Chapter 140 Wild Speculation

Xuan Gang took a step forward, starlight seemingly swirling within his eyes, before shaking his head after a moment and saying, "None."

His tone was resolute.

A chilling intent gathered in Yilin's eyes as she looked at Shen Qingyun and said coldly, "Speak. Just who are you people? Why did you deceive my younger sister?"

Shen Qingyun sighed softly, lightly brushing his sleeve. "Where is the deception in this? These past few days, we haven't done a single thing to harm your sister."

"That's right, Brother Shen Yun has been very good to me," Yiran chimed in, looking at Yilin.

"Be quiet." Yilin glared fiercely at Yiran, causing the latter to shrink her neck with a grievance-filled expression. Yilin then said coldly, "Who knows what kind of scheme you're plotting? Do you dare reveal your true identity?"

Shen Qingyun gazed at Yilin with an indifferent expression and nodded. "Very well."

Shen Qingyun lowered his head. When he raised it again, his appearance had shifted back to his original form.

Seeing Shen Qingyun's true face, Yilin's expression changed slightly, and she gritted her teeth. "To think it's you!"

Shen Qingyun spoke, "It is me. Unexpected, isn't it?"

Yiran stared blankly at Shen Qingyun, her mouth opening slightly as if wanting to say something, but no words came out.

Seeming to see right through what Yiran wanted to say, Shen Qingyun smiled faintly, "Yiran, if I had looked like this from the beginning, would you still have asked me for help?"

Yiran thought about it seriously, then shook her head after a moment. She wouldn't have. Because it was Shen Qingyun, she wouldn't have. This just showed how truly terrible Shen Qingyun's reputation was within Purple Firmament Academy.

"Then he is..." Yilin pointed at Feng Chuxun.

"Correct, it's him." Shen Qingyun nodded. Feng Chuxun's appearance had been altered by him, so only he could restore it, and for now, Feng Chuxun could only remain as he was.

"Now, do you still suspect that I harbor malicious intentions?"

Yilin smiled bitterly and shook her head, her heart filled with a sour taste. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that the two seemingly unremarkable individuals would be the ones who had almost turned Purple Firmament Academy upside down. Both she and Yiran practiced wind-attribute spiritual energy, so they had been assigned to the rear for support and had not personally experienced just how formidable Shen Qingyun had been back then. However, the golden swords Shen Qingyun had summoned and his baffling techniques had left an indelible impression on her.

"Can we leave now?" Shen Qingyun asked again.

"You may." Yilin nodded. Could she possibly stop them if they wanted to leave? Most likely, everyone present combined was no match for even one of his hands.

As for Tao Jun and the others, they had been stunned ever since Shen Qingyun revealed his true face. Although Shen Qingyun had not restrained them with any binding force, they felt as if their bodies were completely locked in place, unable to move even half a step.

"Go and make them hand over all their beast soul pills." Shen Qingyun instructed Feng Chuxun, referring naturally to Tao Jun and his group.

Feng Chuxun stepped forward toward Tao Jun as told. Since Tao Jun was the leader of this group, naturally, he had to start with him first.

Seeing Feng Chuxun extend his hand toward him, Tao Jun's heart was filled with bitterness. Refuse to hand them over? Was that even possible? Someone else could press him to the ground and humiliate him with a single hand. Hand them over? Yet resentment lingered deep within him.

"I'll search you myself then." Feng Chuxun said calmly.

Hearing this, Tao Jun trembled all over and hesitated no longer, taking out all the beast soul pills from his cosmos sack.

Seeing the five beast soul pills, each about half the size of a palm, resting in Tao Jun's hands, Feng Chuxun accepted them expressionlessly and walked toward the next person.

Witnessing this outright banditry, even Yilin, who had nothing to do with them, could no longer stand by and watched. She couldn't help but speak up, "Can you leave a little for them?" She knew that with her own abilities, it was impossible to make Shen Qingyun stop, so she could only compromise and ask him to leave a little for them—even just one pill per person would keep them from ending up in too miserable a state.

"You want to get involved as well?" Shen Qingyun glanced at them sideways. "If you plan to hand over your beast soul pills, I might consider leaving one for each of you."

