All five Red Leaf Pact members’ faces changed abruptly, and the composure Red Leaf Iron Wall had been forcing at last darkened away as he said in a low voice, “What do you mean by that?!”
“You took five recovery potions from me earlier, and all I’ve done is charge you 100 gold — such a worthwhile, perfect deal. I’ve got five more here; if you’d like those too, I’ll let you have them for 50 gold this time. How about it?”
Minor Recovery Potions sold at the novice village’s pharmacy for 2 copper apiece, but in Ye Tianxie’s hands they’d become 20 gold — a thousandfold markup, just like that. At this point, even with all his even temper, Red Leaf Iron Wall barely held back the urge to step up and cleave him in two, and he sneered through gritted teeth, “Xietian, it seems you’re set on making an enemy of my Red Leaf Pact!?”
“Whether you’re the Red Leaf Pact or the Green Hat Pact hasn’t got a single cent to do with me. All I’m doing is taking back what should’ve been mine — five potions for only 100 gold, you’re getting off dirt cheap.” Ye Tianxie’s gaze slanted sideways, the corner of his mouth hooking high, his smile sinister beyond measure. He was suddenly finding that switching to a new game name wasn’t such a bad thing after all — at the very least, it came with a bit of extra fun to pass the time. Had he used his old name, then even Divine Domain and Wings That Shroud the Sky would have wisely chosen to steer clear the moment they saw it.
“Very well… Xietian, our Red Leaf Pact will remember you. Let’s go!!” Red Leaf Iron Wall forced his anger down, threw out one grim, vicious parting line, and turned to leave with a roar. Not once since joining the Red Leaf Pact had he ever been in so sorry a state. In Novice Village No. 60001, there were only the five of them from the Pact, and knowing full well they couldn’t possibly deal with Ye Tianxie, he could only choose to swallow this grievance for now. Once they left the novice village — that would be the time to settle accounts, and he’d make this person called Xietian understand the meaning of regret.
“Hold it. It seems you’ve forgotten something.”
Red Leaf Iron Wall’s steps halted, and he turned around and looked at him darkly.
Ye Tianxie held up three fingers and said idly, “You’ve wasted a total of three minutes of my time, and my time is far more precious than your lives. One minute… let’s call it a thousand gold, so that’s three thousand gold in all. Hand it over.”
“Xietian, don’t push it too far!” Even a clay Buddha has three parts temper, all the more so this bunch grown used to their own arrogance. The Apprentice Warrior half-raised his two-handed sword, fire spitting from his eyes — had he not known that attacking was basically no different from courting death, he’d have already cleaved straight in.
“Can’t cough it up?” Ye Tianxie’s expression sank, a cold smile surfacing at the corner of his mouth. “What a pity. Then you’ll just have to make up for it with your lives!”
No sooner had Ye Tianxie’s voice fallen than his feet slid into an uncanny turning step, instantly rounding Red Leaf Iron Wall’s body. Before the five Red Leaf Pact members could react, that huge jet-black weapon had once again taken shape in Ye Tianxie’s hand — and the impulse to dodge had only just formed when four of them were swept by the Hour of Eternal Fate all at once…
-110. -103. -108. -208.
The Priest who’d died under the Giant Fierce Wolf’s claws was woebegonely one-shot by a critical hit, and the remaining three’s health bars were instantly more than half emptied… with a bonus of one utterly miserable scream from the Apprentice Archer thrown in. In a real world where even a slight scrape rarely happens, few people can truly withstand the agony of a blade cleaving the body. The four Red Leaf Pact members who came to their senses instinctively chose to retreat in their horror — but how vast the Hour of Eternal Fate’s reach was: apart from the Apprentice Archer who clutched his head and bolted under the stimulus of that enormous pain, the Apprentice Warrior and Apprentice Mage had their health bars emptied under Ye Tianxie’s second strike coming hard on the first, and dissolved into two streaks of white light.
A cold wind arrived suddenly from behind. Ye Tianxie didn’t turn; the Hour of Eternal Fate he’d just drawn back spun into a gorgeous reverse whirl and struck heavily on Red Leaf Iron Wall’s shield, a damage number of -99 floating up while it triggered the extremely low-probability knockback effect, slamming his charging body back two steps. Ye Tianxie whirled around sharply and stabbed his chest twice in a row, sending this Apprentice Guardian — who hadn’t so much as touched the hem of his clothes — back to the novice village free of charge. Beside the corpse, a fairly fine wooden shield dropped to the ground.
Last was the Apprentice Archer fleeing like a madman. When he looked back and saw that his four companions had all fallen in such a short span, he couldn’t help being terror-stricken, and ran headlong for his life — only for a rock jutting up from the ground to block his foot at the worst possible moment. He stumbled and pitched to the ground.
The Apprentice Archer was just about to get up when a tall figure had already come to stand behind him. Looking at that jet-black, savage weapon, the Apprentice Archer’s legs went weak with fright, cold sweat pouring off his whole body. Having just been run through by it moments before, the enormous pain and the sensation of death were things he’d never forget for the rest of his life. He waved his hands in a panic and wailed, trembling, “Don’t… don’t kill me, I set my pain tolerance to 100%, please don’t kill me… I’ll give you all the gold and gear on me… big brother, I’m begging you, don’t kill me, please don’t kill me…”
Ye Tianxie revealed the exact same smile as before, saying with a face full of mercy, “All right. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve always been a very merciful person — even though you lot wasted my time and can’t afford proper compensation, I shouldn’t wipe you out to the last… Here’s how it’ll go: I’ll ask you one question, and if you can give me a satisfactory answer, I’ll let you go.”
Asking a question, another question… The agonizing memory came flooding up all at once, and the Apprentice Archer nearly burst into tears, saying with fear and trembling, “What question?”
“Am I handsome?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Shhk!
A black arc of light slashed across the Apprentice Archer’s body, drawing out yet another scream like a pig being slaughtered. Ye Tianxie let out a long sigh and said mildly, “You don’t even know that — what’s the point of you staying alive.”
Watching that woebegone Apprentice Archer’s corpse dissolve into white light and vanish before him, Ye Tianxie put away the Hour of Eternal Fate and said in a low, unhurried voice, “No matter which world it is, it’s better to know your place in how you act — not everyone is someone you can afford to provoke… Next time, before you enter the World of Fate, you’d best take a good look at the almanac first.”
(End of Chapter 21)