Luo Mingyue uttered a soft "huh" and did not use any means of sound transmission to cover up. Instead, she said directly: "I handed in a medium-grade spirit stone when I entered the city. I heard the guards at the city gate boast that this place is fair and just. But I offended a second-generation immortal and now I can't leave here?"
When the bookstore owner heard her words, he didn't dare to whisper in secret, and quickly explained: "No, actually the elder is a reasonable person, and a good person, but he can't control his son. His son is just a bad mouth. He won't hit people, but he likes to argue with people. If he can't win the argument, he will block you and won't let you go. Of course, if you insist on leaving, it's okay, but he will chase you and scold you all the way... Think about it, can you tolerate him scolding you behind you? Definitely not! If you can't bear it, you will hit him, and if you do, you will violate the rule of Miao City [No fighting], and then you will be arrested..."
Luo Mingyue: "…"
Lan Qingyun whispered, "Master Luo, I know you are arrogant and don't want to apologize, but this is someone else's territory. You take Hua'er and leave first. I will apologize to him."
Luo Mingyue said: "What's there to apologize for? We were chatting, but he insisted on joining in the fun. It's not like we provoked him. Besides, even if the owner of Hongri Manor came, I wouldn't dare to say to his face that I don't like him and his manor..."
Hearing this, the bookstore owner took a breath and said, "Hiss... you are so bold. I always thought that only drunkards would brag after getting drunk. I didn't expect that someone would dare to say such things when sober. It seems that you have a deep prejudice against Hongri Villa... You guys should leave quickly. I don't want to cause trouble. You dare to brag, but I dare not offend the villa or Miaocheng."
The bookshop owner was terrified and quickly and politely "invited" Luo Mingyue and his group out of his shop. However, when he turned around, he saw Young Master Shui still standing there motionless. The bookshop owner then remembered that he almost forgot about this gentleman, and hurriedly cast a spell of spiritual power, but the spiritual power was spent, like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no way to save Young Master Shui.
Some onlookers had gathered around, but no one intended to meddle in other people's business and just came to join in the fun.
"Hey, did you see that girl just now? She's so pretty!"
"And that girl is quite arrogant. She even dared to attack Master Shui..."
"I wonder if the girl has a Taoist partner? To be honest, I am a little tempted."
"Please, before you fall in love, can you look at yourself in the mirror first?"
"What's wrong with looking in the mirror? I admit that I'm not as pretty as other girls, but there's a saying in this world that goes 'a talented man and a beautiful woman'. I have talent and she has beauty, so aren't we a perfect match?"
"You are such a perfect match. You are only at the Qi Refining stage. How dare you say such things? The girl is definitely stronger than you..."
Listening to the onlookers' voices, Master Shui was furious. This was the first time he suffered such a big loss. Although he was always beaten in the past, he could at least dodge or resist. But now, he was just frozen in place, unable to speak, and was surrounded and pointed at by people. It was really embarrassing.
The bookstore owner broke out in a cold sweat and hurried out to call the person back:
"Miss Luo——"
"Miss Luo, please remove the immobilization spell for the young master before you leave..."
But the streets were crowded with people, so where was Miss Luo?
The bookstore owner was getting anxious. They were from the Shanxing Sect, and they believed in making money through harmony. They rarely argued with others, and rarely got involved in other people's fights. Now, Master Shui couldn't move in his store, but he let Luo Mingyue and the others go. If the Great Elder came later, how would he explain?
The bookstore owner began to ask for help from passers-by, hoping that everyone could help find Luo Mingyue.
As a result, before he found the person, he saw the great elder walking towards him in a hurry.
"What happened?" asked the great elder.
The crowd of immortal cultivators who were watching the excitement on the roadside automatically made way for the great elder to walk into the bookstore.
The Great Elder heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that his son was not injured, and then he used his spiritual power to try to release his son from control.
The gentle spiritual power poured out, enveloping Young Master Shui completely.
Master Shui's eyes lit up, thinking that he had waited for his savior, but he soon discovered that his father's spiritual power was of no use to him, and he still stood there unable to move.
Young Master Shui's eyes flashed with anticipation, astonishment, shock, disbelief, and so on. He thought: It's over. The person I offended this time seems to be more powerful. Even my father can't save me. What should I do?
Young Master Shui was secretly anxious.
At this time, the great elder saw that there were too many people watching, so he coughed and said, "No matter what happens, this elder will be fair..."
