"Now," her voice remained calm, yet it struck the hearts of Yu Xiaogang and everyone present like the cold hammer of judgment, ringing clearly through the garden's deathly silence.
"Tell me, Grandmaster."
"Faced with absolute power, how much value remains in your theory of judging ants and moths?"
"You can't even stand steadily. What gives you the right to criticize the paths others choose?"
Every word was like a red-hot iron, searing Yu Xiaogang's tottering self-respect.
His body trembled even harder. A hoarse wheezing sound came from his throat, but he couldn't utter a single word in his defense. All that remained was boundless humiliation.
Qian Renxue's gaze finally shifted away from Yu Xiaogang and settled on Tang San's deeply anxious face.
Her eyes were still calm, as deep as a cold pool, yet Tang San's heart sank.
"For your sake, Xiao San, I won't kill him," Qian Renxue said softly.
At her words, the taut string in Tang San's heart relaxed a little.
But the very next moment, Qian Renxue, surrounded by the Emperor War Dragon, moved.
There was no unnecessary motion, no glow of a Soul Skill. She merely raised her right hand and brought her index and middle fingers together like a sword. Then, facing Yu Xiaogang, who knelt on the ground utterly powerless to resist, she casually pointed at him from afar!
"Pff! Pff!"
Two dull, teeth-grating cracks of bone rang out, accompanied by Yu Xiaogang's heart-rending, inhuman scream, abruptly shattering the garden's silence!
It was as if an invisible hammer had slammed into both of Yu Xiaogang's knees. His whole body lurched backward, then curled up and convulsed from the pain.
His legs twisted at a grotesque angle. His knees had visibly caved in and deformed, and the stark-white bone ends pierced through his flesh and gray robe, instantly staining the ground beneath him red.
"Ughhhh—!!!"
Yu Xiaogang's scream was as shrill as a dying beast's. The agony utterly destroyed what little reason he had left.
He writhed and rolled wildly on the ground, great beads of sweat mixing with dirt and blood, smearing his face, twisted with pain.
"Teacher!!!"
Tang San's eyes nearly split with fury as he tried to rush over without a thought for himself. But the boundless pressure of the Radiant Emperor War Dragon was like an iron wall, pinning him firmly in place. He could only watch as his teacher suffered such torture.
Xiao Wu covered her mouth, her eyes filled with shock and a trace of pity.
She didn't like Yu Xiaogang's sharp tongue, but she had never imagined that "Brother Ye Yang" would strike with such ruthless decisiveness!
Qian Renxue slowly lowered her fingers, as if she had merely brushed away a speck of dust. Looking down at Yu Xiaogang, who wailed in agony on the ground with both legs broken, she showed not the slightest pity, only cold indifference.
"Your knees seem to have been born unsuited to supporting you while you stand and speak."
Qian Renxue's voice was as cold as an icy spring, especially clear against Yu Xiaogang's shrill screams. "For the rest of your life, you can kneel as you ponder your theories."
"Perhaps the view from your knees will help you see more clearly—what kind of thing you really are."
As her words fell, the phantom of the Radiant Emperor War Dragon coiled around her, radiating boundless pressure. It let out a low, majestic dragon's roar, then dissolved into a sky full of golden specks, scattering like stardust into the air.
The suffocating, terrifying pressure vanished along with it.
The pressure abruptly lifted. Tang San staggered and nearly fell, but steadied himself at once and shot toward Yu Xiaogang, who lay on the ground with ragged breaths and both legs mangled and bloodied.
"Teacher! Teacher! How are you?" Tang San's voice was choked with tears and more frantic than ever. He quickly tore off his robe and tried to stop the bleeding and bandage Yu Xiaogang's wounds.
He poured his Mysterious Heaven Skill Soul Power into Yu Xiaogang as if it cost nothing, trying to ease his pain and stabilize his injuries.
Xiao Wu hurried over to help too. At the sight of those gruesome wounds, her little face turned deathly pale.
Qian Renxue didn't even glance at the tender scene between teacher and student. She turned and walked toward the entrance.
Tang San jerked his head up and looked at Qian Renxue's disappearing back, his eyes filled with emotions too complicated to describe—anger, confusion, deep apprehension, and even... a trace of fear he forcibly suppressed.
"Brother Ye Yang... why?!" Tang San rasped, his voice trembling.
Qian Renxue paused for the briefest moment but didn't turn around. Her cool voice seemed to come from far away, yet reached Tang San clearly:
"He attacked first, trying to take my life. Breaking both his legs was already the lightest punishment I could give, for your sake."
"Remember, Xiao San. Power is the only truth in this world. The theories your teacher was so proud of... couldn't even save him."
With that, she didn't linger. Her figure soon disappeared around the corner of the academy gates, as if she had never been there.
All that remained in the garden was Yu Xiaogang, clutching his broken legs and wailing, nearly unconscious; Tang San, holding his teacher, his face pale and his expression inscrutable; and Xiao Wu, standing nearby, flustered and still shaken.
The heavy stench of blood and Yu Xiaogang's agonized moans silently told the story of all that had just happened.
The lofty "Grandmaster" had now, just as Qian Renxue had said, lost the right to stand altogether. He could only writhe in humiliation in the dust.
Meanwhile, in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
A heavy medicinal smell filled Xue Beng's bedchamber.
Xue Beng lay face down on the luxurious brocade quilt. The whip wounds on his back had been carefully treated, but every breath tugged at the piercing pain—though it was nothing compared to the humiliation and venomous resentment raging in his heart.
He had furiously driven all the attendants from the hall, leaving only deathly silence behind.
"Bang!" The heavy hall doors were shoved open, and a tall, imposing figure burst in with the force of wind and thunder. It was none other than Prince Xue Xing.
He wore a purple-and-gold python robe befitting a prince. His face was dark enough to drip water, and his sharp gaze instantly locked onto Xue Beng, sprawled miserably on the bed.
Seeing his nephew in such a state, a trace of concern flashed through Prince Xue Xing's eyes, but fury blazed across his face.
He patiently walked to the bedside and asked softly, "Your Highness, the Fourth Prince, do you know what you did wrong yesterday?"
Xue Beng had just been about to pour out his grievances to this uncle, the family member closest to him. At the question, his expression froze, then he glared at Xue Xing.
"Even you, Uncle, think I was in the wrong? This was clearly that bastard Xue Qinghe twisting the truth, and Father, too..."
"Shut your mouth!" Prince Xue Xing cut him off roughly, his chest heaving. He was evidently furious.
"I ask you: who gave you the nerve to act like some shrew from the streets, running into court to whine and lodge a complaint in front of all the officials of the court?!"
Before you continue