Chapter 133: Chapter 129: The Killing Field of Fame and Fortune

The group exchanged glances. ’Ye Zhihan’ rose to his feet.

"What a waste of time!"

With that, he led the way out of the shop.

The others saw this and sheathed their weapons, following him out. Just before leaving, ’Ye Zhihan’ paused slightly and glanced back at Chen Che out of the corner of his eye:

"Don’t leave the Market for any trivial reason. I’ll be back to question you again whenever I please!"

"And another thing, I don’t like your attitude one bit."

Chen Che’s gaze sharpened, and he was just about to speak.

But in the next instant, Lu Yi stepped between them, blocking Chen Che’s line of sight. By the time Chen Che could look past him, ’Ye Zhihan’ had already led his men through the crowd and out onto the street.

In the blink of an eye, the crowd had swallowed them up.

"Valley Master Lu."

Chen Che turned to Lu Yi, desperately needing an explanation.

The Vice Valley Master frowned, then sighed in resignation:

"Tributor Chen, it’s best to let this go. Jinyun Valley will cover all the damages to your shop. Let’s just back down this once!"

"Back down?"

Chen Che raised an eyebrow.

’He’s actually telling me to back down?’

’Then again, it made sense.’

’As the Vice Valley Master, Lu Yi prioritized Jinyun Valley’s interests above all else. The Primordial Sect was a behemoth that Jinyun Valley couldn’t afford to offend. He had made the exact same choice that day outside the ruined temple when they ran into the Evil Cultivator.’

’So today, even when his own Tributor was wronged, all he could do was play peacemaker, offering some compensation at best to smooth things over.’

"Out of the way, out of the way! I’m Meng Qingxuan! Who dares to stop me?"

The Primordial Sect disciples had left, but the wall of people had not dispersed.

Meng Qingxuan shouted as she pushed her way in. The moment she set foot in the Pill Shop, she heard Lu Yi telling Chen Che to back down. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she immediately spoke up in Chen Che’s defense:

"Valley Master Lu, your own Tributor has been humiliated, and not only is the Valley not standing up for him, you’re actually telling him to back down? If this happened to the Meng Family, we would never handle it like this! Even if we had to smooth things over on the surface, we would absolutely get our revenge in private..."

"In this bloody arena of fame and fortune, sometimes you can’t afford to back down even one step!"

She came from a great clan.

She naturally understood the importance of face and substance. If you lost face, you had to get it back. If you couldn’t, your Heart Qi would be gone, and you’d become a spineless weakling anyone could trample on. This was true for clans and individual cultivators alike.

With that said,

she gripped her longsword and said to Chen Che:

"Tributor Chen, if Valley Master Lu won’t help you get revenge, I’ll go with you..."

"They’re from the Primordial Sect."

Lu Yi’s single sentence was enough to make the fiery young lady fall silent.

"They’re... they’re from the Primordial Sect!?"

Meng Qingxuan, so defiant a moment ago, froze in place. Her mouth fell open, her eyes begging for confirmation. When she saw Lu Yi nod, her gaze faltered, and she didn’t dare speak of revenge again.

"Tributor Chen."

Having expected as much, Lu Yi lowered his eyes, patted Chen Che on the shoulder, and said in a heavy tone:

"Miss Meng is right. In this cutthroat world, sometimes you can’t back down. But at other times, you have no choice but to. Retreat, and you preserve yourself. Refuse, and you face utter damnation."

"You were just a victim of circumstance this time."

Seeing that the Primordial Sect disciples were long gone, Lu Yi let out a soft sigh and turned to leave. He paused at the doorway, his voice tinged with a complex emotion:

"Those people from the Primordial Sect are gone, so just let it be. In my opinion, they’re unlikely to return. The Valley will compensate you three times over for the shop’s losses. I hope you’ll consider the bigger picture, Tributor Chen. You must understand that backing down is sometimes the wisest course of action..."

With that, he turned and left.

"Back down?"

Watching the retreating figure, Chen Che let out a soft chuckle. He finally looked away and slowly shook his head:

’Lu Yi, how do you know that taking a step back won’t lead me right into a bottomless abyss?’

Lu Yi thought he had managed to stop Chen Che, but he didn’t know that in that brief moment, Chen Che had already left a Divine Thought mark on ’Ye Zhihan’.

’This world has no order.’

’No one here will bring you justice. When you’re wronged, you either swallow it, or you make blood spill. If I backed down every single time, what would be the point of cultivation? Of seeking the Dao? I might as well just be a mortal and wait to grow old, get sick, and die.’

