Du Chen rushed forward at a speed comparable to a charge, grabbed the blue-robed youth by the collar, and angrily shouted, "You little brat! Back at the city gate, you almost knocked me over and didn't even apologize, and now you dare look down on me? If I don't teach you a lesson today, you'll never know why flowers are red!"
As he spoke, Du Chen raised his fist and slammed it twice into the blue-robed youth's face, who hadn't even reacted yet. After hitting him, Du Chen proudly admired his work, noting the two panda eyes he'd just given him. He grinned, showing his teeth. "See if you dare to give me that dead fish-eye look again. Hmph! You better stay out of my way from now on, or I'll punch you every time we meet!"
After delivering the threat, Du Chen was very satisfied with his performance. He felt like he had completely grasped the essence of a main character's arrogant attitude, not caring about the reactions of others. He turned and walked back to his group, leaving the youth behind.
The blue-robed youth stood stunned for a moment, then took out a jade mirror from his sleeve and looked at his face. His hand trembled as he stared at the mirror, his snow-white face turning bright red with anger. His eyes, now surrounded by dark circles, blazed with fury. He immediately summoned his flying sword and swung it at Du Chen's back.
The flying sword cut through the air like lightning, but halfway through, it was blocked by a white light. The crowd watched in surprise as they saw a small, delicate net enveloping the sword. The net, though seemingly fragile, firmly held the flying sword in place. The sword struggled within the net, trying to break free but was unable to escape.
A dry, hoarse voice echoed in their ears: "Fighting is strictly prohibited inside the Rare Treasures Pavilion."
An old man slowly walked up. His face was withered like tree bark, his eyelids drooping, his expression solemn. He wore a plain gray robe, with a long beard that fluttered in the air, giving him a somewhat immortal appearance. The old man approached without looking at the scene, raised his finger toward the air, and the net released the flying sword, which then flew back to the old man's hand. The sword clattered as it fell to the ground, trembling twice before losing its glow.
The two palace-attired maidservants beside the old man immediately bowed, calling out in unison, "Wu Zhi Shi."
The blue-robed youth rushed forward, carefully picking up his sword. He looked up at Wu Zhi Shi and shouted, "This is a precious gift from my master! You dare damage it? Do you know who my master is?"
Wu Zhi Shi replied calmly, "Fighting is strictly prohibited in the Rare Treasures Pavilion. If you disobey, this will be your punishment."
The blue-robed youth pointed angrily at Du Chen, his voice rising as he yelled, "It was this man who struck first! Why aren't you punishing him?"
"Fighting is strictly prohibited in the Rare Treasures Pavilion," Wu Zhi Shi repeated, his voice unwavering. Seeing the youth's confusion, he added slowly, "Fists and feet are not to be considered."
The blue-robed youth was left speechless, his eyes wide and his face puffed up in frustration. He was so angry that he didn't know what to say.
Cang Hai, rubbing his forehead in exasperation, muttered, "You're too impulsive, rushing in like that. I couldn't even stop you… What are you looking for now?"
Du Chen glanced around casually and replied, "Well, in novels, this is the part where the master shows up to protect the disciple."
The other four almost collapsed in despair. "He's addicted to novels! Someone call a doctor!"
At that moment, footsteps echoed from the stairs. Two palace-attired maidservants led a cultivator up the stairs. The blue-robed youth immediately perked up when he saw the newcomer, and cried out, "Master!" He quickly rushed over, holding his sword, and began to complain.
Cang Hai and the others began to look at Du Chen with astonishment and suspicion. This continued pattern of him being right again and again could no longer be explained as coincidence. Could it be that Du Chen had really activated his "Word Spirit" ability—the so-called bad luck talent?
The cultivator who had just come up clearly exuded an extraordinary demeanor. His white robe seemed plain, but upon closer inspection, it contained a subtle inner glow. He appeared quite young, not more than twenty, with sharp eyebrows, fine eyes, and a handsome face. There was an undeniable arrogance between his brows.
"Level 16 elite. Looks tough to deal with." Sang Tian whispered in the team chat. The five of them immediately equipped their weapons, ready for action.
