Chapter 405: Disqualification

Ye Cangyuan was listening intently. His brows furrowed, and he sternly declared, "I will not repeat myself a second time!" An invisible aura of authority slowly descended.

Li Shiqian's heart was filled with reverence. But how could she apologize like this? What about her dignity? If she had to publicly apologize to top talents from the Nine Sects like Xia Chaoge, Jin Zhongming, or Liang Feiyan, that would be understandable. Their status and position were clear; apologizing to them wasn't shameful. But what was Jiang Fan? Just someone without a spiritual root! Apologizing to him, especially bowing, wouldn't that undermine her identity as a Supreme Sect prodigy?

However, Ye Cangyuan was biased towards Jiang Fan and pressuring her. So, with a face full of defiance, she glared at Jiang Fan and said, "Jiang Fan, I misunderstood you today. I can apologize to you, but not here, not now. I will properly apologize to you in private, and I can also offer you compensation. I hope you can understand me."

Jiang Fan was somewhat amused, but also annoyed. He coldly said, "When you slandered me, you made sure the whole world heard! But when you apologize, you only want me to hear?"

He really hadn't expected this. This woman had turned a simple apology into such a scene! If her attitude had been even slightly better, Jiang Fan wouldn't have pursued the matter further. But the more she acted like this, the less Jiang Fan could easily indulge her!

"Apologize! Now, here, immediately!" he commanded, his voice ringing with authority.

Li Shiqian was furious: "Jiang Fan! Don't push your luck! Our Sect Master and my senior brother are both here! Don't think that just because Xia Chaoge calls you 'Uncle-Master,' you can act so presumptuously towards me!" She actually threatened him publicly, looking as if she would rather die than yield.

However, this completely enraged Ye Cangyuan. His eyes burned with fury, his robes billowed, and he coldly thundered, "You are the presumptuous one!" Without any visible movement from him, a terrifying pressure, like a tsunami, crashed down heavily upon Li Shiqian.

*Pfft!* Li Shiqian, with her Core Formation stage one cultivation, was utterly helpless against this pressure. In an instant, she was violently slammed to the ground! The immense impact made her involuntarily spit out a large mist of blood. Li Shiqian groaned in pain, her eyes wide with horror. Ye Cangyuan had actually... actually attacked her himself. Only then did she realize that her public threats had crossed Ye Cangyuan's bottom line!

Ignoring her injuries, she quickly scrambled to her feet and knelt on the ground, saying, "Disciple... disciple knows her mistake."

Ye Cangyuan coldly stated: "You openly threatened another disciple in front of the Vice Pavilion Master? So, your Sect Master and senior brother are that powerful?"

With a flick of his wrist, he produced a thick roster. It contained the names of disciples from various sects participating in missions. His gaze swept over it, and he quickly found Li Shiqian's name. With a ruthless swipe of his finger, he completely erased her name.

"From today onward, your qualification to undertake missions is revoked! Return to your Supreme Sect!"

"What?" Li Shiqian's face turned pale with shock. Being stripped of her mission qualification meant that while others were striving for merit and exchanging for vast amounts of resources, she could only watch helplessly! Those stronger than her would become even stronger, causing her to lose any chance of catching up. Those inferior to her would rapidly advance and leave her far behind! It had directly altered her original destiny.

She was completely panicked, pleading, "Vice Pavilion Master Ye, disciple knows her mistake, I will apologize to Jiang Fan right away. Please, Vice Pavilion Master Ye, reconsider your decision."

She had never expected that her status as a proud daughter of heaven, which usually gave her advantages, had not only failed to benefit her but had instead brought about such a disaster!

Ye Cangyuan coldly put away the roster and said, "There's no need. Since you were unwilling to apologize, then punishment will serve as justice for Jiang Fan!"

Li Shiqian became frantic, screaming heartbrokenly, "But this will ruin my entire life!"

