Crossing onto Pinglan Street

The seventh day of the City God Temple Fair.

Evening.

Inside a tavern somewhere on Pinglan Street.

Shu Ni propped up her cheek and stared blankly at the temple fair outside, lost in thought.

Ning Shisi took a sip of wine and sighed. "This trip will probably end in failure again. By rights, since there is already an immortal in the Divine Capital, there ought to be more detailed information about Immortals Descend. Searching around like headless flies—how could we possibly find anything?"

In the past, seeking immortals had indeed depended on luck; there had been no helping it. But now that the Divine Capital already had an immortal, the way of seeking immortals ought to have changed.

He had even begun to suspect whether the immortal in the Divine Capital was real at all. After all, not even his teacher had seen that immortal in person, only saying that the immortal was enshrined within the imperial palace.

Yet the matter of the immortal had come directly from the Imperial Preceptor, who had personally sought one out, and it had been confirmed by His Majesty. Immortal Traces had also descended upon the Divine Capital, though no immortal had been seen.

Ning Shisi, suddenly gripped by inexplicable panic at realizing he had doubted an immortal, immediately punished himself with three cups of wine and bowed toward the Divine Capital.

Shu Ni was long accustomed to Ning Shisi's idiotic antics. She said softly, "Old Fu probably never expected us to truly find an immortal. Otherwise, why would he have sent you here with a group of martial artists? Don't tell me it was only to temper me. If the task of seeking immortals rests entirely on me alone, won't I be worked to death?"

How could Ning Shisi possibly know what the bigwigs in the Divine Capital were thinking? Though his teacher's status was not low, he still merely worked under those bigwigs. Thinking over his junior sister's words, he found they were not without reason.

Shu Ni frowned slightly. From inside the tavern, she could see the entrance to Qixia Street. In front of the tailor shop, Old Xu had been shoved to the ground. From the look of it, the one who had acted was a cultivator.

The sweet-faced female cultivator knitted her delicate brows tightly. Water stains marred her pale yellow gown, while the tailor shop's clerk stood frozen in fright with a wooden basin in his hands.

The male cultivator had refined features, save for eyes that squinted slightly. He glared at Old Xu, sprawled on the ground, but seemed to be glaring at the shop clerk instead. "You blind fool! My junior sister's clothes are so precious that selling your entire tailor shop still wouldn't be enough to compensate for them!"

The clerk threw aside the wooden basin and tried to help his shopkeeper up. "When I splashed out the water, you were still far away. Who knew you would walk so quickly, rushing right into it?"

The clerk had splashed water on Qixia Street, while the two cultivators had still been on Pinglan Street. Even in his dreams, he could never have imagined the water would reach them.

But it had happened in the end. Old Xu had immediately come out to apologize, only to be shoved flat onto his backside. Had Old Xu not been fairly sturdy, that fall might have nearly killed him.

The male cultivator said darkly, "You dare talk back?"

He drew his sword and pointed it at Old Xu and the clerk. "Do you truly not know how the word 'death' is written?"

"Isn't this a little excessive?"

Shu Ni and Ning Shisi appeared, the latter reaching out to knock aside the male cultivator's sword.

Only after drawing closer did Shu Ni accurately sense that the two before her were merely pseudo-cultivators at the Hundred Days Foundation Establishment stage.

Though they had reached the stage of forging the Yellow Court, Cave Nether Realm cultivators now walked everywhere in Hun City. These two could only strut about before ordinary commoners.

Sensing Shu Ni's cultivation aura, their expressions changed slightly. The male cultivator frowned and said, "We cultivators slay monsters and demons, protecting peace in one region. What is wrong with teaching a lowly commoner a lesson? Does this young lady intend to stand up for him?"

Shu Ni was so angry she laughed. "Cultivators are respected by others, but they must also respect others. You are a useless wretch who has only completed Qi circulation and has yet to shift the external scenery to forge the Yellow Court. What qualifications do you have to slay monsters and demons? Even the weakest monster in the world could kill you whenever it pleased. What corner of the world could you possibly protect?"

She looked at the sweet-faced female cultivator and mocked, "A cultivator's weighty duty is to slay monsters and demons. Yet after merely getting a little water on yourselves, you bully commoners. Even if you truly became cultivators, I fear you would be unable to bear any responsibility. The identity of a cultivator is not for you to flaunt your superiority."

The male cultivator's face shifted between light and dark. He said grimly, "What we do is none of your business. Do not meddle in affairs that do not concern you!"

The clerk helped Old Xu onto a chair and whispered, "Should I go fetch the Young Marquis?"

Old Xu was furious, but at the mention of cultivators, how could he ask Jiang Wang to show himself?

When the Marquis had still been alive, Old Xu had handled all the tailoring for the Xunyang Marquis Manor. One could say he had watched Jiang Wang grow up. How could he drag Jiang Wang into something dangerous?

The clerk understood what his shopkeeper was thinking and said again, "The Young Marquis's name has been spreading throughout Hun City lately. They are only cultivators. I heard the Young Marquis has even killed some before. If we do not invite him here, then judging by this situation, we may not live to see another day."

Old Xu still hesitated.

But Shu Ni had already said, "That lowly commoner in your eyes has a background in Hun City that can cover the sky with one hand. If you provoke someone surnamed Jiang, your end will surely be miserable. If you have the courage, then go ahead and try."

Old Xu's face flushed somewhat. He had been the one to tell Miss Shu that Jiang Wang could cover the sky with one hand in Hun City. Why was Miss Shu telling everyone? Wasn't she bringing trouble upon Jiang Wang?

