Chapter 63
Coincidently, Shen Yue had planned his excursion into the Ghastly Ruins the same day that Murong Yu was also harvesting ghouls. It seems that Murong Yu was planning to rob anyone that had a goodly amount of soul scales, not just the attention seeker Nie Li. But why had he chosen to loot Shen Yue's minions? Sure, they were working together quite efficiently, but it was not like teaming up was a new concept! In the novel, even Hua Ling managed to coordinate a group to meet up and harass Nie Li, let alone more powerful factions.
Shen Yue quickly scanned through his officers' minds to get a first-hand view of what had happened. The first three he checked had been steadily killing ghouls with no problems, and it wasn't until he checked the mind of the fourth officer did he find what he was looking for. It was very similar to what had happened with Nie Li, Murong Yu made a weak excuse and then stole their soul scales. The only difference was that there was no one from Hua Ling's men creating trouble. This time, they were part of the group of victims getting robbed! As Shen Yue watched the memory play out like a movie, he was amazed at the shamelessness of the supposed genius of the previous year.
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The officer slave looked up at the sky, he had sensed a powerful aura just as someone appeared. Murong Yu blatantly looked down at the six men, analysing their strength.
"You're new recruits?"
They had only recently made a breakthrough to the Heavenly Fate Realm, but for newcomers of this year, their strength was pretty decent.
"That's right, and you are?" Asked the officer.
"I'm Murong Yu!" He proudly announced. A good majority of the younger experts were well aware of his name, but fresh recruits like them had no idea who he was. Since they didn't want to cause trouble and harm their harvest speed, the officer responded politely.
"Nice to meet you, is there something you need from us?"
"I was just passing by and noticed that you were cheating to gather more soul scales. This is a testing ground to train your skills, not group up to kill ghouls. I'm afraid that I am going to have to confiscate all the soul scales you have as punishment!" Said Murong Yu as he made a slight beckoning motion with his right hand. The team's bags of soul scales flew towards him.
"What cheat-like methods? The Ghastly Ruins doesn't have any rules on what methods could be used to kill ghouls! You are not even a law enforcer of the Skysoul Institute; what right do you have to confiscate our soul scales?" Yelled Shen Yue's infuriated officer. They had spent many hours gathering those soul scales and were angry to see them snatched by force.
Murong Yu looked down at them from his position in the sky and used his superior cultivation to suppress the six slave comrades. It was as if he was trying to crush their bodies into the ground. It was unfair to bully weaker opponents; however, this was a world where only strength mattered! Murong Yu landed on the ground and looked at the leader with a smile that wasn't a smile. He walked up to the underling, then punched him in the stomach with a cruel smirk. After being hit by Murong Yu's punch, the unfortunate minion's back arched like a prawn as his face twisted in pain. He could only furiously glare at Murong Yu.
"You dare to glare at me?" Murong Yu raised a leg and dropped it on the man's head, smashing his head to the ground with a cold smile. "You need to show respect when you meet someone stronger than you. Get it?"
"Murong Yu, I apologise!" The underling finally spat those words from his mouth as he felt like his brains were about to burst.
"There we go!" Murong Yu snorted and took a look his victims' soul scale bags, then said in a disdainful voice, "You only managed to hunt a little over ten thousand ghouls each, with all of you working together? Trash!" Upon finishing his words, Murong Yu tucked the soul scales away.
Shen Yue's nameless officer was filled with rage, but he could only remain on the ground with his head under Murong Yu's foot. Murong Yu kicked him as he laughed at the struggling recently promoted Heavenly Fate student.
"Pretend to be a dog and give me three good barks. Then I'll let you go!"
The man hesitated for a bit, but eventually gave in as he sensed Murong Yu's foot pressing down harder and harder. In the end, it was easier just to appease this sadist's need for dominance. Without strength, you will only be humiliated by others! He opened his mouth and barked three times, "Woof, woof, woof."
Murong Yu laughed, "Not bad, not bad! Almost like the real thing!"
Satisfied with the humiliation of a random stranger, Murong Yu released the poor guy and flew off into the sky. Probably in search of other victims.
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Shen Yue stopped watching the man's memories and plotted what to do next. Nie Li had left the Ghastly Ruins to bide his time until he had the strength to repay Murong Yu for his actions. But unlike Nie Li, Shen Yue had the power to put this shameless bastard in his place now! He connected to Hua Ling's mind and gave him new instructions. Once Hua Ling enslaved his men at the Ling Jade Deity's Lake, he was to loot it and bring all his men back and enter the Ghastly Ruins. Let's see how Murong Yu likes to be on the receiving side of bullying!
Giving up the Deity's Lake would be slightly annoying for his future plans, but Shen Yue had intended to uproot it and place it in the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting anyway. If another force managed to take it over in the short time it was unguarded, then it was doubtful that it would be by an influential faction. They would just let them hold onto it before killing them all later when they had the painting. The Deity's Lake was near death and only produced three thousand spiritual stones a year, the sixty Heavenly Fate experts guarding it would make more in one trip to the Ghastly Ruins.
There was no need to panic over one Deity's Lake, it's not like it was going anywhere! No one other than the cheater Nie Li could destroy it, and he was in a different Sect. It would take him at least a year to gain the strength necessary to make the journey to the Divine Feather's territory. For now, they were safe from the red-headed annoyance, plenty of time to prepare for his eventual arrival!
The next day, Murong Yu was still terrorising the people in the Ghastly Ruins. Since he had already been there for a full day, it would be close to the time he would have to leave the testing ground. During this time, he had stumbled upon two other groups of Shen Yue's minions, and even attacked a couple of the already robbed groups! Shen Yue had to give him a modicum of respect, he was an accomplished bandit. But thanks to Shen Yue's orders, the men just handed over their scales and then continued to hunt ghouls. There was no need to invite more injuries and humiliation, they would be getting them back soon anyway!
Hua Ling had entered the training grounds alongside his seasoned men. Since he was the officer to enslave them, he would be able to organise their meeting point, and better coordinate their attack on the dastardly Murong Yu. They had wasted a fair bit of time returning to the Sect from the Deity's Lake and were on a tight schedule, they couldn't afford to let the thief leave! Luckily, they were all Shen Yue's slaves, and thanks to his overpowered ability to connect to his officers' Soul Realms and minds, they were able to triangulate Murong Yu's rough location. In an area that covered hundreds of kilometres, this saved them a lot of time needlessly searching.
Soon, thirty of them managed to meet up with Hua Ling and move to where their target was killing as many ghouls as he could before leaving the testing grounds. With their prey sighted, they covered their heads so they would not be identified. Why would they want to suffer retaliation from someone as connected as Murong Yu? Clear on the plan of attack, they moved to surround the bastard and give him a thrashing he would never forget!
Murong Yu looked up and saw a group of people approaching from all sides, it was clear they were not here with good intentions. But who was he? He was a genius of the Skysoul Institute, he could slay hundreds of trash like these students! He calmly waited for them to get in position before sneering at them.
"What do you trash want? Do you even know who I am?"
One of the masked men stepped forward, "I think you are the guy we are looking for. Are you the rent boy with the magical tongue? Able to lick clean even the dirtiest of arseholes?"