184: Chapter 184 I anticipated your prediction! A deadly conspiracy? An opportunity for breakthrough!

The smile on Li Pojun's Face froze completely.

This was the first time he had been unable to control his expression in public, in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.

Lin Qi's words just now had precisely pierced the heart of his open scheme, and then twisted the knife twice for good measure.

After one second of deathly silence, the entire press conference venue erupted into chaos.

"Damn! You can play like this? Just demanding the debt directly?"

"Hahahaha, what a slap in the Face. Isn't the Kyoto Li Family trying to pull an open scheme? Isn't the Tianji Pavilion trying to welch on their debt? Lin Qi's move just bound them together and wiped them out!"

"Too ruthless! I declare this the most exciting round of the competition. This war of words is even more thrilling than the actual fighting!"

The reporters in the media section went absolutely wild. They frantically aimed their cameras at the few pale-faced representatives of the Tianji Pavilion on the podium, turning the area into a sea of flashing lights.

Focused on by countless lenses, those in charge from the Tianji Pavilion felt restless, cold sweat trickling down their temples.

They never expected that Lin Qi, this nobody, would actually dare to expose this matter during a live, federation-wide broadcast!

Does he have no shame?

Now, the ball had been kicked firmly back into their court.

Now it was the Kyoto Li Family and the Tianji Pavilion's turn to suffer.

Pay up?

That was tens of billions of Federal Credits, a massive sum sufficient to severely damage the Tianji Pavilion. Although the Kyoto Li Family was wealthy and powerful, this was not a small amount.

Not pay?

That would be equivalent to admitting in front of the entire Federation that they were untrustworthy and couldn't afford to lose.

More importantly, once they refused, Lin Qi would have the perfect reason to refuse to drink this potion.

By then, the so-called fair duel and heroes respecting heroes would become a complete joke, and all the kingly demeanor that Li Pojun had painstakingly cultivated today would instantly collapse and become a laughingstock.

For the Kyoto Li Family, who viewed reputation as life and held their Face above all else, this was absolutely unacceptable.

Inside the VIP box.

The Qi and blood that Li Qingcang had just suppressed surged back to his head. He stared fixedly at the calm youth on the screen, his old Face twisted in extreme rage, his chest heaving violently as he let out wheezing breaths.

"Beast... this little beast!"

He finally understood that he had been wrong from the very beginning.

He thought Lin Qi was someone without a background who could be easily manipulated.

But damn it, this was a ruthless character, cunning and vicious, and he didn't play by the rules!

Li Pojun, standing beside him, had already seen his father's impending outburst through the holographic screen.

Li Pojun took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the killing intent in his heart, and shook his head ever so slightly in his father's direction.

Must not lose his temper.

If he lost his temper now, they would lose completely.

Li Qingcang understood his son's meaning. He closed his eyes, his whole body trembling, and used all his strength to squeeze a few words through his teeth, transmitting them to the person in charge of the Tianji Pavilion via an encrypted channel.

"Give it to him!"

On the podium, the Tianji Pavilion representative shuddered and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He dared not delay in the slightest and immediately picked up his communicator, his fingers trembling as he began to operate it.

Offstage.

Zhang Wei was so nervous he was about to pinch his thigh purple. Suddenly, his wrist communicator beeped, and a message popped up.

He instinctively looked down.

Your personal account received a transfer at 15:32 Federal Standard Time, amounting to 73,450,000,000.00 Federal Credits.

"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand..."

Zhang Wei's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. He counted the long string of zeros over and over again on his fingers.

Seventy-three billion four hundred and fifty million!

Holy crap!

A wave of immense happiness rushed to his brain, making him dizzy; he almost fainted on the spot.

He resisted the urge to scream, looked up at Lin Qi on the stage, and then used his trembling hand to make an OK sign.

The entire audience saw this funny yet clear signal.

"Holy crap! They paid! They actually paid!"

"Hahahaha! The Tianji Pavilion chickened out! The Kyoto Li Family chickened out! Awesome!"

"God Lin! The eternal god of debt collection!"

Seeing that gesture, the corner of Lin Qi's mouth finally curled into a genuine smile.

