Chapter 155: Under Suspicion

Yu Xiaoyu clutched her neck as fresh blood instantly gushed out.

Her vision darkened, and unsteady on her feet, she propped herself up with one hand on her sword and half-knelt on the ground.

"Sister Yu!"

The bun-haired girl shrieked, gathering all her inner qi onto her long sword and hurling it fiercely toward the man.

Swish.

The long sword transformed into a streak of rainbow light, thrusting straight at the man.

A trace of disdain flashed in the man's eyes. A mere half-step Grandmaster actually dared to make a move against him.

With a slash of the dagger in his hand against the long sword, with a crisp *clang*, the sword snapped right down the middle.

"This, this..." The bun-haired girl bit her silver teeth hard.

With a flash of movement, the man appeared right in front of the bun-haired girl and kicked her fiercely in the stomach.

With a loud *bang*, the girl flew backward directly, slamming hard into a wooden hut.

Boom.

The wooden hut collapsed instantly, burying the girl beneath the rubble.

Without even sparing the girl a glance, the man walked over to Yu Xiaoyu and said arrogantly, "Little girl, that fight just now was quite something. I almost capsized in a drainage ditch."

"You... damn you!" Yu Xiaoyu felt dizzy and her vision swam. With trembling arms, she took a healing pill from her storage pouch.

The man made no move to stop her. Killing was not allowed in the training grounds, so although the wound on Yu Xiaoyu's neck looked terrifying, it was not fatal.

What truly caused Yu Xiaoyu's dizziness and failing vision was the exhaustion of her mind and spirit from the multiple high-intensity battles.

"Hehe, you should be thankful that this is a training ground; otherwise, you'd be a corpse right now," the man sneered coldly.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed.

The man looked back and saw an ordinary-looking young man walking toward them, completely devoid of any distinctive features.

Yet, it was precisely this young man that made him feel a sense of caution.

The newcomer was none other than Lin Yi.

"Mr... Mr. Lin, save me," Yu Xiaoyu said weakly.

Lin Yi paused in his tracks. It wasn't that he cared about Yu Xiaoyu, but rather that he discovered his own wooden hut had collapsed.

"Who did this?"

Lin Yi pointed at his collapsed wooden hut, his face entirely expressionless, betraying neither joy nor anger.

"Cough, cough, it was him."

A head poked out from the ruins of the wooden hut—it was the bun-haired girl.

Clutching her stomach, her face was deathly pale and contorted in agony.

The kick the man had landed on her earlier felt as though she had been struck by a train, causing her stomach to cramp with agonizing pain.

"Hm?" Lin Yi cast an indifferent gaze at the man.

Instinctively feeling a chill run down his spine, the man hastily said, "I didn't mean to."

Lin Yi replied, "Very well. As long as you can take one punch from me, I will pretend this never happened."

Hearing this, the man felt a surge of irritation. No matter what, he was still considered one of the geniuses and possessed his own pride.

Wasn't Lin Yi's remark a clear display of looking down on him?

"Hah, perfect. I, Hu San, would also like to ask for your guidance." Hu San sneered, every muscle in his body tightening. His posture dipped slightly, and his aura became erratic and unpredictable.

Abruptly, Hu San's figure vanished from Lin Yi's sight; he intended to strike first and gain the upper hand.

Lin Yi's strength was formidable indeed, capable of knocking down a great eagle with a single punch.

Even so, Hu San refused to believe that Lin Yi's speed could be equally terrifying. Nobody was perfect; everyone had their strengths and weaknesses.

Hu San's figure materialized behind Lin Yi, his dagger slashing fiercely toward Lin Yi's neck.

However, the moment Hu San's dagger swept forward, Lin Yi's head suddenly snapped backward.

With one hand, he seized Hu San's wrist, while his other hand balled directly into a fist.

"Not good!"

Alarm bells rang wildly in Hu San's heart. If that punch connected, a few of his bones were guaranteed to shatter.

He tried to retreat, but Lin Yi's grip was like an iron clamp, preventing him from moving even a fraction of an inch.

In a panic, Hu San hurriedly concentrated his gang-qi to protect his chest.

Lin Yi threw a punch, instantly shattering the protective gang-qi on Hu San's chest.

Simultaneously, the fist landed squarely on his chest with a sharp *crack*, breaking at least a few ribs.

Bang.

Hu San was sent flying dozens of meters back. Forcing himself to stand up from the ground, he cast a resentful glance at Lin Yi before fleeing swiftly.

Lin Yi made no move to pursue Hu San. Since he had stated he would throw only one punch, a single punch was all he would deliver.

Even if that punch had been held back.

"Sigh, I leave for a bit, and my house is gone," Lin Yi muttered, feeling rather speechless.

Still, it didn't matter much; he hadn't planned on staying here long anyway.

"Mr. Lin, thank you for your help." The wound on Yu Xiaoyu's neck had stopped bleeding.

"Don't overthink it. I only stepped in because my house collapsed," Lin Yi waved a hand dismissively.

