For a brief moment, An Fei sat dumbstruck at the sudden turn of events.
The young girl pressed her back against her chair as her fingers clamped onto the small fox’s fur, causing the small creature to yelp in pain.
“Fang ge-ge?” Xiao Yue called out in surprise.
Yip!
“My… my spirit beast?” the young girl finally responded with a pale voice.
“Yes, Yue’er lacks a spiritual beast even though she has completed the fifth pillar of the Body Tempering Realm.”
Fang Man gave a gracious bow, his presence revealing all components of the proper aristocratic demeanor befitting that of a behemoth clan surpassing that of a few towns, perhaps even districts.
The young lady besides him grasped his hand in anxiousness, only to be quelled by a slow pat to the head.
“Of course, Fang Man won’t leave the Young Lady here without sufficient payment,” the youth paused, his eyes narrowing towards An Fei for a breath.
“How about following this Fang to the Fleeting Swallow City? Fang Man will personally arrange the Young Lady’s stay, and the Young Lady may even receive the chance to enter the Fang Clan itself!”
The young girl had not received the chance to respond when the surrounding customers erupted into a clamor, their voices attempting to force the other to capitulate as they threw their caution to the wind.
“Young Lady, here, you’re being given a heavenly chance, ah!”
“Accept it, and you might even transcend the barriers of this Bone Spirit Town! Aih, to think that a commoner girl might be so lucky…”
“With the Young Master Fang unleashing such a revelation, how will that Xiao Clan Young Miss react? Surely, such a spectacular young man won’t pursue an ordinary girl as that Young Lady?”
An Fei blinked in surprise, the pair of scarlet irises laced with confusion and a hint of caution.
The young girl reached out to tickle the little raven’s wings, as though asking for help.
That Fang Man didn’t see through her disguise, right? If then, did he manage to obtain a glimpse at the small fox?
How… did he see through her leather bag, if it were that case?
“Young Lady?”
Fang Man gestured towards An Fei with his arm, a gentle smile on his countenance.
Combined with his extraordinary demeanor and grand reputation, many of the young females dining within the Eight Immortals Pavilion felt their hearts swoon towards the ninth heaven in affection and awe.
It’s a pity…
“Why… do I have to give you my spirit beast?” the young girl finally replied with a shaking voice.
“I found it within the forest, so why do I have to give it to you?”
The youth from the Fang Clan blinked in shock at the unexpected denial, his mind clamoring to a screeching halt.
On the other hand, the sorely trodden Tang Shiqi jumped to his feet, his complexion invigorated as the youth pointed at Fang Man with an accusatory glare.
“See that, Fang Man?” Tang Shiqi jeered as though he had obtained a spectacular victory.
“You always try to steal the possessions and pets of others, such a vicious personality, ah! Maybe someday, you will toss away Xiao Yue as though she were nothing but a rag doll!”
The youth of the Fang Clan scowled at the bite towards his current actions, his countenance clouded by a hint of scathing anger for the briefest moment.
Before Xiao Yue could retort in passionate fury, Fang Man squeezed her hand in reassurance.
“Yue’er, you mustn’t listen to the sour words of a sore loser,” the youth cooed, before turning towards An Fei for the third time.
“Young Lady, why must you be like this? Fang Man is willing to offer equal compensation for your spirit beast – at the least, it saves the Young Lady quite the number of overwhelming expenses to feed and raise it, no?”
A pair of scarlet eyes briefly dyed with a tinge of coldness and disdain, before replaced by their usual dull lustre.
The young girl tapped the now empty cup of water, her hands stroking the fur of the trembling small fox to calm the startled creature.
“I think I can raise my spirit beast on my own.” An Fei murmured with a soft voice, reducing her projection to the minimum.
“Young Master Fang need not worry, for I fear that I may not sell my spirit beast that I obtained with such difficulty.”
“Even if it were a fox with many tails? Though I was unable to confirm it, the Young Lady’s fox must possess at least five tails, no?”
Fang Man quickly shot back with a gentle but coercive tone, his eyes narrowed with a tinge of malevolence.
