Chapter 260: Stopping Condensation (3.5k)
As the indifferent words fell, the commotion in the hall surged once more. Someone actually dared to provoke this Battle King level expert at this time. Did they not see the shop owner, also a Battle King, watching without intervening?
In just a moment, all eyes turned. Upon seeing Su Jiu’s appearance, they all froze slightly. Miss Qingyi, Lin Yu, also looked over. This time, she finally recognized Su Jiu and the other person. With unconcealed anger, she blurted out, “It’s you?!”
Hearing Lin Yu’s words, Elder Lin Heng in blue narrowed his eyes, his aged forehead creasing slightly. He looked towards Su Jiu and the other person, his gaze filled with scrutiny as he asked, “Xiao Yu, do you know these two?”
With intense indignation, Lin Yu’s face was laced with malice. As if recalling something, she suddenly laughed out loud and said ferociously, “Of course I know them. I’d recognize them even if they turned to dust!”
Raising an eyebrow, Su Jiu’s gaze swept across their faces before she dismissively withdrew her eyes, settling them back on the short shop owner. From her storage bag, she took out the intermediate magic crystal dropped by the Battle King level Giant Squid and two other ordinary intermediate water-ice magic crystals. She then walked forward a few steps with a smile, and under everyone’s watchful eyes, tossed the magic crystals over as if they were toys. “This is my magic crystal… and these White Snowballs should be mine, right?”
Since the shop owner said he needed ice magic crystal powder to craft them, she didn’t mind doing him a favor.
“Naturally… but this magic crystal…”
The short shop owner instinctively caught the magic crystals. His gaze fell upon the magic crystal dropped by the Battle King level Four-Patterned Giant Cuttlefish. His half-closed old eyes snapped open, and his hand trembled slightly.
This was a Shape-Forming Magic Crystal dropped by a Battle King level Monster!
It was important to note that high-rank Battle General monsters and Battle King level monsters both dropped intermediate magic crystals. However, the difference was that Battle King level magic crystals had already begun to shape, possessing a preliminary form, and contained significantly higher energy. Ordinary people wouldn’t use such items to trade.
The moment the short shop owner touched the magic crystal, he suddenly felt something sticky, like biological blood, on it. He was momentarily stunned. Then, he picked it up and squeezed it between two fingers. Seeing the elongated liquid, he was immediately alarmed. Was this the undried blood of a monster?
Was this Battle King level monster freshly slain?! This couldn’t possibly be a used magic crystal. It must be from the person right in front of him…
With this thought, the short shop owner looked again at Su Jiu, who led the pair. Looking at her innocent little face, he couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath.
To be able to kill a monster that dropped a magic crystal with this kind of shape, and yet this person appeared relatively unharmed, it was very likely a complete crushing victory…
“Then I’ll take these twelve White Snowballs.”
Smiling faintly at the short shop owner who was staring at her in a daze, Su Jiu gently packed the twelve White Snowballs into her storage bag under the curious gazes of everyone. Having done so, her attention fell on the last White Snowball in Lin Yu’s hand. She slowly walked towards Lin Yu and asked gently, “Can you give me the ball in your hand? It belongs to me now.”
“Grandpa, it was them who bullied your granddaughter last night. You must judge them for me! She even wants to snatch my White Snowball…”
Seeing Su Jiu daring to come and ask for the White Snowball, the Miss Qingyi, Lin Yu, immediately put on an act. Her little mouth pouted, and tears started to stream down her face. She was already unhappy yesterday…
Now that her grandfather was by her side, she felt as if she had a backup, and her tone of voice became much more forceful. Pointing at Su Jiu’s face, she clutched the White Snowball tightly to her chest.
“I have already paid for this White Snowball. Please return it to me…” Seeing Lin Yu’s actions, Su Jiu’s voice remained calm, and she made no move to act.
“Grandpa, save me! She wants to kill me!”
Upon hearing this, a hint of fear flashed across Lin Yu’s cheeks. She quickly retracted her finger, recalling the incident last night where she had almost died inexplicably. She still harbored a sense of fear towards Su Jiu and the other person.
“Do you know the consequences of offending this old man in Yunpu City? How dare you lay a hand on my Lin family?”
As Lin Yu spoke, a streak of cyan light suddenly shot from the location of the Elder in Blue, appearing beside Lin Yu. His gaze locked onto Su Jiu, a powerful aura erupting, sweeping out in all directions. His gloomy voice resonated through the small wooden building.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Following Lin Heng’s voice, several rushing sounds suddenly echoed. Immediately, more than a dozen figures surrounded Su Jiu and the other person. As soon as they appeared, they all respectfully bowed to the Elder in Blue, Lin Heng. The leading cloaked figure’s pupils dilated, and he shouted, “It’s you two who attacked our Lin family’s Young Lady, right?! I recognized your appearances last night.”
Observing the situation and feeling the intense pressure, the Green Robe Woman whispered to the short shop owner, “Shop owner, aren’t you going to intervene… After all, this is our buyer.”
Glancing at the Green Robe Woman, the short shop owner felt a bitter smile well up inside him. Intervene? He feared that the old Lin family member wouldn’t even be enough for the Black Skirt Girl to deal with.
Even though he thought this, he still had to maintain appearances. Thus, a yellow-earth aura surged from him, repelling the pressure that was pushing outwards. He then shouted sternly at Lin Heng not far away:
“Patriarch Lin, please do not take action against my customers within my shop.”
