Bullying the Weak

Lin Xue taking the initiative to seek Revenge Severance was entirely within Le Yu's expectations.

In fact, Lin Xue's Revenge Severance was part of Le Yu and Yin Yinyin's plan.

With societal changes, instances of Revenge Severance were actually becoming rarer. While Revenge Severance offered a legitimate opportunity for retaliation, it wasn't practical because it implied two conditions: first, you had to know who your main enemy was; second, you had to be able to defeat them.

Don't assume these two points are simple. After all, most cases are handled by the Judicial Department or the Statistics Department. How would you find out who the enemy is? The entire department?

If the plaintiff had been "framed," then they might find an enemy, but plaintiffs aren't fools. Unless they were confident enough not to fear Revenge Severance, no one would casually accuse someone falsely.

Moreover, even if you knew who the main enemy was, whether you could defeat them was another question. In Lin Jinyao's case, Lin Xue and the others' primary enemy was certainly not Qian Yuliu, but Lan Yan.

But they couldn't even get into the Statistics Department, let alone find Lan Yan. And they weren't fools; even if they fought together, they would only be slaughtered by Lan Yan, let alone engage in a prolonged battle.

Lin Xue and the others initially had no intention of seeking Revenge Severance because there was no need—their conflict with the Statistics Department was a political struggle, a battle of ideologies. There was no room for compromise between the two sides; it wasn't something that could be "severed" by "Revenge Severance." It was a struggle for survival that could only end with the demise of one side.

However, Yin Yinyin's plan was to incite Lin Xue and the others to seek Revenge Severance against Qian Yuliu.

As a White Night Walker, he made a demand to Lin Jinyao's relatives and disciples: only those who could defeat Qian Yuliu and force him to apologize through Revenge Severance would be qualified to inherit Lin Jinyao's legacy, join White Night—a warm family dedicated to overthrowing Huiyao—and gain the right to establish a White Night branch in Star Engraving Prefecture.

Conversely, if no one could defeat Qian Yuliu in Revenge Severance, then they would not be qualified to inherit Lin Jinyao's legacy and naturally could not join the White Night branch.

Le Yu cursed Yin Yinyin at the time, calling it a pointless exercise. Wasn't this just setting an impossible demand and then using it as an excuse to disqualify them?

Yin Yinyin said Le Yu lacked common sense. Disqualification was a punishment, but posing a challenge was a reward, and this demand was reasonable—Qian Yuliu killed Lin Jinyao, so it was only right and proper for Lin Xue and the others to resolve this karma with Qian Yuliu.

Logically speaking, although Lin Xue and the others should inherit Lin Jinyao's cause and establish a White Night branch, they lacked qualifications and were short on experience points—it was like when an older cousin playing a game suddenly had to use the restroom, and it was only right for the younger cousin nearby to take over. But for the older cousin's teammates to accept the younger cousin, the younger cousin needed to show some results.

Having Lin Xue and the others fight Qian Yuliu, an elite monster, to gain experience points and level up, was something no one could fault.

However, there was a small problem: Lin Xue and the others absolutely could not defeat Qian Yuliu.

It wasn't that Le Yu, the "driver," was hyping up Qian Yuliu, his "vehicle"; it was that Qian Yuliu was indeed a supercar. Among his peers, the only one who could surpass Qian Yuliu was Li Shijie from Yan Capital.

But Li Shijie had already bloated into a corpse and died a terrible death.

Therefore, even if Lin Xue engaged in a prolonged battle, she would only be utterly dominated by Le Yu, unless...

"Unless there's an insider. The insider, to join the branch, will surely seize this opportunity and use the Statistics Department's resources to defeat you."

This was Yin Yinyin's conclusion.

But he had a second part to his statement: "If they are not insiders, then you should let them temporarily stay away from the conflicts of White Night and Star Engraving Prefecture—if they can't even defeat you, they aren't qualified to join White Night yet."

All in all, the good guys were always White Night, and Le Yu always got to play the villain.

But Le Yu didn't mind. After all, opportunities like this, to openly bully weaker opponents, were rare.

"Please."

Le Yu gestured to Lin Xue. "Could the Patrol Guards please witness this for me? If I'm late for work, it's because of an irresistible force, not by my own will."

Since Le Yu said so, the Patrol Guards no longer interfered with the Revenge Severance, dispersing the crowd to give them room to fight.

"Qian Yuliu, I'll let you know that even though Mr. Lin is gone, I, Gao Jin, am still here! Star Engraving Prefecture is not a place where you can run rampant!"

The first to challenge Le Yu was Gao Jin, the student council president.

He held a standard Military Academy longsword. With a swish, he drew his sword, the sound piercing the air as the blade pointed directly at Le Yu, its chilling killing intent causing a slight ache between Le Yu's brows.

Gao Jin's sword blade was unsharpened, because while ordinary people could carry swords on the street, they were not allowed to be sharpened. Swords were essentially handicrafts or fitness items.

Most swordsmen also adhered to this rule—whether a blade was sharpened or not was irrelevant if they wanted to kill someone.

