Following this, the lightning that crackled so furiously before quickly petered out.

The finger then vanished followed by the dispersal of the dark clouds.

****

Long Di’s hands fell limply to the side as his eyes dimmed.

“Long Di! No! L-Let me go!” Yaomu Shou and the others struggled like madmen to get to where Long Di was!

Even Mina was held back in her struggle despite her grace already being in effect.

It took the imperial protectors all they had to restrain them and Yaomu Shou without touching the sword, since they weren’t allowed to touch or take it from her.

The experts that surrounded Long Di felt a cold sweat wash their backs a while ago. This child was too scary!

That attack just now was not something they were sure of being able to stop.

Thankfully, it seemed that the lightning spears that were summoned were just a diversion to give him time to summon it. Whatever it was required so much energy that it took away from the power of these spears.

The polearm-wielding demon saw this but whether he would be able to act in time to stop the attack was still up for question.

Nevertheless, he was stopped, and that was all that mattered.

However, when the others saw who it was, their blood ran cold and they executed a swift bow in deference.

“Adjudicator Yaomu Pan, greetings.”

Adjudicator Yaomu Pan was a Yuan demon of significant strength and a rigid temperament.

Like all Yuan demons, he was violet-skinned with a head full of black hair that bore a navy blue sheen to it. His tail was wrapped neatly around his waist and his robes sat neatly upon his body.

His sharp facial features and sword-like gaze made this Yuan demon one of exceptional appearance. However, no one noticed this since this demon was one who spoke very little and lived only to follow orders.

Officially, he served under Gu Siling, but even the Grand Commandment officer felt uneasy around this subordinate of his.

He didn’t respond to these demons’ greetings, but they didn’t dare to frown in response. This was a frightening existence within the Yaomu family and the Demon Region as a whole.

There was a rumour that he once executed a demon that simply spoke badly of the Yaomu family. As the Adjudicator for the Yaomu family, he had the power to exercise the King’s will. This was even more so than Gu Siling, his on-paper superior.

This made all Adjudicators a unique existence within the family. Curiously, however, Yaomu Pan was the only member of the Grand Adjudication Committee.

All the other Adjudicators were on the Junior Adjudication Committee. No one knew why this was so but no one dared to question it.

He then turned his gaze to a particular location in the void while remaining speechless. No one even dared to breathe in his presence.

After a while, the void trembled, and a figure emerged in a slight bow.

“Forgive me Adjudicator Yaomu Pan.” a voice that sounded like metal rubbing on each other sounded out.

When the experts saw who it was, they all sucked in a cold breath of air.

It was a demon wearing a copper mask. It had a shocking aura with a suffocating pressure to boot.

They were far stronger than the other demons here. Even the other family leaders and Bronze Seat Heng couldn’t be compared.

Regardless, now even this demon dared to slight Adjudicator Yaomu Pan.

“Copper Seat Tong!”

The one who spat the name out was none other than Bronze Seat Heng.

That’s right, this was Copper Seat Tong, one of the many elders of the Iron Body Forge Sect. This was an existence many demons could only look up at and rarely had the chance to even see.

The power that this demon continually emanated was evidence of the towering strength hidden within.

Copper Seat Tong looked upon Bronze Seat Heng with a hidden expression. Inwardly, the Copper Seat was shocked that Bronze Seat Heng managed to end up in such a way.

However, they didn’t say much in response and only looked towards the Adjudicator and asked in a respectful tone, “May I ask why the Adjudicator has yet to have killed the criminal?”

Everyone was shocked to hear Copper Tong’s words and turned their attention back to Long Di. After peering in close, they could sense a faint life fluctuation coming from him.

He was alive! Albeit barely.

Yaomu Shou and the others were ecstatic to learn of this.

“Spiritual vein root,” Yaomu Pan only gave a one-word response.

When Copper Seat Tong and the others heard of this, their expressions turned ugly almost immediately.

This included those experts on the other side.

“A-Adjudicator Yaomu Pan, i-is it right for the Yaomu family to keep such a grand treasure for-”

The gaze of Adjudicator Yaomu Pan caused a lump to form in Copper Seat Tong’s throat.

The Copper Seat despaired in dealing with Adjudicator Yaomu Pan. If it was someone else from the Yaomu family, maybe hope was there in using the prestige of the family against itself.

Wriggle room was there when dealing with other members of the Yaomu family, but this Yaomu Pan was different. He followed orders to the T and brooked no argument from others.

Moreover, he was extremely heavy-handed in his actions. One evidence of that was the hand that currently took up residence in Long Di’s guts.

They knew that once Yaomu Pan appropriated the spiritual vein root, there was nothing they could do.

Although the Iron Body Forge Sect continually hindered the Yaomu family in certain ways, they had never gone against them directly.

Also, Copper Seat Tong was aware of some things, the Metal Seat was well aware that now wasn’t the time for certain hands to be played. So they could only count their losses at this time.

“Adjudicator Yaomu Pan!”

A yell from a distance drew Adjudicator Yaomu Pan’s attention. There he saw Yaomu Shou walking over towards him.

She held a serious expression as she thought of how to deal with this Yuan demon. Not even she dared to go against him too much and only interacted with him when absolutely necessary.

“I ask you to spare him.” Yaomu Shou said finally.

“No.” Adjudicator Yaomu Pan curtly answered. His response was cold and calculated. Despite being one word, it was even more lifeless than Jixie Wudongyuzhong’s puppets.

Yaomu Shou felt her heart clench at his answer, but she gripped her sword tightly. “If you want the damn spiritual vein root, then take the spatial life ring from his finger!”

However, Yaomu Pan shook his head. “I was tasked to search his memories before death to ensure nothing of import was divulged to him and by extension to others…”

“You think I told him ‘that?’” Yaomu Shou was shocked to hear this was the reason Long Di still lived.

Yaomu Pan nodded. Because of Yaomu Shou’s identity, he had to answer her as long as it didn’t interfere with his work.

After some time passed he then said, “I’ve now learned that he is ignorant of this fact. I will now execute him in the name of the King.”

Vrrrm!

His aura surged, and he was about to have it erupt in Long Di’s body when a bizarre sight stunned him and everybody else.

There was… a creature on Long Di’s shoulder looking at Long Di with a blank expression.

They called it a creature because they weren’t quite sure what it was.

It was about eighteen to twenty centimetres tall and looked like a cat. However, it was covered in red scales and didn’t exude any aura, or any sort of presence for that matter.

“Hey, stiff-faced mister.”

It talks!

Everyone was shocked to learn that this outlandish thing could talk.

“Y-Yes?” Yaomu Pan was so caught off guard that he answered when normally he wouldn’t entertain just anyone with so much as a response. This was evident when he ignored the other experts who greeted him earlier.

“What are you doing to my friend?”