126: Chapter 126 Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot

"What?" Wang Chongyang's brows suddenly locked tightly together, his gaze locked firmly onto the blurry curtain of light projected by the Image Projection Bead.

He was far too familiar with that scarlet-golden bolt of lightning in the image—this was Shouren's lightning technique.

"What!"

Another exclamation rang out almost simultaneously, yet to everyone's surprise, it did not come from the Wang Family camp, but from the direction of the Spirit Sword Sect.

Yang Zhenghua abruptly stood up from his seat, the condescending composure on his face finally shattering completely, replaced by an incredulous shock.

He stared fixedly at the scarlet-gold figure shaped like lightning within the Image Projection Bead, his pupils contracting sharply as his voice involuntarily rose a few octaves.

"This golden lightning—could this be Fierce Thunder?!"

Hearing this, the two Foundation Establishment elders behind him changed expression simultaneously, and the elder who wielded fire techniques blurted out.

"Fierce Thunder? Senior Brother Yang, did you see wrong? Fierce Thunder has long been lost, how could there be a successor of Fierce Thunder within the borders of the Yue Kingdom?"

The elder who wielded wind blades stared fixedly at the scarlet-golden lightning bolt in the image, his lips twitching a few times before he spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Scarlet-gold in color and shaped like tribulation lightning, it is indeed Fierce Thunder without a doubt. Years ago, this old man saw the illustrations of Fierce Thunder in an ancient text within the Sect's Scripture Pavilion, and it is identical to the lightning in this Image Projection Bead."

Yang Zhenghua did not reply, instead abruptly turning his head, his gaze shooting like lightning toward the crowd behind Wang Yaozu.

That flash-and-gone fluctuation of lightning spiritual energy just now—he had originally thought it was just ordinary lightning technique cultivated by some Wang Family disciple. In a remote place like the Three Counties, it was already rare enough to produce a Lightning Spiritual Root, so he hadn't thought in the direction of Fierce Thunder at all.

But the images in the Image Projection Bead wouldn't lie—the color, form, and speed of that lightning bolt were entirely different from ordinary lightning techniques.

He had seen records in the Sect's Scripture Pavilion stating that Fierce Thunder was the exclusive Legacy of the ancient Thunder Emperor, which had been lost for countless tens of thousands of years, aside from that Cultivation Technique within the Sect where whoever cultivated it died.

The entire Yue Kingdom had never produced a successor of Fierce Thunder in nearly a thousand years; if the Wang Family truly had someone who had successfully cultivated Fierce Thunder...

He suddenly recalled the fluctuation of lightning spiritual energy that had been blocked by Wang Yaozu just moments ago.

Although that fluctuation was extremely brief and faint, it carried a sharpness that caused even him to involuntarily feel a sense of vigilance.

At the time, he simply thought it was some Wang Family disciple whose protective lightning light had been stimulated by the aftermath of a battle between Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Now that he thought about it—that was clearly the aura of Fierce Thunder.

"If it truly is a Cultivation Technique for cultivating Fierce Thunder, with this technique supplemented by our Central Five-Thunder Sword Cultivation canon, the gains from this trip will far outweigh simply putting pressure on the Wang Family!"

Yang Zhenghua's gaze swept swiftly across the faces of the Wang Family members, from Wang Yaozu to Wang Yaowen, and then from Wang Yaowen to the young faces of the Shou generation in the back rows.

His gaze finally landed on a youth in white within the crowd. The youth kept his head lowered, obscuring his features, but around his body, a trace of lightning breath that had not yet fully converged circulated within his Meridians. The sharpness of that lightning breath was identical to the scarlet-golden lightning in the Image Projection Bead.

His fingers unconsciously tightened around the hilt of the sword at his waist. What surged within his heart was no longer the anger and embarrassment from just moments ago, but a much more complex and greedy thought.

A successor of Fierce Thunder was far more valuable than a Foundation Establishment Family.

If he could bring him back to the Spirit Sword Sect and force out the complete Legacy of Fierce Thunder, his status within the Sect would no longer be merely second in the inner Sect.

"The one wearing white, raise your head."

Yang Zhenghua's voice returned to stability, yet the things suppressed beneath that stability caused the hearts of everyone present to tighten.

His fingers had already moved away from the sword hilt, shifting to behind his back, yet his thumb was still gently stroking the patterns on the crossguard—a habitual action he made when desperately suppressing some intense emotion.

