A Ruthless Shakedown! A Just Cause! Preparing for War!

"He got away. I miscalculated."

Kong Deming frowned.

Huo Yuhao's eyes widened.

"He saved Tang San! This..."

Huo Yuhao fumed. "How did I let him take Tang San away?!"

Li Chen patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder.

"He's a Titled Douluo, after all, and he wields the Clear Sky Hammer, the continent's strongest tool spirit."

"When he went all out with his life on the line, there was no way you could have stopped him."

"But..."

Li Chen stepped forward to where Tang Hao had been struck.

"Tang Hao and Tang San may have escaped, but they can't hide forever."

"One day, there'll be no place for them on this continent."

Li Chen bent down.

A huge pool of blood covered the ground. Kong Deming's reflected ray had vaporized one of Tang Hao's hands and one of his feet.

Two Soul Bones from Tang Hao's body remained.

There was also a small wooden box.

Li Chen opened it.

Inside was a Blue Silver Emperor right leg Soul Bone. Blue-gold patterns flowed across it—it was a hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone!

"Looks like this is the right leg Soul Bone Ah Yin left behind."

Li Chen picked it up and stored all three Soul Bones in his Storage Soul Tool.

"Not bad at all. Three Soul Bones—we've made a fortune."

Huo Yuhao looked glum. "I should've killed Little Scumbag when I had the chance! Then we wouldn't have to worry about him later!"

Still,

Huo Yuhao knew that if he really had killed Tang San, Tang Hao would have made sure they died together.

Li Chen walked back with a smile.

"Yuhao, don't dwell on it. Once we launch the Soul Tool Satellite, I promise I'll help you find Tang San again."

Huo Yuhao nodded, his face lighting up.

"Li Chen, you're the best! If I were a woman, I'd want to marry you."

Li Chen gave him an odd look. "Don't start. I'd rather the thing coming at me in the middle of the night were a knife."

Huo Yuhao burst out laughing.

Kong Deming descended from the sky and looked at Zhao Wuji and the others.

"Tang Hao ran off with his son, so we'll have to make up the difference with you."

Zhao Wuji and the others went pale.

Zhao Wuji stammered, "Your Excellency! Senior! Tang Hao has nothing to do with us. We don't know him!"

Ma Hongjun's eyes darted, and he hurried to speak.

"It was Tang San who provoked you! He and his father are badly wounded now, so go after them!"

Dai Mubai nodded. "Right, right! Tang San did it all. Be generous and let us go."

Oscar and Zhu Zhuqing stared in disbelief.

Oscar frowned. "Third Brother is our teammate! Are you really going to do this?"

Ma Hongjun clapped a hand over Oscar's mouth.

"Is a teammate worth more than your life?! How long have you even known Tang San? Is he worth dying for?"

Oscar hesitated, then nodded.

Zhu Zhuqing looked at Dai Mubai without a word, but disappointment filled her eyes.

Was someone who sold out his friends to save himself fit to become the future ruler of the Star Luo Empire?

If she stayed with this spineless coward, he might sell her out one day too!

Li Chen stepped forward. "You were all together, so you all have to take responsibility."

"How about this? I won't make things too hard for you. Each of you hands over ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, and I'll spare you."

Oscar's eyes widened. "Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins?! Why don't you just rob us?"

Li Chen smiled. "Isn't that what I'm doing?"

Ma Hongjun scratched his head anxiously. "B-but where am I supposed to get that many Gold Soul Coins? I don't have that kind of money!"

Li Chen raised his fist. "Is ten thousand really that much? Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins for your life is a bargain."

"If you don't have the money, that's easy. Leave your life here instead. Hurry up and pay!"

Li Chen walked up to them and held out his hand.

Killing this lot wouldn't gain him much. He might as well squeeze something out of them.

Together with the trade deal with Spirit Hall, the money would help Li Chen gather the Rare Metals he needed and launch the satellite as soon as possible!

At Li Chen's urging,

Zhao Wuji reluctantly opened his pouch.

