The Divine Martial Stars

Chapter 621 Moral Example

The official website of the Immortal Net would occasionally release some official news on the forum. Usually, it was to maintain the order of the Immortal Net, or to clarify some matters, such as notice of rewards and punishment and corresponding explanations.

This type of news could have something to do with the Immortal Net itself or with others.

This time, the official news released by the Immortal Net on the forum was a video recorded with the Water Mirror Technique.

And the news was free to view.

The title of the post was only composed of two words—

“The Truth!”

The official posts were usually placed in the most conspicuous positions, and the titles would come out in a special color and font. Therefore, when cultivators logged onto the forums on the Immortal Net, they immediately saw this post in the vast sea of messages.

When they clicked on this news with their minds, a video popped out in their heads at once.

It was a video recorded from the third perspective. The angle was rather weird. But through the hazy curtain of rain, one could see on-going the massacre on the South Street.

One by one, the shops were attacked. The innocent shopowners sleeping in the shops were slaughtered. Some tried to resist and chased the intruders out but were beheaded in an instant...

Many people died with their eyes wide open.

Young ladies rushed out of their houses in disheveled clothes but were dragged back in the end. Their desperate and miserable cries could be heard clearly through the curtain of rain.

Babies were thrown down from high buildings and killed with blades.

This piece of the video recorded with the Water Mirror Technique was less than 15 minutes long, and the scenes were slightly blurred. It was clear that the one who had shot the video was not very skilled. But the strength of the person who cast the Water Mirror Technique should be quite powerful, because the whole massacre was clearly displayed.

All the cultivators were shocked.

It was a huge shock.

The reason why they were astounded was not that they saw the process of the massacre, but that they found out that the culprit was not the murderous maniac name Li Mu as the rumor had before. Instead, it was...

It was a bunch of people dressed in the disciple uniform of the Tianyi Palace.

Tianyi Palace’s disciples did that?

Everyone who watched the video felt that their brains had completely stopped working.

“What has happened on earth?!”

Almost at the same time, the Being Forced to Keep a Pig also posted the same message on the forum. However, this one was completely different from the ones he posted previously. There was no eye-catching title or a fee charged. Instead, everyone could read the post free of charge.

There were no words in the post, nor was there any specific explanation.

There was just the same video released by the Immortal Net.

Many people clicked open the post, watched the video, and then silently exited the page.

Then, they clicked on the official message of the Immortal Net to have a look.

After that, they exited again.

Then, they went back to check the post Li Mu had posted.

The two videos were exactly the same.

The cultivators, who were collectively ridiculing Li Mu and posting “thanking Li Mu” posts on the forum a moment ago, lost their voices all at once.

Many people were dumbfounded and could not think properly for the time being.

“Could it be that the massacre on the South Street was the doing of the Tianyi Palace and then the Tianyi Palace framed Li Mu for the crime?”

“If so, this would be big.”

“Then what was all the previous fuss about?”

“This can’t be a forged video, can it?”

Some cultivators raised their doubts.

Using the Water Mirror Technique to capture scenes was a relatively average Taoist magic art, which was not particularly abstruse. Most cultivators in the Mortal Realm or even in the Worm Realm could achieve that.

In addition, there were some secret methods that could be used to forge Water Mirror pictures or videos. Some cultivators even specialized in studying the Water Mirror Technique and made a living by fabricating all kinds of Water Mirror materials.

It sounded just like shooting a movie on Earth.

Therefore, a lot of professional cultivators came out and tried to test the authenticity of these two sections of the Water Mirror videos, hoping to find some clues on the forgery.

But in the end, they all sadly announced that there was no sign of forgery or modification in the two Water Mirror videos. At least, with their skill and strength, they couldn’t see any flaws.

At this time, some people started to state their views.

“The Water Mirror video officially released by the Immortal Net has definitely been through the most rigorous test. Thus, there can’t be any forgery. Someone is obviously using the power of the Immortal Net to defend Li Mu the Wild Broadsword, so...”

So that meant?

The truth of the matter was reversed in an instant.

Many people fell into complete silence.

All kinds of theories about the authenticity of the Water Mirror video gradually subsided. As the saying goes, the real gold fears no fire. The truth became increasingly clearer as the discussion about it went on. Many were skeptical and went to search for even a little flaw with nearly exacting standards. But none of them found anything fishy.

Therefore, it had been proved that the video was authentic.

Along with the fermentation of this matter, some people had more discoveries.

“I know the person who killed that shopowner. He is a disciple of the Tianyi Palace named He Xiang. It’s definitely not an imposter...”

“Not just He Xiang, I’m sure that several other murders are also real disciples of the Tianyi Palace. I have proof. Those people on the video can’t be imposters.”

“And there is Mu Shun, did you see him? The person standing on the front deck of the flying shuttle and commanding the others is one of the leaders of the Tianyi Palace in Star Wind City who runs the Immortal Pavilion.”

“There are also several low-level presbyters of the Tianyi Palace...”

“That’s the Law Enforcement Unit of the Tianyi Palace.”

More and more information and evidence were spotted from this Water Mirror video. And things became more and more astonishing, as though someone had spotted the tip of an iceberg and pulled the whole thing out.

In this way, there was concrete evidence supporting the facts.

No one could forge a video this vivid.