Wang Yaozu calmly shifted sideways, blocking Wang Shouren a bit further behind him. Piling a respectful smile upon his face, he cupped his hands toward Yang Zhenghua and said.

"Envoy Yang, the images in the Image Projection Bead are merely the Yan Family's one-sided story. Who knows whether this Image Projection Bead was forged by them—"

"This seat told your son to raise his head."

Yang Zhenghua's voice turned abruptly cold, and the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Spiritual Pressure crushed unreservedly toward Wang Yaozu, pressing the bluestone slabs beneath Wang Yaozu's feet until they cracked inch by inch.

The gaze he directed toward Wang Yaozu already carried a hint of impatient killing intent; a head of a small Family who had just reached Foundation Establishment actually dared to block his path.

Wang Yaozu let out a muffled groan, his figure swaying slightly, yet he still steadily blocked in front of Wang Shouren.

He did not retreat, nor did he make way, simply putting his hands behind his back and secretly making an extremely covert hand gesture toward Wang Chongyang's direction.

Wang Chongyang took in every bit of this scene.

The unhurried and composed demeanor he wore while interrogating Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong just moments ago had quietly receded, replaced by a profound solemnity.

Wang Shouren took a deep breath and slowly stepped out from the crowd.

He felt his father's body tense up at that instant, and felt countless gazes from behind focus upon him simultaneously—there was Third Uncle's worry, Second Uncle's tension, and the held breaths of the brothers of the Shou generation.

He did not turn back, simply raising his hand as a scarlet-golden bolt of lightning lit up his palm. That lightning was pure and violent, still so dazzling under the sunlight that people could not look directly at it; electric arcs leaped across his fingertips, emitting faint crackling sounds.

"Father, there is no need to worry." His voice was as steady as usual, and he raised his head to calmly meet Yang Zhenghua's gaze.

Yang Zhenghua's pupils abruptly constricted, staring fixedly at the scarlet-golden lightning bolt in Wang Shouren's palm. His Adam's apple rolled up and down once, and immediately afterwards, he burst into a string of wild, out-of-tune laughter.

That laughter was mixed with incredulous pleasant surprise and an almost greedy excitement.

"Good! Good! Good! No need to investigate, it's too troublesome, this seat will handle it personally!"

Before his words had even faded, his figure had already appeared like a ghost at the edge of the mountain gate's stone platform.

Those three Loose Cultivators kneeling on the ground hadn't even had time to raise their heads before Yang Zhenghua's palm was already pressed down upon their crowns.

The true fire of the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage spewed forth from his palm, and the three Loose Cultivators collapsed to the ground in response before they could even let out a miserable scream. Three illusory Divine Souls were forcefully ripped out from their physical shells, emitting utterly harrowing wails under the scorching refinement of the Foundation Establishment true fire.

"I'll speak! I'll speak! Spare my life—" The one who spoke first was the Loose Cultivator on the far left. His Divine Soul twisted and struggled in the true fire, his voice intermittent.

"We... we deceived the Yan Family... the Wang Family is not the murderer... That image was recorded by us beforehand, we just wanted to take this image to extort some cultivation resources... Fake, it's all fake!"

"What!" Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong's Divine Soul trembled violently, nearly dissipating on its own, "How could it be fake! I personally inspected that image! It was clearly real!"

The Divine Soul of the Loose Cultivator in the middle had already begun to collapse, and he shouted with his hoarse voice, exhausting his last shred of consciousness.

"The image... the image is real, but it wasn't recorded on the night the Ning Family was wiped out! It was secretly filmed by the three of us brothers while Wang Shouren was cultivating, hiding in the woods outside Lotus Pier!

That night, there was no Wang Family troop at all! We made it all up! The Yan Family gave us Spirit Stones and told us to say this—"

Before he could finish speaking, his Divine Soul could no longer endure the scorching refinement of the true fire, bursting with a loud bang into a sky full of light points that dissipated in the morning breeze.

The final Loose Cultivator was a middle-aged man with a weathered face. His Divine Soul clenched its teeth tightly, his eyes filled with struggle and fear, until he finally couldn't hold on any longer and rasped out in a hoarse voice.

"Those Puppet remains... were sold by the Wang Family to Loose Cultivators, and collected by the Yan Family from the Loose Cultivators... When we said we saw with our own eyes that the Wang Family slaughtered their way into the Ning Family, it was all fake... We only wanted to scam the Yan Family out of a sum of Spirit Stones, we never expected things to escalate to the Spirit Sword Sect..."