“This… this is impossible…”
One of the disciples muttered under his breath.
“Perfected Sword Flight? How could Ye Wushuang have cultivated Sword Flight to perfection?”
“She’s only in the early Qi Condensation stage! It takes at least the True Essence realm to achieve perfected Sword Flight!”
“Could it be that she’s been hiding her cultivation?”
Exclamations, doubts, and shocked cries erupted one after another.
The expressions of the guests from the various major families of Clear River City seated on the viewing platform also changed.
“Perfected Sword Flight… Ye Wushuang has hidden herself incredibly well!”
“No wonder she dared to challenge Ye Wuming. So she had a trump card.”
“The Ye Family has really embarrassed themselves this time. Their prodigy was defeated by a single strike from a so-called ‘trash.’”
Ye Wuming struggled to get up from the ground. The clothes over his chest had been ripped apart by the sword qi, revealing a wound so deep that the bone could be seen.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with shock and humiliation.
“You’re not in the early Qi Condensation stage! You… you’ve been hiding your cultivation?!”
Ye Wuming glared fiercely at Ye Wushuang.
But Ye Wushuang did not even spare him a glance. She turned around and continued walking toward the exit.
“Stop!” Ye Wuming roared furiously and prepared to strike again.
“Wuming!”
Ye Wuxin shouted sternly, “That’s enough!”
Ye Wuming froze. He turned to look at Ye Wuxin, his eyes full of unwillingness.
“Elder Sister! She—”
“Shut up!” Ye Wuxin said coldly. “Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough already?”
Ye Wuming clenched his teeth, his fists tightening until his knuckles cracked, but in the end, he did not dare make another move.
Ye Wuxin looked at Ye Wushuang’s back, her expression exceedingly complicated.
She suddenly realized that she had perhaps never truly understood this younger sister of hers.
Ye Wushuang’s steps were steady as she walked toward the exit of the Sword Tomb.
Everywhere she passed, the Ye Family disciples moved aside, their eyes filled with wariness and awe.
At this moment, no one dared call her trash anymore.
How could someone who had defeated Ye Wuming with a single strike possibly be trash?
On the elevated platform, Ye Qingtian’s face was already as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Today’s Sword Ceremony had not only failed to showcase the splendor of the Ye Family’s younger generation—it had instead turned the entire family into a laughingstock throughout Clear River City!
The Ancestor had appeared to take in a disciple, only to be rejected. Their prodigy had been defeated by a single strike from a supposed “trash.” The family’s internal conflicts had been exposed for all to see…
All of this had happened because of Ye Wushuang!
“Ye Wushuang!”
Ye Qingtian could no longer hold himself back. The terrifying pressure of the perfected Grotto-Heaven realm exploded forth.
Boom!
The air seemed to solidify.
All the disciples felt it become difficult to breathe, as though a massive mountain had been pressing down on their chests.
The perfected Grotto-Heaven realm was only one step away from the Innate realm. In Clear River City, such a person was already a first-rate powerhouse!
Ye Wushuang finally stopped walking.
She slowly turned around and looked toward the elevated platform.
Ye Qingtian stood suspended in midair, his beard and hair moving despite the absence of wind. Spiritual energy surged around him like an ocean, and his eyes gleamed with a bone-chilling light.
“If you insist on taking the Dragon Sovereign Sword and walking out of the Sword Tomb today…”
Ye Qingtian spoke each word distinctly.
“From this day onward, the Ye Family will no longer provide you with any cultivation resources! Your monthly allotment of spirit stones, pills, cultivation arts… all resources will be revoked!”
This was his final warning.
Without resources, one’s cultivation would become exceedingly difficult to advance, and one might remain trapped at a certain level for the rest of one’s life.
Everyone believed Ye Wushuang would yield.
After all, even the hardest bones needed food to survive.
Yet Ye Wushuang merely looked at Ye Qingtian in silence, the corners of her lips curling into a faint smile.
“Grand Elder.”
Ye Wushuang’s voice was clear as she said, “Have you forgotten? Over all these years, when has the Ye Family ever given me even a single resource?”
Ye Qingtian was stunned.
“Forget pills. Every spirit stone I’ve spent—even the Sword Flight technique—was left to me by my mother before she died. Other than that, what has the Ye Family ever given me? Do you need me to list everything?”
Ye Qingtian’s expression turned even uglier.
The disciples around them exchanged glances, and their whispers grew louder.
“That’s going too far…”
“If it were me, I would have left the family long ago!”
“The people at the top set the example for those below. Is this really what the Ye Family’s conduct is like?”
On the viewing platform, the guests’ discussions were no longer the slightest bit restrained.
“The Ye Family treats even its legitimate daughter this way. Wouldn’t they be even stingier with outsiders?”
“Tsk, tsk. No wonder the Ye Family has been declining over the years. They even withhold resources from their own descendants.”
