(Second update)
"D-Don't kill me!"
Seeing the Elephant Armor Sect retainer behind him about to follow Yang Ming's order and take his life, Huyan Li's face immediately turned pale. With a loud cry, he dropped to his knees and repeatedly smashed his forehead against the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face as he begged:
"Yang Ming, I was wrong. I was truly wrong. I never should have opposed you, and I never should have encouraged my grandfather to plot against you. Please, considering this is my first offense, be magnanimous and spare my life."
At this moment, the dignity of the Elephant Armor Sect's young sect master, the dignity of a man—he threw all of it beyond the clouds. Only one thought remained in his mind: live, no matter what it took!
Huyan Li's forehead struck the hard floor with repeated bangs, bruising and bleeding profusely. The sight filled everyone else with contempt for the Elephant Armor Sect's young sect master, completely overturning their impression of him.
In everyone's original impression, the Elephant Armor Sect's young sect master had been a resolute and decisive young man. Now, though, they labeled him a coward and someone afraid of death.
Even Huyan Li's classmates from Elephant Armor Academy looked at their captain with disdain. Ashamed to be associated with him, they all turned their heads away as if they did not know him.
Of course, they were merely laughing at someone fifty steps ahead of them. If Yang Ming gave them a chance to live, they would have done even worse than Huyan Li. They might even have called Yang Ming Dad in public.
Yet no one noticed the flash of bone-deep resentment in Huyan Li's eyes as he kowtowed to Yang Ming.
*As long as I escape alive today,