his rule over the Nighthawk Galaxy. He even had the skin stripped from high-ranking female human cultivators and fashioned into carpets. If you don’t believe me, examine the one beneath your feet.”
The speaker was a Soul Formation cultivator who had spent a thousand years enslaved by the Nighthawk Race.
“Hm?”
Kael lifted one foot and looked down. The carpet beneath him did indeed appear to be made of leather.
The instant he examined it with his Spiritual Sense and discovered the truth, fury surged through him.
“Veylan Mo, your crimes are beyond redemption. I sentence you to complete annihilation of body and soul. Do you dispute this judgment?”
Adrian and Lucian immediately drew their spirit swords and strode toward Veylan.
With his cultivation sealed, even an ordinary spirit sword was enough to take his life.
“Wait, Kael,” Rook suddenly called as he stepped forward. “I think we should at least give him a chance to defend himself.”
“Stop talking nonsense and move aside.”
Kael glared at him.
He had called this a tribunal because that was exactly what it was. Eternal Points mattered, but they could never determine whether someone was guilty.
Every execution had to be supported by testimony or evidence. Otherwise, Kael would be no different from the races that had slaughtered humans merely because they possessed the power to do so.
If the myriad races came to see his tribunals as nothing more than indiscriminate slaughter, they might unite against humanity.
Kael might have been powerful, but he was still the only person holding up the entire human race. No matter how strong one man became, he could not defend humanity on every front at once.
“What’s wrong with what I said?” Rook demanded. He stepped directly in front of Kael and turned toward Veylan. “You may defend yourself. If your explanation is convincing enough, I can ask Kael to reduce your sentence.”
Kael nearly choked on his frustration. He wanted nothing more than to kick the little bastard off the platform.
“I...” Veylan desperately searched for an argument.
“Every race treats humans this way. How could the Nighthawk Race behave any differently? If I had treated humans better, what would the other races have thought of me? They might have turned against us. Throughout the universe, suppressing humanity is simply accepted practice.”
“Defense rejected. I’ll carry out the sentence myself.”
Flames flared within Kael’s right eye.
A beam of Myriad Spirit Light pierced Veylan’s body.
The corpse swayed twice before crashing onto the platform.
“Drag him away and feed him to the dogs,” Kael said coldly, though his attention had already shifted to the Eternal Points on his status panel.
“But there aren’t any dogs here,” Rook pointed out. “You killed the Starhound leadership, and the surviving Starhounds are several galaxies away.”
“Then feed him to the pigs or cattle. I don’t care what eats him.”
Kael looked toward the remaining Nighthawk leaders.
“Does anyone else wish to testify against them? You have nothing to fear. Today, I will deliver justice for every human in the Nighthawk Galaxy.”
“I have something to say.”
A man stepped forward and pointed at one of the Nighthawk elders.
“Her name is Mirelle Mo. That witch cultivates an art that drains her partners. Any human man who was even remotely handsome eventually fell into her hands. I was once a Soul Formation cultivator, but she drained so much of my cultivation that I fell all the way back to the Core Formation Realm.”
The man’s voice shook with anger.
“But was it enjoyable?”
Dexter Feng suddenly emerged from the crowd and stared eagerly at the female Nighthawk elder.
“What?”
The man stroked his chin as he considered what Dexter was really asking.
“It was enjoyable,” he admitted. “But was a little pleasure worth losing that much cultivation?”
“Excellent!” Dexter immediately turned to Kael. “Leave this Nighthawk elder to me. Don’t worry—I won’t let her enjoy what comes next.”
“Have you been begging for a beating too?”
Kael’s patience finally snapped.
Between Dexter and Rook, the tribunal had lost its last shred of dignity.
Adrian and Lucian exchanged an envious glance.
If only they had met Kael sooner. Perhaps they too could have joked freely with one of humanity’s greatest experts without fear of punishment.
They were not alone. Several other high-ranking human cultivators regarded Rook and Dexter with the same envy.
A beam of Myriad Spirit Light shot from Kael’s right eye.
The accused Nighthawk elder was reduced to ash.
Adrian and the others immediately sobered. They remembered their positions and turned their attention back to the remaining prisoners.
Kael’s tribunal was simple and direct. Whenever a human stepped forward as a witness and proved that one of the Nighthawk leaders had persecuted humanity and killed more than ten humans, Kael annihilated the offender with the Myriad Spirit Light.
Time passed.
Four hours later, Kael had personally executed every senior member of the Nighthawk Race whose crimes had been proven.
He checked his status panel.
[Eternal Points: 108.365]
The increase was far from enough to upgrade his Inner Cosmos, but Kael forced himself to look away from the number.
“Bring me every Nighthawk cultivator from the True Origin Realm through the Great Ascension Realm who served as a slave overseer, prison guard, executioner, or member of the armies used to suppress humanity,” Kael ordered.
Over the next seven days, the human survivors examined the Nighthawk Race’s records and identified the cultivators who had served as slave overseers, prison guards, executioners, or members of the armies used to suppress humanity.
More than ten million suspects were brought to the tribunal grounds. Anyone whose name had been included by mistake was questioned and released as soon as their innocence was established.
Alarm and fury rippled through the remaining Nighthawk cultivators.
“Those who surrender their weapons and submit to investigation will live,” Kael declared. “Anyone who attacks humanity will die.”
Some Nighthawks immediately dropped their weapons.
“Kael intends to wipe out every elite cultivator in our race!” a Great Ascension Realm Nighthawk shouted.
He suddenly raised his spirit sword and charged toward one of the human witnesses.
“Scatter and flee! If we remain here, none of us will survive!”
Chapter 836: The Oracle Sacred Body
Before he could reach the human witness, a beam of Myriad Spirit Light pierced his body.
Millions of others chose to flee. Many attacked the low-ranking humans below, hoping to seize hostages and force a path through the surrounding cultivators.
The Myriad Spirit Light swept back and forth across the sky, cutting down more than a thousand attackers in seconds.
Then the true battle began.
Blood sprayed through the air, and corpses fell like rain.
Adrian, Lucian, and the other Planetary Realm cultivators released their spirit swords, intercepting the Nighthawks who attacked the humans or attempted to break through the encirclement.
“Protect the unarmed!” Kael commanded. “Kill only those who resist or attack!”
The humans who had once been enslaved summoned their flying swords and joined the battle.