NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45: Bai Tiezi
"Here you go, the most famous dishes of our teahouse!" The server said as he placed several dishes down on the table.
He looked upwards at the customer. The customer had a smaller-than-average figure but wore a luxurious black brocade robe. A wide-brimmed hat made of unknown materials with a silk veil covered his head. Despite his small frame, the server dared not be discourteous because the customer was emanating a pressure that terrified him, a little second stage Qi Gathering realm cultivator.
"Does Sir need anything else?" The server asked, but seeing the customer shake his head, he prepared to leave but was stopped.
"Wait." The voice was slightly high but pleasant to the ears. The notion of the customer before him being a slightly short woman passed through the server's mind, but he quickly suppressed the notion and lowered his head.
"What can I help Sir with?"
The customer revealed his slender hands and pointed at the dishes.
"Are any of these cooked with ingredients that have opened their spirituality?"
The server raised his head to look at the customer as if he had heard anything wrong but quickly lowered his head once more when he felt a pressuring gaze land on him. "N-no. Sir must be joking. How can a little store like us serve rare ingredients such as those? I heard that only the sect master of the Bliss Earth Sect can enjoy such food every day."
The server held his breath, waiting to be rebuked, but to his surprise, he only heard a "hm."
"That's good. You can leave now." The customer said.
The server left, finally able to breathe normally after leaving the customer's presence. He couldn't help but glance back at the customer every once in a while.
The customer was naturally Tianyi, and the teahouse was situated in a relatively prosperous city on Tianwei Continent. The city was nominally under the control of a few loose cultivators and one particularly famous core formation master.
Tianyi picked up the chopsticks and picked some meat and vegetable stir-fry. The smell was only average, but the taste should be fine. Tianyi bit into it and swallowed. After not moving his chopsticks for several minutes, he picked up a piece of tofu from another dish and bit into it. Tianyi only ate half of the tofu and placed the rest back onto the plate.
He placed his chin on his palm and released a sigh, not sparing another look at the table full of dishes. Tianyi glanced at the half-empty floor and observed the other customers.
None of the people in the restaurant were in the Foundation Establishment Realm or above. The highest was only at the twelfth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. So it was extremely easy for Tianyi to listen in on their conversation no matter how low they spoke, for example, the table at the corner and at the opposite of Tianyi, who was able to look down at the street.
"Big bro, stop drinking anymore." A man wearing dark blue robes said, trying to convince the man who was already half-drunk and laying his face at the table. There were already a few empty jugs of wine on the table.
"Hic! Don't stop me, Fang Muren." The half-drunk man said, pushing away the sober man. "Server, give me ten more jugs!"
Fang Muren sighed helplessly at his friend's actions. "Is it really worth it for a woman, Bai Tiezi?"
"A woman?" Bai Tiezi looked at Fang Muren before releasing a bark of laughter. "How can a wet behind the ears kid like you understand how I feel? We promised each other under the full moon that we would marry once I reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. And now I found out that she is participating in the Bliss Earth Sect's Woman Selection for their sect master."
Bai Tiezi took another swig of wine. "How can I not feel like this? What have I worked hard for all these years? I'm only one stage away from the peak Qi Gathering Realm!"
"Bro! So what? Once you enter the Foundation Establishment Realm, what woman can't you find? She's just one fish in the sea, a frog in the well who cannot see the greatness of you. Although she is considered a beauty, that's only in Whitewood City. Will the sect master of the Bliss Earth Sect even spare her a glance?"
Bai Tiezi glared at Fang Muren. "Don't speak of Feng'er like that. I won't allow you to insult her like that again. This isn't her choice! She's being forced by the elders of the An Clan!"
After silencing Fang Muren for a while, he lifted another jar of wine and chugged it down. The commotion caused by Bai Tiezi wasn't small, and those around their table were conversing in hush tones.
"So that's the famous genius, Bai Tiezi? A pity, a pity."
"Hmpf, If I was the second miss of the An Clan, even if I cannot become a phoenix, I would try to become a peacock. Who would want to stay a man and remain a chicken?"
"That is hard to say, that young man looks young, and he might even have a chance to reach the Acupoint Opening Realm. Being the wife of an acupoint opening lord is better than being a small concubine of the Bliss Earth Sect Master."
"Hey, why do you think the Bliss Earth Sect is recruiting so many females? Ever since they became the indomitable power on the Tianwei Continent, every ten years, there has been a selection. The way I see it, being chosen is not necessarily a good thing for the girls."
"Hush! Do you not want your life anymore? If someone from the Bliss Earth Sect catches you, even if you don't die, you'll definitely shed several layers of skin."
"Pshh, so what if they heard? This is Whitewood City, not a place controlled by the Bliss Earth Sect. Ever since they came into control, our lives have gotten even harder. I'd rather there be fighting between the four sects again."
"What do you know? You only heard of the times when the four sects existed. You haven't experienced the cruelty of that era yourself."
Tianyi raised his head from his palm and held his chin in the same hand. 'It seems that the Bliss Earth Sect is a bit too overbearing. Is it to the point that the rest of the islanders will band together to fight them, or is it just because I'm in a city not under the control of the Bliss Earth Sect?'