The cultivator listened arrogantly to the blue-robed youth's complaints, but only snorted and said coldly, "If what you say is true, then it is only right for your two fellow cultivators to teach you a lesson."
"Master, Master…" Hearing his master's words, the blue-robed youth was shocked.
"You are only at the Qi Refining stage, yet you have the audacity to provoke a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If I were to strike you down right here, it would be your own fault." After speaking, the cultivator ignored the blue-robed youth's reaction and walked over to Du Chen and the others. He clasped his hands in a polite greeting and said, "I am Jian Ziyuan from the Nanxi Sect, here on behalf of my sect to recruit disciples. This boy is one of my disciples from a nearby town, still untrained. If he has offended you, I apologize."
He then scolded the kneeling blue-robed youth, "You unworthy disciple, don't you dare come over here and apologize to these esteemed elders!"
Jian Ziyuan appeared arrogant, but was surprisingly reasonable. The five of them couldn't help but relax. Du Chen laughed heartily, "I wasn't planning to argue with him, just gave him a couple of punches."
Cang Hai stepped forward, cupped his hands, and introduced himself, "We are here to join the Nanxi Sect as well. As the saying goes, you don't truly know someone until you've fought them. It seems fate has brought us together, and it is an honor to meet Brother Jian and your disciple."
Upon hearing this, Jian Ziyuan's eyes flashed, and he smiled, "It would be an honor for my sect to have you join. Since we will all be fellow disciples from now on, there's no need to stand on ceremony. Meng Ling, come and greet your elders."
With that, it was settled that Du Chen and his group would join the Nanxi Sect.
Learning that Du Chen and the others still had business to attend to, Jian Ziyuan said, "I have other matters to take care of. The sect's recruitment will take place tomorrow at noon, on the high platform at the end of the main street. Please come at the appointed time." After speaking, he cupped his hands again and left with Meng Ling.
After the commotion, they had wasted quite a bit of time, so Du Chen and the others quickly turned their attention to sorting through their belongings.
A strange beast corpse took up a slot in their bags. After battling their way through the Mo Ye Forest, their bags had long been full, with many items stored in their storage rings. After Cang Hai explained the situation, Wu Zhi Shi led them to a separate room where they could store the beast corpses. The group kept pulling out items from their bags, and soon the room was filled with them. Wu Zhi Shi had no choice but to bring in a few appraisers to examine the corpses and determine their value. Even so, it took up most of the afternoon.
When they finally left the Rare Treasures Pavilion, their bags were cleared of beast corpses and filled with over ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. With money in hand, Du Chen immediately felt much more at ease, and his steps became steadier.
After noon, Zhang San pointed to a tavern across the street and said, "Esteemed cultivators, this is the Fenghe Tavern. The chef here is excellent at cooking and quite famous. Why not give it a try?" After learning their identities, Zhang San became even more respectful and attentive.
Stepping into the elegant and old-fashioned Songfeng Tavern, they immediately saw that the hall was bustling with guests, every seat occupied. After some effort, the waiter managed to find a seat for them on the second floor. The group sat down and began drinking tea. Seeing Zhang San still standing nearby, Du Chen invited him to join them. Zhang San hesitated but eventually sat down, clearly nervous.
"Hey, it's Hero Qiao Feng!" While waiting for the food, Du Chen was looking around, and suddenly called out in a loud voice.
Cang Hai and the others almost thought they had crossed over again. They all turned to look. At the neighboring table, a rugged man with a face full of stubble sat with a huge sword nearly as tall as himself leaning against his back. His outer robe was worn and somewhat shabby, loosely draped around his body with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Despite his unkempt appearance, he carried himself with dignity and a heroic presence. His table had only two plates of food, but there were dozens of wine jugs stacked up. Du Chen's eyes lit up, and he muttered to himself, "This is the hero I admire—Hero Qiao!"
The man, tilting his head back to drink from a jug, caught Du Chen's gaze and didn't mind at all. He simply smiled, drained the wine in the jug, and when he reached for another drink, he found that all the jugs on the table were empty. He frowned slightly, then shook his head and lost interest, simply eating a few bites of food.
