Now you should believe it, right

“Everyone, please calm down.”

Li Muran spoke gently, then turned his gaze toward the two men.

“Fellow Daoists, seeing how gravely injured you are, I truly cannot bear to stand by and do nothing.”

As he spoke, he flicked his fingers. Two pills, radiating dense vitality and tremendous medicinal power, flew precisely into the mouths of the two men, which had fallen open in astonishment.

The pills dissolved the instant they entered their mouths, transforming into two warm currents that swept through their limbs and bones!

The severe injuries within their bodies began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Even their depleted sacred power was rapidly recovering!

The grade of these pills was terrifyingly high!

“These are Life-Force Pills I refined myself. They are especially effective for healing injuries and replenishing energy.”

Li Muran explained with a beaming smile, his eyes utterly sincere.

“Both of you, please circulate your energy and dissolve the medicinal power as quickly as possible. You must recover soon.”

He paused, then added, still in a gentle tone that nevertheless sent chills through them:

“Whatever you do, don’t just drop dead on us. We haven’t had our fill of fighting yet.”

The two men instantly froze in place, unsure whether to swallow or spit out the pills.

Take an enemy’s pill to recover quickly, only to continue being beaten afterward?

What humiliation! What utter mockery!

Just as the two men were so thoroughly choked by this extreme humiliation that they could not utter a word, Shi Wanshan had already strode over to the gray-robed Saint King.

Without the slightest hesitation, he squatted down and began rummaging through the tattered gray robes of the gray-robed Saint King Musen, his movements practiced, as though he were cleaning out his own prey.

“Hmm, this old bastard’s got quite a stash.”

As Shi Wanshan muttered to himself, he quickly pulled out several storage rings, jade pendants, and a few oddly shaped bottles and jars.

He opened one of the black vials, which gave off a faint fishy odor, and held it beneath his nose to sniff.

“Bah! So it was this stuff—the Soul-Chasing Powder! This is what made me run for days and nights!”

Cursing under his breath, he casually opened another small bottle that had been stored alongside it. The bottle carried an aura of the same origin as the Soul-Chasing Powder.

It was probably the antidote.

He carefully sealed the bottle and stored it in his own storage ring.

The gray-robed Saint King’s face had gone ashen.

He had spent his entire life being cautious, struggling and killing for every advantage, before finally amassing this small fortune and attaining the cultivation and status of a mid-stage Saint King.

These things were more than mere wealth.

They were his means of survival, the symbol of his dignity, and the foundation of all his ambitions!

And now, right before his very eyes…

The people he had regarded as prey had stolen everything!

He glared fixedly at the pile of treasures, with only one thought remaining in his mind.

“My storage rings! My inner armor! My life’s savings!”

“I took this job, and it’s cost me everything!”

Shi Wanshan paid no attention whatsoever to the gray-robed Saint King’s resentful stare. Then, as though he had suddenly remembered something, he turned toward the purple-robed Sage Li Mo, who had just recovered somewhat and was glaring at him with a mixture of hatred and fear.

Shi Wanshan flashed him a grin, then waved a gleaming set of inner armor he had just stripped from Musen.

“Hey, you! Take a good look!”

He pointed at Musen, who now lay on the ground wearing nothing but his underclothes, then at the pile of treasures in his own hand. He shouted at Li Mo:

“I’m telling you this one last time, so listen carefully!”

“Back in the Imperial Tomb, I didn’t steal anything from you, and I sure as hell didn’t strip you! It was all one big misunderstanding!”

His voice dripped with undisguised mockery and delight as he continued:

“See it clearly now? This is what stripping someone bare looks like! Do you believe me now?”

“For such a petty little incident, you chased me for tens of thousands of miles and even hired a Saint King to come here and die. Don’t you think you’re an absolute idiot? Huh?!”

Li Mo trembled all over from the shouting, but the resentment and hatred he had endured through repeated humiliation suddenly broke through his reason. He yelled:

“Then explain this! When I woke up, why were you lying on top of me?! And your hand was—”

“Shut up!!”

Shi Wanshan’s expression changed dramatically. With a furious roar like an exploding thunderclap, he cut Li Mo off mid-sentence!

He lunged forward and, under everyone’s astonished gaze, clamped the bloodstained hand that had just been on the gray-robed Saint King over Li Mo’s mouth.

“Mmph! Mmmph, mmph, mmph!”

Li Mo’s eyes rolled back as he struggled. The rest of his words were reduced to muffled whimpers.