Yu Xiaoyu forced a smile, then her vision went black, and she slumped directly into Lin Yi's arms.

Frowning slightly, Lin Yi looked at the bun-haired girl nearby and asked, "You two are together, right?"

"Mn," the girl nodded.

"Then she's your responsibility," Lin Yi said.

"Huh?" The bun-haired girl was momentarily stunned.

She hadn't expected Lin Yi to be such an oblivious straight-arrow male; shouldn't a guy be a bit more proactive in a situation like this?

Besides, couldn't he see she was in pain right now?

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Hurry up and come over here," Lin Yi finished speaking, then dropped Yu Xiaoyu directly onto the ground.

Bun-haired girl: ...Yep, a textbook straight-arrow male, and he's even snapping at me.

Dragging her exhausted body over to Yu Xiaoyu, she looked at the sweet smile lingering on Yu Xiaoyu's lips and found herself deeply wishing she could just fall into a sound sleep as well.

Struggling to lift Yu Xiaoyu, the bun-haired girl had barely taken two steps when another wave of cramping pain tore through her stomach, instantly drenching her forehead in cold sweat.

Frowning, Lin Yi thought to himself that this was a bother.

"Forget it, I'll do it," Lin Yi said, sweeping Yu Xiaoyu up directly in a bridal carry.

The little girl was very light, weighing probably around eighty pounds or so.

After placing Yu Xiaoyu inside the wooden hut, Lin Yi left immediately.

...

Meanwhile.

Youling Mountain, conference room.

"Still no trace of that injured Spirit Sovereign?" the black-robed elder asked.

"No, we have searched Youling Mountain thoroughly from inside and out, but found nothing at all," Li Xincheng shook his head.

"Could it be that he escaped long ago, or perhaps he altered his appearance and blended in among those geniuses?" asked an old woman of around eighty.

A martial artist's techniques were varied and numerous, and facial disguise and transformation arts certainly existed among them.

The black-robed elder agreed with a nod. "It's possible. Li Xincheng, take your men immediately and summon all the training geniuses for questioning."

Regardless of the outcome, they had to try at least.

"Understood."

Li Xincheng nodded.

He walked straight to the plaza, gathered his inner qi into his dantian, and channeled a thread of heaven and earth force into his voice, which rolled forth like celestial thunder.

"All training personnel, assemble and stand at attention in the plaza!"

Lin Yi, having just emerged from Yu Xiaoyu's wooden hut, looked up and glanced at Li Xincheng hovering in the air.

Following Li Xincheng's command, individuals continuously walked toward the center of the plaza.

At that moment, Zhuge Xian caught sight of Lin Yi and hurried over.

"Lin Yi, has this Li Xincheng discovered something?" Zhuge Xian asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

The Martial Dao Alliance was a behemoth; even her Zhuge family would never dare to offend them.

"It's possible," Lin Yi nodded. He didn't feel the slightest bit of fear; if worst came to worst, he would simply admit to it.

"How can you not be worried at all?" Zhuge Xian asked curiously.

Lin Yi's expression was far too calm, completely unlike what a young man should display.

"Would worrying do any good?" Lin Yi countered.

"That makes so much sense that I can't even argue with it," Zhuge Xian said.

The two arrived at the center of the plaza, where a large crowd had already gathered, all whispering and discussing what could have happened.

Li Xincheng's gaze swept over the crowd until his eyes abruptly locked onto a single point.

*That bastard is here too?* A murderous glint flashed in Li Xincheng's eyes.

Yesterday, Lin Yi had made a public spectacle of him at the martial arts trading fair. A gentleman does not wait to exact revenge.

He hadn't expected retribution to arrive so swiftly—Lin Yi had actually courted death by running straight to the Martial Dao Alliance.

As the disciplinary elder here, all he needed to do was drop a few hints to push Lin Yi directly into the line of fire.

Lin Yi noticed Li Xincheng's covert gaze, but paid it no mind.

After waiting a few more minutes, Li Xincheng spoke up, "Everyone, I am the disciplinary elder. I trust you all remember the commotion at Youling Mountain yesterday? That was because the Jade Spirit we kept in captivity was slain by someone."

"Elder, what is a Jade Spirit?" someone asked in confusion.

Jade Spirits were rare wonders nurtured by heaven and earth, and very few people had actually heard of them.

Clearly lacking the patience to explain it to the crowd, Li Xincheng stated, "You only need to know that a Jade Spirit is equivalent to a Spirit Sovereign."

A Spirit Sovereign?

Everyone present was somewhat startled, but what shocked them even more was that someone had managed to slay a Spirit Sovereign in such a short span of time.

This was no small fry.

Glancing around the surroundings, Li Xincheng continued, "I suspect that the murderer is hiding among you all."

As he spoke, Li Xincheng's gaze lingered intentionally or unintentionally on Lin Yi.

While he claimed it was merely suspicion, the spearhead of his accusation was unmistakably pointed straight at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi remained utterly unperturbed, contrasting sharply with Zhuge Xian beside him, whose legs had grown weak with fear, her palms slick with sweat.