Precisely because he had this confidence, Fang Ping sneered, “The Sect rules are laid out right here. I’d like to see whether you two, beyond your vile deeds of deceiving fellow disciples and extorting Spirit Stones, dare to add the crime of assaulting a fellow disciple on top of that?”
However, while his attitude seemed tough on the surface, he was secretly prepared to defend himself.
If the two of them lost their heads and attacked recklessly, the one who suffered injury and loss would still be him.
“You!”
Seeing that Fang Ping not only refused to take the bait but even dared to mock them in return, Lu Shan and Ming Yulou experienced a fleeting moment where they truly entertained the thought of resorting to violence.
But this place was only a few steps from the gate of the separate courtyard, and disciples passed by from time to time.
With other disciples as witnesses, the two really did not dare to openly violate Sect rules.
Unable to swallow this anger, Ming Yulou fished out an IOU from his Storage Bag and waved it at Fang Ping.
“Debts must be repaid—that is the law of heaven and earth.”
“The IOU you personally signed is still in our hands. If you refuse to pay and default on your debt, then we’ll have no choice but to use this IOU to help you make a name for yourself in the outer Sect.”
“Junior Brother Fang, you wouldn’t want your reputation ruined and to draw the attention of the Law Enforcement Hall’s Elders, would you?”
Trying to scare me?
Fang Ping put on a fearless posture. “Go ahead, make a scene! If you have the guts, go to the Law Enforcement Hall and blow this up in front of everyone. Surely you don’t think your little tricks are so brilliant that the Law Enforcement Hall’s deacons can’t see through them?”
Ming Yulou held the IOU in his hand and sneered. “No matter how glib your tongue, the IOU in my hand is real and tangible. If the Law Enforcement Hall’s deacons won’t help us, are they supposed to believe your empty words instead?”
Fang Ping remained unmoved.
His experience before transmigrating had taught him that when facing this kind of fraud and intimidation, one absolutely must not let the other party manipulate them due to hesitation or various concerns.
He said expressionlessly, “If I were the only one who suffered and was cheated, then perhaps the Law Enforcement Hall’s deacons really would help you. But among the outer Sect disciples, just how many people have you extorted? Let me guess—if this matter blows up, and many disciples come forward together, heh heh…”
Seeing that Fang Ping would not yield to either soft or hard tactics, and that he had even pointed out the one thing they feared most, Lu Shan and Ming Yulou’s expressions turned ugly.
At this moment, noticing the dispute between them, passing disciples gradually gathered around, wanting to watch the commotion.
The two exchanged a glance, knowing there was likely nothing to be gained this time. They gave a cold snort and turned to leave.
Just before turning away, Lu Shan viciously left behind a parting shot: “Fang, this isn’t over. We’ll see about this! In the future, you’d best hope we don’t run into you outside the mountain gate, or you’ll definitely get what’s coming to you!” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Watching the two depart, Fang Ping sneered and said the same thing in his heart.
“I’ll let you two be smug for a few days. We’ll see about this!”
⁂
The grudge with those two was a feud left behind by the original body.
To put it plainly, it was an extortion scam!
As outer Sect disciples of the Luoyang Sect, although their circumstances were better than those of Rogue Cultivators, their cultivation resources were still limited.
Under such circumstances, upright cultivators chose bitter cultivation or risked going out to hunt Demon Beasts. But there were always some cultivators with crooked minds who set their sights on other outer Sect disciples.
The original body had unfortunately been scammed by those two.
The specific method, plainly stated, was also very simple.
The two would hold a blank jade slip prepared in advance. When brushing past Fang Ping, they deliberately let the jade slip fall and shatter, then falsely claimed that the jade slip contained cultivation methods and Dao arts purchased at great expense.
Once a Dao art jade slip shattered, there was no way to investigate what had actually been recorded inside—it became a muddled account.
Even if one knew clearly that the two were running an extortion scam, there was no evidence.
Moreover, Lu Shan and Ming Yulou were particular about choosing their targets. They deliberately picked those with soft personalities, those who were relatively easy to manipulate, and those without connections or backing.
Once a target was chosen, one of them played the aggressor, demanding high compensation.
The other played the peacemaker, putting on the appearance of a reasonable, neutral party, expressing high-minded sentiments like “we also bear responsibility,” “it’s not entirely your fault,” or “there’s no need to compensate at full price.” They would then slash the compensation price the former had demanded to a fraction, landing exactly on a number that an outer Sect disciple could just barely scrape together after gritting their teeth.
With this one singing and the other harmonizing, plus the fact that both had the strength of the third level of Qi Condensation, a few threatening words in between were enough for some disciples to choose to swallow their losses and pay up for the sake of peace.
Relying on this trick, the two had already swindled others seven or eight times in succession among the outer Sect, succeeding every time.
The original body had also originally planned to swallow his loss for the sake of peace, but unfortunately, a Nascent Soul cultivator’s Body Seizing arrived first…
After that came Fang Ping’s transmigration.
This kind of extortion trick might work on some disciples who entered the Sect at a young age and usually focused entirely on cultivation, leading them to fall for it due to a lack of experience and worldly knowledge.
But Fang Ping came from another world with more developed information. After receiving the original host’s memories, he immediately saw through the essence of the extortion.
It was just that the cultivator named Ming Yulou was said to have some connection with an outer Sect deacon.
With that faint protection from above, he was not afraid of wronged disciples causing trouble. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Fang Ping, having just arrived and unable to gauge the situation, did not want to stir up trouble either, so he chose to avoid the two.
And during this period since transmigrating, Lu Shan and Ming Yulou had perhaps been delayed by other matters, or perhaps they felt that waiting a few more days was not a bad thing since they could extort a bit of extra interest, so they had not been in a hurry to seek out Fang Ping.
As time passed, Fang Ping had forgotten about this matter.
Unexpectedly, today when he rarely went out, he just happened to run into them.
“Sooner or later, this is a hidden danger. I need to think of a way to resolve it.”
Fang Ping thought to himself.
Blowing this matter up, publicly exposing the two as swindlers, and letting other extorted disciples step forward to denounce them was indeed one way to solve the problem.
But this move was not necessarily the best choice.
If the outer Sect produced such a scandal and it spread like wildfire, the corresponding deacon’s annual assessment would inevitably be rated poorly.
If it were a deacon of upright and unyielding character, perhaps he would not care.
But if it were someone who prioritized their own interests, rather than handling matters impartially, they might choose to smooth things over and quell the incident as quickly as possible, thereby avoiding any impact on their assessment and evaluation.
They might even feel that Fang Ping, who had blown things out of proportion, was tactless and displeasing.
After all, what the disciple lost was merely a few Spirit Stones, but what the deacon would lose was their annual assessment evaluation!
Furthermore, whether Ming Yulou actually had backing, and just how solid that rumored relationship with a certain deacon was, remained unknown.
Right now, the two only wanted to extort a sum of Spirit Stones from him, with no other intentions.
If Fang Ping rashly made a move and the other party ended up being protected, it would just be a case where failing to crush a snake leaves endless troubles!
“Fortunately, as long as I don’t leave the Sect, the two can’t do anything to me for the time being. After all, they’re also afraid that if they push me too far and I really make a scene, they definitely won’t come out of it well either.”
Therefore, this matter was not urgent and could be planned at leisure.
Raising his own strength was the most pressing matter.
If he were not currently at the second level of Qi Condensation, but instead at mid-stage Qi Condensation, Lu Shan and Ming Yulou would not dare provoke him at all!