Chapter 50: You're Trying to Reason With Me?

"I poured my heart out to him, yet this is what I get in exchange?! I'm truly glad that a scoundrel like him is dead! Where is his grave? I'm going to piss on it to give him a final sendoff!"

Everyone lowered their heads to hide the exasperation on their faces.

From what they had heard, Qiao Yishu received a far from friendly reception from Starlight!

Even though they were all demonic church members, everyone couldn't help but feel as if Starlight was a much more convincing demon that they were.

There was no lack of ruthless and bloodthirsty individuals among them, but Starlight was downright insane!

Liu Hanshan was feeling a bit better after drinking a few cups of tea.

This was the thing about humiliation. Sudden and unexpected humiliation was very difficult to stomach, but if one were constantly being humiliated and having their dignity trampled into the ground, then they would slowly become numb and desensitized.

Having composed himself, he said, "It was indeed Qiao Yishu who informed us of your branch helm's location, and we just so happened to have something to discuss with you, so we decided to come here for a chat."

A cold sneer instantly appeared on Fang Che's face upon hearing this.

"If you hadn't mentioned that, I would've almost forgotten! All of you came to

my

branch helm, then began drinking without me and making an absolute mess of this place! That was extremely hurtful to me! How do you plan to compensate me?"

Everyone instantly heaved a collective internal sigh of dismay as they turned to glower at Liu Hanshan with accusatory expressions.

Clearly, Starlight was targeting him, taking issue with everything that he said, so everyone could only pray that Liu Hanshan would learn to shut his mouth from now on!

Liu Hanshan was naturally aware of this, but he had intentionally played into Fang Che's hands just now.

He had just been completely and utterly humiliated, and he couldn't retaliate for fear of Yin Shengong, so the only way to make up for this would be to drag everyone down with him and have them join him in his humiliation!

That way, everyone would be able to remain friends. They had seen him at his lowest point, and it was only right that he got to see them at their lowest as well.

Thus, Liu Hanshan immediately played along, declaring, "My apologies, Helmsmaster Starlight. I will readily admit that we were at fault here. To make up for our transgressions, I'm willing to offer up five thousand taels of gold, ten vials of pills, a high-rank spirit beast inner core, one hundred purple jade spirit crystals..."

Everyone looked on in astonishment as Liu Hanshan rattled off a long list of compensatory items, then concluded with: "I am willing to offer up all of the aforementioned items to make up for my personal transgressions. Please accept this humble offering, Helmsmaster Starlight."

The key here was that this compensation was only meant to make up for his "personal transgressions," which meant that he was only speaking on his own behalf!

Essentially, what he was saying was: "I don't know or care if the others will be able to offer the same compensation, and you're free to punish them as you please!"

Liu Hanshan had made his nefarious intentions abundantly clear, and everyone was vehemently cursing him internally.

He was encouraging Starlight to humiliate everyone else so they could be on equal footing with him!

Fang Che naturally also instantly understood his intentions, and a warm smile instantly appeared on his face as he said, "You're far too kind, Helmsmaster Liu! It would be rude of me to refuse such a sincere offering, so I'll accept it, but there really was no need to offer so much. I know that you're a very cultured and polite man, and there's no way you would've made such a mess of this place. It must've all been everyone else's fault!"

He was smiling from ear to ear as he accepted Liu Hanshan's offerings, and it was as if they had become close friends all of a sudden.

Liu Hanshan was eager to appease Starlight, and he apologized once again and even offered to bring along more presents next time.

Fang Che was ecstatic, expressing his admiration for Liu Hanshan's generosity and willingness to take accountability, but in the next instant, a frosty look reappeared on his face as he asked, "What about the rest of you? Helmsmaster Liu has already displayed his sincerity, you think you can all just get away with doing nothing?"

Wang Zilin's face had turned almost as purple as an eggplant. He was the most impoverished one of everyone present, and he had zero savings.

He lived every day like it was his last, living as hedonistically as possible without any consideration for the future, and his lifestyle had come back to bite him now.

"Did... Didn't Helmsmaster Liu pay for us all?"

"Are you fucking deaf?!" Starlight snapped in an explosive display of fury. "Liu Hanshan explicitly just said that he was only paying for his personal transgressions! You're not him, so why should he pay for you? You think you can just trash my place and get away with it without paying a single tael of silver?! You can refuse to pay and see what happens! I dare you! In fact, I dare all of you!"

A white-robed young man cleared his throat, then began, "Helmsmaster Starlight, I'm from the Lu Clan of the main church..."

"I don't give a shit which clan you're from!" Fang Che snapped in a ruthless manner. "You think I don't know what all of you are here to do? You've gone to all of the other churches aside from our One Heart Church. Why is that? It's because all of you are here to kill Master Night Demon! You've made your intentions so obvious that you may as well write them out on your faces!

