Following Xiao Yan while he examines the stalls by the side to buy monster core, Xun Er and Xiao Yan slowly move into the more populated and expensive inner parts of the market. The people that come here to buy and sell usually have decent money or physical power.
While Xiao Yan was engrossed in trying to find a Monster Core, Xun Er who was bored, walked up to a clean stall and with her pale-white hand picks up a light green bracelet. The bracelet wasn't crafted with anything special but it had a hint of Ice Silver which made it feel cold to the touch, perfect for hot summer days. In addition, even though the material was quite plain, the craftsmanship wasn't bad…
Right when Xun Er decided to buy the bracelet, she remembered that she had loaned all of her money to Xiao Yan.
Slightly turning around and seeing the busy young man, she could only helplessly shake her head and smile at the old stall owner. Putting down the bracelet, she lazily started moving forward… Her calm manner wouldn't let her ask anyone to buy anything for her, even if it was Xiao Yan….
After walking forward for a bit, right when the bored Xun Er decided to go back to Xiao Yan, a clear laughter rings from ahead.
"Huh, isn't this Ms. Xun Er? Hehe, I wouldn't have thought to find you here, it must be fate."
Her thin brow lightly furrowing, Xun Er tried to find the source of the voice but only saw a group of people. The group was following behind a luxuriously dressed young man.
The young man was only 20+ years old and was quite handsome. His face was slightly pale but his eyes were filled with heat and were staring at the young girl standing in front of him. Within his gaze was also an unrestrained hint of lust.
Looking at the delighted handsome youth, Xun Er's slim eyebrows wrinkled. Not paying attention to his call, she turned away.
"Miss Xun Er!"
Looking at Xun Er from the side, the handsome but pale young man called her and quickly blocked her from the front.
Blocked by the youth, Xun Er stopped her steps. Her pair of long and beautiful eyes were lazily narrowed staring at him. Yet she did not utter a single word.
"Miss Xun Er…" Stared at by pupils that were like water drops and despite the fact that he was used to flirting with beauties, his breathing became somewhat hurried. His clever tongue had lost all of its use for the moment.
"Jia Lie Ao young master, if there isn't anything urgent, please get out the way. I still have to do something."
Looking at this youth, Xun Er finally spoke. Her soft and young voice made the young man's pale face flush with a sick red.
"Hehe, Miss Xun Er, have you come to the market to buy something? I'm quite free right now so why don't we look around the market together?" Taking a deep breath within his mind, Jia Lie Ao's smile was open and gentle.
"Jia Lie Ao young master, I already said that I have something to do! Can you move aside?" Xun Er's small mouth curves upward and her voice was smooth without any hint of irritation.
Being rejected by Xun Er, the edges of Jia Lie Ao's mouth twitched but he kept his smile and pulled out a bracelet from his pockets. The bracelet was a light blue gold color and was made from Blue Gold. From the bracelet hanged a smoothed green ball-like monster core. A soft green was emitted from the monster core and scattered its light on the bracelet, giving it a special hue. Looks like this intricate bracelet costs a lot!
"Hehe, since Miss Xun Er has something to do then I, Jia Lie Ao won't block you anymore." Jiao Lei Ao tightly clutched the bracelet and smiles: "This was a bracelet that I just bought in the market, even though it's not too expensive, it has a level one wood attribute monster core which greatly helps in the recovery of Dou Qi. Since Miss Xun Er hasn't become a Dou Zhe yet, this bracelet is perfect for you. This is just a small gift of mine so please don't say no. After all, I would lose face in front of my underlings…" At the end, Jia Lie Ao purposefully lowered his voice and the underlings around him, as if it was a play, grinned on cue.
Looking at Jia Lie Ao's actions, Xun Er's brow lifted. She didn't know how to deal with such a person.
Right when she was about to refuse, her sight fell onto the green monster core on the bracelet and remembered how Xiao Yan was busily trying to find a wood attribute monster core. Her long eyelashes lightly blinked and her impassive face relaxed a bit…
Looking at Xun Er's relaxed face, Jia Lie Ao's heart flutters happily and quickly pushes the Wood Attribute Bracelet forward: "Miss Xun Er, there's no need to be courteous. Jia Lie Clan and Xiao Clan are both in the top three clans of Wu Tang City so exchanging little gifts is common."
"I'll take the bracelet and remove the monster core and give to Xiao Yan ge-ge. As for the bracelet, when he's not paying attention… I'll throw it away." With this mischievous thought, Xun Er didn't hesitate anymore and stretches her hand out, about to take the bracelet.
