Chapter 549: Chapter 549: Do You Really Want to Be My Enemy?

The battle for the Marrow Cleansing Pill came to an abrupt halt. Everyone stared in astonishment in the direction Wu Yiping had vanished, collectively cursing in disbelief. For the sake of the pill, so many of them had nearly beaten each other’s brains out, only for Wu Yiping to swoop in and snatch it away. In an instant, everyone was seething with rage.

Shameless! They had nearly bashed their brains out, and he just showed up to steal the pill?

"Who was he? We were fighting until our brains were about to spill, and that bastard just popped up and stole the Marrow Cleansing Pill! How shameless!"

"Indeed, utterly shameless, but I didn’t see his face."

"Neither did I."

"He appeared so suddenly and moved so fast. Before I could even react, he was gone."

Aside from Gong Jin and Chloe, no one present had gotten a clear look at Wu Yiping. Qin Qing and An Dongye hadn’t seen him clearly either; Wu Yiping was simply too strong and too fast.

And so, everyone was frustrated. They had traveled thousands of miles to Xuanse Yunluo City for the auction, all for the sake of winning Ye Xiu’s address to then seize the Marrow Cleansing Pill. Yet before the auction had even started, a crowd of them had died, and the pill had been stolen. What a wasted trip!

"Ye Tianming, what are you still doing on the ground? Get over here and help us find Wang Yue!" the Dragon Lord roared at Ye Tianming, who was lying eight meters away.

"Oh!" With a sorrowful expression, Ye Tianming climbed to his feet and ran over to join the Dragon Lord and the rest of the sponsor’s team, searching for Wang Yue among the mountain of corpses.

At that moment, Ye Tianming’s feelings couldn’t be summed up by a mere expletive. The instant he had seized the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he had thought:

Once I take the Marrow Cleansing Pill, my strength will place me among the world’s strongest. Once I take the Marrow Cleansing Pill, I’ll become younger and live longer. Once I take the Marrow Cleansing Pill, I’ll no longer fear Ye Xiu of Huang Quan. Once I take the Marrow Cleansing Pill, I will surely dazzle the world at the Mist Chant Martial Meeting. Once I take the Marrow Cleansing Pill...

In short, the second he had the Marrow Cleansing Pill in his grasp, he felt as if he possessed the entire world. Yet, in a single second, the pill was snatched away by Wu Yiping. His hopes, his ambitions, his aspirations for the future—all shattered in an instant. This devastating sense of falling from the heavens in a split second sent Ye Tianming into a fury that bordered on madness.

"Save... save me... save me..."

Just then, a faint plea for help arose. Everyone looked toward the source of the voice. There they saw Wang Yue, covered in blood, struggling to crawl out from a pile of bodies. Under the cloak of night, the sight was both spine-chilling and terrifying.

"Wang Yue?"

The Dragon Lord, Ye Tianming, and the other members of the sponsor’s team rushed over, all of them shocked by the extent of his injuries. Wang Yue’s left arm had been shot, his right leg was broken and twisted at a grotesque angle, and his entire body was covered in footprints from being trampled.

"Wang Yue, your injuries are too severe. I need to get you to a hospital right away," the Dragon Lord said solemnly after checking Wang Yue’s wounds and taking his pulse. As a former affiliate of the Medicine King Valley, the Dragon Lord possessed some rudimentary medical skills.

The faces of Ye Tianming and the others from the sponsor’s team immediately turned grim. The other people present, however, couldn’t help but show expressions of schadenfreude.

"No, wait..." Wang Yue refused, his voice weak. "Wait... let’s go to the hospital later. I need... I need to explain things first. Otherwise... otherwise, the Wang Family and everyone from the sponsor’s team will become public enemies of the entire world." His voice was so faint from his weakness that only the Dragon Lord, who was right beside him, could hear.

"Alright. You speak, and I’ll relay your words to everyone," the Dragon Lord responded. He then swept Wang Yue up in a princess carry and looked around at the crowd.

