How Much For Your Soul?

Chapter 23

Nie Li was being frog-marched to Saint Judgement Hall by Yang Xin, her guards and the manager from the auction house. He had continued to insist that a mysterious master was responsible for the pill recipes and refused to elaborate.

They soon reached the Saint Judgement Hall and went straight to the officers in charge of enforcing the Demon Spiritualist Code of Conduct. Their case was recorded, and the evidence supplied by the auction house manager was handed over. An officer was dispatched to locate the patriarch of the Heavenly Marks Family and Nie Li's parents.

As he was still considered a minor, his parents would be responsible for his actions. Safe to say, he would not be getting off with a slap on the wrist. Especially when he could not produce his 'master' or evidence of his ownership of the formulas.

Not being able to proceed with the case, Nie Li was taken into custody until an adult could be found to explain his actions. Yang Xin sent a messenger to summon Shen Yue to her office, as she could not be seen lowering her head to a junior.

When Shen Yue received the message he laughed and gathered and entourage to head to the Guild. Even though he was worn out from his continuous work in the other realm, this was worth the trip!

Activating a sound cancelling inscription, Shen Yue eagerly greeted Yang Xin.

"So, we ended up catching the imposter in our net, I hope you made sure to encourage the officers to charge him with the maximum sentence!"

"Of course, but because he is a minor, we have to wait for his parents and his Family's patriarch. They won't be happy when they hear their Family has been blacklisted from our organisations and facing criminal charges of fraud!" Yang Xin gave an alluring laugh.

"I would have loved to see his face when he was trying to explain his master! Make sure to reward the auction house for informing us so quickly."

"I already did, I gave them ten bottles of each of our new pills to auction off, I even let them keep the profit in thanks!" Replied Yang Xin, she knew when to treat a good deed with kindness.

"Oh, before I forget, send some pills to the Divine Family. I promised them I would gift them some for siding with me against the City Lord." Said Shen Yue.

After ensuring that Yang Xin would hit the Heavenly Marks Family for all they were worth, he went home to continue resting. He had gained a massive influx of new books with the knowledge from the pendant, and it could only help his new Technique.

Two days later and Nie Li was ready to go on trial, his family had arrived. There was no great gathering or interference from other Families, it was just the two parties affected and any witnesses involved.

Three Judgement officers sat in the courtroom ready to hear this case. The officer that had recorded the incident was brought in to read out the particulars of the case and the charges that were laid.

"We are gathered here today to hear of the fraud committed by the Heavenly Marks Family against the Immortal Elixir Guild. How does the defendant plead?"

"Not Guilty. This has all just been a misunderstanding, a childish cry for attention." Nie Hai, the patriarch of the Family, was quick to answer trying to end the case with a misdemeanour fine.

"And the plaintiff?" Queried one of the officers judging the case.

"We do not find it funny to be defrauded of millions of demon spirit coins, classified formulas must have been stolen for these pills to be reproduced! We push for the harshest penalties available!" Said Yang Xin, her instructions were clear, cause as much damage to the Family as was possible.

"What do you mean by stolen?" Inquired an officer for clarification.

"These pills have only recently been registered with the Saint Judgement Hall as the property of the Immortal Elixir Guild. Surely your Hall would not divulge protected information, and our Guild definitely would not have interacted with a Family that has been labelled an enemy. How else could a destitute farming Family start producing our new products?" Replied Yang Xin.

"How indeed. Heavenly Marks Family, how did you come by these formulas and who made these pills?" With a possible leak in the Hall, suddenly this case just received considerably more scrutiny.

Patriarch Nie Hai furrowed his bushy white eyebrows, he had only found out recently that his Family had entered into a feud with powerful Families. He had been on his way to the city with Nie Li's parents when he had met the Judgment officer's group.

Now it turns out his Family was also being sued by the Immortal Elixir Guild! How did one thirteen-year-old boy cause so much harm! Before the trial, he had asked Nie Li how he had gained the pills and formulas. He had answered that his 'Master' had taught him alchemy and that he had made the pills himself!

If this was true, then the child was a prodigy! But his Master had thrown them under the bus with the stolen formulas! The child had refused to name his Master, even when his father had taken a belt to him! He could only relay the information he got out of Nie Li.

"This child has been taught alchemy by an unknown master. He refuses to name the man who supplied him the formula, but it was Nie Li that concocted the pills."

"Are you saying that this brat can produce master level pills? How long was he learning? Surely your Family had to have known he was being instructed! It takes years to reach the knowledge required to become a master!" Yang Xin was quick to make things more difficult for them.

"I agree, even if this child made the pills, which seems incredibly unlikely, bring forth the man that taught him. As you are the defendant, the onus is on you to supply a witness to clear you of this charge. If it is as you say, this child is merely the student of this Master. You should be able to produce this man or at least evidence of his deeds. Speak child, who is he?" Ordered one of the officers.

