"Ahem… Hello everyone, my name is Long Di. I don't have any money. How are you all doing today?"
****
'Your name is Long Di? Who the heck cares!?'
'You may have manners, but you're a barefaced liar!'
'Why does your face possess the ability to piss me off to no end!?'
These were the thoughts in everyone's heads right now as they stared at Long Di and his blatant shamelessness.
Smack!
Yaomu Shou, who was some distance away from everything, slapped her forehead when she heard the person she was looking for all this time.
'Why? Why oh why would he say he has no money!? Which person during a normal conversation or a normal greeting would off-handedly mention that they have no money!? Now everyone is going to be harping on that and force it out of him! CRAP!'
"We gotta go get him," Yaomu Shou said to the others.
Feng Yu quickly managed to grab her hand before she headed off. "Hold on for a second there."
"What do you mean, hold on!? Everyone here is gonna kill him if we let him keep running his mouth off! Do you want him to die!?" Yaomu Shou didn't understand why Feng Yu would try to stop her.
"Just… just listen to me," Feng Yu started with a knowing expression. "To be honest, I get why you feel the way you do. But you need to know this… when Long Di initiates a conversation, some level of madness always takes place."
Yaomu Shou's look of confusion didn't disappear when she heard this. "What are you even talking about!?"
"I—It's hard to explain, really. But I've seen him talk before and nothing else before pushing some bad guys to pure madness. When I asked him about it, he called it his Talk-No-Jutsu, I don't even know what that means." Feng Yu admitted.
"Talk-No-Jutsu?"
Feng Yu was referring to the time when Long Di used his power of conversation just before a battle in the forest to throw everyone off their game before he fought them.
Of course, she thought that this was Long Di thinking one step ahead of everyone, so he would have an easier time fighting them. Never would she think that Long Di was having a normal conversation because the mood struck him at that time.
"That's right, I think he's embarking on the dao of conversation," Tie Lang agreed with his senior apprentice-sister.
"Mhm…"
Getting a vote of approval and a short nod from the two boys calmed her down somewhat, so she decided to listen for now. After all, they all knew Long Di much longer than she did and based on what she heard, Long Di had a nonsensical cultivation base, so he should be fine.
"Okay fine."
…
"We don't care who you are. How did you get back there!?" someone questioned him.
Long Di looked at the one who questioned him but said nothing in response, angering the latter.
It was the same person who climbed the stairs earlier. A young male disciple actually, most likely a young master of some clan.
His eyes were piercing and his gaze cutting. His facial features were, in a word, sharp. He had long black hair tied up in a ponytail.
He also wore silver armour and held a silver spear in his hand that shone magnificently. The aura it emitted clearly placed it at the low-grade orange rank, at least. Something that made everyone suck in a cold breath of air.
"... Are you the one qualified to speak for everyone here?" Long Di asked after a while, not intimidated by or even caring for the person before him.
A booming voice answered this question. "He might speak for the humans, but he doesn't speak for the Demons!"
Long Di stared in the direction this voice came from and found a demon race cultivator that took slow and measured steps towards him.
This demon was different from all the other demons that Long Di saw before. This one had two short horns on his head and his skin was the colour of copper, similar to the colour of the copper helmet worn by the cultivator killed by Long Di.
He wore no shirt, exposing his upper body for all to see. His body was decked with bulging muscles and veins of a slightly deeper copper colour could be seen gently pulsating. The pressure he exuded increased with each step he took.
There was no mistake that this person was a powerful somatic essence cultivator.
"That's Jiandan Tai of the Iron Body Forge Sect!" someone shouted.
"I know of him! But I think he's only in the outer sect!" Another person pointed out.
"Do you not know anything!? I heard he's very close to being accepted in the inner sect! Once he gets in, he will leave us far behind!"
This revelation set everyone in the demon race and even some in the human race abuzz!
Yaomu Shou's eyes narrowed when she heard the name Iron Body Forge Sect. Any hint of playfulness that she portrayed before was all but gone as she took everything in.
The Iron Body Forge Sect was an extremely famous sect in the demon race. They were among one of the ten great sects across the Heavenly Martial Continent!
Their power was among the top in the demon race, with their power being only second to the demon race's current monarchy.
There were even rumours that their power even exceeded that of the royal family, but this was just hearsay.
However, this was enough to let one know that the power of the Iron Body Forge Sect was an existence that could not be provoked, a power that sat near the top of this world!
After all, the demon race was one of the five major races, and a sect comparable to the royal family that ruled this race was proof of their prowess.
This was why, even though he was only in the outer sect at the moment, no one dared to look down on him. Entering the outer sect of the Iron Body Forge Sect was a task of hell in itself, according to rumours.
Nonetheless, the question on everyone's mind was why would someone from such a bigshot sect come to the outer lands of the Demon race.
"Alright, so you're Jiandan Tai, and what should I call you?" Long Di shifted his attention back to the human before him.
