Chapter 473: What Does It Have to Do with Us?
The dao-protector elder’s questioning voice rang in everyone’s ears.
Xiao Mo calmly glanced at the dao-protector elder, then withdrew his gaze and said to Tushan Jingci, “Young Lady, I did this. It has nothing to do with you. I can handle it myself.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Mo started forward.
But Tushan Jingci directly spread her arms and blocked his way.
“Xiao Mo, you’re mine! If it’s your business, then it’s my business. How can it have nothing to do with me?”
Tushan Jingci puffed out her cheeks in anger, then turned around and stood in front of Xiao Mo like a little hen shielding her chick. Facing those dao-protector elders, she said with perfect confidence,
“My Xiao Mo isn’t the kind of person who picks fights for no reason!”
“Your book boys must have done something too much!”
“If anyone should apologize, it should be you!”
“And besides, your four book boys couldn’t even beat my Xiao Mo. Aren’t you embarrassed to say it out loud?”
“You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“Shame, shame!”
“Bleh!”
At the very end, Tushan Jingci made a face at them and stuck out her tongue.
“...”
Mocked by Tushan Jingci, the dao-protector elders’ faces turned green, then purple.
They wanted to flare up.
But setting aside who she was, if a thousand-year-old adult lost his temper at a little girl of six or seven, that would be far too disgraceful.
Just as both sides were stuck in an awkward standoff, someone from Cold Mountain Academy’s Disciplinary Hall finally arrived.
Alongside the Disciplinary Hall cultivator was the idle master from the Elementary Learning Hall—Tushan Jingci’s teacher.
“What ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) happened here?”
Jiang Feng, the deacon of the Disciplinary Hall, frowned as he looked over the crowd.
Wang Zhong, the book boy, wanted to speak first and force his argument through, but Master Xian lifted a hand and silenced him. Then he looked at the human girl standing half behind Tushan Jingci.
“You tell us. What exactly happened?”
“R-Replying to Master, this humble girl is surnamed Liu, given name Shui. I am from Liu Family Village at the foot of the mountain. Some time ago, the academy was recruiting women for odd jobs, and by sheer luck I was chosen, so I managed to earn myself a meal.”
The girl named Liu Shui spoke in a trembling voice.
“Today I was ordered to bring herbs to the pill room to dry in the sun. When I had just reached the summit, I ran into these honored young masters. I tried to go around them, but they surrounded me and deliberately bumped into me, then claimed that I was the one who had run into them and said they were going to stone me.”
“Luckily, this young gentleman happened to come out just then, and that was how I was spared.”
As she spoke, Liu Shui dropped to her knees before Master Xian. Crying, she kowtowed again and again. “This humble girl absolutely had no intention of offending the honored lords of the demon race. If punishment must be given, it should not involve this young gentleman. I beg you, sir, to see clearly.”
Listening to Liu Shui’s words, Xian Xichun’s brows drew together. He lifted a hand and supported the girl with a gentle motion. A breeze like turning pages swept past, caught her forehead before it struck the ground again, and slowly raised her back up.
“Is what this young lady says true?” Xian Xichun asked coldly, looking at the demon book boys. “Do not lie to me. I can have the Disciplinary Hall bring out an artifact and show us exactly what happened here.”
Chen Jue and the others, along with the retainers from their households, all turned to look at them as well.
“Spare us, Young Master! Spare us, Master! We were blinded for a moment. Please spare us, Young Master, Master!”
These book boys were only two years older than Xiao Mo at most. How could they bear that kind of pressure? Their mental defenses collapsed on the spot, and they hurriedly dropped to their knees and begged for mercy.
Master Xian looked toward the retainers from the Heavenly Demon Kingdom, the Thunder Roar Sect, and the other factions and said, “My fellow daoists all know the rules of Cold Mountain Academy. Your young masters’ attendants have broken them. I trust you also know what should be done.”
“We understand, of course.” Several retainers cupped their hands in salute. “This will never happen again.”
“That’s enough. This matter is settled.” Jiang Feng flicked his sleeve. “As for compensation for this young lady, handle it according to the rules. All of you, disperse.”
With that, the Disciplinary Hall rendered its final judgment. There was nothing Xiao Mo and the others could say about it. At the very least, it counted as a decent outcome.
“Many thanks, Master Jiang. Many thanks, big brother from the Disciplinary Hall. Since everything is fine now, Xiao Mo and I will take our leave.”
Once she was sure the matter was over, Tushan Jingci made a very proper little salute, then hurriedly dragged Xiao Mo back to their courtyard for treatment.
Chen Jue and the others had no face left to stay. They immediately left with their households.
As for Liu Shui, now that the danger had passed without disaster, she still had to go to the pill room to dry the herbs.
Very soon, only Xian Xichun and Jiang Feng remained on the summit.
“Did you see it just now?”
Jiang Feng walked over to his friend’s side.
Both of them were looking in the direction Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci had left.
“I did,” Xian Xichun said with a nod. “At such a young age, he’s already at perfected Qi Refining, and taking on four at once was easy for him. He really is impressive.”
“The important thing is the dao art he cultivates...” Jiang Feng shook his head. “I never would have thought the Tushan residence would give Great Dream of Yellow Millet to a human male. Do you know what that means?”
“That is the Tushan residence’s business. Even if we know, what of it? What does it have to do with us?”
Xian Xichun glanced at his friend and smiled.
“Besides, in both wars between humans and demons, the demon-race world was utterly defeated. What face do we have to look down on humans?”
Xian Xichun flicked his sleeve, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked ahead. His voice echoed through the mountain paths, with no concern for who might hear it.
“It is only here in the demon-race world that the demons have grown used to throwing their weight around just because their forces are large.”
Inside the private courtyard where the First Prince of the Heavenly Demon Kingdom was staying,
the book boy knelt on the floor, shivering so hard he did not dare raise his head.
Chen Jue also stood beside his book boy, bent at the waist in salute, not straightening for a very long time.
Seated before them was Chen Bing, ruler of the Heavenly Demon Kingdom.
“It seems I arrived at a very poor time. I had only just reached Cold Mountain Academy, intending to visit Jue’er and inspect his studies, when I heard the elders of the academy’s Disciplinary Hall lodging a complaint before me.”
Chen Bing took a sip of tea, set the cup down, and looked coldly at Wang Zhong.
“Speak. Why did you provoke that little girl from the Tushan residence’s book boy?”
Though Chen Bing was clearly questioning the book boy, Chen Jue’s fists clenched nervously instead, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
“R-Replying to Your Majesty, it was all this servant’s fault. It was all this servant’s fault for breaking the academy’s rules. I beg Your Majesty for mercy.”
Wang Zhong kowtowed again and again. Blood ran from his forehead, streaming down both sides of his face.
“You won’t speak?”
Chen Bing glanced at Wang Zhong.
A single, exceedingly faint strand of pressure from the Immortal Realm descended onto him, no less crushing than a mountain.
Wang Zhong was slammed flat to the ground, unable to move. Even the stone floor beneath him cracked.
“Y-Your Majesty... mercy... mercy...”
Wang Zhong kept begging for his life.
Chen Bing rose from his seat and walked down, looking coldly at Wang Zhong.
“Do not think that because I have favored your father lately, I will not kill you.”
“I will ask you one more time.”
“Why were you targeting Tushan Jingci’s book boy?”