"Ye Xuan, Song Yu is your fellow disciple, yet you struck with such cruelty! You're utterly deranged! What are you trying to do?"
Before Lin Hai could climb onto the battle platform, a furious roar suddenly rang out from below.
Everyone turned to look. It was Yang Kaitai.
Yang Kaitai, an elder of the Ancient Desolate Holy Land's Law Enforcement Hall, Yang Xiong's father, and Song Yu's master.
At that moment, Yang Kaitai held Song Yu in his arms, his eyes fixed on Ye Xuan atop the martial platform as he desperately suppressed his fury and killing intent.
Ye Xuan turned toward Yang Kaitai, raised an eyebrow, and said flatly, "Cruel? Deranged? What do you mean?"
Yang Kaitai gritted his teeth. "As the Holy Son, you stand at the head of all the disciples. You represent the dignity of our Ancient Desolate Holy Land."
"But what have you done? You're this vicious even toward a fellow disciple! Is someone like you worthy of being our Ancient Desolate Holy Land's Holy Son?"
Yang Kaitai ground his teeth. Having said that, he abruptly turned toward Han Bingning, the ancestors who had appeared, and several elders. He bowed and said,
"Holy Lord, ancestors, this man is sinister and vicious, devoid of humanity, and base in character. This junior believes he is unworthy of being the Holy Son!"
Boom!
As Yang Kaitai's words fell, a tremendous uproar swept through the crowd.
No one had expected such an interesting interlude to crop up halfway through.
At such a critical moment, an elder of the Ancient Desolate Holy Land had actually stepped forward to make trouble, claiming Ye Xuan was unworthy of being the Holy Son?
Most importantly, his justification was so high-sounding that it was downright laughable.
Han Bingning and the others stared coldly at Yang Kaitai without speaking.
Naturally, they knew that for Yang Kaitai to dare say this, someone must have instructed him behind the scenes. He had support.
There was no need to ask. One of the powerful figures present must have contacted him through voice transmission.
Otherwise, even with a hundred times the courage, Yang Kaitai would never have dared step forward to make trouble at a time like this.
On the martial platform, Ye Xuan could not help laughing at Yang Kaitai's words. "As the Holy Son, I stand at the head of all the disciples?"
"Since I stand at the head of all the disciples, doesn't Song Yu, an inner sect disciple challenging his Holy Son with a higher cultivation level, count as defying his superior? Doesn't that count as provocation?"
"I'd like to ask you, Elder Zhang of the Law Enforcement Hall: in our Ancient Desolate Holy Land, what is the punishment for defying one's superior?"
Ye Xuan's voice was calm, but his words were sharp.
No one had expected Ye Xuan to respond like this.
Faced with Yang Kaitai's attack, he showed no panic whatsoever and even struck back.
Fighting Wheel Sea cultivators was something Ye Xuan himself had proposed, but his challenge had been directed at the Carefree Holy Land's disciples. He simply had not said so explicitly.
But now that Yang Kaitai had cast aside all shame, why should he care about that?
Yang Kaitai faltered slightly at those words, then sneered.
"Hmph! You've only just been appointed. Before you prove your strength, you don't count as the Holy Son yet. Song Yu's challenge was within the rules."
"Besides, you agreed to it yourself. What was wrong with that?"
This old fellow had just said that Ye Xuan was the Holy Son and stood at the head of all the disciples.
Now, after hearing Ye Xuan's counterattack, he immediately claimed that Ye Xuan was not yet the Holy Son and needed to accept challenges to prove himself. Truly shameless.
Ye Xuan remained unhurried. "So according to you, I'm not the Holy Son yet? Since I'm not the Holy Son, what's wrong with him challenging me and me defeating him?"
"As for striking viciously? What a joke! Are you blind, or do you think everyone here is blind?"
"Song Yu wanted to kill me. His first move was a killing blow. Were your dog eyes too blind to see it? I merely injured him severely instead of crippling him. That was already extraordinary mercy."
Ye Xuan was utterly dismissive. "Besides, whether or not I'm the Holy Son, he lost to me, a sixth-level Essence Condensation cultivator, despite being at the second level of the Wheel Sea. And you still call me vicious? Tell me, where is your shame?"
