Chapter Fifteen: Interloper
The burly man from the Cloudsoaring sect walked out from the clamoring crowd to stand next to Nie Tian. Brow slightly furrowed, he looked over at Yuan Qiuying and her husband and said, “Grown-ups shouldn’t interfere in the scuffles of children, right?”
“Who are you?” Yuan Qiuying asked, growing increasingly angry. “How dare you lecture me?”
Yun Zhiguo took a close look at the burly man before his expression flickered subtly, and he subconsciously pulled on Yuan Qiuying’s garment. “Li Fan?”
Li Fan gave a loud harrumph. “Indeed, it’s me, Li Fan.”
The anxious Nie Qian seemed to have heard of his name. The moment she learned the burly man in front of her was Li Fan from the Cloudsoaring sect, her eyes instantly glittered with joy.
“Mr. Li, please administer justice!” she pled.
Li Fan nodded and casually said, “You go ahead and take the boy home. I’d love to see if anyone dares to stop you!”
As domineering as Yuan Qiuying had always been in Black Cloud City, after hearing that this was Li Fan, she immediately cooled down.
She didn’t have the courage to argue with someone like him. Instead, she glared at Nie Qian and Nie Tian with cold and resentful eyes.
“Little Tian, let’s go.” Nie Qian grabbed Nie Tian and quickly dragged him away from the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion, without giving him any opportunity to speak.
As he was being pulled away, Nie Tian kept turning his head back to look at Yuan Qiuying, Yun Zhiguo, and Li Fan.
“Auntie, who is that Li Fan?” he asked. “Why do that evil woman and all those people from the Yun clan fear him?”
“Li Fan is a disciple of the master of Cloudsoaring sect,” Nie Qian explained quietly, “and is also a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior. Even if the head of the Yun clan, Yun Meng, was here, he wouldn’t dare to mess with him either.”
“The Greater Heaven stage!” Nie Tian exclaimed in his heart.
Based on his knowledge, Yun Meng of the Yun clan had only just entered the Greater Heaven stage.
Having reached that stage, he had already become one of the most influential persons in Black Cloud City, which was why the Yun clan currently overshadowed the Nie clan in Black Cloud City.
As a Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior and a disciple of the master of the Cloudsoaring sect, Li Fan had a huge edge over Yun Meng in both status and strength.
Yun Zhiguo obviously didn’t dare to let Yuan Qiuying do anything rash in face of such status and strength, so he could only give in.
“This time, it’s really our good fortune that Mr. Li happened to be here. Otherwise, Yuan Qiuying would definitely not have let this go so easily. I know her too well.” Nie Qian secretly rejoiced. “You naughty boy, always getting into trouble. If Yuan Qiuying wants to bitch about me, just ignore her and leave her be. Over the years, she has said every possible mean thing she could to me, but I’m still here, aren’t I?
“It’s not like words can cause actual damage. Endure it momentarily and then it’s over.
“You should focus your energy on cultivation. Only if you can break through into the ninth level of Qi Refining by the age of fifteen, and become a real disciple of the Cloudsoaring sect, will you have a chance to seek justice for all the humiliation I’ve received.”
“Auntie, please rest assured,” Nie Tian replied firmly. “I won’t let you down!”
Smiling, Nie Qian said, “Auntie has faith in you. However, the way you talked back to that slut Yuan Qiuying was actually quite delightful to hear.”
“Hahaha!” Nie Tian also burst into laughter.
Just as Nie Qian and Nie Tian were leaving, the little girl who had been standing by Li Fan caught up with them and stared at Nie Qian closely, her shrewd eyes glittering brightly. “Hi, what’s your name?”
Having just defeated Yun Song, Nie Tian was in a good mood, so he answered casually with a smile on his face. “My name is Nie Tian.”
The little girl with bright eyes and white teeth immediately offered her own name. “I’m Jiang Lingzhu. How did you beat that boy?”
Nie Qian’s expression flickered. “Family name ‘Jiang’ and given name ‘Lingzhu’…” she thought. Her eyes glittered strange light as she cast another glance at the little girl.
“You mean that little punk named Yun Song?” Chuckling, Nie Tian shook his head and said, “Nothing special. He’s too weak. That’s all.”
“He’s too weak?” Jiang Lingzhu also laughed. “Aren’t you the weak one? His cultivation base is higher than yours by three full levels!”
“Who said the one with a higher cultivation base would surely win a battle?” At first, Nie Tian seemed surprised, but then turned his chin up arrogantly. “Ever since I was little, my opponents have always had higher cultivation levels, but eventually I knocked every single one of them to the ground.”
“Wow, that’s pretty incredible!” Jiang Lingzhu became even more interested. “So, you’re definitely going to enter the Cloudsoaring sect, right?”
“Of course!” replied Nie Tian, full of confidence.