In this world, if a swordsman needed a sharp blade to kill, it was considered a disgrace to them.

The two stood on opposite sides. The sky was perfect at that moment, sunlight breaking through the clouds and warmly illuminating the world.

"Come!"

Le Yu adopted a Biting Combat Arts stance. Without any superfluous words, he immediately initiated Wild Bite. Light Burst swept forth like the Silver River inverted, attacking Gao Jin!

Le Yu hadn't forgotten his objective: he was here to weed out the infiltrators!

Could Gao Jin be an infiltrator?

Did he choose to challenge Le Yu first because he wanted to defeat Qian Yuliu before anyone else, obtain the qualification as Lin Jinyao's successor, and thus gain access to the White Night member list?

Was he speaking so loudly because he felt guilty?

Was he always pontificating from a moral high ground because he was full of malice?

Therefore, Le Yu's offensive had to be as fierce as a pile driver. He had to overwhelm Gao Jin to force out Gao Jin's hidden cards! If Gao Jin truly was an infiltrator, he would inevitably use support from the Statistics Department to launch a surprise attack on Le Yu with power that wasn't his own!

Clang! Clang!

Light Burst rippled in the air. The two clashed several times in an instant before separating. Gao Jin pulled back to an appropriate distance, flicked his wrist, and light gathered at the tip of his sword. With a shout, he thrust his sword at Le Yu, sending out several meters of sword light!

Sword-Wielding Combat Arts: Advance Wave Upon Wave!

Le Yu's body shook. He slapped out with his left hand, spitting out Light Burst, directly shattering the sword light!

Biting Combat Arts: Torrential Spit!

However, Gao Jin had already lunged forward along with the sword light, but his true killing move wasn't the unsharpened sword in his right hand, but the Sword Sheath in his left!

He gripped the Sword Sheath tightly, sweeping it from left to right towards Le Yu. He rapidly "pulled" sword light from the outer opening of the Sword Sheath. In just a breath, he had pulled out several meters of sword light, which vibrated continuously as if it were solid, seemingly intending to cut Le Yu in half at the waist!

This was Gao Jin's primary Combat Arts: Sword-Wielding Combat Arts!

The secret of the Sword-Wielding Combat Arts isn't in the sword, but in the sheath!

From the moment Gao Jin drew his sword, its sheath had been continuously absorbing and storing light. This storage wasn't permanent and required coordination with the blade, because every Light Burst from the blade carried Gao Jin's Mental Power—what's known as sword intent.

This light, imbued with sword intent, was the highly efficient energy source for the Sword-Wielding Combat Arts. The longer Gao Jin fought, the more sword intent light the sheath stored, and the stronger its bursts became!

Simply put, the Sword-Wielding Combat Arts have a sword intent meter; the condition for accumulating sword intent is combat, and the tool for activating it is the sword sheath!

Sword-Wielding Combat Arts: Advance Wave Upon Wave. While the initial sword light is strong, the follow-up from the sword sheath is the truly fatal blow!

Incidentally, in the Combat Arts Cards, the main characteristic of the Sword-Wielding deck is that every direct hit increases critical strike damage.

"Quite strong, actually…"

Watching himself being attacked from both sides by Gao Jin's blunt sword and the sheath's light, Le Yu remained perfectly calm.

His Low Health Constitution allowed Le Yu, an ordinary person who had never even killed a chicken, to face imminent danger with composure.

"But still too weak."

Biting Combat Arts: Torrential Spit Cosmic Chant!

Le Yu traced a circle with his left hand, encircling Gao Jin's blunt sword, and smoothly entangled his wrist!

Then, he turned his right hand into a palm, actively moving towards the center of the sheath's light, and spat out a Light Burst!

Although Gao Jin's sheath light looked impressive, it was more flash than substance, unstable in form, all show and no true power!

It scattered instantly!

The Sword-Wielding Combat Arts are actually more suited for group combat, with an extremely high potential. Because of its long-range attacks, there's even a possibility of one person taking on an entire army. However, Gao Jin hadn't yet reached Entry Level with this Combat Arts, and its long attack range became his fatal weakness—the longer the distance, the more dispersed the Light Burst's power!

Just a flashy but useless display.

Le Yu, gripping Gao Jin's right wrist, pulled him closer and delivered a knee strike to his abdomen. Gao Jin let out a cry, spitting out a mouthful of hot blood.

"Is this the joy of bullying the weak?… It's not very interesting, quite simple, tasteless, and boring." Le Yu moved behind Gao Jin, twisted his right arm back, and pinched the back of his neck like he was holding a kitten. A slight curve appeared at the corner of his lips as he said, "It's over."

"Not yet!"

Gao Jin held the sword sheath in his left hand in reverse grip and jabbed it fiercely backward!

Le Yu casually dodged this pointless last stand, but then a sudden, inexplicable sharp pain pierced his kidney, as if it were about to be impaled the next second!

He saw that Gao Jin's sword sheath could actually emit a blue light, and it even curved to track and shoot towards Le Yu!

Danger!

He's actually scheming to attack my kidney… Gao Jin, are you a traitor?!