Chapter 73: Evidence

Die!

Fang Lu's eyes were filled with coldness and malice. There was even a sense of unbridled gratification at the thought of personally ending a peerless genius!

She stared fixedly at Yaoguang, seemingly wanting to see the panic and fear in his eyes as he faced a sudden attack and certain death.

However, she did not see any trace of fluster or terror on Yaoguang's face. Instead, there was only a pre-calculated composure. His gaze was saying that he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

This is impossible!

Fang Lu could not fathom how Yaoguang knew she would suddenly strike.

After all, although she had been targeting him earlier, everything she said had a reason behind it. There was no indication that she would suddenly erupt into a killing frenzy right in front of President Ji Pingtian.

Yaoguang did not explain, nor had the time to explain. Everything happened in an instant.

Under Fang Lu's confused and even incredulous gaze, Yaoguang blocked Ji Pingtian’s Dragon-Elephant World-Suppression with one hand. At the same time, his other hand snapped out in a lightning-fast motion to meet Fang Lu's sudden assault.

A cold glint bloomed. Nurtured by the Formless secret technique, the Chengying Sword appeared elusively in his hand and stabbed out like a bolt of lightning.

With Zong Yan watching, Fang Lu had no time to bring out a proper weapon to assassinate Yaoguang. She only held a dagger, which had been easy to conceal.

It was the choice of weapon, combined with Yaoguang’s prepared state, that drew the line between life and death for Fang Lu.

A longer range was an advantage impossible to overcome in this situation. Yaoguang did not dodge, allowing Fang Lu to bring her dagger closer and closer to his throat...

Her approach stopped abruptly when the blade was still ten centimeters away from Yaoguang.

The Chengying Sword, which was longer, larger, and faster, had already struck her chest like a ghost. It pierced through her heart, and the impact of the jin contained within the strike neutralized her momentum.

The sudden turn of events left everyone in the field stunned and speechless.

"Director Fang?!" In the next moment, Ji Pingtian’s psychic mind fluctuated. The fist jin he was using to confront Yaoguang wavered. He endured the risk of being pursued by Yaoguang and forcibly broke away from the stalemate, retreating violently.

After several steps, he stabilized his center of gravity. Just as he was about to save Fang Lu, a thought suddenly struck him.

Wait, wasn't it Fang Lu who tried to ambush Yaoguang and send him to his death?!

His body halted. He keenly perceived that he seemed to have been dragged into a vortex he should have avoided, becoming a borrowed blade used to kill someone.

Yaoguang withdrew his sword, and a spray of crimson blood erupted as Fang Lu’s body swayed.

Yaoguang’s strike had pierced directly through her heart. She felt an unprecedented wave of weakness crashing against her nerves. She stumbled, no longer able to stand, and collapsed onto the ground.

The coldness brought by the blood loss, mixed with an unspeakable fear, flooded Fang Lu’s mind. She opened her mouth in a panic and cried out, "Save me... Save me..."

Despite sensing that something was wrong, Ji Pingtian suppressed his suspicions for the moment and quickly ordered, "Save her!"

"Who dares!" Yaoguang shouted lowly.

He instantly blocked several World-Saving Society experts who were trained in first aid.

"Yaoguang, although there might have been a... misunderstanding just now, regardless of the circumstances, we must save her first," Ji Pingtian said quickly.

"Sword." Yaoguang reached out his hand.

Su Yizhou, who had previously taken the Divine Shadow Sword for maintenance, immediately threw it over.

"Save her?" Yaoguang caught the sword and pointed it at Ji Pingtian. "Ask if it agrees."

"Su Yaoguang! What do you think you are doing?!" Ji Pingtian was somewhat infuriated.

But the result of their brief clash earlier made him hesitate to act rashly. He merely gave Zong Yan a meaningful look.

Zong Yan hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. "Yaoguang, let’s save her first... Fang Lu might have been desperate and acted too aggressively, but she is still a director of our World-Saving Society, a core member in our fight against the Crimson Star Empire."

