Chapter 157 – Xue Ye Assassinated

Chen Xin's body turned into a flash of sword light, darting off to the side. But he had barely moved ten meters before another miniature sun appeared right in his path. He flickered away again—only to sweep his spiritual power instinctively around, discovering that the air around him was suddenly filled with hundreds of miniature suns.

Each one of these small suns radiated a crimson-gold glow, pulsating rhythmically like they were breathing. With each pulse, their size rapidly grew—and they began drifting through the air in irregular, unpredictable motions. In the blink of an eye, they'd already swelled to the size of basketballs.

"I... I can't stay inside this field of miniature suns!"

Cold sweat poured down Chen Xin's back. The sheer energy contained within these miniature suns stunned him. He activated the third soul ring on his sword, drastically boosting his speed. But the moment he moved, he realized something was wrong—these miniature suns had gravitational pull, and they were pulling him in all directions.

Ordinarily, with his speed, he could have escaped the affected area within two or three breaths. But now, even with all his strength, it took him a full ten breaths to flee through the weakest point of the gravitational field.

BOOM!

Just as he made it out, a deafening series of explosions erupted behind him. The sound crashed through the sky, bursting in his ears so violently he heard nothing but ringing. His clothes were shredded by the heat wave that followed, which flung him through the air for over a thousand meters.

As he stabilized himself and looked back—cold sweat instantly soaked his forehead.

The sky now looked as if hundreds of suns had appeared, each one radiating blinding light. The world seemed to be entirely swallowed by crimson-gold brilliance, stabbing painfully into his eyes. He reflexively coated his eyeballs with a thin layer of soul power to shield them from the light.

When the radiance finally faded, the area where the miniature suns had been was now a crimson-gold sea of fire. Arcs of crimson-gold lightning raged over the burning ocean, as if trying to annihilate everything. The sea itself had collapsed downward by a thousand meters, exposing the devastated seafloor.

At the same time, he realized that Xu Yang had held back. If those miniature suns had exploded while he was still inside... he might've been crippled, if not outright dead.

Meanwhile, Xu Yang was shivering slightly, shocked by his own power. He hadn't expected that, after activating his Sun Spirit Avatar, the fusion of so many abilities would result in such terrifying strength. Only he could sense the true destructive force produced by the resonant detonation of over a hundred miniature suns.

If he hadn't used Pure White World to separate out the chaotic blast energy—leaving only pure soul power—and if he hadn't relied on acceleration and thermal manipulation to suppress the temperature spike, the resulting heatwave might have vaporized Chen Xin on the spot.

The dream he had always held—to scour the land clean with sunlight—suddenly felt... within reach.

Just as Xu Yang was spacing out, Chen Xin floated over and waved a hand in front of his face. Seeing no reaction, he smacked him hard.

"What are you daydreaming about? So dazed!"

Xu Yang didn't get angry. Instead, he rubbed his cheek sheepishly and said:

"Nothing much... I was just thinking about my Sun Spirit Avatar. This was something I've dreamed of since I was little, and now that it's real, I'm just feeling a bit emotional."

Chen Xin's face darkened slightly, but he was still curious.

"So your dream was to blow people up with miniature suns? Didn't you already do that ages ago? The power wasn't weak even then."

Xu Yang shook his head.

"It's different. Back then, I could mimic it using my martial soul, but it didn't have this same clarity. This feeling—of summoning solar power into a miniature sun with just a thought—it's not something you can get by splitting the martial soul."

"So what's different?"

"Hard to explain. Grandpa Jian, you don't have a Sun-type martial soul, so you wouldn't understand how it feels. Let me just show you."

Xu Yang raised his hand and began to demonstrate. He honestly couldn't describe the sensation in words—this strange sense of absolute control over sunlight. Right now, he felt as if he was the sun itself.

Under Chen Xin's stunned gaze, light gathered in Xu Yang's hand, forming a long crimson-gold spear. It radiated pure heat, so intense it felt like it could ignite the air around it. But strangely, Chen Xin didn't sense any soul power within it—just that same comforting energy as sunlight warming his skin.

"This…"

"Grandpa Jian, this is pure sunlight, condensed into physical form. No soul power at all. Earlier, the miniature suns I threw at you were a fusion of sunlight and soul power."

As he spoke, the crimson-gold spear shrank rapidly in his hand. With a flash of soul power, it transformed back into a miniature sun hovering in his palm.

This time, Chen Xin could feel the soul power—yet more than that, he sensed a violent, explosive heat. That energy was constantly burning, incredibly unstable. Without Xu Yang's absolute control over his soul power and spiritual energy, this little sun would have detonated immediately.

Chen Xin didn't know what kind of energy this was, but Xu Yang understood it perfectly.

It was a fission-based explosive. Not quite nuclear fusion—but definitely nuclear fission-level intensity. It was this chain-reaction style of energy amplification that made the earlier explosion so terrifying.

Because it wasn't based on atomic nuclei colliding—but rather, a simulation using soul power and sunlight—the miniature suns didn't emit radiation. All they had was destructive force.

"You'd better put that away."

Chen Xin watched for a while longer, but couldn't figure out how it worked.

Xu Yang casually tossed the glowing orb into the sea. Immediately, the ocean lit up from below with the light of a new miniature sun, illuminating the entire seafloor.

"Let's go. I've lost interest in sparring now."

Xu Yang nodded, and the two of them turned into streaks of light, flying off toward the continent.

Meanwhile...

The news that Emperor Xue Ye had been assassinated had already spread throughout Heaven Dou City.

Even Ning Fengzhi in far-off Seven Treasure City received word. The entire Heaven Dou Empire was thrown into chaos. Knight legions had taken to the streets. A grim, oppressive atmosphere blanketed the empire like a stormcloud.

In the Hall of Tranquility, "Xue Qinghe"—actually Qian Renxue in disguise—was sobbing over Xue Ye's corpse, her face buried in tears, eyes swollen red. Surrounding her were many imperial ministers and generals, all with grim, dark expressions.

Xue Beng and Xue Xing stood nearby, both grieving, their eyes full of sorrow—and even more so, hatred.

"Who?! Who did this?!"

"Guards! Lock down the city. I want the assassin captured and torn to shreds!"

Qian Renxue lifted her tear-streaked face, eyes blazing with killing intent, her voice dripping with venom as she screamed, her rage perfectly acted. It was as if she genuinely wanted vengeance for Xue Ye.

General Ge Long stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and rushed out to carry out the orders.

In the blink of an eye, all Heaven Dou soul masters loyal to the royal family mobilized. The entire capital was now under martial law—hunting for a murderer who didn't exist.