"Harboring the Faceless Divine Son is a capital offense!" Xia Hanshi's expression shifted into sothing bleak and murderous. His gaunt figure stepped forward, emanating the dangerous aura of a sickly tiger.
"What nonsense about harboring the Faceless Divine Son? I know exactly what you're plotting," Lu Kai sneered. "Is this how Yingfeng operates? Holy Envoy Wu is on the front lines bleeding for your sake, yet you conspire to persecute us like this."
Standing to the side, Lei Tieyan's eyes flickered with a subtle light.
"Whether Wu Chenpei can wash his hands of this remains to be seen," Xia Hanshi retorted, his tone freezing over. "Stop making a scene. If you don't surrender peacefully, don't bla for being ruthless."
'Old Xia really acts with absolute righteous conviction,' Su Chen thought, staring at him. 'I could never match that level of shaless confidence.'
"You—" Lu Kai gnashed his teeth. His voice exploded like a massive brass bell, the booming sound rolling across the area. "Where is Shi Yunzhou?!"
"Why is there such a heavy sll of gunpowder in the air?"
Almost as soon as the words were spoken, a figure drifted gracefully onto the scene. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with a slightly plump build and a thoroughly amiable disposition.
Su Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. Shi Yunzhou was one of the founding elders who remained to guard Yingfeng. He was a Tier-7 professional and the Director of Resources, managing the flow of all supplies. Because he constantly dealt with various factions, he was widely recognized as a genial peacemaker.
"Elder Shi," Lu Kai said, restraining his temper slightly. His voice was deep. "Xia Hanshi is spouting baseless accusations, claiming we harbored so Faceless Divine Son and demanding our surrender. Is this your intention as well?"
Though he spoke with imposing confidence, anxiety gnawed at his heart. If this was a unanimous decision by Yingfeng's leadership, they wouldn't stand a chance today.
Yet, he still couldn't believe Yingfeng would be so ruthlessly decisive.
"Hmm, you have a point," Shi Yunzhou said, his brow furrowing as he turned to Xia Hanshi. "Yuandu has always been on good terms with us. Making such a massive move seems a bit heavy-handed, doesn't it?"
'Xia Hanshi, what exactly is going on?' he demanded, secretly sending out a ntal fluctuation.
He had known absolutely nothing about this beforehand and had only rushed over after receiving the sudden news.
Ignoring the telepathic inquiry, Xia Hanshi simply declared aloud, "The Faceless believers are swarming toward us, and Yingfeng's high command is fully deployed. If soone were to sabotage us from the shadows right now, the resulting losses would be incalculable."
"You also make a fair point," Shi Yunzhou agreed with a thoughtful nod. He looked back at Lu Kai. "How about you cooperate with an inspection?"
'You want to eliminate Hong Xuan?' On the surface, Shi Yunzhou remained calm, but he had already guessed Xia Hanshi's motive, and fury was rising within him. 'You're hijacking Yingfeng. You're hijacking .'
"Cooperate with an inspection?" Lu Kai's mouth twitched. For a mont, he couldn't tell if Shi Yunzhou was playing dumb or genuinely clueless.
'This guy is an absolute master at playing the fool,' Su Chen marveled inwardly.
Su Chen was used to staying within the Tribunal and rarely interacted with these founding elders. Seeing Shi Yunzhou's performance today, he could only admit that these veterans truly earned their titles.
"We of Yuandu walk a straight and righteous path! We would rather die than submit to such baseless slander!" Lu Kai bellowed. The mbers of the Yuandu escort team beside him echoed in unison, "We would rather die than submit!"
"What a display of unyielding loyalty," Shi Yunzhou said, appearing deeply moved. He frowned at Xia Hanshi. "Since you've made your move, you must have evidence in hand. If you can't produce it, don't bla for disregarding our ties."
Gritting his teeth inwardly, his ntal fluctuations grew violent. 'You're playing with fire. If you take out Hong Xuan, we can only place our hopes entirely on Su Chen. What if he fails?'
Lu Kai furrowed his brows tightly, montarily filled with doubt. Was this truly just Xia Hanshi's own initiative?
"Stubborn resistance." Xia Hanshi was just about to call for his n when he saw a grave-looking Hong Xuan descending the stairs with two companions.
