Martial Peak
chapter-3948

Chapter 3948 – A Thug

“Since this King wasn’t the one who destroyed First Inn, why are you asking for repayment from this King?” Pei Bu Wan loudly pounded the table in front of him, shattering it into pieces. Then, he stared at Yang Kai with widened eyes, “Brat, do you think this King is easy to bully?”

“I wouldn’t dare.” Yang Kai hung his head low and cupped his fists, “I’m just here to carry out my orders.”

Pei Bu Wan snorted, “Look for those who demolished First Inn then. What does it have to do with this King?”

Yang Kai replied, “Shopkeeper Pei is quite right. In that case, Junior will take his leave. However, there is one thing I should mention before I go.”

“Go on.” Pei Bu Wan shot him a glance.

“Before coming out to carry out my orders, my Proprietress said that it would be best if I could collect all the debts owed, and that if I couldn’t, she would personally come over to discuss them with those shopkeepers who aren’t willing to pay. If that still doesn’t work, she would go to the headquarters of those great forces to seek repayment from them.”

Pei Bu Wan chuckled, “Do you think you can scare this King? Tell whoever she is to come here, then. Let’s see if that woman can get even a single pill from this King. If she can, this King doesn’t mind calling her Great Aunt!”

Yang Kai shouted, “Junior will remember and pass on Shopkeeper Pei’s sentiments to our Proprietress word for word. Farewell!”

After cupping his fists, he turned around and left.

All of a sudden, Pei Bu Wan frowned as though he seemed to recall something, “Wait.”

Hearing that, Yang Kai whirled around and stared at him, “What else does Shopkeeper Pei wish to say?”

The aggressive light in Pei Bu Wan’s eyes seemed to have weakened as he muttered, “You just mentioned your Proprietress… As far as this King knows, most First Inns are managed by men. There are only a small number of female shopkeepers. What’s your Proprietress’ name?”

Although there weren’t many female shopkeepers at First Inn, none of them were easy to deal with. In particular, there were two of whom especially shouldn’t be messed with.

“My First Inn’s Proprietress is known as Madam Lan.” With a respectful look on his face, Yang Kai cupped his fists in the direction First Inn was located.

Pei Bu Wan’s face twitched hard when he heard that and asked, “Madam Lan? Which Madam Lan?”

Yang Kai replied, “I’m not sure if there is more than one Madam Lan who belongs to First Inn. It has only been a short time since I started working for her, so I’m not familiar with First Inn; however, I have a Faith Token from our Proprietress. Do you want to have a look?”

“Show me,” Pei Bu Wan extended his large hand.

Yang Kai presented the Jade Token to him with both hands. After taking it, Pei Bu Wan infused his energy into it. The next instant, he gulped hard before he let out a hollow laugh, “Oh, it’s that Madam Lan! En, this King is familiar with her. Several hundred years ago, I was a customer at First Inn, and she was quite… hospitable… Haha. A few hundred years have passed just like that. Those days…”

He wasn’t even sure how he should keep going, so he decided to change the topic, “Has she arrived in this Star City?”

Yang Kai replied, “Yes. First Inn has just reopened a few streets away from here.”

“I see,” Pei Bu Wan nodded.

“Is there anything else, Shopkeeper Pei? If not, I’ll take my leave now. The Proprietress is waiting for me to report to her.”

“There’s nothing else,” Pei Bu Wan waved his hand and extended the Jade Token, but he refused to let it go when Yang Kai clenched it.

Staring at him, Yang Kai said, “What is the meaning of this, Shopkeeper Pei? A Jade Token is not valuable. If you want one, you can simply head to First Inn and get one from the Proprietress. I’m sure she still has some to spare.”

An exasperated Pei Bu Wan refuted, “Why would I need a Jade Token?” Then, he released the token, “There’s no hurry for you to leave. Let this King think about this.”

Upon finishing his words, he rose from the chair and placed his hands behind his back before pacing around. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts as though he was pondering on an important issue.

Seeing that, Yang Kai admired the Proprietress even more. Even a thug like Pei Bu Wan became terrified at the mere mention of her name. Although Pei Bu Wan didn’t let his emotions show on his face, Yang Kai would be a fool not to notice this abrupt change in attitude. Yang Kai began to wonder just what the Proprietress had done to make herself famous across the 3,000 Worlds.

A moment later, Pei Bu Wan stopped in his tracks and stared fixedly at Yang Kai, as though he had just made a difficult decision, “Brat, you’re here to collect a debt, right?”

Yang Kai replied, “Yes, I am here to ask for compensation.”

“They mean the same thing. You’re here to ask for money.” Pei Bu Wan waved his hand and swept a glance over him, “I can see that your cultivation is not bad as you’ve condensed your Dao Seal. What’s your battle experience like?”

Yang Kai frowned as this question was rather bizarre, but after giving it a thought, he simply replied, “I’m from an unknown, remote Universe World.”

In other words, he had fought his way to the Outer Universe, so his combat experience was unquestionable.

Upon hearing that, Pei Bu Wan’s eyes became visibly brighter as he put on a broad smile, “Very good.” Then, he pointed at the battle stage, “Do you see that guy over there?”

Yang Kai turned his head and saw that the young man, who won the battle earlier, was seated on the ground with his legs crossed. Apparently, he was trying to adjust his breathing and heal his wounds.

“Shopkeeper Pei, what do you mean?” Yang Kai asked.

“I want you to fight against him.”

“I don’t understand.”

Pei Bu Wan wrapped his arm around Yang Kai’s shoulder and said in a hushed voice, “If you can defeat him, I’ll repay the debt.”

A shocked Yang Kai asked, “Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious.”

“How much will you repay?”