Jiang Lingzhu smiled. “Hahaha, hopefully you can be invited into the Cloudsoaring sect like Nie Xian.”
“You bet I will.” Nie Tian wasn’t modest in the slightest.
“You’re quite the character Nie Tian. I’ll remember you.” Jiang Lingzhu waved goodbye and skipped back toward Li Fan. As she did, she turned to look back at Nie Tian and said, “My name is Jiang Lingzhu. Keep that in mind. We’ll meet again some time.”
“Okay,” Nie Tian said blankly.
“Jiang Lingzhu, the girl with Li Fan…” Nie Qian watched as the little girl left, her thoughts drifting.
“Auntie, shall we go?” Nie Tian said.
“Oh, right. Let’s go.” Nie Qian’s wandering mind was suddenly pulled back to reality. She didn’t say much to Nie Tian before taking his hand and leaving.
In the Nie clan, there were colorful lanterns and streamers everywhere, as well as happily chatting people.
When Nie Tian and Nie Qian returned from the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion, they found everyone in the clan smiling broadly.
On his way in, Nie Tian heard a variety of words of admiration regarding Nie Han from numerous members of the Nie clan.
“The eldest young master is back from the Cloudsoaring sect. He managed to reach the middle-stage of the Lesser Heaven stage after merely a couple of years of cultivation there. With the eldest young master in a stable position in the Cloudsoaring sect, our clan will definitely prosper.”
“I’ve heard that Li Fan, a disciple of the master of the Cloudsoaring sect, came back with our eldest young master. Young master sure earned a lot of face because of that!”
“That means our eldest young master has been doing well in the Cloudsoaring sect.”
“Of course!”
“… ”
When they finally found a moment of privacy, Nie Qian said, “Today, the whole clan will focus on Nie Han and Nie Xian, so it has nothing to do with us. I hope one day every member of the Nie clan will cheer for you, too.”
“That day will come,” Nie Tian said, full of aspiration.
“You go back. I have something to talk to your grandfather about.” That said, Nie Qian headed off alone towards Nie Donghai’s residence.
Since Nie Donghai had given up his position of clanmaster, he had already moved out of the main mansion of the Nie clan, and was now living in an unimpressive stone house.
When she arrived, Nie Qian saw Nie Donghai standing by the window, facing the direction of the main mansion, lost in his thoughts.
Numerous elders of the Nie clan were gathered in the mansion, and joyful laughter rang out from their direction.
It wasn’t hard for Nie Qian to imagine the scene of the crowd of clan members flattering Nie Beichuan, Nie Han, and Nie Xian in the main mansion at this moment.
The joy and laughter in the mansion had nothing to do with Nie Donghai and Nie Qian. Ever since Nie Donghai had moved out of the mansion, other clan members rarely paid him visits.
“Father, Nie Tian and I ran into Yuan Qiuying at the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion just now,” Nie Qian said softly.
Nie Donghai immediately turned around and inquired with a grim face, “What? You had to endure that vile woman’s verbal insults again?”
“No.” Nie Qian shook her head. “Little Tian talked back for me, and he also taught Yuan Qiuying’s son a lesson.”
Nie Donghai was shocked, “That kid named Yun Song? His cultivation talent is even better than Nie Hong’s, which I heard has reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. How was Nie Tian capable of teaching him a lesson?”
Nie Qian told the whole story to Nie Donghai, not holding back a single detail.
Then she said worriedly, “That woman has never been kind. She didn’t dare to lose control in front of Li Fan, but I’m worried that after Li Fan is gone, she won’t let this go so easily and will seek revenge. Times have changed. You’re no longer head of the Nie clan. If she were to cause trouble, I’m afraid…”
“You just keep an eye on Nie Tian,” he replied calmly. “Don’t take him out of the Nie clan for the time being. As long as he is on Nie clan property, the Yun clan won’t dare to make a move.”
“I’m sorry,” Nie Qian apologized in a low voice. “I failed to hold Little Tian back.”
“Some things are unavoidable. You shouldn’t blame yourself.” Nie Donghai sighed.
Meanwhile….
Nie Tian had cast all the clamor out of his head. The moment he got back to his room, he started to practice cultivation, a sense of urgency rising up in his heart.
He could still remember a strange force rising from his body during his last battle with Nie Hong, which had resulted in himself suffering from a high fever.
This time, he beat Yun Song with the help of that same unknown force. So with that in mind, he secretly observed the occurrences in his body while cultivating.
After an unknown period of time, he gradually felt a burning sensation on the left side of his waist.
Worried it was a sign of another high fever, he instantly focused his attention on the left side of his waist.
“Yee?!”
He suddenly saw the source of the heat wasn’t from his body, but instead it was from the piece of animal bone he had obtained from the lot-drawing convention.