126: Chapter 126 Conflict Among Three Families

Manager Liu lifted her chin slightly. "Indeed, Emperor Shuang Wan put in a great deal of effort for Wangjiang Tower to be where it is today."

Upon hearing this, everyone laughed and teased. Some even asked, half-seriously, if you were interested in switching jobs, which was naturally laughed off and deflected by Manager Liu.

After some pleasantries, Manager Liu went to the inner hall with a few familiar female Cultivators to exchange spiritual items. You did not follow, but instead took a cup of spiritual tea and found a seat in an inconspicuous corner with an excellent view at the edge of the waterside pavilion.

You lowered your eyes, seemingly sipping your tea, but in reality, you released your Qi presence, keeping your eyes and ears open to capture the idle gossip of the surrounding Cultivators.

Not far behind you to the side, several disciples of the Zhao Family were sitting around a jade table, chatting.

Among them was a young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with sharp brows and starry eyes, looking quite handsome. Dressed in an elegant green brocade robe of exquisite quality, he seemed to be visiting such an occasion for the first time, looking around with a face full of curiosity.

His gaze swept aimlessly through the crowd when suddenly, his entire body stiffened, and his eyes locked onto a certain direction.

He saw your back.

The aqua-blue dress clung tightly to your body, outlining a breathtaking curve of waist and hips. Your long hair cascaded down like a black waterfall, and as the gentle breeze by the waterside pavilion brushed past, the hem of your skirt fluttered lightly. That silhouette exuded an indescribable cold aloofness and Peerless Elegance.

Zhao Zhanming felt his heart suddenly skip a beat, a wave of inexplicable throbbing rushing straight to his head.

"What are you looking at? Your eyes are about to fall out." A clansman beside him followed his gaze and immediately burst into laughter. "Oh? Is my seventh brother completely mesmerized?"

Several of his clansmen turned their heads, and upon seeing your back, they also showed expressions of amazement.

"Third Uncle and the others insisted on keeping you cooped up, saying you weren't allowed to visit the market with us until you reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage. Look at you now, just let out, and you can't even walk when you see a beautiful female Cultivator." A younger cousin winked mischievously.

Zhao Zhanming's face immediately flushed red, and he stammered in defense, "Don-don't talk nonsense! I... I was just looking casually."

"Looking at that back, she must be an absolute devastating beauty!" The cousin egged him on. "Seventh Brother, if you like her, go ask for her name! Third Uncle is a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator, and your own talent isn't bad either. What are you afraid of here in Qingyue Market?"

"Exactly, Seventh Brother, go! Don't wimp out!"

Encouraged and egged on by several of his clansmen, Zhao Zhanming acted on impulse. He picked up a cup of spiritual wine, took a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward you.

He walked to a spot three paces behind you, stopped, and was so nervous his palms were sweating.

"Th-this Fellow Daoist," his voice trembled slightly, carrying a hint of youthful anticipation, "may I ask... which Family you belong to?"

You were listening to another table of Loose Cultivators discuss the recent price hike of Spiritual Plants when you heard someone speaking behind you, and you turned around in confusion.

The aqua-blue skirt swept out in a graceful arc.

Zhao Zhanming opened his eyes wide with anticipation, prepared to behold a devastatingly beautiful face.

Then, he saw your face.

A face of a woman in her thirties, with slight fine lines at the corners of her eyes and plain, ordinary features. Although not ugly, it was a far cry from the image of a peerless Fairy he had envisioned in his mind.

The expression on Zhao Zhanming's face froze instantly. His hand holding the wine cup stiffened in mid-air, and his eyes were filled with confusion, shock, and a hint of collapse that he could hardly conceal.

"Fellow Daoist, is there something you need?" You asked calmly, frowning slightly at his dazed expression.

Although the voice was cold and pleasant, paired with this face, it instantly pulled Zhao Zhanming back to reality.

"Ah... n-nothing!" He shuddered violently, waving his hands repeatedly, so embarrassed that he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. "I, I mistook you for someone else! Sorry! Excuse me!"

With that, as if he had seen a ghost, he turned and fled back to the seats of the Zhao Family disciples.

You glanced at his back in bewilderment, shook your head, and turned back to continue drinking your tea.

As soon as Zhao Zhanming ran back, his clansmen burst into suppressed roars of laughter.

"Oh, my goodness, this is killing me!" The cousin clutched his stomach, laughing so hard that tears came out. "Looking at her back, I thought she was a peerless beauty. Who would have thought that when she turned around, she looked about the same age as Auntie!"

"Seventh Brother, your taste is quite unique! Do you like the mature and charming type?"

Overwhelmed with shame and anger, Zhao Zhanming kicked his cousin's chair. "Shut up! You little brats, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll rip your mouths open!"

Seeing that he was truly angry, the others held back their laughter and stopped.

Zhao Zhanming sat down huffily, picked up his wine cup, and drained it in one gulp.

Although he swore, even he felt there was something bizarre about it.

Clearly, that face was ordinary to the extreme, and she was even older than him, but for some reason, at the moment their eyes met just now, instead of feeling aversion, an uncontrollable sense of familiarity and warmth welled up in his heart.

At this moment, as soon as he closed his eyes, what appeared in his mind was not that ordinary face, but that breathtaking silhouette and those deep, calm eyes that seemed to see through everything when she turned around.

"Zhao Zhanming, are you out of your mind..." He slapped his forehead in pain, cursing himself in his heart.

After the small gathering ended, you and Manager Liu walked side by side on the way back to Wangjiang Tower.

"So? Did any of the young talents catch your eye tonight?" Manager Liu nudged you with her elbow, a suggestive smile on her face.

You shook your head expressionlessly. "No."

"Sigh, you really are hopeless." Manager Liu sighed, looking frustrated that you weren't living up to expectations. "With so many Family disciples, was there really not a single one you found pleasing to the eye?"

You did not reply.

Although no young talents caught your eye, your harvest tonight was immense.

From the idle chatter of those Loose Cultivators, you pieced together a key piece of information: the relationship among the three families—Zhao, Li, and Qian—had suddenly become extremely tense recently.

The cause seemed to be the ownership of a miniature Spiritual Vein on the outskirts of Qingyue Market. Originally, the three families mined it together, but recently, for some reason, the Li Family and the Qian Family had grown very close, with a faint trend of joining forces to suppress the Zhao Family.

This reminded you of the plot from the previous simulation round where the Ziyu Li Family slaughtered a city for the xiaoyang source fruit. The Li Family acted overbearingly, and if they truly joined forces with the Qian Family, Qingyue Market would likely descend into chaos sooner or later.

You quietly noted this information in your heart.

In the days that followed, your life returned to its normal track: working as a manager at the restaurant during the day, returning to your small courtyard to Cultivate your origin power at night, and occasionally going to the market to "hunt for treasures."

But gradually, you discovered something rather strange.

Zhao Zhanming, the Zhao Family disciple who had mistaken you for someone else at the small gathering last time, would occasionally appear at Wangjiang Tower.

Every time he came, he wouldn't go to the private rooms on the second floor. He would just order a pot of spiritual tea and two small side dishes, sitting in a corner of the main hall on the first floor.

You weren't sure if it was just your imagination, but you always felt like he was stealing glances at you.

Whenever you turned to look over, he would avert his gaze as if shocked by electricity, pretending to look at the scenery or lowering his head to gulp down tea, even the tips of his ears turning completely red.

You frowned slightly, feeling a bit speechless.

On the other side, sitting in the corner, Zhao Zhanming was in a state of extreme torment.