Du Chen immediately called over the waiter and instructed, "Bring ten more bottles of wine for that gentleman." The waiter nodded and turned to fetch them.
The man, hearing this, glanced over at Du Chen and called the waiter to stop. He looked at Du Chen and said, "We've just met by chance, why do you need to send me wine?"
Du Chen replied, "I saw you drink so heartily, and you remind me of a great hero I admire. It seemed you weren't enjoying yourself without wine, and that made me uncomfortable too, so I wanted to buy you a few more drinks."
The man laughed loudly upon hearing this and said, "Since a friend has invited me, how about we drink together?" He then had the waiter add a seat next to Du Chen's group and moved the two plates of food from his table over to theirs.
After introducing themselves, the man revealed that his name was Qin Lang. He was passing through Zhenlian City on business and had heard that the Fenghe Tavern's wine was famous far and wide. He had planned to drink to his heart's content, but his spirit stones were running low, so he had to settle for just fifty bottles of wine. Unfortunately, he drank them all in no time.
Everyone was shocked. Even ancient wine with a low alcohol content was impressive to drink fifty bottles without batting an eye. Cang Hai, however, was a bit concerned. He quietly asked the waiter the price and learned that each jug cost ten low-grade spirit stones, which helped him relax a little.
As the five of them had just arrived and were unfamiliar with the local prices, they didn't think much of the cost, especially since they had recently acquired a large sum of spirit stones. Qin Lang, on the other hand, was perceptive and noticed that the five seemed to be at the Foundation Establishment stage at most. Judging from their conversation, they appeared to be loose cultivators, likely not very wealthy in spirit stones. He and Du Chen hit it off immediately, and as they spoke, they became quite familiar with each other, soon addressing each other as brothers.
After a few rounds of wine, Qin Lang spoke up and invited, "It's not easy being a loose cultivator. Why don't you join my sect? With a proper school to back you up, cultivation will be much easier."
Noticing the hesitation on Du Chen and the others' faces, he added, "Don't misunderstand, my sect isn't poor. It's just that I spent all my spirit stones buying a precious item recently. If it weren't for that, Du, I'd have invited you myself long ago."
Du Chen chuckled loudly at this: "Ah, if Big Brother Qin had said that earlier, I'd have been more than happy to join. But I happened to run into Jian Ziyuan from the Nanxi Sect, and we've already agreed I'll join them. If I back out now... Heh, it would feel a bit awkward."
Qin Lang nodded, was about to speak, but suddenly stopped. He reached to his waist and pulled out a glowing jade slip. Placing it on his forehead, he closed his eyes for a moment before returning it to his waist. With a sigh, he turned to Du Chen and said, "I came here to take care of business for my old master. He's urging me to return quickly to report, so I can't continue drinking with you. It's truly a regret."
Saying this, he took out another jade slip from his storage bag, then hesitated before pulling out a small bowl. He handed both to Du Chen and said, "I must leave now, but with this jade slip, you can contact me anytime. This flying magic tool, I obtained it by accident, and it's of no use to me anymore. I'll leave it with you, as a token. Once I finish my task, we'll drink together again!"
With that, he stood, cupped his hands toward the other four, and they all stood and returned the gesture. Qin Lang laughed heartily, extended his hand, and his large sword flew out from his back, landing beneath his feet. With a final "Until we meet again," he flew out the window on his sword, disappearing into the clouds.
Zhang San, trembling, dropped to his knees and exclaimed, "No one below the Core Formation stage is allowed to ride swords in Zhenlian City. Could this person be a Core Formation cultivator?"
Cang Hai patted Du Chen's shoulder, "You've got quite the eye. How did you figure out this person was a 'question mark' level?" In the system, anyone whose level exceeded yours by more than 10 couldn't be identified, and would show up as a series of question marks.
Du Chen scratched his head, confused, "Huh? I didn't notice. So he's a 'question mark' level? That must mean he's at least at Core Formation, right? Wow, Hero Qiao really is amazing!"
"His name is Qin, not Qiao..." Cang Hai mumbled under his breath.