One was Tang Chen, whom he recognized, but the other person—
Hmm?
Xia Hanshi's eyes went wide with blazing fury. Streams of golden light surfaced on his body, converging above his head to form the vague phantom of a dragon. He roared like a bellowing azure dragon, "Such arrogance!"
"And you still claim you haven't colluded with the Faceless fiends? Hong Xuan is openly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Faceless Divine Son! Do you truly think Yingfeng is entirely blind?"
Hong Xuan, having just stepped off the stairs, hadn't even grasped the situation before he was hit by Xia Hanshi's booming accusation. He stood frozen in utter bewildernt.
'? Standing with the Faceless Divine Son?'
'Who is?'
Suddenly, his eyes twitched, and he looked at Xu Siyuan beside him. The man looked just as clueless.
'He is the Faceless Divine Son?'
'They actually discovered ? How is that possible? I'm using physical parasitism!' Xu Siyuan thought, finding it inconceivable. When he ca down, he had assud the Tribunal was rely using a fabricated excuse to target the Yuandu people.
Yet, the mont he showed his face, he was completely exposed.
Su Chen's expression turned peculiar. 'These two really got mixed up together?'
Lu Kai failed to process the situation for a long mont. He didn't recognize the person standing next to Hong Xuan at all, much less understand how they had ended up together.
Shi Yunzhou glanced at Xia Hanshi and scoffed inwardly. 'Isn't this thod a bit too crude?'
'Just pointing a finger and declaring soone guilty—is he that confident I won't undermine him?'
"Surrender imdiately!" Xia Hanshi ordered, then looked over at Shi Yunzhou. "Elder Shi, please strike quickly."
"Wait!" Lu Kai shouted frantically. "Just because you say so doesn't make it—"
"Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we capture him," Shi Yunzhou said indifferently, though irritation boiled in his chest.
Xia Hanshi was clearly determined not to back down. The map had been unrolled, and the dagger was exposed. Yuandu would be enraged regardless. Rather than paying a heavier price to placate them, it was better to just go along with Xia Hanshi's sche.
Between Su Chen and Hong Xuan, he naturally favored the forr.
But at the end of the day, this wasn't a choice he had made voluntarily. He was being strong-ard by Xia Hanshi, and his anger still simred.
With a re wave of his hand, volatile energy rapidly congregated around Xu Siyuan.
'What kind of characteristics does a Divine Son possess?' Shi Yunzhou pondered, intending to make the framing look convincing enough. The official excuse couldn't be this absurdly sloppy; he had to at least find a way to mitigate so of Yuandu's fury.
But an instant later, his gaze hardened. "Hmm?"
Xu Siyuan, who had his head lowered, suddenly erupted with an incredibly bizarre aura. A transparent, formless force rippled outward as the skin on his body began lting like hot wax. Most terrifying of all, his facial features continuously warped and shifted.
"I underestimated you all," the Faceless Divine Son said, his voice morphing and layering as he swept his gaze across the crowd. "To actually detect my arrival... Yingfeng. What an impressive Yingfeng..."
Tang Chen recoiled in absolute horror, stumbling backward.
Hong Xuan's eyelids twitched violently, overwheld by an indescribable sense of getting utterly screwed. 'This is actually a fucking Divine Son! Who sneaked him in?!'
'This—' Lu Kai's face drastically paled. He imdiately yanked Hong Xuan away, staring vigilantly at the Faceless Divine Son.
Shi Yunzhou's expression grew imnsely solemn. 'There really is a Faceless Divine Son?!'
Su Chen watched everyone's reactions. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, fighting down the sudden urge to burst out laughing.
"Shi Yunzhou!" Xia Hanshi roared. "Suppress him imdiately!"
At the sa ti, across a five-kiloter radius, pre-engraved symbols began to faintly glow on both the concrete streets and the surfaces of towering buildings.
"A runic array!" Ming Lin, who had been struggling with information overload this entire ti, abruptly realized what was happening.
This was the Tribunal's most renowned siege tactic. The symbols etched into the surrounding ground and architecture were ticulously prepared by specialized Runemasters. By linking a massive area, they could project overwhelmingly potent suppression force.
