At this moment, Victor Wu was in a foul mood. He'd been searching for Leon Huang with his men for over an hour, but had found nothing.
"Are you sure the person you saw was Leon Huang?"
Victor turned to Yuan Sheng, his tone skeptical.
"Young Master Wu, I'm certain it was Leon Huang. He admitted it himself," Yuan Sheng explained nervously.
"Hmph, you'd better not be lying to me. Otherwise, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Victor snorted coldly, then barked at the crowd, "Search! I want that brat found and brought to me!"
"Victor Wu, Young Master Wu, are you looking for me?" Leon Huang called out.
Suddenly, a teasing voice rang out from a small hill dozens of meters away.
"Young Master Wu, look! Leon Huang is over there!" Yuan Sheng shouted excitedly, pointing at Leon Huang.
Victor's face lit up with joy. He laughed, "Ha! Leon Huang, you really are courting death. Heaven has a road but you refuse to walk it, hell has no gate but you insist on barging in. Showing yourself like this is just plain stupidity!"
Leon Huang grinned and said, "Is that so? Young Master Wu, as the saying goes, enemies should be settled rather than created. Why don't we talk?"
Seeing Leon Huang 'back down', Victor grew even more smug. "Now you want to talk to me? Too late!" he said arrogantly.
"Is there really no room for negotiation? I could compensate you with silver," Leon Huang continued.
"Silver means nothing to me! I've got plenty!" Victor sneered, then waved his hand. "Men, grab that brat for me!"
"Wait!"
Leon Huang called out again.
"Heh, got something else to say? I'll give you ten breaths!" Victor struck a victorious pose.
"I'm asking if you really won't reconsider?"
Victor pointed at Leon Huang and cursed, "Reconsider my ass! Right now I've got heaven's timing, terrain, and human support. Crushing you is a piece of cake—what's there to reconsider?"
Leon Huang sighed, "I wanted to turn hostility into friendship, but since you refuse, forget it. Everyone, come out!"
As soon as Leon Huang finished speaking, shadows flickered and ten people appeared at his side.
Victor was stunned for a moment, then cursed, "Damn, so you had hidden reinforcements after all! But I've got twenty-six people—your side only has eleven. I can still crush you!"
"Is that so?" Leon Huang gave a sly smile. "Who told you I only had ten people?"
Shadows flickered again, and another ten people appeared at Leon Huang's side.
"Impossible!"
Seeing ten more people join Leon Huang, Victor shouted in disbelief.
Leon Huang looked at him teasingly. "Seems your mental endurance is pretty weak. Whatever—everyone, come out!"
This time, as soon as Leon Huang finished speaking, shadows flickered all around. In the blink of an eye, Victor and his twenty-five men were completely surrounded.
Victor's face immediately turned ugly.
Leon Huang leapt down from the small hill and strode toward Victor, his twenty guards following closely behind like his personal escort.
Instinctively, Victor stepped back. "Uh... Young Master Huang, let's talk this over. Why don't we negotiate?"
Leon Huang curled his lip. "Victor, you really are the kind who refuses the road to heaven and insists on barging into hell. I can't tell if you're just bold or plain stupid."
Victor's face flashed with humiliation. That was the very line he'd used to mock Leon Huang earlier, and now it had come right back at him.
"Young Master Huang, enemies should be settled rather than created. Why don't we talk things over again?"
But as soon as he said it, Victor realized he'd just repeated Leon Huang's own words.
Leon Huang burst out laughing. "I've got heaven's timing, terrain, and human support. Why should I negotiate with you?"
"I can compensate you with silver!"
"I've got plenty of silver. I don't need yours!" Leon Huang replied playfully.
"...You...!" Victor was left speechless with anger.
After a moment, he took a deep breath and swept his gaze around. "Everyone, I'm the legitimate son of the Wu family of Snowsun City. My cousin is an inner disciple of the Pristine Way Sect. Who dares touch me?"
At those words, a hint of caution appeared on the faces of the surrounding crowd.
Seeing this, Victor grew even more smug. "You guys must've been hired by Leon Huang, right? If you switch sides and follow me, I'll pay each of you five thousand taels!"
Leon Huang curled his lip disdainfully and pointed at one of his men. "Hey, you—tell Young Master Wu how much I'm paying you all."
"Ten thousand taels!" the man replied honestly.
Victor froze for a moment, then shouted, "Impossible! How could you have that much silver?"
Leon Huang shot him a contemptuous look. "Country bumpkin! My father is Huang Shan, City Lord of New Dawn City. My mother is the Liu family's only daughter, and I'm their only child. Why would it be strange for me to have so much silver? You, on the other hand, might be a legitimate son of the Wu family, but you've got three or four brothers and a dozen cousins. Even if you're favored, getting a million taels is already pretty good. But in my eyes, a million taels is trash."
Leon Huang's gaze swept over Victor's followers. "Interested in switching sides? If you join me, I'll pay each of you ten thousand taels!"
Victor's men were getting three thousand taels from him, but ten thousand from Leon Huang.
So in an instant, more than ten people switched sides, tossing their three-thousand-tael notes at Victor's feet and walking over to Leon Huang.
In numbers, Leon Huang had more.
In silver, Leon Huang still offered more.
In background, Leon Huang was no worse.
So unless you were an idiot, you knew which side to pick.
The remaining dozen or so hesitated, but soon did the same—tossing their notes at Victor's feet and joining Leon Huang.
Leon Huang didn't hesitate, handing out silver notes on the spot.
"Wait! I'm not taking that one!" Leon Huang suddenly pointed at Yuan Sheng, who was walking toward him.
Yuan Sheng froze, his face turning ugly.
"Brother Chen!" Leon Huang called.
"Here!"
Ryan Chen stepped out from behind Leon Huang, long saber in hand, glaring at Yuan Sheng.
Leon Huang said coldly, "Don't say I never gave you a chance. If you beat Brother Chen, I'll let you go. Otherwise, you'll have to pay a price to leave!"
"Alright!"
Yuan Sheng agreed immediately. Just over an hour ago, he'd ambushed Ryan Chen and left him badly injured. Leon Huang may have knocked him away, but Yuan's own injuries were light, so he was feeling confident.
"Prepare to die!"
Ryan Chen drew his saber, and a flash of golden blade light slashed straight toward Yuan Sheng.
Yuan Sheng drew his sword to meet him, and the two immediately began to fight.
In the blink of an eye, they'd traded more than fifty moves. Suddenly, with a loud bang, Yuan Sheng was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground. He tried to get up, but kept coughing blood.
Seeing this, Leon Huang couldn't help but sneer. Earlier, he'd seemed to go easy on Yuan Sheng, but in fact he'd secretly planted a wisp of sword essence in his body. Once Yuan's true qi dropped below half, the sword essence erupted and ran wild inside him.
"Cut off one arm and get lost!" Leon Huang ordered.
"Alright!"
Yuan Sheng nodded bitterly, chopped off his own arm with his sword, picked up the severed limb, and staggered away.
Next, Leon Huang turned his gaze to Victor Wu. Feeling Leon Huang's eyes on him, Victor couldn't help but tremble.