Chapter 13 Sword cultivators are ruthless killers; they kill without blinking an eye, cutting grass without hesitation…

"Hey! Look how ignorant you are! There are so many treasures in the world of magic cultivators! I heard he used a magic artifact called the Qiankun Bag to put all those things in. This Qiankun Bag is different from the storage bags commonly seen in the world of magic cultivators. It can hold anything! Inanimate objects, living things, magic treasures, gold and silver, hey! It can take them all indiscriminately. It's really amazing!"

"There's such a powerful magic weapon? That thing must be on that kid right now. If we capture him, all those things will be ours!"

Shen Zhengyuan had obviously heard what they were saying, but he showed no anger on his face. He merely glanced at the table in the direction of the table, his eyes flashing with mockery and contempt. Clearly, he did not consider those people to be a threat.

Just as everyone was discussing how to divide what they had snatched, someone suddenly said, "Since the people in the cultivation world are willing to give him all those treasures, doesn't that mean they all believe that kid can protect them? What is that kid's cultivation level? Could he be one of those legendary geniuses who can cultivate for one day and be equivalent to ten thousand days of other people's cultivation?"

Upon hearing this, the people looked at each other in bewilderment, unsure of how to respond.

Just as they were feeling confused, someone suddenly said, "We don't know how strong that kid is, but I heard he has a woman with him. She seems to be from the sword cultivation world. She looks sickly and easy to deal with, but she can be quite fierce when she gets going!"

No sooner had that person finished speaking than another person said, "Impossible! Putting aside the fact that the sword cultivator world is severely weakened and has no time to care about other people's affairs, don't you all know what kind of temper those sword cultivators in the sword cultivator world have? They are all ruthless killers who will eliminate any threat without hesitation, and their killing intent is extremely strong!"

“That’s right!” another person chimed in. “If someone really did run into him, they must have fought. And if they did fight, would the sword cultivators really let him go? They would have been dead by now! This is probably just some fabricated news!”

After that, their discussion returned to the world of magic cultivators and Shen Zhengyuan, and they stopped talking about sword cultivators.

But since they mentioned sword cultivators, it means that someone among those who came to provoke them must have leaked the information.

As time goes by, this news will only spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, until the situation becomes difficult to control. Obviously, we can't stay here for long. We need to find someone with a kind heart to borrow some spiritual power to activate the magic artifact and get on our way.

Li Chen put down the silver and left the teahouse one after the other with Shen Zhengyuan.

She was looking around, trying to find someone who didn't seem very bright among the passing monks, but before she could find him, she heard a hawker's cry.

There are many vendors in this city, so it's normal to hear their calls. The reason that Li Chenjin was attracted to them was because the content of the calls was related to them.

Li Chenjin could hear it, and Shen Zhengyuan naturally heard it too. He moved closer to Li Chenjin and whispered in her ear, "See, I told you we should have killed them."

Li Chen touched his nose, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "This... what if this was just a random drawing? What if it doesn't look like the real thing?"

Shen Zhengyuan scoffed at Li Chenjin's "death struggle" and said no more.

As more and more people gathered in the direction of the hawking, Li Chen felt somewhat uneasy. After thinking it over, he decided to take the risk and go over to take a look to see if the portrait was really lifelike.

After she and her people finally squeezed into the crowd, they found that the portraits, which cost one or two taels of silver each, were selling extremely well. In just a short while, nearly forty portraits had been sold. Whoever came up with this way to make money was truly a business genius.

She could laugh at first, but when she saw the portrait clearly, she found she couldn't laugh anymore, because...

Because the portrait was drawn so realistically!

It was so lifelike, as if their faces had been printed directly out, that she couldn't help but gasp.

Just as she lowered her head, preparing to lead her people out of the crowd to leave the city for further discussion, she suddenly heard someone excitedly exclaim, "I see people! I see people! Aren't these them in the portrait?!"

As soon as the man spoke, the people around him immediately took out their portraits and looked curiously in the direction he was pointing.

All eyes fell on Li Chenjin and Shen Zhengyuan. They looked at them and then at the portraits in their hands. After comparing them several times, they found that they were indeed exactly the same. This surprised and excited everyone present. It was as if they never expected that such a good thing would happen to them.

Li Chen sighed, raised his head, and looked at the person selling paintings.

