Chapter 18

Heaven Dou Empire Palace.

Xue Beng stood in the center of the great hall. The color drained completely from his face the moment the Sky Screen footage began playing. His mouth hung open as if he wanted to say something, but everyone around him was staring...

On the dragon throne, Xue Ye rose while bracing himself against the armrests.

The old emperor, who had ruled the Heaven Dou Empire for decades, stared at the ground beneath the horses' hooves on the Sky Screen...

"Guards."

The chief eunuch stepped forward with a bow.

"Strip Prince Xue Beng of his status and throw him into the Ministry of Justice prison. Punish him according to the law."

Xue Beng's knees gave out, and he dropped straight to his knees in the center of the hall.

"Father Emperor—"

"Take him away."

Xue Ye did not look at him again. Two guards stepped forward, seized Xue Beng by the arms, and dragged him out of the center of the hall.

Xue Beng's screams came through the palace doors before being cut off by the heavy doors.

No one in the comment section pleaded for him.

[Heaven Dou Empire · Minister of Justice: This official accepts the decree.]

[He deserved it. Pretending to be mad to stay alive was understandable, but trampling children to death was unforgivable. If someone like him ascended the throne, the Heaven Dou Empire would be finished.]

At that moment, the manifested Divine Punishment Blade at the bottom of the Sky Screen moved.

A thin golden ray descended from its edge, plunging toward the Nether Duke's Estate in the Star Luo Empire, the Strength Clan grounds, and the Ministry of Justice prison in Heaven Dou Palace.

[Heaven's Will Divine Punishment · Martial Soul Origin Weakening (Irreversible)—Executed.]

[Punished: Han Kun, Tai Nuo, Xue Beng. Martial Soul rank permanently reduced by two levels. Soul Power cap fixed at their current realm. They will never break through again.]

The seventh dark emblem above the Sky Screen began to flash.

The image slowly shifted toward a small sect compound hidden amid the mountains.

Three words were written on its plaque—Speed Clan.

[True Villains Ranking · Seventh Place]

[Speed Clan · Clan Leader—Bai He]

A stack of transaction receipts unfolded from the Sky Screen. Every sheet bore the Speed Clan seal and the receipt stamp of Spirit Hall's External Affairs Hall.

Transaction details: direct-line scouting route maps of the Speed Clan, hidden sentry distribution, coordinates of intelligence network core nodes.

Buyer: Spirit Hall.

Total Gold Soul Coins: 470,000.

In the comment section, the other three clan leaders of the Four Clans Alliance spoke almost at once.

[Strength Clan · Acting Clan Leader: Bai He!! Thirty percent of the Four Clans Alliance's intelligence network is shared! What you sold Spirit Hall wasn't just the Speed Clan's information—our Strength Clan's hidden sentry distribution was in there too!!]

[Speed Clan · Yang Wudi: Bai He, I, Yang Wudi, spent twelve years planting informants in the northern borderlands for the alliance. Tell me, were you the one who sold out the three hidden sentries exposed one after another there last year?]

Bai He's comment appeared, his tone still stubbornly defiant.

[Speed Clan · Bai He: The clan is so poor we can barely keep food on the table. The disciples can't even scrape together the basic Soul Coins needed for cultivation. If I didn't sell information, what was I supposed to use to feed them? Easy for you to talk—]

[Defense Clan · Niu Gao: Poor? The Speed Clan receives the largest share of the Four Clans Alliance mutual aid fund every year! You took that aid money, then secretly sold our intelligence for more? Bai He, you were feeding from both sides!]

[Speed Clan · Yang Wudi: The Four Clans Alliance is dissolved effective immediately. The Speed Clan can clean up its own mess. From today onward, Yang Wudi knows no Bai He.]

The comment section exploded.

The Sky Screen continued turning pages.

The sixth and fifth dark emblems lit up at the same time.

[True Villains Ranking · Sixth & Fifth Place (Tied)]

[Spirit Hall · Seventh Worshiper Ge Qing, Eleventh Worshiper Meng Chuan]

The footage shown by the Sky Screen took place in a secret chamber deep within Spirit Hall.

In the image, the former Pope sat in the main seat with his back to the door. Ge Qing and Meng Chuan stood behind him, wearing respectful smiles.

When the former Pope turned around, neither man's smile changed.

But the camera gave a close-up of the hands hidden in their sleeves—Ge Qing's right hand was signaling someone outside the door, while Meng Chuan gripped a communication talisman in his left hand.