Yilin's expression stiffened slightly. She looked at Tao Jun and found that Tao Jun was looking right back at her. Gritting her teeth, she said, "We are all students of the academy. Aren't you afraid that acting this way will provoke public outrage?"

"Do you think I care?" Shen Qingyun smiled faintly.

Yilin was momentarily stunned. That's right, would Shen Qingyun care about such things? He had even pulled off the feat of turning the entire academy upside down—would he still fear public outrage?

"You are Yiran's older sister, which is why I intend to let you off the hook this time," Shen Qingyun said. "Furthermore, what I am doing right now is merely what is bound to happen during the later stages of this trial anyway."

A wave of shock rippled through Yilin's heart, but maintaining a calm expression, she frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Shen Qingyun replied, "You know very well what I mean. Not just you, but the top ten figures of the Seven Palaces have all vaguely guessed this. When the later stages of the trial arrive, for the sake of rankings, the suspicions in your hearts will become reality."

Yilin fell silent, her expression shifting repeatedly. As the second-ranked figure of her palace, she had indeed entertained such thoughts when the trial first began. When she slew the Nether Wolf King and obtained its beast soul pill, this thought had surfaced inexplicably once more. Now that Shen Qingyun had brought it up himself, Yilin completely doubted whether this was the academy's original intention all along.

By this time, Feng Chuxun had finished collecting all the beast soul pills—a total of twenty-three half-palm-sized beast soul pills. Shen Qingyun glanced at them and swept them all into his storage ring with a wave of his hand.

"Let's go."

"Brother Shen Yun!"

Just as Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun turned around, a crisp voice rang out, causing Shen Qingyun to halt and turn back.

Yiran looked at Shen Qingyun timidly. Seeing him look back at her, she called out once more, "Brother Shen Yun, are you leaving now?"

Gazing at Yiran, Shen Qingyun nodded. "Yes, I'm leaving. And you shouldn't call me Brother Shen Yun anymore; call me by my real name. The person known as Shen Yun doesn't even exist in this world."

Yiran hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a bright smile, "Brother Qingyun!"

Shen Qingyun smiled upon hearing this. For some reason, he saw the shadow of Qiao Xinyu in Yiran. Was that equally lively and cheerful girl still doing well back at the Azure Cloud Sect?

"Let's go." Shen Qingyun waved his hand, turning around to vanish into the forest alongside Feng Chuxun.

"Elder sister, will we still be able to see Brother Qingyun again?"

Seeing her younger sister's absent-minded expression, Yilin couldn't help but smile faintly, gently flicking the tip of her nose. "What are you thinking about? It's not a parting of life and death; you'll see him again once the trial ends." Yet after today's events, Yilin's view of Shen Qingyun had also shifted; at the very least, she now knew he wasn't as hateful as she had once thought.

...

"What are you thinking about?"

On the forest trail, Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun walked side by side. Along the way, both had remained somewhat subdued, neither speaking a word. In the end, Shen Qingyun broke the silence.

"I'm wondering when this trial will end." Feng Chuxun finished, then turned the question back, "Boss, what about you?"

"I'm also thinking about the trial," Shen Qingyun smiled faintly. "Except, unlike you, I'm thinking about how to improve our ranking."

"Have you figured it out?" Feng Chuxun asked.

"I have some leads," Shen Qingyun replied. "The number of ferocious beasts in this forest is fixed, and so are the beast soul pills. If we rely solely on plundering others for beast soul pills, can it really satisfy our ranking needs?"

"Isn't that how it works?" Feng Chuxun asked with slight surprise. He had already heard Shen Qingyun's explanation along the way, so he knew there would inevitably be a plunder battle fought at the end.

"Perhaps so." Shen Qingyun pondered slightly as a breeze brushed across his face. "The final ranking is determined by both the quantity and quality of the beast soul pills. We shouldn't fixate solely on quantity; quality deserves our attention as well."

"Aren't the qualities of all beast soul pills the same?" Feng Chuxun asked.

"Have you seen every single beast soul pill in existence?" Shen Qingyun retorted, leaving Feng Chuxun temporarily speechless.

"The beasts we've slain in the forest are all at the mid or late stage of the Spirit Phase realm, and the beast soul pills we obtained are only half the size of a palm. But what if the beast soul pills shed when Spirit Phase realm beasts advance are all of that same size?"

