At the end of the street stood a handsome young man in white robes, facing off against a pampered young master surrounded by a group of lackeys. The atmosphere was tense, on the verge of erupting into a fight at the slightest provocation.
That young man in white was Bai Lingfeng.
It was broad daylight on a main street, so naturally there were plenty of onlookers gathered around, pointing and whispering at the scene.
“Hahaha, hurry up and fight! What are you just glaring at each other for? This is so boring. I want to see blood flow like a river!”
“Truly worthy of being a young master of the Huang family. Relying on his family’s influence in Weiyang City, he acts without restraint. Bullying a mere wandering cultivator is like taking candy from a baby. Look at how professional his posture is. I need to study this carefully; it might come in handy later.”
“That young man in white is in for a rough time. How dare he provoke someone from the Huang family? Doesn’t he know the Huang family is a major clan in Weiyang City? The Huang family head is a powerful expert at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. How can a wandering cultivator like him possibly challenge that? He’s a newborn calf unafraid of the tiger. Today, his legs are probably going to get broken.”
“I just got here. Can someone fill me in on the details?”
An unknown wandering cultivator pushed aside the person next to him and asked curiously. Someone nearby immediately offered an explanation.
“It’s actually very simple. This young man in white, his luck is really something. He just managed to snag a powerful magic sword for a bargain. Young Master Huang Long wanted to make a fair trade, offering ten spirit stones to buy it, but the guy actually refused.”
“When has Young Master Huang Long ever suffered such humiliation? Naturally, he had his men surround him. He kindly stated that as long as the young man in white kneels and begs for mercy, obediently presents that magic sword with both hands, and compensates him with one thousand spirit stones for his emotional distress, he’ll let him go.”
“But this guy still doesn’t know what’s good for him, so they’re just standing off here.”
The unknown wandering cultivator was dumbfounded after listening, saying with some shock, “What kind of logic is that? Isn’t this just bullying and robbery by force? Doing such a thing in broad daylight, and you’re making it sound reasonable?”
“Hey, how can this be called robbery? This is clearly giving that young man in white a lesson, so he won’t run into real tough guys later and die without knowing how. Not making him pay tuition is already being generous!”
The unknown wandering cultivator fell silent for a moment, nodding thoughtfully. “That seems to make sense… but I still feel something’s off.”
Lin Huanhuan, standing not far away, naturally heard this entire conversation. Looking at the scene before her and considering Bai Lingfeng’s protagonist halo, she immediately had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
‘If I’m not mistaken, Bai Lingfeng was at the market, finally got lucky for once and scored a great bargain, then immediately got targeted by this pampered young master from the Huang family.’
‘Bai Lingfeng isn’t a showy person either. Earlier, to prevent others from seeing through his true strength, he cultivated an extremely advanced aura-concealing technique. As long as the opponent’s cultivation isn’t higher than his, it’s very hard to discern his true power without him taking action.’
‘So this Huang family scion didn’t see his real strength, thinking he was just an ordinary wandering cultivator, and naturally had evil intentions, starting to oppress him directly.’
‘And Bai Lingfeng, being inherently cautious, generally doesn’t act rashly. He’s worried the enemy might have powerful trump cards and is always ready to escape. So he’s probably been standing off here until I came and saw this scene.’
A look of disdain flashed across Lin Huanhuan’s face, her small features etched with exasperation.
‘Bai Lingfeng is really boring. If he just made a move or released his aura to intimidate this guy, wouldn’t that settle things? Why does it have to be like this?’
‘But there’s probably a reason. After all, he’s the protagonist. If he used the best solution immediately in situations like this, what plot would there be?’
‘Whatever. It’s none of my business anyway. Time to slip away.’
Just as Lin Huanhuan was thinking this, she habitually glanced toward Bai Lingfeng. Bai Lingfeng reflexively turned his head and their eyes met.
In that instant, Lin Huanhuan clearly saw a flash of joy in Bai Lingfeng’s eyes.
‘Oh no!’
Lin Huanhuan’s heart sank. She was considering whether to just ignore him when Bai Lingfeng already called out excitedly, “Huanhuan! Over here!”
Ever since Bai Lingfeng and Ye Jinxi gathered enough rare treasures in the Beast Mountain Range to successfully achieve Heavenly Foundation Establishment, he had resumed his long cultivation journey.
He successfully advanced to become an inner sect disciple. He also witnessed Ye Jinxi being noticed by a Golden Core elder, who took her on as a personal disciple to train by his side. Seeing such a thing, saying he wasn’t envious would be a lie.
In truth, he also wished in his heart to be noticed by an elder and taken as a disciple, to completely escape his current awkward situation. But what he never expected was that, for some reason, even though he had displayed extremely strong combat talent, those elders all seemed blind, showing no interest in him whatsoever.
‘It’s like I’m the protagonist in a storybook, being targeted by the entire world!’
His hope of gaining backing through apprenticeship dashed, he could only continue moving forward on his own, cultivating diligently.
When he first ascended to Foundation Establishment, he had tried directly revealing his cultivation during his adventures to deter those with ill intentions.
But what made him lose his composure was that after revealing his cultivation, while there were indeed fewer brainless fools who actively threatened him, the people who targeted him became Foundation Establishment stage powerhouses. Whenever he appeared in remote places, it was as if he was being specifically ambushed. There would always be a demonic path Foundation Establishment expert who just happened to need a person as material, launching a hunt against him.
Although he succeeded in counter-killing them in the end, he also paid a considerable price. After a few times, he decided it was better to conceal his cultivation again. Even though he was often provoked by pampered clan scions, at least the people attacking him were much weaker.
During this period, he had also thought about looking for Lin Huanhuan. But ever since he deduced last time that Lin Huanhuan might dislike him, he hadn’t been able to come up with a countermeasure. Helpless, he could only shelve that idea for the time being.
Today, he had been quite happy, finally scoring a bargain at the market. This magic sword was worth at least over a thousand spirit stones and was quite suitable for him to use, so he didn’t need to sell it.
But who would have thought? An idiot named Huang Long popped up from somewhere, actually planning to buy this magic sword for ten spirit stones. It was lawless to the extreme.
He was forced into a corner and was just about to make a move when he suddenly sensed a familiar gaze. Out of habit, he looked over and immediately saw that figure that brought him joy—Lin Huanhuan.