93: Chapter 93 Returning Home and Encountering My Cousin

Lieyang City is located at the absolute western edge of the Cangxuan Empire, and it is an ordinary city.

Within the vast territory of the Cangxuan Empire, Lieyang City was merely a small border city with thin Spiritual Qi and scarce resources, and compared to those bustling major cities, it was simply like a firefly next to a bright moon.

However, even such an inconspicuous small city had its own power structure and survival Law.

Lieyang City had the Four Great Families, which were the Zhang Family, the Gu Family, the Zhao Family, and the Baili Family where Baili Yunche resided.

These Four Great Families had entrenched themselves in Lieyang City for hundreds of years, engaging in overt and covert struggles and scheming against one another. In order to contend for the limited resources and right to speak in the city, countless bloody conflicts had broken out.

In the Immortal Realm, the strength of a Family's power often depended on chestnut Cultivation Realm of its highest combat strength.

The reason why the Four Great Families were able to stand tall in Lieyang City for hundreds of years without falling was because every Family had at least one Golden Core Cultivator holding down the fort!

Golden Core Stage Cultivators were already top-tier existences in a small border city like Lieyang City, sufficient to deter a region and cause petty villains to not dare act rashly.

Patriarch Baili Xuanqi, the elderly Clan Chief of the Baili Family, was the Baili Family's only Golden Core Stage Cultivator and the calming anchor of the entire Family.

However, now that this calming anchor had suffered severe injuries and remained unconscious, the situation of the Baili Family instantly became precarious.

...

Baili Yunche piloted a cloud-wing crane, traveling for two and a half days, and finally returned to the familiar Lieyang City.

Looking at the incomparably familiar Lieyang City before him, boundless emotions welled up in Baili Yunche's heart:

"I have left the Family for more than a decade, and I do not know how everyone is doing..."

His gaze carried a hint of nostalgia, a hint of worry, and a few indescribable complex emotions.

Childhood memories surged forth like a tide; those days of enjoying parental affection under his uncle's knees, along with the times spent playing with his clan brothers and cousins, felt as though they were just yesterday, yet also like a lifetime ago.

Before entering Lieyang City, Baili Yunche put the cloud-wing crane into the Spirit Beast bag.

It was simply because flying cranes were too high-profile!

In a small border city like Lieyang City, a cloud-wing crane was enough to cause a sensation and might even attract unnecessary trouble.

In the Immortal Realm, not exposing one's wealth was a basic survival Law, especially in this borderland mixed with dragons and serpents where the slightest carelessness could bring fatal disaster.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Baili Yunche chose to enter the city on foot.

He changed into an ordinary cyan long robe and restrained his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment First Layer, making him look like an ordinary Loose Cultivator youth who was completely inconspicuous.

Stepping into Lieyang City, the bustling and noisy sounds instantly rushed over him.

On both sides of the street, shops stood in rows, and the sounds of peddling rose and fell one after another.

There were stalls selling Spiritual Plants, with various Spirit Medicine emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

There were shops selling Magical Artifacts, where sabers, spears, swords, and halberds flashed with cold light.

There were also shops specializing in selling Talismans and Medicinal Pills, with various signboards hanging at the doorways to solicit passing Cultivators.

The entire Lieyang City was like a vivid ukiyo-e, vividly displaying the various states of survival among the lower-tier Cultivators in the Immortal Realm.

Baili Yunche walked slowly along the familiar street, casting his gaze around with a heart full of deep emotions.

More than a decade had passed, but Lieyang City had not changed much; it remained in the same appearance, except that the faces on the street had changed batch after batch.

After walking a few steps, Baili Yunche suddenly heard the sound of an argument.

That sound came from one side of the street, sharp and angry, carrying a hint of helplessness and despair.

Baili Yunche slightly furrowed his brows and looked toward the source of the sound.

He saw that on the side of the street, a woman's path was being blocked by a burly man.

The woman was dressed in a light blue long dress with a slender figure and fair features, but at this moment her face was pale and her eye sockets were slightly red, clearly having been angered quite a bit.

As for the man, he was tall and sturdy, with a tiger's back and bear's waist, a face full of fierce flesh, and wearing a brocaded robe, clearly of extraordinary background.

A lewd and evil smile hung on his face, and his gaze swept over the woman uninhibitedly, making one sick to the stomach.

"Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi! Stop right there for me!"

The man roared loudly, his voice extremely resonant like thunder, causing the eardrums of those around him to hum.

The people around hurriedly cleared a path, afraid of inviting trouble onto themselves.

The crowd began to whisper among themselves, wearing expressions of watching a good show, yet no one dared to step forward and dissuade him.

"Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu! What do you want to do? Do you have any business? If you have nothing to do, then make way for me!"

The woman said aggressively, her voice carrying suppressed anger.

She turned sideways, preparing to leave from the man's left side with hurried footsteps, clearly wanting to get rid of this trouble as soon as possible.

However, Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu's figure flickered, blocking her path once again with a playful smile on his face: "Wait! You actually sold fake goods in broad daylight!"

Hearing these words, the woman instantly exploded, her pretty face turning red and fire burning in her beautiful eyes: "Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu, do not bite with blood and slander people! When did I ever sell fake goods!"

"And you still say you didn't!"

Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu sneered, took out a Flying Sword broken into two halves from his Storage Pouch, and raised it high, flashing with a chilling cold light under the sunlight.

"And you still say no, this Youhan Sword was sold to me by you yesterday, how did it break today!"

His voice suddenly raised, deliberately letting everyone around hear it clearly: "Are all the people of the Baili Family doing business like this? You sell fake goods and yet dare not admit it?"

