HBWnovel Chapter 209 Why So Cruel?
Chapter 209 Why So Cruel?
Xia Hong's expression shifted again. His heart pounded like a drum, but the resentment in his eyes only deepened. Yet, he refused to swear the oath, as if the mere suggestion was a grave humiliation.
Seeing this, Luis turned to Zhou Mucheng. "General Zhou, what is the punishment for slandering one's superior in the coalition?"
Zhou Mucheng, ever economical with words, replied, "Dismissal and investigation."
Luis nodded, casually picking up a spirit stone from one of the boxes. He inspected it with a smirk.
"Tsk tsk. This box alone must hold more than 100,000 spirit stones. And there are fifteen of them... General Xia, you sure have a big appetite."
Xia Hong's face turned deathly pale. A flicker of despair filled his eyes.
Fifteen boxes... That's over a million spirit stones.
Execution.
His mind raced, searching for a way out. But faced with irrefutable evidence, Xia Hong finally snapped. His expression twisted with rage, and he shouted bitterly, "It's you! This is all you! You set me up! I'm innocent! I'm innocent!"
His face flushed red, veins bulging as he raved like a madman.
"Luis Hartmann! I'll fight you to the death!"
With that, he slapped the storage bag at his waist.
A flying sword shot out, streaking toward Luis like lightning.
To the onlookers, it was impossibly fast.
To Luis, it was painfully slow.
He raised a single finger, flicked it forward lightly—
Clang!
The flying sword trembled mid-air, letting out a pitiful wail before it shot backward, spinning uncontrollably.
Luis barely glanced at it before turning back to Zhou Mucheng.
"General Zhou, what is the punishment for attacking a commander?"
Zhou Mucheng's voice carried a hint of killing intent. "Capital offense."
The hall fell into dead silence.
Everyone knew—Xia Hong was already a dead man.
Wei Lidao sighed inwardly. "This fool..."
Luis moved.
In an instant, his sword pierced through Xia Hong's dantian, shattering his Qi Sea.
"Puff!"
Xia Hong coughed up a mouthful of blood before his body crumpled to the ground.
His Qi Sea was destroyed.@@@@
His cultivation—ruined.
He was nothing more than a cripple now.
When everyone witnessed Luis' ruthless methods, even the seven independent cultivators who had sworn allegiance to the Hartmann family felt a chill run down their spines.
Yet, alongside their fear, they also felt an immense sense of relief.
Fortunately, we chose to side with Luis.
If we hadn't... we'd be the ones lying on the ground, crippled.
Xia Hong struggled to get up, but his body trembled violently. He could barely move.
Meanwhile, Luis calmly walked over to the remaining fourteen boxes, opening them one by one.
Each box contained only a single spirit stone.
Luis glanced down at the pitiful Xia Hong, sighed, and shook his head.
"General Xia, embezzling a few hundred thousand spirit stones isn't a crime worthy of death. Why are you so desperate to die?"
Zhou Mucheng stood up, a deep frown on his face. "Commander-in-Chief, won't this cause unrest among the soldiers?"
Wei Lidao nodded in agreement. "That's right, Commander. The troops only recognize spirit stones. A late-stage Qi Refining soldier earns 500 spirit stones a year, a mid-stage soldier earns 300, and an early-stage soldier gets 100.
But now... a late-stage soldier will only receive five banknotes? An early-stage soldier, just one?"
Wei Lidao was at a loss for words.
Individually, Qi Refining soldiers weren't a threat, but the Western Defense Zone had 100,000 of them, along with a thousand Foundation Establishment officers. If a riot broke out, even if Luis had the strength of a Golden Core cultivator, he might not be able to contain the chaos.
Luis waved a hand dismissively. "Just tell them that handling large amounts of spirit stones is inconvenient. They can take these banknotes to the largest Central Bank in Sea View Fairy City and exchange them for spirit stones at any time.
Or, if they prefer, they can use them directly at any store in Guang'an Prefecture."
"This..."
The officials exchanged uncertain glances. Wei Lidao hesitated before speaking. "Commander, why go to such lengths for this?"
Luis simply waved his hand again. "Just relay my instructions to the soldiers."
Besides Luis, the seven highest-ranking officials of the Western Defense Zone had already pledged their allegiance to the Hartmann family.
Of the remaining three, Xia Hong was dismissed.
Although Zhou Mucheng held the position of commander-in-chief, his relationship with Luis was complicated—making it impossible for him to stand against him.
As for Wei Lidao, he trembled even as he spoke.
It was clear—he was deeply afraid of Luis.
At first, everyone had assumed that Commander Luis was easygoing. They had worked together for over a month, and in all that time, he had never made any drastic moves since taking office.
But when Luis finally struck, he did so with devastating force—eliminating a captain who commanded 10,000 soldiers in a single encounter.
Whether Xia Hong was truly guilty of corruption or not no longer mattered.
The moment he attacked Luis in public, his fate was sealed.
Everyone had witnessed it firsthand.
And that alone was a capital offense, no matter where one went.
That was why Wei Lidao had called him foolish.
Had Xia Hong not attacked Luis outright, he could have defended himself against the corruption charges. The Oath of the Great Way or the Mirror of Conscience could have helped clear his name.
Even if he couldn't prove his innocence entirely, at worst, he would have lost his military position. But execution? That wouldn't have been on the table.
Yet, in his panic, he made the fatal mistake of attacking the commander—handing Luis the perfect excuse to kill him.
Now, no matter who judged him, death was inevitable.
That was why Wei Lidao feared Luis.
To him, Luis wasn't just young—he was ruthless.
What made it even more terrifying was that Luis wasn't just cruel; he was overwhelmingly powerful.
He had both the strength and the strategy to dominate.
How could Wei Lidao possibly stand against him?
The concern he had raised earlier wasn't about defying Luis—it was about survival.
He worried that forcing Spirit Coins on the military could lead to unrest. If that happened, Luis, as commander, wouldn't be the one in immediate danger.
Instead, it would be the captains issuing the orders who would have to deal with the fallout.
And among them, someone would inevitably be sacrificed to stabilize the troops.
That "someone" would likely be him—Wei Lidao.
He wasn't as close to Luis as Zhou Mucheng.
Nor had he surrendered as quickly as Lei Zhen and the other captains from casual cultivator backgrounds.
He was the easiest target to take the blame.
But now, with Luis' explanation—that soldiers could exchange Spirit Coins for Spirit Stones at the Central Bank—the situation had shifted.