Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

Ye Xuan sneered. "Hmph, I tampered with it? You two certainly have sharp eyes. I’m just a boy in his teens; what kind of tricks could I possibly pull? Are you implying that all these masters and experts here are blind?"

"You..." Wang Hai pointed at Ye Xuan, his eyes flashing with sharp, murderous intent. "You little bastard, why did you frame us? Tell me, what motive would our two families have for harming Miss Leng Yingying? It makes no sense!"

"Right, right." Zhou Tong nodded repeatedly. "Lord City Lord, my Zhou family didn’t even know what gift the Wang family was presenting. How could we have conspired with them? This is either an accident or a setup. I implore the Lord City Lord to investigate thoroughly."

"Motive?" Ye Xuan laughed again. "Of course you have a motive. Back at Xingxuan Academy, your Wang family’s Wang Fei and the Zhou family’s Zhou Xuan came after me. Senior Leng Yingying spoke up for me, so you’ve held a grudge against her ever since. And today, you used the presentation of gifts as a cover to make your move, isn’t that right?"

"You—you’re spouting baseless accusations..."

Both men looked like they were about to lose their minds, rambling frantically, "Lord City Lord, this is completely illogical! If we were going to frame someone, it would be Commander Hei Zhuo. There’s absolutely no reason to frame Miss Leng Yingying."

"Who said you didn’t frame Commander Hei Zhuo?" A sharp glint flashed in Ye Xuan’s eyes. "With these gifts, you not only framed Senior Leng Yingying, you also targeted Commander Hei Zhuo."

"Little bastard, if you spout any more nonsense, I’ll kill you."

"Heh, flying into a rage out of shame? Is it because I’ve seen through your scheme, and now you want to silence me?"

"What?"

Everyone was stunned by this revelation. A harsh light flared in Leng Tian’s eyes. "Your name is Ye Xuan? Do you have proof?"

"Proof?" Ye Xuan walked over to the gift table, picked up the longspear ’Soul-Destroying’ presented by the Zhou family, and said, "This is the proof."

WHOOSH!

He tossed ’Soul-Destroying’ to Hua Luoxuan. "Chairman Hua, please wash away the Array on this."

"Alright." Hua Luoxuan wasted no words. He glanced at City Lord Leng Tian, who had a grim expression and gave no objection, and immediately began to cleanse the Array.

A fourth-grade Profound Soldier was inscribed with a fourth-grade Array. With Hua Luoxuan’s current abilities, inscribing one would be utterly impossible.

However, thanks to Ye Xuan’s guidance a few days ago, his skill with array runes had improved by leaps and bounds. Simply washing away an array rune wasn’t a difficult task.

With the help of a special agent for cleansing array runes, the Erosion Rune Liquid, Hua Luoxuan applied various techniques. In just a quarter of an hour, the original fourth-grade array rune on the spear had become extremely blurry.

Seeing this, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of both Zhu Weichen and Jiang Xun, and they were secretly astonished.

As fellow array masters of Blue Moon City, they had naturally interacted before. They were well aware of each other’s skill levels, which were roughly on par.

Normally, to cleanse a fourth-grade array rune, it would take them at least half an hour at their level.

But now, Hua Luoxuan had managed to wash away the fourth-grade array rune in under a quarter of an hour, leaving only its basic form. This astounded the two of them, and they exchanged a look of shock.

’When did Hua Luoxuan’s skill improve so much?’

The other Patriarchs present, however, felt a pang of heartache. This was the legendary fourth-grade Profound Soldier, ’Soul-Destroying’! To have its inscribed Array washed away just like that... they figured if Ye Xuan couldn’t explain himself, Commander Hei Zhuo would probably want him dead.

"Chairman Hua, that’s enough!"

Ye Xuan suddenly called out in a low voice. He took the longspear, tossed it to Hei Zhuo, and said coldly, "Commander Hei Zhuo, please channel your Profound Qi and, with all your strength, execute a single thrust."

Expressionless, Hei Zhuo immediately channeled the Profound Qi in his body. A terrifying aura instantly enveloped the entire hall. With a thunderous shout, he abruptly thrust the spear forward.

BOOM!

The thrust was like a dragon or a tiger, powerful enough to shift the very air. Under the intense surge of Profound Qi, the entire hall seemed to tremble on the verge of collapse. Just as everyone was marveling at the display, suddenly—

CRACK!

A faint cracking sound was heard. The longspear in Commander Hei Zhuo’s hand had actually snapped in two! The tip of the spear flew out like a bolt of lightning, shooting directly toward Zhou Tong.

CLANG!

Zhou Tong flipped his hand into a palm strike. His hand turned an earthen yellow as he activated his Petrification Martial Soul, swatting the broken spear tip to the ground in an instant. It rolled to a stop in front of Ye Xuan.

"What’s going on?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"How did the fourth-grade Profound Soldier ’Soul-Destroying’ suddenly break?"

"This is impossible! Legend says ’Soul-Destroying’ was forged entirely from Star Meteorite Iron. It’s supposed to be indestructible! How could it break?"

The many guests present cried out in shock. Even Zhou Tong himself was dumbfounded.

Ye Xuan picked up the broken spear tip and sneered at the crowd. "Everyone, take a good look. What is the material of this so-called ’Soul-Destroying’ really made of?!"

The crowd surged forward. They could see that the spear tip was clearly made of two different materials: an outer coating and an inner core, completely distinct from one another.

