Chapter 71: You'll Have to Compensate Me

Faced with Jiang Changkong’s pressing questions, both He Long and Lu Wuhai looked extremely grim.

“We also want to know who did it. My Life-and-death Arena has been shut down.”

He Long’s face was dark, his eyes gleaming with a fierce light.

Jiang Changkong sneered, pointing his long blade at the two of them. “Do you want to capture me and hand me over to the military?

You can try, but if you can’t keep me here, more than just these people will die.”

A sudden smile broke across He Long’s cold face. “Brother, you jest. Let’s talk inside.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. First, hand over the person who betrayed me. Second, compensate me with Star Stones.”

Jiang Changkong snorted coldly, refusing to enter the stone house.

Once inside, this guy would start rambling and stalling for time, which would be troublesome.

Moreover, He Long had already won over Ma Jinwu and other big shots, and they hadn’t left the Martial Arts School yet.

If they arrived, he might not be able to escape easily.

The commotion from the earlier fight had already drawn attention nearby, but no one dared approach, intimidated by He Long’s presence.

Lu Wuhai’s expression darkened. “You were the one who hid the Star Stones. Only you should know where they were.”

“Is that so? Don’t think I don’t know that it was your people who led the military there!

It seems you’ve been watching me all along. Is it because my fifteen consecutive wins ruined your business?”

Jiang Changkong had long prepared his argument and said coldly, “Compensate me. Hand over the Star Stones within three breaths.”

“Brother, everything can be—”

Bang!

Blade Qi sliced through the air, striking the ground at their feet and leaving a deep gash.

Jiang Changkong said icily, “My patience is limited. The military and law enforcement won’t be here anytime soon.

Even if they come, Lu Wuhai, what will you do? Besides, I wouldn’t have come here without backup plans.”

Lu Wuhai stiffened. If the military saw him, they would definitely arrest him.

Regardless of whether he stole the Star Stones, suspicion alone would be enough to detain him.

The Martial Arts School would also be furious—Lu Wuhai was in the Martial Arts School and colluding with He Long?

He Long’s face turned cold. “Fine, I’ll give them to you, but I don’t have any on me right now.”

Jiang Changkong wasn’t buying it. “Right now, or we all go down together.”

Trying to back off now and deal with it later?

Not a chance.

With so many third-tier Star Stones in the underground Life-and-death Arena, how could he not have any?

He Long took a deep breath and said, “Wuhai, go inside and fetch a hundred Star Stones for this brother.”

“I want third-tier mid-grade or higher!”

He Long nearly exploded with anger. “I don’t have them. A hundred third-tier low-grade is the most I can offer.”

“If you really want to stall for time, I’ll play along. Even if they return, you won’t escape blame.”

“Wuhai, go get all the Star Stones. Give him the twenty mid-grade ones too.”

He Long practically spat the words through gritted teeth.

Lu Wuhai remained silent, ducking into the house.

Soon, he emerged with a backpack and tossed it to Jiang Changkong.

Jiang Changkong checked the contents. “Smart move. Farewell.”

“Wait. Since you’re preparing to break through, these Star Stones might not be enough.

There’s a new shipment coming soon. Are you interested?”

He Long called out to stop him.

“Can I trust you now? And do you dare trust me?” Jiang Changkong paused slightly.

“This time, it’s a good business opportunity. We’ll work together and split the profits evenly.”

He Long said solemnly, “This is also my way of showing sincerity. What happened this time truly wasn’t our doing.”

Jiang Changkong said calmly, “Time, place.”

“Tomorrow night at ten, eight li northwest of the Martial Market.”

After hearing this, Jiang Changkong said nothing and turned to leave.

“Call someone to clean this up.”

He Long snorted coldly, turned, and went inside.

Lu Wuhai took out his phone, contacted someone to handle the cleanup, and followed him in.

“Look at what you’ve done. How can we mess with the military’s things?”

As soon as they entered, He Long spoke angrily.

“Don’t worry, Dragon Lord. It’s not the first time. I’ll handle it properly.”

Lu Wuhai replied indifferently, “I send so many benefits over every year. Do you think he can’t even manage this?”

