Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The faces of everyone in the marketplace immediately changed. Everyone moved aside.
A black figure moved quickly through the crowd and reached the place where the conflict had happened.
He was a large and muscular man with a bushy beard. He looked at the Spirit Body, which was still throwing punches, and was stunned for a moment. But he was stunned for only a moment. He quickly threw a punch from afar.
The punch didn’t seem to carry much force, and it didn’t give off any sound of cutting through the air. But after the punch, the air started to heat up.
The Spirit Body controlled by Rong Kaixuan started undergoing a great change. Its body went from white to red, and its feet seemed to be as heavy as lead weights. Its speed slowed down tremendously. The instructions from its master were still the most important thing to it, so it refused to let Rong Yitie off and continued to slowly throw punches at him.
The large man angrily snorted and threw out another punch.
He didn’t hold back this time. Once the force from the punch whooshed through the air, the Spirit Body’s head broke open like a watermelon.
Pak…
After its head broke, the Spirit Body started to collapse. It finally disappeared altogether.
Rong Kaixuan’s eyelid twitched a few times. He suddenly realized that being able to evoke Spirit Bodies wasn’t anything to shout about. Some people were able to defeat a Spirit Body with just a few moves.
“Tiecheng, I’m glad you’re here.” Rong Yitie saw who had come and barely managed to pick himself up from the ground. He was filled with glee as he said, “Hurry up and arrest those two murderers. Don’t let them get away.”
The large man frowned slightly and asked, “Yitie, how did you end up in this state?”
Rong Yitie clenched his teeth and said, “It’s all because of these two murderers.” He endured the pain he felt and went over to Rong Kaixin. After checking him carefully, he felt relieved.
That young fellow had sent a large amount of force with that spell, but it wasn’t really a proper spell. It was more like a Spirit Power bomb, so it wasn’t powerful enough to kill his son.
What he couldn’t understand was how this young fellow managed to unleash such a powerful force despite being only an Elementary Stage Spiritualist. It was so powerful that even his Middle Stage Martial Artist son couldn’t fight it.
“Ahem.” Rong Yiyang finally managed to get to his feet. He clasped his hands together and said, “I am a direct descendant of the clan, Rong Yiyang. Greetings to you, Official Tiecheng.”
Tiecheng wasn’t a Rong family member, but he was very reputable in the clan.
He was the disciple of one of the Rong clan elders. He had also married one of the Rong daughters, so he was considered half a family member.
On top of that, he had been an official in the Discipline Hall for many years, so he was much more reputable than an ordinary person.
Perhaps only those high and mighty spiritualists in the Hall of Spiritualists were able to go against him.
Tiecheng was a little shocked. He suspiciously asked, “Are you two also Rong family members?”
Rong Yiyang took his identity waist tag out and said, “Both of us are Rong family members. You can check.”
Tiecheng’s expression instantly calmed down. He looked at both sides and frowned. “Since you’re all Rong family members, why can’t you just talk it out nicely with one another? Why fight to the bitter end?”
He had worked in the Discipline Hall for many years, so he could decipher this situation with one glance. The moment he saw the way they were fighting, he knew they were truly angry with one another and weren’t going to stop until somebody died.
Rong Yiyang’s face reddened slightly as he said, “Official Tiecheng, this whole thing was started by them…”
“Pfft…” Rong Yitie angrily roared, “You two were the ones who were trying to strike an unreasonable deal. As a member of the Discipline Hall, I had no choice but to stop you. Yet, you two dare to accuse me in return. You’ve even injured my son badly. I won’t let this matter off so lightly.”
Rong Yiyang’s face was filled with fury as he retorted, “What nonsense are you saying? We had already closed the deal, but you two coveted the item and tried to force your way in. So…”
“Enough!” Tiecheng gave a low shout and glanced sharply at both sides.
He scanned the area. His gaze fell on the stall owner.
This stall owner was also involved in this matter, so he continued to stand in front of his stall. Everyone else had already scurried off, so he looked very conspicuous standing in there all by himself.
When he saw Tiecheng looking at him, he shuddered and wanted to escape.
A large hand appeared in front of his face. He had no idea when Tiecheng had arrived in front of him.
“You’re the seller, right? Tell me what happened.”
The stall owner’s lips twitched several times as he looked at the people involved. He seemed very terrified.
Tiecheng frowned deeply and said, “I am Tiecheng, an official from the Discipline Hall. No matter what happened earlier, you can honestly tell me what happened. I’ll make sure you’ll be fine.”
The stall owner gulped a few times and asked, “You… Are you from the Discipline Hall?”
“That’s right,” Tiecheng replied in a gentler voice.
The stall owner looked at both sides and thought about what to do. Rong Yitie was also a member of the Discipline Hall, and he seemed to be familiar with Tiecheng. Rong Yitie had also given him a Spirit Coin. As for the other two fellows, they had only given him five silver coins.
He made a decision. The stall owner said, “Sir, this is what happened. I was selling my wares here when these gentlemen liked the same thing at the same time, so they started to offer me a price.” He started speaking very quickly as he pointed at Rong Yiyang. “This gentleman here offered five silver coins, but…” He turned to point at Rong Yitie and said, “This gentleman here offered one Spirit Coin.”