"I remember telling you when we left the Xie family manor yesterday that you would eventually face a choice," Yaoguang said. "I cannot speak for others, but Dayu's royal family has already joined forces with the Rebirth Society, acting in total collusion. Her attack on me was the royal family's attempt to curry favor with the Rebirth Society, taking my life to give the Rebirth Society an explanation for the deaths of Zhao Sheng and the others."

As he spoke, he looked at Zong Yan and Ji Pingtian. "Now, what will the World-Saving Society choose? Will you choose to turn a blind eye and insist on saving Fang Lu for the sake of the royal family's empty support, or... will you join me and make the royal family pay the price for conspiring with the Rebirth Society and allowing the fiends to run rampant?"

"You... are framing me..." Fang Lu cried out weakly. The vitality of a martial paragon, which far exceeded that of an ordinary person, allowed her to speak weakly despite being on her last breath. "I... did not... collude with the Rebirth Society..."

She looked at Ji Pingtian. "President... save me..."

Although Ji Pingtian felt that Fang Lu’s actions were highly suspicious and believed Yaoguang's explanation to some extent, everything was still just Yaoguang’s speculation.

A martial-paragon-tier director representing Dayu's royal family could not be allowed to die without evidence.

He said in a serious tone, "I cannot sit by and watch Fang Lu die based on your one-sided word. Regardless, we must save her first."

Hearing this, a glimmer of hope for survival flashed in Fang Lu’s eyes.

"One-sided word? You want evidence?"

"Correct!" Ji Pingtian gritted out.

He made a gesture, and many grandmasters and martial masters of the World-Saving Society immediately surrounded them.

"President... I am... innocent..." Fang Lu struggled to say.

"Simple." Yaoguang lifted his sword and walked toward Fang Lu.

"President... Save me..." Fang Lu’s eyes instantly flooded with uncontrollable terror, and she hurriedly pleaded for mercy.

"Su Yaoguang!" Ji Pingtian also took a large stride forward. "Stop!"

Yaoguang traced a void in the air, and the Divine Shadow Sword whipped up a flurry of phantoms, sweeping directly toward the president of the World-Saving Society to intercept him.

Meanwhile, the Chengying Sword in his other hand was thrown out like a flying sword, whistling through the air.

Before Ji Pingtian could provide reinforcement, the blade instantly pierced through Fang Lu’s skull. The pleading stopped abruptly.

"Su Yaoguang!" Ji Pingtian let out a sharp, furious roar.

"Do you recognize this?" Yaoguang suddenly produced the Soul-Capturing Bead and moved to Fang Lu’s side.

The enraged Ji Pingtian’s expression froze. He recognized the origin of this object. The Soul-Capturing Bead could extract a portion of the residual memories from those who had recently died. The shorter the time since death, the more vivid the memories and the more complete the extraction.

This is a treasure that belongs only to a very select few within the entire Rebirth Society. How does Su Yaoguang have it?

Ji Pingtian thought in disbelief.

Yaoguang drew Fang Lu’s remnant soul into the Soul-Capturing Bead and tossed it directly to Ji Pingtian.

"See for yourself." Yaoguang did not need to guess to know that Fang Lu’s memories would inevitably contain images of Dayu's royal family issuing orders for her to kill him using a borrowed blade. Otherwise, her behavior would not have been so aggressive.

Ji Pingtian caught the bead and examined it. In just a moment, his face turned pale.

Yaoguang paid him no mind. After taking a medicinal pill, he used his precise control over his body to adjust his state.

Although he had become a martial paragon through the Heavenly Fiend Disintegration secret technique, his foundation was somewhat lacking compared to Ji Pingtian’s. Furthermore, breaking through by using Heavenly Fiend Disintegration had caused immense damage to the body. Even though he had consumed a large number of pills, he hadn't been able to completely recover in just one day.

