Chapter 73: Evil People Are Dealt With by Evil Means
The young martial artists of Yunwu Commandery all knew that the Ninth Prince had been ranked first on the Yellow List even before breaking through to the Mysterious Extreme Realm, with combat power comparable to a Mysterious Extreme Realm mid-stage martial artist.
Now that the Ninth Prince had reached the Mysterious Extreme Realm, his cultivation was surely even stronger. How could Shen Mengxi possibly be his match?
Because Zhang Ruochen had only become the Yellow List’s number one two months ago, news hadn’t spread to other commanderies, so Shen Mengxi naturally had no idea of Zhang Ruochen’s true strength.
The young faces of Yunwu Commandery wore faint, odd smiles, thinking Shen Mengxi was overestimating himself. But none of them spoke up.
Zhang Ruochen stared at Shen Mengxi and said, “Since you want to fight me, I accept. But if you lose, it won’t be just thirty thousand silver coins in compensation—it’ll be a hundred thousand.”
“Why?” Shen Mengxi asked.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “You cursed so loudly just now—don’t you have to pay for that?”
“Hmph! A hundred thousand silver coins is nothing, let alone a million. You can’t beat me anyway!”
True qi surged within Shen Mengxi’s body, flowing through his arm to his palm.
He closed his five fingers, forming a palm blade, and slashed toward Zhang Ruochen.
Palm Blade Strike, a human-grade upper-rank martial technique.
It was with this very move that Shen Mengxi had severely injured Jiang Heng.
Just as Shen Mengxi’s palm blade was about to strike Zhang Ruochen’s chest, Zhang Ruochen moved faster. He flicked his arm and swung a backhand slap across Shen Mengxi’s face.
“Smack!”
A crisp slap rang out.
Shen Mengxi flew backward, spinning three hundred sixty degrees in midair before crashing to the ground with a thud.
The smiles on the faces of the young martial artists from the surrounding commanderies froze. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Many hadn’t even seen how Shen Mengxi had been sent flying.
Zhang Ruochen’s hand speed was too fast!
“You… you…”
Shen Mengxi propped himself up with his hands, struggling to lift his head. His mouth was full of blood, and the left side of his face was swollen, purple and red, like a pig’s head.
That slap from Zhang Ruochen had been vicious. It knocked out several of Shen Mengxi’s teeth and shattered his jaw and cheekbone.
Now, Shen Mengxi couldn’t even speak clearly; his words came out with a whistling sound through the gaps in his teeth.
Liu Chengfeng laughed loudly, “Well struck! Shen Mengxi, I told you not to overestimate yourself. With your meager skills, you thought you could challenge the Ninth Prince? Now you’ve lost—hand over the hundred thousand silver coins!”
“I… I don’t have…”
At this moment, Shen Mengxi felt like crying. He only had about thirty thousand silver coins on him in total. How could he come up with a hundred thousand?
He had never imagined that a mere sixteen-year-old Zhang Ruochen could be so formidable.
Hearing Shen Mengxi’s words, Liu Chengfeng’s face darkened. He walked over, stepped on Shen Mengxi’s hand, and pressed down hard, making Shen Mengxi scream like a stuck pig.
Liu Chengfeng said in a threatening tone, “The fourth son of the Six-Flow Shen Family can’t even come up with a hundred thousand silver coins? Do you take me, Liu Chengfeng, for a fool? You agreed before fighting the Ninth Prince, and now you want to back out? Elder Xie, Elder Situ, you heard it too, right?”
Elder Situ’s face was grim. He hadn’t expected Zhang Ruochen to be so strong, taking down Shen Mengxi in one move. That Shen Mengxi was utterly useless!
Elder Xie, however, was delighted and gained a new respect for Zhang Ruochen, though he kept his expression stern. “I can testify to this. A debt must be repaid—it’s only natural.”
Liu Chengfeng still had his foot on Shen Mengxi’s hand, grinning. “Hear that? A debt must be repaid. If you don’t hand over a hundred thousand silver coins, do you believe I’ll break both your legs today?”
Shen Mengxi was genuinely scared. He knew Liu Chengfeng was a ruthless bully who would stop at nothing. He quickly said, “I… I have… I have silver coins…”
Trembling, Shen Mengxi pulled a purple brocade pouch from his chest and handed it to Liu Chengfeng.
Liu Chengfeng opened it to find thirty spirit crystals and a few hundred silver coins.
He closed the pouch and kicked Shen Mengxi hard. “Where’s the hundred thousand? This is only thirty thousand! Are you trying to fool me?”
“No… no… This is all I have—my entire fortune…” Shen Mengxi begged incessantly.
Liu Chengfeng handed the purple brocade pouch to Zhang Ruochen. “Ninth Prince, this is all he has. What now?”
Zhang Ruochen took the pouch and glanced at Shen Mengxi.
“Understood.”
Liu Chengfeng seemed to grasp Zhang Ruochen’s intent and nodded, then walked back to Shen Mengxi with a sly grin.
“Understood? What do you understand? I didn’t say anything!”
