"What did you say?!"
Long Yeyue's tone was dark.
Yun Ming, Li Yuntian, Ya Li, and all the other senior figures in the conference room turned toward Li Chen.
Li Chen remained composed.
"I said, I have evidence that Cai Yue'er colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult and framed Ye Zhaolu."
"You're lying!"
Long Yeyue's heart lurched, and she instantly recalled what Cai Yue'er had told her before dying.
Long Yeyue realized that, to get Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu killed, Cai Yue'er might really have become involved with the Holy Spirit Cult's two Dark Heavenly Kings.
But what truly enraged Long Yeyue was that, never mind fabricating evidence to settle a personal grudge, Cai Yue'er had actually left evidence behind?!
"You ignorant brat, what nonsense are you spouting?! Yue'er just died fighting Evil Soul Masters, and now you dare say she colluded with them?!"
"Do you have the slightest respect for your seniors, for our Shrek?! Get out!"
Long Yeyue roared, wanting to drive Li Chen out immediately.
Her terrifying Soul Power erupted. Facing Li Chen, who had yet to even become a Soul Ancestor, Long Yeyue felt she finally possessed the dignity of a Limit Douluo.
But the next moment,
Speaker Li Yuntian stepped in front of Li Chen.
Nine Soul Rings appeared beneath Li Yuntian's feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.
As a Titled Douluo, Li Yuntian had barely climbed to rank 93, but as a father, he naturally had to protect Li Chen.
Bang!
Long Yeyue's unleashed Soul Power was blocked. Li Yuntian's expression darkened.
"Elder Long, this is the Federation Court!"
"If there are leads and evidence, then naturally they must be presented. Are you trying to kill my son to silence him?! Or are you trying to conceal the truth?!"
Seeing Long Yeyue, a senior elder, actually attack his Li Chen, Li Yuntian was furious as well.
Long Yeyue froze.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Yun Ming frowned and grabbed her.
"Speaker, Elder Long has just suffered Yue'er's death. My apologies. Please understand."
With that, Yun Ming patted Long Yeyue's shoulder, signaling her to sit down.
Long Yeyue turned back and glared at him.
"Elder Long!"
Yun Ming frowned and transmitted his voice. "This is the Federation Court. Every word and action of ours represents Shrek! Sit down first."
Then, allowing no argument, Yun Ming forcibly pressed Long Yeyue into her seat.
They were already at the eye of the storm, and Yun Ming truly feared that this powder keg, Long Yeyue, would stir up some new trouble.
Moreover,
Yun Ming was already beginning to sense that something was wrong.
Li Yuntian patted Li Chen's shoulder. "Li Chen, show the evidence."
Li Chen nodded, activated the conference room's projection screen, then connected his communicator through Bluetooth and played the video.
An image soon appeared.
"This is... the operating room in the Federal Research Building?!"
The director of the Federal Research Institute exclaimed.
Li Chen said, "That's right. On the day Ye Zhaolu was arrested, she was performing Martial Soul Reshaping Surgery with her assistant in an operating room under her name."
"What?! Martial Soul reshaping? This..."
Everyone in the conference room was shocked.
To reach their positions, each of them was at least a Titled Douluo.
What Martial Soul reshaping meant went without saying to them.
The footage played.
In the video, the entire surgical procedure began.
"Zhaolu, are you really going through with this? You've never cultivated your second Martial Soul. Should we study it some more?"
"No need. Without experimental data, the theory can't progress any further. Let's begin."
White light shone over everything.
The Soul Power within Ye Zhaolu dissipated, turning her into an ordinary person.
Then her second Martial Soul, the Blood Soul Demon Puppet, began to change.
Ya Li covered her mouth. "She never cultivated her evil Martial Soul at all, and she really... reshaped it?!"
A sudden pang struck Ya Li's heart.
As someone originally from the Federation, Ya Li was one of the few relatively normal people left in Shrek.
At that moment, she abruptly realized that the previous investigation's conclusions had been an enormous misunderstanding of Ye Zhaolu!
Yun Ming was likewise dazed. "Martial Soul genes? If this video is real, then Ye Zhaolu is an earth-shaking genius..."
"Wait, surely this wasn't how Cai Yue'er decided Ye Zhaolu was an Evil Soul Master?!"
Yun Ming clenched his fist as a bad premonition welled up inside him.
The chief justice, Speaker Li Yuntian, and the others were equally shocked.
After all, everyone's Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent was determined at birth, with mutations occurring in only a tiny minority.
For instance, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao twenty thousand years ago.
Liu Erlong's fire dragon.
And Gui Mei, among others.
Yet this mutation process was almost entirely beyond human control.
Whether the change was good or bad was uncontrollable, and most mutations were even changes for the worse.
Historical records stated that the eventual alteration of Yu Xiaogang's constitution and Martial Soul had required Sea God Tang San to bathe him in divine blood to improve his constitution.
In other words,
Altering someone's Martial Soul required power beyond humanity.
It was a level only gods could reach, and that was indeed the case: only gods could determine a Martial Soul, with god-bestowed Martial Souls being one such example.