Even within a re one-kiloter range, a few Runemasters coordinating together could suppress a Tier-5 professional—let alone this ten-kiloter expanse.
'So thoroughly prepared.'
Shi Yunzhou scoffed inwardly but couldn't help feeling a trace of admiration. Regardless of how Xia Hanshi orchestrated this sche or how this Faceless Divine Son was unearthed, the current situation was practically an inescapable death trap.
'This guy is getting more and more cunning.'
Shi Yunzhou lightly raised a finger. The dark gold runes carved into the ground instantly awakened, rising into the air like a disturbed swarm of fireflies.
Countless ascending runes collided with one another. Simultaneously, the defensive spirit ring encircling the entirety of Yingfeng burst with blinding light, pouring down a torrential cascade of runes.
The ascending and descending streams clashed, echoing with the sharp, clear ringing of striking tal. They linked end to end, rging into a brilliant, surging river of light.
Whirling furiously, these runes constantly recombined and reshaped until they solidified into nine dark gold chains, each as thick as a bowl. Liquid light flowed along their links, while their ends remained anchored to the defensive spirit ring.
Every single chain link was branded with unique symbols. The very instant they ford, the surrounding space seed to freeze.
Gazing down with apathetic eyes, Shi Yunzhou pushed his hand downward. The nine chains violently swept across the area, their tails leaving lingering afterimages of residual energy in their wake.
'So this is the true power of the defensive spirit ring,' Su Chen thought, unable to stop himself from looking up. The nine chains stretched across the sky, radiating an imposing might that made one's soul tremble.
"Where is Teng Liang?" the Faceless Divine Son asked, his voice deathly cold.
Facing an assault spearheaded by a Tier-7 professional, reinforced by Xia Hanshi's painstakingly concealed runic array and the base's defensive spirit ring, the completely unprepared Divine Son stood no chance of turning the tide.
Hidden among the crowd, Teng Liang blanked. 'Why is this Divine Son calling my na?'
The Faceless Divine Son stared dead at him. His face continuously shifted as the overlapping voices of n, won, the elderly, and children echoed in unison. "To actually see through my disguise... I will rember you, Crimson Thunder Star, Teng Liang!"
With his tracks exposed, the only logical explanation he could deduce was that he had been detected by this very sa Teng Liang—the exact sa way his Faceless vessels had been discovered previously.
As his voice faded, his body began to crumble and drift away like fine sand. In re monts, he dissipated entirely, leaving nothing behind.
"He disintegrated," Shi Yunzhou noted, his eyes narrowing. This was a signature trait of a Divine Son returning to their deity, a failsafe designed to prevent anyone from studying their sacred vessels.
'Teng Liang...' He shifted his gaze toward the figure standing behind Xia Hanshi.
Teng Liang opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. His cheek twitched violently before he silently cast a helpless look at Su Chen.
Su Chen felt a twinge of guilt. 'This Faceless Divine Son had one hell of a misunderstanding.'
Xia Hanshi frowned slightly, his gaze chillingly stern. "Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Hong Xuan was caught colluding with the Faceless Divine Son. What more do you have to say for yourselves?"
Lu Kai opened his mouth, but not a single word ca out. Given the damning circumstances, he had no idea how to even begin explaining.
The other Yuandu guards gathered around him exchanged bewildered glances. 'Did we really collude with the Faceless fiend believers?'
"I... I don't know him! Today was the very first ti we crossed paths," Hong Xuan insisted through gritted teeth.
"Your first ti crossing paths, yet in such a critical situation, you decided to bring him down with you?" Xia Hanshi countered sharply.
"I just felt sothing was off about him! I didn't feel safe leaving him alone in the building," Hong Xuan explained, though even he realized how weak the excuse sounded.
But his mind was racing. He knew he couldn't afford to get bogged down on this topic. He raised his voice furiously, "There is definitely sothing suspicious going on today, and it undoubtedly traces back to you, Xia Hanshi!"
Regret gnawed at him. If he had known Xia Hanshi was this ruthless, he never would have listened to Wu Chenpei's advice to wait until they reached the ruins to assassinate Su Chen.
Their plan had been ticulously crafted, but this Xia Hanshi was infinitely more venomous.
