Xixue met with Nie Pian in the main shop of the Blazing Swallow. The sun had just set and the shop was closing. As soon as he saw the usual mask, Nie Pian felt as though he was going to lose something. In the past days, he had been the only one to make the decisions for the business. But he knew that this right didn't belong to him at all. As much as he understood that, he still didn't want to let go of his toy.
"Miss Xixue, it's a pleasure to see that you're back. I was truly worried about you those past few days. How are you?"
"Mister Nie, don't give me that. I've been hearing about all your decisions, you've been having a lot of fun while we were otherwise busy."
Nie Pian bowed respectfully without lowering himself too much.
"Miss, I understand that this was your responsibility but you were clearly indisposed and I didn't want to put more strain on you. However, I am confident that my decisions were all for the good of Lord Mo's Blazing Swallow."
"At the very least, you didn't forget who owns this company. Frankly, I do agree that most of your decisions were good. But they were also very shortsighted. I reviewed the alchemists you've hired, they're not terrible but they aren't great either. If you had only used them to make pills outside of our brand, this wouldn't be a problem. But you've associated Lord Mo's brand with those subpar pills."
"Do not worry about that, Miss Xixue. I've made sure that all the talented appraisers would never give a poor rank to our pills."
"Fool! Don't you think people would notice the difference after using them?! We're not talking about art pieces. I know that you mostly dabbled in art in the past. If you sell a fake painting, you can get away with it, but pills are different. Of course people will notice. Not only will it lower our brand's reputation but they will also understand that the appraisers were bought and they will lose their value. Besides, you didn't need to do so to keep making profit. Instead of your little scam, you should have simply hired those alchemists in other shops to extend our market to less wealthy cultivators."
"But Miss..."
"Silence! Nie Pian, I do admit that you have your uses and most of your work is indeed very good. You can take pride in that. But you're just too greedy and you lack vision. From now on, all your decisions will go through me. And in my absence, I will nominate some assistants to make sure you don't do anything stupid. At the very least, you were smart enough not to try to fill your own pockets. Otherwise, your punishment would have probably been death."
"My... punishment?"
Nie Pian gulped down. Honestly, he was convinced that he would be rewarded for his investment in the company. Although Miss Xixue's words sounded true, she had to be jealous of him. This was clearly the reason why she was being so harsh with him. But he could defend himself. He would go directly to Lord Mo Yun to get his efforts recognized for their worth. If he had to be slightly punished beforehand, he could accept it. Afterward, Miss Xixue would regret treating him in such a manner. Full of vindication, Nie Pian didn't say anything or tried to justify his actions. As a former slave, he knew that those were rarely good options. However, he couldn't accept Miss Xixue's assessment. His plans were not perfect of course, but they were very sound and he was making a lot of money thanks to them.
Suddenly, they heard the door to shop crack. The shop was closed but someone forced the door through sheer force. Surprised, they both looked at the entrance. A servant tried to stop the woman who was coming in but he received a powerful slap that sent him flying into a wall. Despite her wrath, Weiji Nian still controlled herself. Otherwise the servant who was an early Blood Child would have been reduced to a mist of blood.
Nie Pian didn't recognize the woman but there was something familiar to her. On the other hand, Xixue immediately remembered the auction in which Cao Yun had humiliated her and her son.
"Miss Weiji, this is the private shop of Lord Mo Yun. We are under the protection of City Lord Gui. If you have grievances, you should send a formal request to City Lord Gui before receiving an audience. You can't just break into our private property and assault our employees. Please, Miss Weiji, listen to reason."
Xixue couldn't be too subservient because of her master's status but she didn't want to escalate things. In the back of the shop, there were a few guards ready to act. But against an Accomplished Demon, even one who wasn't a fighter, they wouldn't fare too well. Most likely, they would just buy enough time for the other employees to run away. Cao Yun had also set up some array formations they could use to protect themselves. But they were not perfect either.
There were only two ways for Xixue to resolve the issue. Either she could convince Weiji Nian to calm down, or she had to get to her master or to Boss Gui for help. Apart from that, she had no way to stop that woman. Besides, her eyes were clearly full of anger. Xixue was still under the impression that she was furious about the auction, but it didn't make any sense to wait for so long before doing something about it.
When Weiji Nian threw some pills to the ground, Xixue understood that the matter was different. She saw the Blazing Swallow emblem on those pills and turned toward Nie Pian. The old man wasn't a fool despite his foolish actions recently. Obviously, he put two and two together. Her face was familiar because he had seen her son. And he had scammed him with those pills. For an instant, Nie Pian almost heaved a sigh of relief. Such a situation could simply be resolved with money. Considering the nature of those pills, she wouldn't want people to know that her son had bought them. He was ready to apologize and reimburse all the pills, even those already consumed. However, he had no time to do so.
"You've poisoned my son!"
'Poisoned?!' Nie Pian couldn't retort to that. Surely those pills weren't good but they were not poison. Accusing someone of poisoning another demon was probably the worst accusation possible in the Desolate Sepulcher. It was seen as a heresy and also an insult to all the ancestors of the victim. The Blood was the link between a demon and all his lineage. Soiling it with poison was not just attacking the person but also his entire family past and present. Such an accusation could force Weiji Nian's uncle to intervene as his own name and lineage would be smeared by that heresy.
"Miss Weiji, your accusation is extremely serious. If you are not satisfied with our pills, you can't insult us with such slander. We are open to discuss the matter, but we won't be bullied into submission by your egregious words."
"Insult?! Slander?! Egregious?! My son was poisoned by your pills and you dare talk back to me?!"
