“What is that supposed to mean?” demanded the elder coldly.

“Are you acting stupid in front of me? You killed over eighty million commoners of the Xuantian Dao Sect. Did you forget?” asked Long Chen.

“Tch, lowly commoners are nothing more than ants. Are they worth compensating for? According to that, wouldn’t each blade of grass and each insect of your Xuantian Dao Sect require compensation?” demanded the elder.

Long Chen slapped the elder in the face, sending him flying outside. The other experts in his group hastily flew over to help him up, only to see that he had fainted from the slap. He only slowly woke thanks to their efforts.

“Lowly commoners are ants? Do you think you’re a god? In front of me, you are just an ant. I can crush you with a single finger. Thus, can I also kill you whenever I want?” demanded Long Chen. Pointing at the desolate wasteland around them, he said, “There were eighty million commoners here. Some of them were disciples who came from the Eastern Wasteland, Southern Sea, Western Desert, and Northern Source and failed the trial. However, they didn’t want to leave, so they stayed behind. They knew there was no hope for them, but they hoped that their descendants could make their dreams a reality. Their hopes and dreams were stripped away by you along with their lives. Do you really feel no guilt?”

“Long Chen, stop trying to act so grand. How many people do you think you’ve killed? If everyone came to find you for revenge and compensation, then even ten thousand of your lives wouldn’t be enough!” sneered the elder. He could tell that Long Chen had no intention of reconciling. Ever since ancient times, in the battles against sects, the casualties of the commoners were never taken into consideration. Long Chen was intentionally trying to find trouble with Pill Valley.

“I don’t even know how many heavenly geniuses I’ve killed, but I can guarantee this: I’ve never killed anyone innocent. From a small empire in the Eastern Wasteland, my path has been one of my enemies’ bones. However, my conscience is clear. I have nothing to feel guilty about. But what about you? Pill Valley used despicable means to secretly destroy the Xuantian Dao Sect. If you really had guts, you would have come openly, but instead you brought a bunch of dogs to do your dirty work and blamed me. Then you had a bunch of brainless idiots follow the dogs to bite me. Killing those people doesn’t affect my conscience at all. Are you even fit to be compared to me? Either pay up or scram. The Xuantian Dao Sect doesn’t need your money. If it weren’t for getting justice for the commoners you killed, I wouldn’t even be willing to see you. Your Pill Valley can pay for this justice or you can not pay for it. In either case, I don’t care,” said Long Chen.

Pill Valley’s experts clenched their teeth. The elder took a deep breath and said, “What do you want? Since those traitors came from Pill Valley, Pill Valley won’t shirk responsibility.”

Long Chen was a bit surprised. Why had his tone changed so suddenly? However, he quickly noticed a bracelet on the elder’s arm sparkling. Most likely, someone had sent him a message.

His guess was that Pill Valley’s higher-ups were using the bracelet to see what was happening here and to communicate with the elder.

With the elder’s bargaining style, he definitely wouldn’t say such binding words. This was just an act, a high attitude for others to see. It was to show the world how magnanimous Pill Valley was.

Only like this could they win back Pill Valley’s lost prestige. Long Chen would bet money that the one who had sent this order down was Yu Xiaoyun.

“How refreshing. Then I won’t try to cheat you. We’ll calculate them according to the normal standards for the life of cultivators. I won’t even count them as Life Star experts. For an ordinary Soul Transformation expert, the cost is at least one hundred top grade spirit stones. At a hundred times, it would be ten thousand top grade spirit stones. Ten thousand top grade spirits stone is one spirit crystal, so for over eighty million commoners, it’s eighty million spirit crystals. I’ll even get rid of the remainder for you,” said Long Chen.

“What absolute nonsense. Those commoners were basically all at the Xiantian realm and below. Some of them hadn’t even reached Bone Forging. How can you value them the same as Soul Transformation experts?!” raged the elder.

Long Chen was clearly trying to cheat them. Those commoners hadn’t been able to become true members of the sect precisely because their talent was lacking. Now, Long Chen wanted to value them as Soul Transformation experts? That was definitely bullying.

Yu Xiaoyun’s goal this time was to keep the price within thirty-five million spirit crystals, with an absolute limit of fifty million. Otherwise, even Pill Valley would be hurt by the price.

After all, it wasn’t too long ago that Master Long San had caused chaos in Pill Valley, damaging them gravely. They had still yet to recover.

