Xi Ri pointed at himself with confusion evident on his face. He could guess some of City Lord Azure Leaf's intention after sending Ziye to accompany their every need, but it wasn't something that bothered him at all. He had long grown accustomed to people offering tribute to those more powerful than them, but why did Lushu point at him when he was obviously talking about Tianyi?
"Don't play dumb," Lushu said, his eyes growing fiercer at Xi Ri's expression of confusion. "Over the past month, countless residents saw you and Lady Ziye walking the streets. There were even eyewitnesses of you forcing yourself onto her!"
Xi Ri wanted to cover his face with his hands. He never thought his investigation into the lives of the city's residents would cause such a misunderstanding. And when did he ever force himself on Ziye?!
Thinking from another point, the residents of Azure Leaf City had to struggle every day for their life, so it was no wonder they would try to find entertainment in any possible way. Stories were one of the greatest pastimes of the city, and where did stories come from?
Rumors.
It was like a game of telephone. After the story was passed from one person to another, the story of Ziye guiding Xi Ri morphed into Tianyi forcing himself onto her. Because the rumors were about the famous people of Azure Leaf City, something the ordinary citizens could never hope to interact with within their entire lives, the rumors became a hot topic for the residents. Truly, the imagination of humans could not be underestimated.
Xi Ri held his hand up to silence Lushu, who seemed to be able to speak for days. "First of all, I don't have such intentions for Miss Ziye. At most, we are simply acquaintances."
"Lies," Lushu calmly said, not believing Xi Ri's words at all.
"Second," Xi Ri ignored Lushu's rejection and spoke his second point. "The Grandmaster Xi you spoke of is not me. The one people called Grandmaster Xi is over there."
Xi Ri pointed at Tianyi, who was also baffled. When Lushu started to speak, he expected Lushu to accuse him, but when Lushu accused Xi Ri, Tianyi's brain absolutely stopped working. As for the rumors of people seeing him force himself on Ziye, Tianyi just attributed to the rumor mill imagining things up from whatever information that was leaked from City Lord Azure Leaf's mansion. He never expected Xi Ri to be the cause of the rumors.
Seeing Lushu look over, Tianyi only glanced at him and lightly waved, amusement evident on his face as he pondered how Lushu would react. At the same time, Tianyi was looking closely at Lushu, feeling as if he had seen him before.
Lushu looked between Tianyi and Xi Ri with disbelief, but he soon calmed himself down. "Even if you aren't Grandmaster Xi, you must be Great Immortal Master Xi. I saw it with my own eyes that you were getting intimate with Lady Ziye. How do you explain that?"
Xi Ri couldn't hold it any longer and finally palmed his face. "That is just your own imagination. I'm ultimately not someone of this realm. Forging any lasting connections here is meaningless to me."
Seriously, what is with these people?
This wasn't the first time Xi Ri had been affected by rumors. It was especially rampant in the Xi Dynasty. Being the most favored child of the emperor, Xi Ri was constantly being watched by the dynasty's people, from ministers to the common citizens. Still, due to his young age, the rumors were nothing more than who would be betrothed to him and no apparent scandals.
Did getting close to another woman mean that they were an item? It was moments like these that Xi Ri missed the culture of Earth.
"Be that as it may," Lushu still appeared that he didn't believe Xi Ri's words but continued speaking, turning his attention towards City Lord Azure Leaf. "City Lord, please grant me your daughter's hand in marriage."
City Lord Azure Leaf, who was watching this farce, finally found a point that he could interject. In truth, he thought quite highly of Lushu. Lushu was able to enter the Acupoint Opening Realm at any time. All he needed was the right opportunity.
Lushu was originally a nameless resident of his city, but over twenty years something years ago, his strength had dramatically and continuously risen until he was at the peak of the Body Transformation Realm. Compared to the immortals that would leave the realm, City Lord Azure Leaf actually preferred Lushu. City Lord Azure Leaf glanced at his daughter, Ziye, to see an appearance of conflict on her dainty face.
Normally, in the face of all her admirers, she would reject them all without hesitation, but seeing his daughter conflicted, City Lord Azure Leaf realized that Ziye had some feelings, or at least goodwill, towards Lushu. Glancing at the Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri, City Lord Azure Leaf made up his mind. "Ziye's marriage is a major event that can't be decided on the spot at this time. Give me seven days to think about the matter. I will tell you my answer when you come on the seventh day."
Seeing this, the guests couldn't help but be disappointed. Lushu was a topic that was often discussed in every family's home. He was someone who was constantly in the spotlight of Azure Leaf City. There were many girls who admired him, but Lushu rejected them all. It turns out that the girl he sought was the city lord's daughter!
Before the immortals had descended, the pair seemed truly fit for the other. One was the peak genius of the city, while the other was the famed city lord's daughter, a flower of high peak that only Lushu was worthy of.