“Wow, one Spirit Coin.”
“What was that item? Was it worth one Spirit Coin?”
There was an uproar in the crowd in the marketplace. One Spirit Coin was not a small sum of money.
Tiecheng frowned and said, “Silence!”
His voice was like a huge blast of thunder that continued ringing in the crowd’s ears. Everyone felt like their eardrums hurt.
Everyone immediately quietened down. Nobody dared to utter anything else.
The stall owner was so frightened that his legs gave way. He collapsed to the ground.
Rong Yiyang slightly trembled, but he managed to stay on his feet. He shouted, “You’re spouting nonsense!”
There was a glint in Tiecheng’s eyes as he said, “I will judge for myself whether he is spouting nonsense or not. For now, shut your mouth.”
Rong Yiyang was indignant, but he didn’t dare continue arguing. Rong Kaixuan suddenly looked up. There was anger in his heart.
Tiecheng took no notice of him. He scoffed quietly and said, “Continue your story.”
The stall owner nodded vigorously and said, “Yes, yes. So, he pushed five silver coins into my hands and took the item away. After that, they started fighting.”
Rong Yiyang was so angry that he started laughing. He quietly murmured, “What a pack of lies.”
Tiecheng coldly glanced at him. Hooked at the people around him. “Is this really what happened? Does anyone have any objections?”
Everyone looked down. Nobody dared to meet Tiecheng’s eyes.
Even though some of them knew what had really happened, they put aside their sense of righteousness once they thought about Rong Yitie’s reputation, as well as his powerful eldest son.
It seemed foolish to offend these reputable men for the sake of people they didn’t even know.
Tiecheng turned around. His gaze was cold. He asked, “What do you two have to say?”
Rong Yiyang took a deep breath and said, “Official Tiecheng, I swear by the reputation of being a direct descendant of the Rong family that before Rong Yitie and his son came to the stall, we had already completed the deal with this stall owner and used five silver coins to buy this item. After Rong Yitie and his son came, they insisted on taking this item away from us.” He looked angrily at the stall owner and said, “This man got a Spirit Coin from Rong Yitie, so he decided to go with the one who benefitted him the most and actually spoke up for them. Tsk, you twisted the facts! Where’s your conscience?”
The stall owner’s face turned red, but he insisted, “You’re the one twisting the facts!”
After he said that, even the stall owner started feeling guilty.
There was a glint in Tiecheng’s eyes. He started frowning again.
His gaze was like fire. He had many years of experience and knew about some of the ugly things that Rong Yitie and his son did, so he had already guessed what really happened.
But he now had a problem in his hands.
Rong Yitie’s family’s position in the clan was very high and powerful while Rong Yiyang and his son were clearly nobodies. It wasn’t possible to award justice to the nobodies.
He had seen the Spirit Body Fighter earlier, but Tiecheng thought that Rong Yiyang and his son had probably unleashed it from a Sealing Talisman.
If he had known that Rong Kaixuan was a Spirit Gatherer, he wouldn’t have hesitated like that.
There was absolute silence in the marketplace. Everyone’s eyes were on Tiecheng. It was as if they were wondering how he was going to settle this matter.
After some time, Tiecheng declared loudly, “Rong Yitie, Rong Yiyang, you’re both direct descendants of the Rong family. According to our family rules, all descendants of the family should live in harmony. You should not insult, bully, or force each other.”
Rong Yitie and Rong Yiyang both hung their heads and agreed. This was indeed the rules that were set by their ancestors. There were many who had disobeyed these rules long ago, but nobody dared to confront them about it.
“The two of you actually started fighting so seriously in the marketplace over an item. What an embarrassment to the Rong family.” Tiecheng’s expression darkened as he said, “I don’t care about what item the two of you were competing for, and I don’t care about why you two ended up fighting. Since you’ve all embarrassed the family, then you have to be punished.” There was a gleam in his eye as he coldly asked, “Are all of you agreeable?”
Rong Yitie and Rong Yiyang couldn’t wait to kill each other. But in front of the great and reputable Official Tiecheng, they had no choice but to hang their heads and reply, “We are agreeable.”
The power that the Discipline Hall had was tremendous, and Tiecheng was one of its top officials. If they went against him in public, that would be posing a challenge to the authority of the Rong clan’s Discipline Hall. If that happened, one would lose the case despite being in the right.
Just when the crowd thought that Tiecheng had resolved this matter, a bright and energetic voice suddenly rang out.
“I don’t accept this…”
The crowd was stunned while Tiecheng’s face fell. They all looked toward where the voice came from.
Rong Kaixuan took large steps forward and stood in front of his father. His small body now suddenly seemed very tall and large.
“They tried to snatch away something that didn’t belong to them and were unreasonable. This is an embarrassment to the Rong family, and they are failures of the Rong family. If you don’t punish them accordingly, then you are only allowing them to become worse. In that case, then you are also guilty.”
His voice rang out far and wide in the marketplace. It echoed in the crowd’s ears, as well as in their hearts.
Tiecheng was taken aback. After a while, he opened his mouth to speak.
Before he could say anything, another bright but effeminate voice rang out.
“That’s right. I don’t accept this either…”