He slowly turned around and looked at Li Pojun in front of him again.

Li Pojun had already recovered his perfect smile, but the smile looked cold no matter how one looked at it.

Lin Qi ignored him and took the S-Rank Gene Completion Potion directly from his hand.

His movements were crisp and decisive.

He didn't open it immediately but held the potion up, gently shaking it towards the countless flashing cameras below the stage.

The purple potion refracted a dangerous luster.

"Before the finals begin, I will drink it in public."

Lin Qi's voice was calm, yet it sounded like a thunderclap, clearly echoing throughout the venue.

This was his declaration to everyone.

It was also a declaration to himself.

Li Pojun watched him, the appreciation and Battle Intent in his eyes long gone, leaving only the most primitive, icy killing intent.

The open scheme was still ongoing.

He had won Face and gotten the money back, but that bottle of deadly poison was now in his hands.

The press conference ended.

Amidst the frantic siege of reporters, Lin Qi was escorted back to the exclusive lounge for contestants by security personnel.

Once the door closed, it blocked out all the noise from the outside world.

Zhang Wei could no longer hold back; he lunged, wanting to hug Lin Qi's thigh.

"Brother Qi! You're my own brother! Over seventy billion! We're rich! We won't have to do anything for the rest of our lives!"

Lin Qi kicked him away in disgust.

"Have some ambition."

Zhang Wei didn't get angry; he chuckled and climbed up from the floor, but his expression instantly collapsed, becoming incredibly worried.

"But Brother Qi, this potion... you absolutely cannot drink this! Those grandsons from the Kyoto Li Family have ill intentions! Let's take the money and run! Let's go abroad and buy an island, and I'll be your butler!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Instructor Su Qing, who was standing to the side, spoke up, her voice very cold.

"He is right; you cannot drink it."

Instructor Su Qing's Phoenix eyes stared fixedly at the potion in Lin Qi's hand, her expression unprecedentedly serious.

"There is a problem with this thing. If the Kyoto Li Family really wants to kill you, they would never use conventional methods. I suspect something else has been mixed into it."

She paused, her tone becoming even more grave: "I once saw a description in a top-secret military file about a forbidden energy from the Abyss Battlefield that can erode all matter and Law—Void Realm energy."

"That energy ignores Rank and ignores defense. Once contaminated, it triggers an irreversible collapse at the genetic level. No one can survive its erosion."

Her warning caused the temperature in the lounge to drop by several degrees.

Zhang Wei's Face turned pale upon hearing this, and he grabbed Lin Qi's arm, shaking it.

"Did you hear that, Brother Qi? It causes Gene Collapse! Let's not play anymore; it's not worth it for a little Face!"

Facing their dissuasion, not a trace of tension or fear could be seen on Lin Qi's Face.

He pulled out a chair, sat down on his own accord, and even poured himself a glass of water, taking a slow sip.

"I know this is poison."

He said calmly.

Zhang Wei and Instructor Su Qing were stunned.

You know? You know and you still accepted it?

Lin Qi put down the water glass and picked up the potion, examining it carefully before his eyes.

His gaze penetrated the purple liquid, seeing a hint of violent energy emanating a destructive aura hidden within it.

From the moment he received this potion, his dormant Martial Saint Soul had been emitting a tremor.

It wasn't a warning of danger, but a kind of hunger.

His current Physical Body's Skin Refining, Flesh Refining, and Bone Refining had all reached Perfection, his Silver Bone body was indestructible, and he was currently pushing toward the legendary Golden Body stage.

He lacked a chance—a powerful external force capable of breaking the shackles of his Physical Body and allowing his life level to achieve a leap.

And the Void Realm energy contained in this bottle of poison, which others saw as a life-taking toxin, was, in the eyes of this Martial Saint, a once-in-a-lifetime tonic.

Using the most violent destructive power to temper the most extreme life-form body.

Surviving through death.

This was inherently the most domineering and effective path in martial arts cultivation.

The corners of Lin Qi's mouth slowly curled into a crazily confident arc.

He looked at the worried Instructor Su Qing and Zhang Wei and said calmly.

"Don't worry."

"To me, everything in the world can serve as medicine."