Fu Zhi watched Fu Yinhong, who flew into the room with an uncontrollable flow of emotions.

This was his daughter.

He had not seen her in the four years he had locked himself up to study the spiritual array.

Although he had wanted to catch up with his daughter, the excitement of seeing her once again was quickly overwhelmed by the bad news that he had yet to break to the rest.

He could reminisce about his daughter at a later time. The issue at hand was that the Cardinal Wheel was lost. There was a possibility that the existence of the White Cave was in danger.

"Fu Yinhong!"

The moment he called out, the men felt like they had gone back in time to the decades before.

The familiar yet foreign commanding voice made everyone's body tense as they stopped in their tracks. They stood silently and still, awaiting the command.

"Present!"

Tears were pouring from the frame of Fu Yinhong's eyes.

However, even at this moment, she had maintained her composure. Her terrifying presence stood out strongly from the others around her.

Fu Zhi inhaled deeply and instructed calmly, "Immediately lockdown the City Lord Mansion, forbade anyone from leaving, and activate code Sovereign."

All of the men were stunned and unsure of what had occurred.

Liu Qing was no exception. He was stunned by the sudden seriousness in his tone.

Had a Sovereign individual snuck into the City Lord Mansion and caused the destruction of this scale?

He gazed at the sea of flowers and realized that the situation was not as straightforward as she thought.

"What happened, Elder Fu?"

Could it be that Fu Xing was right about the situation?

Was Xu Xiaoshou the one responsible for the destruction that had wrecked the place?

He did not know that the issue of the sea of flowers had already been settled by Fu Zhi.

If Xu Xiaoshou was unaware of the Divine Secret, it would not be possible for him to meddle with the Cardinal Wheel.

There must have been someone who used the chaos to steal the treasure from right under his eyes.

"Don't bother asking. I'm not too sure."

Fu Zhi swept his hand to the side and reprimanded, "Some thief must have snuck amidst the banquet at the City Lord Mansion tonight. Your defense was too weak!"

"Yes!"

Fu Yinhong bowed her head and turned to leave with Liu Qing.

Her father's solemn expression reflected the gravity of the situation at hand.

As she turned, her spiritual senses picked up a figure who had arrived at the scene.

This was the target everyone was looking for. The eyes of the men lit up with delight.

With confirmation from both Fu Xing and Fu Zhi, and the coincidence of the explosion that had occurred in this place, there was only one undeniable suspect.

Xu Xiaoshou.

"Father I have located the thief!"

The bright eyes of Fu Yinhong portrayed the joy in her heart. With a yell, she summoned the spiritual energy in her body and charged toward the freshly arrived young man.

A look of surprise unfurled on Liu Qing's face too.

He had seen this young man before.

In their first encounter, the man was still as a corpse and lying in the sack behind the scruffy-looking man.

He may have used some form of technique to conceal himself, but the presence was unmistakable.

The culprit had turned himself in.

Liu Qing felt a tug of panic as Fu Yinhong launched herself toward Xu Xiaoshou.

Fu Zhi had already determined the level of the operation was on the Sovereign level. This meant that Xu Xiaoshou must have special secrets he was not aware of.

If he had fearlessly flown into the sea of flowers, he must have an ace up his sleeve.

Fu Yinhong was too careless with her actions.

With a wave of her hand, she connected the Way of the Heavens and summoned a terrifying imprisoning power that she sent to seal Xu Xiaoshou's body.

She instantly captured Xu Xiaoshou.

Imprisoned, Passive Points +1.

This sudden attack caught Xu Xiaoshou off guard.

He was one step behind from the rest, but he was greeted by many of Fu Zhi's men at his arrival.

The crowd aside, why did Fu Zhi command his men to go after him the moment he arrived despite the friendly conversation they shared previously?

He wondered if the older man was putting up an act all this time.

But what purpose did he have to do that?

He glanced toward Fu Zhi, but the older man's eyes had portrayed a similar confusion and shock as his.

"Hm?"

"A misunderstanding?"

The events had happened too quickly. Xu Xiaoshou found it difficult to escape once he had been imprisoned by the Sovereign.

Before he could retaliate, Fu Yinhong's attack was heading for the spot he stood.

Although she was rather uncertain about this initially, with confirmation from Fu Xing and her father, she had no choice but to believe in them.

"You got some guts, Xu Xiaoshou, to fool me the first time we met. Now, I know you are no good person after all!"

Fu Yinhong's fury was making her teeth itch. She added with hatred, "I was blind to let you go then!"

Xu Xiaoshou was confused.

He turned and looked at Fu Yinhong. Her eyes were filled with seething rage. Xu Xiaoshou was more dumbfounded than ever.

"Did I… Did I do something to you?"

"Did I forget something?"

