CHAPTER 437: CHAPTER 284: WHO IS WHOSE HEART DEMON

The first day of the Qinghe Association ended peacefully in such a joyful and harmonious atmosphere.

The restless members of the Demon Race seized the opportunity and quickly transformed the venue of the Qinghe Association into a night market temple fair.

The out-of-town cultivators, having been prepped by the peculiar vibes of Thousand Mechanism Town, weren’t overly surprised this time and quickly blended in.

Some sharp-minded ones even joined the ranks of the stall vendors.

However, some were dragged back by their masters, while others had their masters take over their stalls.

Li Jue, with an expression of a pauper, walked behind Xia Yan along the temporally designated pedestrian street.

Today, he lost face and money, leaving him utterly unmotivated.

The two stopped at a stall, where the cultivator vendor was extolling the virtues of the bottles and jars on his stall, making his pills sound wondrous.

Though he was articulate, his technique was a bit rough; the marks of Medicine King Valley on the jade bottles hadn’t been cleaned off properly.

Yet Xia Yan, as if she hadn’t noticed, listened to the cultivator’s boast until he ran out of things to say. Then she put the medicine bottles back in his hands and handed him half a bag of spirit stones.

"How many bottles would you like?" The cultivator received the spirit stones, smiling from ear to ear.

"None. Because I’m from Medicine King Valley, the medicine is what I refined. Your advertising is good, I stole it." After speaking, Xia Yan gave the dazed Li Jue a pat before moving to the next stall.

A fair-faced cultivator was standing there, beside him floated a large transparent jar, with spiritual qi swirling inside like substances, and several half-fish half-plant creatures swimming within.

That thing piqued Xia Yan’s interest.

Seeing those strange fish, Li Jue also perked up a bit.

"Are these fish for sale?"

The cultivator frowned, looking at Li Jue, "Not for sale, these are my disciples. Also, I’m not vending, I’m taking my disciples shopping."

Li Jue, perhaps a bit scrambled-minded, followed up, "Are your disciples for sale?"

The fair-faced cultivator, "?"

Xia Yan quickly intervened, offered apologies, and stopped an unnecessary argument from escalating.

She stepped on Li Jue’s foot, then smiled at the fair-faced cultivator, "Have you considered letting your disciples join the Beast Taming Sect?"

The fair-faced cultivator, "..."

The clash between odd customs and new things seemed more intriguing than sparring.

Not only Xia Yan and Li Jue, most others felt the same.

Even if not from secluded sects, most cultivators operated within their own continent and county, except for the often-shopping folks from Dragon Tiger Mountain, those who traveled throughout East Continent were truly few.

For many, these strange people and creatures from the Four Continents were even more appealing than the Qinghe Association itself.

However, if were to talk about the most trending topic tonight, it would definitely be about Zhang Ze and Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

The thunderous yet fleeting epic battle between Zhang Ze and Lily amazed many.

Those who could see traces of Zhang Ze’s technique were baffled, and after watching, they started simulating how they would react if faced off against him.

As for those unable to see any clues or simply indifferent ones, they began collecting intelligence on Zhang Ze and other contestants, becoming information brokers.

After all, since they were here, they had to earn some travel expenses to head back.

And Zhang Ze’s image, after being pieced together by various accounts from the Demon Race, started to become exaggerated.

Especially the rumor about him being the illegitimate child of a high monk from the Buddhist Sect was spread in vivid detail. His close association with a young monk became a strong point of evidence for this outrageous rumor.

But Zhang Ze didn’t care.

"Never bother to refute such rumors, the more you refute, the more true it becomes. What you should do is either wait for the buzz to die down or fabricate an even more absurd rumor."

"Really?" Chen Qin asked.

"When have I ever lied to you? After I showcase the methods of several other sects tomorrow, they can’t possibly claim I’m the illegitimate child of all Six Sects, can they?"

"Indeed."

After soothing his junior sister, Zhang Ze came out from the back hall, looking towards Lily still clad in a yellow robe, then at the middle-aged man seated below.

This person was Taoist Baixi, the Sect Leader of Hundred Plays Sect, and he came to seek refuge with Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

Today, the vigorous performance by the cultivators of Thousand Mechanism Pavilion moved many, but only Taoist Baixi acted decisive.

As a small local sect of Cyan Thorn, besides being small in numbers and low in power, Hundred Plays Sect hardly had any shortcomings.

Skills like Immortal Rope and Heaven-Reaching Rope, Household tricks of Hundred Plays Sect, appeared to other proper cultivators as suitable performances to amuse master and junior brothers during festivals.

Due to its comedic nature, the Hundred Plays Sect, counting Taoist Baixi himself, only had ten members in total.

It was nineteen the year before last, nine more left last year, leaving just ten.

Taoist Baixi spread his hands, "This is the situation of Hundred Plays Sect, if you don’t mind, take us in, we’re fine doing odd jobs."

The nine disciples behind him nodded in agreement.

"Ah this, wouldn’t you just leave your sect’s properties like that?" Lily asked.

"Oh, there’s no property left long squandered by me." Taoist Baixi smiled bitterly, "The property now only remains a large courtyard on South Street of Fangyang Town, and the Hundred Plays Costume I’m wearing."

Like a magic trick, he rubbed his patched clothes to reveal a land deed over to Zhang Ze, "That large courtyard was bought from your Sword Sect."

"Taoist, stop selling pity," Zhang Ze took a seat and said, "Our Thousand Mechanism Pavilion values practicality, no hollow talk here. A sect, however small, is still a sect, there’s no reason to let Taoist do menial work."