Wang Yue nodded, but just as he was about to speak, a voice cut him off.

"What’s all this chaos? What happened?"

SWOOSH!

All heads snapped toward the sound. They saw a young man carrying a blade on his shoulder, walking out of the darkness in the distance.

"Ye Xiu..." both the Dragon Lord and Ye Tianming exclaimed at the same time.

Aside from Ye Xiu’s own people, only the Dragon Lord, Ye Tianming, and Wang Yue recognized him.

"What? He’s Ye Xiu?"

"The nerve of him, daring to come here."

"So many of us came for him, yet he dares to show himself willingly. Such courage and boldness are beyond that of any ordinary person."

While shocked that Ye Xiu dared to appear, the crowd also admired his bravery. In their eyes, Ye Xiu coming here was no different from courting death.

"I understand now!" Ye Tianming suddenly looked as if he’d had an epiphany. He declared loudly, "This was all orchestrated by Ye Xiu! He wanted us to kill each other."

The Dragon Lord instantly understood Ye Tianming’s implication. It didn’t matter if there was any evidence proving that this "battle for the Marrow Cleansing Pill" was Ye Xiu’s doing; they could just pin all the blame on him. The families and factions of those who were killed would surely not let Ye Xiu off the hook. And the people who were injured in the fighting wouldn’t let him off the hook now. What a clever move by Ye Tianming!

"Ye Tianming is right!" the Dragon Lord said, also feigning sudden realization. "Ye Xiu knew we came to the auction to snatch the Marrow Cleansing Pill. He knew he was no match for all of us, so he commissioned Gong Jin to deliver the pill as a gift, inciting us to fight and kill each other."

His words were a wake-up call. Prompted by Ye Tianming and the Dragon Lord, everyone who had participated in the battle for the pill came to their senses.

"Ye Xiu, you are so vicious! To set up such a malicious plot and cause the deaths of so many people!"

"This is going too far! Ye Xiu, you’re toying with our lives!"

"Hmph, Ye Xiu, you may have calculated everything, but I bet you never calculated that we wouldn’t all kill each other, or that we’d see through your scheme, did you?"

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, their anger palpable, looking as if they were about to lynch Ye Xiu.

Seeing this, Ye Tianming devised another plan on the spot. "Since this trap was set up by Ye Xiu, then the one who snatched the Marrow Cleansing Pill from me must have been Ye Xiu as well."

At these words, the dejected mood of everyone who had fought for the pill was instantly reignited with fervent hope. In a flash, they had Ye Xiu surrounded.

"Ye Xiu, hand over the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and we’ll spare your life!"

"Give me the Marrow Cleansing Pill, or I will kill you tonight!"

"The Marrow Cleansing Pill is mine! I’ll kill anyone who dares to fight me for it!"

Seeing that a great battle was about to erupt, the Dragon Lord, who was holding Wang Yue, along with Ye Tianming and the members of the sponsor’s team, subtly retreated to the side to become spectators. The Dragon Lord’s goal was to wait for the crowd to kill Ye Xiu so he could snatch the corpse. Ye Tianming, on the other hand, was there purely for the entertainment. He knew Ye Xiu was Huang Quan and that these people couldn’t possibly kill him. He wanted to see them all die at Ye Xiu’s hands, ensuring their families and backing forces would never forgive Ye Xiu.

"Gentlemen, do you truly wish to make an enemy of me?" Ye Xiu asked in a cold voice, slowly drawing the Slaughter City Blade as he scanned the crowd.

"Heh, you’re just a doctor. You think you’re worthy of being our enemy? Hand over the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and we’ll spare you. Otherwise..." a blond, middle-aged man sneered, pointing his Broad Sword at Ye Xiu with a face full of disdain.

However, before he could finish his sentence, his vision blurred. Ye Xiu had appeared before him like a phantom, the Slaughter City Blade now resting on his shoulder.

"Or else what?" Ye Xiu asked, his voice bone-chillingly cold, like a demon’s whisper from Hell.