Shen Qingyun's voice seemed to carry a certain magic, guiding Feng Chuxun's thoughts and compelling him to follow the train of thought Shen Qingyun laid out.

"According to what you're saying, if we want beast soul pills of higher quality, we'll have to target Monarch-tier beasts."

"Correct," Shen Qingyun said. "If they're all Spirit Phase realm beast soul pills, then it undoubtedly comes down to quantity. But what if, when the time comes, we produce a Monarch-tier beast soul pill?"

"Then the result will definitely crush everyone present!" A tremor ran through Feng Chuxun's heart, astonished by the sheer madness of the idea that had just formed in his mind.

"You've thought of this too, haven't you?" Shen Qingyun chuckled lightly.

Feng Chuxun made no attempt to conceal it, nodding candidly as he said, "But given our strength, can we really slay a Monarch-tier beast?"

Shen Qingyun smiled mysteriously. "You'll never know until you try."

"Then let's try!"

With Shen Qingyun's words, an inexplicable surge of confidence blossomed within Feng Chuxun, and he spoke with grand heroic spirit.

"By the way, didn't you want to learn that technique of the boundless golden swords?" Shen Qingyun asked, as if suddenly remembering something.

Hearing this, a sharp gleam flashed across Feng Chuxun's eyes, and he asked excitedly, "Boss, are you going to teach me?"

Shen Qingyun smiled and nodded, his expression turning solemn immediately after. "However, before you learn it, I must tell you that this sword technique is a complete set, and it is never unleashed without a Monarch-tier sword. The boundless golden swords are merely one of its moves, named 'Breaking Army'. The other three moves are named 'Dawn', 'Intimidation', and 'Dusk'. All of them were created by that friend of mine!"

"If you still consider your sword to be an ordinary mortal blade, I can teach you, but you must remember never to use it casually. Suffering a backlash from the sword technique would be the lightest consequence!"

Feng Chuxun fell silent, lowering his gaze to look at the Scarlet Snow sword in his hand. He noticed that Scarlet Snow was emitting a faint hum of resonance, and he could actually understand it. A smile curved the corners of Feng Chuxun's lips as he raised his head and said to Shen Qingyun with absolute confidence, "I can learn it!"

Shen Qingyun glanced imperceptibly at Scarlet Snow and nodded. With the Ancestral Lotus acting as the current sword spirit of Scarlet Snow, how could such a minor trick escape his notice?

Shen Qingyun sorted through his thoughts and asked, "Aside from magic arts, divine abilities, and source techniques, what else do you know?"

Feng Chuxun shook his head with a blank expression.

Shen Qingyun sighed softly. "Listen well: magic arts, divine abilities, source techniques, and supreme canons. What I am going to teach you is a supreme canon of the highest grade. Such an existence would cause even great emperors in the distant Central Region to be moved."

Awe stirred within Feng Chuxun's heart. He knew Shen Qingyun was reminding him not to reveal it lightly; the principle of a man treasuring a jade ring becoming a target of crime was something he well understood.

Shen Qingyun's mood suddenly grew heavy, and he let out a long sigh. "Actually, I don't truly hope that you completely master the Sword God Canon. Rather, I hope that through your own efforts, you forge a supreme canon of your own."

"I also know that you often try to guess my identity and where this baffling ability of mine truly comes from."

Shen Qingyun smiled bitterly. "Taking this opportunity, I can tell you everything. But can you swear an oath that I can trust you?"

Feng Chuxun fell silent. These were indeed thoughts he had often entertained. Now that Shen Qingyun was personally telling him he could lay everything bare, Feng Chuxun felt as though he were still dreaming.

Feng Chuxun came to a halt, extended his right hand with his thumb and little finger curled inward, and declared, "I, Feng Chuxun, hereby swear by my sword heart and martial heart: in this lifetime, I shall never betray Shen Qingyun. Should I break this oath, may I suffer the tribulation of heavenly thunder and be eternally cast into the mortal dust!"

As his voice fell, rolling thunder echoed across the sky before gradually fading away, audible only to Feng Chuxun and Shen Qingyun.

The oath was sealed!