At the words, the clamor of the spectators rose to the maximum, and An Fei’s eyes twitched with a hint of fury.
This was pushing her too much!
She didn’t even demand to be involved in this drama, so why did she become the new main target!?
“A fox with numerous tails!” a businessman of the Bone Spirit Town gasped in shock, dabbing at his drenched forehead with his useless handkerchief.
“I’ve never seen a fox with three tails, not to mention five! Such a spirit beast would sell for hundreds of gold coins, if not thousands!”
“That Young Lady possesses such luck, it’s a pity that she rejected Young Master Fang’s offer.”
“That’s right, ah,” another sighed with passion.
“Even if she were to appear ordinary and completely useless compared to the Young Lady of Xiao, such a tribute would probably be sufficient to become the Young Master Fang’s primary wife.”
“Everyone, please listen well!”
The youth of the Fang Clan strode towards the center of the pavilion, his momentum brusquely ejecting its previous occupant to the side.
Fang Man swept his hands to his sides, his spectacularly handsome countenance blurred with a mottled mixture of happiness and worship.
“A multi-tailed tailed fox is equivalent to a beast of the late stages of the Core Formation Realm, if not the early legendary Nascent Soul Realm depending on the number of tails and the resources invested. Furthermore, it is in its infancy, meaning that whoever raises it would achieve spectacular heights in their future.”
“Late Core Formation Realm, if not the Nascent Soul Realm?” A customer shrieked in shock.
“The ancestors of the Bone Spirit Town are Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators… how spectacular would the Nascent Soul Realm be…”
“That Young Lady’s in big trouble, unless she accepts the Fang Clan’s offer. Though, either path she takes will result in her doom, ah.”
“But its owner is a pitiful little girl in her early teenage years, no? If… if I were to obtain such a fox, earning a heavenly favor with the Fang Clan…”
“Even in my Fang Clan, we only possess a four-tailed celestial fox.” Fang Man cautioned with a sweet and calming tone.
“Young Lady, please consider it well. This world does not bade too well for those who obtain treasure beyond their capability, but my Fang Clan will shelter you and give you the utmost protection as you desire, if you grant my Yue’er the spirit beast! Fang Man shall owe you an eternal favor beyond all bounds!”
An Fei’s fury tipped over onto its side, scalding her consciousness with a splatter of scarlet wrath.
The young girl’s hands slithered into the leather bag to grip onto the cold handles of the twin butterfly swords as her lips curled into a disgusted grimace.
A faint, malevolent aura not unlike that of the handle-less sword radiated from her body, causing the little raven and the small fox to blanch in terror, their consciousnesses screaming with the urge to flee.
“Forgive me, Young Master Fang,” the young girl swung the leather bag onto her shoulder, clasping the small fox in her arms.
“Young Master Fang is unable to give what I seek in exchange for my fox. Thus, I see no point in enacting such a trade.”
With his coaxing and educatory words, Fang Man had agitated the customers of the Eight Immortals Pavilion to the extent that regardless of whether An Fei possessed a fox with more than three tails, the men in the pavilion would tear her apart to glance through her possessions.
Thus, the young girl dared to expose the small fox’s head and held it close to her chest, a small white lotus petal inserted in between a few strands of her hair. Her arms brusquely sandwiched the small creature’s tails, making it difficult to discern the exact rarity of the fox at a single glance.
The young girl swept her path clean with a few pats of her hands, marching directly past the Young Masters of the Tang and Fang clans and Xiao Yue without giving a single glance as she headed towards the exit of the pavilion.
The little raven quickly followed suit, its crimson eyes flashing with a hint of deep violet when they fell onto the delicate and attractive figure of the Young Miss of the Xiao Clan.
Regardless of however much they desired to wrench the small fox with the seven fluffy tails from An Fei’s bosom and present it to Fang Man as though to obtain the Fang Clan’s favor, the staff of the Eight Immortals Pavilion could only claw at their heart in agony as they watched the young girl’s figure disappear into the flowing Harmony Road.
