Chapter 42: The Shameless Yan Family! Yan Gaojie Makes a Move!

"When did I ever give you permission to leave?"

Yan Gaojie's face twisted with a sinister expression as he walked step by step toward Li Yao.

"This primal dungeon was cleared by the Yang family under my commission, and I paid them ten gold-grade equipments for the spoils of war. How did it all suddenly become yours?"

"Besides, according to federal regulations, if your contribution exceeds the distributable spoils, you are still entitled to them. But nobody ever said the first-clear chest counts as ordinary loot."

"That chest rightfully belongs to the person who risked their life venturing into the dungeon. Since when does having higher strength give someone the right to rob another person's chest?"

Yan Gaojie first placed himself on the highest moral ground, then framed Li Yao as the enemy of all professional classes.

However, none of the people present were fools. Everyone knew Yan Gaojie was simply coveting the first-clear chest, but intimidated by the Yan family's prestige, they all kept silent.

Only Qin Xuehou let out a cold snort, utterly disgusted by Yan Gaojie's actions.

Shang Zijin wore a beaming smile, looking on as if watching an entertaining show.

Neither of them had any intention of intervening.

Among prodigies, preying upon one another was simply the natural order. If your strength was lacking and you got robbed, you could only accept your bad luck.

Li Yao was no weakling, and they also wanted to see how he would handle this trial posed by Yan Gaojie.

After all, what happened inside a dungeon remained known only to those involved. When it came to strength, nobody would acknowledge it unless they saw it with their own eyes.

"Hand over the items, and I'll let you leave."

Yan Gaojie walked up to the wall of fire, looking down at Li Yao from his superior height.

"Foolish."

Misa Kujo let out a soft snort, crossing her arms as she stood in the rear.

This red-haired youth was at most a fifty-fifty match for her, yet he dared to make a move against Li Yao.

"To use a saying from the Dragon Country..."

Misa Kujo briefly failed to recall the phrase, prompting her third-turn professional guard to quickly chime in: "An old man eating arsenic—courting death."

"Right!"

After that, she said nothing more, content to sit back and watch the good show.

Li Yao only had a small guild behind him; if the other party tried to crush him with sheer force, she might actually get an opportunity...

Meanwhile, Yan Gaojie retrieved an item resembling a stone from his storage space.

"The Void-Lock Stone?"

"The Void-Lock Stone! Within a hundred-meter radius, all spatial-type items are completely restricted. That means Li Yao has no way of escaping this place. Yan Gaojie has truly cornered him!"

Sharp-eyed professionals in the surrounding crowd immediately recognized the stone.

With the Void-Lock Stone produced by the Yan family, even the teleportation talisman Misa Kujo had used inside the dungeon would likely be disabled.

Let alone an unknown Summoner like Li Yao.

"Young Master Yan is completely disregarding Li Yao! But Li Yao cleared a purgatory-grade primal dungeon—isn't he afraid he's biting off more than he can chew?"

"Quite the opposite."

At that moment, Zhang Yucheng, who had remained silent for a long time, spoke up.

"If he didn't view Li Yao as a threat, he wouldn't have bothered using something like the Void-Lock Stone."

"A Summoner summoning beasts is essentially a spatial-type spell, which also falls under the prohibition of the Void-Lock Stone."

"Yan Gaojie is terrified of Li Yao's summoned beasts."

Zhang Yucheng recalled the praying mantis-like creature that had suddenly appeared earlier.

Even he could not help feeling a sense of threat from it.

Yan Gaojie must have felt it even more intensely.

Since even a single one of those creatures was so terrifying, he certainly wouldn't dare allow Li Yao to continue summoning.

Hearing this, everyone drew a sharp breath.

Their estimation of Yan Gaojie's shamelessness reached a brand-new level.

Prohibiting a Summoner from summoning? Only someone like him could come up with such a trick!

Even General Wu cast an impatient look toward Yan Gaojie at this moment.

The upper echelons traditionally ignored disputes among peers, but Yan Gaojie's current actions had clearly crossed the line.

Just as he was about to speak, a glance from Li Yao stopped him.

All he needed was tacit approval, not a favor he owed to someone else.

The duration of [Shackles] was twenty minutes.

Dealing with the Tongue-Ripping Empress wouldn't take anywhere near that long.

Besides, even without [Shackles], the Void Mantis remained hidden in the void, leaving him in an inherently invincible position.

"Now, I've changed my mind."

Seeing that the Void-Lock Stone's restriction had taken effect, Yan Gaojie stared malevolently at Li Yao.

"For someone as greedy as you, isn't simply making you hand over the items a bit too lenient?"

"The dungeon entry qualification originally belonged to the Yan family. By making an exception to let you in, how could I possibly let you take away the first-clear chest?"

"Just a lowly laborer—obediently hand over all the first-clear chests, and I'll let you go."

"Yan Gaojie!"

Qin Xuehou could no longer listen and shouted coldly.

Even Shang Zijin glared at Yan Gaojie with undisguised disgust.

"Outrageous!"

General Wu furrowed his brow, stood up, and rebuked sternly.

"Wu Yuanqu, stay out of the Yan family's affairs, if you please."

At that exact moment, an indifferent voice rang out in everyone's ears, arriving before the speaker could even be seen.

"Yan Xinghong?"

Wu Yuanqu's expression changed abruptly.

Yan Gaojie's second uncle, a backbone of the Yan family and a fifth-turn S-grade professional.

The Yan family... had truly abandoned all remaining shreds of shame.

"Does your Yan family believe that nobody in the Federation can keep you in check?"

Wu Yuanqu demanded harshly.

"General Wu, please don't try to frighten me."

A middle-aged man in red robes descended from the sky, landing behind Yan Gaojie with a light chuckle.

"My Yan family merely operates under the Federation's banner; how could nobody be able to keep us in check?"

"However... Gaojie is simply taking back what rightfully belongs to us. Could it be that even such matters are forbidden by the Federation?"

Wu Yuanqu's expression turned ugly.

Under the current circumstances, as long as those two brutes from the Yang family stubbornly insisted that the dungeon entry rights belonged to the Yan family, the Federation would genuinely find it difficult to take action against the Yan family.

Spoils of war in a dungeon were distributed according to contribution only under the premise that one possessed legitimate entry rights.

Wu Yuanqu looked over at Li Yao.

Li Yao understood the other's intent and nodded slightly.

Before entering the dungeon, he had already handed the agreed-upon piece of gold-grade equipment to Yang Junfei.

"Idiot, who gave you the qualification to sell entry rights?"

"Boom!"

Right at that moment, Yan Xinghong let out a furious curse.

An invisible wave of energy slammed directly into Yang Junfei's abdomen.

Yang Junfei spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward, gasping for air with virtually no strength left to fight.

Yet Yan Xinghong acted as if nothing had happened, looking at Wu Yuanqu with a smile as he said, "Whatever this brat did has nothing to do with my Yan family."

"You!"

Wu Yuanqu glared furiously, pointing at the other man, utterly speechless for a long time.

Now, his only hope was that Li Yao could withstand Yan Gaojie.

As long as Li Yao could hold his ground, he would make sure to help Li Yao block this old bastard no matter what!

Yet how could a Summoner without his summoned beasts possibly withstand an SS-grade professional?

Wait, what was that brat doing?

At that moment, Li Yao finally spoke.

He looked at the two men putting on this hypocritical double act.

"If the noble families of the Dragon Country are all like this, it is truly somewhat disappointing."

A smile curved the corners of Li Yao's lips.

While they had been chatting earlier, he hadn't been idle either.

He had secretly commanded the Void Mantis to circle around the old bastard Yan Xinghong several times.

This was also the reason for Wu Yuanqu's astonishment.

Fortunately, not every high-tier professional wasted effort on reconnaissance skills.

Yan Xinghong's reconnaissance skills were inferior to Wu Yuanqu's, making it impossible for him to detect the presence of the Void Mantis.

Li Yao had also considered the possibility that the other party was merely putting on a facade.

As long as he used the deceptive nature of the Chess Player talent to bait a single attack directed at his physical self, he could instantly widen the distance between them.

Once he and the Void Mantis fled in separate directions, he was confident he could escape this place.

And the moment he managed to get away...

He had already figured out... how he was going to deal with this Yan family.

Just as Li Yao was preparing to make his move, Qin Xuehou's voice rang out.

"Li Yao, stop talking nonsense."

"The noble families of the Dragon Country are definitely not all parasites like the Yan family!"

"I, Qin Xuehou, make this declaration here and now."

"As long as you can defeat Yan Gaojie, that old bastard won't be able to lay a finger on you!"

Yan Gaojie had a guardian, and Qin Xuehou naturally had one as well.

Speaking out at this moment was purely driven by his disdain for the Yan family.

"Qin Xuehou, you!"

Yan Gaojie glared over at him, but Qin Xuehou stared right back without the slightest hint of fear.

If the elder from the Qin family hadn't been holding him back, he would have already hacked this little bastard to pieces!

Being ranked on the same tier as him was simply an embarrassment!

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Yan Gaojie laughed out of sheer fury.

"I want to see how you plan to block me now that you've lost your summoned beasts!"

Yan Gaojie unleashed his sole SS-grade skill right off the bat.

Endless seas of fire wrapped around his body, transforming into a fiery dragon that converged upon his fist.

Piercing through the wall of fire, he charged straight toward Li Yao.

In an instant, the sea of flames mottled the surroundings, enveloping the entire ground in blazing red fire.

This was the full-strength strike of a top-tier prodigy of the Dragon Country, an SS-grade Flame Sovereign!

However...