54: Chapter 52 Coercion [

Not long after the grassy area beside the pool had completely quieted down.

"Except for a few ordinary Leiyin Leopards, the vast majority of this beast pack has been completely killed off by us." Bai Chen set his spear upright to the side, gasping heavily. Engaging in several consecutive battles using explosive hidden force within a single day had drained him immensely.

But right now, he was extremely excited.

Successfully hunting a Leiyin Leopard pack like this yielded a massive harvest.

"Fang Yu, you, Xiong Meng, and I will harvest the loot." Bai Chen said, "Qin Yang, you and Xia Yao go search the surroundings to see if there are any Heaven And Earth Treasures."

"Alright." Everyone responded one after another and sprang into action.

"Brother Fang, why do I feel like your life level is more than Level 21?" Xiong Meng said with a chuckle as he cut away. "You actually dared to clash head-on with that Leiyin Leopard leader. Truly fierce!"

Having spent the past few days together, he admired Fang Yu more and more, even changing his form of address for him to 'Brother Fang'.

"It has increased a bit," Fang Yu said with a chuckle.

"Big Bear, don't go prying into people's secrets when you have nothing better to do. The stronger Fang Yu is, the more beneficial it is for us." Bai Chen scolded with a laugh while cutting quickly. "Hurry up, don't waste time. In a bit, other Vicious Beasts might get drawn over by the smell of blood."

"Don't worry, Captain, my skinning skills are top-notch," Xiong Meng said with an honest smile.

In truth, all three of them were quite relaxed in their hearts.

This place was no longer far from the Starry Sky Base. For a beast pack like this to occupy such a prime spot, they were definitely a dominant force in the area, meaning there were certainly no major enemies nearby.

Very soon.

The three harvested all twenty-plus Leiyin Leopard hides and sharp claws, some relatively intact and others damaged... Meanwhile, Qin Yang and Xia Yao came running over as well.

"Captain, red star grass! Twenty stalks of red star grass!!" Xia Yao sprinted over clutching a small bundle of red star grass, a look of pleasant surprise on her face.

"Great."

"So much red star grass?" Bai Chen, Fang Yu, and the others grew excited as well.

They had guessed there would be gains, but they hadn't expected the harvest to be this big... These Vicious Beast spoils, combined with the red star grass, were definitely worth three hundred thousand Star Coins.

Adding their previous gains, it was enough for 500,000 Star Coins.

Right at that moment.

"Bai Chen!"

"You killed my beast pack and you're still this happy?" A shout exploded like thunder, rolling over as six figures leaped down rapidly from a cliff tens of meters high concealed by the nearby woods.

"Hmm?"

"Oh no, it's Xia Tao from the Earth Academy." Bai Chen's expression changed as he instantly recognized the black-clothed youth approaching like lightning. "It's the Xuanbing Team."

"Xuanbing Team? Xia Tao?" Even Qin Yang's face turned slightly pale, clearly having heard of the man's name.

"Fan Xing?" Fang Yu likewise recognized the figure at the very back of their group, who was moving the slowest—it was Fan Xing, who was a freshman like himself.

Combining the words of Bai Chen and Qin Yang.

In an instant, Fang Yu understood who that black-clothed youth with a somewhat feminine beauty was—Xia Tao, a senior at the Earth Academy.

Fang Yu had glanced past his name on the total score leaderboard; he seemed to be ranked around twentieth or so.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

All six members of the Xuanbing Team moved extremely fast. In just five or six seconds, they had implicitly surrounded them in a fan formation, trapping Fang Yu, Bai Chen, and the others together.

"Gu Ming." Bai Chen stood up with a smile on his face, speaking with a slight hint of ingratiation, "This should be your team captain, Xia Tao, right? I've only seen him a few times back at school and never actually talked with him. I didn't expect to be lucky enough to meet him today."

Fang Yu, Xiong Meng, and the others said nothing.

From the very first sentence Xia Tao had shouted, it was clear that the visitors had ill intentions.

"Captain," in the Xuanbing Team, a burly man carrying a battle-axe on his back whispered, "I know Bai Chen too. How about...?"