The Sky Screen displayed a line of text beside the image.

[Secret Chamber Regicide · Three Days Prior. Ge Qing reported the former Pope's daily movements to Bibi Dong; Meng Chuan publicly supported the former Pope during the Elders' Assembly, then submitted an analysis of the former Pope's defensive Soul Tool weaknesses to Bibi Dong that same night. Courting favor from both sides, betting on two lines. Afterward, both rose one rank among the Worshipers.]

The comment section from Spirit Hall's side fell silent for quite some time.

Qian Renxue's comment appeared.

[Spirit Hall · Qian Renxue: I understand. Spirit Hall will handle these two internally. There is no need to trouble the Sky Screen.]

Her tone was calm, but everyone could read between the lines—Qian Renxue had not known about this either. When Bibi Dong took over Spirit Hall, she had never even told her own daughter about those hidden pieces.

The fourth emblem lit up.

[True Villains Ranking · Fourth Place]

[Godwind Academy · Feng Xiaotian]

The entire comment section froze for a beat.

[Feng Xiaotian? The captain of Godwind Academy? The handsome one? Why is he on the Villain Rankings?]

The Sky Screen gave the answer.

Three clips, all with timestamps.

First clip: Feng Xiaotian sat in a private room at a teahouse, across from someone wearing the Heaven Dou Royal Academy emblem. Feng Xiaotian pushed over a sheet of paper showing the Godwind Team's core formation and movement routes for its next match.

The other person accepted the paper and set down a storage ring.

"Miss Huo Wu has recently been buying clothes at Emerald Cloud Ward in the north of Heaven Dou City. I'll arrange a 'chance encounter' for you."

Feng Xiaotian smiled and slipped the ring into his robes.

Second clip: Godwind Academy's core movements were precisely targeted by its opponent during the Elite Tournament, and the entire team suffered a crushing defeat. Feng Xiaotian stood at the back of the group, wearing a perfectly measured expression of frustration as he punched the railing.

His teammates came down from the arena covered in injuries. Not one of them suspected him.

Third clip: Huo Wu "ran into" Feng Xiaotian at the entrance of Emerald Cloud Ward. Feng Xiaotian behaved appropriately and with refined gentleness, never crossing any boundaries.

But a page from his diary that day appeared in the lower-right corner of the image—

"Successfully made contact with Huo Wu today. The core tactics were handed to Heaven Dou Academy three days ago in exchange for this arrangement. The cost is manageable. My teammates' suspicions remain within acceptable limits. Next step: before the second round of the Elite Tournament, sell substitute lineup information to Thunderclap Academy in exchange for access to the training grounds Huo Wu frequents."

The comment section's shock turned to disgust.

[He sold out his entire team's tactics just to chase a woman?? Once wasn't enough, so he sold them out twice???]

[While his teammates were getting beaten up in the arena, he was thinking about how to run into Huo Wu? Is that something a human being could do??]

[Godwind Academy · Vice Captain: Feng Xiaotian... I broke three ribs in that match.]

The Divine Punishment Blade above the Sky Screen lowered four rays of light once again.

Dull booms rang out from four directions at once.

[Heaven's Will Divine Punishment · Martial Soul Origin Weakening (Irreversible)—Executed upon seventh through fourth place. Bai He, Ge Qing, Meng Chuan, Feng Xiaotian: Martial Soul rank permanently reduced, Soul Power cap fixed at their current realm.]

The entire continent fell silent for three seconds.

Then the Sky Screen image darkened.

The camera passed through layer after layer of earth, reaching deep beneath an academy building.

An underground cultivation room...

A stone chair stood in the center of the cultivation room.

Someone sat in the stone chair.

Their face could not be seen. Only a pair of hands resting on the armrests were visible, their nails neatly trimmed, their fingertips stained with something—when magnified, it was another person's skin flakes.

A line of text surfaced at the bottom of the Sky Screen.

[True Villains Ranking · Third Place]

The text stopped there.

The image froze on those hands stained with skin flakes. The camera slowly rose to the chin—

A smile.

The curve was slight, yet it sent a chill crawling up everyone's spine.

A notification appeared in the lower-right corner of the Sky Screen.

[Canghui Academy · Underground Cultivation Room. This person delights in tormenting geniuses. Detailed crimes to be revealed in the next round.]