But now the Divine Realm had become a legend. To everyone present, altering a Martial Soul after birth was nothing short of a miracle, yet Ye Zhaolu had accomplished it.
In the conference room, only Long Yeyue's eyes remained dark. The more outstanding Ye Zhaolu was, the more it showed that Shrek had eyes but could not see!
The video continued playing.
Then Cai Yue'er's voice suddenly sounded from the footage.
"Ah, there really is an Evil Soul Master here!"
Cai Yue'er appeared in the video, her voice echoing throughout the conference room.
After Cai Yue'er appeared, a silver gleam suddenly flashed. The camera jolted, then flew away and rolled beneath a cabinet.
The sound of a head hitting the floor rang out.
Afterward, although the footage could only show the floor, Cai Yue'er's voice still came through.
"I only wanted to get Long Xiaoyao killed. I never expected to actually catch an Evil Soul Master! Hahaha..."
At the sight,
Yun Ming staggered.
His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, died completely.
At that moment, Li Yuntian and the others were struck with shock.
"What does Cai Yue'er mean by that? She was behind War God Long being surrounded in the West Mountain Tunnel!"
"Mad! Cai Yue'er was completely mad! She actually colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult to frame a War God of the War God Temple!"
"The Shrek Law Enforcement Team staged this whole thing themselves?! No wonder, no wonder Cai Yue'er wouldn't let anyone observe Ye Zhaolu's interrogation. She was going to dump all the blame on Ye Zhaolu!"
"Was Cai Yue'er even human?! I wondered why War God Long would break into prison to rescue an enemy. It turns out the real Evil Soul Master was Cai Yue'er herself!"
Inside the conference room, the Federation judges, the research institute's director, and the War God Temple's First War God all broke into discussion.
The video's audio was still playing.
But no one in the conference room had the mind to listen anymore.
The remaining footage showed Cai Yue'er taking Ye Zhaolu away.
"Speaker, Your Honor, I request the immediate termination of the pursuit of Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu!"
First War God Ao Rui rose directly to speak.
At present, the War God Temple's master, Chen Xinjie, had personally gone to apprehend them.
Deputy Temple Master Yu Guanzhi had been detained for obstructing official duties.
The other deputy temple master, Guan Yue, remained at headquarters for security reasons.
At this moment, the War God Temple could only be represented by him, the First War God, Bright Sun Douluo Hao Rui.
"The truth is clear! All of this was plainly fabricated evidence from the Shrek Law Enforcement Team! On behalf of the War God Temple, I request that the pursuit stop immediately!"
Ao Rui spoke heatedly. "Furthermore, our War God Temple will soon file an appeal to hold Shrek accountable!"
Long Yeyue flew into a rage. "Nonsense! This video is complete rubbish! Our Shrek and Yue'er would never do such things!"
After speaking, Long Yeyue turned a vicious glare on Li Chen.
"You brat, it must be you! So young, yet harboring such malicious intentions! You fabricated this evidence yourself to slander our Shrek!"
Long Yeyue lost her composure and roared. Cai Yue'er's body was still lying where she had placed it in the conference room.
She dared not imagine where Cai Yue'er and all of Shrek would stand after today's evidence came to light!
At that thought,
Long Yeyue suddenly struck, destroying Li Chen's communicator and the projection screen in one blow!
Li Chen merely chuckled.
"Heh, Senior Long, what are you doing? Destroying the body to erase the traces? I've saved plenty of copies of this video."
"I forgot to tell you. To prevent your Shrek from killing me and destroying the evidence, I specifically installed a program on my communicator. Once the communicator is destroyed, the cloud will automatically release this video to news outlets across the continent."
"What?! You little beast!"
Long Yeyue's expression changed drastically, and she moved forward to attack Li Chen.
But Yun Ming grabbed her.
"Yun Ming, let go of me!"
Yun Ming held Long Yeyue with one hand, but his expression grew numb, and his entire being fell into a daze.
He had never imagined that Shrek, under his management, would be exposed in such an enormous scandal: colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult and harming humanity's outstanding geniuses!
Slap!
The next moment,
Before the shocked eyes of everyone present, Yun Ming swung his other hand and slapped Long Yeyue hard across the face!
"Elder Long, have you made enough of a scene?!"
Yun Ming erupted in fury.
Long Yeyue covered her face in disbelief. She could not believe Yun Ming had dared to strike her, his master's wife!
After slapping her, Yun Ming calmed down a little.
He truly could not let this old woman continue causing trouble, or Shrek would soon be destroyed in this old thing's hands!
Yun Ming said coldly,
"Elder Long, effective today, I am stripping you of your position as deputy pavilion master of the Sea God Pavilion. Return to Shrek immediately and face the wall in punishment for one year."
"Also, Speaker, Your Honor, I recommend immediately rescinding the warrants for Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu."
"I, Yun Ming, will investigate this matter to the very end! I will personally capture those two Dark Heavenly Kings!"
After saying this, Yun Ming seized Long Yeyue and forcibly dragged her straight outside.