Psychological Attack

Seven-Colored Splendor is one of the Breaking Clan's forbidden severe poisons. It is not a simple mixed poison, but one created by combining seven substances that are originally non-toxic.

When Yang Wudi saw in the letter that his clan's Seven-Colored Splendor poison had appeared in Great Emperor Xue Ye, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The complete formula and refining method for "Seven-Colored Splendor" were the Breaking Clan's core secrets, never to be passed outside the clan. Only the Patriarch and the few Clan Elders who had rendered great service to the clan and withstood decades of testing were qualified to access them.

Everyone who had come into contact with the formula had sworn on their Martial Soul never to leak it.

"Either the formula was leaked, or someone in the clan... has become a traitor!"

This thought gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.

Either possibility would be disastrous for the Breaking Clan.

Even more fatal was that the victim was the Great Emperor of an Empire!

The Crime of Regicide!

Those four words were like a Giant Stone weighing down on Yang Wudi, leaving him almost unable to breathe.

Once the Heaven Dou Empire determined that the Breaking Clan had poisoned its Great Emperor, they would face annihilation even if they were within the Star Luo Empire.

The Star Luo Empire would never endure the Heaven Dou Empire's Wrath of Thunder head-on for the sake of one sect. It might even hand them over voluntarily to calm the matter!

It was precisely this pressure that forced the hard-headed, unyielding Patriarch of the Breaking Clan to take the risk and Travel Day and Night to Heaven Dou City.

He had come to meet Lin Jin, whom he had never met but who seemed to possess crucial information and had written him a letter.

He had to uncover the truth, find out where the poison had come from, and determine exactly which clan member had become a traitor.

"General Lin, just how much do you know?" After a long while, Yang Wudi took a deep breath and asked in confusion, "The Seven-Colored Splendor poison is extremely difficult to detect. If the poison hasn't taken effect, outsiders would have a hard time knowing about it."

"And who, exactly, administered this poison?" This final question was what Yang Wudi most wanted to know.

Looking at the distraught Yang Wudi before him, Lin Jin knew that the time was right and stopped applying pressure.

"What if I told you it was your Younger Brother... Yang Wushuang who leaked it?" Lin Jin asked in return.

"Wushuang!" At the unforgettable name, Yang Wudi's pupils suddenly contracted. "That's impossible. My younger brother has been dead for more than a decade!"

"How could he have leaked it?"

"Patriarch Yang, are you so certain? During the Clear Sky Sect Breakout Battle more than a decade ago, did you see your Younger Brother's body fall?" Lin Jin continued to ask.

That's right... It was too chaotic then. He had only seen Wushuang charge toward the strongest members of Spirit Hall's pursuing forces to cover their retreat, after which he was swallowed by a surge of soul skill light and explosions.

By the time he had led the clan members out of the encirclement and looked back, there had been nothing but a sea of fire and countless indistinct remains...

He had searched. He had searched desperately, but he had not found Wushuang's body—not even a keepsake.

All these years, he had kept telling himself that his younger brother had died heroically for the clan. He had to carry on living with that grief and hatred and revive the Breaking Clan.

That was why, among the Four Affiliated Clans, the Breaking Clan hated the Clear Sky Sect the most.

But he had never dared to think deeply about that tiny possibility. What if Wushuang hadn't died?

"What evidence do you have?" Yang Wudi asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

"If it wasn't Yang Wushuang, would you rather believe it was one of the Clan Elders working alongside you now?" Lin Jin asked in return.

"Of course I don't want to believe that!" Yang Wudi shouted excitedly.

He abruptly rose to his feet, bracing both hands on the table. His body trembled slightly from agitation as he said, "Those are my old brothers who have followed me for so many years! They have bled and sweated for the Breaking Clan. How could I suspect them?"

"Then that's settled." Lin Jin spoke slowly. "It has been more than a decade. Yang Wushuang has long been a member of Spirit Hall."

"Impossible!"

"He is the traitor!"

"Impossible!"

"He leaked the formula!"

"Impossible... impossible, impossible..." Yang Wudi's voice gradually sank from an initial roar into a low murmur, finally becoming unconscious muttering.

He staggered back two steps. His eyes, once sharp as a spear, were now unfocused and dull, and his entire body seemed to have had every bone pulled from it.

The truth was too cruel. His most beloved younger brother, the brother who had once been willing to die for the clan, had actually become Spirit Hall's lackey and even leaked the clan's greatest secret!

Lin Jin quietly watched him collapse without interrupting. He knew that this proud man needed time to accept the cruel truth.

The study contained only Yang Wudi's heavy breathing and his unconscious repetition of "impossible."

This Soul Douluo, renowned for his ferocity, was now as helpless as a lost child.

After a long while, Yang Wudi suddenly threw his head back and laughed. His laughter was filled with endless sorrow and self-mockery:

"Hahaha... what a Yang Wushuang! My good, good brother!"

His laughter abruptly stopped. He whipped his head toward Lin Jin, his eyes filled with Blood Threads.

"Where is he? Tell me, where is this traitor?!"

At that moment, Yang Wudi was like an unsheathed Soul Breaking Spear, radiating Killing Intent.

Yet beneath that Killing Intent was pain and despair that he could not conceal.

"Does it matter?" Lin Jin slowly rose and walked up to Yang Wudi, looking down at him.

"With your current strength, even if you find him, can you fight your way into Spirit Hall? Or are you going to take the entire Breaking Clan to its death and conveniently confirm your guilt as 'accomplices in The Crime of Regicide'?"

Those words were like a basin of ice water poured viciously over Yang Wudi's head, instantly freezing his boiling killing intent.

Lin Jin took another step forward and said sharply, "What you should be thinking about now isn't taking revenge on that traitor. You should be thinking about how to find a way out for the clan members who are still alive!"

"Although you weren't the one who administered the poison, no matter how you look at it, the Seven-Colored Splendor poison still originated from your Breaking Clan."

"No one can change that fact. Once the imperial family investigates, you will be the first scapegoats pushed forward to take the blame!"

Yang Wudi opened and closed his mouth, wanting to refute him, but he found that he had nothing to say.

Every word Lin Jin spoke was a bloody reality.

Looking at Yang Wudi's eyes as they gradually cleared yet grew even more despairing, Lin Jin knew the moment had arrived. He softened his tone, but it still carried an undeniable force:

"Patriarch Yang, anger won't solve anything. There is only one path before you now: cooperate with me. Remove the poison from Great Emperor Xue Ye and prove the Breaking Clan's innocence. Only then can you and your clan members survive."

He extended his hand—not to help Yang Wudi up, but as an invitation. "Will you drown in the pain of betrayal and destroy yourself, or will you fight your way to survival for the Breaking Clan with me?"

Yang Wudi looked at the hand before him, then at Lin Jin's unfathomable eyes.

After a very long time, he finally slowly raised his trembling hand and gripped it firmly.

Yang Wudi held Lin Jin's hand and asked, "What do you want me to do?"