“Who would dare ally themselves with a family like that?”
Ye Qingtian’s face turned livid. He shouted sharply, “Ye Wushuang! Stop spouting nonsense! The family’s resources are limited, so naturally they must be distributed first to disciples with outstanding talent! Your talent is mediocre. Giving you more resources would only be a waste!”
“Mediocre talent?”
Ye Wushuang raised an eyebrow. “Are you talking about me?”
Ye Qingtian was rendered speechless.
The phenomenon of Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage to the Sect was something even the Ye Family’s Founding Ancestor had failed to achieve!
If that was considered mediocre talent, then what did that make Ye Wuxin and Ye Wuming? Trash among trash?
Ye Wushuang no longer looked at him. Her gaze swept across all the Ye Family disciples present before finally settling on Ye Wuxin and Ye Wuming.
“Where my resources have gone all these years is something everyone knows perfectly well.”
“Ye Wuxin, your Ice Soul Cold Jade Art was exchanged for the three Profound Rank pills that should have been given to me, wasn’t it?”
“Ye Wuming, the low-grade Yellow Rank supreme-grade Breakthrough Pill you took when you advanced to the middle Qi Condensation stage was originally my birthday gift, wasn’t it?”
The expressions of Ye Wuxin and Ye Wuming changed at the same time.
They had thought Ye Wushuang did not know about these matters—or that even if she did, she would not dare speak of them.
They never expected her to expose everything in front of everyone today!
Even Ye Wushuang could not help complaining when she accessed this portion of the original host’s memories. In a family where the father showed no affection, the mother offered no love, and even blood siblings treated one another with fists and kicks, who could possibly endure it?
No wonder the original host had become spoiled, willful, and tyrannical, even turning into a hopeless romantic!
She had simply been starved of love!
“You’re slandering us!” Ye Wuming shrieked.
“Whether I’m slandering you or not, you know the truth yourselves.”
Ye Wushuang paused, her smile filled with mockery.
With that, she turned around once more.
“Stop!”
After hearing Ye Wushuang expose the truth about the resources being withheld from her in front of everyone, and seeing the guests whispering among themselves, Grand Elder Ye Qingtian’s expression had become exceedingly grim.
Ye Qingtian was completely enraged.
“Ye Wushuang! If you dare walk out of the Ye Family today, you will be betraying the family! From this day forth, there will be no place for you in the Ye Family!”
Betraying the family!
The moment those four words were spoken, the expressions of all the Ye Family disciples changed.
On the Spirit Domain Continent, betraying one’s family was one of the most serious crimes. Anyone guilty of it would be hunted down and killed by all.
Ye Qingtian could no longer restrain himself. With a flash, he appeared in front of Ye Wushuang and shouted sternly, “Ye Wushuang! If you insist on taking the Dragon Sovereign Sword today, then you will be making an enemy of the entire Ye Family! Leave the sword behind, or don’t blame this Elder for disregarding our blood ties!”
Ye Wushuang came to a stop. She raised her eyes to Ye Qingtian, not the slightest trace of fear in them. Instead, a hint of derision flashed across her gaze.
Slowly, she took a long sword from her storage ring.
The sword was three feet long. Half of its blade was black as ink, while the other half was white as snow. At the hilt, a Taiji symbol slowly revolved, radiating a pressure far deeper and more immense than that of the Dragon Sovereign Sword.
This was the mid-grade Earth Rank spirit sword returned by the system—the Yin-Yang Tai’e Sword.
[Ding! The Dragon Sovereign Sword is about to be reclaimed. Host, please deal with it as soon as possible!]
“An… an Earth Rank spirit sword?!”
The Second Elder cried out in shock.
The entire scene instantly fell silent. Everyone stared fixedly at the black-and-white sword. Even Ye Qingtian’s pupils contracted sharply.
Under the countless watching eyes, Ye Wushuang held the Dragon Emperor Sword in her left hand and the Yin-Yang Tai'e Sword in her right, pressing the edges of the two swords against each other.
“Wasn’t it this sword the Grand Elder wanted?”
Ye Wushuang’s voice was calm, yet every word rang clear. “Fine. I’ll give it to you.”
Before her words had even faded, she suddenly exerted force with her right hand!
Clang—buzz—!!!
A shrill metallic crack rang out, accompanied by a mournful cry like the roar of a dragon.
The gleaming golden Dragon Emperor Sword snapped beneath the edge of the Yin-Yang Tai'e Sword as easily as rotten wood. It broke into two pieces and fell to the ground, its spiritual radiance rapidly fading until it became nothing more than ordinary iron.
No one noticed that the Dragon Emperor Sword’s spiritual essence had quietly merged into the Yin-Yang Tai'e Sword.
“Ye Wushuang, are you courting death?!”
Ye Wuming flew into a rage.
