Chapter 43 of 100

Chapter 43

16 min read4,124 wordsMature

After leaving the Treasure Pavilion, Lu Xiaodeng kept fanning herself with the fan, giggling, "Lu Dan, do I look scholarly like this?"

"No," Lu Dan answered honestly. Indeed, there was not a trace of elegance; she looked like a child playing with an adult's fan.

Lu Xiaodeng glanced at him sideways, "You really don't know how to appreciate beauty."

"What else do you want to buy? Should we get a bracelet or a hairpin? You're at the age where you should start dressing up," Lu Dan ignored her and walked toward a nearby accessory shop.

Lu Xiaodeng had no interest in things that would hinder her movements, so she ran off in the other direction. There were various stalls selling entertaining toys, and since Lvxing City housed many mortals, business couldn't be limited to cultivators alone. These little trinkets were more to her liking.

Seeing her disappear into the crowd, Lu Dan quickly followed. Suddenly, he heard a惨叫声 from ahead. A fight in Lvxing City? This was too disrespectful to Yunjian Sect. Worried about Xiaodeng, he rushed over to see what was happening.

Lu Dan waved his hand, and the crowd watching the commotion was pushed aside by his palm wind, clearing a path. When he appeared at the scene at an astonishing speed, he saw Lu Xiaodeng standing in the middle of the road, with a bloodied man lying on the ground in front of her. Opposite her stood a group of people with menacing auras.

"Xiaodeng, what happened?" He was alarmed and rushed forward. Only then did he notice that Lu Xiaodeng was unharmed, but her Iron Cloud Fan was missing. Looking down at the man on the ground, he saw a broken fan, which was the Iron Cloud Fan he had just bought for her.

At that moment, one of the people opposite them exclaimed in surprise, "It's you."

Lu Dan looked up and said involuntarily, "It's you."

Standing in front of Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Dan were four men and one woman. The woman was dressed in red, with a red mole at the corner of her eye, and her eyes were slightly slanted. She looked at them with a half-smile, exuding a seductive aura.

Beside her stood a man wearing a purple crown and a purple-gold robe, with similarly slanted eyes. Apart from having thinner lips, the man and woman looked extremely similar. The three people behind them, though also impressive, were clearly their subordinates.

Lu Dan had seen this man before; he was the early Golden Core cultivator who had suddenly bought the Purple Four-Leaf in the black market of Jiugong City and then used it to make him and Zhang He fight over it. He hadn't expected to meet them in Lvxing City. While the three subordinates were the same, the woman was new.

His gaze couldn't leave the woman; her eyes seemed to have a soul-stealing power, making his heart race uncontrollably. As if aware, the woman gave him a faint smile.

"My... my treasure is broken," Lu Xiaodeng suddenly picked up the damaged Iron Cloud Fan and muttered, dazed. Her voice, though soft, rang like a bell, startling Lu Dan. He quickly regained his composure and looked away from the woman.

Seeing Lu Xiaodeng's eyes well up with tears, Lu Dan said, "Xiaodeng, what happened? Who bullied you? I'll take revenge for you, little sister!"

"I don't even know them. They suddenly broke my fan without a word," Lu Xiaodeng pointed at the five people, crying angrily.

Lu Dan's face turned cold, and he glared at the man, "Sir, why did you hurt my junior sister? She's just an ordinary person who can't cultivate. This is too much."

The Golden Core cultivator hadn't spoken, but the seductive woman interjected, "Sir, you must have misunderstood. We were fighting that man the whole time. Your junior sister just happened to be standing there. We didn't even touch her. The fan was destroyed when he tried to block a spell with it."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask your junior sister. How could we bully someone weaker?" the Golden Core cultivator added.

Lu Dan frowned and asked Lu Xiaodeng, "Xiaodeng, is that true?"

Lu Xiaodeng stared at the fan in her hand, and large tears began to flow. She said sadly, "This was a keepsake from my mother, the only thing left after my father's death that wasn't destroyed by those evil cultivators. After my mother passed away, I never left it, always carrying it with me. I never thought it would be destroyed today..."

She wiped her tears, her face full of sorrow and despair, and then laughed mysteriously, "It seems my parents are calling me, telling me to join them."

"Xiaodeng, what are you talking about!" Lu Dan stared at her, confused. This fan was just bought, right? Suddenly, he realized she was trying to give the fan a special origin to make the other party pay a hefty price. How could she do such a thing? If he didn't know her, he would have been completely fooled by her act!

Without Lu Yaofang to play along, and with Lu Dan as a hindrance, Lu Xiaodeng had to put in extra effort.