He continued to listen in on the conversation of his surroundings.
'It does seem that the dissatisfaction with the Bliss Earth Sect is rather high. It could be just that the Bliss Earth Sect hasn't fully controlled the whole island because they rose to power recently.'
Tianyi was brought out of his thoughts because of the large commotion occurring on the streets. Once Tianyi set his gaze upon it, he found himself unable to stop his lips from twitching. If he had lessened his control, he would have started laughing uncontrollably.
It resembled a colorful parade that would occur at a wedding, but the clothing style was all wrong. Instead of red, all the people in the parade wore pale yellow clothes. At the front was an elderly man wearing yellow robes with the symbol of the Bliss Earth Sect on them. He exuded an air of a king despite only being at the Spiritual Altar Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Despite his rather low cultivation base in Tianyi's eyes, all the people on the street stared at the elderly man with awe and fear in their eyes. But what made Tianyi's lips twitch was the steed the elderly man was sitting on.
The steed was nearly three meters long and two meters tall. It had a rather chubby body shape and on its head was a red crest, and its beak was rather short compared to its whole body. However, its eyes were exceptionally bright, shining with intelligence equal to a human child.
'I didn't think there would really be someone who made a chicken who opened its spirituality as a mount.' To Tianyi, the whole scene was totally ridiculous, but the natives of Whitewood City looked at the chicken spiritual beast with passionate eyes.
Tianyi began to suspect whether his three views were skewed or something. Otherwise, why would the city's residents look at the chicken with such passion and envy?
Behind the elderly man walked two rows of Bliss Earth Sect members. Their cultivation was below the Foundation Establishment Realm, but their average strength was much higher than the city's experts.
In the middle of these two rows was an opened-face carriage pulled by ten horses. Within the carriage were five beauties. In Tianyi's eyes, they were far from the most beautiful women he had seen, but judging from the crowd's reaction, they were peerless beauties on Tianwei Continent.
As the procession reached the teahouse he was in, Tianyi leaned back as a figure flew in past him and out onto the streets. All the dishes on his table were flipped over from the force generated from that person's movements.
Who else could it be but Bai Tiezi?
Fang Muren ran past Tianyi's tables, grasped the handrails, and looked anxiously at the drunk Bai Tiezi who had landed in front of the procession. He didn't say anything, but his knuckles whitened from the force of his grip.
Tianyi stood up from his seat and walked towards the rails as well, with his hand behind his back. He wasn't the only one, as several other customers came forward to watch the spectacle.
The streets had quieted at Bai Tiezi's brazen act.
"Do you not know the consequences of your actions?" The elderly man said as he stared coldly at Bai Tiezi standing unsteadily in front of the procession.
Bai Tiezi acted as if he had not heard him and instead stared pointedly at one of the five females on the carriage. "Feng'er! Let's run away! Let's go to a place where no one can find us and spend the rest of our life together!"
Tianyi quirked his lips upwards. 'Why does this seem so much like elopement? The parents aren't willing, so the children run away together and experience the hardships of life while experiencing the sweetness of love?'
He shook his head at Bai Tiezi's actions. 'Why is he willing to go crazy for love? Is love that crucial for survival? Staking it all on a moment of happiness, but the rest of your life will be spent as a fugitive. I cannot understand what these people think. Of course, I have never fallen in love either, so I don't have the right to critique these people who have.'
"Big Brother Tie!" A girl with teary eyes stood up from her seat and tried to rush off the carriage in response to Bai Tiezi's words.
The elderly man at the front of the procession snorted and waved his sleeve. The girl was knocked back onto her seat, and her face became ashen.
"Feng'er!" Bai Tiezi shouted out and glared at the elderly man in front of the procession. "Feng'er is not willing to become the sect master's woman. Is your sect master so desperate for women that he is going to force a weak woman to become his concubine!"
The elderly man and the members of the Bliss Earth Sect became angered at Bai Tiezi's words. "Hmpf, it is that little lass' honor to be chosen by the sect master! A girl's marriage is the decision of the parents. We have already gotten their permission. Everything we have done is above board. I suggest you move out of the way unless you want this old man to use force!"
Bai Tiezi spat on the ground. "What parents, Feng'er's parents aren't people, they are beasts! For glory, her father killed her mother so that he could marry the girl of a wealthy family! And now they sold her to you beasts for what? Wealth, honor? And your sect already had a selection ten years ago. Is your sect master so abhorrent that he needs a continuous supply of women? What, can he not live without getting new ones every ten years? I curse him to be alone for the rest of his life!"
Perhaps it was because Bai Tiezi was drunk. His words did not leave any face for the girl's parents or the Bliss Earth Sect. Without warning, Bai Tiezi was slammed into the ground by an invisible force.
"I already warned you." The elderly man calmly said those words, but his eyes revealed his simmering wrath.
The end result was naturally Bai Tiezi beaten to a pulp to the point that even his parents wouldn't be able to recognize him. All the spectators thought he was going to be beaten to death, but at a crucial moment, he suddenly disappeared.
On the second floor overlooking the street, unknown to anyone, Tianyi had also disappeared. The only evidence of his presence was some spirit stones on his table.
