"You!"
Lei Xuankong’s eyes nearly spat fire.
"Li Yun, stop pretending you don’t understand. Those artifacts were only lent to Han Juefeng. If you seize them now, are you trying to make enemies of every one of us?"
"You lent them to him willingly, which means the right to use them was placed in his hands," Li Yun replied calmly. "And I defeated him, so these artifacts became my spoils from the battle." He paused for a moment. "Of course, if you want them back, that isn’t impossible."
Lei Xuankong and the others narrowed their eyes at once.
Li Yun calmly raised a single finger.
"You can redeem them with points." His gaze swept across the group. "Ten thousand points for each spiritual artifact. If you can’t pay that right away, I don’t mind letting you owe me the balance. But if you’re unwilling to pay at all, then you should give up any thought of getting these treasures back."
Li Yun had never considered himself a petty man, but he was not foolishly generous either. These people had deliberately banded together behind the scenes and gathered multiple treasures for the express purpose of crippling his cultivation.
If he simply handed everything back after beating Han Juefeng, he would be telling them that plotting against him carried no cost whatsoever, and he had no intention of letting them off that easily.
"Ten thousand points each?"
Lei Xuankong nearly exploded with rage.
"Li Yun, you actually have the nerve to demand that much?" His voice carried across the Prodigy Camp. "I’d advise you to return those treasures right now. Otherwise you’ll find out soon enough that there’s no place left for you anywhere in this camp."
"Exactly."
Wei Cangming stepped forward, his expression cold and his voice carrying an almost poisonous chill.
"I don’t care what happens to anyone else’s treasures. But the Nether Soul Bell and the Myriad Ghostfiend Banner are mine, and I suggest you hand them over quietly." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Otherwise I wouldn’t mind stepping onto that arena right now and avenging Han Juefeng myself."
Two artifacts meant twenty thousand points, and even for someone ranked high in the Prodigy Camp, that was a considerable fortune. More than that, Wei Cangming had always been the sort who took advantage of others and rarely came out on the losing end, so being openly squeezed by Li Yun in front of this many people was more than his pride could stomach.
"If you want to try something, go ahead."
Before Wei Cangming could say anything else, two figures rose to their feet at the same time. They were Bai Yuchen and Huang Tianze.
Bai Yuchen looked at Wei Cangming coldly.
"We couldn’t step in while Li Yun and Han Juefeng were fighting, because that was a wager match both sides agreed to. Now that it’s finished, though, you want to lean on numbers and pressure Li Yun together." His gaze sharpened. "Did you really think the two of us would just sit here and watch?"
Huang Tianze stepped forward as well, his aura gradually spreading outward, and the atmosphere around the arena turned tense in an instant.
"Bai Yuchen, Huang Tianze, I’ll admit that you’re both powerful."
Another figure pushed forward out of the crowd, a young man in blue robes. His name was Chang Tianyu, he ranked thirty-fifth in the Prodigy Camp, and he owned the Frostflame Spirit Fan, one of the many treasures Han Juefeng had borrowed.
"But however strong the two of you are, you can’t control everything inside this camp."
Chang Tianyu’s expression was gloomy. Ten thousand points was no small sum even for someone in the top fifty, and although he understood how dangerous it was to stand against Bai Yuchen and Huang Tianze, he was even less willing to pay such a price just to get his own treasure back.
Besides, neither of those two was invincible, since there were still people in the Prodigy Camp capable of matching them. If things ever truly escalated, he could always seek protection from one of those stronger figures.
"That’s enough."
A calm voice cut through the tension at that moment.
"If you choose to gamble, you also have to be ready to accept what happens when you lose."
The voice was gentle, yet the instant it was heard, Chang Tianyu, Wei Cangming, Lei Xuankong, and the rest all changed expression, because everyone recognized the speaker immediately. It was Mu Tianque, the number-one-ranked genius in the entire Prodigy Camp.
Mu Tianque looked at them calmly.
"You placed your hopes on Han Juefeng and gave him your treasures because you expected him to beat Li Yun. Since he lost, you should bear the consequences of that choice."
The surrounding crowd immediately grew restless.
"Mu Tianque actually stepped in?"
"Hasn’t he always stayed neutral?"
"He almost never gets involved in other people’s disputes."
"So why is he taking Li Yun’s side this time?"
Chang Tianyu, Wei Cangming, and Lei Xuankong were just as stunned, and so were Qin Fenglie, Luo Changye, and Jiang Haoran, since Li Yun was holding their artifacts too. Had only Bai Yuchen and Huang Tianze spoken up, they would certainly have been cautious, though not necessarily willing to back down. Mu Tianque’s involvement changed everything.
The number-one genius, the number-two genius, and the number-seven genius standing together represented an overwhelming force inside the Prodigy Camp. Very few people had the confidence to oppose a combination like that, and even those ranked in the top ten would have to think hard before interfering.
Li Yun’s voice rang out again, as calm as ever.
"The price hasn’t changed." He looked directly at Lei Xuankong, Wei Cangming, Chang Tianyu, and the others. "Ten thousand points for each spiritual artifact. If you want your treasures back, pay for them. If you can’t manage the full amount right now, I’ll let you buy them on credit."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"And if you’d rather not redeem them, that’s perfectly fine too."
His Sword Domain tightened slightly around the seven artifacts.
"I’m sure there are plenty of people in the Prodigy Camp who’d be very interested in buying treasures of this quality."
The faces of Lei Xuankong and the others turned uglier still, because they finally realized Li Yun was not simply making threats. If they refused to pay, he fully intended to sell their treasures to someone else.

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