If You Took What's Mine, Pay It Back with Interest!

After class, Li Yao headed straight out. He planned to draw some spirit stones from the Lineage for his cultivation.

He had just left the teaching building when a middle-aged man approached him.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes.

Yang Mingyou was Yang Xiaoran's father. He always wore a smile, but Li Yao knew he was a piece of trash. His daughter took after him.

Several lackeys followed behind Yang Mingyou.

"Li Yao, my dear nephew! It's been a long time." Yang Mingyou cupped his hands with a smile. "Xiaoran told me what happened yesterday. She doesn't know any better. I'll discipline her properly when I get home."

Li Yao raised an eyebrow.

That was a decent attitude.

He was about to offer a polite reply when Yang Mingyou changed tack. "But you did slap Xiaoran, my dear nephew. If word gets out, she'll lose face. How about this? Give her thirty to fifty thousand spirit stones as compensation for the distress you caused her, and we'll put this behind us."

Li Yao froze.

He stared at Yang Mingyou's smiling face and sneered inwardly.

The old fox talks about disciplining his daughter, but all he really wants is to squeeze something out of me.

Ding! Detected Yang Mingyou's attempt at extortion. Side quest triggered: Defend the Lineage's honor. Reward: 5,000 Background Value.

Ding! Detected that the Yang Family meets the conditions for a host quest. Side quest triggered: Reclaim everything the host gave the Yang Family, or destroy the Yang Family. Reward: 50,000 Background Value.

Two quests at once. The Yang Family really is good for me.

Li Yao had been wondering how to earn Background Value. System quests clearly triggered at random, so he couldn't just go around using the Will of Domination to bully people and expect to gain any.

Yet here, he had triggered two in one go.

Li Yao gave a cold laugh and was about to speak when Yang Mingyou went on with a smile. "My dear nephew, I know you've been pursuing Xiaoran and treating her well all this time. A few spirit stones shouldn't mean much to you, should they?"

Li Yao took a deep breath. "Have I given you too much face? Who's your nephew? What makes you think you can act like my elder? You think I'd slap Yang Xiaoran but wouldn't slap you?" Yang Mingyou's expression shifted, and his smile froze.

"What's that supposed to mean, Li Yao?" Yang Mingyou dropped his smile, his voice turning dark. "I'm speaking to you nicely. What kind of attitude is this?"

"My attitude?" Li Yao sneered. "Your daughter demanded Thirty Thousand Spirit Stones, and now you're asking for thirty to fifty thousand. Does the Yang Family think I'm easy to squeeze, or that the Li Family is easy to bully?"

"You—"

"You what?" Li Yao cut him off. "Tell me, Yang Mingyou, who do you think you owe for everything your family has today? If I hadn't spent the last three years sending resources to your family, would you be where you are?"

The students gathered to watch erupted at his words.

"Holy shit. I'd heard Li Yao gave Yang Xiaoran tons of resources—enough to lift up her whole family. So it was true?"

"Right? Didn't Yang Xiaoran's family used to be pretty poor? Then suddenly they were on the rise, with several Eighth Rank Martial Masters, and even Yang Mingyou reached the Ninth Rank. Turns out Li Yao was supporting them all along."

"Even for a lovesick fool, that's something else."

Yang Mingyou's face turned livid, but he forced a smile. "Li Yao, my dear nephew, you can't put it like that. You and Xiaoran care for each other—"

"Care for each other my ass!" Li Yao scoffed. "In three years, your daughter never even let me touch her hand. You call that mutual affection? She treated me like a sucker, you treated me like a walking cash machine, and your whole family took me for a fool. Is that it?"

Yang Mingyou was left speechless.

Just then, Li Wenbin appeared at exactly the right moment, carrying a folder.

"Young Master, I've put together everything you asked for."

Li Yao took the folder and opened it. Page after page listed every resource he had given Yang Xiaoran over the past three years.

Spirit stones, Spirit Artifacts, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, cultivation resources... Every item was recorded in detail.

"Good." Li Yao closed the folder and looked at Yang Mingyou. "Old man, let's settle the accounts."

"Over the past three years, I gave Yang Xiaoran a total of 230,000 spirit stones, five Spirit Artifacts, seventeen Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and more cultivation resources than I can count."

"You have three days. Within three days, you'll return all of it to me, principal and interest."

"If the Yang Family can't pay," Li Yao said with a cold laugh, "then there's no reason for the Yang Family to exist."

Yang Mingyou's face went white.

"Li Yao, are you... are you trying to wipe us out? Aren't you afraid Xiaoran will never like you again?"

"Like father, like daughter. No wonder you two are family—you're exactly alike. Who says I have to keep liking Yang Xiaoran?"

"Just look at your daughter. No breasts, no ass. I must've been blind to fall for her, and she still put on airs and pretended to be virtuous. I'm done putting up with it!"

"You—"

"What?" Li Yao cut him off. "Everything the Yang Family has today is thanks to me. Now that I'm done with you, you're going to give it all back."

"That's how it works."

Yang Mingyou's face turned blue, then white. His lips trembled, but he couldn't get a word out.

The lackeys behind him kept their heads down, hardly daring to breathe.

Seeing Yang Mingyou like that felt indescribably good to Li Yao.

"Well? Is three days enough?"

"If not, I can give you a few more."

"But we'll have to get the interest straight."

"For every day you don't pay, that's another ten thousand spirit stones in interest."

Li Yao patted Yang Mingyou on the shoulder. "Think hard, old man. How are you going to scrape that sum together?"

Then he turned and walked away without looking back.

He left behind a crowd of students and a pale-faced Yang Mingyou.

"Holy shit, has Li Yao lost his mind?"

"He's making the Yang Family cough up everything they've swallowed over the past three years?"

"The Yang Family is finished. Even if they sold everything down to their pots and pans, they couldn't come up with 230,000 spirit stones."

"Serves them right for being greedy."

Yang Xiaoran stood at the entrance to the teaching building, watching Li Yao walk away. She bit her lip until it turned white.

She had never imagined Li Yao would treat her father this way.

Lin Yun came over and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. You've got me."

Yang Xiaoran turned to him, her eyes red. "Brother Lin Yun, you have to help me."

"Don't worry." Lin Yun nodded. "I have a plan."

Li Yao left the school and got into Li Wenbin's car.

"Young Master, are you really going to make the Yang Family pay it back?" Li Wenbin asked.

"Of course." Li Yao leaned back in his seat. "I was foolish, but I'm not a fucking idiot. There isn't a decent person in that family."

"I was blind back then. Now that I can see clearly, it's time they learned how things work."

Ding! Quest complete: Defend the Lineage's honor.

Reward: Background Value +5,000.

Host's current Background Value: 5,000.

Even a mosquito has meat on it. At least it's something.