"... My name is Quon Bao," the human race cultivator said after a moment of hesitation. It seemed even he was a bit taken aback that someone from the Iron Body Forge Sect would come here.
"Cut the crap with the useless introductions! Hand over all the treasures you have right now!" snapped Jiandan Tai, stepping on the same level as Long Di. He wasted no time in revealing his intentions the moment he arrived.
"Jiandan Tai wants to bully a member of the human race in front of me?" Quon Bao said with a frown.
"What thing are you!?" Jiandan Tai spoke with a tone of disdain, going so far as to call Quon Bao a thing.
"Your arrogance means nothing in front of me, beast! Your own race might cower in front of you, but do not make the mistake of expecting the same from me!" Quon Bao's face expressed rage as Jiandan Tai's words truly angered him.
Jiandan Tai sneered at his provocation, "Oh really, and what are you going to—"
"Sorry, excuse me."
"Oh sure, there you go." Jiandan Tai gave way in face of the sudden interruption.
"Thank you, come along Shen Ling."
Seeing the person pass, he continued, "As I was saying… and what are you going to do about it!?"
"Hmph! Why don't you test me and find out!?"
"You think I'm afrai… wait a minute, where the hell do you think you're going!?"
Jiandan Tai just now noticed Long Di and Shen Ling walking away from them. What made it even more insufferable is that Long Di even went as far as to walk right past him, requesting passage by saying 'excuse me,' as if he was in the way!
"I'm going to my acquaintances. You seem to be busy with your friend there."
"Drop everything you have before you leave!" Jiandan Tai ordered Long Di. It didn't take long before his eyes also landed on Shen Ling as well, "Oh, and leave the woman too, hehe." he licked his lips when his eyes scanned her body.
Though he couldn't see her face, her body told him all he needed to know about her.
Shen Ling took a step back in fear under Jiandan Tai's stare.
Quon Bao, on the other hand, frowned even more so when he noticed this. Why was it that he only noticed Shen Ling when Long Di mentioned her? It was almost as if she didn't exist, though she was clearly there the entire time.
Dum!
It didn't take long before Jiandan Tai's patience ran thin when he saw Long Di ignoring him. As a result, he let loose his cultivation base, shocking the majority of the cultivators here!
In the beginning, everyone, hearing that he was from the Iron Body Forge Sect, knew he would be extremely powerful. They just didn't know how strong.
After all, most of the disciples here were in the mid stages of the Cauldron Forging realm, which started from the 4th Duan to the 6th Duan.
Yet it appeared that Jiandan Tai was an existence that surpassed even that!
His cauldrons appeared in rotation behind him. All nine of them were on full display, their striking red colour visible for all to see.
"E-Eight high-grade cauldrons!? And the last one!"
The last cauldron, though red, held an orange tint to it. This meant that this cauldron was a quasi-supreme-grade cauldron!
Not only that, it was still being cultivated, which meant that Jiandan Tai intended to have it become a supreme-grade cauldron!
When the disciples present saw Jiandan Tai's cauldrons, they certainly believed his claim of being from even the outer sect of the Iron Body Forge Sect!
It must be known that one's foundation as a cultivator started from the level of cauldrons forged within the cauldron forging realm.
High-grade cauldrons were not easy to forge. Most of the cultivators here had most of their cauldrons at the medial grade, with maybe two or three at the high grade. Not to mention the supreme=grade which wasn't something that anyone here had or could compare to.
Even Quo Bao only had cauldrons at the high-grade level at the most. This let him see just how important one's backing was. The number of resources a talent like Jiandan Tai had access to wasn't something that he could compare to.
Not everyone was a demon spawn, like Long Di, who could use his illogical talent alone to forge cauldrons that went beyond common sense.
Jiandan Tai's future as a cultivator was bright with eight high-grade cauldrons and one quasi-supreme-grade cauldron. He loved the shocked and worshipful gazes that everyone shot towards him.
"I admit that your strength is impressive."
Quo Bao couldn't help but admit his inferiority to Jiandan Tai at the moment.
"Are you done flexing?"
Suddenly, a lazy voice sounded out that rendered everyone else speechless.
No one realised that Long Di at some point had arrived right in front of Jiandan Tai, not even Jiandan Tai himself.
He was too busy closing his eyes, drinking in the praises of everyone around him.
When he saw the expressionless Long Di standing before him, he was puzzled for a moment until he saw Long Di hold a hand out, pointing at his palm with the other.
"What is it?" Jiandan Tai asked. He didn't know why Long Di gave him such a weird feeling.
"My palm, and your lesson," he replied.
"Wha-"
Pa!
Everyone's eyes widened as Long Di's palm landed cleanly on Jiandan Tai's face before he could fully respond, sending the latter flying before crashing into the wall at the far end of the room!
Boom!
Long Di took out a handkerchief, wiping his hand with it as if to clean his hand of the filth it collected by performing such an act. His expression was the same as ever, apathetically defined.
He himself started walking towards the spot where Jiandan Tai landed before he said while still wiping his hands. "Now stand up back for lesson two."