The aghast Ping Jingyue was unable to dodge Yang Zhiyuan’s vicious palm, and immediately vomited blood. At the same time, Li Yijing and Liang Shengxian attacked her from the left and right, grabbing her arms so that she could not cast a spell. Yang Zhiyuan then waved a hand at her chest, and invisible spiritual power pulled a small Mustard Seed Bag from out of Ping Jingyue’s clothes.
This abrupt development left Liu Hongyan’s group dumbfounded.
“Yang Zhiyuan, you…” Ping Jingyue was so furious that her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
“My apologies,” Yang Zhiyuan coldly said. “The Great Dao does not permit a merciful hand.”
Cai Junyang frowned. “What are you three doing? Yang Zhiyuan, you were even saying such nice things about making sure to not hurt each other’s feelings when fighting against each other.”
Yang Zhiyuan laughed. “My ass! Cai Junyang, you idiot, you really think we won’t hurt each other’s feelings when we start fighting each other? There’s only going to be one True Inheritor, and we’re all going to be backstabbing each other in the bid to get it. How can you say that we won’t hurt each other’s feelings? Are you joking? Only naive fools like you and Ping Jingyue would believe such things.”
Cai Junyang was dumbfounded by these words. Meanwhile, Yang Zhiyuan suddenly changed his tone and said, “Of course, back to the main topic, we agreed on what methods should be used. So long as we don’t hurt each other’s feelings, there’s no need for all of you to get angry. Look here. I haven’t gotten angry yet, so if Little Sis Jingyue is willing, I’m still willing to be her friend after she hands over the head.”
“Yang Zhiyuan, you’re dreaming!” Ping Jingyue roared.
“That’s why I’m saying that the one hurting feelings isn’t me, it’s you guys. Not hurting each other’s feelings… hmph, naive!” Yang Zhiyuan chortled as he withdrew with the Mustard Seed Bag.
Cai Junyang now grew visibly angry. “Good, good! Yang Zhiyuan, you’ve got guts! Even if the head was in that bag, do you really think your group would be able to take it with you?”
“They can’t take it away, but what about us?” Another voice rang out from the distance.
Two tall and thin students who looked extremely alike emerged from the darkness, leading a group of students. These were clearly twins, but one was slightly taller and the other was slightly fatter.
Liu Hongyan’s sharp eyes instantly recognized these newcomers, and her body trembled. “Chen Naixing, Chen Naian! It’s you two bastards!”
Chen Naixing and Chen Naian were fourth-year students, and they were rather famous figures in the school.
But rather than calling the brothers “famous”, it was better to say that they were infamous. It was said that the brothers were willing to resort to all sorts of evil deeds, including arson, murder, and robbery. But they were also very cautious and never did such things in the academy, only abusing people when they were outside.
Though Basking Moon Academy had strict rules, even the strictest rules had loopholes.
After a thousand years, a major sect’s empty doctrines and stiff hierarchies had long ago become nothing more than a grandiose sham. Beneath the grandeur, the dark waters that flowed in the shadows had become disgustingly turbulent, with some of these aspects even floating up to the surface, such as in the Heavenly Extinction Sect.
Liu Hongyan and the other students hadn’t experienced as much. One reason was that they had only recently entered the academy, and hadn’t had many opportunities to interact with the ugly side of the world. The second reason was that the academy was a land of indoctrination, and so it was part of its nature to stubbornly conserve that last trickle of purity and prevent that filth and pollution from overflowing.
But when they came to the outside world, there was no longer a need to hide these vulgar acts, and the filthy truth would gradually become evident.
Today, they had witnessed the simplest and most common sort.
Liu Hongyan and the others didn’t need an explanation to understand what had happened.
The Chen brothers had bought out Yang Zhiyuan’s group.
Yang Zhiyuan, Li Yijing, and Liang Shengxian fell back while still holding Ping Jingyue. Moreover, the Chen brothers had a group of five, so with the addition of Yang’s group, it was now eight versus three.
Cai Junyang furiously said, “Yang Zhiyuan, you think you can get the True Inheritor position by relying on the Chen brothers?”
“True Inheritor?” Yang Zhiyuan guffawed. “I’ve never even thought about becoming some True Inheritor. I’ve got a clear head on my shoulders! There can be only one True Inheritor, but there are too many people after it. I have neither talent nor resources, so how am I going to get that True Inheritor position? So I took a step back and instead sought to serve someone who has a chance of becoming a True Inheritor. And I’ve chosen the Chen brothers! They’ve already promised me that if I can bring them the head, the three of us will each get three thousand coins! Rather than taking a gamble on the True Inheritor position, I’d rather have a solid three thousand spirit coins!”
“From them? These two wicked evildoers?” Liu Hongyan angrily pointed at the Chen brothers. “I fear that you’ll be silenced before you can get your hands on a single coin!”
The slightly taller older brother, Chen Naixing, laughed. “While we brothers aren’t good people, we know the ways of this world and understand the value of reputation. We’ve robbed and killed a lot of people, but go back on a promise? Never.”
The fatter younger brother, Chen Naian, took out a bag and threw it at Yang Zhiyuan.
Yang Zhiyuan grabbed the bag and looked at the contents, upon which he beamed in delight. “Senior Brothers, thank you.”
“You can now bring over the Mustard Seed Bag,” Chen Naian said.
“This…” Yang Zhiyuan hesitated. “Senior Brothers, this Mustard Seed Bag itself is worth a lot of money, and if there’s something more inside…”
“Shut your mouth!” Chen Naixing’s face darkened. “Those are Ping Jingyue’s! How do you think you’re going to get those things unless you kill her? And without our help, would you dare to kill her? You were hired only for your information. The spoils of war have nothing to do with you!”
