As the crowd heard the ringing sound of metal on metal, they looked with pity on the young man robed in green. In their eyes, the youth stood no chance against the guard at the 1st Stage of Dantian Formation in their eyes. But against the crowd"s expectations, the guard was instead the one who was sent flying. His sword had snapped in two and went flying, embedding itself into the wall with so much force that it caused a sizeable crack. The crowd stared at the green-robed youth as if they had seen a ghost. One of the guards that they feared so much had been defeated in one strike by this seemingly ordinary youth. The eyes of the children in the crowd sparkled with excitement. Subconsciously, they had already set Van to be their goal.The defeated guard lifted his head to stare at the green-robed youth in front of him, dumbstruck. He had taken Van to be a mere country b.u.mpkin, beneath his attention, and had thought that he was going to give the youth a good dose of reality. Yet, it was him instead who had been taught the lesson. Coming to his senses, he got on knees and begged Van for forgiveness, shamelessly.
"I apologize Senior! I am the one who has been disrespectful, please spare me! I"ll make it up for you!"
Van stared at the kowtowing guard emotionlessly before parting his lips to respond.
"How old are you, 30? Yet, you shamelessly refer to me as Senior. Stand up."
The guard, embarra.s.sed, stood up facing Van who seemed to be devoid of all emotion. Sweating nervously, the guard rubbed his palms together waiting for Van to declare his punishment. Grabbing a seat from one of the other guards nearby, Van casually sat down drumming his fingers on the chair"s wooden arms. Putting on an act of being a wise senior, Van stared with a seemingly aged look as he thought through how he would punish the guard. After rummaging through the many options, one of them stuck out. As such, Van decided he would go with that method of punishment. Clearing his throat, he announced the guard"s punishment.
"Your punishment is... to do community service for a year and reflect on your mistakes. You will sign the contract in front of me and everyone else here to prove that you will commit."
Pulling out a quill, a bottle of ink, and a binding contract, Van placed it on the cloth table that one of the other guards had just conveniently provided. Quickly writing the details of the contract, Van then put a line for the guard to sign his name and imprint his Qi. After a second glance at the contract, Van nodded to himself before handing it over to the guard. Everyone watched as the guard signed the contract with shaking hands. After signing it, the guard hastily dropped the pen and imprinted his Qi on the contract, pressing his thumb onto the designated area and directing a strand of his Qi. Instantly, the guard could feel the restriction of the contract taking effect. For a split second, his dantian had constricted reducing him to a mere mortal before restoring his cultivation base once more.
The contract was like an axe forever looming over his head as long as it was in effect. If he violated the contract, a surge of Qi would flood his body and extinguish his cultivation, making him weaker than even the average mortal. Feeling relieved that he had gotten away with his life, the guard instantly started to kowtow to Van with a river of tears flowing down his face. Embarra.s.sed, Van brought the guard back to his feet and reminded him to not relapse into his bad ways. After quickly rebuking the other guards, Van entered the city and disappeared into the bustling ma.s.ses. Using his cultivation base, he was able to walk through the city without b.u.mping into anyone else. He admired the ma.s.sive city with eyes full of wonder and excitement.
"So this is what a city in the Middle Continent looks like."
Van thought to himself. Before long, he found himself in front of a rather nice establishment. A grand sign carved from inferior grade spirit stones with the words, "Jade Dragon Tea Pavilion" adorned the entrance of the 7-story paG.o.da. The youth found the place to be quite interesting and decided to pay a visit; his throat also happened to be rather parched from the journey.
The first three floors of the pavilion were open to all as long as they had the money to purchase drinks and consisted of ordinary teas - not affecting cultivation. The next three floors of the pavilion required a VIP membership and comprised of spiritual teas that were extremely beneficial for cultivation. Finally, the top floor was only reserved for the most important guests - only guests personally invited by the Pavilion Master herself. The Pavilion Master was known to be Fairy Yu Lian. She was toted to be "as beautiful as a cherry blossom in the autumn" and her zither skills were said to be "as refreshing as drinking from a clear stream".
That being said, the youth walked into this majestic pavilion unknowing of its reputation as well as its customs. First, he used a few banknotes that he had in his bag to try out the teas on the first three floors. But, none could satisfy his thirst. As such, he attempted to go up to the fourth floor but was stopped by two guards telling him that he had to own a VIP membership before he could go up. So, he inquired for information on how to obtain a VIP membership from the front desk. The attendant replied in a nonchalant tone.
"Addressing the honored guest. To become a VIP member, you"d have to be a patron here for at least a year."
Van"s eye started to twitch. He didn"t have a year to spend here. Having only cultivated for 13 years so far, a year was an extremely long amount of time for him. During that time, he could most likely raise himself by a major cultivation stage. And so, he inquired for another way. After some hesitation, the attendant replied once more.
"Honored Guest... well... there is another way."
Van could see the conflicted look on her face. Desperate for a decent drink, he slapped a banknote on the table. Seeing the banknote, the attendant immediately put aside her grievances and enthusiastically answered.
"You could befriend a Manager or someone of higher status in the Pavilion and they could obtain for you a VIP membership."
Afraid that Van would be dissatisfied with the information and take back his banknote, she deftly slipped it away in her pockets. His mind full of thoughts on how to obtain the VIP membership, Van thanked the attendant and walked back up to the third floor, purchasing a private room. Sipping the Purple Bamboo Tea, the finest tea of the Jade Dragon Tea Pavilion"s Third Floor, Van racked his brain to find out a way to get into the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors.
"Should I just bribe a manager with my spirit stones?"
Van thought to himself. But, if he did, he"d definitely be labeled as a fat sheep and taken advantage of. He wanted to stay low, his outburst at the gate previously was not something that he wanted to be repeated. The Flowing River Sect did not like its Sect Disciples revealing their affiliation and abusing their authority. As such, any sect disciple that wasn"t a core disciple and was caught flaunting their sect robes in the outer world would be punished severely. Being an Inner Sect Disciple, Van wasn"t excluded from this rule along with the fact that he had an Inner Sect Elder as his lifelong enemy who would definitely kick him while he was down, so he couldn"t afford to break any rules not that he planned to or anything.
As he drummed on the table and sipped his tea lost in his thoughts, Van heard a loud disturbance. Opening the door to his private room, he peaked out to see an arrogant young man dressed in yellow robes with two guards at the First Stage of Dantian Formation flanking him. Everyone else had also peaked out to see what all the fuss was about. A malicious grin grew across the young man"s face. At once, he started to proudly declare his decree to the clients of the Jade Dragon Tea Pavilion"s Third Floor.
"I am claiming this floor for my own, now please quickly evacuate!"
At first, many clients started to sneer and some brave ones even told him to go screw off. But, this instead made the young man even more amused.
"Do you not know who this young master is? Allow my lowly self to enlighten you. This young master"s name is Yu Chang!"