Everyone held their breath.

Steward Sun’s fist, hidden beneath his sleeve, unconsciously clenched!

Now!

Almost there!

One breath!

Light flowed smoothly, the formation stable.

Two breaths!

The wind-attributed spiritual energy began to grow more lively, the hum from the formation plate rising higher and higher!

Three breaths!

Just as everyone anticipated the formation’s full power activating, that sharp, swift aura of the escape technique about to burst forth—

A sudden, drastic change!

The flowing spiritual light on the formation plate gave a violent shudder!

The sensation was like a person sprinting at full speed, only to have all their strength instantly drained away.

The originally brilliant radiance, like a punctured balloon, rapidly dimmed.

The high-pitched hum transformed into a resentful whimper, then abruptly ceased.

The entire formation plate, like a chicken with its neck wrung, went completely dark, utterly still and silent.

Silence.

A deathly stillness.

No explosion.

No shockwave.

Not even a single wisp of spiritual energy leakage.

It just… gently, peacefully, fizzled out.

This unexpected outcome left everyone stunned.

The vicious sneer on Steward Sun’s face froze at the corner of his mouth.

His mind went blank. The prepared, sorrowful eulogy he had ready was stuck in his throat, impossible to utter.

This gentle failure snapped the nerve he had strained to its absolute limit, and the words burst out!

“Impossible! It should have clearly been—”

He abruptly cut himself off, his expression changing drastically!

It’s over!

He had slipped up!

But it was already too late.

The moment he misspoke, Su Ming moved.

He seemed frightened silly by this sudden failure, his face showing the perfect amount of “panic” and “confusion.”

He staggered forward a step, then bowed deeply toward Chen Ping at the head of the hall!

“Senior Brother Chen! This disciple is foolish and incompetent! Please punish me!”

His voice carried a sob, filled with grievance and bewilderment.

“While repairing it, this disciple felt the flow of the spiritual conduits here was quite similar to a case recorded in the ‘Miscellaneous Records of the Yuanfeng Jiazi Year’ that I happened upon in the reference room! I harbored doubts all along!”

“This disciple was so bold as to attempt minor adjustments to several auxiliary circuits, trying to avoid the risk, but… but I never imagined it would still fail in the end!”

Having said this, as if to prove his words, he frantically pulled out a scroll of his own repair notes from his storage pouch, along with a… yellowed, fragile, ancient-looking book.

He raised both items high above his head.

“These are this disciple’s repair notes and that miscellaneous record! Please, Senior Brother, examine them!”

Instantly, everyone’s gaze converged on that ancient book.

‘Miscellaneous Records of the Yuanfeng Jiazi Year’!

Hyacinth Crystal!

Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance!

These key words slammed into Steward Sun’s heart like invisible sledgehammers!

His face drained of all color, turning deathly pale.

Above, Chen Ping’s gaze had long since sharpened like a blade.

He didn’t look at Su Ming, nor at the failed formation plate.

He simply rose slowly, step by step, descending from the dais.

He took the notes and the yellowed ancient book from Su Ming’s hands.

A sweep of his divine sense.

The notes clearly recorded Su Ming’s “doubts” and “tentative modifications.”

The ancient book contained that shocking record about “Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance”!

The formation fizzling out.

Steward Sun’s slip of the tongue.

Su Ming’s “defense.”

And this ironclad, century-old material evidence!

The chain of evidence was perfectly closed!

Chen Ping slowly closed the ancient book and looked up.

His face instantly turned livid!

A bone-chilling, murderous intent belonging to a Golden Core cultivator erupted violently!

The air in the entire stone hall seemed to be sucked out in an instant, solidifying into glass.

This pressure was no longer the previous probing aimed solely at Su Ming.

It was an indiscriminate, all-encompassing storm!

All the menial disciples turned pale under the wrath of this Golden Core cultivator, their legs trembling, even breathing becoming a luxury.

Some with weaker cultivation had already collapsed to the floor.

In the center of the hall, Steward Sun looked as if struck by lightning.

Ninety-nine percent of that killing intent was locked onto him.

He felt his very soul freeze.

“Se… Senior Brother Chen…”

His teeth chattered, each word squeezed out from between them.

“A misunderstanding… this is all a misunderstanding…”

Chen Ping did not look at him.

He simply slowly closed the ancient book in his hands, his movements gentle, as if polishing a rare treasure.

Then, he lifted his head, his gaze passing over everyone to land on Steward Sun’s face.

That look held no anger, no fury.

Only a dead, unfathomably deep chill.

“Misunderstanding?”

Chen Ping’s voice was soft, yet it stabbed into Steward Sun’s ears like a red-hot iron rod.

“You’re saying this tampered-with formation diagram issued by the Formation Bureau is a misunderstanding?”

He waved the repair notes in his hand.

“Or are you saying Su Ming’s recorded concerns about ‘Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance’ in these notes are also a misunderstanding?”

Finally, he gently placed the yellowed ancient book on the verification platform.

“Or perhaps this ‘Miscellaneous Records of the Yuanfeng Jiazi Year’ from a century ago, which records the fatal flaw of the ‘Hyacinth Crystal,’ is also a misunderstanding?”

With each sentence, Chen Ping took a step forward.

Each step felt like it was stomping on Steward Sun’s heart.

Steward Sun’s complexion went from deathly pale to ashen gray.

He was finished.

All his arrangements, all his backup plans, had been strung together by these three items into a perfect chain of evidence pointing directly at himself.

He couldn’t understand it!

A menial! A crippled good-for-nothing!

How could he possibly know about a century-old case!

How could he possibly see through such an exquisite trap!

“I… I don’t know! I don’t know anything!”

Steward Sun let out a hysterical roar, making a final desperate struggle.

“It’s Su Ming! He’s the one with poor skills, failing the repair, trying to find an excuse to escape blame! He’s slandering me!”

“Oh?”

Chen Ping finally stood before him, looking down at him from above, a cruel curve lifting the corner of his mouth.

“Then how do you explain that ‘Impossible’ you blurted out just now when the formation failed?”

“What were you expecting?”

This question was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

Steward Sun completely broke down.

He collapsed to the floor, his face ashen, merely muttering repeatedly.

“No… it wasn’t me…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep