Right now, the rule prohibiting brawling inside the city was Shenshang Chai's greatest protective talisman.
He watched Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye with an air of composure, a provocative smirk lingering on his lips. His actual plan, however, was to make a swift exit from Fukang City the moment the two ran out of patience.
Once he caught up in level down the line, he would thoroughly crush Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye.
Yet at that moment, an odd smile broke across Ximen Wangcai's face. He opened his troupe interface; Yu Xian had appointed him deputy troupe leader, granting him the authority to expel people from the city.
After verifying that Shenshang Chai had not changed his name, he selected it without hesitation, paid a fee of 1,000 Fortune Gold Coins, and clicked Expel!
Before Shenshang Chai could even register what was happening, he was teleported directly outside the city gates.
His reflexes were undeniably sharp. The second he realized he was outside Fukang City, he spun on his heel to dash back inside, only to run smack into an invisible barrier.
"Bastard, eat my sword!"
"Bastard, taste my blade!"
Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye struck at the same instant.
Under the crushing weight of their level advantage, Shenshang Chai managed to parry only a handful of blows before being battered black and blue. In the end, he collapsed, his face twisted in bitter indignation.
"Ah, that felt good!"
"So satisfying!"
"My mind is totally at peace now!"
"I swear every hair on my body feels refreshed."
Smiles beamed across the faces of both Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye. Truly, fate worked in mysterious ways. They had assumed the road to revenge would be long and winding, never dreaming that when they suddenly turned around, their sworn enemy would be right beside them—and in rags, no less.
What could possibly be more gratifying than this?
***
Up on the city wall.
Yu Xian watched the two grown men beat down what amounted to an overgrown toddler.
"Tsk, tsk. Polite folks really have the blackest hearts—bullying the weak without batting an eye... I love it!" Yu Xian remarked to Little Nora beside him as he ate an ice pop.
Little Nora asked curiously, "Why did they hit that person?"
"Probably holding a grudge," Yu Xian replied with a chuckle.
He was no bleeding-heart saint, so naturally, he could not care less about how Shenshang Chai felt as the victim. It wasn't as if the man had truly died.
At worst, he would just have to start over from scratch.
And of course, if Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye continued to hunt Shenshang Chai down to slaughter him, that was their business. As long as it didn't bother him and Little Nora, anything went.
"Leader!"
"Leader!"
Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye walked up onto the wall and called out to Yu Xian.
"A happy event always lifts the spirits. Looks like you two struck gold," Yu Xian said, turning back to them with a beaming smile.
Ximen Wangcai shot Yu Xian a sideways glance. "As if you didn't see what we were doing down there from up here. That bastard's name is Shenshang Chai. We were once killed by him. Who would have thought the tables would turn? He died too, and even respawned right on our turf. If we hadn't killed him, how could we do justice to everything we went through?"
"He killed both of you on his own? Man, you guys are weak," Yu Xian said, seizing upon the key takeaway the instant he heard it.
Having grown somewhat accustomed to Yu Xian's style, Ximen Wangcai merely flipped him the bird. "He really is strong, but back then, there were plenty of other reasons we lost."
"Just tell me whether you two lost to him in a two-on-one," Yu Xian said with a teasing grin.
Situ Xingye nodded frankly. "Indeed, Shenshang Chai is formidable. At the same level, Ximen and I teamed up and still weren't a match for him. How about you, Leader?"
"Me? I'm absurdly strong. Naturally, I'd crush him!" Yu Xian boasted with absolute confidence.
Situ Xingye nodded. "Great! Then if we run into Shenshang Chai next time, Leader, we're counting on you!"
Provided Shenshang Chai wasn't unlucky enough to respawn in Fukang City every single time, Situ Xingye genuinely lacked the confidence to deal with him once they met again—assuming the level gap was narrow.
After all, just moments ago, both he and Ximen Wangcai had held a massive fifteen-level advantage over Shenshang Chai, yet they still hadn't managed to finish him in one blow.
Had the disparity in base stats not been so overwhelming, the man might very well have slipped away.
"Sure, I'll take him on next time!" Yu Xian promised casually. In truth, he had observed how Shenshang Chai defended against Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye's assault.
The man was a pugilist master. Fist techniques were forms—or to put it more bluntly, the timing of an attack, the manner of exerting force, and the angle of delivery. Stripped of internal energy and similar variables, these technical skills suffered no diminution whatsoever in the Zhen Realm.
Even so, Yu Xian was confident his right fist could smash the man to pieces.
Particularly after leveling up, his stats had received a massive boost. While his fist was far weaker now than in the outside world, it remained a potent trump card. It was just that as an exalted mage, he disdained getting his hands dirty whenever he could avoid it.
"Leader, down to business," Ximen Wangcai said. Naturally, he could tell Situ Xingye was digging a hole for Yu Xian, but he couldn't be bothered to stop him or mediate. Instead, he looked at Yu Xian and turned the topic to the troupe's expansion. "Aside from range and whether someone can add you as a friend after leaving the troupe, basically everything else has been confirmed. As long as someone is a member of the troupe, they can enjoy the Fortune Cat's passive buff. That's why I'd like to collect a portion of gold coins to serve as a troupe fund."
From his perspective, falling behind by a single step meant falling behind every step of the way. Shenshang Chai had just been killed out of the Zhen Realm by him and Situ Xingye; by the time the man came back to grind levels, the ship would have long sailed.
After all, the Sparkle Troupe had wealth and food in abundance, and rapid expansion was inevitable. Backed by the Sparkle Troupe, if Ximen Wangcai still let Shenshang Chai catch up to his level, he might as well slit his own throat.
What truly mattered right now was expanding the Sparkle Troupe. First, develop the Sparkle Troupe into the Sparkle Legion; then gradually evolve the Sparkle Legion into the Sparkle Kingdom; and step by step, elevate the Sparkle Kingdom into the Sparkle Empire. (Somewhere in another world, a certain Lin Daiyu gave a thumbs-up.)
Finally, they would elevate the Sparkle Empire into the ultimate troupe formation in the Zhen Realm—the Sparkle Divine Kingdom.
Ximen Wangcai couldn't guarantee success for any other troupe, but the Sparkle Troupe possessed an overwhelmingly blessed starting position. If they couldn't pull it off under these conditions, he would wake up every morning just to slap himself across the face and curse himself as worthless trash.
"How much do you want to collect?" Yu Xian asked with curiosity.
He didn't object. After all, every member who joined the Sparkle Troupe was now guaranteed a Fortune Gold Coin drop upon slaying a monster. As long as they put in a little effort, earning a thousand gold coins a day would be child's play.
"Fifty gold coins per member. What do you think, Leader?" Ximen Wangcai suggested.
Situ Xingye furrowed his brow. "Fifty gold coins is too little. I'd say one hundred gold coins is more like it—roughly one-tenth. Compared to the past, they'd still be making a handsome profit."
"Leader, what's your take?" Ximen Wangcai asked, looking toward Yu Xian.
Yu Xian gave it some thought and smiled. "I think ninety-nine gold coins is more suitable. Fifty is indeed too low, but one hundred reaches triple digits, which can easily stir up discontent. Ninety-nine is just right."
"Mm, ninety-nine gold coins it is, then," Ximen Wangcai agreed with a nod.
Though this tactic was a worn-out trick run into the ground by unscrupulous merchants online, a good move never got old as long as it worked.
Back in the day, whenever Yu Xian splurged on online shopping, he never paid attention to the stray cents after the decimal point. Yet in the end, it was precisely those few cents that made him fork out dozens of extra dollars on every shopping spree.
Chapter 455