But now, there was the comparison between Tianyi and Xi Ri against Lushu. No matter how they viewed it, Tianyi and Xi Ri's condition was obviously better. Plus, the citizens had never heard of Lushu having any entanglement with the Ziye.
When Lushu stepped up and challenged the leader of the three immortals, the guests were anticipating the show of strength from the immortals. Were they truly as strong as the legends say? They recalled how Di Gaoli praised the immortals when the immortals arrived, praising them to the heavens, able to slay a demon on the same level as City Lord Azure Leaf with but a wave of their hand. The guests wanted to verify the strength of these immortals.
Speaking of Di Gaoli, some of the guests wondered where he went. They couldn't find him at his house, but thinking that Di Gaoli was one of City Lord Azure Leaf's prized students, they chalked it up as Di Gaoli leaving to complete some important mission for the city lord.
So their disappointment could almost be materialized when the matter changed to City Lord Azure Leaf implicitly agreeing to Lushu's marriage request. At the very least, it wasn't rejected. If Ziye caught one of the immortal's eye, then the people of Azure Leaf City would feel pride.
Looking at how Xi Ri was holding his face in his palm as if facing some great tragedy, the attendees began to create a fanciful story of how Xi Ri and Lushu were competing for Xiye's hand in marriage!
Look how desirable our city lord's daughter is. Even the great immortals fell in love with her!
Luckily for the guests who were disappointed at the lack of conflict, someone heard their wishes.
"Lushu, do you think that after besmirching the great immortal's honor, you can just get down from the stage? I challenge you to a spar!"
Lushu looked towards the man who jumped onto the stage and recognized him. It was a cultivator whose name rang throughout Azure Leaf City. The two of them had fought due to some conflict before Lushu prevailed. Afterward, Lushu's strength rose even more and left his former opponent in the dust.
"Zhangya, I heard that you received some pointers from Grandmaster Xi. Do you really think that some pointers will allow you to surpass me in a month?" Lushu ridiculed, looking down at this former opponent of his.
"Hmpf, Lushu, don't speak of things you don't comprehend. You are a frog in a well, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth." Zhangya moved into a stance as he coldly stared at Lushu. "I heard rumors of you courting Lady Ziye over a month ago before the immortals arrived. According to the rumors, you were attempting to take responsibility for peeking on her when she was bathing in a lake. It seems the rumors are true."
"Stop spouting nonsense and fight!" Lushu sneered as he rushed towards Zhangya.
Tianyi, who took this all in, couldn't help but feel a bit strange. He recognized Zhangya as one of the three people he had advised and foundation he had rebuilt weeks ago. Tianyi didn't expect him to prolong the matter when it was about to be settled, but he was more interested in Zhangya's last few words.
His eyes lit up as he recalled why Lushu looked so familiar. He was the one who got caught peeking on the woman bathing in the water! Tianyi didn't find Ziye familiar because he didn't peek at her and avoided looking directly at her. He had morals, thank you very much.
Lushu provoked me earlier, but his tangent went a little off, so the matter didn't blow up. Because of this, did my "minion" decide to step up to defend my honor? And because he was defeated, I became obligated to defeat or kill Lushu, leading me to become his stepping stone?
Who knows, maybe Lushu would gain the attention of the sects and be taken up to the Huang Realm.
Tianyi shook his head at the ridiculous thoughts. First of all, Zhangya wasn't even his student, more like a guinea pig for him. Why would he be bothered by a guinea pig's defeat?
On the stage, Lushu frowned as he continued to exchange blows with Zhangya. Compared to before, Zhangya's improvement was astonishing. From speed, attack, defense, and stamina, Zhangya improved in everything. It was like the current Zhangya was a completely different cultivator from a month ago!
Seeing as it was hardly the decisive victory that he wanted, Lushu prepared to use his trump card. He couldn't show any weakness after he offended the immortals and asked for Ziye's hand in marriage. A golden glow began to cover Lushu's body as the temperature around him began to skyrocket.
Tianyi, who was watching this, raised an eyebrow. Lushu entered a temporary state, a super mode so to say. Tianyi could tell that Lushu's body was currently that of a half-formed martial body. In other words, Lushu could be considered a half acupoint opening master in his current state.
What's more, Tianyi recognized that Lushu's body was of the yang attribute, something even Buzhou Immortal Disciples would find difficult to achieve. Perhaps if Lushu chose to focus on another easier path, he would have already entered the Acupoint Opening Realm. Just as Tianyi was about to lose interest, as Zhangya's defeat was already certain, he noticed an abnormality and looked up in the sky.
On the stage, Zhangya spurted out a mouthful of blood as he was launched off the stage by Lushu's punch. Lushu turned his attention towards Tianyi, wondering what reaction he would have upon seeing one of the people he gave pointers to defeated. Lushu was surprised to see Tianyi not even paying attention to the fight. In fact, all three immortals were looking at the sky with serious expressions.