He planned to take his son away with his flying sword, and then slowly get rid of the immobilization spell on his son, or he could find Luo Mingyue in private and apologize, and the matter would be over.
But surprisingly, Master Shui's feet seemed to be connected to the earth and could not move at all, standing firmly on the ground.
The great elder refused to believe it and used all his strength to exert his spiritual power, but still failed to move his son.
Now he realized that his son had gotten into trouble.
The elder frowned, looked at the bookstore owner, and asked, "Who did my son offend?"
The bookshelf owner didn't waste any words and quickly narrated the whole story in detail, without any fabrication or exaggeration and without any bias. He narrated the story entirely from the perspective of a middleman.
The elder's face darkened when he heard this, and he said, "This rebellious son always provokes others for no reason. He really deserves a beating!"
Young Master Shui's eyes were filled with dissatisfaction, but unfortunately he couldn't say anything, otherwise he would have refuted it on the spot.
The great elder said loudly: "Where did Miss Luo go? I want to apologize to her on behalf of my son. If anyone can lead me to Miss Luo, I can provide a medium-grade spirit stone as a reward."
As soon as these words were spoken, the onlookers immediately became active. After all, they only needed to lead the way and find someone to get a medium-grade spirit stone, which was like picking it up for free. Everyone was happy to help.
However, everyone soon discovered a problem:
"Why can't I remember what Miss Luo looks like?"
"I only know that she was wearing white, but as for which direction she was walking... I have no idea at all."
"I remember she was very beautiful. I forgot how beautiful she was, but I just felt she was the most beautiful girl in Miao City."
"So which direction did she go?"
Everyone began to feel confused.
The elder thought that this group of people had planned to play a trick on him, so he turned to look at the bookstore owner and asked, "Do you remember?"
"I..." The bookstore owner racked his brains and found that his impression of Luo Mingyue was extremely vague. He couldn't remember what her facial features looked like at all. He could only say, "She brought three mortals with her. Those three mortals were a family of three. The child looked about seven or eight years old. She was a pretty and well-behaved little girl."
The Great Elder's face darkened, feeling that this information was too little, because the immortal cultivators could abandon these three mortals at any time, but this news was better than nothing and could barely be considered a clue.
At this moment, a low laugh was heard in the air, "Why is it so lively here? Did something interesting happen?"
The sound was vague and seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to identify its specific direction.
Hearing this voice, the elder's eyes flashed with surprise, and then ecstasy, "Sir? Are you here?"
"Yes."
As the words fell, a square-faced uncle appeared out of nowhere at the door of the bookstore.
The uncle has a handsome appearance and is wearing a dazzling red suit, making it impossible to ignore him.
The great elder quickly took out a firework tube, lit it, and red fireworks bloomed in the sky.
Soon, a team of patrolmen appeared on the street. They trotted over and evacuated the crowd. Even the bookstore owner was evacuated far away, leaving this area of the bookstore empty.
The man in red said, "I don't know why today, I was feeling uneasy, so I passed by this place and stopped to take a look."
The Great Elder asked, "Are you feeling uneasy? Did something bad happen?"
The uncle in red shook his head, "I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it."
The elder said, "Sir, my son has been held captive. I beg you to help me..."
The uncle in red looked at Master Shui and said calmly, "It's just a small matter."
After that, he casually asked, "Who did your son offend?"
The great elder called the bookstore owner over and asked him to tell what had happened.
The bookstore owner wailed silently in his heart, feeling that he was extremely unlucky to have been involved in such a thing. He didn't know whether Young Master Shui would bear a grudge against his bookstore afterwards. He didn't know the uncle in red, nor did he know his identity, but he knew that this was definitely someone he couldn't afford to offend, so he could only tell the story again, and mentioned in passing that everyone had forgotten the physical features of the female cultivator, and only remembered that she was wearing white and was very beautiful.
"Huh?" The red-clothed uncle laughed angrily after hearing this. "So this manor owner's reputation in the outside world is so bad? Although this manor owner did lose in the competition with the leader of Xuanxing Sect, this only shows that this manor owner is not good at fighting!"
"Hongri Villa is one of the top three sects in the entire cultivation world. Who dares to look down on it?"
Hearing these words, the bookstore owner's face turned pale instantly. He didn't expect that this square-faced uncle in red was actually the owner of Hongri Villa?
