Chapter 65
As these words were uttered, everyone present gasped in astonishment—this was simply too domineering.
Who would have expected a bathhouse owner to be so imposing, angrily confronting the young master of the Xia Family without showing any weakness.
Xia Chuan’s nose was practically crooked with rage; never in Ancient Moon City had anyone dared to have a war of words with him, especially when he couldn’t talk his way out of it.
Damnit, who exactly is the overbearing CEO here?
“You’re quite the talker, but soon I will cut out your tongue and see if you can remain so calm,” Xia Chuan said.
His eyes ablaze with fury, spiritual energy surged around him, revealing his Golden Core Stage cultivation without a hint of reservation.
With a quick movement of his palms, he instantly appeared before Li Xiaobai, enshrouded in black mist, and a dark palm imprint struck Li Xiaobai’s chest.
“Murder Seal!”
“Young Master Liangchen!”
Situ Yanyu was incredibly nervous; to her, Xia Chuan was a genuine Golden Core Stage expert, a realm she aspired to reach in her lifetime. She wasn’t sure if an injured Li Xiaobai could safely withstand this palm strike.
However, it turned out that her imagination was limited by her strength.
In an instant, the garments on his chest were incinerated, yet his flesh beneath remained unscathed.
Xia Chuan’s expression changed.
His attack had been ineffective. He drew the sword from his waist with a reflexive motion—the blade glinting coldly, sword qi swirling impressively around it.
“Evil Banishing Sword Technique!”
The pitch-black sword qi stabbed directly at Li Xiaobai’s brow from point-blank range.
Sword qi met flesh.
[Attribute Points +300…]
Still weak.
“Crack!”
The passive Reflect skill activated, and Xia Chuan’s sword trembled violently, instantly shattering into powder, along with his hand being ripped into a bloody mess.
“How… how is this possible!” Xia Chuan’s face was a mix of shock and disbelief, his own Golden Core Stage cultivation had not inflicted the slightest harm.
The most critical point was that his mid-grade Spiritual Artifact had been shattered by Li Xiaobai’s flesh—what kind of strength was this!
“Liangchen has already said, in this world, the only one who can injure Liangchen is Liangchen himself.”
Li Xiaobai said nonchalantly.
[Attribute Points: 400.]
After raising his defensive power to the sixth rotation of the Indestructible Golden Body, he no longer cared about these minor attribute points.
The further he progressed, the more terrifying the number of attribute points needed became. Naturally, the means of increasing attribute points had to diversify. Relying solely on taking damage from cultivators’ attacks to gain attribute points was overly simplistic.
“Who exactly are you?”
“Are you sent by the other families to oppose my Xia Family?”
The formidable strength of his opponent left Xia Chuan astounded.
In an instant, his thoughts turned to the business that the Xia Family was currently discussing, suspecting that the other families might be intending to sabotage it.
“Liangchen dislikes idle chatter; all you need to remember is my name—Ye Liangchen,” Li Xiaobai said.
“Good, the Xia Family will remember you. We will avenge today’s humiliation when the time is ripe!” Xia Chuan said with a somewhat fierce expression; in just a matter of minutes, Li Xiaobai had made him look like a complete fool.
“Indeed, Ye, my Xia Family is not one you can afford to offend; you will be killed within three days!” Xia Liu also shouted threateningly.
“No matter, feel free to summon anyone you know. Liangchen wouldn’t mind playing along with you all. If I win, I would ask that you get out of my store.”
“Of course, if you cease this nonsense, Liangchen will surely reward you handsomely in the future,” Li Xiaobai said calmly, judging by the cultivation levels of these family disciples, the clans’ strength in Ancient Moon City must not be formidable; the highest would likely be in the Nascent Soul Stage. As long as he didn’t face someone of the straw-cloaked man’s caliber, there generally wouldn’t be much trouble.
It was time to cause a stir.
“Indeed, hurry up and scram; you’ve lost all face for the Xia Family.”