The male cultivator's expression tightened, then he sneered. "Hun City lies in a remote corner of Kutan. This place does not even have any cultivators, much less a martial Aristocratic Clan. Even if someone can cover the sky with one hand, that only applies to ordinary commoners. You think that can scare me?"

Without waiting for Old Xu's agreement, the clerk ran straight toward the Xunyang Marquis Manor.

Seeing this, the male cultivator did not stop him. "I truly want to see what sort of big shot you can invite."

He turned to Shu Ni and Ning Shisi. "Behind me stands a cultivator at the peak of the Cave Nether Realm, the strongest among those who came to Hun City seeking immortals. Even if you have someone of equal standing behind you, at most you could turn a great matter into a small one. Trying to frighten me? How childish."

Shu Ni merely smiled without speaking.

Ning Shisi had a headache. He was not particularly fond of this sort of drama.

This matter could have been easily settled, but judging from his junior sister's intentions, she apparently did not want that.

At the root of it all was Old Xu.

Of all people, they had to provoke someone connected to Mr. Jiang.

Very soon, the shop clerk came running back.

The Green-robed Cultivator carried a wicker chair, while Jiang Wang walked slowly at the very end with his hands clasped behind his back.

Shu Ni rolled her eyes. Walking like an old man was one thing, but he truly could not go anywhere without a wicker chair. Though she knew Jiang Wang was frail, the more important reason was definitely that he was lazy.

Ignoring everyone, the Green-robed Cultivator set the wicker chair before the tailor shop. Once Jiang Wang arrived and reclined upon it, he skillfully took up his place behind the chair.

The male cultivator frowned deeply.

When he happened to glimpse the female cultivator gazing at Jiang Wang with lovestruck eyes, fury immediately surged into his chest. He mocked loudly, "This is the man who can cover the sky with one hand in Hun City? Isn't this a joke?"

Jiang Wang raised his brows. Seeing Old Xu grimacing in pain, he then said in an exceedingly calm voice, "Kill him."

The Green-robed Cultivator moved at his command.

Shu Ni's mouth fell open. Wasn't that a little too decisive?

Before the male cultivator could even react, the Green-robed Cultivator seized his head directly. With a crack, his gaze toward Jiang Wang gradually turned toward the ground.

His heart was full of questions. He only felt the ground drawing ever closer. The instant his head struck it, he lost consciousness forever.

Old Xu was so frightened that his face turned white.

The sweet-faced female cultivator was likewise filled with terror.

Ning Shisi's expression turned grave.

For Mr. Jiang to act so decisively and immediately deal a killing blow, it seemed Old Xu's relationship with Mr. Jiang was anything but ordinary.

The way he looked at Old Xu even carried a measure of reverence.

The tailor shop's proprietor could not be offended!

Shu Ni said in a trembling voice, "You just killed him like that?"

Jiang Wang said calmly, "Why keep him?"

Though Shu Ni had deliberately intended to bring trouble to Jiang Wang, she had not expected him to handle it so steadily. She said seriously, "There is a cultivator at the peak of the Cave Nether Realm behind this man. If they are from some minor sect, that is one thing, but if their background is formidable, do you know what kind of trouble this could bring?"

Jiang Wang's expression brightened slightly. He sat more upright in the wicker chair and pointed at the sweet-faced female cultivator. "It is good that they have a background. Hurry and call for help. I will wait right here. Go quickly and return quickly!"

Shu Ni held her forehead and sighed. "This guy is acting up again."

Ning Shisi thought of the Cai Tanggu incident and Xie Wuxing coming to their door. Though neither matter had been provoked by Jiang Wang, he still found something strange about it all.

Why did Mr. Jiang seem so excited whenever he heard that the other party might have an influential background?

Before the female cultivator could supposedly call for aid, their backer had already noticed the situation. Most of the visiting cultivators were seeking immortals around Qixia Street, and he arrived by tearing through the air.

The newcomer was one of the cultivators whom Luo Xianshan had frightened into a panicked retreat amid the ruins on Qixia Street.

But now, he bore none of his former panic. Instead, he carried the tranquil bearing of an exalted master. When he saw the male cultivator lying on the ground, his expression instantly darkened, and a powerful pressure spread outward.

"Who did this?!"

The Green-robed Cultivator puffed out his chest and lifted his chin. "I did. What will you do about it?"

"Bold indeed!" The newcomer was about to fly into a rage when he caught sight of Shu Ni and Ning Shisi. His face suddenly twitched. There was an obvious emblem on Ning Shisi's sleeve, one belonging to the Divine Capital's Xiao Guo Army.

Had he not been rather knowledgeable, he might have taken it for a mere decoration on the clothes.

The Divine Capital was impregnable largely because of the Xiao Guo Army.

It was the sharpest blade in His Majesty's hand.

His demeanor immediately became somewhat humble. He cupped his hands and smiled. "So it is the two honored guests. There may be some misunderstanding in this matter."

Shu Ni said decisively, "There is no misunderstanding. We were merely passing by."

If they truly belonged to some great sect, it would be normal for them to be courteous toward the Xiao Guo Army, but they would not be so reverent. Thus, Shu Ni once more directed the spearhead at Jiang Wang.

The peak Cave Nether Realm cultivator's spirits rose, and he resumed the bearing of an exalted master. He cast a cold look at the Green-robed Cultivator and was about to launch into a grand tirade when an even more domineering pressure suddenly descended upon him. He staggered back several steps, his expression changing again. "Who is it?!"

Jiang Wang sat in the wicker chair, smiling with pursed lips.

The Divine Kingdom had regained its vitality, allowing Jiang Wang to directly wield that power on Qixia Street. He deliberately wished to test whether anything would change if he stepped out of Qixia Street.

So he rose from the wicker chair and stepped onto Pinglan Street.