Chapter 263: A Lavish Hand

Chapter 263: Chapter 263: A Lavish Hand

Yuan Lie lay on the ground, the sharp edge of a sword pressed against his scalp. He swallowed a few times, his throat suddenly dry.

He knew that if the sword had shifted even slightly, it would have been buried in his skull.

Yi Xiaoyao simply stood over Yuan Lie, looking down at him, causing Yuan Lie’s face to pale with panic.

"Yuan Lie, do you remember now what you owe me?"

The indifferent voice reached Yuan Lie’s ears, and at the same time, it deepened the confusion of the surrounding crowd.

"I... What do I owe you?!"

Yuan Lie’s face flushed red as he continued to play dumb.

Yi Xiaoyao gave a cold smile. ’If that’s how it is, I’ll just have to give him another reminder.’

"From our exchange just now, your strength seems far weaker than Han Sheng’s."

Yi Xiaoyao said with a faint smile, looking at Yuan Lie.

A tremor ran through Yuan Lie. He hadn’t known that Yi Xiaoyao had killed Han Sheng by himself, but upon hearing those words, a dreadful realization seemed to dawn on him.

It wasn’t just Yuan Lie; the faces of the still-shocked crowd also changed.

What on earth did Yi Xiaoyao mean by that?

The crowd connected this to the scene of Yi Xiaoyao defeating Yuan Lie just moments ago, and a certain possibility came to mind. Could it be...

And sure enough, Yi Xiaoyao’s next words confirmed their suspicions.

"Han Sheng was ranked 398th on the Chaos Alliance List, while you, Yuan Lie, are only ranked 465th. Yet you took Han Sheng’s body from me, bragged everywhere that you killed him, and stole all my Battle Merits. Don’t you feel any shame?"

Yi Xiaoyao’s voice drifted clearly into the ears of everyone present.

In an instant, the surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar.

"What? So Yuan Lie didn’t kill Han Sheng at all!"

"I always thought it was strange. In terms of Chaos Alliance List rankings, Han Sheng was much higher than Squad Leader Yuan Lie. During the attack on the Cold Blood Alliance, Squad Leader Yuan Lie and Captain Leng Yan were both injured and trapped by Han Sheng even when they fought together. How could Squad Leader Yuan Lie have possibly killed Han Sheng all by himself afterward? So it turns out the one who killed Han Sheng wasn’t him at all!"

"That Yuan Lie... he didn’t even kill Han Sheng, yet he took the body to claim a reward and steal someone else’s Battle Merits. How shameless!"

"But then again, the one who actually killed Han Sheng was this Captain of the Ninth Team! And from the fight just now, it’s clear he really has the strength to do it."

The crowd on the training grounds discussed endlessly. Now they finally understood why Yi Xiaoyao kept saying Yuan Lie was just boasting.

Thus, their gazes toward Yuan Lie were filled with contempt and disdain, while their looks toward Yi Xiaoyao were full of shock and reverence.

"Hmph! Weren’t you all just saying our captain was overestimating himself and looking for death?"

Seeing the crowd’s change in attitude, the members of the Ninth Team all laughed, feeling a great sense of satisfaction.

The rest of the crowd could only offer wry smiles. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, how could they possibly have believed that a captain at the Nascent Soul Realm truly had the power to defeat a Squad Leader at the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm?

Then, someone from the Ninth Team chuckled and said, "I seem to recall Squad Leader Yuan Lie saying something before... about what he’d do if he lost?"

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions turned peculiar.

They all remembered it. Yuan Lie had confidently declared that if he lost, he would crawl away in front of everyone.

Now, under the crowd’s murmuring, Yuan Lie’s face was a mixture of livid and flushed. He wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"There’s no need for you to crawl. I have no interest in watching such a boring spectacle," Yi Xiaoyao said indifferently to Yuan Lie. "But the Battle Merits for killing Han Sheng, shouldn’t you be returning those to me?"

"..." Yuan Lie clenched his jaw, remaining silent.

Yi Xiaoyao chuckled lightly, then turned to Leng Yan at his side and asked, "Captain Leng, since I killed Han Sheng, shouldn’t I be qualified for a promotion to Squad Leader, based on both Battle Merits and strength?"

