Chapter 38: Settling Scores
That night, Luo Xiao slept on Jiang Yao’s chest once more. It was incredible how fast he had gotten used to it, and he even found it incredibly comfortable.
“I have some things in town I need to do today,” Jiang Yao said when they woke up the following morning. He gently combed through Luo Xiao’s silky black hair with his hands. Then he helped him tie it up in a bun on top of his head and placed the hairpin in the bun.
Now, Luo Xiao looked refined and scholarly. With the addition of the two pieces of jewelry, the bracelet and hairpin, he looked even more stunning than usual. Jiang Yao nodded in approval.
He then took out three spiritual oranges. “Have these for breakfast today,” he said while he was getting himself ready, changing his clothes and finding his boots. “I will return later today, but stay here and cultivate. We’ve been moving a lot recently and you’ve been too busy looking around at the world to actually focus on cultivating. Today you should cultivate all day.”
Luo Xiao had to agree. Lately, he’d been too focused on other things and had completely forgotten about his cultivation.
Hearing Jiang Yao say so, he felt ashamed. He wanted revenge and wanted to be useful to Jiang Yao but he was too weak to help anyone at his current level.
Jiang Yao placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just being yourself is already helping me,” he said as he saw the despair creep into Luo Xiao’s eyes, “I’ll be back tonight.”
Having said this, he left the inn right away. Luo Xiao stared at the closed door for a few minutes before he too dressed and picked up the three spiritual oranges.
Luo Xiao sat down with his legs crossed and calmed his mind. He started peeling the first orange and began to slowly eat it. He felt how the fruit melted, turning into a liquid and from liquid to spiritual energy.
Luo Xiao closed his eyes and focused on this new spiritual energy that roamed his body. He allowed it to surge through his meridians before he guided it towards his Soul Palace: the orb in his mind where all his Spiritual Energy was stored.
After eating the first orange, Luo Xiao rotated his spiritual energy in accordance with the Divine Nebula Art that Jiang Yao had found for him long ago.
The Divine Nebula Art was one of the best cultivation techniques in the entire continent which was how Jiang Yao had introduced it when he gave it to him. As Luo Xiao found out, it was indeed worthy of such a title.
Luo Xiao felt his spiritual energy speed up and rotate much faster than before. The essence of the heavens and earth in his surroundings was sucked into him like water through a broken dam and refined so fast that others in the inn also noticed that something was going on.
Luo Xiao wasn’t the only person cultivating in the hotel. Unfortunately, they soon felt that their efforts yielded no results as all the heaven and earth essence was being pulled towards a specific room.
Many went to the room to see if they could catch a glimpse of this cultivator, but the door was tightly shut and no one dared open it. When they asked the staff, they refused to say who was in that room, and even worse, they refused to hold them accountable. They just said that there was nothing they could do when one had such a miraculous chance as this. It seemed as if the heavens truly favored this cultivator.
“This old man isn’t pleased!” someone called out when he saw that the staff refused to take action. Now it had already been three hours, but the essence still gathered towards that one room.
“I’ll break down their door and beat the little shit that is trying to steal our heaven and earth essence!” he continued and others raised their hands in agreement.
“Stop!” someone called out with a voice so loud that it seemed as if a thunderclap had descended from the heavens. It caused the rioting audience to turn dizzy and almost lose their souls.
“My lord,” the man who had called out before was displeased. “We understand that it is a miraculous lucky chance when one gets to stir up the heaven and earth essence while cultivating but to continue to do so for so many hours! It affects our cultivation as well!”
“That’s right!” another cut in, “I understand that this inn has a rule to leave the guests in peace, but this is troublesome for every other guest! Please overlook our actions and pretend you see nothing. We’ll deal with it ourselves!”
“We are all rather prominent people with outstanding backgrounds,” a third added, “does this hotel really wish to make enemies of us all?”
Many showed their agreement. It was simply too overbearing to hog all the heaven and earth essence in the area for such a long time. Everyone was getting frustrated because of it.
Inside the room, Luo Xiao was unaware of what a spectacle he had caused. He had eaten two of the three oranges and was about to begin the third when he heard some voices outside the door.
Paying it no attention, he returned to the spiritual orange, peeled it, and ate it. He closed his eyes and continued circulating the Divine Nebula Art.
Outside, the young clerk who had told them to ignore the situation was unsure of what he should do. It was indeed true that he had no power to stand up against so many young masters and descendants of high ranked families, but he dared not cause trouble for the Seventh Demon Prince either.