“This…” The three members of Yang Zhiyuan’s group exchanged glances of dissatisfaction.
They had never imagined that they would capture Ping Jingyue, so they had only discussed the price for selling out the group’s location and not the distribution of the spoils. It now appeared that the Chen brothers intended to give them nothing.
They were angry, but there was nothing they could do.
The Chen brothers truly weren’t people who casually broke promises, but it was impossible to get any more out of them than what they had promised.
The three of them had no choice but to hand the Mustard Seed Bag over to the Chen brothers.
The sight had Ping Jingyue seething with rage.
Taking the bag, Chen Naixing glanced at Ping Jingyue and chuckled. “Despicable girl, you thought you were something else just because you set up some Freedom Society? A little underclassman dares to compete with her seniors for a True Inheritance? Reckless things! To tell you the truth, I don’t care if there’s no head in here. Even if I don’t get anything, I can just go and find Tang Jie. But now that you’re in my hands, you can just sit there and wait for me to enjoy you!”
His words were dripping with murderous intent.
Liu Hongyan was stunned by what she was hearing. “Chen Naixing, you wouldn’t dare! We’re all Basking Moon students, and the academy won’t overlook murder against another student!”
“Bullshit!” Chen Naixing shouted. “Silly girl, do you really think the academy knows everything? Or have your delusions gone to your head? You think that the rules of Basking Moon Academy have any power on the outside?”
“What did you say?” Liu Hongyan was shaken.
But Chen Naixing was right!
The rules of Basking Moon Academy had no power outside of it!
While Basking Moon Academy constantly emphasized that the students couldn’t kill each other, these rules were only effective within the academy. The disciples’ rules only had binding power inside the academy, but outside of it, the effects were purely psychological.
The only things that could truly stop the students from killing each other were their camaraderie, the academy’s warnings, and the laws of the Sageheart Kingdom.
But for the truly wicked and pernicious, camaraderie was meaningless and warnings were useless.
As for Sageheart’s laws, they still carried some threat, but which official would dare to strike at a disciple of an Immortal sect?
The only exception was if they did something truly terrible. Otherwise, Immortal disciples were left to settle their own disputes.
Thus, a land that abided by the law was often a paradise for the lawless.
Of course, they needed to understand what they could do and couldn’t do.
Evildoers like the Chen brothers were able to wander free and uninhibited for so long precisely because they understood the principles at play here. Let alone them, even the Heavenly Extinction Sect knew when it should show its head and when it should go into hiding.
If the Basking Moon Sect didn’t like it when they did something, they would never take the risk.
As for this True Inheritor struggle, so long as too many people didn’t die and there wasn’t too much of a mess, the academy wouldn’t care very much.
Even if it did care, it might not levy too hard of a punishment.
To be frank, Liu Hongyan and the others believed in the rule that Basking Moon students couldn’t kill each other because they had spent far too long in a nice and beautiful world and were not used to the cruelty of reality. For them, school rules had become iron laws, but they had forgotten that even iron laws could be broken.
It was like how only a student who had just entered society could understand that the people of the world were not their parents, and that there was no one here who would spoil them. This was an understanding that couldn’t be understood through careful thought, but by experiencing it through one’s bones.
In terms of actions, it was the difference between being reckless and giddy versus steady and cautious.
When Cai Junyang and the others understood, their hearts turned cold.
Chen Naian added, “None of these guys is allowed to escape, particularly Liu Hongyan. You must capture her! We brothers need to get a good taste of the Misty Moon that joins Stem and Flower…”
The students around him chuckled.
They were all fourth-year students, so no matter how weak they were, they were still enough to deal with Liu, Cai, and Shu, and this wasn’t even considering that they had numbers on their side.
Cai Junyang was just about to curse them out when Ping Jingyue coldly laughed, “‘Enjoy me’… I’m afraid that you might not be good enough for that.”
Chen Naixing was startled, and on the other end, Chen Naian began to look through the Mustard Seed Bag. He sighed, “No head… Hold on. What’s this?”
He took out a silk belt from the Mustard Seed Bag.
As he drew the silk belt from the Mustard Seed Bag, it soon became evident that it was dyed in seven colors, its brilliant colors dazzling in the darkness.
The Chen brothers stared at it in a daze. Chen Naian remarked in a strange tone, “Why does this look so familiar?”
With a whistle, another item flew out of the Mustard Seed Bag on its own. It was a thin sword.
The sword flew through the air, as did the seven-colored rainbow silk in Chen Naian’s hand. It wrapped around the small sword, creating a rainbow sword with a tassel that danced in the wind, illuminating the night sky.
“The Yearning Willow Leaf Sword!” Chen Naixing yelped.
“The Seven Emotion Soul Chain!” Chen Naian shouted, his voice quavering.
Cai Junyang and the others were also startled when they heard these words.
Liu Hongyan looked at Ping Jingyue and blurted out, “The Seven Emotions Killer? So you were part of the Thou–”
Before she could finish, Ping Jingyue let out a long whistle.
As the whistle resounded, the winds exploded!
The slender sword flying through the sky suddenly thrust down at Li Yijing and Liang Shengxian, who were still holding Ping Jingyue.
The two of them wanted to resist, but the dazzling rainbow tassel suddenly unleashed an explosion of light that obscured the sword’s location.
They felt a sharp pain at their arms, and then two arms went flying through the air.
Blood gushed into the air as Ping Jingyue flew into the sky on a tornado, rainbow sword in hand and hair unbound. She cried out, “You were the ones who forced my hand… Seven Emotions Absolution Sword, kill!”