Chapter 201 - 200: Emperor Xiyan

"Chen’er, enough," Bai Qingyue’s voice cut through his rant. It was not loud, but it possessed a freezing authority that instantly made Bai Chen snap his mouth shut.

Bai Qingyue reached out, her pale hand gently gripping her cousin’s forearm to pull him down from the railing. Outwardly, she was the picture of serene, untouchable grace. But internally, she was a raging tempest. She was entirely enraged by the sheer hypocrisy of the Chu Province. They dare stand in the light and preach about shamelessness? Her eyes locked onto the Chu Provincial Lord, promising a silent, icy retribution.

Down on the floor, the subject of the massive firestorm finally decided to speak.

Lin Yuan did not bow to the Chu Provincial Lord. He did not bow to Elder Xuanji. He did not grovel, nor did he raise his voice to shout over the murmuring crowds.

He simply turned his body, facing the floating dais where the Chief Adjudicator stood, and spoke with a voice that was so perfectly modulated, so coldly composed, that it seemed to freeze the very air it passed through.

"Lord Chu speaks of water flowing under doors and rats stealing teeth," Lin Yuan began, his deep purple eyes entirely devoid of emotion. "It is a beautiful proverb. It is also the desperate poetry of a man who cannot justify his own son’s incompetence."

A collective gasp echoed through the arena. The sheer disrespect of calling a Half-Step Transcendent heir ’incompetent’ to his father’s face was staggering.

Lin Yuan kept his gaze fixed on Elder Xuanji.

"Chief Adjudicator," Lin Yuan said smoothly. "Before the preliminary round began, you stood upon that very dais and articulated the parameters of the battlefield. You stated, and I quote: ’Contestants may fight with full lethal force. You may use any weapon, any artifact, and any method at your disposal. The precise mechanism of how you accomplish a defeat is left entirely to you.’"

Lin Yuan took a slow, deliberate step forward, his robes rustling.

"You set these rules," Lin Yuan stated, his voice ringing with absolute logic. "And I followed them exactly to the letter. I did not execute a surrendered opponent. I entered the pocket realm, I located my adversary, and I relieved him of his tokens using the methods at my disposal."

Lin Yuan then turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the furious, red-faced elders of the Chu Province. His lips curled into a faint, terrifyingly condescending smile.

"If the Central Continent is embarrassed by the fact that a man from the Lower Division can thoroughly dismantle one of their prized prodigies without breaking a single statute... that is not my failure," Lin Yuan said, delivering the verbal killing blow with chilling precision. "That is yours. Do not project the fragility of your heir onto my perfect victory."

The silence that followed was absolute, but it was highly volatile.

High upon the floating dais, Elder Xuanji’s face darkened into a mask of terrifying wrath.

The Chief Adjudicator was a man who had lived for centuries as the unquestioned enforcer of the Central Continent’s laws. As a Peak Soul Transformation expert, his authority within the Grand Court was unquestionable, and countless cultivators would tremble beneath nothing more than his gaze.

Yet now, a mere Early-Stage Spirit Severing youth stood before the Court, openly throwing its own rules back in his face while refusing to lower his head or show the slightest hint of submission.

To the Chief Adjudicator, this was a direct slight against the dignity and authority of the proceedings themselves.

"You possess a sharp tongue, boy," Elder Xuanji rumbled, his voice vibrating with a lethal pressure. The sky above the Grand Court began to darken as his Peak Soul Transformation aura flared to life. "Do you believe that quoting my own words back to me shields you from the judgment of the Court? You stand before the Emperors, yet you refuse to show proper reverence. You disrespect the dignity of these proceedings by even daring to argue back to an adjudicator!"

The atmospheric pressure in the arena skyrocketed. The plates beneath Lin Yuan’s boots began to groan and splinter. Xuanji was preparing to physically suppress Lin Yuan, intending to force the defiant cultivator to his knees to restore the hierarchy of the court.

High above, Emperor Tianxu watched the scene unfold with keen, calculating eyes. The Emperor did not intervene. He was deeply fascinated. He wished to see how this fated one, this man who had mastered the crucible, would handle the overwhelming suppression of a Peak Soul Transformation expert.

But before Elder Xuanji could fully unleash his aura upon Lin Yuan, the tense, suffocating atmosphere of the Grand Court was violently shattered.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The laughter was booming, chaotic, and entirely devoid of political decorum. It erupted from the western zenith of the amphitheater, carrying the ferocious resonance of a collapsing mountain.

Emperor Xiyan, the warlord of the West Continent, threw his head back and slapped the armrest of his White Tiger throne, laughing so hard tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

Every single head in the arena snapped upward in shock.

Emperor Xiyan leaned forward, resting his heavy, armored elbows on his knees, peering down at Elder Xuanji with a look of mockery. The West Continent Emperor had absolutely no stake in the internal politics of the Central Continent. He was merely here as a spectator, he was profoundly bored by the rigid formalities, and he absolutely delighted in chaos.

"Oh, Xuanji, Xuanji, Xuanji," Emperor Xiyan chuckled, his voice dripping with condescending sarcasm. "Is this truly how the mighty Central Continent breeds its gods? By weeping to the referees the moment a mud-born peasant outsmarts them?"

Elder Xuanji froze, the terrifying aura instantly dissipating. He could not retaliate against a Void Refinement Emperor. "Emperor Xiyan, this is a matter of internal disciplinary protocol—"

"This is a matter of you throwing a tantrum!" Emperor Xiyan interrupted loudly, his White Tiger aura flaring, projecting thousands of invisible swords that danced mockingly in the air above the dais.

The Western Emperor pointed an armored finger directly at the Chief Adjudicator.

"You are bullying this young Daoist simply because you think you can!" Emperor Xiyan boomed, his voice carrying to every corner of Sky Jade City. "The boy is absolutely right! You set the rules! He followed the rules! Look at Chu Kuang! He is standing right there! He has all his limbs! His soul is intact! He is not dead! The Zhao boy beat him fair and square within the parameters you designed!"

Emperor Xiyan leaned back in his throne, spreading his arms wide, addressing the other observing Emperors and the tens of thousands of spectators.

"If the Chu Province wants to cry about ’shamelessness’ because their Half-Step Transcendent heir got his pockets picked, let them cry in their own pavilions!" Xiyan mocked mercilessly. "But for the Chief Adjudicator to threaten a victor with physical suppression simply because he pointed out their own hypocrisy? Pathetic! It is deeply embarrassing to watch! If this is the ’dignity’ of the Central Continent, I should have stayed in the Western Continent!"

The humiliation was absolute. It was not just a squabble between provinces anymore. Emperor Xiyan had taken an internal disciplinary matter and weaponized it into a continent-level embarrassment, executing the reputation of the Central Continent’s Cultivation Court in front of the other viewing Emperors.

Emperor Beiming of the North let out a low, rumbling chuckle of agreement. Even Emperor Nanheng of the South hid a fiery smile behind her silk fan.

Emperor Tianxu’s eyes narrowed slightly.