For one brief moment, the entire scene fell into an eerie silence.

Every gaze instantly shifted from Li Mo to Shi Wanshan.

Those eyes were filled with curiosity, suspicion, dawning realization—and the blazing fire of gossip.

Even Ye Guying, who was usually so cold and aloof, turned her head slightly.

“On top of him?”

“And what did your hand do?”

“Senior Brother Shi, what’s going on here?”

Someone in the crowd muttered under his breath.

That single remark was like a lit fuse.

“Oooooh!”

A long, drawn-out cry of sudden understanding erupted from the crowd.

Shi Wanshan had always feared nothing under the heavens, with a face thicker than a city wall. Yet under the dozens of knowing looks fixed upon him, his weathered face began turning visibly red—right down to the roots of his neck.

He abruptly released Li Mo’s mouth, then disgustedly wiped his hand on himself.

“What are you looking at? What the hell are you all looking at?!”

Shi Wanshan glared at the surrounding crowd in fury, but his voice no longer carried the confidence it had before.

“The formations in that Imperial Tomb were bizarre, with illusions everywhere! I—I was caught in one too! I woke up and things were already like that. How the hell was I supposed to know what happened?!”

In the end, he still did not mention that he had been stripped bare as well.

Too humiliating!

The angrier he became, the harder he kicked. With one blow, he shattered a chunk of broken stone nearby. Then he pointed at the two men on the ground and forcibly changed the subject, raising his voice once more.

“In short! I was framed! Anyone who brings it up again is asking for trouble!”

He swept his murderous gaze across the crowd.

Faced with that look, everyone obligingly held back their laughter and nodded one after another. Yet the amusement in their eyes was impossible to hide.

Seeing this, Shi Wanshan let out a mournful cry inwardly.

It was over! His lifelong reputation had been utterly ruined today by these two unlucky bastards!

His thoughts raced. He knew threats alone would never silence the gossip. He would have to pay a real price.

His gaze swept over the pile of treasures he had just stripped from the gray-robed Saint King, and an idea immediately came to him.

“Ahem!”

He coughed heavily, forcibly putting on a bold and unconcerned expression.

Pointing at the pile of treasures, he waved his massive hand and spoke in a voice like a thunderclap, trying to drown out his earlier embarrassment with sheer volume:

“I’m in a good mood today! Consider all this our spoils!”

As he spoke, he nudged the pile of treasures with his foot, paying particular attention to the several obviously high-grade storage rings.

Grinding his teeth, he shouted in a tone that said he was doing everyone an enormous favor:

“Finders keepers! We’ll split everything evenly! Take your share, and bury that little incident just now deep in your stomachs! Anyone who dares go outside and gossip about it…”

He clenched his bowl-sized fists, the joints cracking loudly. The threat was perfectly clear.

“Good!”

“Senior Brother Shi, you’re a true friend!”

“Don’t worry, Senior Brother. We’re the tightest-lipped people around!”

“What happened just now? Oh, right—we were sparring!”

The crowd instantly erupted into cheers ten times more fervent and a hundred times more sincere than before!

What gossip? What awkwardness? In the face of a genuine Saint King-grade treasure, none of that mattered anymore!

Just as the joy of this bountiful harvest reached its peak, Ji Yanqiu, Master of Feiyun Peak, spoke with a beaming smile. His clear voice easily drowned out the crowd’s cheers:

“Senior Brother Shi is righteous, and Senior Brother Li is compassionate. You are both paragons for us all. However…”

With that, he shifted his tone and once again turned his gaze toward the two distinguished guests in the arena, who had just suffered the double blow of being saved and losing their fortunes. His face wore an expression that seemed to say he was acting entirely in their best interests.

With utmost sincerity, he suggested, “The two of you have been through quite an ordeal. With so many of us attacking all at once, it would indeed be somewhat unfair.

“Fellow senior and junior brothers, how about this? Let’s take turns, ten people at a time, one group after another.

“That way, everyone will have a chance to stretch their muscles, while also giving our two distinguished guests a little time to catch their breath and show what they can do!”

I’ve finally finished making up the second chapter. It feels so refreshing to have all my debts paid off!

From here on, I’ll temporarily return to my normal update schedule of three chapters a day. I’ll take some time to think through the plot that follows!

If anyone has any good ideas, feel free to leave a comment or discuss them in the group. I’ll read them all carefully!

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support!