Suddenly a hand grabs her hand and stops her from taking the bracelet.
Right when her hand was grabbed, Xun Er pauses in shock before having the Dou Qi in her body flowing in order to protect herself. But right when her hand was about to go free from the grasp, a young male hmph made her obediently stop struggling.
Looking behind her, Xun Er saw Xiao Yan. When her sight moved a bit higher, she saw a harsh young face.
"Don't you know what he's like?" Scowling at Xun Er, Xiao Yan criticized himself in his mind. Then he looks up and says: "Jia Lie Ao young master, your thought is graciously accepted by Xun Er but as for the gift, you should take it back."
Looking at the destroyed atmosphere, a hint of anger flashed within Jia Lie Ao's eyes. But, in front of Xun Er, he tried to keep his "gentlemanly" air and waxily smiles: "Xiao Yan young master, I saw that Miss Xun Er didn't have any jewelry so I wanted to help her a bit. Do you not want to let her have a few small trinkets to accentuate her beauty?"
Helplessly sighing, Xiao Yan glances at the Wood Attribute bracelet in Jia Lie Ao's hand and took out another green bracelet and with some frustration, asks: "Do you really like bracelets? Here you go, don't take other people's stuff for no reason. I already told you that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The ones who offer free stuff always have a hidden motive. With your innocent look, you may have been sold by someone and still wouldn't know what had happened."
Hearing Xiao Yan's words that were obviously directed at him, Jia Lie Ao's face becomes cold. But when he saw the bracelet on Xiao Yan's hand, he couldn't help but laugh.
The bracelet in Xiao Yan's hands, from a material standpoint, couldn't have costed more that 5 Gold Coins. While, his Wood Attribute Bracelet, which had an authentic monster core, cost an entire 1000+ gold coins. The two bracelets, no matter how you look at it, either price or actual usefulness, had a huge difference and Xiao Yan's bracelet couldn't even compare to the Wood Attribute Bracelet.
So, when Jia Lie Ao saw Xiao Yan giving such a poor bracelet to the beautiful Xun Er, he couldn't help but criticize Xiao Yan: "Xiao Yan, I know that you don't have a high position in your clan, but… but why would you give such pitiful thing to Xun Er?"
Ignoring Jia Lie Ao's taunt, Xiao Yan looked at the young girl who was staring at the bracelet in his hand and hurriedly asked: "Do you want it or not? If you don't then I'll just throw it away, it was only 2-3 gold coins."
"Haa…." Hearing Xiao Yan's words, not only did Jia Lie Ao start laughing, his underlings also started to laugh at Xiao Yan with a ridiculing tone.
But the ridiculing laugh didn't continue for long before being cut off as if they had just had their necks cut off. On everyone was a hilariously stunned face.
Xun Er who had been stunned, responded quickly to Xiao Yan's words. Her two hands almost instinctively reached out and snatched the bracelet in Xiao Yan's hand. After getting the bracelet, Xun Er realized what she had done, perhaps she had acted a bit too impatient…
A light red blush appeared on her delicate face but Xun Er wasn't like other people and after a slight period of embarrassment, she graciously hooked the bracelet onto her white wrist. Raising her head and giving a coy smile, she said: "Thank you Xiao Yan ge-ge."
With an ugly face, Jia Lie Ao stared at Xun Er who was quite intimate with Xiao Yan. On his face was apparent jealousy and he said: "Hehe, I didn't realize that Miss Xun Er's preferences were so unique. I guess I've been mistaken."
Xiao Yan glances at Jia Lie Ao in front of him and his gaze landed on the gold star at his chest. He strangely thought: In my memory last year, he was only 9 Duan Qi right? But have become a Dou Zhe at the age of 21, his talent is barely decent…
Seeing that Jia Lie Ao had no intention of leaving, Xiao Yan pursed his lips. His wasn't affected by the power and status behind Jia Lie Ao and since the Xiao Clan and Jia Lie Clan didn't have good relations in the first place, there was no need for him to act humble.
Stroking his nose, Xiao Yan lightly said: "Jia Lia Ao young master, your womanizer habits are known by the entire Wu Tang City. Xun Er is still young and doesn't have time to play with your flirting games so hopefully you can go after other girls in the future."
"Stay away from him!"