Eventually, he sighed. “I’ll tell you who that room belongs to, then you can decide on your own whether you wish to continue your actions,” he said.
In the end, he could only give up and use Jiang Yao’s name. If they still wanted to cause problems even after knowing who the room belonged to, then he wouldn’t stop them.
“Who is it then?” one of the more aggressive people in the audience asked.
“The room where all the energy is being pulled into belongs to His Highness Jiang Yao, the Seventh Demon Prince of the Tiansong Empire.”
Everyone lapsed into silence. No one spoke and many had pale faces. They felt a cold chill at the thought of how close to death they had come. Had they actually gone into that room, then who knew if they would ever be seen alive again.
While Luo Xiao was causing an uproar in the hotel, Jiang Yao had to finish the matter with Lady Gao. He had intentionally not brought Luo Xiao with him, because he had no intention of letting her or her family off lightly. It was best if Luo Xiao didn’t see this side of him just yet.
Jiang Yao was after all the Seventh Demon Prince of Tiansong Empire. He wasn’t a benevolent figure nor was he forgiving. He was the kind of person who would kill an innocent bystander if he felt like it, and this time a woman had severely insulted him. She was going to die, and her family would pay a hefty price to appease him.
Jiang Yao quickly found the Gao family within Heavenward City. They were one of the biggest families in the city, and they often bragged about their wealth.
Before going there, Jiang Yao had obtained information about this Gao family, and he knew exactly how to make them hurt the most. Death was not always the best solution. For some, living with shame could be much more difficult.
Hovering in the air above the Gao family mansion Jiang Yao looked down upon them with cold eyes and a sinister smile. “Gao family come out!” he yelled loudly, his voice reverberating throughout the entire city. Hearing this, many were shocked, and even more, rushed towards the Gao family to see the drama.
“Who is so presumptuous to call us out like this?” someone inside yelled, his voice also shocking the whole city, but there was less power behind this voice.
Everyone exited the Gao family mansion inculding even Lady Gao. But the moment she saw Jiang Yao, her eyes turned round like saucers and she tried to retreat. Unfortunately, she was blocked by her family.
“Who are you?” the one who spoke was the oldest expert of the family. He was rather terrified when he saw that this man was hovering in the air. Only experts of the Heaven Rank and above could fly, in other words, this man was at least a Heaven Rank expert!
In the entire Heavenward City, there was not even a single Heaven Ranked expert. The highest ranked expert was at the Moon Rank, and although a few Heaven Ranked experts might come to visit from time to time, they would never cause problems for no reason.
“I am Jiang Yao, Seventh Demon Prince of the Tiansong Empire, and I am here today to settle the scores between myself and the Gao family!” he said with a clear voice. Since he had already admitted who he was, it was too late to be low key anymore so he might as well admit to who he was and get this over with quickly.
Hearing his words, the faces of the old man and everyone around him turned grim. They didn’t doubt his words as no one was dumb enough to impersonate the Seventh Demon Prince. It was obvious from his dreadful, terrifying aura who he was, so this man was indeed their worst nightmare. But what scores had he come to settle?
“Your Highness, I’m afraid I don’t know what exactly you mean by settling scores?” the old man said. He hoped it was just a little misunderstanding and all would be well, but he had a bad premonition.
Instead of answering him, Jiang Yao looked at Lady Gao and snickered. “We meet again, Lady Gao,” He said with a mocking tone, causing her entire body to tremble from fear. Everyone in the Gao family, and those outside, shifted their gaze to her.
“When I entered this city not only did you insult me and my companion, your carriage even covered us in dust, not caring for who was in your way. In the restaurant, you told me to beg you to be allowed to eat and you even insulted my dear Xiaoxiao when he spoke up against your domineering personality,” Jiang Yao said casually, his words were cold and detached.
The family members of the Gao family looked at the miss with perplexed, disbelieving, and despairing expressions on their faces.
The rest of the audience watched the drama unfold with breathless anticipation. This was something they enjoyed watching.
“Your Highness, please say the word,” the old man said after a bit of hesitation, “As long as it is within our power we will spare nothing to make it up to you.”
Jiang Yao glanced at the old man. “I want five hundred thousand Earth Grade Spirit Crystals, and this Miss’s life is also impossible to save,” he said and waved his hand. An ice shard appeared in his grasp, and with a flick of his fingers, the ice shot towards Miss Gao.
When Miss Gao saw the gesture, she tried to move, but it was impossible for her as she found her feet were rooted to the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise as the ice shard embedded itself in her chest, cutting all the way into her heart, and moments after, her entire body had turned into an ice statue.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone