Volume 1, Chapter 48: This brat is from the Penglai Sea of Clouds? Beat him to death!

"You!"

Liu Ruo'an's face flushed red. He wanted to retort, but found himself completely at a loss for words.

After all, what Shi Yiming said was the truth.

On the other hand, the young girl Meng Qiuyue seemed somewhat unfamiliar with the situation at hand. She asked with a puzzled expression, "Why is that?"

Shi Yiming twirled his folding fan and gazed at Liu Ruo'an with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Brother Liu's invested Langya Foundation only contributes one percent of the spiritual stones spent within the chamber of commerce to the charity fund!

In other words, doing charity is just an incidental side activity. Brother Liu... primarily wanted to spend a little pocket money on himself!

Though, there is nothing wrong with that!

After all, not everyone is as profligate as I am. Donating such a vast amount of spiritual stones on a whim, without buying a single thing for myself."

At the end of his sentence, he let out a sigh as if mocking himself.

"Young Master Shi, you are quite mistaken. In this day and age, it is truly rare to find someone like you who possesses such a benevolent heart and is willing to offer up spiritual stones to rescue people completely unrelated to you! Qiuyue admires you deeply!"

Without comparison, there would be no harm.

Once she understood the difference between the two, a sort of halo seemed to surround Shi Yiming in Meng Qiuyue's eyes, and every movement he made practically radiated light.

"As for Young Master Liu, well, he is passable too!"

Liu Ruo'an: "!!!"

He was so angry his lungs felt like they were about to explode!

What did she mean by "he is passable too"?

Didn't he spend those two or three million precisely for the sake of charitable causes?

Surely no one actually thought he bought those two or three million spiritual stones' worth of goods for himself, right?

Feeling the victorious glances that Shi Yiming cast his way from time to time, Liu Ruo'an clenched his fists tightly as a sudden wave of regret surged within his heart.

Damn it!

He had acted too soon!

He had dumped all his money into the Langya Foundation, which left him with insufficient funds to dominate the leaderboard when the Penglai Yunhai Foundation made its appearance!

Otherwise, how could Shi Yiming ever have the chance to act so domineeringly?

The young maiden bearing the surname Meng before them had arrived from beyond the Northern Domain, having traveled with her master to settle on Feixian Island.

From the very first moment Liu Ruo'an and Shi Yiming laid eyes on her, captivated by her beauty and temperament, their overt and covert rivalry had begun.

And today, it seemed he had suffered a thorough and utter defeat!

Liu Ruo'an was in an abysmal mood and intended to leave right then and there.

However, how could Shi Yiming let him off so easily? He hurriedly chimed in, "Brother Liu isn't angry, are they? It was just a joke, is there any need to take it to heart? Miss Meng didn't even say anything harsh to you. Look at you, your expression is so unsightly..."

Liu Ruo'an: "!!!"

His face twitched as he forced a smile onto the corners of his lips. "No, how could I be?"

The corners of Shi Yiming's mouth curved upward slightly.

Hah, trying to compete with this young master?

Today, I'll make sure you suffer a crushing defeat!

...

Not long after, the group arrived at a gathering place.

A large number of cultivators were congregated here, consuming medicinal pills and tending to their injuries.

Looking at their battered and disheveled appearances, Liu Ruo'an and the others all pursed their lips with deep sighs of emotion.

"Are you here looking for someone?" an elderly cultivator asked, looking at the three of them with bewilderment.

A young man accompanying them spoke up, "Uh, we previously donated some money to the foundation, and now we've come specifically to see if we can be of any help!"

Liu Ruo'an and Shi Yiming both nodded in agreement.

Hearing this, a sharp light flashed in the elderly cultivator's eyes. He looked back and forth between them, letting out a soft hiss. "You guys, which foundation did you donate your money to?"

Upon hearing this question, Liu Ruo'an opened his mouth, but couldn't bring himself to speak.

After all, compared to the Penglai Yunhai side, the amount he donated to the Langya Foundation was pitifully small.

Especially since, if he were to admit it, it would just give Shi Yiming another opportunity to show off grandly.

However, just because he didn't speak didn't mean others wouldn't.

Shi Yiming's lips curved upward as he pointed at Liu Ruo'an, smiling half-heartedly. "Senior, you probably didn't know, but Young Master Liu donated tens of thousands to the Langya Foundation. He proudly holds the number one spot on the Feixian Island Langya Merit Leaderboard!"

He deliberately emphasized the phrase "tens of thousands."

His tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Liu Ruo'an's complexion turned extremely unsightly, flushed a deep red.

Needless to say, under a disaster of this scale, what kind of waves could a mere tens of thousands of spiritual stones make? How many people could it possibly save?

To everyone's surprise, the moment those words fell, the elderly cultivator's eyes lit up brightly. He grabbed Liu Ruo'an's hand and bowed deeply. "This old man is blind and failed to recognize my benefactor standing right before me. Please forgive this old man's offense!"

Shi Yiming: "???"

Liu Ruo'an: "!!!"

Meng Qiuyue: "..."

Liu Ruo'an was startled by the elder's suddenly fervent attitude. "Senior, please quickly rise. There's no need for this!"

The elderly cultivator's eyes brimmed with hot tears as he gripped Liu Ruo'an's hand tightly. "Thanks to righteous men like Young Master Liu opening their purses so generously, this old man was able to preserve his life through this disaster! If not for that, this old man would have already perished!"

As he spoke, the elderly cultivator seemed to recall something. He turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs toward the rest of the disaster-stricken cultivators, "Everyone, our benefactor has arrived! This Young Master Liu is the great philanthropist who ranks number one on the Feixian Island Langya Merit Leaderboard..."

Swish, swish, swish—

As soon as those words were uttered, nearly all of the cultivators swarmed over as if they had gone mad.

It was a sight that startled Liu Ruo'an and his companions.

"Is this the young master of the Feixian Island Liu family? He truly is a man of outstanding talent!"

"The Liu family is extraordinarily generous. To become number one on the Feixian Island Merit Leaderboard, he must have spent at least several million spiritual stones!"

"The patrons of merit of the Langya Foundation are truly benevolent people acting with sincerity!"

"Please accept our bow!"

"..."

In an instant, a large number of injured cultivators paid their respects in prostration to Liu Ruo'an, subsequently pulling him over to a spot to sit down, serving him both tea and wine.

This scene of being held in such high regard left Shi Yiming, Meng Qiuyue, and the others standing nearby utterly dumbfounded!

Shi Yiming felt quite indignant. "Hold on, just by donating tens of thousands of spiritual stones, you can get this kind of treatment? Is there any need to be this exaggerated?"

He took a deep breath, walked up to Liu Ruo'an, and looked at the crowd, squeezing a smile onto his face. "Everyone, there's really no need for this. Relieving peril and rescuing the distressed is the duty of us new-generation righteous cultivators, it is merely our fundamental obligation!"

Seeing him step forward, the crowd froze in unison.

The elderly man from earlier wore a trace of respect as he asked, "Are you also a patron of merit for the foundation?"

Shi Yiming nodded, held up a single finger, and proclaimed, "Though I am unworthy, I made a modest donation of one million spiritual stones. I am also the number one contributor on the Feixian Island Wuliang Merit Leaderboard!"

The old man frowned slightly and asked again, "Which foundation did you donate to?"

Shi Yiming replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world, "Naturally, it's Penglai Yunhai. That is the truly conscientious foundation that actually wants to do things for distressed cultivators like us!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the scene fell into a dead silence.

The old man's eyes narrowed slightly. "Say that again. Which one did you donate to?"

Shi Yiming was oblivious to the shift in atmosphere. "Penglai Yunhai!"

Hah!

The old man let out a cold laugh, a powerful aura surging from his body, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, this brat is in cahoots with that bunch from Penglai Yunhai! Beat him to death!"

Shi Yiming: "???"

Before he even had time to react, he was grabbed by the collar by the old man and hurled straight into the middle of the crowd.