Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

"So this is him?" As a man of his stature, Zhu Weichen understood what had happened in an instant. He let out a cold snort and said sternly, "Student duels are entirely voluntary. You injured Wang Fei, and I have nothing to say about it. But my academy’s rules forbid killing. If you dare to land a killing blow on Wang Fei, then don’t blame me for taking action."

"This..." All the students and teachers were stunned. ’When did the Dean become so reasonable?’

"Heh. Killing trash like him would only dirty my hands." Ye Xuan smirked, then turned to Zhou Xuan and said with a grin, "You’ve been watching for long enough. Now, it’s your turn."

The pupils of every student present contracted. Ye Xuan had utterly crippled Wang Fei. So what would happen to Zhou Xuan?

Zhou Xuan’s face was deathly pale, but she didn’t show the same terror as Wang Fei. She said faintly, "Student Ye Xuan, I misjudged you. I admit that your strength far surpasses mine. I forfeit this match. From this day forward, I, Zhou Xuan, will no longer be your enemy."

It had to be said, Zhou Xuan was much smarter than Wang Fei.

"Heh, whether or not you’re my enemy has nothing to do with me. Because you won’t get the chance to be my enemy ever again."

Ye Xuan’s tone was placid, but the chill it contained made Zhou Xuan shudder. She raised her head, revealing a lovely, radiant face with shimmering eyes. "Ye Xuan, don’t say I didn’t warn you. You forced Wang Yue to withdraw from the academy and crippled Wang Fei; you’ve now thoroughly antagonized the Wang family. You probably don’t realize it, but the Wang family has already begun to move against your Ye family’s businesses. Your family is now in a perilous state. If you offend my Zhou family as well, I guarantee that the Ye family will not survive the winter."

"But if you leave me be, I can guarantee that our Zhou family will not get involved. We could even protect the Ye family and help you resist the Wang family."

Zhou Xuan’s tone was sincere, but deep down, her heart was filled with savage, venomous resentment. ’This time, I’ve truly miscalculated. I never expected Ye Xuan’s strength to be this terrifying. He made me, the pride of my generation, lose so much face in front of every student. As long as I make it back to the Zhou family alive, I’ll make sure he never sees the light of day again.’

Lifting her head, Zhou Xuan looked at Ye Xuan with an innocent gaze. Beneath her delicate eyelashes, her large, pitiable eyes seemed to speak volumes. Her perfectly sculpted nose and luscious red lips were all filled with a moving allure.

"Ye Xuan, I only sought you out today to avenge my younger brother, Zhou Yan. I never imagined you were this exceptional. With your strength, you’ll surely be able to enter the Profound Spirit Academy in the future. When that time comes, since we’re both from Blue Moon City, there’s no reason we can’t make a name for ourselves in the Royal City."

Zhou Xuan did everything in her power to display her most charming, feminine side.

"Heh, not a bad performance. Too bad your expression is so forced, your acting so over-the-top. It’s so contrived it makes me want to vomit."

Ye Xuan sneered. The moment the words left his mouth, he stomped down with his right leg. A piercing scream instantly echoed across the training ground. Ye Xuan’s foot had landed squarely on Zhou Xuan’s lower abdomen, and just like Wang Fei, her Dantian was destroyed.

’So ruthless! So decisive!’ The crowd trembled, their bodies shaking. ’Zhou Xuan is one of the academy’s three goddesses! How could Ye Xuan be so heartless toward such a beautiful woman? This man is terrifying!’

Even Luo Zhan and Yun Aoxue looked up, their eyes wide with disbelief. Their assessment of Ye Xuan’s character reached a new level.

A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips. In that moment, Zhou Xuan had lost all of her initial composure and calm. With disheveled hair, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and torn clothes, she looked like a madwoman, her eyes filled with desperation and insanity.

"Ye Xuan, you dared to destroy my Dantian! You will die a horrible death! The Zhou family will not let you go! Not just you—your family, your loved ones—they are all going to die!"

Zhou Xuan shrieked madly. She could never have imagined that Ye Xuan would actually go through with it. In the academy, all it took were a few sweet words and there wasn’t a man who wouldn’t be wrapped around her finger. But with Ye Xuan, she had completely miscalculated.

The result was that she was crippled, turned into a complete invalid.

Seeing her bloodshot eyes filled with hatred, Ye Xuan said nonchalantly, "You don’t have to look at me like that. You were the one who just said you wanted to cripple my four limbs—and not just my limbs, but my cultivation as well. I’ve only done what you were planning to do. If there had been a shred of mercy in your heart, I wouldn’t have needed to destroy your cultivation. So if you must hate someone, hate your own vile cruelty."

"And another thing: a bitch is a bitch. Stop pretending to be some kind of goddess!"

Ye Xuan sneered and sent Zhou Xuan flying with a kick. The sound of CRACKING bones followed; all four of her limbs were now useless.

"As for your Zhou family, whatever’s coming will come. If you manage to make it back, give a message to the Zhou family Patriarch for me: if he knows what’s good for him, he won’t come looking for trouble. Otherwise, I will have the entire Zhou family erased from Blue Moon City."

HISS!

Everyone present drew in a sharp, cold breath.

Arrogant. Unbelievably arrogant.

’Such arrogance.’ At that moment, no one could remain calm, not even Dean Zhu Weichen. In all his years as dean of Xingxuan Academy, he had never seen a student speak with such audacity. ’He’s just a Seven Veins Martial Artist from the Ye family. What gives him the nerve to speak to the Zhou family, one of the three great families, like that? Not even the Ye family Patriarch has the right to do so.’