“I’ll repay the debt in full.”

[What exactly goes through this guy’s head? How bored must he be to have developed an interest in watching other people fight? I guess thugs like him really can’t be judged with reason.] There was no doubt that Yang Kai was tempted by the suggestion. The amount of repayment was 10 million, and he’d get five percent of it, which was 500,000. It could be considered easy if he could get the money by simply fighting a battle. All the other shopkeepers had asked for a month to validate the incident, and it wasn’t certain whether they would pay up after that point; therefore, Yang Kai was quite interested in Pei Bu Wan’s suggestion.

More importantly, Yang Kai had just borrowed some Open Heaven Pills from Luo Hai Yi the previous day. If he could get 10 million pills today, he would be able to repay her and free himself from at least one debt.

Yang Kai had watched the young man fight earlier, and although he admitted he was fairly powerful, his foundation wasn’t solid. If they got into a one-on-one fight, Yang Kai was confident he would win.

He reckoned that Pei Bu Wan must be wary of the Proprietress. Earlier, the burly man had sworn that if the Proprietress could get even one pill from him, he would call her Great Aunt. Now, he must be trying to find a way out of this embarrassing situation.

Thinking so, Yang Kai nodded his head, “Good.”

“Great!” Pei Bu Wan clapped his hands and guffawed, “Just wait a bit. That guy has just gone through an intense battle and exhausted himself. Let him restore some energy first.”

Naturally, Yang Kai didn’t mind this.

Pei Bu Wan moved and appeared on the battlefield in an instant before speaking to the young man, who gazed at Yang Kai and nodded gently. Then, he passed the young man a jade bottle that should contain some healing pills. The young man directly fished out some pills and gulped them down before he continued meditating.

Following that, Pei Bu Wan returned to the platform and chuckled, “Let’s wait for one hour.”

One hour wasn’t a long time, but in order to not make Luo Hai Yi worry, Yang Kai took out a communications artifact and informed her that his discussion here would take a little longer, so he’d leave the shop at a later time.

On the other hand, Pei Bu Wan told his subordinates to get a new table and cups of tea before having a small talk with Yang Kai.

One hour later, the young man got to his feet on the battlefield and beckoned to Yang Kai.

“Shopkeeper Pei, I’m going now. Please don’t forget your promise.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t,” Pei Bu Wan chuckled.

It was then Yang Kai leapt onto the battle stage, and upon reaching the centre, he cupped his fists at the young man, who was still tens of metres away from him, “Yang Kai!”

The young man also cupped his fists, but as soon as he lifted his hands, he suddenly dashed forward and threw his fist towards Yang Kai’s face. A blast was heard as a violent force swirled around his fist. It was as though he had some deep grudges against Yang Kai.

This was different from what Yang Kai had expected, so with a frown, he pushed out a fist as well.

Following a loud bang, two figures were seen stepping backwards. A tinge of surprise flashed across the young man’s eyes as he hadn’t expected Yang Kai to be so tough.

Before he even came to his senses though, Yang Kai managed to stabilize himself and shoot forward. An image flashed across the young man’s eyes as he realised that Yang Kai had already reached him as a fist expanded rapidly in his eyes.

Flustered, the young man hurriedly raised his arms to parry the attack, but he immediately felt an unstoppable force coming from the other party’s fist, which was even more forceful than the first clash. He was horrified, but it was too late for him to summon any artifacts. Following a loud crack, he felt excruciating pain as his forearm bones were broken.

The next instant, countless fist shadows rained down on the young man, turning him ashen.

On the platform, Pei Bu Wan appeared surprised at first, then his eyes brightened intensely as though he had just found a treasure. Hot breath was even seen puffing out of his nostrils.

Loud bangs were continuously heard coming from the battlefield as the young man could only defend himself without the power to counterattack. He was completely overwhelmed.

Yang Kai was used to fighting against opponents stronger than himself. He might not be able to defeat an Open Heaven Realm Master, who had split Heaven and Earth apart in his body, which allowed them to utilize World Force, but as long as his opponent wasn’t an Open Heaven Realm Master, Yang Kai didn’t fear anyone.

If the young man had been polite, Yang Kai wouldn’t have oppressed him like this. The problem was that the young man directly made a move without saying a word, so Yang Kai replied in kind with a ruthless offensive.

Although Yang Kai was a Human, he had the brute strength of a 2,000-metre-long Half-Dragon. Therefore, the average Emperor Realm cultivator was no match for him when it came to raw power. If the other person had widened the gap and used artifacts or Secret Techniques, he might’ve lasted for a while longer; however, he decided to fight Yang Kai in close quarters, which was akin to courting death.

After just ten breaths of time, Yang Kai pushed out his fist for the last time. The young man became paralysed on the ground with his clothes drenched in blood.

Yang Kai didn’t intend to kill him, but it would take the young man at least half a month to recuperate from such injuries.

Then, Yang Kai moved and appeared beside Pei Bu Wan, not even short of breath, as though he was just warming up earlier. With his fists cupped, Yang Kai said, “Shopkeeper Pei, fortunately, I didn’t disappoint you.”

The subordinates were amazed as they looked at him like he was a freak.

Pei Bu Wan placed his hands behind his back and paced around again for a bit before striding over and grabbing Yang Kai’s shoulders.

His action made Yang Kai feel uncomfortable, and with a frown, he asked, “Shopkeeper Pei, I’ve won the battle. Just like what you’ve promised, will you make the repayment now?”

“Repayment? What do you mean?” Pei Bu Wan glared at him.

Yang Kai’s face fell, “Does Shopkeeper Pei want to go back on his word? You promised that as long as I could defeat him, you’d give me the repayment in full.”