He Long fell silent for a moment, then said viciously, “This man is too strong. The old methods won’t work. Kill him to be safe.”

“Dragon Lord, why not try again? Fang Chenggong, Li Mingde—which of them was easy to control?”

Lu Wuhai whispered, “We’re not at a dead end yet. He hasn’t felt despair, so naturally, he still has courage.”

“Strength.”

He Long snorted coldly and said no more.

Lu Wuhai was slightly taken aback, a surge of killing intent rising in his heart.

They had done this kind of thing many times before, and there had been crackdowns on the underground Life-and-death Arena before.

But they didn’t care. They had also pulled strings within the military.

This was why Lu Wuhai dared to order Jiang Changkong to target the military’s Star Stones.

The reason the military investigated so quickly was that they had leaked some information.

If it were like before, ordinary Martial Artists would have been scared out of their wits.

But this time, ever since Jiang Changkong loudly called out Lu Wuhai’s name, things had taken a strange turn.

Was that call of “Lu Wuhai” intentional?

This thought resurfaced in Lu Wuhai’s mind. He had been suspicious at the time.

Moreover, Jiang Changkong was too strong. If he broke through to the late Star Sea stage, who could control him?

Jiang Changkong left the stone house, exited the Martial Market, and quickened his pace to distance himself from the area.

The surveillance footage showed that Liu Feng and the others had already dug up the weapons he had buried.

Weapons obtained from victories in the underground Life-and-death Arena.

He never had a chance to sell them, so this time, he might as well sell them to the military. Well, Boss He Long would foot the bill.

A hundred third-tier low-grade Star Stones would be ten thousand Essence.

Twenty third-tier mid-grade ones, four thousand.

He was still about eight thousand short of maxing out four martial arts.

He would keep these for now. This amount of Essence was enough to push two or three martial arts to the peak of the Star River stage.

He would wait until tomorrow night to see what tricks He Long and the others had up their sleeves.

He sat cross-legged to rest, waiting for dawn.

The next morning, Jiang Changkong arrived at the Martial Market. It was unusually quiet, with only a few dozen people wandering around the entire street.

Several figures in black immediately fixed their eyes on him the moment he stepped into the Martial Market.

Jiang Changkong paid no mind and quickly walked toward the stone house where Ji Ziling and the others were staying.

He knocked on the stone door, and Ji Ziling quickly opened it, inviting him inside.

“Changkong, I’m so relieved to see you’re safe.”

Ji Ziling let out a sigh of relief. “Last night was chaotic in the Martial Market. I was really worried something might happen to you.”

“I’m fine.”

Jiang Changkong said, “I saw part of what happened last night. Lu Wuhai was right beside He Long.”

“You saw?” Ji Ziling was startled. “Tell me about it.”

“I only saw a little. Lu Wuhai gave a backpack to a man in black holding a knife. I vaguely heard it was Star Stones.”

Jiang Changkong whispered, “I’ll continue to hide and watch from the shadows. We might get more information.”

Ji Ziling cautioned, “Be careful in everything you do. Yan Xue is very worried about you—she only ate eight bowls of noodles for breakfast.”

Jiang Changkong: “…”

Eight bowls, and that’s because she was worried about my safety and had a poor appetite?

Alright, thinking of that bowl, Jiang Changkong believed it.

“Teacher Xiao Jiang has left, returning to the city to investigate Li Mingde…” Ji Ziling said.

Xiao Jiang had left yesterday to look into the matter of the Starlight Force Bomb.

As for Ying Yanxue, she was in Chu Jun’s room, having breakfast with him and tackling her eighth bowl of noodles.

Last night, the military and law enforcement only dug up weapons but found no trace of the black-clad individuals.

After returning, they learned that He Long’s men had been killed and realized they had been deceived.

They nearly turned the entire city of Wu upside down last night.

“Oh, I forgot to give this to you yesterday. This is the weapon Teacher Chu Jun prepared for you—it took quite a bit of effort.”

Ji Ziling took out a knife handle and handed it to him.

Jiang Changkong channeled Star Power into it and was startled—it was top-tier third-grade!