Raining Tea Pavilion was perhaps the biggest and most scenic location in the Southern Gate's Cleaners' Courtyard.
It was surrounded by evergreen trees that always bloomed even in the colder months, and it was so lavish that there was a fountain that stood beside it. It looked like the kind of place where youngsters would happily come to enjoy themselves after paying some good money.
If Hua Pan had been an ordinary guard captain, there was absolutely no way for him to obtain such a place for himself.
Even on the outside of the pavilion, there was quite a display of power and prestige going on. Some bulking cleaners that even the guards wouldn't mess with stood poised, barking at anyone that walked by.
They were obviously nothing more than ordinary henchmen, yet, since they were Hua Pan's henchmen, they had the capital to be arrogant.
After all, a tiger master wouldn't have dog pets. Each one of Hua Pan's trusted aides was a monster in their own right.
For being able to cultivate until where they were, they were undoubtedly above the common man. And this very fact made them arrogant, to the point where they would even murder people if they looked at them the wrong way.
And, as for what way constituted as the wrong way, that really depended on these mood of these goons. That was how tyrannous they were! It was no wonder that Hua La was scared of coming here.
"Lad, this really isn't the kind of place for us to be visiting…" Hua Pan urged, "We should turn back now while we still have our lives. Just look at that fatty! He can probably rip our heads off in one bite. I still have things I want to do with my life!"
Hua Yan ignored him, and instead focused on Hua Ci. He had already noticed that she had been following them, but didn't say a word to her. In truth, he no longer had a use for her, so he thought that she would leave soon enough.
Looking at her though, it seemed as if she had no such thoughts. It appeared as if she was not really thinking as she walked. She was staring into the sky with a weird, dumb smile on her face.
"You," Hua Yan called her, snapping her out of her daydreams, "We're about to head in. My business with you is done. You can leave."
Only now did Hua Ci realize that she had been following Hua Yan without a real purpose. Her job was to take him to Hua La. Now that she had done that, she no longer had a reason to stay behind.
Even though she couldn't fight, she would've almost followed Hua Yan into the Raining Tea Pavilion had he not reminded her.
It truly would have been disastrous if she just forgot herself and walked in. That would have been synonymous to asking for death and embarrassment.
Strangely though, she didn't feel like any of that would actually happen. After witnessing Hua Yan's display of tossing around Hua La all over the place, she didn't believe that anyone could get an upper hand on him.
Though she knew that it was silly of her to think this, since Hua La had no cultivation and was much easier to bully than people with cultivations, she didn't want to acknowledge it. She believed in her mind that if she walked in now, nothing would happen to her with Hua Yan around.
Nevertheless, she still respectively retreated off somewhere into the distance after hearing Hua Yan's reminder. It was obvious that he didn't want her to come in there. According to her, it was because he wanted to protect her from the events that would take place inside.
Little did she know that Hua Yan had only said what he did because he didn't want things to get any more troublesome. Managing one person while fighting some others was already difficult as is. If he included Hua Ci into the party, then he would have to look out for both her and Hua La.
He didn't need Hua Ci, so he got rid of her because he didn't want to add any unnecessary burdens unto himself. That was the real reason. Hua Ci had simply misunderstood his intentions.
Nevertheless, Hua Yan didn't pay any attention to this. After she was gone, he actually directly approached the pavilion, scaring the daylights out of Hua La.
"A-At least let me prepare myself!" Hua La whined, being dragged along by Hua Yan.
"Just nod your head to everything I say," Hua Yan informed Hua La, then continued onwards.
"Punk, why're you coming here? Roll away somewhere else," one of the henchman growled as he saw Hua Yan coming closer.
Hua Yan simply gestured to Hua La. After the man noticed Hua La, a face that he recognized, his tone was less severe.
"You have business with the boss?"
Hua La could only nod reluctantly. This whole ordeal was so problematic for him! If he didn't say anything now, he would be clobbered by Hua Yan. If he lied to get in, he would be clobbered by Hua Pan.
In either case, he would get beaten up! Hua La really hated his life.
To Hua Yan's fortune, and Hua La's misfortune, Hua Pan happened to be in the building. Since the henchman knew that Hua La was not one that was known for joking around, and had some importance in the courtyard, he did not find it weird that Hua La had come here with an issue to discuss.
He had no trouble in taking them to see Hua Pan.
There were about 30 or more people in the pavilion. Each and everyone had a cultivation of some kind, ranging from the start of the Ballooning Stage all the way to the peak! There were some people here that were even stronger than Hua Chin. A total of 3 of them!
As for Hua Pan himself, he was someone that could probably be considered on a whole other level. He was someone that was not quite a Deflation Stage expert yet, but he could be considered unbeatable under Ballooning Stage.
All of the men inside were enjoying themselves. Unlike the other cleaners that had to work all day long, the people here could entertain themselves so boldly even in broad daylight. This was because they were cleaners with cultivations that had assigned themselves under Hua Pan's wing. Because of this, they rarely had to do proper work.
Their jobs primarily consisted of terrorizing the local people and robbing them of their money. Each and every person here was a good-for-nothing that had few positive character traits.
Even now, they were gambling and screaming loudly while drunk, causing all kinds of ruckuses.
Hua Pan, the boss, really didn't mind this behavior. He actually thought that it was better for things to be like this. The more rowdy his men, the more fearless they would be when the situation arose.
Too bad for him he had met Hua Yan today though. Some time in the future, this encounter would make him regret hiring these useless pieces of trash for henchmen.