Nine Nether Dragon Emperor

"Why did you kill him?"

Shangguan Qingrou was about to draw her sword when she suddenly heard Ning Xuan's voice. Turning her head, she saw Ning Xuan standing perfectly fine behind her.

Without hesitation, Shangguan Qingrou threw her arms around Ning Xuan and wept for joy.

Ahead, Kong Yu's eyes widened as his chest heaved, and he coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood. At that moment, he felt as if he had taken ten thousand points of critical damage!

Seeing this, Ning Xuan hurriedly pushed Shangguan Qingrou away, then bent down to press several of Kong Yu's vital acupoints.

Kong Yu had the urge to kill himself. This dog Ning Xuan definitely had no good intentions! He wanted him to watch… This used to be his favorite thing to do, but now…

Kong Yu was filled with a regret so deep he wanted to cry but had no tears.

Sensing the man's life force slipping away, Ning Xuan immediately comforted him. "Don't give up! Don't worry, I'll save you!"

Kong Yu and Shangguan Qingrou were both dumbfounded, puzzled as to what Ning Xuan was up to.

It was only when Kong Yu saw the sweat on Ning Xuan's forehead that he realized the man was actually trying to save him! Stunned, Kong Yu stared straight at Ning Xuan, not even noticing Shangguan Qingrou as she wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Why… why are you saving me?" Unable to make sense of it, Kong Yu could only ask.

"Don't… don't talk. I'm going to… pull the sword out now!" Ning Xuan said with difficulty.

Kong Yu immediately fell silent.

SQUELCH!

The moment the longsword was pulled out, Kong Yu felt an extremely pure surge of energy! It contained some sort of miraculous substance because he could clearly feel his pierced heart regenerating.

After a while, Ning Xuan stopped. Gasping for air, he asked, "Alright… It's done. Do you feel anything wrong with your body?"

Kong Yu immediately checked himself and discovered that he was completely unharmed.

"Why… why did you save me?" Kong Yu asked again. He really did not understand.

Ning Xuan replied with a question of his own. "If… if I hadn't acted just now, how long… could you have survived?"

"My heart was pierced by a sword, and its killing intent was still rampaging through my body. If you hadn't intervened, I wouldn't have even made it home!" Kong Yu's expression was complicated.

Ning Xuan smiled and quickly asked, "So, how many Divine Crystals do you think your life is worth?"

The reason he had saved the man was, naturally, that he had his eyes on the Kong Family's wealth! Otherwise, why would Ning Xuan have bothered? The other party had tried to kill him, and he was supposed to repay evil with kindness? Sorry, but he was no saint and truly could not do something like that. As for the profuse sweating and near-exhaustion, that was, of course, just part of the act to ask for a higher reward.

Across from them, Kong Yu was a bit dazed.

"No worries, we'll talk when we get to your place," Ning Xuan said, still smiling.

Then, he even kindly found a beast for Kong Yu to ride. As for him and Shangguan Qingrou, they naturally rode together, since the other beasts and their masters had all met their demise.

Ning Xuan had acted with overwhelming power! With incredible speed, he had reaped their lives in an instant. In fact, Kong Yu had been so shocked by Ning Xuan's methods that he was caught off guard, allowing Shangguan Qingrou to take him down with a single sword strike.

From her position at the front of their beast, Shangguan Qingrou sent Ning Xuan a psychic transmission. "Brother Ning, are you planning to extort the Kong Family?"

Ning Xuan righteously corrected her, "I put in the effort and should be rewarded for it. How can you call this extortion?"

"Exactly, exactly, you should! The Kong Family is wealthy—you should ask for more later!" Shangguan Qingrou beamed with joy up ahead. She slapped the beast, urging it to speed up.

The streets of the Gouchen Realm Capital were extremely wide. Even rarer, they had lanes specifically for beasts and vehicles. As a result, the two beasts arrived at the Kong Family estate in even less time.

Gazing at the grandiose gate before him and glancing at the imposing lions on either side, Ning Xuan immediately knew he had come to the right place. If he was not mistaken, those two lions were carved from raw Divine Crystal ore! This was definitely a display of immense wealth!

The number of Divine Crystals he had planned to ask for, Ning Xuan decided to multiply it by ten.

"Third Young Master, you've returned!" An old servant came trotting over. Upon seeing Kong Yu on the beast, he immediately bent over, positioning himself beside the creature to serve as a human step.

Kong Yu dismounted and walked straight inside, ignoring Ning Xuan and Shangguan Qingrou completely.

Ning Xuan was not offended. Instead, he raised his voice and called out, "Third Young Master Kong, I've thought it over. You just need to prepare ten billion Divine Crystals for me."

Kong Yu stumbled, nearly falling face-first into the dirt.

"How much did you say?!" he whirled around, doubting his own ears.

Shangguan Qingrou, who had dismounted her beast, also stared wide-eyed.

She originally thought Ning Xuan would ask for a hundred million at most, but he demanded ten billion right off the bat. He really has some nerve!

Ning Xuan simply smiled and said nothing.

Good things don't need to be said twice. Besides, he was confident someone would repeat his words for him.

Just as he expected, the old servant who had served as a human step immediately piped up, "Third Young Master, he said he wants... ten billion Divine Crystals!"

Kong Yu stared at Ning Xuan and snarled, "You just wait."

With that, he hurried off.

"Sir, I am Shangguan Qingrou. Could I trouble you to deliver this letter to the Head of the Kong Family?"

The old servant looked at her, then at Ning Xuan still sitting calmly on the beast's back, and nodded. Taking the letter, he too hurried away.

"Brother Ning, from what I know of Kong Yu, he'll never give you ten billion. I expect the Kong Family's Guest Elders will be out soon. You should be careful of a tall, thin man with a black mole on his forehead!" Shangguan Qingrou glanced at the still-open central gates and sent a psychic message to Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan asked, "What's his story?"

"His name is Han Chuang. He seems to be from Chi Ming. Even here in the Realm Capital, he's considered a major figure."

Ning Xuan nodded.

"And another thing…"

Shangguan Qingrou was about to reveal more when a voice called out from inside, "Niece Shangguan, you've finally decided to come see this old man!"

As the words fell, a ruddy-faced, corpulent middle-aged man appeared before Shangguan Qingrou. His face was wreathed in smiles, as affable as a Maitreya Buddha.

"This is your home, so why act like a stranger? Come, come! Your aunt will be thrilled to know you've arrived!" Kong Mingfeng, the head of the Kong Family, was extremely enthusiastic toward Shangguan Qingrou. As for Ning Xuan, he did not even give him a glance.

"That won't be necessary. I'm just here to deliver a letter from my father. Now that my task is complete, I won't disturb you any longer. Brother Ning, let's go."

After replying, Shangguan Qingrou turned and walked toward Ning Xuan.

Kong Mingfeng, as if only just noticing Ning Xuan, immediately asked, "And who might this be?"

"A debt collector," Ning Xuan answered with a smile as a Projection Stone materialized and floated in the air before him.

It immediately displayed the footage of him saving Kong Yu just moments earlier.

Finally, Ning Xuan asked him, "Your esteemed son has already answered the question I posed to him earlier. I saved his life. Surely ten billion Divine Crystals isn't too much to ask?"

The corners of Kong Mingfeng's mouth twitched slightly.