Chapter 100: 500 Million

Chapter 100: 500 Million

"How dare you!" Cao Tianyou was furious at the chaotic situation and yelled loudly, "Five Elements Sect's disciples!"

"At your command, Sect Master!"

Zhao Yuan and hundreds of disciples shouted in unison.

The Five Element Sect's average strength paled in comparison to the Solar Vermillion Sects. Nevertheless, witnessing Li Pin effortlessly defeat Qiu Changfeng filled them with pride and renewed their determination. Even if they were to fight against practitioners of Covert or Transformative Force, they wouldn't flinch.

Moreover, this was their turf.... If others dared to cause trouble on their turf, how could they possibly stand by and tolerate it?

Suddenly, Li Pin laughed loudly. "Hahaha! Well done!"

He continued, "Sect Master Cao, guard the entrance for me! Don't let any one of them escape! As for the Solar Vermillion Sect disciples...."

Li Pin made his move, tearing through Chang Yuanshan's defenses like lightning and gripping his neck tightly.

Crack!

With a burst of force from his fingers, Li Pin instantly crushed the Aura Force martial artist's neck, ending his struggle.

Tossing the corpse aside, Li Pin's gaze burned with aggression. He swept his eyes over all the Solar Vermillion Sect disciples in the arena.

"Come at me all at once!" he challenged, eyes blazing with intensity. "I'll take on every single one of you!"

"Uncle Chang!" raged Qiu Changfeng.

When he saw how Li Pin had snapped Chang Yuanshan's neck, Qiu Changfeng was incensed. Hair standing on end, he raged, "Li Pin! I refuse to believe you can keep this up for much longer! Let's see if you can fight all of us at once! Kill him!"

The Solar Vermillion Sect disciples, eyes reddened with fury, echoed the command, "Kill!"

***

A few minutes later, Li Pin was standing alone in the center of the arena. He slowly picked up a piece of cloth from somewhere and wiped the blood from his fists.

This blood mostly wasn't his.

Around Li Pin lay the bodies of more than thirty Solar Vermillion Sect disciples. Some groaned in pain from broken bones, while others remained motionless, completely lifeless. Among them was Qiu Changfeng, who had foolishly believed that sheer numbers could overpower Li Pin.

"Li Pin! Li Pin! Li Pin!" Lying on the ground, Qiu Chuyun roared in rage, pain, and despair, "You want to annihilate the entire Solar Vermillion Sect's legacy! You're cruel! Absolutely ruthless!"

Cao Tianyou stepped forward, his voice deep and serious. "You brought so many Solar Vermillion Sect disciples to besiege my sect tonight. Do you really need me to spell out why you were originally here?"

Cao Tianyou turned his attention to Li Pin. Watching as he wiped the blood from his hands, Cao Tianyou's eyes didn't carry the condescension of an elder, nor did they hold the regard of an equal. Instead, his gaze was replaced with a trace of newfound respect.

A smile rising on his lips, Cao Tianyou asked Li Pin, "Grandmaster Li, are you satisfied?"

Li Pin nodded. "Yes."

He truly found tonight to be satisfying.

"I'll leave this place to you. Assemble a team. We are heading to the Solar Vermillion Sect," Li Pin said calmly. "If they can come to us, we can go to them."

"Understood," Cao Tianyou responded immediately. "Zhao Yuan!"

"Leave it to me!" Zhao Yuan responded enthusiastically. "This martial arts exchange with the Solar Vermillion Sect is registered with the martial society. In exchanges, deaths and injuries are a common sight. Today just happened to have more casualties than usual."

Ring, ring!

At this moment, Cao Tianyou's phone rang.

As he picked up the call, a voice swiftly came through.

—Master... we've recovered the body of Solar Vermillion Sect's Sect Master, Qiu Chufeng.

"Is he really dead!?"

—He's dead!

***

At the Solar Vermillion Sect.

Li Pin was studying manuals related to the Solar Vermillion Force and the sect's teachings when Zhao Yuan hurriedly ushered him into another room.

