After being driven out of the town's main inn, the brocade-robed young master Sean Shen grew angrier and more frustrated the more he thought about it. He cursed at his group of followers, "You useless lot! You can't even handle something as simple as finding an inn. Why does my Shen Family bother keeping you around?"
All his followers kept their heads down and stayed silent. Earlier, they'd already tried to persuade him not to go and seize rooms at the big inn, but he insisted on doing things his way. Now that he'd suffered a setback, he was blaming them again—being stuck with a master like this was just bad luck.
After venting his anger on his followers, Sean Shen felt a bit better, but he was still unwilling to let the matter go. He thought to himself, If I can't mess with the people staying at the big inn, then I'll go to a smaller one.
With that thought, he ordered the follower who had previously scouted the inns to lead the way to a smaller one.
Hearing that the young master was about to stir up trouble again, that follower couldn't help but look miserable. "Young Master, all the inns in town are already full. There really aren't any vacant rooms left!"
"Enough with the nonsense! Just lead the way!" Sean Shen glared coldly at the follower and barked.
"Yes, sir!"
The follower could only grit his teeth and lead the way.
Before long, the group arrived at a small inn called the Longevity Inn.
"You there, come here!" Sean Shen beckoned to the innkeeper.
The innkeeper, surnamed Steele, was a native of the small town. He'd been running the Longevity Inn for decades, and business was the classic feast-or-famine: three years of emptiness, then three years of windfall, since cultivators always spent lavishly when they showed up.
"Immortal master, what can I do for you?" Innkeeper Steele asked respectfully.
"I'm buying out all your guest rooms. Here, take this banknote!" As he spoke, Sean Shen stuffed a silver note for a thousand taels into the innkeeper's hand.
Seeing the thousand-tael note, Innkeeper Steele didn't feel the slightest bit tempted—in fact, it felt scalding hot in his hands. Three years ago, the Zhang family's inn had been full, and because they got greedy for silver and tried to evict guests who'd already checked in, an Immortal slaughtered all five members of their family, not leaving a single soul alive.
"Young Master, my inn is already full. Please take your silver back." Innkeeper Steele offered the thousand-tael note back with both hands.
Sean Shen's face instantly darkened at this. "What, you think I'm being stingy? Fine, here's another thousand taels. Now go inside and throw everyone out!"
"Thud!"
Innkeeper Steele dropped to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly as he pleaded, "Immortal master, please have mercy! I'm just a humble commoner. How could I dare evict other Immortal guests? Please, be kind and don't make things hard for me."
Sean Shen showed no intention of letting him off. He sneered, "So you don't dare evict the guests inside, but you do dare refuse me? Believe it or not, I'll wipe out your whole family!"
All the followers standing behind Sean Shen couldn't help but blush with embarrassment. A dignified cultivator, stooping to bully a mortal—how shameful was that?
Hearing Sean Shen threaten to wipe out his whole family, Innkeeper Steele felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. He kept kowtowing and crying out, "Immortal master, spare me! Please, have mercy!"
"Bang!"
Sean Shen kicked Innkeeper Steele away with a sneer. "I'll give you ten breaths. Go throw those people out right now, or don't blame me for what happens next!"
"A dignified cultivator, showing off in front of a mortal—aren't you ashamed? You're making all us cultivators look bad!"
A voice rang out abruptly.
"Who was that? Who dares mock me?"
Sean Shen's gaze swept over to a table by the window in the main hall, where a young man and woman were eating.
The young man looked about sixteen or seventeen, handsome and refined. The woman was a bit over twenty, quite pretty, and was drinking from a wine gourd.
"Was it you who just said that?"
Sean Shen strode over, his gaze hostile as he stared at the woman drinking from the wine gourd.
"Yeah, that was me!"
The woman set down her wine gourd and sneered.
"A mere mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator dares mock me? Are you tired of living?" Sean Shen's glare grew even more hostile. Suddenly, noticing her looks, his eyes flashed with lust. He smirked, "If you spend the night with me, I'll let this slide."
"Bang!"
The woman shot to her feet, glaring coldly at Sean Shen. "Why don't you go sleep with your own mother before you think about sleeping with me!"
"What did you just say?"
Sean Shen's handsome face turned an ugly shade of green with rage.
"I said, go home and sleep with your mother!" the woman repeated.
Instantly, the whole hall erupted in laughter. It was dinnertime, and more than a dozen cultivators were seated in the main hall.
"You bitch, you're dead!"
Sean Shen's eyes flashed coldly, ready to strike, but just then, the handsome young man darted forward and blocked their path. "Wait a second! I've got something to say!"
"What do you want, you brat?" Sean Shen snapped, voice dripping with hate.
The handsome youth ignored Sean completely and walked over to a middle-aged man nearby. "Uncle, could you help me throw that guy out?"
The middle-aged man blinked in surprise. "Why me?"
The youth gave a calm smile. "I'll pay you one high-grade spirit crystal!"
One high-grade spirit crystal was worth ten thousand low-grade ones—a hefty sum. Even for a Nascent Soul expert like the middle-aged man, it was tempting.
"How about it, Uncle? If that's not enough, I'll double it!"
"Done!" The man's eyes gleamed. He slapped the table, aura flaring, and glared at Sean Shen. "Kid, you leaving on your own, or do I have to toss you out myself?"
Everyone had seen Sean Shen bullying Innkeeper Steele. Most cultivators looked down on him, but usually minded their own business. Now, with spirit crystals on the table and a chance to vent, why not join in the fun?
Under the man's pressure, Sean Shen instinctively retreated. He was from a big You Prefecture clan, sure, but soft from luxury and barely at Core Formation himself.
"You better watch it! I'm from the Shen Family of You Prefecture! If you lay a finger on me, my clan will hunt you down!"
"Shen Family? Never heard of 'em! Get lost, or I'll help you out!" The man sneered.
"Young Master, are you alright?"
Just then, Sean Shen's followers rushed in, standing behind him and glaring warily at the middle-aged man.
But they were all Core Formation too, and couldn't help but feel an instinctive fear facing the Nascent Soul expert.
Suddenly, the man strode forward, his aura surging as he barked, "Scram!"
"Ah! Help! He's gonna kill us!"
With a shriek, Sean Shen bolted out of the inn like a gust of wind.
The middle-aged man laughed in contempt at the sight.
Ian Song gave a big thumbs-up. "Uncle, you're the boss! So cool!"
That's right—the handsome youth was none other than Ian Song, and the girl beside him was Lena Ling.
"Nice try! Flattery doesn't get you out of paying up," the man grumbled.
"Uncle, here are your spirit crystals!"
Ian Song pressed two high-grade spirit crystals into the man's hand.
The man's eyes lit up at the sight. He gave Ian a meaningful look—this kid was only at the tenth level of Qi-Refining, yet he could produce two high-grade spirit crystals. Clearly, his background was anything but ordinary.