It was only because he possessed the Psychic Descent secret technique that outsiders could not tell.

A few minutes later, Ji Pingtian returned the treasure to Yaoguang. At this point, his face was looking grim.

"Understand now?" Yaoguang asked.

The gazes of Zong Yan and the other World-Saving Society personnel also fell upon Ji Pingtian. The president of World-Saving Society opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately...

His tone carried a hint of guilt. "This was a failure of our duty as the World-Saving Society."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zong Yan’s heart jolted, and he could not help but ask, "Did Dayu's royal family really collude with the Rebirth Society?"

Ji Pingtian nodded.

"Bastards! H-How could they be so spineless? Does Dayu intend to stand by and watch their recommendation slots be seized by the Crimson Star Empire? Are they willing to give up all hope?" Zong Yan was both shocked and enraged.

The others were also filled with righteous indignation, sharing a common hatred for the enemy.

Ji Pingtian let out a sigh. This kind of thing was not unprecedented. The Crimson Star Empire was simply too powerful. And the members of the World-Saving Society were too diverse. With dozens of countries representing dozens of different agendas, heaven knew when one country might buckle under the pressure of the Crimson Star Empire and betray the society.

"Su Yaoguang, I failed to investigate properly and placed too much trust in Fang Lu, which led to our brief clash... Please accept my apologies," Ji Pingtian said solemnly.

"If you really want to apologize, transfer those 300 billion aster as soon as possible," Yaoguang replied.

Ji Pingtian was slightly taken aback. Then, he let out a small sigh of relief and said hurriedly, "I will notify the finance department immediately."

After speaking, he impatiently gave instructions to a middle-aged man behind him. He was terrified that Yaoguang would develop a prejudice against the World-Saving Society because of what had just happened and subsequently leave the organization.

The battle earlier had been lightning-fast, leaving no time for careful thought. Now that he had calmed down and reflected on the exchange, he realized that Yaoguang’s strength was not inferior to his own at all.

Even though he had not been wearing a combat suit or using specialized equipment, Yaoguang had likewise not been using a handy divine weapon like the Divine Shadow Sword. And they still fought to a draw.

This kind of combat talent was simply unprecedented! Most importantly, Yaoguang was only nineteen years old! He had only been cultivating for one year! He cultivated for one year and was able to fight a psychic-will realm martial paragon at his level!

In another year, what height would he reach? Would he stand above a psychic-will realm martial paragon? Or perhaps... A unified martial paragon?! What about when he went to the Artifact Sect?

For a moment, Ji Pingtian’s mind was in turmoil. He could not imagine it. He simply could not imagine it! The only thing he could be certain of was that if Yaoguang truly remained willing to represent the World-Saving Society, oppose the Crimson Star Empire, and enter the Artifact Sect... Then, in the future, the nations of the Central Continent might truly have hope of using his influence to completely throw off the bullying of the Crimson Star Empire, becoming truly independent sovereign countries.

Thinking of that, Ji Pingtian recalled his actions from moments ago and felt a wave of deep regret.

"Damn it!" Ji Pingtian cursed.

I have truly been possessed. A suspected fiend? If Yaoguang really were a fiend, why would he act so openly and honorably? If he really were a fiend, why would he fight the Rebirth Society to such an extent? If Yaoguang really were a fiend... He was already this strong in his normal state; once he transformed, not a single person among us would have been able to leave Yuyuan Estate alive,

Ji Pingtian thought.

Ji Pingtian stole a glance at Yaoguang.

I have to make amends! I have to find a way to repair the relationship between the World-Saving Society and Su Yaoguang as quickly as possible. Otherwise, this once-in-a-century opportunity to escape the Crimson Star Empire’s tyranny might slip through the fingers of the World-Saving Society and the countries behind us.

I wonder... What could Yaoguang like? Beautiful women? Cultivation arts? Secret techniques? Divine weapons?