Leng Yan had been in a state of stunned disbelief this whole time. Hearing Yi Xiaoyao’s question, her pretty face changed, and she looked over, her beautiful eyes shining with a peculiar light.

"It’s enough! It’s definitely enough!"

Leng Yan nodded repeatedly. Her voice had lost all its previous coldness and was now as pleasant as silver bells.

"That’s good." Yi Xiaoyao smiled faintly. With a *SHING*, he pulled back the sword pressed against Yuan Lie’s scalp and left him with one last sentence: "Yuan Lie, I assume you don’t want to crawl, do you?"

With that said, Yi Xiaoyao flicked his sleeve and turned to leave with the Ninth Team.

Yuan Lie, still on the ground with a face as pale as paper, of course understood the meaning behind Yi Xiaoyao’s words: ’If you don’t want to crawl, give me back the Battle Merits.’

Yuan Lie ground his teeth, a harsh grating sound filling the silence. He was a Squad Leader, and moreover, the Young Alliance Leader of the Primordial Evil Alliance. He had used the Primordial Evil Alliance’s famed Golden Killing Qi, only to be utterly crushed by someone of a lower Realm and have his shameful deeds exposed in public.

Feeling the countless gazes of contempt upon him, Yuan Lie felt he had lost all face.

Then he looked at Leng Yan, the woman he admired, and saw a hint of mockery in her indifferent gaze. It made Yuan Lie’s heart bleed.

With a furious roar, Yuan Lie shot into the sky and fled the area.

’Staying here is just further humiliation.’

...

「Back in the courtyard」

Yi Xiaoyao drank and laughed with the members of the Ninth Team once again.

"Haha, just thinking about the look on Yuan Lie’s face after the captain defeated him feels so satisfying!"

"Our captain is just so overbearing! In the Primordial Evil Alliance, no one dares to provoke that Yuan Lie, but today the captain really put him in his place!"

"Yuan Lie will probably retaliate, but he won’t dare to do it openly. Besides, the captain’s promotion to Squad Leader is pretty much a sure thing now."

Everyone laughed with a great sense of relief, but their eyes also held a trace of worry. They were concerned about whether Yi Xiaoyao could withstand Yuan Lie’s inevitable retaliation.

Yi Xiaoyao saw the expressions on everyone’s faces but paid them no mind.

Previously, to avoid implicating them, Yi Xiaoyao hadn’t mentioned the Ninth Team. Therefore, he would likely be the only one to receive the Battle Merits; the other members of the Ninth Team wouldn’t get any share.

Thinking of this, Yi Xiaoyao took out a Storage Pouch and handed it to them. "Here are some Spirit Stones. Split them amongst yourselves. Consider it compensation for the lost Battle Merits."

The men took the Storage Pouch, and after opening it, they all gasped in shock.

"This... There are several million Spirit Stones in here!!"

The twenty members of the Ninth Team looked at each other and sucked in a cold breath. They had never seen so many Spirit Stones in their entire lives.

And now, Yi Xiaoyao was just casually handing them over to be split?

"Captain, this is too valuable! We can’t accept it!"

Seeing so much wealth, the team members felt an intense desire for it, but they also knew their place. If it weren’t for Yi Xiaoyao, they would have already died at Han Sheng’s hands. How could they possibly take so much of his money?

Yi Xiaoyao waved his hand, casually leaning back on a bench as he drank his wine. He said lightly, "Don’t stand on ceremony with me. Earning Spirit Stones is far easier for me than you can imagine. This amount is nothing to me."

It was true. A single Elixir from Yi Xiaoyao had once auctioned for several million Spirit Stones. This amount really was nothing to him.

Seeing how casually Yi Xiaoyao spoke, they all stood with their mouths agape, unsure of what to say. Then, one by one, they swallowed hard and began to excitedly divide the millions of Spirit Stones.

Originally, the Ninth Team’s impression of Yi Xiaoyao was that he was mysterious, powerful, and domineering.

But now, a new impression was added to the list: rich! And incredibly generous!

’We really followed the right person!’

...