The owner of the manor was called Jinwu Chibi. He was so angry that his eyes turned red. "What qualifications do those three mortals have? They dare to pick this sect and that sect. It really makes me laugh to death. If the qualifications of these three people are really good, why don't they join the Mingyue Sect?"
"We at Hongri Villa don't lack disciples!"
The Great Elder quickly consoled him, "Sir, please don't bother with these people. The low-level cultivators are shallow-minded and don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is... They rejected the Good Deeds Sect and wanted to choose the Xuanxing Sect. It's really ridiculous. Will the leader of the Xuanxing Sect accept them?"
The original intention of saying this was to comfort Jinwu Chibi, but Jinwu Chibi's attention was attracted by the three words "Xuanxingmen". He cursed, "Damn it, it's all Qi Zixing's fault. He insisted on fighting me. Now, he feels relieved, but my reputation has been ruined. I am also a Jindan-stage immortal cultivator. There are so many people who want to join the villa but can't. As a result, mere mortals are picky and unwilling to join the villa..."
The more Jinwu Chibi thought about it, the angrier he became. He clenched his fists and said, "Find her! Even if we have to dig three hundred feet underground, we must find that female cultivator. I want to see what level of cultivation she has reached to dare to say that she doesn't like the villa. Back then, we spent a lot of time and energy to open up Miao City as a safe area. Since she doesn't like the villa, she shouldn't stay in Miao City. I don't welcome her!"
After Jinwu Chibi finished speaking, he angrily released a large amount of spiritual power, intending to rescue Young Master Shui first.
But, something embarrassing happened...
Although the spiritual power of Jinwu Chibi was vast, Master Shui seemed to have turned into a sculpture, motionless.
Jinwu Chibi refused to believe in evil and continued to increase his spiritual power output, but there was still no effect.
His expression changed slightly, and he belatedly asked, "By the way, what's the name of that female cultivator?"
The bookstore owner said, "I only remember his last name, Luo, but I forgot his first name."
The Great Elder was a smart man, and when he saw that Jinwu Chibi's expression was not right, he tactfully kept quiet and did not dare to ask anything.
Jinwu Chibi's eyes changed slightly, and he said to himself: "The surname is Luo, and he wears white clothes, could it be..."
He didn't say anything else, but his eyes flickered, and it was obvious that he already had a guess in his mind.
Jinwu Chibi had a complicated expression. He pondered for a moment and said, "I am Jinwu Chibi. Please come out and see me, Sect Master."
His voice was like a huge bell, spreading out in all directions. His voice echoed in every corner of Miao City.
…
Luo Mingyue had already taken Lan Qingyun away from the shop and continued shopping as if nothing had happened.
At first, Lan Qingyun and his wife were very nervous, especially when law enforcers passed by. The couple were afraid that these law enforcers would take Luo Mingyue away.
But nothing happened.
Gradually, the couple relaxed.
Lan Hua was curious about everything in the world of immortal cultivation, but she just opened her big, watery and bright eyes and looked around. She did not yell at her parents to buy her anything. Instead, she followed Luo Mingyue closely.
Luo Mingyue led the three people through the streets and alleys and found that the living atmosphere in Miao City was not bad. The reason why I used the word "not bad" is that the casual cultivators can indeed get shelter here and don't have to worry about encountering danger. The disadvantage is that it costs spiritual stones. The houses in the entire city are not for sale to the public and can only be rented. However, at present, the rent of the house is relatively stable. I heard that some people paid the rent for a hundred years in one go. After a hundred years, the lease agreement will expire. However, if the cultivator who rented the house unfortunately died during this period, the house would be recovered by the Miao City official and rented to the next person again.
The same is true for roadside stalls, except that the stall charges are relatively flexible. For example, with a low-grade spirit stone, you can rent a stall in a marginal location, which is valid for ten days. After ten days, if you still want to set up a stall, you have to continue paying the stall rental fee.
In short, everything in Miao City is linked to spirit stones. If you want to live here, you must have enough spirit stones.
Lan Qingyun sighed: "It's really hard to move forward without spirit stones. It would be great if I could find a job here and earn some spirit stones."
Luo Mingyue said: "It's okay, you don't live here, go to Xuanxing Sect, this sect is very generous and generous..."
As she was speaking, Luo Mingyue heard a deep and magnetic voice coming from the air:
"I am Jinwu Chibi, please come out and see me, Sect Master."