Ye Xuan sneered. "The real ’Soul-Destroying’ is made from the legendary Star Meteorite Iron, which is indestructible. But this spear? Its core is merely ordinary Profound Iron, plated with a layer of Star Meteorite Iron on the outside. While Profound Iron is quite hard, for an expert like Commander Hei Zhuo, it’s just not enough. You can all imagine what would happen if Commander Hei Zhuo were fighting an expert of the same level..."

Here, Ye Xuan suddenly looked at Wang Hai and the others, smirking. "For example, in a battle against masters like Patriarch Wang Hai or Patriarch Zhou Tong. What do you think would happen if, at a moment when he was completely confident in his weapon, he suddenly found it had shattered?"

"In a duel between masters, the slightest error can lead to a disastrous outcome. The moment that spear broke would likely have been the moment of Commander Hei Zhuo’s death, wouldn’t it?!"

Zhou Tong’s face filled with despair. He said in a panic, "Lord City Lord, I spent a great fortune and went through incredible hardship to acquire this ’Soul-Destroying’! I had no idea this was its condition!"

"Heh, the Zhou family’s business is in Demon Pills. It’s true you couldn’t have forged ’Soul-Destroying’ yourselves, but are you telling me you can’t even tell if a Profound Soldier is real or fake? I think you spent a great fortune to have this malicious gift deliberately crafted, didn’t you?"

"Little bastard, keep spouting lies and I’ll kill you!" Zhou Tong’s face was savage, his expression furious. The powerful Profound Qi of a Third Layer Earth Martial Artist surged toward Ye Xuan like a torrential gale.

"Insolent!" Commander Hei Zhuo roared, stepping in front of Ye Xuan. "Zhou Tong, to attack someone at the Lord City Lord’s banquet—are you trying to rebel?"

Zhou Tong’s expression faltered, and he immediately retracted his aura. He hurriedly said, "Lord City Lord, I lost my composure just now. But regarding this ’Soul-Destroying’ spear, I swear on my life, I truly knew nothing about it."

Leng Tian’s face was ashen. He remained silent, frowning for a long time before letting out a cold snort. "Whether you knew or not, only you can say. Forget it. I’m a bit tired today. Hei Zhuo, let’s go back. Everyone, please, continue to enjoy yourselves..."

After such a spectacle, Leng Tian had completely lost his celebratory mood.

The crowd quickly offered their farewells to the City Lord, their gazes toward Zhou Tong now like they were looking at a dead man.

Hei Zhuo immediately had someone pack up the gifts from the table. He was especially careful with the Nourishing Vein Pill, stowing it away before heading deeper into the City Lord’s Mansion.

"Commander Hei Zhuo, wait a moment."

Ye Xuan suddenly called out, "I think it would be best if you didn’t take that Nourishing Vein Pill you’re holding."

Commander Hei Zhuo’s steps faltered. City Lord Leng Tian also stopped and turned to look at him.

The entire hall of guests was in an uproar. ’Could there be a problem with the Nourishing Vein Pill as well?’ In an instant, all eyes were fixed on Wang Hai and Ye Xuan.

Wang Hai’s face darkened as he growled, "Ye Xuan, what are you trying to say?"

Ye Xuan gave a cold smile. "Patriarch Wang, you know exactly what I mean. You and the Zhou family conspired in secret. Are you telling me you didn’t tamper with this Pill?"

"Lord City Lord, this man is making malicious accusations!" Wang Hai’s expression was ugly as he said hurriedly, "I acquired this Nourishing Vein Pill at an auction! I even have a certificate of appraisal from the auction house. How could it be fake? Please, Lord City Lord, you must not believe his baseless slander."

"Heh." Ye Xuan smiled contemptuously. "In that case, is Patriarch Wang suggesting I’m lying about this, ’too’?"

Ye Xuan put a heavy emphasis on that single word, ’too’.

Wang Hai froze. He glanced at the broken spear tip on the ground, his face ashen, before erupting with an explanation, "That ’Soul-Destroying’ was presented by the Zhou family! What does it have to do with my Wang family?"

Ye Xuan smiled coldly. "Then I suppose that Heart Nourishing Jade has nothing to do with you either?"

"You..." Wang Hai was rendered speechless, but the look in his eyes was murderous enough to burn Ye Xuan to ash!

Leng Tian’s face was ashen. He turned to Hua Luoxuan, Luo Zhen, and the others. "Chairman Hua, Master Luo Zhen, what do you make of this Pill?"

The two stepped forward and observed it carefully for a moment before shaking their heads. "Lord City Lord, this Pill doesn’t appear to have any problems. However, its grade is too high, so we cannot be certain."

Hei Zhuo suppressed the emotions swirling within him and said in a low voice, "Ye Xuan, you say there’s a problem with this Pill. Do you have proof?"

If Ye Xuan had said this from the beginning, Hei Zhuo and the others would never have believed him. But after what had just happened, Ye Xuan’s words had, in the minds of the crowd, undoubtedly become the truth.

However, Hei Zhuo had been plagued by his internal injuries for so long and was desperate to heal them. Now that he finally saw a glimmer of hope, he was extremely unwilling to give up on it so easily.

Ye Xuan chuckled lightly. "Proof? I don’t have any. Identifying the medicinal properties of a Pill is incredibly complex. But I am certain that this Pill is laced with a potent poison. If Commander Hei Zhuo takes it, not only will his injuries not heal, but he will be slowly poisoned and eventually die a violent death. And we all know, the Wang family is quite proficient when it comes to poisons."

"What?" Leng Tian’s expression changed drastically. He turned to glare at Wang Hai in a rage.

If what Ye Xuan said was true, then the Wang family’s malicious intentions were truly unforgivable.