Chapter 107 - 99: Conflict
It was a petty matter. He endured it.
Zhao Zuo reached out and took the assessment Token and identity plate he received after registering. His expression remained unchanged, but he quietly memorized the appearance of the youth in green. If the opportunity ever arose, he would be sure to repay this loss in full.
"Registration fee, ten Spirit Stones." Greed flashed in the eyes of the youth in green. He clearly saw Zhao Zuo as an easy mark, someone he could bully.
The youth in green was named Liu Wuji. Among the Outer Sect disciples, his Cultivation was on the lower end. This cushy assignment was a sect mission he’d had to spend a hundred Spirit Stones to obtain, so naturally, he planned to make a tidy profit.
As an Outer Sect disciple with no backing, Liu Wuji knew he had to seize every opportunity to earn resources for his Cultivation. Otherwise, the gap between him and his fellow disciples would only widen, and he would eventually be cast aside.
"But... the assessment has never charged a registration fee in previous years." The smile on Zhao Zuo’s face vanished. He straightened his back, and a cold glint flickered in his eyes.
’As expected. Give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile.’ He decided he wouldn’t tolerate it any longer.
"It’s... a new... rule this year!" the youth in green said, his tone hostile. He then lifted his head to look Zhao Zuo straight in the eye. As he gazed into those emotionless, cold eyes, a wave of inexplicable panic washed over him. But just as quickly... that panic turned to rage.
’Just a worthless Loose Cultivator, struggling to survive in the mud. What right did he have to look at me with eyes like that?’
"And what if I don’t pay? What are you going to do?" Zhao Zuo knew this reaction was perhaps impulsive, but he didn’t regret it. ’If I’d backed down and handed over the ten Spirit Stones,’ he thought, ’there would just be more fees. They wouldn’t let me leave until I was squeezed dry.’
"You’re... courting death!" Mana flowed through Liu Wuji. He immediately sensed his opponent’s Cultivation was only at the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer. His confidence instantly surged, and his tone became icy cold.
Faced with the threat, Zhao Zuo’s expression remained unchanged. ’Since I’ve chosen to resist, I have to see this through to the end.’ Now... he was rather curious to see if the other man would dare to violate the ironclad rules of Moyun Market and attack him directly.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Liu Wuji continued to glare venomously at Zhao Zuo but made no other move. Clearly, he didn’t dare to brazenly violate... the ironclad rules of Moyun Market.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of Zhao Zuo’s neck stood on end. His body went rigid, seized by an overwhelming sense of dread. Standing behind the youth in green was a woman in a pale blue Taoist Robe.
Zhao Zuo had no idea when she had appeared or how long she had been standing there. She was like a phantom, suddenly manifesting in the world. She didn’t exude any powerful aura; merely... the way she had appeared was itself terrifying enough.
Her beauty was not the least bit inferior to Shen Yunjiao’s; in fact, it might have even surpassed it. She possessed an elegant, transcendent air, and her gaze seemed to conceal a Sword Peak, making it impossible for anyone to meet her eyes.
In her, Zhao Zuo could faintly see a resemblance to that round-faced girl from his past.
She was Chen Xiaorong, the twenty-one-year-old Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator who had slain a Foundation Establishment-level Demon Beast just last night.
"What’s wrong? Scared now, are you?" Liu Wuji noticed the change in Zhao Zuo’s expression and said smugly, even as his mind was secretly calculating how to extort some Spirit Stones.
"For embezzling Contribution Points, according to sect rules, you are docked one year’s stipend and will be placed in confinement for one month," Chen Xiaorong said.
Liu Wuji froze, turning around in stunned disbelief. His expression shifted instantly from arrogance to terror and obsequiousness. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
"Please, True Inheritance, forgive me just this once!"
Seeing him groveling on the ground, Zhao Zuo couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. ’I had already come up with several plans to deal with him,’ he thought. He never expected... such a sudden twist.
"You should know my temperament. Don’t waste my time with nonsense... Go and receive your punishment." Chen Xiaorong’s expression remained impassive. Her voice was pleasant to the ear—crisp and her enunciation so clear it was almost a pleasure to listen to.
The youth in green trembled from head to toe. After a few seconds, he pushed himself to his feet and left with his head bowed, not uttering a single word.
His departure left Zhao Zuo feeling as if he were sitting on pins and needles, unsure of what to do. But in the blink of an eye, Chen Xiaorong’s figure vanished from his line of sight...
This let Zhao Zuo breathe a sigh of relief, though he felt a faint sense of disappointment deep down... ’Even though we knew each other as children and spoke a few times, we’re from two different worlds now.’
Zhao Zuo stood on the spot for a few more seconds before turning to leave.
Outside Earth Fire Hall, Liu Wuji watched Zhao Zuo’s retreating figure, a flame of hatred burning in his heart. ’The confinement is one thing,’ he fumed silently. ’Besides the crappy environment, it won’t really affect my Cultivation.’
’But losing a year’s stipend is a devastating blow. This loss will definitely slow my Cultivation progress, pushing Foundation Establishment—which I already had little hope of reaching—even further away.’
Liu Wuji didn’t dare entertain any thoughts of resisting or resenting Chen Xiaorong. Instead, his hatred fixated on Zhao Zuo. To make himself feel better, he shifted all the blame onto him.
"I’ll kill you, you mud-legged peasant who dared to defy me." Liu Wuji’s eyes burned with hatred, as if Zhao Zuo were his mortal enemy. His eyes were bloodshot, and his breathing grew heavy and ragged.
In truth, there was no deep-seated hatred between them. It was simply that Liu Wuji needed an outlet for his inner fury, nothing more.
Meanwhile, it didn’t take long for Zhao Zuo to notice Liu Wuji tailing him. His tracking skills were hardly sophisticated, so he naturally couldn’t hide from someone with a Soul as powerful as Zhao Zuo’s.
One followed the other, their pace a series of stops and starts.
Zhao Zuo had a good idea why he was being followed, and a flicker of killing intent inevitably rose within him. After casually buying a few Artifact Refining materials in the stall district, he deliberately left the bounds of Moyun Market.
The air was growing warmer, melting the accumulated snow and leaving the roads muddy.
Zhao Zuo infused his legs with Mana, controlling his pace to allow his pursuer to keep up. He didn’t stop until he was about fifteen hundred meters from the core of Moyun Market, at which point he slapped two Light Body Talismans on himself.
Before long, Liu Wuji charged at Zhao Zuo with his Dark Blue Longsword in hand, wasting no time on words.
Zhao Zuo watched the approaching Sword Peak, his face devoid of panic. He realized his enemy was slower than he’d expected, which meant he was also weaker. Moreover, his movements were clumsy and lacked any proper form.
SWISH.
The Sky-Breaking Saber shot out from a hidden clasp at his waist, aiming straight for the point between Liu Wuji’s eyebrows. Its speed, however, was somewhat slow, nowhere near that of a Middle Grade Magical Artifact. In the instant he struck, Zhao Zuo had deliberately curbed the Sky-Breaking Saber’s velocity.
Seeing Zhao Zuo’s attack, Liu Wuji didn’t alter his own offensive posture in the slightest. Instead, a contemptuous smile played on his lips as his burst of Mana quickened, making him a fraction faster.
’A mud-leg, just as I thought. He doesn’t even have a single decent Magical Artifact.’
"Was it really necessary?" Zhao Zuo murmured.
The next second, the Sky-Breaking Saber, now just two meters from Liu Wuji, abruptly accelerated like a beast baring its sharp fangs. A silver gleam flared and vanished in an instant, leaving a straight, pale-green line hanging in the air, slow to fade.
....
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