Chapter 898: Use Their Own Way Against Them

"Lady Muhan!"

He Pingsheng could no longer bear Muhan's words and interrupted her: "You seem to misunderstand one thing—while the Mingwang Ritual indeed incorporates your clan's 【Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual】, that does not mean the Mingwang Ritual is identical to the Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual!"

"Moreover, the Mingwang Ritual was cultivated by the Great Lun Mingwang only after absorbing and integrating eleven different spiritual arts!"

"It was not derived from your clan alone!"

"Others consider this perfectly normal—and utterly simple—so why do you insist this is exclusively your Nine-Colored Clan's?"

"Friend, you jest!" Lady Muhan said. "I advise you not to speak like this again!"

"If that's true, doesn't it mean the Great Lun Mingwang was merely a fraud? His so-called self-created spiritual art is nothing but plagiarism!"

He Pingsheng countered: "Plagiarism?"

"Tell me—what rank is your 【Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual】?"

"And what rank is the Mingwang Ritual?"

"Show me how you could plagiarize a Yellow-rank art into a Heaven-rank art?"

At these words, Lady Muhan's face darkened.

This statement not only stated the truth but struck right at the Nine-Colored Clan's sore point.

"Friend… this is getting ridiculous!" Lady Muhan took a deep breath. "Let's set aside the rank issue—just answer this: Is the Mingwang Ritual derived from your 【Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual】?"

He Pingsheng was stunned.

He felt debating with Lady Muhan today was a terrible mistake.

Trying to reason with someone who refuses reason is utterly pointless.

"Fine!" He Pingsheng said. "I don't know whether the Mingwang Ritual originated from your 【Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual】, or how much it borrowed—so can you show me the original version of the Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual?"

"Of course!" Lady Muhan had prepared this already and immediately produced the Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual.

As the Great Lun Mingwang had said, its rank was low—only Yellow-Middle Grade!

So it was not a valuable artifact.

For a Body Integration cultivator, it held virtually no worth.

The Nine-Colored Peacock Clan had no reason to hide it.

He Pingsheng took the art, glanced at it, and within less than half a stick of incense, scanned its entire content: "I've seen the contents of the Mingwang Ritual."

"To be honest, if you claim this is the Mingwang Ritual, you're blatantly lying with your eyes open!"

"Also!"

"I have a question for you!" He Pingsheng pointed at the Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual: "Was this spiritual art truly discovered by your Nine-Colored Clan?"

"Or did you plagiarize it from another race?"

"Impossible!" Lady Muhan snapped. "It was discovered by our ancestral patriarch—how could we have plagiarized anyone?"

He Pingsheng said: "Wrong… how can you be certain it was discovered by your ancestor and not plagiarized?"

"You… I…"

Lady Muhan was so furious her nose twisted: "This is outrageous… you… you're unreasonable!"

"Not so… not so!" He Pingsheng smiled. "I'm not being unreasonable—I once saw two human texts, and in every aspect, your art is a blatant copy of those two!"

"But your plagiarism was crude and incompetent!"

"They were Heaven-rank spiritual arts—you reduced them to Yellow-rank!"

"You didn't even copy them fully!"

"You—you—you're slandering us!" Lady Muhan cried.

"No," He Pingsheng remained calm now, smiling. "I'm not slandering you—I have proof."

"The two human texts aren't with me—I'll retrieve them. It will take one day."

"Go back to your Nine-Colored Clan and bring several respected elders. Tomorrow, we'll compare the two arts and see if your Nine-Colored Clan is the plagiarist."

"By the way—don't just bring your Nine-Colored Clan's elders!"

"Bring some from other races too!"

"Only then will this be fair and impartial!"

"Fine!" Lady Muhan fumed. "You said it was two Heaven-rank human spiritual arts—make sure you bring them, or if you falsely accuse our Nine-Colored Clan, we won't let you off easily!"

"Hmph…"

With that, Lady Muhan left.

He Pingsheng smiled.

He didn't leave.

Instead, he seized the opportunity, pulled out a blank jade slip, and re-etched the 【Nine-Colored Ripped Feather Ritual】 into it.

Then—snap—he dropped it into the Treasure Basin.

Wait.

Tomorrow, two Heaven-rank spiritual arts would appear.

…

The next morning!

In the Great Lun Mingwang's imperial palace grounds, seven or eight Body Integration and Mahayana cultivators had gathered.

The Great Lun Mingwang—one.

He Pingsheng—one.

Hu Chen—one.

Hu Chen was merely dragged along by He Pingsheng to fill the numbers.

Besides these three, the Nine-Colored Peacock Clan had two:

Lady Muhan and Tianjiu Laozu, the Nine-Colored Peacock Clan's Mahayana elder.

The other two were mediators:

One was the Peng Emperor of the Peng Emperor Domain, Peng Emperor.

The other was Zhu Zhengyan, father of Zhu Xuanlun and an old friend of He Pingsheng and the Great Lun Mingwang.

Upon seeing He Pingsheng, both were speechless with shock.

Especially Peng Emperor—cold sweat poured from his forehead.

After all, during the Stone Platform Gathering, the Peng Clan's crown prince had joined the assassination attempt on He Pingsheng—and had died in He Pingsheng's hands.

In that sense, they bore a mortal grudge.

Oddly, Tianjiu Laozu of the Nine-Colored Clan had never seen He Pingsheng before and failed to recognize him.

"You humans dare accuse our Nine-Colored Peacock Clan of plagiarizing your spiritual arts—and claim we copied your Heaven-rank arts? Produce sufficient proof!" Tianjiu Laozu glared at He Pingsheng. "Otherwise, Heihei … little human brat, don't blame old man for slapping you dead!"

"You overestimate yourself," He Pingsheng said coolly. "That immortal phoenix elder said the same thing—he slapped me three times, lost thirty thousand years of lifespan, and still couldn't kill me."

Hu Chen, standing behind He Pingsheng, sneered faintly.

The Great Lun Mingwang smiled.

But the others across from them were stunned.

What?

The Phoenix Clan's patriarch?

Didn't kill him?

What did this guy just call the Phoenix Clan's patriarch?

"Old undead"?

Sssss… how bold—he must have some powerful backing.

"You—you—you're Wang Dun!" Tianjiu Laozu, thinking himself clever, suddenly slapped his forehead, his body hairs standing on end in terror.