"What is going on?"

Fu Zhi had only recovered from the state of confusion as well.

He had instructed the men to capture the thief, yet all of them had turned to face Xu Xiaoshou.

The decision was made with such conviction as well. The men were ready to attack even before they had confirmation of who the individual was.

He wondered if the current administration of the City Lord Mansion was also this careless.

Had the men lost their minds?

Fu Zhi felt dizzy as he tried to process the situation.

Xu Xiaoshou was a talented individual who had the ability of Weaving Technique. He was someone who was the descendant of the Holy Emperor. Most importantly...

He was their uncle.

How could Fu Yinhong dare to be so bold in front of her elders?

"Stop!"

Fu Zhi called out with all his might.

It was too late.

Fu Yinhong had charged toward Xu Xiaoshou with a palm strike charged with a Raging State spiritual source. Even Xu Xiaoshou was helpless at this very moment.

However, the helplessness he felt differed from the rest. His helplessness was not for himself but for Fu Yinhong.

The girl was too rash in her actions.

Her brother had scolded her a few days ago about this behavior, but she seemed to have forgotten about all of that now.

The slap struck down in a split second.

Boom!

The void clapped with a loud sound. Rays of white light tore up the edge of the sky.

Streams of air busted through that caused the ground to shake and crack.

Everyone's eyes, Fu Zhi included, were locked on the attack.

"The Master Stage!"

"Yinhong is at the Master Stage!"

In the few years they had not interacted, his daughter had crossed the monumentally difficult threshold.

This was an improvement that deserved to be celebrated, but Fu Zhi's heart was beating hard in anxiety.

As expected, after a cry of distress, the figure who flew toward Xu Xiaoshou could not last more than a second before it was launched back into the air.

In the Heavenly Image State, a palm strike that was of the Master Stage spiritual technique was no match for the aggressive Passive Skills that had filled the young man from head to toe.

Toughness, Strengthen, Recoil, Sharpness...

As he had kept these Passive Skills charged constantly in preparation for potential battle, there was no need to activate these abilities or to look at the attack made toward him.

He did not fear even the potential sneak attacks made to him.

Xu Xiaoshou was unsure about his own powers at this point.

For someone who had exchanged hands with individuals of the Sovereign Stage, he had already moved on beyond his Innate Stage peers.

Amongst his peers, if they had attained the Master Stage, he would have been at the top of the top.

However, these were not enough for him.

He did not even move back to evade the attack as he fixed his gaze on the fury-packed attack that went straight for his chest.

He could only watch her as she was sent flying.

Attacked, Passive Points +1.

Suspected, Passive Points +12.

Apologetic, Passive Points +1.

"Damn!"

All of the men in the proximity were astounded.

Liu Qing was part of the shock as well.

The man had been captured by her abilities and rendered unable to put up a fight.

Even in this state, the man of the Origin Court remained still after an attack from Fu Yinhong of the Master Heavenly Image State.

The situation at hand was very different from the one the others had imagined in their heads. They had thought they would be in charge of cleaning up after Fu Yinhong's attacks and handling the administrative duties afterward.

However, the tables had completely turned in the battle.

"What is going on? Is the Origin Court status of this man false?"

"Is he also at the Master Stage? Is he the Sovereign loose in the mansion that Lord Fu mentioned? Did he conceal his cultivation level?"

"How is this possible?"

"Is he not Xu Xiaoshou? I have seen him before. He is clearly someone of the Innate Stage..."

"Do you call him someone of the Innate Stage?"

Everyone fell silent.

They gazed at the helpless figure that was sent into the sky.

As Fu Yinhong was lifted into the skies, she landed again and was caught in the second explosion.

With a boom, she was sent into the air covered in blood.

Fu Zhi appeared in front of her in an instance and hugged his daughter tightly.

Up until this moment, Fu Yinhong could not believe what was happening.

She had slapped Xu Xiaoshou, but she was the one who was injured from the attack. This was unbelievable.

All the fury, dissatisfaction, and shock had dissolved into feelings of being wronged with the warm and long-awaited hug from her father.

"Father..."

As if she was a small kitten that had found its home, Fu Yinhong curled her body slightly and mumbled vulnerably.

She could feel it from the depths of her soul that the warm hug was a shelter for all the bad things in her life. It made tears burst from her eyes and almost fall from her cheeks.

However, the shelter was not as stable as she had wished it was.

Fu Zhi shook his head and sighed lightly. He looked harshly at his daughter as he scolded her.

"So disrespectful!"

"I told you to catch the Sovereign, not to attack Brother Shou!"

"He is your uncle!"

The surrounding air fell into dead silence.

Fu Yinhong twitched slightly. The teardrops instantly evaporated in an instant. Her eyes were as large as the moon.