A great heap of soul coins spilled out with a clatter.

There were silver, copper, and gold coins.

"I have thirty thousand Gold Soul Coins in total. I was saving them to buy resources for the students. Take it all!"

Li Chen glanced over the pile. His Computer Spirit appeared and swiftly tallied it.

"Thirty-five thousand Gold Soul Coins in total. You can take two people with you."

Zhao Wuji was dumbfounded. "What about the extra five thousand?"

Li Chen sneered.

"Want me to cut you in half and give it back?"

"No, no."

Clutching his chest, Zhao Wuji looked at Dai Mubai and the others, torn over what to do.

Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, and Zhu Zhuqing searched through their belongings, but the four of them couldn't scrape together even a thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Dai Mubai was full of regret.

He had left the imperial family with some money to his name, but he'd spent it all visiting brothels with Ma Hongjun day after day.

I should've saved some money. Damn it!

Zhao Wuji was stuck. He had to choose two out of five—but who?

Just then,

Ning Rongrong opened her Storage Soul Tool and poured out thirty thousand Gold Soul Coins.

"I'll cover the remaining thirty thousand! We can go now, right?"

Li Chen raised an eyebrow and quickly pocketed the money.

But as Ning Rongrong was about to leave, Li Chen reached out to stop her.

"They can go. You can't."

"Why not? We gave you sixty-five thousand Gold Soul Coins in total!"

Li Chen smiled. "Their lives are worth ten thousand Gold Soul Coins each. Yours is worth a hundred thousand. So you haven't paid enough."

Ning Rongrong's eyes widened. "Why? Why are you charging me a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins?!"

Huo Yuhao stepped forward with a cold laugh and pointed at Ning Rongrong.

"You said it yourself, didn't you? Aren't you the young lady of the Eight Treasures Porridge Sect?"

"It's the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"

"Yeah, yeah. You're a sect's young lady. Do you think your life is worth the same as theirs?"

Ning Rongrong had no answer. She glared at Li Chen and Huo Yuhao, grinding her teeth and stamping her foot in anger.

"You two are nothing but robbers!"

Li Chen said, "Insulting us? Now it's a hundred and ten thousand. The extra is compensation for our emotional distress. Pay up, and make it quick!"

Ning Rongrong's face crumpled, and she burst into frustrated tears.

She dumped out all her Gold Soul Coins.

"This is all I have!"

Li Chen counted them quickly and nodded. "A hundred and eight thousand Gold Soul Coins. Tsk, young lady of the Eight Treasures Porridge Sect, I'll let you off the last two thousand this time. You can go."

Ning Rongrong took a deep breath.

A hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was no small sum, even for her.

And these two had the nerve to act as though they were showing mercy. It was infuriating!

But Ning Rongrong didn't dare lash out.

As it turned out, one beating was enough to cure her young-lady temper.

Ning Rongrong obediently followed the limping Zhao Wuji away, thoroughly humiliated.

"Li Chen, why didn't we kill them?"

Huo Yuhao drew a finger across his throat as he asked.

They were all Tang San's companions, people who would become gods in the future.

Leaving them alive would be a threat down the line.

Watching Zhao Wuji and the others leave, Li Chen sneered. "Who said we won't kill them? The time just isn't right."

As he spoke,

streams of data flashed through Li Chen's eyes. A map appeared before him, with Ning Rongrong and the others moving across it as red dots.

He had already used his newly acquired Chip Splitting soul skill to implant chips inside them.

Tang San had been implanted with a chip long ago, too.

No matter where they ran, Li Chen would know.

"Dai Mubai belongs to the Star Luo Imperial Family, and Ning Rongrong is the daughter of one of the Top Three Sects. If we kill them now, we'll give people grounds to condemn us. The Sun Moon Sect needs a just cause. We can't afford a stain on our reputation, or it'll work against us when we go to war."

"Let's head back. We need to get the Soul Tool Satellite into orbit and equip the Soul Engineer Corps. When the time is right, not one of them will escape!"

Huo Yuhao nodded.