"I know," Xia Tao said, frowning.

The burly man carrying the battle-axe immediately shut his mouth. He and Bai Chen were only nodding acquaintances, and Xia Tao clearly had no intention of letting them off easily.

"You're Bai Chen? I think I've seen you in the public martial arts class, I have some impression of you," Xia Tao said slowly.

"That is my honor." Bai Chen maintained a very humble posture.

When under someone else's roof, one had no choice but to bow one's head.

"Do you know..."

"...that I had discovered this Leiyin Leopard pack long ago and was planning to hunt them on my way back to base?" Xia Tao stared at Bai Chen, his voice filled with pressure.

As soon as these words came out...

The expressions of Xia Yao, Xiong Meng, Fang Yu, and the others all changed slightly. This was far too shameless.

This was the Wilderness Area; since when did beast packs belong to specific people?

A subtle flicker of anger flashed through Bai Chen's eyes as well.

Stealing a hunt was one thing, but adopting this kind of hypocritical stance too?

"It's our fault." Bai Chen still forced a smile on his face. "How about this: we'll hand over all these spoils and the red star grass to the Xuanbing Team as an apology. Would that be alright?"

The gap in strength between the two sides was obviously immense. The weakest person on their side, Fan Xing, probably had frontal combat strength comparable to his own, let alone the others.

If it came to a real fight, his side wouldn't have a single shred of a chance to win.

Therefore...

Even if he had to surrender all the spoils, as long as they could leave safely, Bai Chen could endure it.

As the captain, his primary responsibility was to bring his teammates back to base safely.

Safety came first.

"An apology?"

"You kill my beast pack and take my Heaven And Earth Treasures—these things belonged to me in the first place! How can they serve as an apology?" Xia Tao shook his head. "I'm a generous person, so I won't hold your fault against you."

"However, you killed the beast pack and took the primal points that belonged to me, so you must compensate me." Xia Tao's gaze swept over Qin Yang, Fang Yu, and the others.

Finally...

His gaze landed on Qin Yang's bow and the black battle suit on Fang Yu, and he said directly, "Use the bow and that battle suit set as compensation."

As soon as these words were uttered...

Fang Yu, Qin Yang, Xia Yao, and the others could no longer hold back, blatant rage surfacing on their faces.

This was truly crossing the line.

Meanwhile, many Martial Artists of the Xuanbing Team showed playful, mocking expressions.

They had witnessed similar scenes more than once; it was just that this time, the target of their mockery had changed from rogue Martial Artists to fellow schoolmates.

"Xia Tao."

Bai Chen took a deep breath, the flattering smile on his face completely gone, and said in a deep voice, "You are a student of the Earth Academy, and I respect you... However, we are not rogue Martial Artists."

"If you push us too far and we fight you to the death, even if you kill us all, can paper contain fire?" Bai Chen stared at him.

Gu Ming, Fan Xing, and the other members of the Xuanbing Team looked at Bai Chen in considerable shock.

They seemingly hadn't expected Bai Chen to dare speak like this.

Fang Yu, Qin Yang, and the others had already prepared themselves mentally for battle.

"Are you threatening me?" Xia Tao narrowed his eyes slightly. "If I kill every single one of you, who would ever know?"

"How would I dare threaten you?" Bai Chen shook his head. "Unless forced to, we don't want to offend you. But can you guarantee that the teammates behind you will never leak the secret?"

"Stealing a hunt is a minor matter."

"But wantonly slaughtering fellow students from the same school, including three elite students... even if your uncle tries his best to protect you, I doubt you'll have an easy time, will you?" Bai Chen looked at him calmly. "If you kill us, the Starry Sky Base will immediately know of our deaths, and your primal points will plummet in an instant. These are directly recorded and will serve as corroborating evidence."

"We are very close to the base here, and there's heavy traffic of personnel."

"Who's to say someone isn't watching from the shadows?"

Xia Tao didn't speak, lost in thought.

"It was our fault for stealing your hunt this time." Bai Chen cupped his hands. "However, for the sake of us being alumni, I hope you can show mercy where possible."

Xia Tao stared at Bai Chen.

