The Dead Can't Talk

Elder Hall.

Golden Crocodile had returned empty-handed, only to be roundly berated by Nan Feng and Bibi Dong. If he hadn't been concerned that a fight between a High Priest and the Pope would damage Spirit Hall's reputation, he would never have let Nan Feng off.

Qian Daoliu was also displeased by Nan Feng's insolent response.

He'd already taken a dislike to the boy for siding with Bibi Dong. And now he was pulling this?

"Well, look at that. Quite the turnout today, huh?"

Seeing all the High Priests, including Qian Daoliu, along with more than a dozen elders from Elder Hall, Nan Feng was genuinely surprised.

"Pretty good nose you've got there. You caught the scent and came running."

Everyone's expressions stiffened.

Qian Daoliu's face darkened too.

If not for Nan Feng's contribution to the earlier attack on the Clear Sky Sect, his attitude toward Golden Crocodile alone would have been enough for Qian Daoliu to have Golden Crocodile beat the boy to death.

Meanwhile, Yue Guan and Gui Mei, seated beside Nan Feng, could barely keep their composure.

Seriously, this was Qian Daoliu!

The Grand Priest of Spirit Hall!

Couldn't he rein it in a little?

If that old man made a move, the two of them and Bibi Dong together wouldn't be able to stop him!

"Enough. Let's skip the nonsense. Are you going to use force, or play dirty?" Nan Feng asked.

"Kid, don't push it," Golden Crocodile said grimly.

"This is Elder Hall. Don't think Bibi Dong can protect you. If you hadn't earned merit in the Clear Sky Sect matter, I wouldn't even be negotiating with you."

"So I should thank you, then?" Nan Feng raised an eyebrow.

"You old turtle?"

"You!" Golden Crocodile's expression froze.

He was nearly two hundred years old!

And now some brat in his teens had insulted him again and again!

"What, you? Damn it, snatching things from other people is one thing, but now you're trying to snatch from me?" Nan Feng cursed.

"And I'm supposed to hand one over to you? Why?"

"I worked my ass off and risked god knows what to bring those two back from the Star Dou Forest. And you think you can just open and close your damn mouths and take one from me?"

"And I'm supposed to thank you for not taking both?"

"And I should be grateful for the credit I earned in the Clear Sky Sect matter? I earned your mother's ass!"

"You've got the nerve to bring that up? Every last one of you stayed holed up at home like turtles while I went out there and fought. I came back without a single coin, and now you're acting all high and mighty?"

The elders looked furious, but none of them cursed him back. After all, they knew they were in the wrong. They were relying on the power of Titled Douluo to take what they wanted, though they hadn't expected him to be so uncooperative.

Two Humanoid Spirit Beasts—letting him keep even one was already a concession for his service in the Clear Sky Sect matter. Otherwise, why bother with all this talk? They could simply take them. What could the kid do about it?

Go to Bibi Dong?

Would Bibi Dong really dare to declare war on Elder Hall?

That would give them a perfectly good reason to depose the Pope.

"So you're refusing?"

At last, Qian Daoliu, seated in the very center, opened his eyes.

"Refuse your mother's ass?" Nan Feng said, exasperated.

"Why should I give you my things?"

"And you want me to offer them up? Then why don't you offer up your granddaughter for me to use?"

Boom!

An invisible blast of Soul Power erupted and slammed into Nan Feng, sending him flying.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei froze.

Damn! Did he have to be this reckless?

That was Qian Daoliu!

"I'll spare your life for what you did in the Clear Sky Sect matter." Qian Daoliu rose to his feet.

"Golden Crocodile, strip him of his Honorary Elder title. Go to Saintess Hall yourself and bring back those two Humanoid Spirit Beasts."

With that, Qian Daoliu said no more and turned to leave.

But after taking only a couple of steps, he stopped and looked back at Nan Feng, who was rising from the rubble. His expression shifted slightly.

That strike could have seriously injured a Spirit King, yet the boy was already back on his feet?

"Fuck you!" Nan Feng brushed the dust off his face and walked back.

"Go on, kill me if you've got the guts!"

Qian Daoliu's eyes narrowed. "Bibi Dong, keep your people in line. Don't think I won't act."

"Go ahead." Bibi Dong leaned back in her chair, her chin resting on her left hand. She'd looked completely uninvolved from the start.

"Those Humanoid Spirit Beasts belong to him. What he does with them is his business. If he can protect them, that's his ability. If he can't, that's not on me."

"I don't get a share either way, so why should I waste my breath?"

"I'm not one of your Qian Family's old dogs, barking along even though I know I'll get nothing out of it."

As she spoke, Bibi Dong glanced at the elders and High Priests present.

"Tsk. I really don't know why you're here. You act like you stand to gain something, but you can bark all you want and you won't get so much as a bone. You won't even get the dishwater."

The elders' expressions stiffened.

That was a damn unpleasant way to put it, but she had a damn good point!

Even if they took both Humanoid Spirit Beasts, there'd be nothing in it for them!

The High Priests were Qian Daoliu's trusted followers. Even if Soul Bones were handed out, the elders wouldn't be getting any.

"Oh, right." Bibi Dong's expression turned wry.

"I should remind you: Nan Feng is only sixteen this year, and he's a Spirit King."

"Guess how long it'll take him to reach Titled Douluo?"

"Now guess how high he'll get?"

"Surely he'll end up stronger than you, right?"

Elder Hall fell silent.

Even Qian Daoliu's expression turned slightly unnatural.

A Spirit King at sixteen?

Was this a joke?

"You all know what he's like. You can't say he has no manners—he has absolutely no bottom line. He'll do anything!" Bibi Dong sighed.

"So, what do you think he'll do in the future?"

"It's not as if he'll generously forgive you, is it?"

"..."

As Bibi Dong finished speaking, the atmosphere in Elder Hall turned bizarre. Every elder's gaze locked onto Nan Feng in near-perfect unison.

That kid had to die!

Clap, clap, clap!

"Exactly! That's the spirit!" Bibi Dong praised them, applauding.

"Don't put on that old man's holier-than-thou act. Whose hands here are clean? Who doesn't have something to hide?"

"Why be like that old geezer, dressing up a robbery as some noble, righteous act? Or pretending you had no choice when you killed someone? A bandit is a bandit. Stealing a hundred Gold Soul Coins is theft, and stealing one is theft too. Killing one person is murder, and killing a hundred is murder too."

"Anyway, to the people who get killed, it makes no difference whether you kill just them or a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand."

"Only the living judge cruelty by the numbers, to make themselves seem so compassionate."

"After all, the dead can't talk."

"So today, you absolutely cannot let this kid leave alive!"

"Otherwise..." Bibi Dong let out a long sigh, casting a pitying look over the elders and High Priests.

"You'll be in for a world of pain someday."

"..."