The Celestial Dragon was still as arrogant as ever.
"Who are you? Don't you know I'm a World Noble, a Celestial Dragon?!"
"You dared attack a Celestial Dragon. The World Government won't let you get away with this! A Marine Admiral will be here any moment!
"You'll be executed! Your family, your companions—all of them will die!!"
He made one last desperate attempt to intimidate Luo Tian by invoking the World Government and the Marine Admirals.
"Me?"
Luo Tian sneered and strolled over to the wall, looking down at the Celestial Dragon embedded in it.
"I'm the pirate who robbed the Heavenly Tribute before—and the one who's going to kill you now."
"Kill me? Heh... Hehehehahaha!!"
The Celestial Dragon burst into laughter, his voice full of arrogance and haughtiness.
"A joke! I'm a Celestial Dragon! Who would dare kill me? Who could kill me?!"
"Just as I'd expect from a Celestial Dragon. Still mouthing off with death staring you in the face. You really are a bunch of pigs."
Why was this pig so impossible to reason with?
Anyone normal would have been on their knees begging for mercy by now.
"Smack! Smack! Smack!"
Luo Tian raised his hand and delivered several merciless slaps!
The sharp cracks rang out.
Each slap was carefully controlled: painful enough to make him suffer, but not enough to kill him outright.
"Ahhh—!!"
"Bastard...! Smack!"
"I'll have you killed...! Smack!"
"Stop hitting me! I was wrong...! Smack!"
The Celestial Dragon's already fat face had swollen into a real pig's head. His face was bruised and battered, and snot and tears streamed down it.
Luo Tian studied him for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction.
"A pig should look like a pig."
He noticed a piece of parchment lying on the ground beside the Celestial Dragon. When he picked it up, he saw a long list of treasures written on it.
It was clearly the list of tribute the Celestial Dragon had come to demand from the Situna Kingdom.
Luo Tian gave him another slap. "Tell me, where are the things on this list?"
"They're... still in the Situna Kingdom's treasury."
The Celestial Dragon had been beaten into submission.
"In the treasury?" Luo Tian's eyes lit up.
A kingdom's treasury... now that was a good place.
Its collection probably rivaled the Heavenly Tribute in value.
After all, it represented the accumulated wealth of a kingdom over many years.
Luo Tian was tempted by such an enormous fortune.
"Show me the way."
Luo Tian yanked the Celestial Dragon out of the wall and held him like a dead dog.
"I-I don't know where the treasury is," the Celestial Dragon stammered, his eyes darting around.
"Spatial Folding."
As soon as the words left Luo Tian's mouth, the Celestial Dragon's ten fingers twisted and contorted, as if an unseen force had folded and wrung them out!
The pain shot through his fingers and shattered his nerves in an instant.
The Celestial Dragon's eyes bulged. His face twisted with agony as he let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"Ahhh—!!!"
"I-I remember! I'll take you there! I'll take you there right now!!"
Luo Tian looked down impassively at the Celestial Dragon, who was prostrate on the ground.
He slowly raised his right foot, his voice still calm and indifferent.
"In front of me—you call yourself a 'pig'!"
As he spoke, his foot came down.
Thud—
Under the crushing force, the Celestial Dragon's lower leg was pulverized, ground into a mangled mass of flesh and blood.
"Ahhh—!!!"
An even more agonized scream rang through the palace.
The Celestial Dragon's eyes rolled back, and he passed out from the pain.
Luo Tian remained expressionless and delivered several loud slaps.
"Smack, smack, smack—"
The unconscious Celestial Dragon jolted awake. He struggled to open his eyes, his gaze unfocused, with only instinctive terror remaining.
Luo Tian grabbed him by the collar at the back of his neck and lifted him like a dead dog.
The Celestial Dragon's legs dangled limply, his lower leg a bloody mess.
"Point the way."
"Th-that way... through the corridor... at the very end..." The Celestial Dragon's teeth chattered. Each word seemed to take all the strength he had.
Luo Tian said nothing more. He dragged the limp wreck toward the depths of the palace's main hall.
The Celestial Dragon's body left a long trail of blood across the smooth marble floor.
At last, a huge alloy door appeared at the end of the corridor.
"Rumble—!!"
Luo Tian kicked it.
The heavy alloy door, sturdy enough to withstand cannon fire, blasted inward and shattered!
The Celestial Dragon watched in terror, his soul nearly leaving his body.
Just how terrifyingly powerful was this man?!
Luo Tian stepped into the treasury.
A brilliant gleam of gold and treasure filled the room.
Luo Tian opened the Spatial Warehouse in his right hand.
An invisible Gravity Field swept through the room like a giant whale sucking in water, gathering every treasure.
A moment later, the once-full treasury stood completely empty.
Luo Tian picked up the Celestial Dragon, and in a flash, the two of them vanished.
At the port, the Celestial Dragon's lavish ship was moored in the best berth.
The ship was entirely white, its hull carved with elaborate patterns, and the World Government's flag fluttered from its mast.
A gunshot suddenly rang out on board!
"Bang—!"
Then a boy cried out in pain. "Ahh—It hurts!!"
Another voice, filled with grief and pleading, followed. "No... please, spare Jieming!!"
The young voice trembled with despair.
A young woman's shrill, vicious voice rang out next.
"Slaves should know their place. Who gave you permission to talk back to me?!"
On the deck, a boy of about sixteen lay in a pool of blood.
He wore ragged clothes of coarse cloth, and a bullet had torn a bloody hole in his lower leg.
His face was twisted with pain, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Still, he clenched his teeth and tried to push himself up with his arms.
Another boy of about the same age knelt nearby, his hands tied behind his back with coarse hemp rope.
Tears filled his eyes, and fresh lash marks crossed his face. He kowtowed desperately to a young woman.
"Lady Shaman Gong! Please! Jieming didn't mean to talk back to you!
"He just wanted to shield me from the whip... Please spare him! I'll take any punishment in his place!"
The woman called Shaman Gong stood in the middle of the deck, dressed in a luxurious court gown. Her eyes gleamed with the distinctive excitement of a sadist.
She held an exquisite little pistol, a faint wisp of smoke still curling from its barrel.
"Take a good look! This is what happens when you talk back to me!"
Shaman Gong's voice was sharp and grating. She stepped forward and kicked Jieming, who had just managed to sit up, back down.
"You little worm, get up! Do you hear me?!"
Shaman Gong's heel came down hard on Jieming's face, grinding against it.
"Let Jieming go!" The boy kneeling on the ground could hold back no longer. Seeing Jieming's pain and the blood flowing from his wounds, a fury he had never felt before swept away his fear.
He sprang to his feet and charged at Shaman Gong, heedless of his bound hands and everything else.
"Jesse! Don't!!" Jieming cried out with difficulty from beneath Shaman Gong's foot.
But it was too late.
Jesse had only taken a few steps when a nearby CP0 guard, his expression cold, moved.
He raised one foot and kicked Jesse hard in the stomach.
"Ugh—"
Jesse flew backward and crashed heavily onto the hard deck.
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