What was more, it did rain that night, and it was a rare heavy rain. After that night, it had not rained on the South Street of the Star Wind City, nor had any cultivators used their Taoist magic art to produce artificial rainfall... No matter which aspect one looked at it from, the video was flawless.

“I think we should apologize to Li Mu.”

Finally, someone made such a suggestion.

It was never easy to apologize to others.

Given this situation and the big picture, it was even harder to apologize.

“Li Mu, I’m sorry.”

The cultivators who had mocked Li Mu before lowered their heads in shame.

Unlike those who lashed out at Li Mu before just for humiliating him, in the past few days, most of the cultivators who ridiculed Li Mu on the forum truly did that out of righteous indignation. So, when they found that they had blamed Li Mu unjustly, the shame and guilt they suffered were hard to describe.

This time, they were truly sorry.

And in this wave of apologies, the Darkness-repelling Sword who had been silent for a long time finally showed up.

Everyone could tell that he was quite heavy-hearted. He also posted a letter of apology which only consisted of three words—

“I am sorry.”

This was the first time in record that the Darkness-repelling Sword had apologized for his previous remarks and criticism.

Many who knew the Darkness-repelling Sword well could tell that it was not easy for him to say these three words.

After that, Feng Liusheng of the Feng Clan, who had been standing in the same camp with the Darkness-repelling Sword the whole time, also stepped up and posted a post after a long period of silence...

“Sorry for my error.”

The more indignant Feng Liusheng was when he rebuked Li Mu, the more intense the guilt he felt at this time was.

All the cultivators quickly came around. All of a sudden, they found that the grievance Li Mu had held was exceedingly huge. It was simply not something an ordinary person could bear.

Why didn’t he explain this matter from the very beginning?

Or was it that Li Mu didn’t find this Water Mirror video at that time?

That would make sense. If there was no such video, no matter what Li Mu said, no one would believe that he was innocent and wronged.

Because from the very beginning, the entire Brilliance Immortal Star Region’s attitude toward Li Mu was quite unfriendly. Before Li Mu left the Divine Land, the great sects had portrayed him as a humble, vulgar, and perverted series killer from the inferior world. Later, when Li Mu stepped into the universe, everything he did was savage and controversial.

From the outset, the cultivators in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region had been looking at Li Mu with prejudice. This kind of prejudice had been deeply rooted in their minds with them noticing. Under such circumstances, who would have believed what Li Mu and his friend said?

“I’m one of the people who witnessed the massacre in Gold Town with my own eyes. In fact, what happened that day was totally different from what the Gold Sun Sect claimed. Here is what happened...” An anonymous cultivator brought up the past and recounted the story on the Immortal Net.

“Li Mu helped the cultivators who needed help and killed those voracious and despicable evildoers. He is a good man.” The anonymous cultivator wrote this at the end of the post.

It was not until this time that many cultivators found that in the past couple of days, there were actually some voices defending Li Mu. Some of those who had been through the massacre in Gold Town had also posted posts, only that those posts were soon drowned out by the flood of accusations against Li Mu.

At that time, whoever spoke for Li Mu was deemed as “helping the villain do evil”. Their voices were immediately drowned by others’ harsh reprimand, so were the posts they wrote.

How ashamed!

How guilt-ridden!

That was what many truly righteous cultivators were feeling now.

They were extremely regretful. They hated themselves for being so blind that they had wronged a good person.

Now when the cultivators looked back at things, they finally realized how great Li Mu’s deed of setting up a fund for the victims of the massacre on the South Street with his own gold-colored fairy crystals was.

Li Mu had earned those fairy crystals by winning one battle after another with his own strength. It could be said that it was the money he had earned by toil. Although he had suffered such a big grievance and had been cursed and insulted by the family members of the victims in all kinds of vicious ways, he still took out such a huge sum of money to set up a fund for them. Even a sage couldn’t manage that, could he?

However, they had actually wronged such a great sage!

Remorse in many people’s hearts drowned them like a surging river.

Even many people who still disliked Li Mu because of his identity as a sinner had been shocked. They had to admit that wild as this young man from the inferior world was, and despite all shortcomings he had in other aspects, he did have demonstrated his high moral standards in this matter.

No one could nitpick about what Li Mu did this time.

“Li Mu, I’m sorry.”

Such posts kept emerging on the forum.

“Thank you, Li Mu.”

Some people also sent posts with the exact words to deride and sicken Li Mu. Now, they posted those posts again, but even a fool knew that this time, the meaning of the same four words had completely changed.

This time, those words showed their sincerity, admiration, gratitude, and remorse.

No one could remember in how long they had known a figure as controversial as Li Mu. In such a short time, Li Mu had suffered great slander and then received exceedingly high praise and recognition.

This mind-blowing contrast eventually built the image of a wild but righteous Broadsword Man. It was as if a moral example had been established in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region.

From this day on, anyone who dared to slander Li Mu would probably be poked in the spine.

Of course, this was not the end yet.

The Darkness-repelling Sword, which had been silent for a long time, made a remark again. The officials of the Immortal Net also issued an announcement, leading the matter to another climax. While exclaiming over Li Mu’s great personality, cultivators began to think about how to compensate Li Mu, as well as... how to make the real evildoers—the butchers from the Tianyi Palace—pay the price.