Chapter 1050: Hammer and Gun

Thud—

The dull thud of the gavel echoed through the courtroom once more, and all lights swiftly dimmed.

An oppressive force enveloped all the reporters, pinning them firmly to their seats, unable to move an inch. Similarly immobilized was Huang He, who was locked in the defendant's box.

As the trial began, order reigned supreme. The moment Han Meng's wooden gavel struck, the rules of the entire domain were set by him.

"Damn it..."

Huang He struggled against his chains, repeatedly attempting to 'steal' them, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't dislodge even a fraction. Since the 'thief' had been brought to trial, how could he possibly steal his own shackles here? A 'judge' was inherently the bane of a 'thief'.

Mysterious patterns spread from the chains, clinging to the struggling Huang He. The power of judgment encroached upon his body, yet caused no harm; instead, it seemed to be scanning for something.

Meanwhile, Han Meng, standing at the highest point of the courtroom, had a dark crimson glow in his eyes. He looked down at Huang He, as if seeing through to his very essence.

He parted his lips: "In this court, from Xuanyu Realm, Huang Datian and Li Xue's eldest son, the Usurper and Thief Saint, Huang He..."

The moment Han Meng spoke, he revealed Huang He's ancestral home and parents' names, leaving Huang He stunned. He looked at Han Meng in disbelief, seemingly unable to comprehend how this was possible. It was well known that Huang He had run away from home at the age of five and had no contact with his family since. Even he himself could barely remember his parents' names, yet Han Meng had discerned everything with just a glance.

Han Meng's dark crimson eyes gazed down at Huang He, and he spoke again: "At seven, he began stealing from common folk; at ten, he stole all the savings of a poor family, leading to a family of four starving to death in winter; at twelve, he desecrated over thirty ancestral graves; at fifteen, he committed robbery and the sexual assault and murder of a young girl... From the age of seven until now, he has cumulatively desecrated over 260 corpses, robbed 3,612 households, and maliciously murdered 843 people..."

Han Meng's voice was devoid of emotion, like an enforcer of absolute rationality. As he listed one charge after another, the temperature throughout the courtroom plummeted dramatically.

Beads of sweat, like peas, trickled down Huang He's cheeks; his face was deathly pale. It was his first time encountering such a high-level judgment path. In front of Han Meng, all the sins he had committed in the past were as clear as if written on his face.

Huang He could feel an unspeakable aura of terror gradually locking onto him as Han Meng carried out the judgment. This aura did not emanate from a specific person, but from the judgment itself, representing 'justice'. Judgment was known as humanity's strongest single-target offensive path. Its destructive power didn't come from the wielder themselves, but from the 'righteous' judgment they could invoke. The deeper the defendant's sins in court, the stronger the power of judgment would become. This was somewhat similar to an Asura, who gained strength by killing, but unlike an Asura's prolonged outbursts, Judgment activated only once. Its instantaneous nature amplified its destructive power to the extreme.

And the sins on Huang He's person had summoned a power of judgment that far exceeded his own capacity to bear. Let alone a seventh-tier Huang He standing in the defendant's box now, even an eighth-tier version of him would have virtually no chance of surviving this judgment.

"Guilty of the principal offenses."

After Han Meng finished reading all of Huang He's crimes, he held the gavel in his left hand and raised a gun in his right. Standing at the highest point of the courtroom, he aimed the barrel of judgment at Huang He in the defendant's box, like a deity holding truth.

"No..." The fear of death clawed at Huang He's eyes, and he struggled, crying out, "I don't want to die... I've worked so hard to get this far, I can't die here... Let me go, and I can undo the theft magic on Chen Ling... I promise to let him go and won't be your enemy!!"

Han Meng's brow furrowed slightly, but the raised gun showed no sign of lowering; instead, it remained unwavering, locked onto Huang He.

"Thank you for your kind offer," Chen Ling, in his crimson opera robe, said slowly. "But I don't need you to undo the theft magic for me, nor do I need you to let me go... For a villain like me, there's no need to trouble a 'justice partner' like yourself."

Huang He froze, then looked up with an ashen face. The black muzzle was like an abyss, staring into his eyes, negating his very life.

"The crime warrants dismemberment."

The instant Han Meng uttered those four cold words, he pulled the trigger.

The trigger of judgment clicked, yet no sound was produced. Huang He abruptly lowered his head, only to see his body being rapidly sliced apart as if peeled, from his fingers to his arms, then to his torso... He watched in horror as his flesh and blood fell to the ground like mud, transforming from a whole person into a puddle of gore. Unprecedented terror filled his eyes!

"No..."

He instinctively tried to step forward, but in the next moment, his feet were sliced and melted away. His remaining head fell to the ground and, with a soft impact, shattered into hundreds of pieces like glass.

Within a mere two seconds, a Thief Saint was dismembered into tens of thousands of fragments before everyone's eyes, utterly dead.

Many reporters in the gallery immediately retched and vomited. After the judgment concluded, the oppressive force on them vanished. At that moment, besides feeling sickened, they also felt a sense of relief. They had been forced to attend by Huang He. Now that he was dead, they no longer had to write those forced reports, and their families and friends would not be threatened.

Chen Ling looked at the puddle of Huang He's blood and felt nothing. The Thief Saint's death came as no surprise to him. Chen Ling himself possessed a courtroom, and he could tell at a glance that Han Meng's courtroom had undergone a profound transformation. Previously, the courtroom merely served a function similar to 'execution,' with the most obvious feature being the gun in Han Meng's hand. But now, he also wielded a 'gavel' symbolizing order. The 'gavel' was used to create order, and the 'gun' to execute sin. The extent of their power within the domain depended on the depth of the defendant's sins in court. Han Meng's instant kill of Huang He this time wasn't due to Han Meng's immense strength, but because Huang He's sins were simply too profound. Ultimately, it was all Huang He's own doing.

In any case, the greatest threat, Huang He, was dead, and Chen Ling had also saved his own life. Chen Ling let out a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to turn and say something to Han Meng, he suddenly froze.

After Huang He's execution, the courtroom did not vanish. The reporters, who had already risen to leave, once again felt a terrifying pressure pinning them firmly to their seats. They looked in astonishment at the center of the courtroom, their eyes filled with deep confusion.

At the highest point of the courtroom, Han Meng subtly turned his head, his gaze locking onto Chen Ling, who was clad in the crimson opera robe. His eyes narrowed slightly.

The next moment, the 'defendant's box' rose before Chen Ling.