Lu Kai was much more direct. "Xia Hanshi, is there truly no other way? Must you kill Hong Xuan?"
Even though the recent scene had been unbelievably bizarre, he simply refused to believe that Hong Xuan would collude with the Faceless Divine Son.
"He colluded with the Faceless Divine Son! Why shouldn't he be killed?" The one who aggressively pressed the issue was actually Lei Tieyan.
Lu Kai's voice dropped an octave. "Are you really so confident? Do you firmly believe that Yuandu will just sit back and dance to your tune?"
It felt like both sides were having entirely different conversations. Ming Lin's dumbfounded expression finally cracked as he faintly guessed the underlying truth. Staring at Xia Hanshi's back, he unconsciously shrank his neck.
"Why are you so terrified of ?!" Hong Xuan shrieked, finding the entire situation increasingly absurd. Clearly, Su Chen was the one with better odds, so he should have been the one panicking. Yet, Xia Hanshi was refusing to play by the rules.
Perhaps because the people of Yingfeng knew too little, they assud he genuinely possessed the capability to rival Su Chen head-on, compelling them to root him out prematurely.
But he didn't want to die. He absolutely could not die here!
Xia Hanshi's eyes shifted slightly. "You're overthinking things," he said flatly. "Colluding with an eerie deity is an unforgivable offense."
"If Yuandu takes offense, I will bear the full responsibility. If they demand a life in exchange, I will gladly offer my own."
"You know far too little!" Hong Xuan shouted, entirely disregarding his surroundings. "Did you really think this was a simple choice between two candidates? Even without , there's no guarantee Su Chen will succeed. I know the greatest secret of the Morning Star rank!"
"And even if he does succeed, the Royal Court won't grant your wishes! In fact, Su Chen will be in grave danger!"
"You know far too little! Wu Chenpei hid so much from you all—he even outright lied to you!"
Su Chen's interest was piqued. Hong Xuan did harbor quite a few secrets, and Su Chen was intensely curious about his thod for fusing professions.
Furthermore, his attitude toward Wu Chenpei was incredibly peculiar; he seed to lack any genuine respect for the man.
It was true that Yingfeng knew too little. Xia Hanshi's eyes flickered, his brow furrowing slightly. "Then spill everything you know. Here, or sowhere else."
Glancing briefly at Su Chen, a vague idea blossod in Hong Xuan's mind—this might just be his final lifeline. He imdiately declared, "I absolutely refuse to leave this spot. If you try to force , I will instantly annihilate my spiritual core!"
"You won't get a single word out of ," he added.
If he allowed them to take him away, who knew what tortures they would subject him to.
"Willing to commit suicide as atonent... At least you aren't completely beyond salvation," Xia Hanshi noted, nodding slowly.
Lu Kai's face turned ashen. He firmly positioned himself in front of Hong Xuan, his eyes continuously scanning their surroundings.
"I want a chance," Hong Xuan gritted out. "I'm willing to march willingly to my death, and I can even ensure that Yuandu won't retaliate over my demise."
"What kind of chance?" Xia Hanshi paused his steps. Lu Kai couldn't help but spin around in surprise.
"I want a rematch against him," Hong Xuan said, pointing squarely at Su Chen. His voice was heavy. "If I lose, I will reveal everything I know and face execution without a fight. If I win, you cannot touch . You must wait until Wu Chenpei returns before we discuss this matter regarding the Faceless Divine Son."
All eyes instantly pivoted to Su Chen. Ming Lin felt a jolt of shock. 'Even in this desperate state, Hong Xuan is still hyper-fixated on Su Chen?'
'Didn't they already fight last ti? No, wait... last ti they were at Tier-3. Su Chen has already advanced to Tier-4, so the circumstances are different.'
'Does he actually think he has a guaranteed chance to defeat Su Chen at Tier-4?' Ming Lin couldn't help but wonder.
Xia Hanshi narrowed his eyes, silently weighing the proposal.
Pressing his advantage, Hong Xuan spoke rapidly, "To advance to the Morning Star rank, dual professions must progress side-by-side! A Tier-8 spiritual profession and a Tier-8 physical profession must completely interweave and fuse to ignite the flas of the Morning Star!"
"And that is rely the most trivial of the secrets I hold."
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