"Ding Fei, have someone rebuild the counters. The Pill Shop can’t close down."

Meng Qingxuan sighed. Turning to survey the wrecked shop, she started giving orders:

"Zhao Deyou, clean up the pills. Hu Yao, get rid of the Loose Cultivators outside. It’s over, everyone’s gone, so why are you all still crowding around? What’s the big show..."

The young lady from the great house was fiery, but she was surprisingly methodical.

For this reason, Chen Che couldn’t help but give her a second look.

In just a few moments,

the wrecked Pill Shop was already being put back in order.

"What are the losses?"

Chen Che asked.

"..."

Ding Fei didn’t know how to respond. After a moment, he spoke. "All the Tier Two Elixirs in the shop... they’re all gone. I don’t know if someone snatched them in the chaos. Of the other pills, there’s hardly any left—less than ten percent..."

"Excellent! Just excellent! So, you’re telling me the Primordial Sect destroyed my entire shop just to have a word with me?"

Chen Che sneered repeatedly.

He had long known how cultivators in this world operated, but now that it was happening to him, he still found it impossible to contain his fury.

Ding Fei could only answer with a sigh.

"Just let it go!"

After a long silence, Meng Qingxuan patted the back of Chen Che’s hand. "Think of it... think of it as being bitten by a dog..."

Chen Che glanced at her, said nothing, and simply closed his eyes.

In his sea of consciousness, the Divine Sense Mark circled the Market a few times before appearing to depart.

He looked up at the sky again. It was getting late.

’Twelve Qi Refining Cultivators...’

’That ’Ye Zhihan’ is at the Ninth Layer, three others are at the Eighth Layer, and the rest are all at the Seventh Layer...’

Chen Che tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

...

"Sigh, what an unfortunate disaster!"

「Inside Jinyun Valley.」

Lu Yi sighed and shook his head.

Master Hu, who was serving tea, leaned in and reminded him in a low voice, "Valley Master Lu, Tributor Chen has an extremely high Heart Qi. I’m afraid he won’t be able to swallow this insult. Perhaps we should have someone watch him, just to prevent him from..."

"You’re worried Tributor Chen will go seek revenge?"

Lu Yi took a small sip of the Spirit Tea, but it tasted bland. He set the cup down and shook his head.

"That’s the Primordial Sect. We both know the consequences of retaliating against them, and so does he. Even a fiery young lady like Meng Qingxuan fell silent the moment she heard their name. How many people out there would dare to provoke them...?"

"But there are exceptions..."

Master Hu stammered.

"Are you talking about Evil Cultivators?"

Without looking up, Lu Yi stared at the steam rising from his Spirit Tea and chuckled.

"How many Evil Cultivators are there in this world? Xiao Chan was just an exception..."

"It’s normal to be blinded by anger when you see your shop destroyed and your people beaten. That’s why I offered him triple compensation. Once he cools down, he’ll realize it isn’t worth it. Besides, he knows that once a fight with them starts, it’ll be nearly impossible to walk away from it clean!"

"Even the most impulsive person would weigh the pros and cons."

"Tributor Chen is a smart man. He won’t let something with no easy resolution happen."

...

...

"Teacher Li, I’d like to request a few days of leave. I’m preparing to enter seclusion to comprehend a Tier Two Spell. I don’t know how long I’ll be in seclusion. It’s nothing, nothing important, I just feel a bit restless and plan to shut myself away for a few days..."

After requesting leave, he returned to his Cave Mansion. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Chen Che went to the Alchemy Room, selected a few bottles of pills from a wall niche, and placed them in his Storage Pouch.

The Little Chick tilted its head, waiting by his side.

It had now reached the Sixth Layer, and had grown as tall as a man. Even standing there with its wings folded, it looked like a behemoth. But Chen Che knew that the Little Chick was still a juvenile. This type of Golden Core Realm Demon Beast would grow even larger as it matured.

He grabbed the Pure Jun Sword and the Celestial Secret Umbrella, thought for a moment, and then rubbed his face:

’Hmm, I’m missing a mask. It’ll be easy to get recognized. Oh well. If there’s no one left alive, no one can recognize me!’

WHOOSH!

A fierce gust of wind swept up.

The Little Chick shot through the waterfall and out of the Cave Mansion. With a single flap of its wings, it soared into the air, vanishing into the night in the blink of an eye.

As the wind howled past his ears, Chen Che’s eyes narrowed:

’Once this starts, there’s no easy way to end it. But then again, I never planned on an easy ending!’