This sparked a few barely audible whispers, clearly from people muttering amongst themselves.

Seeing a crowd gathering, the vendor was energized. He shouted, "Fellow cultivators, please bear witness!"

"This young fellow from Li State is just upset he didn’t pick a valuable Artifact Fragment, and now he’s accusing me of swapping it out!"

"I’m Vendor Zhang, and I’ve been running this stall for a long time. My regulars all know my character—I can take a loss."

His words made the crowd even more inclined to believe him, and their chatter grew louder.

"Another desperate gambler."

"Trying to scam someone out of a few dozen Spirit Stones during the festival... Are all Foundation Establishment Cultivators from Li State like this?"

"Heh, you must not know. In the entire Southern Domain, Li State is the poorest. You can’t expect someone from a poor place to act with much class."

?

The surrounding crowd’s comments grew more and more outrageous, escalating to insults against all cultivators from Li State.

Xiao Chen glanced around. All he saw were local cultivators from Hezhou. None of them knew him, so they were quick to believe the vendor’s side of the story.

’Then again, that makes sense. If we were in Li State, this vendor wouldn’t dare pull such a trick.’

’He must have thought he could get away with swapping the Spirit Pearl and saving a few Spirit Stones simply because I’m an outsider he doesn’t recognize.’

Xiao Chen’s hand went to his sword, but he hesitated.

It was the middle of the New Year festival; even the Divine Fire Sect had temporarily halted its offensive.

Besides, he had come out today to enjoy himself. He was looking for a good time and didn’t want to let this ruin his mood.

He shot the vendor a cold glare and warned, "I suggest you think very carefully about whether or not you swapped my Spirit Pearl."

"Give it back to me now, and for the sake of the festival, I’ll pretend this never happened."

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you. There’s a price to pay for taking what isn’t yours."

The vendor, however, just jutted out his chin defiantly, paying no mind to the warning.

Instead, he threatened in a low voice, "Kid, I’m not some pushover you can just bully."

As he spoke, he deliberately released the aura of his Cultivation, which was at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment. "You picked the wrong person to mess with today."

Then, he turned and yelled to the crowd, "Fellow cultivators, come and see! A cultivator from Li State is trying to throw his weight around in our Xianghe Market!"

"During the festival, no less! He’s using his Cultivation to try and scam me, bullying a humble street vendor like myself!"

"And from the sound of it, he’s threatening to get violent with me!"

In front of the crowd, he played the victim again, adamant that Xiao Chen was the one trying to bully him.

You had to admit, his act was pretty polished. This definitely wasn’t the first time he’d pulled something like this.

Any other ordinary cultivator would have surely been at a disadvantage today.

After all, not only was the vendor himself quite powerful, but he was also surrounded by his supporters.

If a fight really broke out, some of them might even have joined in to help him.

Unfortunately for him, the person he encountered today was Xiao Chen. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

.

Vendor Zhang’s nonsense actually managed to rally some of the onlookers to his side.

"Don’t be afraid, Old Zhang! We won’t let some outsider bully you on our own turf!"

"That’s right! I won’t stand by and watch a cultivator from Li State come to our Hezhou and bully our people."

Some people tried to play peacemaker. "Hey, it’s the new year festival! Is it really worth fighting over such a trivial matter?"

"Young man, you have to be able to accept your losses when you gamble. It’s only a few dozen Spirit Stones. What’s the big deal?"

Emboldened by the crowd’s support, Vendor Zhang strode right up to Xiao Chen.

He smugly pointed a finger at Xiao Chen’s face. "Kid, I... GACK... GURGLE..."

He was only halfway through his sentence when a mouthful of blood surged up his throat, choking back the rest of his words.

Vendor Zhang’s eyes bulged in disbelief. He couldn’t believe Xiao Chen had actually dared to attack him.

He struggled to look down, only to see a wooden Flying Sword piercing straight through his chest.

A brilliant golden light flared on the surface of his Upper Grade Magic Robe, an item worth Five Thousand Spirit Stones.

But at his chest, where his heart was, crimson blood flowed down the blade.

Xiao Chen slowly withdrew the Donghua Thunder Sword. With a single flick, he slung the Blood Pearls and bits of flesh from the blade onto the ground.

Vendor Zhang fell backward, collapsing onto the ground.

He thought he had the situation under control, never imagining that Xiao Chen hadn’t paid any mind to the crowd’s words.

His most fatal mistake was daring to walk right up to Xiao Chen.

At that range, there was no time to activate any Defense Magic. His only hope was the inherent quality of the Upper Grade Magic Robe.

Not only had Xiao Chen practiced Sword Techniques, but he was also something of a Body Cultivator.

This strike was not only fast, but also packed with immense power.

Under such circumstances, a mere Upper Grade Magic Robe was utterly incapable of stopping the piercing attack of a Top Grade Magical Artifact.

Thus, before anyone had time to react, Xiao Chen had already struck down and killed Vendor Zhang.

CLINK~

A shattered Dharma Pearl fell out of Vendor Zhang’s sleeve.

Xiao Chen reached down, picked it up, and examined it with his Spiritual Eye. It was, indeed, the strange Dharma Pearl he’d been swindled out of.

He then casually used the tip of his sword to lift Vendor Zhang’s Storage Bag.

Only then did the crowd of onlookers finally realize what had just happened.

Some of the more timid Qi Refining cultivators immediately turned and fled, terrified of being caught in the fallout.

The majority of the cultivators, however, grew furious.

A newly arrived Foundation Establishment Cultivator glared at him. "What audacity! To dare to commit murder and robbery in Xianghe Market!"

Others seized the opportunity to stir up trouble. "Fellow cultivators, a cultivator from Li State has come to our Hezhou’s territory to commit murder! This is a blatant insult, as if he thinks there’s no one in Hezhou to stop him!"