Zhang Ruochen was speechless as he watched Liu Chengfeng, wondering what exactly he had understood.
Convinced he had read Zhang Ruochen’s mind, Liu Chengfeng approached Shen Mengxi and directly snatched the True Martial Treasure-grade battle sword from his back.
“Twelve inscriptions on the sword—barely a fourth-rank True Martial Treasure. I’ll take it for ten thousand silver coins!”
Shen Mengxi shrieked, “That fourth-rank True Martial Treasure battle sword cost me twenty thousand silver coins… ah…”
Liu Chengfeng stomped on Shen Mengxi’s hand again and unfastened a jade belt from his waist. “Sea Stone Jade Belt—worth eight hundred silver coins.”
“Second-rank True Martial Treasure-grade heart-protecting mirror—worth two thousand silver coins.”
…
Liu Chengfeng stripped Shen Mengxi of all his treasures, even pulling off his clothes and boots.
“All together, I’ll count it as twenty thousand silver coins. You still owe the Ninth Prince fifty thousand—write an IOU.”
Liu Chengfeng tore off Shen Mengxi’s last garment, bit his index finger to draw blood, and forced him to write a blood IOU on the cloth.
“This… is what he understood?”
Zhang Ruochen’s forehead broke out in cold sweat. Truly a bully—his methods were extreme.
He could only sigh inwardly: Evil people are dealt with by evil means.
Only such ruthless tactics could subdue someone like Shen Mengxi.
Prince Huoxing of the surrounding commanderies looked grim. “Enough! Ninth Prince, you’re ruthless. Shen Mengxi is a martial artist of my commandery. Even if he owes you a hundred thousand silver coins, there’s no need to humiliate him like this, is there?”
Zhang Ruochen felt baffled. From start to finish, it was Liu Chengfeng doing the humiliating—it had nothing to do with him, right?
Liu Chengfeng folded the IOU and handed it to Zhang Ruochen, whispering, “Ninth Prince, be careful. Prince Huoxing was a Yellow List martial artist at the Yellow Extreme Realm, and now he’s at the Mysterious Extreme Realm late stage. He carries a royal treasure—a tough opponent.”
Zhang Ruochen wasn’t one to back down. He stepped forward and said, “Prince Huoxing, are you saying it’s fine for your commandery to humiliate our Yunwu Commandery’s martial artists, but we can’t retaliate?”
Prince Huoxing sneered, “The strong can humiliate the weak.”
Zhang Ruochen smiled. “Then there’s nothing wrong with us humiliating your commandery’s martial artists, is there?”
“Let you have your moment of glory. Tomorrow’s academy exam, I’ll make you pay back everything with interest. This year, not a single young martial artist from Yunwu Commandery will get into the Martial Market Academy.” Prince Huoxing swept his gaze over the dozens of Yunwu Commandery martial artists across from him and snorted coldly.
A hint of killing intent flashed in Prince Huoxing’s eyes—he had already decided to kill Zhang Ruochen.
Two martial artists from the surrounding commanderies helped Shen Mengxi away.
Liu Chengfeng watched the retreating figures of the other commandery’s martial artists and said worriedly, “This is bad. Tomorrow’s academy exam could be very dangerous!”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Is killing allowed in the academy exam?”
Liu Chengfeng said, “Officially, participating martial artists can’t kill each other. But every year, the first round of the exam is held in the Demon Ridge. Those martial artists from the surrounding commanderies will definitely try to kill us.”
Zi Qian, standing nearby with her battle sword in hand, stared coldly at the distant young martial artists. “If they want to wipe us out during the exam, why can’t we kill them instead?”
Zhang Ruochen glanced sideways at Zi Qian.
He knew her cultivation was high, having reached the Mysterious Extreme Realm Small Extreme Position, but he hadn’t expected such a tough stance from a woman—rare indeed.
Liu Chengfeng chuckled. “If Miss Zi is willing to help, we can certainly rout those young martial artists from the surrounding commanderies.”
Zi Qian glanced coldly at Liu Chengfeng, then fixed her eyes on Zhang Ruochen. “Ninth Prince, if you and I join forces, we can deal a devastating blow to the young martial artists of the surrounding commanderies. Yunwu Commandery has suffered their bullying for years—it’s time they paid back.”
Zi Qian wanted to assassinate Zhang Ruochen, so she needed to get close to him first and earn his trust. Only by uncovering his secrets could she find a chance to kill him.
Zhang Ruochen looked thoughtful.
Liu Chengfeng stepped between Zhang Ruochen and Zi Qian again. “Miss Zi, don’t underestimate those young martial artists. According to reliable intelligence, they have at least three Mysterious Extreme Realm Small Extreme Position experts and over a dozen Mysterious Extreme Realm late-stage fighters. Going head-to-head with them would be like throwing eggs at stones.”
Zi Qian used her sword to push Liu Chengfeng aside, remaining icy cold. Her beautiful eyes were still fixed on Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen rubbed his chin, then smiled at Zi Qian. “Since Miss Zi has such courage, I’ll gladly join you. Tomorrow’s academy exam—it’s time for the surrounding commanderies to pay a price!”