"Damn you." Zhou Yan roared, having completely lost his patience. With a flash, he lunged viciously at Ye Xuan.
BANG!
With Feng Rouyi protecting him, how could he possibly advance even half a step? No matter how Zhou Yan attacked, Feng Rouyi blocked him with effortless grace.
"Y-You... you’ve broken through to the Seven Vein Realm?" The absolute suppression from her Profound Qi made Zhou Yan’s eyes widen.
The entire crowd erupted in an uproar, every eye wide with shock. Feng Rouyi was only thirteen, yet she had already broken through to the Seven Vein Realm. With her talent, it would take her less than a year to become a Tier One Warrior. Didn’t that mean she would become a Tier One Warrior at the age of fourteen? Such talent would absolutely get her into the kingdom’s Profound Spirit Academy—and as a top student, no less.
The goddess was a goddess, after all.
But why would such a virtuous and talented goddess fall for a piece of trash? It was a complete and utter waste.
Some of the students who had secret crushes on Feng Rouyi wailed in despair, wishing they could just smash their heads against a wall and die.
Faced with a Feng Rouyi who had broken through to the Seven Vein Realm, Zhou Yan was out of options. He pointed at Ye Xuan and roared, "Ye Xuan, what kind of man hides behind a woman? If you have any guts, come out and face me one-on-one!"
"Face you one-on-one?" Ye Xuan said disdainfully. "A fifteen-year-old Six Veins Martial Artist challenging me, a thirteen-year-old low-vein Martial Artist? How very impressive. My little heart is just pounding with fear right now, THUMP-THUMP-THUMP. Why don’t you beat Feng Rouyi first, then come challenge me?"
Zhou Yan was so furious he nearly coughed up blood, his eyes turning green with rage. He gnashed his teeth and said, "Brat, if you have no guts, you have no guts! What’s with all the talk? If you’re too scared to accept the challenge, just say so. No need for so many excuses!"
"Who said I wouldn’t accept?" Ye Xuan shot Zhou Yan a look, a sneer flashing in his eyes. Then he turned to Feng Rouyi and said, "You can stand down for now."
’He could already tell that with Feng Rouyi’s personality, she would never seriously harm Zhou Yan. Since Zhou Yan dared to be so arrogant toward him, how could he let him off so easily?’
Feng Rouyi was taken aback by Ye Xuan’s words. She was about to say something, but after seeing the coldness in his eyes, she couldn’t help but step back.
It was over. The goddess had truly been captured. She had become an obedient, submissive slave girl.
Seeing this, the students who had been wailing earlier felt like they were coughing up another three liters of blood, their eyes rolling back in their heads.
"Good, brat. You actually dare to step up."
Zhou Yan was overjoyed. Fearing Feng Rouyi might change her mind, he let out a furious roar and unleashed all of the Profound Qi from his Six Veins. He charged madly at Ye Xuan, exerting one hundred and twenty percent of his power, determined to cripple Ye Xuan in a single blow.
"Excellent."
Ye Xuan gave a cold smile and met the attack with both fists. With a BANG, he took Zhou Yan’s attack head-on, looking completely untroubled.
"He took my attack? How is that possible?"
’Zhou Yan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was one thing for Feng Rouyi to block him, but how could Ye Xuan, a piece of trash who had supposedly only opened a single Profound Vein, possibly stop his attack? Had he been jerking off too much recently, making his legs go soft? Even so, his Six Veins of Profound Qi weren’t something any ordinary student could withstand.’
It wasn’t just him; all three hundred-plus people in the crowd stared with wide eyes, completely dumbstruck.
While Zhou Yan was still in shock, Ye Xuan’s body trembled slightly, deflecting the force of the attack. Before Zhou Yan could even react, Ye Xuan landed a lightning-fast kick on his chest.
THUD!
A clear footprint appeared on Zhou Yan’s chest. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as he stumbled backward and fell disgracefully to the ground, landing flat on his back with his limbs in the air in an incredibly ugly posture.
Ye Xuan’s face was full of contempt. "Is this the extent of the young master of the Zhou family’s power? Showing off such shoddy skills. Pathetic."
"Brat, you’re courting death!"
Zhou Yan’s neck flushed red with anger. Suppressing his inner shock, he performed a kip-up, flipping to his feet. With a furious roar, a faint, earthy-yellow halo suddenly spread across his body. A heavy power emanated from him as he shot forward, throwing a punch at Ye Xuan.
An earthy-yellow glow even swirled around his fist.
Martial Soul!
The three hundred-plus people in the audience all showed shocked expressions. Some students even blurted out in astonishment, "The power of a Martial Soul! It must be the Zhou family’s Petrification Martial Soul! Once a Martial Soul appears, its power is boundless. Ye Xuan is in for it now."
The Petrification Martial Soul was the inherited Martial Soul of the Zhou family, one of the three great families of Blue Moon City. Generally, Martial Souls were passed down through bloodlines. Therefore, barring the extremely small chance of a mutation, once a disciple of the Zhou family awakened their Martial Soul, it was almost always the Petrification Martial Soul. Zhou Yan would be no exception.
The Petrification Martial Soul had an illustrious reputation in Blue Moon City. Besides allowing its user to drastically increase their strength, it possessed astonishing power. The Zhou family’s status as one of Blue Moon City’s three great families was inseparable from the might of their Petrification Martial Soul.
"Ye Xuan, be careful!"
Chen Xing, who was at the side, cried out in alarm. But it was already too late for him to intervene. In fact, even if he had tried, he couldn’t have possibly blocked Zhou Yan’s attack.
"Brat, let’s see you block this!"
