Chapter 157: Chapter 115: A Life for a Life, Debts Must Be Paid

People all around were calling out Liou Yuan’s name, and Qiu Ming, who was standing behind the battlefield to support Liou Yuan, was immediately displeased. He raised his voice and shouted to those around him, "And me, I’m Qiu Ming!"

It was no secret at Five Extremes Mountain that Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming, both disciples with Five-Star Star Acupoints, were good friends.

The others were even more certain of Liou Yuan’s identity.

"This Sheng Zeming has always bullied the weak, I knew he would eventually run into someone tough."

Many disciples from the Third Peak who had suffered under Sheng Zeming’s oppression were quietly gloating.

Because of Liou Yuan, they too felt a sense of justice served.

Eyes turned back to the center of the battlefield.

Sheng Zeming’s mouth was full of blood, and the waves of pain coming from his chest and pierced hand made his facial muscles quiver, his features almost twisting.

Looking at Liou Yuan, who stood coldly in front of him, Sheng Zeming cried out in terror, "You can’t kill me!"

"Five Extremes Mountain forbids disciples from killing each other. If you kill me, not even Mr. Liou can protect you."

Sheng Zeming wasn’t a fool. At this age, possessing such sharp swordsmanship and terrifying suppression, he also realized the identity of the young man in front of him.

Rumor had it that Liou Yuan was naturally cruel, and last year he had a life-and-death fight with Liou Tao, piercing a hole in Liou Tao’s chest.

If Mr. Bao from the Disciplinary Hall hadn’t arrived, there would definitely have been a fatality.

Right now, Liou Yuan’s sword was lodged in his body. If he didn’t quickly beg for mercy, Sheng Zeming was really afraid that he would be slaughtered.

"You’re not worth it." Liou Yuan sneered, of course, he had no intention of killing him, otherwise that sword just now wouldn’t have inflicted such minor injuries.

He hadn’t forgotten the purpose of his visit. He bent down, his gaze fixing on Sheng Zeming’s terrified eyes, and said softly, "A life for a life."

As he spoke, Liou Yuan pressed one hand on the sword nailed to Sheng Zeming’s palm, and extended the other hand in front of Sheng Zeming, rubbing his thumb and index finger together. His arrogant voice echoed in front of Sheng Zeming’s dwelling.

"Pay your debts!"

"Damn, I almost forgot that Liou Yuan was here to collect a debt." Qiu Ming, hearing Liou Yuan’s voice, looked briefly stunned with his coarse-featured face and muttered to himself.

"I thought he was going to kill him just now."

Qiu Ming’s thoughts were shared by many of the surrounding disciples, each wearing a peculiar expression.

Seeing Liou Yuan’s earlier intimidating stance, they almost all believed he was there for Sheng Zeming’s head.

"I’ll pay!" Sheng Zeming nodded repeatedly. How could he dare utter a word of refusal now, fearing that if he responded slowly, Liou Yuan’s sword would fall upon him.

"It would have been better if you did this earlier." Liou Yuan’s face was full of joy.

But then he thought of something, and his smile turned cunning as he deliberately reminded him, "But the price isn’t the same now!"

Sheng Zeming wished he could slap himself.

If he had known earlier that this person was Liou Yuan, he wouldn’t have dared to make a move considering Liou Zhen’s background.

Now, not only did he lose in a fight, his injuries wouldn’t heal for several months, not to mention he owed even more money.

"You could’ve said sooner you were Liou Yuan." Sheng Zeming wailed.

Despite being a Pill Master, in the early stages, being a Pill Master was more about investment than return.

Every batch of elixirs carried the risk of failure, particularly at the early stages of the Alchemy Dao.

If something went wrong, all the spirit medicine would have been wasted.

This situation only started to improve when he reached the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer, achieving a balance in income and expenditure, otherwise, he wouldn’t have accrued so much debt.

Added to that, he had prematurely lost his Primordial Yang, requiring substantial expenses to refine elixirs to enhance his cultivation.

It can be said that his financial standing was worse than a typical Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer disciple.

This outcome was something even Liou Yuan hadn’t anticipated. He gleefully emptied Sheng Zeming of everything, only to find sixty Star Stones and ten merit points.

He didn’t even have enough for the principal, let alone the interest.

"How could you be such a broke scoundrel!" Liou Yuan fumed, and after swearing, kicked Sheng Zeming in his wounded chest, nearly knocking him unconscious from the pain.

Still unsatisfied, Liou Yuan kicked him several more times.

He was ruthless, specifically targeting Sheng Zeming’s wounds, causing his cries of pain to echo continuously in front of the dwelling.

The surrounding disciples shrank back, witnessing his brutal actions.

Long had they heard of Liou Yuan’s violent nature, and today they found out the rumors were true.

Sheng Zeming, unable to endure Liou Yuan’s torture, felt that if he didn’t appease Liou Yuan today, he would surely lose half his life, and immediately cried out with his last breath, "Stop beating me, I have something to pay the debt!"