Lushu soon discovered why.
"Not bad, a human actually managed to replicate the Golden Crow Clan's power."
Lushu felt his body shake as the roof of City Lord Azure Leaf's mansion exploded, revealing nine figures, obviously not human, standing in the air. Each of the nine figures exuded a heavy pressure that far outstripped the pressure exuded by City Lord Azure Leaf, but there was a uniqueness that all the humans of the Demon Cage Realm could detect.
It was the aura of demons.
Each of the figure's bodies was of a different shape, but the one who spoke and stared at Lushu was a colossal snake with purple, white, and blue rings on it. Lushu felt his heart stop beating under that snake's terrifying gaze. Thankfully for Lushu, the snake demon's gaze moved away towards Tianyi.
"Azure Leaf," The snake demon's voice seemed to boom into the people's ears. None felt this more than City Lord Azure Leaf himself. His heart palpitated under the snake demon's slitted eyes. "Did you really think you borrow the outsider's power to defeat us? The outsiders have repeatedly come, but they have never been able to fully defeat us demons."
That's because the Buzhou Immortal Sect needed the demon population to be sustainable. Tianyi inwardly retorted.
"You were a minor issue in our eyes, so we were content to let you go. Hmpf, but since you dared to collaborate with outsiders, your city doesn't need to exist anymore. Especially since those outsiders dared to kill our kind!" The snake demon finished, and his demonic aura skyrocketed along with the eight other demons.
The city lord still had a calm expression on his face, despite the erratic beat of his heart. He turned to face Tianyi, cupped his hand, and bowed. "Great immortals, please save us from the demons."
Tianyi didn't immediately react, and Daoyi and Xi Ri looked towards Tianyi for instruction. Both Daoyi and Xi Ri weren't able to take on so many Nascent Soul Realm equivalent demons unless they used the treasures bestowed upon them.
"When we dispatched the three demons chasing after your subordinate, I sealed off space, so only those present should know," Tianyi said, looking calmly at City Lord Azure Leaf.
City Lord Azure Leaf's heart skipped a beat at Tianyi's words, but his expression didn't change at all. "I do not know, the demons' means are far beyond mine. There might even be a traitor. Please save us. I will make sure to give an explanation when all of this is over!"
Tianyi stared at him some more before turning his attention towards the nine demons flaring their aura. He found it strange that they were provoking him but not daring to attack. Was it because he was inside City Lord Azure Leaf's mansion? If it was so, then they wouldn't have blown off the roof earlier.
Placing his hand over where his heart should have been, Tianyi felt the nervousness tainting his body. He knew that the nine demons were no match for him, but he still couldn't help but be nervous. Memories of the pain inflicted by the Dragon Emperor flashed through Tianyi's mind.
Tianyi looked up and focused on the nine demons. He raised his palm towards the nine demons, and lightning surged forth. The onlookers' vision became dyed in white. When they regained their vision, they discovered that the nine demons were trapped in a cage of lightning.
The nine demons became fretful. The lightning cage appeared nearly instantaneously, making them unable to resist. Roaring in rage, all nine demons attacked the lightning cage, attempting to break out, but no matter what they did, they were unable to break out, like insects inside a glass jar.
The worst part was those demons who used their body to attack the lightning cage. Their bodies were scorched and electrocuted upon touching the lightning, causing them great pain and injuring them. The nine demons fell a chill on their back as they discovered that they couldn't do anything to the lightning cage at all.
Recalling the horror stories of how the descending immortals slaughtered demons in droves, the nine demons felt regretful. Why didn't they take their ancestor's warning seriously!?
City Lord Azure Leaf watched all of this with shock evident upon his face. He never expected the nine demons to be able to so easily be restrained by the youth before him. He felt a cold sweat drench his back, afraid for what would happen to him if his schemes were to be discovered.
However, Tianyi wasn't paying attention to him at all and asked Daoyi and Xi Ri. "Do you two want to try fighting a Nascent Soul Realm equivalent demon?"
Xi Ri almost immediately blanched. "Forget it, I'm just an early core formation master, and I just acclimated myself to the Demon Cage Realm. Fighting a Nascent Soul Realm level demon is still too early for me."
Tianyi nodded. He felt that Xi Ri didn't need to worry too much with him watching, but he wasn't going to force him. He then turned to Daoyi.
"Can I attack from outside your seal? I want to test how effective my attacks are on Nascent Soul Realm level demons." Daoyi asked as she took out her guqin-shaped lifebound artifact.
"Of course," Tianyi snapped his fingers, and the weakest demon of the bunch was instantly segregated from within the lightning cage. In fact, Tianyi just wanted to prolong his battle with the demons. When it came to something he didn't want to do, Tianyi tended to procrastinate.