Invitation

Jiang Yue reacted as soon as his feet touched the ground. He spun his body around and kicked the spear's shaft, which numbed his attacker's hand. The spear fell to the ground in a loud clatter, and the attacker retreated backwards while rubbing his numb hands.

Jiang Yue did not stop there.

He immediately pursued the person and once again kicked out and sent the person flying for a few metres before their flight was broken by the wall of a building.

"Who are you?" He demanded as he placed his foot on the person's neck.

Jiang Yue had reacted on reflex and now that he had a chance to catch his breath, he could see that the person was a ninth level meridian awakening realm cultivator.

His obstructed qi flow showed that he had yet to connect his nine meridians to form a qi cycle, but the short fight revealed that he was an experienced fighter.

It was only because Jiang Yue had trained in his previous life and constantly practised with Yu Nianzhen in the current life that he was able to quickly react.

'I need more combat training.' He thought as he glared at the man beneath his foot.

He wasn't among Wang Hui's bodyguards that Jiang Yue had previously met, but other than the young city lord, he couldn't think of anyone else who would randomly attack him on the street.

"Young master Jiang is very valiant." A voice said from the side and Jiang Yue turned his head without removing his foot from his attacker's neck.

He hadn't noticed it, but the scuffle had attracted an audience and several people had stopped to watch the short battle. Amongst them was the woman who had just spoken, but her appearance made Jiang Yue even more cautious.

'Who is she?'

'How did she know his name?'

A Myriad of thoughts flashed in Jiang Yue's brain, but the most pressing was that he couldn't see her cultivation level.

She looked like an ordinary mortal, but the confident look on her face revealed that she couldn't be ordinary.

In that case, she was either using a cultivation concealing talisman or her cultivation was higher than his by at least one realm.

Jiang Yue discretely cast his eyes around, and other than the woman, he couldn't detect another threat to his person but he didn't relax in the least.

"The young lady knows my name." He said.

"How can I not know such a young prodigy?" The woman asked with a sly smile on her face.

The surrounding crowd focused their attention on Jiang Yue but now that he was equipped with a concealing talisman, he appeared like a normal mortal.

This, however, did not stop their speculation and discussions could be heard amongst the curious crowd.

'It seems that the news spread from the people at the restaurant.' Jiang Yue thought and sighed in resignation.

Although they had already hidden their cultivation, there was no way to silence those who had already found out about them. The question now was what the young lady wanted from him and Jiang Yue narrowed his eyes as he looked at the woman in question.

The woman smiled and then turned her eyes to the man beneath Jiang Yue's foot, "my servant has offended you."

Jiang Yue understood that she was indirectly asking him to let the man go but he pressed his foot even harder, causing the man to groan in pain.

"May I know why the young lady attacked me?"

The woman frowned when she saw that Jiang Yue had not followed her cue, but she quickly regained her relaxed expression.

"Would young master Jiang care to have afternoon tea with me?"

It was Jiang Yue's turn to frown now.

Although he was reasonably optimistic that he could escape from the woman, Jiang Yue didn't want to follow her. However, he didn't know Yu Nianzhen's situation and if it was similar to his, it wouldn't be good for either to act recklessly.

"The young master doesn't need to worry, I only want to have tea."

"The young lady has a unique way of inviting someone for tea."

The woman smiled and shrugged her shoulders carelessly.

She had received news on the same day that Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had encountered Wang Hui in the restaurant. However, she couldn't do anything because they had already gone into seclusion by the time she managed to track them down.

It was not until today that they exited their retreat and she quickly made her move.

"If it's just tea, I am willing to join the young lady." Jiang Yue finally agreed.

He couldn't detect any malicious intent from the woman and he suspected that he would be fine unless something happened during their conversation.

Jiang Yue kicked away the prone servant and the woman chuckled in amusement, but she did not take action to avenge her servant.

"Let's go." The woman said and led Jiang Yue to a carriage that was waiting to the side.

The carriage was pulled by a class one demon horse and although it was several times more luxurious than their bullock pulled cart, Jiang Yue could instinctively feel that the protection arrays were weaker than their cart.

In the carriage, the two sat across from each other and did not speak as the carriage made its way from the antique street to the entrance of a stylish teahouse located towards the centre of the city.

"The old Fengying Tea House is one of the best teahouses in the city." The woman said as she led Jiang Yue to a private room in the tea house.

Jiang Yue did not comment, but at the back of his mind, he determined that he would not pay for what he consumed in the place.

After all, he had been forced to come over and if he dared to pay, he would most definitely wipe out his remaining gold coins.

There was even a chance that he wouldn't have enough gold coins to cover his expenses and he would be forced to work there to cover the difference.

'When can we be rich again?' He thought as he looked at the menu.

The cheapest cup of tea was one hundred gold coins and if he wanted snacks to go with that, he would have to shell out a few more hundreds.

Jiang Yue sighed and then looked at the woman, "what does the young lady recommend?"

"I am Bai Zheng, the first miss of the Bai family." The young woman introduced and Jiang Yue recalled everything he knew of Fengying city.

Other than the city lord's residence which was the sky in Fengying city, there were four major clans and the Bai clan was among the four.

Each family controlled a portion of the city's business and the Bai Family was the second most powerful among the four clans.

"What does miss Bai want with me?" Jiang Yue did not beat around the bush.

Bai Zheng took a delicate bite of an osmanthus cake and only after she had washed it down with a sip of green tea, did she speak.

"I would like to apologise for my rudeness earlier."

Jiang Yue lifted his right brow in question but offered neither forgiveness nor complaint. He had already figured out that the woman had been testing him, but he would not relax until he knew why she had done that.

"I am an inner disciple of the Sea Cloud Sect and I came back to prepare my clansmen for the selection."

The statement finally caught Jiang Yue's interest and the woman chuckled when she saw that.

"You will definitely pass the selection in two months." The woman said and, Jiang Yue did not correct her presumption.

Everyone assumed that all cultivators would want to join a regional ruler like the Sea Cloud sect, so it was very logical that Bai Zheng had come to the conclusion that the two of Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen would be the same.

Bai Zheng had heard that the two boys had a powerful master, but after investigating for an entire week, she hadn't found the master or clues related to the person. However, she didn't find it weird because the purported master was a cultivator of the origin tempering realm and a master like that could not be found unless he really wanted to be found.

Her worry was that the master was already part of a faction, but seeing that Jiang Yue did not refute her statement, she began to think that the master was a hidden cultivator who had been cultivating in isolation.

If that was the case, there was still a chance that the two boys would join the Sea Cloud sect rather than following their master to cultivate in isolation.

"Does your assault have something to do with the selection?"

Bai Zheng chuckled and thought, 'he sure can hold a grudge.'

"The Sea Cloud sect has seven peaks and the top ten recruits are allowed to choose the peak that they want to join. I want you to choose my third peak."

Jiang Yue had general knowledge about the Sea Cloud sect, but this was the first time he had heard anything about peaks. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Bai Zheng.

"Why?"

"Although all seven peaks are part of the Sea Cloud Sect, each peak is an independent faction and sect resources are allocated to each peak according to performance. Your future achievements will not be small and if you can help my third peak get better results in interpeak ranking competitions, you will not be treated badly. You will surely become a powerful cultivator if you join my third peak."

"It isn't certain that I will be among the top ten recruits. Also, isn't it the same if I join any of the other six peaks?"

"That's true."

Bai Zheng did not offer further explanation and Jiang Yue chuckled in appreciation of her personality.

It was true that he would develop even if he joined other peaks so her request was only a pre-emptive solicitation before other peaks got to him.

"I will think about it, but for now, how about doing some business?"