In a side hall, inside a private room.

Chen Yu sat upright on a chair, placing all nine soul beads on the table and sinking into deep thought.

After a moment, he picked up one of them, wiped it clean with his sleeve, and tentatively put it into his mouth. But he quickly spat it out again.

"No good."

"Can't eat it."

Soul beads, so valuable they were beyond measure.

They were precious because they could produce "comparable" effects even for higher-level ability users.

Therefore, from the perspective of cultivation, the further a Transcendent progressed, the more cost-effective it became to consume soul beads.

"Whoosh—"

He swept all the soul beads from the table into a cloth pouch and carefully secured it. Chen Yu took a long breath and began to ponder his next plan.

'That woman, Li Yao, has reached level 8 of the Defying Fate Skill with the help of her family.'

'After she consumes five soul beads, she should at least be able to reach level 10, right?'

'By then, copy it onto me, and afterwards consume my soul beads…'

"Hmm."

Having made up his mind, Chen Yu rubbed his hands together excitedly, stood up, and began to pace around the room restlessly.

"Have to admit, those guys really smashed it with their grand gestures."

"Fifteen people, each with five soul beads! That's a total of one hundred and fifty."

"Damn it."

"Such a massive graduation exam, and the champion of the martial arts competition only gets three."

"Seriously, it's always when you're at death's door that…"

"Crap! That's not right!"

All of a sudden, Chen Yu looked up as if he'd had an epiphany, his eyes widening: "Where's my reward for being the martial arts competition champion?"

With this thought, he wasted no time, charged out of the private room, and ran into the central hall of the grand hall.

He roared in fury, "What will you use to pay back what you owe me?!"

"..." The steward, the young man, and the muscular man, who had been whispering privately to one another, turned to look at Chen Yu and fell silent simultaneously.

After a long pause, the head of the league clenched his fists silently, "When did we ever owe you something? What did we owe you?"

"Soul beads!" Chen Yu said, hands on his hips.

"Ah, is big brother not done yet?" the man in armor asked with a face full of question marks.

Chen Yu: "Murder demands a life, debt calls for repayment, the laws of heaven and earth."

"Bang!"

His B+ level strength erupted explosively!

The head of the league could no longer hold back, his face grim, grinding his teeth, "Then you tell us, how did we end up owing you? If you can't make a clear argument, then you…"

"Then what?" Chen Yu interrupted.

"…you... keep talking," the steward reluctantly backed down.

Chen Yu didn't want to waste time either, he put up three fingers, cutting to the chase: "Regarding yesterday's graduation assessment martial arts competition, I was the winner, wasn't I?"

The league steward frowned, hesitated for a moment, and nodded: "Sort of, what about it?"

"Where are the three soul beads that the champion was supposed to get?"

Steward: "…but you didn't actually win."

"That's because you stopped the competition midway," Chen Yu argued reasonably: "With that bunch of sorry losers, as if they had any chance against me?"

"But a halt is still a halt." The youth with the duckbill cap took a step forward, pressing his hands slightly: "Let me say something fair, Chen Yu, no matter how strong you are, first place has not been contested for. According to strict rules, you are not the champion, and therefore, you don't get a reward. There was an act of God…"

"You might as well shut it."

Chen Yu pulled out his phone and, without hesitation, played a song with a strong drumbeat as background music and started rapping:

"Fair words my ass? That was pure crap from start to finish♪~

Coming up with 'force majeure' after the competition's done♪~

Yeah! When your dad beat you, that too was an 'act of God'♫~

Go take a hike with your lame-ass 'rules' and stuff♪~

If you don't have the strength to hold a competition, you TM have issues?♩~"

The steward shouted: "How dare you speak to His Highness like this..."

Chen Yu interrupted: "You'd better not make a peep, making noise like you haven't crapped in days♪~

Your old mug looks like a pigsty relic from last century♪~

The pre-game contract I signed with you isn't worth toilet paper♩~

I'm dissing you guys like this, don't you have any shame?♪~

Being fair to players is in your best interest♪~

I hope my rap will forever be etched in your memory♪~

First thing about competitions, you've got to learn respect♪~

Because you never know when you'll come across a freak like me♫~

ski~"

The youth with the duckbill cap: "..."

The league steward: "..."

The armored man: "..."

"Let's just give it to him," the young man said, turning his head to the steward.

Steward: "Will three be enough?"

Five minutes later.

Chen Yu returned to his private room with his head held high, full of satisfied pride.

Like a victorious general returning home, he toyed with the three additional soul beads he had acquired, contentedly turning off his phone's music.

"Twelve beads now."

"Awesome, awesome." Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

He took out the cloth pouch and untied it. He gingerly placed the three soul beads inside and carefully secured it.

He sat back in his chair to savor his recent improvisational performance.

'With my level of culture, rap is indeed more my thing.'

...

"Hum—"

After who knows how long, a soul-piercing hum suddenly spread throughout the entire grand hall.

Chen Yu, half-reclining in the chair and killing time on his phone, paused and quickly stood up, curiously running out of the room.

He saw that the doors of the surrounding private rooms were also being pushed open one after another.

The various "diplomatic corps" Transcendents looked at each other, lost and confused.

"What's happening?"

"This fluctuation..."

"It's coming from that room!"

"Room 6."

Following the crowd, Chen Yu also went to the door of room No. 6, full of bewilderment, and tentatively twisted the doorknob.

It was locked from the inside.

"Damn!"

He suddenly slapped his forehead, remembering who was inside.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com