What he intended to use to repay the debt was naturally the batch of semi-finished elixirs inside his dwelling.

Liou Yuan, upon inquiry, found out that those elixirs happened to be Qi Gathering Elixirs.

A first-class premium elixir, Qi Gathering Elixir.

Once refined, this batch of Qi Gathering Elixirs could easily amount to sixty Star Stones, equivalent to twenty merit points.

Liou Yuan seized all of them, claiming it as interest.

He firmly held his sword to Sheng Zeming’s neck, ensuring he completed refining the Qi Gathering Elixir before leaving.

In the end, Liou Yuan left with the Star Stone, merit points, and the three Qi Gathering Elixirs from the furnace as interest.

Sheng Zeming was left dazed in front of the cave dwelling.

Liou Yuan stripped this guy clean, not leaving him even a hair.

All the disciples around the Third Peak witnessed the entire process, and not one spoke out to rebuke him.

Some were in awe of Liou Yuan’s strength; Sheng Zeming wasn’t weak, yet under Liou Yuan’s sword, he was effortlessly defeated.

Others were more wary of Liou Zhen, who stood behind Liou Yuan.

Besides, Liou Yuan’s every move was within reason.

He was there with the IOU in hand; repaying a debt is a matter of course.

The interest at the end only served Sheng Zeming right, as he failed to repay his debt and even resorted to violence, only to hit a dead end.

"Liou Yuan’s really ruthless; the rumors weren’t false."

"This guy is too sharp; it’s best to avoid him in the future. Given his displayed strength, only those at the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer could battle him."

"Heh, after this incident, Sheng Zeming will probably be much more low-key."

...

The disciples of the Third Peak discussed as they watched the backs of Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming leaving.

In this fight, Liou Yuan, at mid-stage Qi Cultivation, defeated Sheng Zeming, who was in the late-stage, truly astonishing the Third Peak.

Don’t underestimate the difference between the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer and the Seventh Layer; it signifies the gap between mid-stage and late-stage Qi Cultivation.

Even searching throughout the Five Extremes Mountain, you wouldn’t find many disciples capable of this.

Gifted in aptitude and impressive in combat.

With this victory, Liou Yuan’s reputation grew even further.

Within a day, his achievement spread across the Third Peak, with signs of reaching the Second and Fourth Peaks.

But Liou Yuan was unaware of all this.

He and Qiu Ming came down from the Third Peak, finding Xie Miaobo waiting at the foot of the mountain.

Knowing his own lack of strength, Xie Miaobo didn’t bother going to the Third Peak, realizing he’d be more of a burden, so he waited below the mountain instead.

Seeing Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming come down unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and greeted them.

Qiu Ming relayed the story of Liou Yuan’s victory over Sheng Zeming to Xie Miaobo.

Naturally, he was full of admiration again.

Of course, it was just admiration, not surprise.

Liou Yuan’s strength was deeply etched in the hearts of Xiaopei Mountain’s disciples.

For others, fighting a late-stage Qi Cultivation practitioner would be difficult, but not for Liou Yuan.

With everyone gathered, it was time to distribute the profits on the spot.

Liou Yuan didn’t fear being seen by passing Third Peak disciples, boldly taking out the sixty Star Stones acquired from Sheng Zeming.

He gave Qiu Ming fifty Star Stones and Xie Miaobo ten Star Stones.

The fifty Star Stones to Qiu Ming were for him to make a trip to Qingyou Prefecture, handing over the collected debt to Bai Ling.

Because Liou Yuan’s breakthrough to the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer exposed his talent, he was wary of the Liou Family taking action against him, making it inconvenient for him to go out in the short term.

Of course, Liou Yuan wouldn’t let Qiu Ming work for free.

This time, he accompanied Liou Yuan in climbing the mountain to find Sheng Zeming; even though he didn’t take action, he provided support from the back, deterring surrounding disciples.

Plus, he delegated Qiu Ming to run this errand, so after the fifty Star Stones, Liou Yuan handed over a Qi Gathering Elixir to Qiu Ming.

"Out of three Qi Gathering Elixirs, you take one."

"Heh, alright." Qiu Ming never stood on ceremony with Liou Yuan and accepted it with a smile.

He even patted his chest, assuring that the Star Stones would reach Bai Ling.

The remaining ten Star Stones were as compensation for Xie Miaobo’s information gathering efforts.

The value certainly didn’t match the Qi Gathering Elixir given to Qiu Ming.

However, knowing his contribution was minimal, receiving ten Star Stones equated to more than three merit points, akin to taking on a miscellaneous task in Shoushan Tower.

It was already quite good.

After splitting the profits, Liou Yuan calculated that his showdown with Sheng Zeming netted him ten merit points and two Qi Gathering Elixirs.

Far exceeding the value of the fifty percent debt Bai Ling had allocated to him.