After speaking to Jia Lie Ao, Xiao Yan ignored the green-faced Jia Lie Ao and said with jelous tone while using his age as an advantage to arrogantly speak to Xun Er.
"Okay."
Xun Er's happily blinked her eyes and nodded without any hesitation. To her, Jia Lie Ao was just a stranger that she saw a couple of times while Xiao Yan, for her, was irreplaceable. Since Xiao Yan told her to stay away from Jia Lie Ao, she'll just stay away from him.
The choice wasn't a hard one for Xun Er.
Seeing Xun Er nod at Xiao Yan's words, Jia Lie Ao's mouth started twitching. He curled his fists and stared coldly at the calm and impassive young man before him.
Looking Jia Lie Ao's group's movements, Xiao Yan's brow jumped and on his young face, a hint of confidence creeped. Lightly turning his head, he said.
Xiao Yan lightly smiles and turned to face the Jia Lie Ao. He nonchalantly said: "Jia Lie Ao young master, this market is controlled by Xiao Clan, are you sure you want to fight here?"
"Well I can't fight with you " Xiao Yan waved his hand and cut Jia Lie Ao off.
Jia Lie Ao sneered again and with a hint of challenge, he said: " are you afraid?"
Looking at the arrogant face of Jia Lie Ao, Xiao Yan helplessly sighed and puts his hand up to feel his forehead.
Moments later, he raised his head and shrugs his shoulder and with innocence and naivety, he asked: "Jia Lie Ao young master, I would like to ask, how old are you?"
The edge of Jia Lie Ao's mouth twitched and he doesn't respond.
"Big guy, you're already twenty one. How old am I? Fifteen! You're actually asking a kid that hasn't performed his coming of age ritual to fight you? Don't you feel that your request is over the top, don't you feel embarrassed?" Xiao Yan's innocent appearance was so realistic that Xun Er beside him couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
"Haha…"
Hearing the young man's words, the mercenary and merchant stall owners also let out laughs. Xiao Yan was right, at his current age, Xiao Yan could only be considered a kid but Jia Lie Ao would be considered an adult. A challenge of this kind made everyone look down upon Jia Lie Ao.
The laughter of the crowd was like a bucket of cold water and helped Jia Lie Ao regain his calm. From Xiao Yan's maturity and calmness to his impassive attitude, it was extremely easy for people to forget how old he really was.
Therefore, after Xiao Yan said his age, Jia Lie Ao finally remembered that the young man standing in front of him was only fifteen.
Gnashing his teeth, Jia Lie Ao looked at the Xiao Yan and realized that he need to wait . He could only shake his head and coldly say: "One more year and you'll be undergoing the coming of age ritual right? Hehe, I think that someone as crippled as you, once you finish the coming of age ritual, will only be sent to some remote and poor village. At that time, you won't even have the power to enter Wu Tang City, pretty pitiful."
Xiao Yan lightly smiles and nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders.
Jia Lie Ao's eyelids flickered. He didn't know why but whenever he saw the calm face of the young man in front of him, a mysterious rage boiled within him.
You're only a cripple and trying to act like you know everything…
Forcefully suppressing his anger, Jia Lie Ao let out a cold hmph and with a wave of his hand, commands his underlings to exit the crowd.
"Oh right…." His steps stopping, Jia Lie Ao seemed to have remembered something and turning back, he said: " Xiao Yan young master, I heard that your Xiao Clan had their marriage with the Nalan Clan revoked. Hehe, actually, that isn't unexpected. With your Qi talent, you just can't match the Miss Nalan. Haha…" After saying that, Jia Lie Ao left laughing.
Xiao Yan's gaze coldly followed the exit of Jia Lie Ao. Tightly holding Xun Er who was about to rush out, he quietly said: "He's just a mad dog.If he bites you, why should you bite back?"
"But he.. went too far. We can't just let him off like this?" Her eyebrows furrowing, Xun Er indignantly replied.
"I will take revenge my own" Xiao Yan said coldly. A lion's bite might not be that scary but a lion that knows patience is another story, a scary one…
"Xun Er ,Let's go ." Xiao Yan turned back and said to Xun Er .
Xiao Yan stayed silent and pulling on Xun Er's hand, they walked towards some stalls deeper in the market…
After walking past quite a few stalls, Xiao Yan's feet finally stopped. He bent down and stared at a green orb that still had a trace of blood on the stall and said: "I've finally found it."
Moving his hand across the stall, Xiao Yan's grabed the monster core and brought it. After roaming around for some time they went home .