Ye Cangyuan said blandly, "Spreading rumors, maliciously slandering, knowing you were wrong yet showing no remorse. That alone would only show a lack of personal virtue. But your gravest mistake was abusing your authority and bullying others. Someone like you, if they continue on the battlefield, will ruin more lives."

Everyone who came here had fought valiantly, shedding blood. They returned from the front lines only to suffer slander from the rear. When demanding an apology, they were instead threatened, and threatened in front of him, their commander? As the supreme commander guarding this place, he absolutely would not tolerate it!

"Get out!" Ye Cangyuan barked coldly.

Li Shiqian's heart trembled. Supported by several Supreme Sect disciples, she quickly left. But before leaving, her gaze towards Jiang Fan was filled with venomous resentment. If Jiang Fan hadn't been so petty, would things have turned out this way?

Jiang Fan shook his head: "Truly incorrigible. Even now, she still believes others are at fault." A simple apology, yet she chose to escalate it step by step, ultimately crossing Ye Cangyuan's bottom line. She truly had no one but herself to blame.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Xia Chaoge, her head bowed, her expression complex. He couldn't help but show a hint of apology on his face. "I've put you in a difficult position." On one side was her Uncle-Master, on the other, her junior sister. She was caught in the middle, unable to favor either.

Xia Chaoge shook her head and sighed softly, "I don't blame Uncle-Master. Her current predicament was bound to happen sooner or later. Before this, she had conflicts with several disciples from other sects, mostly due to her impulsive and overly arrogant nature. In the end, it was always the Sect Master who stepped in and used his authority to calm things down. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that she became complacent and inadvertently provoked Vice Pavilion Master Ye. I just feel regret for her talent. Had it been someone else, their path might have been entirely different."

So many diligent and aspiring disciples were limited by their aptitude. Li Shiqian was dealt a naturally good hand, yet she played it like this.

The matter settled. Ye Cangyuan returned to the grand hall with an impassive expression. The disciples present, all silent as cicadas in winter, collected their respective spirit beasts and dispersed. Today, they had truly witnessed what it meant to "kill the chicken to scare the monkey." No matter if you were a proud daughter of heaven, if you disobeyed the rules, your mission qualification would be directly revoked, leaving you with lifelong regret!

*Smash!*

In a certain manor. Hua Xiangchen furiously smashed the teacup in his hand, exclaiming in rage: "Jiang Fan is going too far! For such a trivial matter, he forced Junior Sister to lose her mission qualification, ruining her future!"

Li Shiqian, slumped on the ground, wept and complained, her expression utterly aggrieved.

The Supreme Sect disciples who had brought her back exchanged glances. They all sighed silently. Senior Sister Li didn't mention a single word about threatening Jiang Fan with their Sect Master and Senior Brother in front of Ye Cangyuan! That was the fundamental reason she was stripped of her qualification. But with Senior Brother Hua so furious, and the Sect Master above looking so grim his face seemed about to drip water, how dared they reveal the truth and incur their wrath? Besides, given the Sect Master's usual favoritism towards Li Shiqian, even if he knew the truth, he would still blame Jiang Fan. Whether they spoke or not made no real difference.

"Master!" Hua Xiangchen grabbed the sword from the table and cupped his hands, saying: "Disciple will go find Jiang Fan now and get justice for Junior Sister!"

The Supreme Sect Master's face was as dark as stagnant water as he asked, "Do you have confidence?"

Hua Xiangchen's jaw muscles twitched. No one would believe that the esteemed head disciple of the Supreme Sect Master, the Senior Brother, when going to settle a score with a disciple without a spiritual root, would be asked by his Sect Master if he had the confidence to defeat the opponent. Yet, the reality was that he had once been defeated by Jiang Fan! This was a humiliation seared into his soul. For over a month, every moment had been an torment of humiliation. He had thought day and night of nothing but wiping away that disgrace! Today, his chance had come! Avenge his junior sister? That was just a pretense. Erasing his humiliation was his sole objective!

Hua Xiangchen cupped his hands and said calmly, "Master, what are you saying? This disciple... has broken through to Core Formation Stage Two!"