Suddenly...

He burst out laughing. "Hahaha, Student Bai Chen, we were just joking around earlier! While Heaven And Earth Treasures in the Wilderness Area might belong to someone, how could a beast pack belong to 'yours' or 'mine'? Since you killed them, they are naturally yours."

"Take good care of these spoils." Xia Tao shook his head. "How could I, Xia Tao, steal a schoolmate's spoils?"

"Thank you." A smile reappeared on Bai Chen's face.

"However..." Xia Tao's gaze landed on Xia Yao.

"Xia Yao, hurry up and bring that red star grass over!" Bai Chen quickly turned around and scolded.

"Captain..." Xia Yao gritted her teeth.

"Hurry up!" Bai Chen frowned. "If not for the Xuanbing Team helping us search, how could we have found this red star grass?"

Gritting her teeth, Xia Yao brought forward the small bundle of red star grass she had just gathered.

Bai Chen presented it to him.

"You are very sensible." Xia Tao took the red star grass and smiled faintly. "I'll be taking my leave then."

"Let's go!"

Xia Tao waved his hand, and the group from the Xuanbing Team followed him as they sped off toward the cliff face, quickly disappearing from the sight of the Chiyan Team members.

Only then did Bai Chen, Qin Yang, and the others breathe a sigh of relief.

"Captain, I..." Xia Yao was about to speak.

"Don't say anything," Bai Chen scolded in a low voice. "They might not have gone far and could still be watching us from the shadows. Whatever it is, we'll talk later... Pack up all the spoils now, we're pulling back first."

"Yes."

The group dared not delay any further. They folded the beast hides, claws, and other items, hoisted them onto their shoulders, and headed toward the mountain forest in another direction.

...

In the dense forest on the cliff.

"It seems they really had no other harvest," Xia Tao muttered to himself.

"Captain, we're just letting them off like this?" the tall, thin youth asked, puzzled.

"If it were a priceless treasure, taking a risk would be fine, but it's just some red star grass," Xia Tao shook his head. "Besides, that Bai Chen was right... It's fine for me to bully some rogue Martial Artists. Those older Intermediate Martial Artists have no background and average strength, posing no threat to me."

"Furthermore, they don't even know our names, so they wouldn't know whom to seek revenge on."

"However..."

"...we still need to show some restraint toward these fellow students from our school. It's not like I could actually kill them." Xia Tao said calmly, "Let's go. The harvest from this trip is big enough, let's head back to the base first!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The six members of the Xuanbing Team quickly vanished into the mountain forest.

...

On the other side, Bai Chen, Fang Yu, and their group had returned to the spot where their backpacks were stashed, sitting on the ground to rest.

"Bullshit!!" Xiong Meng gnashed his teeth. "Give me a chance, and I'll smash that bastard's head in!"

"I heard long ago that Xia Tao uses unscrupulous means," Qin Yang said, frowning. "This time, our losses are huge—over two hundred thousand Star Coins!"

It was rare for Qin Yang to say so much.

"Fang Yu," Bai Chen turned to look at Fang Yu. "You don't blame me for taking matters into my own hands, do you?"

"I don't," Fang Yu shook his head. "Captain, you did the right thing... If a fight really broke out, we wouldn't have a single shred of a chance. It would be good if we could even take down one or two of them."

"Though, Captain, are you very familiar with that Xia Tao?" Fang Yu asked, feeling slightly curious.

"Yeah."

"He's an Earth Academy student." Bai Chen nodded. "His life level should be Level 29. His talent isn't actually that high, but his family background is deep. Not only are they rich, but his uncle is an Earth Martial Artist. He's famous among our year for being domineering and shameless... I didn't expect we'd bump into him this time."

Fang Yu came to a realization.

"By the way..."

"Xia Yao," Bai Chen looked at Xia Yao. "What were you trying to say earlier?"

"Actually, I gathered more than twenty stalks of red star grass," Xia Yao couldn't help but say in a quiet voice. "I also gathered four stalks of dragon-shaped grass. I just wanted to give everyone a big surprise, so I didn't bring them out right away."

Instantly, everyone fell silent!