Li Ya stepped out from inside the house and said indifferently. The Li Family was also a major clan, and although they did not have as wide a network as the Xia Family, they were no less influential.
“You… I will remember this day’s events,”
the Xia brothers said, their faces turning green with anger, but being no match for their opponents, they could only scamper away in disgrace.
“Alright, the shop is back in business. Those who wish to take a bath, please pay the fee and proceed to the bathhouse.”
Li Xiaobai remained unperturbed, his demeanor neither haughty nor humble, instantly capturing the hearts of the female cultivators present.
Handsome, powerful, a money-maker with an unyielding spirit, such a man was truly hard to find even with a lantern.
The line neatly re-entered “Tangneng First-class.” The hour that Young Master Li of the Li Family, Li Ya, had purchased was up, he was reluctant to leave and wanted to “sneak in” a bit longer.
“Brother Ye, I fear great trouble will find you from now on…”
“The Xia Family is one of the most prominent in Ancient Moon City; it is said they have intimate dealings with several other cities. No one in Ancient Moon City dares to offend them, not even the spots to train with the Holy Demon Sect each year; this year, the Xia Family took three of those places.”
Li Ya shook his head and sighed.
“Train with the Holy Demon Sect?” Li Xiaobai’s eyes lit up.
“Brother Ye must know of the Holy Demon Sect’s existence; it is one of the top sects in the Northern Region, with many sects and cities around selecting talents to train at higher levels.”
“Each family in the city selects a young Disciple to go to the Holy Demon Sect, but this year, the Xia Family abruptly chose three Disciples, forcefully seizing the Song Family and Qiu Family’s spots. Everyone else could only boil with silent rage.”
“The Xia Family is not easy to provoke,”
said Li Ya.
Li Xiaobai remembered there seemed to be such talk on the streets. He had heard people mention it, but at that time, he was too busy building his bathhouse and recovering from injuries, so he had tossed it to the back of his mind.
Looking at it this way, it seemed he already had his ticket back to the Holy Demon Sect; when the time came, he could just follow the large group.
At this moment, his senior brothers and sisters must have already reached the Holy Demon Sect. With their speed of cultivation, perhaps by the time they met again, they might all be powerful figures in their own right.
“Brother Ye, what do you think of this person?” said Li Ya suddenly, beaming.
“Brother Li is quite good, not coddled like a hothouse flower, worth befriending,” answered Li Xiaobai.
“Then I wonder if Brother Ye could do me a favor and let me go in for another soak?”
“Brother Li, even close brothers keep financial accounts clear; you’ve spent all your Spirit Stones, best you leave early and line up again.”
“I’ve just shared some important intelligence though.”
“Sorry, but my mind was a bit muddled just now; I didn’t hear a thing.”
“…”
Tangneng First-class maintained an atmosphere of tranquility as cultivators constantly came and went.
However, many cultivators took away some of the bathwater before leaving.
Despite Li Xiaobai’s explanation that the water was just ordinary water, most people didn’t believe it and sought to understand the principle behind it.
Aside from the water, many also took a small piece of brick, since apart from the water, stones and bricks made the bathhouse.
As long as they could unravel the secrets, their power would be able to soar to the heavens.
Li Xiaobai wasn’t the least bit worried about this. Whether it was the building materials or the water, none of it was some exotic treasure; the primary condition for Tangneng First-class to operate was that the bathhouse must be built by himself.
This one condition eliminated the possibility of others copying it.
But what he did not know was, at this very moment, a conspiracy targeting Tangneng First-class was quietly unfolding.
The Xia Family.
“Who is that bathhouse owner who dares to defy my Xia Family?”
“Moreover, why is a mere bathhouse so popular?”
The Family Head of the Xia Family wore a thoughtful expression and asked.
“Father, that owner is called Ye Liangchen, utterly arrogant. He even said he wanted the children to find everyone they knew to join him for fun. As for the bathhouse, I have already sent people to investigate,”