I Hate Deadbeats

Dozens of people stared wide-eyed at the lowest-grade Green Jade Slate in Sikong Jing's hand, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Impossible..."

The word rang through everyone's minds, but the martial aura radiating from the Green Jade Slate was unmistakably real.

The entire crowd began to breathe faster.

The haughty smile on Young Master Chu Bo's face had long since vanished, leaving him staring in stunned disbelief.

"Now, aren't you going to honor our bet?" Sikong Jing's voice broke the silence, aimed squarely at Chu Bo.

The crowd began whispering among themselves, their gazes slowly shifting to Chu Bo.

The beautiful shop assistant's sharp voice rang out. She pointed angrily at Sikong Jing and snapped, "What are you talking about? Do you even know who Young Master Chu is? And you dare demand that he honor a bet?"

Sikong Jing replied expressionlessly, "I don't know, and I don't need to."

Of course he had no idea who Chu Bo was. To him, it was simply a case of those who humiliated others being humiliated in turn.

The beautiful shop assistant puffed out her chest and coolly explained, "Then I'll kindly tell you. Young Master Chu is the eldest son of the Chu Family, one of Yunye City's four great families. There's still time for you to curry favor with him."

At her words, the crowd's gazes toward Sikong Jing changed again, taking on a mocking edge.

Someone even stepped forward and said, "I have to say, you're incredibly lucky. You stumbled into a once-in-a-century successful inscription. But I advise you not to bring up the bet again."

Everyone shrugged. The fool might have gotten lucky, but he had the misfortune of crossing Young Master Chu Bo. No one took the bet seriously anymore, and no one believed Sikong Jing had succeeded through skill.

As they kept saying, the chances of inscribing a technique onto the lowest-grade Green Jade Slate were practically zero.

"Brother, quit while you're ahead."

"There are some people you can't afford to provoke. Keep your thoughts to yourself and stop running your mouth."

"That's right. You'd better watch out, or you might get yourself killed."

"Since you managed to inscribe a martial technique, you should be grateful you don't have to kneel. Hurry up and thank Young Master Chu for his generous gift of the slate."

Quite a few onlookers seemed to be kindly advising Sikong Jing.

Smack!

Chu Bo casually snapped his folding fan shut, his voice edged with menace. "What a bore. There's no need to thank me."

He was in a foul mood. He'd only meant to amuse himself by teasing a fool, but instead he'd been made to eat his words.

"I'll buy that Green Jade Slate of yours for one Silver Crystal Coin."

As he spoke, Chu Bo turned to the servants behind him. "Give this fool one Silver Crystal Coin, then smash his Green Jade Slate. After that, make him crawl out from between my legs."

He propped one foot on a stool and sneered at Sikong Jing.

Chu Bo's servant immediately stepped forward, flung a Silver Crystal Coin at Sikong Jing's feet, and held out a hand. "Hand over the slate."

Sikong Jing's eyes narrowed. Then he spoke abruptly. "I hate deadbeats!"

Boom!

As soon as the words left his mouth, true qi surged from Sikong Jing's body. He spun around and slapped Chu Bo's servant, sending him flying. As the man cried out in pain, Sikong Jing flashed to Chu Bo's side.

He drove a vicious kick into Chu Bo's lower abdomen.

Chu Bo had been waiting to humiliate Sikong Jing, and the attack caught him completely off guard. He let out a strange cry as he flew out of the Heaven Martial Pavilion and onto the street, but Sikong Jing was already in pursuit...

With two sharp thuds, Sikong Jing landed a pair of snapping kicks against Chu Bo's knees.

Thump...

Chu Bo dropped straight to his knees in the middle of the street, howling in pain.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye. By the time everyone inside the Heaven Martial Pavilion reacted, Chu Bo was already kneeling, his face contorted.

Sikong Jing stood straight before him, tall and imposing.

Ignoring the astonishment around him, Sikong Jing demanded, "Young Master Chu, do you still remember the terms of our bet?"

It took Chu Bo a moment to recover. His eyes bloodshot, he snarled, "You bastard! You dare hit me?"

As he spoke, Chu Bo tried to get back up, but the moment he moved, a stabbing pain shot through his legs.

"Don't move, or your knees will be crippled."

When Sikong Jing had attacked Chu Bo's knees, he had sent a thread of true qi between his tendons and bones. That was the source of Chu Bo's agony.

For the once-Invincible Divine General, this little trick came as naturally as breathing.

Of course, Chu Bo refused to believe him and tried to move anyway. The pain only intensified. His face turned beet red, and sweat poured from him.

"Honor the bet, and I'll relieve your pain," Sikong Jing reminded him.

But in the next moment, a deep voice sounded beside him. "Young man, leave a little room for others. Push him too far, and you won't gain a thing. This is Yunye City, after all."

The voice came from the direction of the Heaven Martial Pavilion. A middle-aged man stepped out through the entrance.

The "kind" onlookers naturally surrounded him.

The beautiful shop assistant from earlier stood beside the middle-aged man, pointing at Sikong Jing. "You brat, didn't you hear Pavilion Master Lu? Help Young Master Chu up right now, or you're dead!"

Sikong Jing turned toward the middle-aged man. "Are you the branch master of the Heaven Martial Pavilion in Yunye City?"

"That's right. My surname is Lu, and my given name is Zhao."

The middle-aged man introduced himself with a calm expression, then continued, "You sound like you're from out of town, young man. Take it from me: with the strength of the sixth level of the Bright Realm, you're not strong enough to run wild in Yunye City."

The aura Sikong Jing had just displayed had been unmistakable. He was only at the sixth level of the Bright Realm.

Yunye City might not be large, but there were more people than he could count who could kill him.

Today, he had happened to run into the dissolute, unambitious Young Master Chu Bo. If it had been one of the Chu Family's other young masters, Sikong Jing wouldn't even have had the chance to stand there and speak.

"Young Master Chu Bo is the eldest son of the Chu Family, one of the four great families. If you back down and apologize now, you might still get out of this."

When Sikong Jing showed no reaction, Lu Zhao warned him again.

Sikong Jing shrugged, then walked toward Lu Zhao and held out the inscribed Green Jade Slate. "Since you're the branch master of the Heaven Pavilion of Martial Arts, why don't you put a price on this Green Jade Slate for me?"

"You..."

Lu Zhao hadn't expected Sikong Jing to be so stubborn. He still had the nerve to ask for a price for the Green Jade Slate at a time like this?

He let out a sharp breath and said coldly, "Fine. But before I appraise the slate, let me tell you this: you won't live to see the sun rise tomorrow."

Since the young man in front of him refused to listen, there was no point wasting any more words on him.

Lu Zhao immediately sent his true qi into the Green Jade Slate. His expression remained as placid as water. A technique inscribed by someone this lucky would be no better than the lower grade of the Yellow rank, and the price wouldn't exceed ten Silver Crystal Coins.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Lu Zhao's expression froze.

The true qi inside his body had begun to surge uncontrollably.

His face grew redder and redder, blood vessels surfaced in his eyes one by one, and he looked as if he were slowly being boiled alive.

"Pavilion Master, why are you getting so angry?"

"Did this fool cheat and tamper with the Green Jade Slate?"

Seeing what was happening, the beautiful shop assistant immediately spoke up. The pavilion master looked ready to explode with rage; otherwise, his face wouldn't have turned so red. She added fuel to the fire: "I knew this fool couldn't possibly have succeeded."