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All of them could tell that beneath Ye Zichen's flat indifference was towering fury.

There was no doubt about it!

He'd trusted them, but they'd played him for a fool. Anyone would struggle to keep their temper given the circ.u.mstances.

"Brother Ye, don't listen to that demoness's lies!" cried Pang Zheng.

"Then you're saying Xue Mo and the others really did go off to explore a hidden land, right?" Ye Zichen chuckled and looked at Pang Zheng. When he saw him nod, he instantly slammed his fist into a nearby table, shattering it into pieces. "You're still lying to me even now!"

Instantly, countless Upheaval Alliance members gathered within the hall.

Pu Jingwan, Jiang Yan, and the Great Sage were there too. They stared, stunned, at the shattered table. The atmosphere was so oppressive, they didn't dare meet Ye Zichen's gaze.

All they could do was silently enter and stand by Ye Zichen's side.

The second the Holy Maiden of the Nine Li told him about Xue Mo's heavy injuries, Ye Zichen knew she was telling the truth. Between her and Jiang Yong, it was clear who was lying.

It wasn't that he was naturally inclined to believe bad news over good, but rather, that Jiang Yong and the others had been acting unnaturally right from the start.

Ye Zichen had borne this in mind the whole time, which was why he had never quite trusted when they told him.

Pang Zheng and the others were scared by this sudden outburst. Even Xiao Yumei couldn't help but frown. Yes, she hadn't spent much time with Ye Zichen in the past hundred years, but she was confident that given her understanding of Ye Zichen's character, he hadn't changed.

He was truly angry! He wasn't acting in the slightest.

She really wanted to know just what his friends and the Holy Maiden were discussing. Why was Ye Zichen reacting so strongly?

"Brother Ye, I'm sorry….." Jiang Wei said, sounding deeply apologetic.

"Jiang Wei, I never would have guessed that you'd dirty your hands with all this too," laughed Ye Zichen.

"I wouldn't have guessed this would happen either. I would normally disdain to get involved with this," Jiang Wei laughed bitterly. "But well, you already know what happened. I wound up getting involved after all."

"Hah…." Ye Zichen sneered.

"We really did lie to you, but please believe me when I saw that we did it with only the best of intentions," said Jiang Yong.

"I don't want to hear it," said Ye Zichen, cutting off the rest of Jiang Yong's explanation. "All I want to know is what happened to Xue Mo. What happened? How is her condition?"

Everyone instantly fell silent.

But their silence was an answer too. From the look of things, the Holy Maiden's description of Xue Mo's injuries wasn't even the slightest bit exaggerated. It was true: Xue Mo hadn't just been injured; she hadn't recovered yet. She was still in danger.

Her fate was still uncertain!

Everything Ye Zichen had experienced with Xue Mo rose unbidden in his mind. He'd entered Anti-Upheaval mostly because Xue Mo had left him with no choice; she'd found his crystal card. If he wanted it back, he had to obey.

After joining up, in order to carry out her orders, he'd turned into the infamous Excavator.

At the time, Ye Zichen saw Xue Mo as crafty and a bit shameless.

But then she'd tossed him her share of ten-thousand-year black jade, a treasure worth as much as literal cities, without so much as blinking an eye. When they'd faced the Subterranean Beasts, she'd used her body to protect Ye Zichen from an otherwise fatal blow, then smiled as she berated him for his carelessness. "If you die," she said, "as your society head, it'll cause me a whole lot of trouble."

Afterward, disregarding her own injuries, she'd saved a medicinal pill for Ye Zichen and protected him, dagger in hand, her eyes sharp with ferocity, from the surrounding danger.

Then there was her determination to save Murong Xue and Jiang Yong. In the face of a sea of beasts, she'd left Ye Zichen at the rear, where it was safer.

In short, the girl had her fair share of stubbornness and craftiness, but she was hot-blooded, compassionate, and responsible.

Ye Zichen had long since started considering her one of his bros. He even thought that, once he'd established the Upheaval Alliance, he could bring her in as a vice alliance head or something like that. He could use the pressure that came with such a position as petty revenge for past minor grievances.

But now, she'd been beaten to the brink of death.

Hah….

"Who the hell did that to her? And how on earth did it happen? Tell me!"

Everyone fell silent. The way Jiang Wei saw it, they could still keep things under wraps if they fell silent. But then, they'd forgotten about the Nine Li's Holy Maiden. Even if they kept quiet, she….

"I'll tell you!" Surprisingly, the speaker wasn't the Holy Maiden, but rather, Murong Xue.

Murong Xue's eyes were bloodshot. She'd been wracked with anguish ever since Xue Mo got hurt, and now that Ye Zichen knew the truth, she couldn't hold back any longer. She felt deeply apologetic about her failure to keep Xue Mo safe, but more than that, her heart was blazing.

She was burning up with d.e.s.i.r.e for revenge!

She'd watched that man beat Xue Mo to the brink of death with her own eyes. She'd watched as he grabbed Xue Mo by the hair and seen the disdain in his eyes.

She cursed her own weakness and helplessness, and hated that she couldn't get revenge for Xue Mo on her own.

Her emotions were complex. In addition to self-recrimination, she felt an intense longing… Longing to kill that guy with her own two hands.

Even now, she felt the same way.

Before Ye Zichen learned the truth, she swallowed her emotions and helped keep the incident a secret, but now that he'd found out….

"What do you want to hear? I'll tell you whatever you want."

"I want to know everything!"

"Alright." Murong Xue nodded without hesitation, completely disregarding the others' objections. Her eyes flashed with deep fury, and her fists clenched viciously.

"In the fourth round of the Battle of Geniuses, we were sent to a hidden realm. The realm had a treasure inside, a sword."

Without hiding or changing anything, Murong Xue told him the whole story in full detail.

Essentially, the last person to remain in the realm would win the sword. In the end, only three people remained: Xue Mo, Murong Xue, and one other person…..

A man surnamed "Bai."

Bai Yulong.

At the time, Murong Xue was already injured. Each participant had a talisman they could shatter

if they wanted to concede. They could also shatter opponents' talismans to force them out of the hidden realm. Out of concern for her safety, Xu Mo shattered Murong Xue's talisman and sent her outside…. Then she and Bai Yulong started their final match.

Up until that point, Bai Yulong hadn't revealed any particularly impressive strength. He'd done nothing worth paying attention to. When she saw that he made it all the way to the end, Xue Mo couldn't help but wonder how on earth he'd survived this long.

And yet, this final battle was what taught the participants in the Battle of Geniuses the true meaning of terror.

Final matches were typically ten minutes each, yet they only fought for five…

Or rather, Xue Mo one-sidedly endured his brutality for five minutes.

Five minutes.

Xue Mo even went so far as to activate the power of her bloodline, but she was still beaten until every inch of her was covered in wounds. She'd tried to break her talisman and concede several times, but Bai Yulong stopped her.

He refused to let her give up.

All that was left for Xue Mo was….

Five whole minutes of brutal, explosive torture.