Weiji Nian was now actively pushing her blood cultivation. All around her, there was a thick killing intent but her bloodline really wasn't too impressive for an Accomplished Demon. Clearly, her cultivation had been achieved through other means than talent and hard work. However, she was still an Accomplished Demon. Her spiritual senses spread through the shop, prompting the guards into action. A dozen of Golden Blood Children appeared in front of Xixue and Nie Pian. They used all their strength to contain the mere aura of their opponent. On the other hand, Xixue activated some array formation. However, she didn't put up any defense and didn't try to attack Weiji Nian.
In a direct fight, they had no chance at all. Even if she could have escaped, the guards would probably be killed and the situation would escalate even further. Cao Yun had to settle this matter. Looking at Nie Pian, she was furious and the old man was cowering in fear. Now, he finally understood that she had been right. He had messed around with pills and now he was finding the consequences of his actions. His punishment was well deserved. Nie Pian suddenly abandoned his idea of going directly to Cao Yun. From now on, he would accept all Xixue's judgments, if only he could get out of this situation unscathed.
"Miss Weiji, such violent actions are not welcomed in Duma City. Please, go through the proper channel and we will establish the truth of the matter. If you have been wronged by our Blazing Swallow, we will redress your grievances, I assure you."
"You think I don't know that you're in cahoots with Boss Gui?! She'll throw her weight around to get you out of trouble! I should just skin you alive right here and now. Then I'll send your bloody heads back to your dog of a master. Hell, you could be a plaything for my son for a few days. Because of your treachery he'll have to find new ways to entertain himself with your body, girl."
Weiji Nian was completely insane. When it came to her son, she was unable to listen to reason. Xixue had heard about it, but now she finally understood it in her flesh. Just looking at her eyes as she was using her spiritual senses was too much for the young girl. The woman's skin had turned almost completely red with fury while her eyes were pitch-black.
"So I'll just throw my weight around?!"
A voice resounded throughout the shop. Suddenly, all the pressure caused by Weiji Nian's cultivation simply vanished. It was as though her killing intent had been extinguished but everyone could still see the bloodthirst in her eyes. However, Weiji Nian herself was now surrounded by a powerful killing intent blocking hers. Everyone had recognized the voice.
In the entrance to the shop, Boss Gui was standing with Miss Wo and Cao Yun by her sides. When Xixue had activated the array formation earlier, it was to contact her master to tell him that there was danger in the shop. Coincidentally, he had been with Boss Gui at the moment. He had just sent back the instructors and the trainees to Boss Gui to see how they had progressed in his care. Suffice to say that Boss Gui had been extremely pleased with the results. And she couldn't wait to train all her instructors. In fact, she intended to send some elite warriors to Cao Yun for him to train them. Besides, she had also learned a few things of interest about Xixue's sister.
Unfortunately, they had been rudely interrupted when Cao Yun detected the activation of his array formation. It had sent him a telepathic message. Although there was no word, there was an image. The array formation was sending him the image of what was going on in his shop. As long as he was in Duma City, he could receive it after someone had activated it that array formation. Obviously, he told Boss Gui that Weiji Nian was threatening his business. Since she was the wife of an ally of City Lord Sihe, she couldn't not act. Thus, she had decided to come in person.
After hearing her talk about her mistress, Miss Wo really wanted to cut off her head. Disrespecting the City Lord could clearly be reason enough to slay someone. Even with her uncle and husband, Weiji Nian couldn't do as she pleased. But, on the other hand, Boss Gui couldn't either. As a City Lord, she was under the jurisdiction of Lord Wanghuo, head of the Nalupu Kingdom.
"Miss Weiji, if you have a problem with Lord Mo Yun's shop, you should take it to me first! I will not tolerate such disrespect toward me! You've clearly misinterpreted my letter as empty threats. I can assure you they were not empty at all. And they were no threats either. What I wrote is a just an objective description of what's going to happen."
"Oh, I know that those were not empty! You've conspired with this dog to poison my dear son! I will have justice for him!"
"Poison?!"
"Don't play coy with me!"
Obviously, Cao Yun had no idea what was going on either. He was about to send some message into Xixue's mind to ask her to explain when he saw the pills on the ground. It was fairly easy for him to guess what they were. All those pills were meant to improve either the sexual prowess of someone or the pleasure from the act. Besides, they all had the Blazing Swallow emblem despite being forged by someone else. More than that, their quality was very poor and they had a lot of toxins. Whoever had refined those had tried to improve the amount of medicinal essence with complete disregard for the amount of toxins.
Looking at Xixue and Nie Pian, he could tell who was the culprit. That old man had tried to scam others with his shop. There would be hell to pay after that. However, in front of an outsider, he could not admonish his servant. Besides, he couldn't lose his face in front of Boss Gui either. But he would have to deal with the situation accordingly.
"Miss Weiji, I can assure you that no one poisoned your son. I don't know what happened but my pills are not to blame in the matter."
"Not to blame?! I called several physicians who assured me that my son will never be able to... Damn you!"
Weiji Nian leaped toward Cao Yun ready to tear him apart. Since Boss Gui was also on the trajectory, Miss Wo acted without any hesitation. Barehandedly, she sent a strange punch toward the enraged woman. A solemn hymn spread through the shop and the next instant, she was behind Weiji Nian. Since the woman wasn't a fighter at all, Miss Wo easily pinned her to the ground in a strong chokehold. The more she was trying to move, the more she was suffocating herself. For an Accomplished Demon, not breathing wasn't a problem, but Miss Wo was also cutting off her blood circulation.
Although she could still stay conscious for a long time, this wasn't pleasant at all, especially considering the difference in strength.