<h4>Chapter 822 Case against the Chen family (3)</h4>


    "Good, you can step back now.." Yang Qing said as he straightened himself up.


    Chen Zian acknowledged with a polite cupping of his fists as he stepped back to the crowd to where his anxious n members were.


    Some of them seemed to want to say something to him but held off when their nervous nces fell on Yang Qing and the Red ming Lotus Alchemy Pavilion proprietor.


    "Now, let''s begin with the proceedings..." Yang Qing said, plunging the courtroom into an even more desperate atmosphere.


    "Like I said earlier, each of you who stands used will have a chance to defend yourself, and should you wish to, your n patriarch can speak on your behalf. Of course, whether he does it is entirely up to him. Patriarch Chen Zian, you''re not obligated to do that, if you do not wish to, there will be no penalties for refusal, and should you wish to speak up at their behest, what you choose to say is also entirely up to you.


    Is it clear to everybody present?" asked Yang Qing to which everyone nodded solemnly in agreement.


    "Okay.. Now let''s go to the two charges brought forth against you. Usually with the cases that we deal with, someone files theint while the other defends themselves against theint, and we act as the arbiter between the two sides, but your case is different..."


    Yang Qing paused as his gaze narrowed on everyone present causing a few to take nervous gulps.


    "The one serving theint this time is us. About two months ago I passed through Purple City and noticed a few things that prompted me to have a thorough investigation conducted in Purple City and the Red Maple Empire as a whole.


    The impetus for that investigation was a couple of things but the primary one was the presence of a blood refinement cultivator in Purple City and from what I have learned more were unearthed in thest month.


    The investigation was conducted by my two colleagues here in Yu Gen and Xia Ting and also the staff at Yellow ins County who you should all be familiar with more or less.."


    There were a few startled looks from the crowd, more startled than before when Yang Qing mentioned Yellow ins County Branch.


    "Now, let''s move to the specifics of the charges brought against you. The Chen family is harboring pill ves and human cauldrons. Possessing even one of them is a vition of the Southern Continent Cultivator Baseline Conduct Charter.


    As a long-standing cultivation n, I doubt there''s any need for me to waste time defining what a pill ve or a human cauldron is, is there?"


    Yang Qing paused as he awaited an answer from the group. The response given was as he expected, muteness and awkward nervousness from most of the crowd as they avoided eye contact with him.


    Their reaction was expected considering what they were used of. Having pill ves and human cauldrons was just as vile as practicing fiendish cultivation arts that required harvesting lives to cultivate it. Practicing such arts, and having pill ves and human cauldrons was no different because at their roots, both practices needed life force as a catalyst for progress.


    Pill ves were humans be they mortals or cultivators, whose part or entire bodies were used as an ingredient in the crafting of a pill or a recipe. It did not matter whether they functioned as a primary or a secondary ingredient, they were pill ves nheless.


    Cultivators were usually preferred to mortals when it came to choosing a pill ve. Those who had perfected their craft in using pill ves would rear those cultivators like how a person rears cattle whose sole purpose is to provide high-quality beef. Those organizations were very specific in the way they nurtured their pill ves. Everything from what they ate, where they lived, the cultivation art they practiced, the elemental bnce of their bodies, all of it would be micromanaged and controlled to suit the needs of the potion that required said cultivator.


    A whole thorough regimen was built around it. It wasn''t all who were as thorough about it. Some would use the cultivators as is. But for those usingplex recipes, a carefullyid out nurturing n for their pill ves was needed, and the Chen family was shown to be one of them.


    When it came to human cauldrons, they differed from their counterparts, the pill ves, in that they were not an ingredient, but were instead the furnace through which all of the ingredients were brewed, in ce of a cauldron. Other than concocting potions, they would also be used to nurture spiritual herbs.


    One could be careless with pill ves but the same could not be said about human cauldrons.Nurturing one required considerable effort and resources which was an investment that would be repaid several times over provided you were sessful in nurturing one.


    The investigation showed that the Chen family had already nurtured twenty-three of them.


    "The investigations unearthed the following in regards to the charges. Your farms in Cherry Blossom County, Spiritwood County, cktear County, and Misty Caldera County were found to have pill ves and human cauldrons.


    The total number of pill ves and human cauldrons was 78 to 23 respectively. Inquisitor Yu Gen please inform the Medical Valley to have them delivered.." Yang Qing said to Yu Gen, who nodded as he took out hismunication talisman.


    "He seems surprised?"thought Yang Qing as his gaze fell on Chen Zian who quickly tried to conceal the shock in his eyes as Yang Qing mentioned the four counties.


    It came as no surprise that all counties were in the territory owned by the Chen family, and of those counties, Cherry Blossom County and Spiritwood County were thergest spiritual herb-producing territories under their control and the reason for that was the two counties fell under the territory the red maple spirit controlled and had thus been baptized by its aura, unlike the other ces which they gained when they expanded the kingdom.


    Yang Qing could only guess the reason for his surprise was the presence of pill ves and human cauldrons in those two locations. Considering the significance of those two locations, it would be a given for the n Patriarch to monitor them closely.


    Why wouldn''t Chen Zian have the look of someone who had just eaten a fly when he discovered that someone had pulled one over him and he was none the wiser about it?