“Right now, you're on

my

territory, and I haven't even punished you in Master Night Demon's stead, yet you've come here to desecrate my branch helm, causing me severe mental distress, and you think I'd let you get away with it without any compensation?! I don't care what you say today, you're not weaseling your way out of this one!

“Why'd you bring up the main church? Because you thought I'd be scared? Shut your mouth before I send you back to the Lu Clan in a casket!"

"But you're asking for too much!" all of the young men and women from the main church protested with glum expressions.

Never had they imagined that they would encounter someone so unreasonable and ruthless from a subsidiary church!

All of them were branch lineal descendants of their clans, and they weren't even granted the opportunity to take part in the Parasite Ascension Project. How were they supposed to fork out such a huge sum of compensation?

If they had so much resources at their disposal, they wouldn't have bothered to come to the White Cloud Prefecture at all!

With so many people expressing financial difficulties, Wang Ziling saw this as an opportunity, and he began making a tentative attempt at bartering.

"Helsmaster Starlight, would it be possible..."

Before he had a chance to a finish, a wave of potent baleful qi abruptly descended upon him as Starlight sprang up into the air with a murderous look on his face.

"Are you trying to barter with me? You think you're buying vegetables at a market?!"

Liu Hanshan was a ninth-rank King, so he was untouchable to Fang Che, but Wang Zilin was a Lord, and Fang Che was more than happy to make an example out of him.

Everyone shuddered involuntarily at the wave of baleful qi that swept through the entire hall, and Wang Zilin was sent flying with a dull thump by a palm strike from Fang Che, following which the latter drew his nine ring broadsword.

Wang Zilin tumbled over the ground like a rubber ball, and by the time he drew to a halt, Fang Che was already directly above him, swinging his broadsword down without any hesitation.

"No! Please! Spare me!" Wang Zilin frantically implored as he drew his sword to defend himself, only to be launched back into the hall by an almighty punch from Fang Che.

Blood came spewing out of Wang Zilin's mouth, while Fang Che calmly returned to his throne, his broadsword having already been returned to its scabbard.

Wang Zilin was laying sprawled out on the ground, completely unable to move as he pleaded in a feeble voice, "Please spare me and give me some time, Helmsmaster Starlight... I promise I'll have your compensation ready soon..."

Everyone else was paralyzed with fear, and even Liu Hanshan pupils had contracted in astonishment.

He could sense that Starlight's cultivation base was far inferior to his own, but he was stunned by Starlight's baleful qi and recklessness.

Even as a ninth-rank King, his baleful qi was nowhere near on Starlight's level, and he was certain that Starlight would only need to reach the third or fourth-rank King tier in order to best him in battle.

As a seasoned warrior, Liu Hanshan's appraisal of potential and combat prowess was very accurate, and a sense of deep apprehension welled up in his heart, forcing him to reevaluate Starlight.

Someone of Starlight's aptitude had to either be befriended or killed as soon as possible! If he were allowed to grow into his full potential, then he would become a living nightmare for all of his enemies.

"You're going to delay your payment?" Fang Che sneered. "Sure, but you'll have to pay me double then! If the payment isn't ready in a month, it'll be doubled again, and it'll keep doubling every month until you pay me! Do you hear me?"

"Yes! That's fine!" Wang Zilin hurriedly answered.

"What about you, Zheng Fangping? Are you going to make me wait as well?"

Zheng Fangping was already beginning to rummage through his pockets with an ashen complexion.

Previously, he had only feared Starlight out of the threat of Yin Shengong, but after witnessing what had just happened to Wang Zilin, he now knew that Starlight was more than capable of putting an end to his life even without calling upon Yin Shengong.

Only after completely emptying his own pockets, as well as those of his subordinates was he able to scrounge together a decent sum of compensation, and he said, "I apologize sincerely for my transgressions, Helmsmaster Starlight. Please accept this compensation for now, and once I get back to my branch helm, I'll be sure to send more your way!"

It seemed that he had weathered the storm, and even Liu Hanshan was beginning to feel a little disappointed, seeing as Deng Fangping seemed to have managed to spare himself of the same humiliation that he had just suffered.

However, Fang Che remained as relentless as ever.

He slapped Deng Fangping viciously across the face, sending him toppling to the ground as blood came spewing out of his mouth.

He then stood over Deng Fangping with a frosty expression as he sneered, "You thought you managed to save yourself, didn't you?"

Everyone else had turned to gawk at him in incredulity.

That's still not enough? He's already given you compensation and apologized! What more do you want from him?!

"You think you can reason with me? Who do you think I am, a Protectionist?"