"You are shameless!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi trembled all over with anger, her slender finger pointing at Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu, her voice even shaking:

"When I sold it to you yesterday, it was clearly completely intact, and it got damaged today. It is clearly you who accidentally broke it yourself, yet you are splashing dirty water on our Baili Family!"

"Hehehe, you also admit that this is the Flying Sword you sold to me!"

Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu laughed proudly, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes.

"Yesterday I merely simply killed a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Yao Beast, and in just a single round, it broke directly! Is the quality of the Spiritual Artifacts of your Baili Family too poor?"

He turned to the crowd around him, raised the broken Youhan Sword high, and shouted loudly:

"Everyone come and take a look! This is a Spiritual Artifact of the Baili Family, its quality is too poor! Just now, this Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi personally admitted that this Flying Sword was refined by their Baili Family!"

"May I ask everyone, if you were to buy such a Flying Sword and go hunt Yao Beasts... Tsk tsk, I'm afraid you wouldn't even know how you died, right?"

"I have every reason to suspect whether your Baili Family cut corners! The quality is too poor, you must compensate with money! Tell me—is that right?"

As soon as Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu said this, several of his lackeys immediately joined in the jeering, and some onlookers who did not know the truth were also incited.

"Right, right, right! Pay compensation! Pay compensation!"

"There is no such way of doing business! A Medium Grade Spiritual Artifact actually broke in a single exchange, who would still dare to go buy things from their Baili Family!"

"Unscrupulous merchants! Unscrupulous merchants!"

"Their hearts are too dark! Cutting corners!"

"Exactly! In the future, we must not buy things from the Baili Family!"

...

All kinds of foul language surged like a tide; Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's face grew increasingly pale, and her delicate body swayed as if she might collapse at any moment.

"It's not... It's not like this... Our Baili Family did not cut corners!"

"It is Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu framing us!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's voice was hoarse, carrying a crying tone, desperately trying to explain, but her voice was quickly drowned out in the denunciation of the crowd.

She directly burst into tears, her tears rolling down like broken pearls, dampening her cheeks.

This Youhan Sword was a Flying Sword personally forged for her by her father, pouring countless efforts of her father into it.

The sword body was based on millennium black iron, infused with a trace of Netherworld Cold Crystal, extremely sharp and piercingly cold, making it a rare Medium Grade Spiritual Artifact.

If it weren't to gather money for her father to buy Medicinal Pills for healing, no matter what she said she would not sell this sword.

However, what she didn't expect was that Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu dug such a big pit for her to jump into!

That Youhan Sword was clearly completely intact, how could it break in a single exchange?

It was clearly Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu who intentionally broke it and then framed her!

She didn't know what to do now either.

Facing Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu's aggressive stalking and the denunciation of the surrounding crowd, she, a weak woman, was utterly powerless to resist.

"Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi, I purchased this Youhan Sword yesterday with eight thousand Spirit Stones, you must compensate me with these eight thousand Spirit Stones today!"

Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu looked fiercely at Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi, a flash of lewdness crossing his eyes: "If you cannot produce Spirit Stones today, don't even think about leaving this place!"

Eight thousand Spirit Stones!

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's heart sank.

In the Storage Pouch at her waist, there were indeed some Spirit Stones, but those were what she had managed to gather with great difficulty, life-saving money prepared to buy Medicinal Pills for healing for her father, and she could absolutely never give them to this bully Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu!

"You are shameless!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi tightly clutched the Storage Pouch at her waist, her fingernails deeply embedded into her palms, her eyes filled with anger and despair.

"Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi?"

Hearing this name, Baili Yunche on the outer fringe of the crowd had his expression shift, and his footsteps instinctively stopped.

Such noisy matters, he originally did not want to get involved in.

In the Immortal Realm, meddling in other people's business often meant trouble, and what he wanted least right now was trouble.

However, when he heard the name "Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi", a shock immediately went through his heart.

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi, wasn't that his older female cousin?

When he was young, he and Cousin Yunxi often played together, and their relationship was very good.

Cousin Yunxi was a few years older than him, always taking care of him like a big sister; whatever delicious or fun things there were, she would think of him first.

Never did he expect that Cousin Yunxi would actually encounter a bully!

Baili Yunche's gaze instantly turned icy, and a surge of anger rose from the bottom of his heart.

"So that is to say, you have no money to compensate?"

Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu revealed an evil smile, his gaze sweeping uninhibitedly over Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi, carrying an undisguised lewd and evil expression: "It doesn't matter if you have no money for compensation."

He licked his lips, his gaze landing on Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's alluring figure, his voice turning wretched and frivolous:

"If you can accompany this young master for one night, I can waive these eight thousand Spirit Stones for you! How about it? Quite a bargain, right?"

"Impossible! Don't come over!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's face turned ashen, retreating in panic, protecting her chest with both hands, her eyes filled with fear and disgust.

However, Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu pressed forward step by step, with a lewd smile on his face, approaching Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi step by step.

"Little beauty, don't struggle anymore, obediently submit to this young master, I guarantee to make you feel like you're dying of pleasure..."

"Scram!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi bit her silver teeth tightly, Spiritual Qi surging within her body, and struck out with a palm toward Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu!

However, her cultivation was merely Foundation Establishment Second Layer, whereas Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu was at the Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer cultivation; the disparity in strength was vast.

Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu sneered, casually waving his hand, and a streak of Spiritual Qi transformed into a fist shadow, fiercely smashing toward Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi!

Bang!

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi's palm force was like paper in front of Young Patriarch Zhang Tianhu's fist shadow, instantly shattering. The remaining momentum of the fist shadow did not decrease, heavily slamming into her chest!

"Puff—!"

Eldest Miss Baili Yunxi spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her delicate body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the ground. Her face was as pale as paper, and a wisp of fresh blood overflowed from the corner of her mouth.