She sighed deeply, looking at Lu Dan with a melancholic gaze that didn't match her age, and gave him a heart-wrenching smile, "Senior Brother, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Then she took out a piece of cloth and carefully wrapped the damaged Iron Cloud Fan, a tear silently falling onto it.

It was truly heart-wrenching, and even the onlookers felt sorrow. It was incredibly moving.

Seeing her performance getting better, Lu Dan felt like he was standing on a red-hot iron plate, unable to stay a moment longer. He pulled Lu Xiaodeng and said angrily, "Xiaodeng, this fan was just bought for you. It's not a family heirloom. Don't do this; as cultivators, we can't act like this."

Lu Xiaodeng pulled her hand away and looked at him seriously, "Senior Brother, don't worry. I won't offend that Sir. You're no match for him, and they are many. It's normal to be afraid. If they raise a hand, we might both die here. I've already lost my keepsake; I can't lose my best senior brother now."

"You!" Lu Dan was almost furious. He realized he couldn't stop her. Just by saying the fan was newly bought, she had already twisted it into a plea for mercy out of fear of the Golden Core cultivator's retaliation.

As a disciple of Yunjian Sect, one must always stand tall. If he let her say such things, wouldn't everyone think he was weak?

Seeing him in a panic, unable to speak, Lu Xiaodeng's face suddenly turned red, and her emotions became intense, "Senior Brother, don't do this. You've done enough for me. Cultivators of Yunjian Sect must always stand tall. I can't drag you down. You're not a coward!"

With that, she took a big step forward and shouted at the Golden Core cultivator, "Sir, you destroyed my fan, a keepsake from my parents. How will you compensate me?"

The Golden Core cultivator didn't get angry but smiled, "Cultivators of Yunjian Sect are truly interesting. How do you want me to compensate you?"

"Tell me. You broke it, and everyone saw. Lvxing City has rules against using magic to fight in the city. Regardless of any grudges, fighting here is disrespectful to Yunjian Sect. Do you want to be enemies with us?" Lu Xiaodeng suddenly became serious, her previous tears and sorrow replaced by a stern glare.

This sudden change left Lu Dan bewildered, unsure of her intentions. Even the Golden Core cultivator was surprised by her quick change in demeanor.

He knew that in a city like Lvxing, close to a sect, there wouldn't be any particularly powerful cultivators guarding it, possibly not even a Golden Core. But that didn't mean he could act recklessly. The divine senses of Yuan Ying cultivators from the sect's mountains could easily reach here.

If he caused a massacre, high-ranking cultivators from Yunjian Sect would immediately arrive. He had to give them some face.

Moreover, this wasn't a big deal. They had indeed started the fight, and it was true that fighting in the city was forbidden. The fan, which wasn't worth much, was broken, so he could just compensate her. It wouldn't be fun to attract the attention of Yunjian Sect's elders.

Thus, the Golden Core cultivator said to Lu Dan, "This isn't entirely our fault. The man was publicly harassing my sister. If I didn't teach him a lesson, how could I be a brother? The damage to your junior sister's magical tool was an accident. I'm willing to compensate her with a Xuan-grade spirit tool. As for the fight in the city, we'll follow the rules."

As long as no one was killed or innocent people were hurt, such incidents in the city were usually resolved with compensation. His offer and attitude were already quite good, and he hadn't even mentioned his sect to pressure them, showing his good character, despite his somewhat seductive appearance.

Hearing about the compensation, a group of people suddenly pushed through the crowd. The leader, with a stern face, said, "I am the city's magistrate. You openly fought in the city, and according to the city's rules, you must be punished."

The magistrate was chosen by the city's families, usually sent by the largest local family to manage the city's affairs. Since the lives of mortals and cultivators were vastly different, it was too troublesome for cultivators to manage mortals, so these tasks were left to the local families, who often had sect disciples among them.

Lu Dan had no good feelings toward these families, who were always quick to change sides. They should have appeared earlier but hid in the crowd until the other party agreed to compensate. If the Golden Core cultivator had been difficult, they would have left the problem to him. They were truly cunning.

Seemingly understanding the vices of mortals, the Golden Core cultivator didn't even ask about the fine. One of his subordinates immediately took out a bag and threw it over. The magistrate caught it, opened it, and immediately smiled, telling his subordinates, "Go, take that man who broke Lvxing City's rules away. This isn't a place for him to do as he pleases."

The clearly physically enhanced men walked over and dragged away the unconscious Foundation Establishment cultivator. They announced that they would deal with him, promising to treat him well and inform him that if the magistrate hadn't intervened, he would have been killed by the Golden Core cultivator.

Next, they would collect the life-saving gift from the other party.

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