Lin Heng, standing not far from Su Jiu, let out another cold snort. With a wave of his hand, an even stronger aura surged upwards, instantly suppressing the short shop owner’s aura once more. He said with a faint smile, “Heh heh… This old man is now in the middle stage of Initial Stage Battle King. How can you, who just advanced and are still injured, compare? This person dared to attack my granddaughter, and I only want to capture her alive.”
His aura suppressed, the short shop owner grunted, his aura significantly weakened. He stared intently at the Elder in Blue, Lin Heng, and berated, “Disrupting order like this, aren’t you afraid the Law Enforcement Hall will come for you?!”
“Law Enforcement Hall? Let alone the Law Enforcement Hall, even the local Dragon Hunters, would they dare to act against me so casually?” Lin Heng said with a light, indifferent smile.
“You!”
His eyes darkening, the short shop owner suddenly looked up. After exchanging a glance with Lin Heng, his gaze fell upon Su Jiu. However, unlike the sympathetic glances from the outside experts, his eyes held more helplessness.
“The shop owner’s good intentions are appreciated, but some things I will resolve myself.”
Facing these appearing Lin family experts, Su Jiu’s expression finally turned cold. She bowed slightly to the short shop owner and said calmly under everyone’s perplexed gazes.
She originally had no intention of provoking this local power, but today’s affair, which was merely a trivial matter, had escalated to this point with the other party making such a fuss and repeatedly testing her patience. She had been lenient before, letting Bai Zhi spare them. Now, they were ungrateful and wanted to make a move again…
Although Lin Heng was an Initial Stage Battle King, he posed no significant threat to Su Jiu, who had the upgraded “E Huo” at her disposal. If the other party pushed their luck today, she wouldn’t hesitate to be ruthless.
After all, she considered herself not a bad person, but not a good person either. Otherwise, she would have already dealt with Bai Zhi righteously.
“Wange!”
Sensing the increasingly powerful aura within the wooden building, moments later, under the gaze of countless eyes, Su Jiu’s delicate face was serene. She slowly withdrew her fair palm from her black sleeve, intertwining her fingers. Her calm voice resonated throughout the entire venue. Accompanying her voice, a frost aura surged outwards. Her long black dress rippled, and the raven feather patterns on it emitted a faint black aura, as if coming to life.
“Firstly, I never attacked you first; secondly, even if I did attack you, what of it?”
Sensing an immense aura comparable to Lin Heng of the Lin family, rising like a suddenly appearing mountain range, it caused the expressions of countless people to change drastically.
“Battle King level expert?”
Exclamations echoed throughout the wooden building. They then stared, dumbfounded, at Su Jiu, dressed in the black raven-feather dress. Such a young Battle King level expert was something they had never witnessed before in all these years.
Miss Lin Yu’s complexion also turned somewhat pale. She knew perfectly well how formidable a King level expert was. Even with the Lin family’s strength, they wouldn’t casually provoke an unknown Battle King level expert.
The reason they had acted against the people of [Emerald Feather Tower] was that the Lin family had long coveted the business of this alchemical artifact and intended to annex the entire [Emerald Feather Tower] at this opportunity.
Compared to the shock of the crowd, Elder Lin Heng’s expression shifted even more dramatically. This was because he clearly sensed that this woman’s strength actually surpassed his. Moreover, within her aura, he detected a sharp sword intent. If they were to clash, he might not last twenty moves.
“Your Excellency… we did not intend to cause trouble. This girl, I will definitely discipline her more in the future.”
With his expression shifting, Lin Heng’s gaze towards his granddaughter suddenly became much sterner. He then turned his gaze towards Su Jiu and the other person, his tone unconsciously softening. “Two… the Lin family was at fault first today. I apologize on behalf of this girl.”
“This old man changes his tune faster than us women… giggle.”
Bai Zhi quietly watched the scene, finding it rather amusing. She hadn’t expected that after several hundred years, the human world would still be so dominated by strength, where the strong preyed on the weak.
“I apologize for making you all witness this. This granddaughter, this old man will definitely discipline her well in the future.” Elder Lin Heng sighed somewhat awkwardly and waved his hand, saying solemnly, “Take Xiao Yu back!”
Seeing Lin Heng’s somewhat displeased expression, the Lin family experts who had surrounded Su Jiu dared not speak. They weren’t fools and naturally understood that while they were usually arrogant and domineering, this time they had truly provoked someone they shouldn’t have.
Seemingly realizing she had provoked a big shot, Lin Yu’s face turned deathly pale. She stood there like a wooden puppet, not daring to say anything, and was taken out of the wooden building by the Lin family retainers.
“Shouldn’t the former Patriarch Lin make some sort of compensation? Quite a few items in this shop have been damaged.”
Su Jiu’s expression was serene as she watched this scene. After Lin Yu was escorted away, she calmly said to Lin Heng, her aura becoming even more piercing. The frost-covered thin blade in her hand vibrated.
Taken aback by Su Jiu’s direct demand for compensation, Lin Heng then cupped his fists and said with a wry smile, “The Lin family will cover the compensation for these items.”
The sword in Su Jiu’s hand was still gathering power, seemingly dissatisfied with Lin Heng’s answer. Having been troubled repeatedly, it was impossible to let the other party off without paying a heavy price.
Seeing Su Jiu’s demeanor, Lin Heng seemed to understand her thoughts somewhat. His gaze swept over the frost-emitting blade, and after a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said, “This old man has a herb that can enhance extraordinary attributes, which is from a Battle King level. I’ll give this herb to you, and we’ll call it even this time.”
At this moment, the frost slowly stopped condensing.