That was why the elder had been delighted when Long Chen had agreed to a price of thirty-five million at first. That would have perfectly accomplished his mission.

Now though, he was enraged. Eighty million commoners valued at eighty million spirit crystals, then when added to the previous thirty-five million, it was one hundred and fifteen million spirit crystals. That was far beyond the target that the valley master had asked of him. In fact, it was over double.

“Tch, what era do you think this is? The great era is about to descend. Heavenly geniuses are sprouting like bamboo after the spring rain. How do you know that they wouldn’t break through? How do you know they wouldn’t grow past the Soul Transformation realm, the Life Star realm, or even the Netherpassage realm? Not counting them as Life Star experts was already being too kind. You don’t know how to appreciate kindness,” said Long Chen.

“Kindness? Haha, what a joke!” The elder laughed furiously. “How many of those elders had already been about to reach the end of their longevity? How many of them were just waiting for death? Don’t you think it’s funny to say that they could still break through?”

“Fine, then we can go according to what you just said. I admit the majority of those eighty million commoners were old. I’ll exclude those sixty million people. That way, the remaining ones are all in their youth and could still break through,” said Long Chen.

To immediately remove sixty million was good for Pill Valley. That way, they would only have to compensate them with an additional twenty million, and adding the previous portion, it was fifty-five million. That was just barely acceptable.

“That’s fair,” said the elder.

He didn’t say anything explicitly about it. Long Chen easily saw through that, and he continued, “Alright, then let’s continue calculating. Of those twenty million young disciples, there were men and women. How many children would they have given birth to in just one year? I’ll say around five million. In ten years, that would be fifty million. As for after thirty years, I won’t bother you with that. So how many children would be born within thirty years? If I kept calculating each and every generation that was born, that would be a bit too much, so just thirty years is definitely fair. So, we’re counting it as twenty million people whose descendants were cut off because of you. Just compensating thirty years is definitely not cheating you,” said Long Chen lightly.

Long Chen’s indifferent words made Li Tianxuan and the old Xuan Master shake their heads. They were watching his negotiations from within the Xuantian Tower.

The old Xuan Master sighed, “This little fellow Long Chen really is shameless. How could things be calculated like that?”

Li Tianxuan shook his head. “Master, you don’t know this, but Long Chen grew up in a poor environment. He feels close to those commoners, and he dislikes those arrogant, lofty existences. He acts according to his own viewpoint and doesn’t care about some big picture. His actions are obstinate and self-opinionated, and yet, those words also aren’t too suitable for him because his actions are always for justice, not selfishness.”

The old Xuan Master nodded. Long Chen’s style of doing things was related to his experiences. The two of them simply continued watching.

Pill Valley’s elder was so infuriated that he was about to explode. In all his years, he had encountered many tough negotiators, but he had never encountered someone as unreasonable as Long Chen.

This was clearly fallacious reasoning. It was as ridiculous as a chicken birthing an egg which birthed a chicken which birthed an egg which birthed a chicken. If this wasn’t extortion, then what was?

The elder didn’t say anything to Long Chen. Long Chen’s attitude was clear. He was a completely unreasonable person, and nothing the elder said would be useful against him.

After half an incense stick’s worth of silence, he finally said, “Since this was done by Pill Valley’s traitors, Pill Valley will pay the debt. We will pay for the commoners according to how you specified.”

Within the Xuantian Tower, the old Xuan Master was startled. They really had accepted.

However, Li Tianxuan wasn’t surprised. Pill Valley had no choice but to suffer this time. After all, the entire continent was watching them. Even if they were cheated, they had to endure it.

At the very least, enduring meant that they could maintain Pill Valley’s dignity and reputation. This was a pain that they had to go through; otherwise, it would be even worse when their reputation hit rock bottom.

“Alright, then once this compensation arrives, this matter between Pill Valley and the Xuantian Dao Sect will be over,” said Long Chen.

“Pill Valley will send you the money within three days.” After saying that, the elder left with his people without ever looking back.

Once they left, Guo Ran asked, “Boss, is our conflict with Pill Valley resolved now?”

“Tch, resolved my ass. Remember, lives cannot be bought with money. The only reason why I bothered speaking with them was to first get some interest on their debt to us. We’ll hack them down later. Didn’t I say that the Xuantian Dao Sect’s matter ends here? However, that doesn’t represent that my personal enmity ends here. We’ll still kill who we should kill in the future, understood?” asked Long Chen.

“Boss, you really are evil,” praised Guo Ran.