The moment the man met Li Chenjin's gaze, he recognized her. He screamed, bent over and crawled to the ground, then scurried under the table, trembling so violently that the entire table shook. A broken voice could be heard from within: "Senior, senior, spare my life! I'm desperate for money, I just wanted to... I wanted to earn some to survive... Senior, spare my life!!"

Those around her had obviously heard about her, and while they were initially skeptical, seeing her like this, they were now almost entirely convinced.

Although the rumor did not mention her specific sect, it did say that she was quite skilled in cultivation and had superb swordsmanship. She was suspected to be a reclusive master in the sword cultivation world. This made the crowd, who were originally excited, suddenly feel a chill. They dared not make any rash moves and retreated in unison, leaving a large empty space for the two people depicted in the portrait.

It's rather strange and comical that so many people would be afraid of two people who look sickly.

Some of those people realized this and pointed in their direction, saying, "Everyone, attack together! Grab the stuff! There are so many of us, and they only have two people. Do you think we're afraid of them?!"

As soon as one person spoke up, others inevitably echoed them. No sooner had the first person finished speaking than someone else said, "That's right! With so many of us, what are we afraid of?! The treasures of the cultivation world are all on them. If we can seize them, ascending to immortality and becoming gods will be a piece of cake!"

"Let's not be so greedy. How about we each take a step back?" Hearing the shouts of the people around them, one of them spoke up. "Hey kid from the magic cultivation world! Give us half of what the magic cultivation world left you, and we'll let you go! Not only will we let you go, but we brothers will also escort you out of the city. Isn't that a good deal?"

Listening to the cacophony of voices, Shen Zhengyuan's face grew increasingly grim, and his hands, which were at his sides, began to tighten slowly. If it weren't for the fact that his spiritual veins were damaged, he would probably have taken action right then and there.

Compared to Shen Zhengyuan, Li Chenjin's expression didn't change much. He just bent down and looked at the ground, seemingly searching for something.

As her gaze fell upon a stick of suitable length, she raised an eyebrow and was about to reach for it when a hand snatched the stick away before she could.

Li Chenjin: "..."

She silently raised her head and looked in the direction of the hand. She saw that the guy who had been hiding under the table had somehow crawled out again. He was holding a stick in one hand and lifting the tablecloth with the other, with half of his body exposed. He was also looking up at her.

After shouting, he immediately shrank back, which made Li Chen click his tongue in disapproval. He felt like laughing, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

The people around her listened to her advice and looked down at their feet, picking up anything they thought they could use to hit her, not even leaving her a chopstick that someone had thrown on the ground earlier.

Li Chen sighed, straightened up, and looked helplessly at the people around him.

Those around seemed to think that this would prevent her from making a move, so they turned to Shen Zhengyuan and said, "Young man from the magic cultivation world, if you hand over half of your magic treasures, secret techniques, and wealth, we will release you and even escort you out of the city. We mean what we say!"

“We’re not greedy, we only want half of what we need. You can’t possibly take that much by yourself, can you? It’s a waste to just let it pile up and collect dust. Why not share it with everyone? We’ll be grateful for your kindness in the future!”

"Kid! We don't ask for much. We're only talking to you politely now because the cultivation world has helped us a lot in the past, and your cultivation world also contributed a lot to sealing the demon. Don't be stubborn and refuse to listen to reason!"

Faced with those voices, Shen Zhengyuan remained silent for a long while before asking, "Since you know that the cultivation world has helped you a lot, and that the cultivation world has fallen to such a state now, all because of you, why do you still do such a thing?"

"What do you mean by 'this'? We didn't do anything to you, we didn't hit you, and we didn't try to kill you!" one of them said. "Besides, although we admit that the cultivation world has helped us a lot, what does the current state of the cultivation world have to do with us? Huh? Who told you people from the cultivation world to do that?"

"That's right! The sword cultivator world has helped us a lot, hasn't it? We haven't seen anyone from the sword cultivator world come to us to say this! Besides, are you the one who saved the world? You're standing right here, not the one who died. What makes you think you can say it's all for us? If you're so capable, let someone else come and talk to us!"

"Kid, we're doing this because of the respect we have for the sect leaders and elders in the cultivation world, not for you! Besides, the cultivation world is all about individual ability. If you can protect this thing, then it's yours, but if you can't, who can you blame? If you really want us to release you directly, then have your master come and talk to us in person, and we'll release you without a second thought!"

A note from the author: