Ch146 – Deadlock at City Gate
In this Hundred Families Gathering, every partic.i.p.ating family will receive an invitation card issued by the Huangfu family to allow them to enter and leave Sky Peak City. Of course, only the family’s supervising officer will have this invitation card, and will thus be held responsible in case the family’s pupils encounter accidents while staying in the city.
This was also the Huangfu city lord’s ingenuity.
After waiting for half an hour, the caravan moved forward a little.
Duan Yuyang frowned. “Why is it so slow? When I came here before, the speed of entry was still pretty fast.”
Lin Xuanzhi looked at the procession in front of him, “It seems that all the families partic.i.p.ating in the Hundred Families Gathering came at this time, especially today.”
Duan Yuyang observed for a moment and nodded. “I’d better get some sleep first.”
After he said that, Duan Yuyang got back into the carriage, found a soft couch on the side, and lied down.
After another half hour, Lin Xuanzhi saw that a fight seemed to have started near the gate in the distance.
The air was shrill, and flames were blazing. One could see that a few cultivators had started fighting wordlessly. They were b.l.o.o.d.y and looked particularly frightening.
All the people in the queue couldn’t help but stretch their heads out and ask each other what had happened in front of them.
The Lin family also sent a death knight to the front to investigate.
A moment later, the death knight returned.
Lin Xuanzhi faced the man clad in a war robe, “What caused the fight ahead?”
The death knight respectfully replied, “It’s because it was originally a family ranked 72nd from the South Continent’s turn to enter, but a 10th-ranked first-cla.s.s family from the South Continent arrived afterwards and insisted on entering before them, so the two families started quarreling, followed by fighting.”
Lin Xuanzhi thought for a moment and understood.
It seemed that the relations.h.i.+p between the two families from the South Continent was not very good. It was already a common occurrence for first-cla.s.s families to suppress third-cla.s.s families everywhere.
Yan Tianhen asked, “Then how will this be resolved now?”
The death knight replied, “Someone from the city lord’s government came forward to stop the fight and allowed the 10th-ranked family to enter first.”
Yan Tianhen said, “It’s too unreasonable to bully people like this.”
When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he nodded. “There is indeed no justice in this; it’s outright bullying.”
However, this was the law of Sky Peak City – this was a place where a family’s status and power were especially valued. People were divided into different cla.s.ses, and families were also divided into cla.s.ses.
After another two hours, the Lin family’s carriages finally arrived in front of the city gate.
A hundred armored guards stood at the gate. They all looked powerful and solemn, their demeanors quite different from those guarding Qing City. In addition, every one of them was above the Refining Qi seventh layer. If anyone dared to make trouble, then that person may not even be able to enter before being killed.
A guard walked up and swept his gaze over the Lin family’s convoy. “Who is this family’s supervising officer?”
Lin Xuanzhi sat in the carriage and swept his hand once. A card made of transparent crystal emitting a faint blue light flew into the gate guard’s hands. The guard glanced at the second carriage and said nothing. He lowered his head and began to check the card in his hand.
After all, many families’ supervising officers were not willing to show their faces easily. The guards had long since gotten used to it.
After the inspection, the gate guard stared at the inscription at the top of the card. “Is this the Lin family from East Continent’s Qing City?”
“Indeed.” Lin Xuanzhi said.
The guard made an eye at the nearby gate guards, and the city guards who had originally been standing elsewhere scanning the convoys behind them started walking forward in an orderly fas.h.i.+on.
The gate guard holding the card walked to the side of the second carriage, stretched out his hand, and knocked on the door. He said coldly, “Get off the carriage.”
“Why?” Asked Lin Xuanzhi.
“If I want you to get off, then you get off. Don’t ask so much nonsense.” The guard’s tone was full of impatience and a sense of superiority that was difficult to ignore.
Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi, “Dage, I’ll go down and take a look.”
Before Lin Xuanzhi could answer, Yan Tianhen opened the door and jumped out of the carriage.
“What do you want?” Yan Tianhen asked.
When the city guard saw Yan Tianhen, his eyes wandered around his unnatural left foot and his cracked face. A slight look of disgust appeared in his narrowed eyes. “Are you the Lin family’s supervising officer?”
Yan Tianhen blinked. “I’m his younger brother. If there is anything you want, just tell me.”
“Then you can tell your Dage that we need to frisk the entire Lin family group before you can enter the city.” The guard said with his head held high.
Yan Tianhen was stunned, his expression changing slightly. “Why? None of the families that entered before us had to be searched.”
The gate guard hissed contemptuously. “Why? You are just a third-cla.s.s family, yet unexpectedly, you dare to question this chief guard in our Sky Peak City? You’ll do as I say if you want to be safe. Don’t be so opinionated.”
Yan Tianhen immediately felt like he had been insulted in public. He suppressed his anger, “Don’t be so tyrannical!”
“Of course we’ll tyrannize you fools who don’t have eyes.” Another chief guard clad in red robes walked over with a line of people. He swept a glance over the procession, “Everyone in Lin family’s carriages, come out! Frisk them one by one!”
The carriage door opened again, and Lin Xuanzhi appeared in front of the crowd.
The gate guard looked at Lin Xuanzhi. His eyes were transfixed on Lin Xuanzhi’s face – he had never seen such a perfect person before.
“You must be frisked in order to enter Sky Peak City, what kind of rule is this?” Lin Xuanzhi did not look angry and instead asked calmly.
The guard thought in his heart that this was a really stunning character while he said aloud, “This is the rule set down by the city lord. We, the guards of Sky Peak City, have full power to search any suspicious people we see.”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Do we look suspicious?”
The city guard smiled coldly. “I said you are suspicious, therefore you are suspicious. Why don’t I go inside your carriage right this moment and search your body to see if there is anything suspicious.”
Yan Tianhen instantly became furious, but just as he tightened his fist, Lin Xuanzhi held down his hand.
“I’m afraid that we cannot follow your wishes.” Lin Xuanzhi said.
As the saying goes, the person who guards the prime minister’s door is equivalent to three court officials, since one had to get the guard’s approval to see the minister. As the watchdog guarding the door of a first-cla.s.s family, the guard naturally used a dog’s eyes to see the world – the city gate guards had always looked down on cultivators from other continents outside the Middle Continent, let alone people from a third-cla.s.s family.
The chief guard raised the corners of his lips. “Then I’m afraid you won’t be able to enter the city today.”
Having said that, he told the people behind him, “Let the Lin family stand aside and get out of the way. Those behind who want to enter the city, hurry up.”
Lin family members immediately voiced their dissatisfaction.
“If you don’t agree to a body search, then you cannot enter the city; I have never seen this kind of rule before.” Lin Zezhi gritted his teeth. His face was red and white from shame.
“Clearly, they are deliberately looking for trouble.” Lin Yan bit his lower lip. “Every single item that a cultivator carries with them is a magic treasure meant to protect their lives, yet you can take a look if you just casually say you want to? Isn’t this akin to forcing others to show you their lifeblood?”
Duan Yuyang also jumped down from the carriage and pulled Lin Xuanzhi over. “These people are all Huangfu’s watchdogs; none of them are good people. How about we spend some money to avoid a disaster and give them some benefits?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “They were clearly instructed by someone to obstruct via every means necessary. This is not something money can solve.”
Dian Yuyang immediately understood. “Is it Huangfu Chengxuan?”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “I can’t think of anyone else in the Huangfu family who is so cowardly and only knows how to play some dirty tricks from the shadows.”
When the chief guard heard this, his expression changed. “How bold! You dare insult our Huangfu family’s Young Master? Are you tired of living?”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled scornfully. “You may as well go back and ask your family’s Young Master whether the wounds on his face have healed so that he can overlook the scar and forget the pain.”
The guard chief was shocked. “How do you know about this? Unless…”
Three days ago, Huangfu Chengxuan came back from a hunting trip outside and lost his temper. There were six new bleeding gashes on his face. n.o.body knew what kind of thing clawed out those wounds. The best medicine was scattered on it, and it still took three days to finally heal, which made Huangfu Chengxuan furious.
Now, Everyone in the Huangfu family knew that something scratched the young master’s face.
In addition, Huangfu Chengxuan asked them to make things difficult for the Lin family at the city gate. The chief guard couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.
Lin Xuanzhi and the gate guards were thus deadlocked at the city gate.
The people behind them who were planning to enter the gate gradually became impatient.
“The family in front, what is going on?”
“Yeah, everyone is in a hurry to enter the city and find a place to rest. What are you doing, blocking us in front of the entrance?”
“Isn’t it just a body search to see whether you have any demonic cultivator artifacts in your possession? It’s not like they’ll take off all your clothes. What’s so difficult about it?”
These voices were not lowered and were even deliberately raised, so they clearly reached the ears of the Lin family.
Lin Zezhi’s expression immediately darkened.
Lin Yurou bit her lower lip harshly and clenched her fist. “I told you, how could the Huangfu family let us go so easily? How humiliating! Lin Xuanzhi is not worthy to be our leader!”
Lin Yufan, who was originally frowning, spared a glance at Lin Yurou, “If you’re worthy, then you do it.”
Lin Yurou remained silent.
Outside the carriage, Lin Xuanzhi locked gazes with the guard for a moment, then nodded. “Search, I absolutely will not allow you to search.”
The guard chief retorted, “Then it’s also absolutely impossible to enter.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “In that case, we will stay here until you come up with a solution.”
After saying this, Lin Xuanzhi went back to the carriage and told Yan Tianhen and Duan Yuyang, “I’m afraid this matter will not be resolved in such a short time. It’s better to come up for a drink of hot tea and have some rest.”
The chief guard was immediately shocked by Lin Xuanzhi’s words once again.
Lin Xuanzhi was actually bold enough to block the gate and not let the people behind him in!
Is he not afraid of incurring the public’s wrath?
The chief guard thought of something, and he shouted angrily, “If you continue to hara.s.s and disturb the order here, we city gate guards will not be polite either!”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled coldly. “I’d like to see exactly how impolite you can be.”
The guard chief choked at once.
Take action, naturally they couldn’t take the initiative to start something. After all, even though Huangfu’s young master was the one who instructed them to cause trouble, the person actually in charge of the city was Huangfu Jin.
And because the gate guards once had too much power, were excessively arrogant, and threw their weight around in front of the city gate, they had offended some powerful hidden cultivators. Thus, Huangfu Jin especially ordered — unless they met demonic cultivators, demons, or those who struck first in provocation, the city gate guards were not allowed to take the initiative to strike first no matter who it was. Otherwise, once found out, they would immediately be dismissed from their positions!
It’s just that this order was only circulated internally within the city lord’s people, and outsiders were completely unaware. In their eyes, being a city gate guard was definitely an enviable job: being backed by the city lord, possessing enough power to reach the skies, and having the ability to not put anyone in their eyes.
As a result, none of the guards dared to take action, and Lin Xuanzhi drank spiritual tea at a leisurely pace. Just like this, within an hour, such a deadlock had occurred.
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