Zhou Yan was incredibly excited. The repeated humiliations had caused him to lose all face, but with this one punch, he could regain everything he had lost. He knew the power of his Martial Soul—it was indestructible, capable of shattering anything.
’You piece of trash, you actually dare to challenge me?’
The thought of Ye Xuan kneeling before him, begging for mercy, filled Zhou Yan’s heart with a perverse pleasure. His fist hadn’t even landed, yet he was already on the verge of climaxing.
But Ye Xuan just chuckled coldly. "It glows a little yellow, and you call that a Petrification Martial Soul? By that logic, if I held a matchstick, would that make it a Flame Martial Soul? You dare bring out such a garbage Martial Soul to embarrass yourself? Watch me shatter it with a single finger."
As his voice fell, Ye Xuan’s eyes opened and closed. A unique aura spread from his body as he casually pointed his right index finger forward.
PFFT!
A low sound echoed. The earthy-yellow glow on Zhou Yan’s fist crumbled and was instantly extinguished. With the sound of splintering bone, blood spattered, and an unstoppable force invaded Zhou Yan’s body, tearing through his meridians.
There was a reason why Martial Artists had to reach the Tier One Warrior Realm before they could manifest a Martial Soul. Forcibly activating a Martial Soul at the Martial Artist level not only failed to unleash its true power, but the Martial Soul’s power and Profound Qi could not fully integrate. Instead, they would suppress each other, limiting the Martial Artist’s own strength. In the eyes of an expert, it was a move riddled with openings.
Shattering this kind of garbage Martial Soul didn’t even make Ye Xuan break a sweat.
The entire arena was silent...
Zhou Yan’s face was pale, his eyes vacant as he stared at his own bleeding, shattered right fist. He saw the blur of a leg flash before his eyes, felt a sharp pain in his chest, and then he was sent flying, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His body skidded across the ground for dozens of meters before finally coming to a stop.
How is this possible!
Everyone’s eyes were wide, their mouths agape, large enough to swallow an entire egg.
’Zhou Yan, ranked second in the intermediate class and second in strength only to Feng Rouyi, was actually defeated single-handedly by that piece of trash, Ye Xuan? Heavens, am I seeing things?’
A large group of students rubbed their eyes vigorously, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
"A moment ago, you said you were going to cripple me and make me kneel before you to beg for mercy?"
Ye Xuan walked up to Zhou Yan with a beaming smile. He stomped down with both feet. Amidst a blood-curdling scream, the sickening crunch of shattering bones came from Zhou Yan’s legs.
"AHH! Ye Xuan, this is a training classroom! You dare assault a fellow student? The academy won’t let you get away with this!"
Ye Xuan waved his hand dismissively. "Assault a student? No, no, no. I’m merely acting in self-defense. So many people here saw it. Besides, this was a fair one-on-one duel. No tricks, no deception."
"Haha, Young Master Xuan is right! I saw it with my own eyes! It was Zhou Yan and his group who tried to attack Young Master Xuan first. He only fought back because he had no choice!"
Chen Xing, having snapped out of his shock, shouted boisterously.
As a disciple of the Zhou family, Zhou Yan was insufferably arrogant at the academy. Seeing this pompous, overbearing bully finally get his comeuppance brought Chen Xing an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
He wasn’t the only one feeling gratified. The other students who had been bullied by Zhou Yan were all secretly gloating and cheering for Ye Xuan in their hearts.
"Ye Xuan, what do you think you’re doing? I am a young master of the Zhou family! Do you have any idea of the consequences of crippling my legs?"
Zhou Yan was sweating buckets from the pain, but his expression grew calm and his gaze turned sinister. "I am a direct descendant of the Zhou family. In the future, I might even inherit the position of Patriarch. If you touch me, not even the Ye family will be able to protect you."
"Ooh, I’m so scared," Ye Xuan said with exaggerated fear, though his eyes held not a trace of it. A sharp glint appeared in them as he said, "Still trying to act tough in front of me? Believe it or not, with one stomp, I can turn you into a eunuch. Let’s see if the Zhou family would choose a disciple who can’t even perform his manly duties to be their Patriarch."
As he spoke, Ye Xuan’s right foot hovered menacingly over Zhou Yan’s crotch, looking like it could stomp down at any moment. The threat instantly drained the color from Zhou Yan’s face. He felt a chill in his nether regions and, trying to feign composure, stammered, "You... you wouldn’t dare..."
Ye Xuan’s gaze turned icy. "Watch me."
As his voice fell, he stomped his foot straight down.
"NOOO—" Zhou Yan’s mind went blank with terror. He trembled like a leaf, and the stench of urine filled the air from his crotch. He let out a scream that sounded like a pig being slaughtered, but he didn’t feel the expected pain. Looking down, he saw that Ye Xuan’s foot had stopped a mere centimeter from his little brother.
The shock nearly scared the soul right out of Zhou Yan.
"Fuck, you pissed yourself," Ye Xuan said with a disgusted look, then added apologetically, "Oh, dear, Young Master of the Zhou family. Your earlier attack made my leg go numb, so my aim was off. But don’t you worry, I’ll be sure to hit my mark this time."
"Don’t... don’t... I’m begging you, don’t crush my junk! I’ll agree to anything you say!" Under the threat of castration, all of Zhou Yan’s previous arrogance and aura vanished. He threw his dignity completely to the wind and practically cried out the words.
’If Ye Xuan really did crush his little brother, then no matter how talented he was, he would never be able to attain a high position in the Zhou family, let alone inherit the role of Patriarch. The Zhou family would never choose a Patriarch who couldn’t produce heirs or fulfill his manly duties.’
"It’s simple if you want to keep your little brother. Just kneel obediently, kowtow three times, and admit you were wrong. This is the treatment you had planned for me, so I’m just returning the favor."