Chapter 193 - 192: Jade Slip
"Before you break that net," Lin Yuan said, his voice dropping into a register of chilling authority that carried a promise of total annihilation, "I suggest you consider very carefully how Emperor Tianxu will react when he sees the contents of these slips."
The invisible grid of the Heaven as Net, Earth as Web formation groaned under the suffocating pressure of Chu Kuang’s Half-Step Transcendent aura. Arcs of violent purple lightning snapped across the his skin, scorching his armor, but the physical pain was entirely secondary to the sudden, freezing spike of dread that pierced his Dao Heart.
Chu Kuang halted his swing. His blood-red aura flickered, the immense physical strength leaking out of his arms as his manic, bloodthirsty eyes locked onto the two glowing jade slips held between Lin Yuan’s flawless fingers.
"What are you babbling about, Zhao rat?" Chu Kuang growled, though a faint, unmistakable tremor had entered his booming voice. "You hold two pieces of jade and claim to speak for the Emperor?"
Lin Yuan did not bother with an explanation. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, and channeled his Spirit Severing divine sense directly through the void.
Wooooom!
Lin Yuan forcefully projected the contents of the jade slips straight into Chu Kuang’s Sea of Consciousness, bypassing the heir’s physical senses entirely.
Inside his own mind, Chu Kuang was violently assaulted by a barrage of undeniable truths.
First came the stark, horrifyingly clear image of the desecrated Golden Immortal Beast.
The majestic creature lay lifeless in the mud of a subterranean cavern, its once-brilliant golden scales dulled by death. Its enormous body had been abandoned like worthless refuse, while its chest cavity had been violently torn open. The precious core that contained its Immortal Energy had been ruthlessly stripped away, leaving behind nothing but a gruesome, hollow wound.
The silver horn atop its head still gleamed faintly beneath the dim cavern light, serving as unmistakable proof of its Rank 5 status.
The image was so clear that there was no room for doubt.
Before Chu Kuang could even fully process the shock of seeing his greatest secret exposed, the second projection struck him like a physical blow.
It was not an image, but a raw soul memory.
The moment it emerged, the atmosphere around them seemed to grow heavier. Unlike an ordinary recording, this memory carried the unmistakable spiritual signature of reality itself. Every voice, every fluctuation of spiritual energy, every subtle detail had been preserved exactly as it had occurred.
Then Chu Kuang heard them.
Chu Ying.
Chu Yan.
Their voices echoed through his mind with terrifying clarity, leaving no possibility of denial or fabrication.
Then one of them spoke. The arrogant voice rang out like a bell in the depths of his consciousness.
"...I want to present the exact coordinates of another Immortal Golden Beast to Young Master Chu Kuang flawlessly. If I hand him the key to forcing his cultivation into the Soul Transformation realm... "
The projection snapped shut, leaving Chu Kuang’s spiritual sea ringing with the catastrophic echo of his own hubris.
In the physical world, the massive heir of the Chu Province staggered backward, his rusted halberd dropping a few inches. The blood drained from his face, leaving him ashen. His Half-Step Transcendent aura, which had just moments ago threatened to crush the very bedrock of the crater, rapidly inverted, collapsing inward as panic began to take root.
Chu Kuang’s mind spun with terrifying speed, analyzing the impossibility of the situation.
How? he screamed internally.
Chu Kuang knew that the pocket realm was entirely sealed off from the Grand Court of Sky Jade City. Emperor Tianxu prevented any visual or auditory transmission to the outside world, the millions of spectators and the Five Emperors could only view the updates on the ranking monolith. What happened in the pocket realm, stayed in the pocket realm.
Furthermore, there was an unspoken consensus among the Peerless Geniuses. Xuan Mingzhe, Jiang Wan, Ye Ao, and the others had no intention of meddling in one another’s affairs during the preliminary stage. Each of them was far too occupied with pursuing their own objectives, gathering tokens, refining their cultivation, and preparing for the battles that truly mattered.
They were content to leave their grudges and rivalries unresolved for now.
After all, the preliminary stage was merely the opening act.
Once the main bracket began, their paths would inevitably cross again, and when that time came, there would be no need for schemes or interference from the shadows. They would settle their scores openly, beneath the gaze of the entire Central Continent.
Until then, everyone had their own path to walk, and no one wanted to waste precious time fighting another Peerless Genius before the true battle had even begun.
And the Golden Diting Province? Chu Kuang had secured their silence with absolute brutality. Due to their notion of brotherhood, they were entirely leashed. He held the soul blood of at least fifteen Golden Diting cultivators in his possession. With a single thought, he could crush those droplets of life force and instantly execute fifteen men. No Golden Diting disciple would ever dare risk the lives of their martial brothers to strike back at him. They were perfectly gagged.
Yet, against all odds, Lin Yuan—a man Chu Kuang had dismissed as a coward—had quietly monitored the entire battlefield. Lin Yuan had tracked the movements, uncovered the capital crime, and possessed the martial prowess to waltz into the heart of the Chu camp, shatter a Soul Transformation illusion, and confront him directly.
"You..." Chu Kuang rasped, his eyes darting frantically between Lin Yuan’s serene face and the jade slips.
But Chu Kuang had not been bred to surrender. He was forged in the fires of the Central Continent. As the initial shock began to recede, a cornered, vicious desperation took hold.
"You think you are clever, Lin Yuan?" Chu Kuang sneered, forcing a harsh, barking laugh from his chest. He gripped his halberd tightly, his liquid-red aura flaring once more. "You think you have outplayed me? It is obvious what happened! One of those pathetic Golden Diting rats must have stumbled across you and spilled his guts! There is no way a lone cultivator could have pieced this together!"
Chu Kuang took a heavy step forward, pressing his chest against the invisible, lightning-laced grid of the Heaven as Net, Earth as Web formation.
"But that fool has just doomed his entire brethren!" Chu Kuang roared, spit flying from his lips. "Even the Golden Diting Province dares not mention they brought Golden Immortal Beasts to outsiders who aren’t their brethren! If that Golden Diting rat does not stop playing tricks and if you do not hand over those jade slips right now, I will crush all fifteen drops of soul blood! I will execute every single captive I hold, and their blood will be on your hands!"
It was the ultimate bluff. Chu Kuang was attempting to weaponize Lin Yuan’s presumed morality against him.
Standing on the other side of the invisible net, Lin Yuan’s expression remained as placid and unreadable as a frozen lake.