The servant fumed with anger, but he knew better than to engage in a bout of battle with them. Although they were merely Heavenly Warriors, the servant himself was only an Earth Warrior! It was simply a joke for him to consider facing off against the group.
The audience was intrigued by how things were playing out. These three experts were incredibly daring to leave without paying for their meal, but every person in the crowd knew it was because they were being scammed by the tavern.
If they were in the same situation, they would have reacted in the same way. Conceding to the restaurant servant’s absurd demand would mean admitting that they were easy to bully, after all.
“Halt,” someone called out from the staircase. However, Xue Wei and the two others continued to walk towards the door as if they had not heard him.
A loud crash emanated from inside the tavern and a bottle flew at Xue Wei like a bullet, who agilely avoided it and turned to look at the perpetrator.
“I told you to stop. Did you not hear me?” the man asked with a grim expression on his face. Xue Wei laughed out loud in response.
“Am I your servant?” he asked mockingly. “I think not. Why should I do what you tell me to? You think you can decide what others do just because you say so? Seriously, go see a doctor, make sure your disease doesn’t spread to others,” he sneered.
“Don’t worry,” Bai Tianyi chimed in. “Stupidity can be inherited, but it usually isn’t contagious. We should be fine.”
Hearing the dialogue between the two, most people in the tavern could hold their laughter, but one lost it and started laughing out loud. This created a domino effect, and soon all those that had tried to keep a straight face were laughing alongside each other, inadvertently mocking the man on the stairs.
The expression on the man’s face turned black. He did not know much about Xue Wei and his two companions, but one day, half a year ago, someone from the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect had appeared before him.
This man had brought a picture with him, a picture of Xue Wei. Or rather Ye Xiao, as it portrayed his altered face after using the mask.
He was told that if he came across this young man, he was to create trouble for him. The more the better. If he then reported it to the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect afterwards, he would be heavily rewarded.
This was not the only store owner who had been given this task; every independent shop within Cloudsoar City had been contacted. But out of fear of leaking any details, they all went about it quietly, not even discussing it amongst themselves.
The painting of Xue Wei had been posted in the back of every single store in Cloudsoar City, so he had become a celebrity without even knowing it.
They had not been told to what extent they should inconvenience Xue Wei, but the rather vague request let them come up with their own ideas.
The boss of this tavern was not aware that Xue Wei had connections with the Cerulean Starlight Sect. Neither the servant nor the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect had informed him.
So when he saw the token in Xue Wei’s hand, he suddenly paused. Was he caught in the middle of a sect war?
He had been told that Xue Wei was an independent cultivator. The man had done some unacceptable deeds so he needed to be punished, but killing him would be too extreme as humans stood united and rarely gave the death sentence to their own.
It was only now that the boss realized that something was off. Why had they come to his small tavern to make problems for one person? Their sect could deal with everything themselves… unless they did not dare to do it themselves.
The only reason they would not dare to do so would be if they were up against another sect of equal standing or if it was something like going against a supreme expert.
This boy was clearly not a supreme expert, but he carried the token of authority from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.
This gave the boss a headache. He turned to the waiter and gave a malicious glare. It was clear that the tavern and this young man had already fallen out completely, so there was no chance to salvage the situation without losing face.
Xue Wei noticed that the boss was hesitating. He shook his head and turned to leave again. But who would have thought that it was not the boss that stopped them this time but the servant.
“Pay up for your meal and we will let you go! Can you not see that the big boss is an ordinary knight? He can deal with you as easily as slaughtering chickens! Even your reputation as members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect is nothing compared to my boss’ background!”
The boss felt like falling on his face when he heard this. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, was this servant trying to kill him?
Even if this situation had been instigated by the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect, they would not have his back through thick and thin.
They had, at most, a superficial relations.h.i.+p, whereas this kid held a token of authenticity belonging to a rival major sect! That was the real deal! If anything happened to this boy in his store, would he not suffer greatly at the hands of the Cerulean Starlight Sect in the future?
Why was his servant so adamant about stirring up trouble? He could only guess that it had something to do with jealousy. The servant was now thirty years old, but he was stuck as an Earth Warrior while these three seemed to be much younger and had already become Heavenly Warriors.
The boss was usually very haughty because of his strength, but right now he was worried. As a result, Xue Wei snorted and just left the tavern without looking back.
The audience felt that this ending was truly too anticlimactic. But no one in their right mind would say anything as they still feared this boss.
And when the boss turned around to unleash his rage on the servant, he realized that the target of his ire was nowhere to be found.
Frowning, he told himself that he would fire him as soon as he returned. But this servant never returned to the tavern.
“They won’t let us stay in this inn either,” Xue Wei said with a sigh as they exited the fourth inn they had visited after leaving the tavern.
“It seems like someone knew that we were coming this way. It is hard to find fault with us as we have done nothing wrong, at least according to the law, but they will try and chase us out of every major city in the future.”
“We can try the hotels,” Hei Gou suggested. Hotels were usually chains or owned by major factions, so they would not involve themselves in the conflicts of the major sects. Although they were slightly more expensive, the quality was also above ordinary inns.
“We need somewhere to relax for a bit,” Xue Wei agreed. “We need to share all the items in my bags. I have herbs, spiritual fruits, pills, and techniques from that mini-war we caused that we need to look at,” he said. “We should use them to get as strong as possible before we reach the center of the continent. It would be a waste not to.”
“I want the Rainbow Pill, you can fight for the rest then,” Bai Tianyi said smilingly. He really wanted the Rainbow Pill.
“We’ll split it later.” Xue Wei smiled evasively, but he really didn’t mind giving it to Bai Tianyi. He knew that his spirit form had a hard time taking in energy from pills unless they were special. If the Rainbow Pill could benefit him, it was worth it.
“Let’s find a hotel then,” Xue Wei said. He had considered meeting up with the Cerulean Starlight Sect, but he was not willing to stay in their territory. Although they were on friendly terms, Xue Wei had a hard time fully trusting them. Their relations.h.i.+p was built on mutual benefits after all.
“We can look for a hotel owned by the Golden Chambers,” Bai Tianyi added with a smile.
“They will definitely not decline us after our business with the formations. Not to mention that they have no reason to fear the factions.”
Having decided what they would do, they soon headed toward the location of the Golden Chambers’ shops. There should also be a hotel located among them.
As they walked through the city, it never occurred to Xue Wei that they should leave. The more they wanted to chase him out, the more stubborn he became, and he had now decided to stay in Cloudsoar City for some time while getting information on w.a.n.g Xiaoyun’s new faction and about the center of the continent. Besides, he wanted to see what sort of pills, herbs, and spiritual fruits they had in stock here.
Cloudsoar City was the largest city within the Chengzi Kingdom. It was a city that overflowed with life. Ergo, it would be the perfect place to gather some intel – if people were not biased against them, that is.
As they reached the district governed by the Golden Chambers, they were greeted very differently by the independent stores. There were many different departments in the Cloudsoar City’s Golden Chambers, and one of them was precisely what they needed, a hotel.
When they were informed of Ye Xiao’s request for accommodations, they were at first slightly perplexed but then thrilled. They knew of the fortune he had gained back in Golden Crow City, so if he were to spend some of it in their stores, it would enrichen their pockets quite a bit.
Xue Wei could guess their train of thought. Originally, he would not have picked the hotel belonging to the Golden Chambers, as those who rested there were mainly patrons of their shops. With their relations.h.i.+p, he had to spend quite a bit of wealth to satisfy them, but he had been pushed towards this option as the other inns had blacklisted them.
“I was of the impression that a miss was traveling with you?” the manager of the hotel asked tentatively when he saw that the group only consisted of three young men. Xue Wei smiled, maintaining his composure. “We have parted ways for a short time,” he explained casually, as if he truly believed so.
The manager instantly stopped asking and instead prepared three of their best suites for Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi. Although many might think that he was a small child, this manager had seen the knowledge and shrewdness in Bai Tianyi’s eyes and knew that he was no ordinary child. He would not need an adult to look after him.
Even though, they were given a suite each, all three gathered in Xue Wei’s room and sat in a circle on the floor with grins on their faces.
Xue Wei took out pills, herbs, fruits, and techniques from his storage ring, piling them into a mountain in the middle of their circle.
The moment the snow jade bottle containing the Rainbow Pill appeared, Bai Tianyi’s hand shot out with the speed of light and grasped it. He looked at it with eyes filled with expectation.
Seeing his behavior, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou minded, but both started laughing.
“Okay let us start sharing the items,” Xue Wei smiled slightly as he picked up the items one by one.
“The techniques are only useful for me as you have innate techniques and abilities. I haven’t unlocked any inherited knowledge yet, so I guess I will just continue to train in normal techniques.”
“I originally planned on sharing these with Xiaoyun, but I guess that’s a long time in the future now. So I’ll take them all.”
Then they reached the pills. They had many pills, and they were of different types. Xue Wei only remembered them because of the jade slip he had bought back in the Black Iron Fortress.
There were pills of all kinds that either: strengthened the fleshly body, increased the capacity of one’s meridians, increased the user’s spiritual energy pool, or improved anything related to Qi as a whole.
There were pills that allowed for a smoother breakthrough from Sky Warrior to Heavenly Warrior or from Heavenly Warrior to Ordinary Knight.
There were also pills that steadied one"s foundation. All in all, they had any kind of pill that could prove useful to them.