Inside the room were three genuine Astral Crystals and four pieces of genuine astral equipment. In addition to that, there was also a variety of precious materials and medicinal herbs.

These items were relatively normal. The most peculiar object was a box containing over a dozen property transfer certificates.

The preliminary procedures for these certificates have already been completed, leaving only the final exchange to be executed. In fact, some of these certificates did not require personal attendance as all the necessary authorization documents were already in place.

"So... how much is it?" Li Pin asked.

Zhao Yuan took a deep breath and exclaimed, "The total value of just these assets already surpasses 500 million. With all ownership transfers and authorization procedures completed, we can easily get 300 million."

500 million!

While the Five Elements Sect had a market capitalization of several billions, these were mostly just estimated valuations. If they were to liquidate their assets within half a month, a billion would have been considered a decent outcome.

Li Pin asked, somewhat surprised, "Why is the Solar Vermillion Sect transferring so many assets? Is there an impending financial crisis?"

"I, too, couldn't understand why at first, but based on what I have heard from the Solar Vermillion Sect's disciples, I made a guess," Zhao Yuan said, glancing at the assets. "This should be the compensation that the Solar Vermillion Sect is giving to the Zhou family."

"Zhou Family?" Li Pin quickly figured out something. "Zhou Chaoguang?"

"Yes, the Solar Vermillion Sect sent Zhou Chaoguang to deal with you, but it cost him his life instead. The Zhou Family still has an elderly grandmaster, but he's over seventy and even I could hold my ground against him.

"Zhou Chaoguang was the one holding up the Zhou Family, and with his death, they've lost their main support. Naturally, they won't be willing to let this go and will demand compensation from the Solar Vermillion Sect."

Zhao Yuan smiled and continued, "I'm curious as to what evidence the Zhou family had over the Solar Vermillion Sect that compelled them to lower their heads. But now... that's irrelevant. Grandmaster Li, all this will soon be your spoils of war."

Li Pin shifted his gaze onto the property transfer agreements.

Soon, he picked out a few that still needed some finishing touches and handed them over to Zhao Yuan.

"The Five Elements Sect should have their own way to liquidate these properties. There may be some costs associated with it, but whatever you manage to get from it, it all belongs to the Five Elements Sect," Li Pin said.

"No," Zhao Yuan declined promptly. "Grandmaster Li, you can leave the liquidation to us, but we mustn't accept the funds from the sale."

The Five Elements Sect could at least liquidate one hundred million from the property worth two hundred million. This was a huge sum given the size of the Five Elements Sect.

"Take it," Li Pin insisted. "There will likely be some fallout from this matter. I'll leave it to the Five Elements Sect to handle it."

"This..."

For a moment, Zhao Yuan didn't know how to respond. He could only turn to Cao Tianyou for a decision.

Li Pin didn't say anything more and began picking up the four pieces of astral equipment.

"Are these astral equipment made from genuine Astral Crystals?" Li Pin asked, taking out a piece of astral equipment in the form of a necklace.

"Yes, they are genuine Astral Crystals, further refining it with various other crystals will give it remarkable properties," Zhao Yuan continued. "If we consider the Astral Equipment worth a few million circulating on the market as something that Astral Cultivators look down upon, crafted merely to deceive ordinary people and provide a sense of psychological comfort, then these astral equipments... are the real deal!

"The Astral Equipment the newly awakened Astral Cultivators used are all at this level. Each one starts at twenty or thirty million."

"What's the margin?" Li Pin asked.

"It's doubled."

"Doubled?" Li Pin was a bit surprised. "The price has increased tenfold?"

"It's mainly due to the labor costs," Zhao Yuan explained. "Astral Cultivators can easily craft Substandard astral equipment, but these genuine astral equipment pieces require much more effort to craft. Since Astral Cultivators' time is valuable, their prices would naturally be higher."

Li Pin nodded.

Three pieces of genuine Astral Crystals plus four genuine Astral Equipments, at the very least, amount to 150 million. Add in some materials, precious medicines, and assets worth 300 million....

By destroying the Solar Vermillion Sect, Li Pin had gained 500 million!