"You-" Yang Kaitai flew into a rage, nearly choking on his anger, yet he had no answer.
Because Ye Xuan was right. Song Yu really had gone in intending to kill him.
That Crushing Fist alone was proof enough.
With everyone watching, he had no way to refute it.
Nor had he expected that a mere wet-behind-the-ears brat, a junior who had joined less than three months ago,
could remain so composed and respond so calmly to an elder's attack with all those eyes upon him.
This was simply not the temperament a junior disciple could possess.
Still less had he expected Ye Xuan, whose background was utterly unremarkable, to speak with such cutting sharpness. It far exceeded his expectations.
Seeing Yang Kaitai fall silent, Ye Xuan scoffed. "Elder Zhang, you'll soon learn just how gentle I was with that disciple of yours, Song Yu."
"As for whether I'm worthy of being the Holy Son, sorry-it's not that I look down on you, but a mere Law Enforcement Hall elder like you doesn't have the final say."
Ye Xuan's smile was mocking. "If you truly want to strip me of my position as Holy Son, you'll at least have to ascend to the lofty seat of Holy Lord. Otherwise, to put it bluntly, you're not qualified."
Boom!
One remark stirred a thousand waves!
Ye Xuan's words were like a bomb tossed into a calm sea, instantly whipping up raging winds and towering waves.
This was simply too arrogant, lawless, and overbearing.
A mere Holy Son, however monstrous his talent, had yet to mature.
Yet he faced an elder without the slightest fear, leaving the man not a shred of dignity.
Yang Kaitai ground his teeth as well. His chest heaved rapidly, and his fury was like oil in boiling water, almost beyond his ability to suppress.
Before everyone's eyes, Ye Xuan had slapped his face, cornered him, and humiliated him like this.
Such insolence!
But did he dare kill Ye Xuan?
He did not!
He had no doubt that if he dared make a move, an elder of the Ancient Desolate Holy Land, or even an ancestor, would personally suppress him and kill him outright.
Ye Xuan, however, had already stopped paying attention to Yang Kaitai and turned to Lin Hai, who had stepped onto the battle platform.
As far as he was concerned, since Yang Kaitai dared undermine him in public like this and even wanted to embarrass him,
then he could hardly blame Ye Xuan for paying him back tenfold, a hundredfold.
If someone offered him a foot of respect, he would return a yard.
Since Yang Kaitai dared come after him like this, then Yang Kaitai was worth less than a fart to him.
Seeing Ye Xuan's gaze sweep toward him, Lin Hai cupped his fists slightly. "Holy Son Ye, an ordinary challenge isn't very interesting. How about a fight to the death?"
His smile was mocking, yet killing intent filled his entire body. "We're all cultivators. Cultivation is about killing and making ourselves stronger."
"If we don't fight to the death, we'll be too shackled to unleash our full strength. Wouldn't you agree?"
This fellow was exceedingly arrogant, openly proposing a fight to the death the moment he spoke.
In fact, his words were not without reason.
In an ordinary challenge, without the resolve and courage to kill, it was difficult to unleash one's full strength.
For instance, certain powerful cultivation techniques and methods would inevitably injure both the opponent and the user once unleashed, and might even escape the user's own control.
As such, few people would use them unless they were fighting to the death or trapped in a desperate situation.
Lin Hai had not spelled it out because he was unable to strike to kill in an ordinary challenge.
After all, even an ordinary challenge could end in death.
But Ye Xuan's status was different. He was the Holy Son.
If Lin Hai failed to specify that this was a fight to the death, then leaving aside killing Ye Xuan, he would likely face a great deal of trouble afterward.
Most importantly, he would have no chance of killing Ye Xuan at all.
Because the Ancient Desolate Holy Land's experts would certainly intervene when Ye Xuan was on the brink of death.
The sixth level of the Wheel Sea might be powerful to those in Meridian Opening and Essence Condensation, but to those great figures, it was truly nothing.
Now that he had proposed a fight to the death, as long as Ye Xuan dared agree, the Ancient Desolate Holy Land absolutely could not intervene, even if Ye Xuan was killed.
That was his aim.