’Where on earth does this boy get his courage? Is it blind, overweening arrogance, or is he truly that confident?’

Amid the crowd’s astonishment, Ye Xuan’s expression suddenly shifted, and he actually sat down cross-legged under everyone’s watchful eyes.

"What’s going on?"

Just as the crowd was looking on in confusion, a light suddenly materialized around Ye Xuan. One by one, glowing patterns appeared on his body. The surrounding Heaven and Earth Profound Qi abruptly swarmed toward him, surging madly into his body. As the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi flooded in, the light on Ye Xuan grew brighter and his aura more terrifying. Finally, it seemed as though something cracked open, and a vast, powerful aura erupted from within him.

"A breakthrough? Ye Xuan actually broke through to become a Tier One Spirit Martial Realm Samurai!"

The entire arena fell into a stunned silence, then erupted in an uproar. After defeating two Tier One Spirit Martial Realm experts back-to-back, Ye Xuan himself had broken through to the Spirit Martial Realm! He was only fourteen years old! For four years at the academy, he had remained at the First Vein of cultivation. To think that in just a few short months, he had broken through from the First Vein all the way to the Spirit Martial Realm... Just what on earth had happened to this person?

The crowd was utterly aghast, their eyes wide in disbelief.

Amidst the intense roaring of Qi, Ye Xuan, still on the dueling stage, felt a stir within him. He realized that after breaking through to the Spirit Martial Realm Samurai, the black martial soul in his Dantian had suddenly expanded from the size of a soybean to a ping-pong ball. A powerful suction force emanated from it, actually pulling in and devouring the faint wisps of martial soul aura that had been released from Wang Fei and Zhou Xuan when their Dantians were shattered. It then fed that energy back into his own body.

’A martial soul that can devour the power of others...’ Ye Xuan’s body trembled, shaken to his core.

He snapped his eyes open, not daring to investigate further. ’Under the scrutiny of the entire crowd, a secret of this magnitude absolutely cannot be exposed.’

"Dean Chu, as you wished, I haven’t killed a single person." With a faint smile, Ye Xuan leaped off the dueling stage and left the training ground.

After the series of stunning events, the entire training ground erupted into a cacophony of discussion, with a wide range of expressions on every face. Unable to hide his astonishment, Dean Chu quickly departed. Soon after, the academy’s teachers managed to disperse the crowd. Medical personnel from the infirmary rushed to the scene to provide emergency treatment for Wang Fei and Zhou Xuan, whose bodies were so battered they barely had an uninjured spot on them.

"Ye Xuan, Luo Zhan... just you wait." Witch Rune’s eyes were filled with venom. After a final glance at the mangled forms of Wang Fei and Zhou Xuan, his figure flickered and vanished from the training ground.

And while these earth-shattering events were unfolding at Xingxuan Academy, a potent fluctuation of Profound Qi suddenly pulsed from Zhou Huarong’s cultivation chamber in the Alchemist Association.

"Hahaha!" The door to the cultivation chamber swung open, and an ecstatic Lin Xiong emerged. Dense fluctuations of Profound Qi swirled around him, emitting a terrifying aura.

"Vice Commander Lin, you’ve broken through to the Second Layer of the Earth Martial Master realm! Congratulations, congratulations!" Zhou Huarong, hearing the commotion, rushed out. He was completely stunned when he felt Lin Xiong’s aura.

One should not underestimate that single layer between the First and Second Layer of the Earth Martial Master realm. The higher a Martial Artist’s rank, the more difficult the breakthrough. In all of Blue Moon City, there were no more than ten experts at the Third Layer of the Earth Martial Master realm. This meant that Lin Xiong’s current strength was now enough to rank him among the top ten in the entire city.

"Hahaha, many thanks, Steward Zhou! By the way, where is Young Master Xuan?" Lin Xiong was eager to share the good news with Ye Xuan. If Ye Xuan hadn’t intervened, he might have already become an invalid, to say nothing of his martial soul reaching Two-Stars and his strength breaking through to the Second Layer of the Earth Martial Master realm.

"Hehe, Master Ye Xuan left the Alchemist Association this morning. I heard it’s the day of Xingxuan Academy’s final exams, so he likely went back for that. Also, he mentioned that once you came out of seclusion, Vice Commander Lin, you should just go attend to your own affairs. If he needs anything, he will come find you at the City Guard headquarters."

A hint of disappointment crossed Lin Xiong’s face upon hearing that Ye Xuan had already left. He immediately bid Zhou Huarong farewell and departed from the Alchemist Association in high spirits.

He couldn’t wait to return home. He hadn’t been back in over ten days and dearly missed his family.

As the Vice Commander of the City Guard, Lin Xiong was considered one of Blue Moon City’s dignitaries. His home was situated on the city’s most prosperous thoroughfare, Champs Elysees Street. This area was an enclave for the nobility, home to the manors of the illustrious. Every inch of land here was worth a fortune and incredibly expensive.

Lin Xiong’s house was located at one end of the street. It wasn’t particularly luxurious, but it was always kept neat and tidy.

However, the moment Lin Xiong returned to his front gate, his eyes went wide with panic.

The small garden by his gate, where some vegetables and flowers had once grown, was now an utter wreck. His wife’s favorite camellias were strewn about, crushed and dying, as if they had been trampled by a horde of people.