Nie Li was sweating bullets, how could he produce a Master? He was the Master! He could not understand how it had come to this, when Yang Xin had appeared at the auction house he knew that things had gone awry.

How was he supposed to know that someone had beaten him to releasing forgotten pills? Lord Voldemort will pay for this! He would just have to make up some random 'Master' and hopefully get off the hook.

Unfortunately, Yang Xin did not give him a chance. When Nie Li made up a description, she asked his Family if they had seen him. When they replied negatively, she had asked how a child could receive instruction from an unknown Master for years without their knowledge.

How had a dirt poor family of farmers, paid for a Master to teach their child without meeting him? It had to be kept a secret? Was the man a pedophile touching Nie Li inappropriately? Did this unknown Master also instruct him to have sex with the City Lord's daughter? Or was she involved?

Yang Xin was relentless, not forgetting to bring up the debacle with Ye Ziyun to muddy his character. In the end, all of Nie Li's excuses made him and his Family look guilty of colluding with someone to defraud the Immortal Elixir Guild after illegally obtaining the formulas.

The feud with Lord Voldemort was given as a possible reason as to why they had done this. Nie Hai was at his wit's end, he could see which way the officers were leaning. If they lost this case it would destroy their Family, they would have to sell all their land and it probably still wouldn't be enough!

"Nie Li, I beg you! Please just tell us who your Master is! This will destroy the Family! Is that what you want? Is this Master more important than your Family?" Nie Hai shouted.

Seeing the patriarch on the verge of tears, Nie Li could only come clean. Unfortunately, it made him look like he was lying.

"I lied, there is no Master. I found a book that had a complete guide to alchemy with thousands of recipes of pills long forgotten. I knew no one would believe me, so I made up a Master to hide behind." He said in a depressed manner, he was devastated seeing the looks his family were giving him.

"Where is this book, if you can present it I will drop all charges. When and where did you find it? How long have you been producing pills? Where did you get the money?" Yang Xin was quick to destroy him with questions. Shen Yue had told her he was an imposter that had taken over Nie Li's body, where was he going to find a complete guide to alchemy book?

After another hour of going around in circles, the Saint Judgement Hall officers had heard enough. This child and Family were clearly lying, if the child could make master level pills, then why are they still poor? How did he learn and how did they pay for materials for him to practice?

It was clear to all that they were guilty, did they think they were idiots? But the officers had to give credit to the patriarch, he really was a good actor. They had never seen a gold ranked expert produce so much snot and tears, this was dedication! He did not care for his reputation at all!

"It is clear to us that you are guilty. You have produced no evidence what-so-ever, other than an imaginary alchemy book and Master. If everyone could become a master after reading a book, then Glory City would be full of alchemy masters! We find the defendant guilty!" The middle officer called out.

"What is the price of the pills he tried to sell?"

"There were a thousand pills valued at a hundred thousand per pill!" replied the officer in charge of the case evidence.

"What! That is one hundred million demon spirit coins! The maximum penalty is to pay ten times the amount stolen or defrauded! Patriarch Nie Hai, what is your Family's total value?"

"Maybe nine million demon coins." Nie Hai really was crying now, his huge white moustache was dripping with tears and snot.

Yang Xin seeing that one of the three Families against her new husband was destroyed, was quick to tar the Snow Wind Family with the same brush.

"These destitute farmers obviously did not have the skill or money to set this plan up, maybe their allies the Snow Wind Family had a hand in this. How else was he able to afford the ingredients and that shiny new interspatial ring!" She said imperiously.

"You think that this is a scheme of the ongoing feud? It would make more sense than a mysterious alchemy book. Maybe your master belongs to the City Lord's family? Tell me boy, where did you get the money and that ring?"

With Nie Li judged liable, there were no longer impartial questions asked, what followed was a manhunt for the Heavenly Marks Family's mysterious Master. After all, the Hall received two percent of the guilty party's fine as court costs! A wealthy Snow Wind Family would be able to pay the fine.

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Ye Ziyun was waiting for Nie Li, he was supposed to be here already, sharing the news of the success of their plan! She did not expect her parents and a pompously dressed official looking man to enter instead.

"Ye Ziyun, did you give Nie Li money?" Her father asked.

Seeing the look of apprehension on her face the Saint Judgement Hall officer preempted her lie with one of his own.

"You are not in trouble child, Nie Lie was accused of stealing the money and said you would back his claim that he received it from you."

Before Ye Zong could caution his daughter, she had already jumped to Nie Li's defence.

"Yes, I gave him five million to buy alchemy ingredients!" She said proudly, why she was proud of giving Nie Li money no one was quite sure, but the officer now sported a large, shit-eating grin!

With Ye Ziyun's admission to being complicit to Nie Li's actions, the Snow Wind Family was now on the hook for fraud as well.

Ye Zong wished at that moment that Ye Rou let him have anal sex with her, maybe then he would not have a daughter that bankrupted his family!

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