Chapter 48: A Commoner's Past
Xue Wei did not care too much about who was right and who was wrong. It was clear that this young master had intended to let their actions slide today, had it not been for the provocation of his followers. Thus, Xue Wei decided to take out some of his annoyance on one of them.
He was calm and collected as he looked the young master in the eye, and even the young master felt his soul tremble from the overwhelming killing intent and the sudden illusion that it brought with it.
"Who are you?" Although he was shocked and scared, the young master managed to calm himself enough to ask the question without his voice trembling, but the truth was that he felt weak inside.
He had wanted to gain a beauty, but now it seemed he might have offended a great warrior.
"A genius from a backwater place is nothing!" one of the followers spat out, but a slap from the young master instantly silenced him.
"Excuse him, he knows nothing," he said apologetically. His voice was slightly trembling by now, and his back was drenched in cold sweat.
Although this young master was aware of his strength, he also knew that he had met someone much more dangerous than he could imagine.
The many friends were shocked when they saw the slap, but upon thinking a bit for themselves, they realized that their young master was protecting them.
If Xue Wei was capable of making one of them pee his pants and lose consciousness from a glance, then who knew what would happen to those who truly enraged him?
The various experts that listened in on the conversation all approved of the actions of the young master. For now, the most important thing was to stay alive. After that, he could always return for revenge.
Xue Wei knew that this young man was not as saintlike as he might seem. He was being slapped in the face right in front of his followers and had to lower himself in a well-renowned restaurant within the Inner City. It would not take long before rumors about his experience would have traveled across all of Inner City, and he would lose a great deal of face from it.
It was clear that he needed to wash away this shame somehow, but to do so, he had to be alive. Right now, he was not sure he knew what exactly he could expect from this insane man in front of him.
"You keep calling us country bumpkins, and that we come from a backwater province, but do you even know who it is that is in front of you?" one of the nobles from Tiankong City suddenly sneered, and the young master had a strange gleam in his eyes, but everyone suddenly got interested. Could this young man with peculiar strength and overwhelming killing intent have some backing just as shocking?
"You might be some young master of the capital, but this young man is the only living relative of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei!" The noble who spoke was a previous follower of Li Jian, but right now he took pride in being on the same side as Xue Wei.
"He is Xiao Lei's nephew and the reason that Xiao Lei has spent five years not hunting for Primordial Beasts! He spent five years looking after this nephew of his, and he dotes on him so much so that he would kill commoners who talked bad about him!"
This young noble did not hide anything at all. He had a hideous expression on his face and a loathing gleam in his eyes.
He had constantly been pressured by Xue Wei’s identity back in Tiankong City, and he knew just what it meant to go against Xiao Lei. Now he wanted others to feel the same pressure.
The expressions on the faces of everyone else turned serious. Had this noble mentioned any other Primordial Beast Hunter, they would have scoffed at him, but he mentioned Xiao Lei.
Xiao Lei was the Primordial Beast Hunter in the entire Kingdom of Heping who had killed most primordial beasts, and he was still going strong. No one knew exactly how strong he was, but he was a true hero of the entire kingdom.
"Anyone can claim that they are Xiao Lei's nephew," one of the followers mumbled, but the young master's face alternated between pale and red. It was clear that he too wished not to believe it, but he did remember some drama five years ago when the capital had heard about Xiao Lei taking in a nephew.
Then he frowned. "Xiao Lei’s nephew was rumored to be trash," he finally said. "Utter trash. Unable to cultivate. That rumor even reached us here in the capital. You claim that this guy is his nephew? Since when did he turn from trash into expert?"
"You don't need to understand, but he has a special physique," another noble-born said. Xue Wei said nothing; he just stood and frowned, not sure he was happy with how much these nobles on his side were saying, but at the same time, he knew that it would be investigated later, and thus he could not keep it hidden. Since that was the case, they might as well use this chance to intimidate their enemies.
"A special physique?" Everyone present frowned. It was no secret that there existed special physiques in the world, but they were so rare that not many knew about it.
The moment the young master heard about it, though, his eyes bulged, and a vein started throbbing on his forehead.
The observing experts were also shocked beyond words. They had heard about special physiques before, but to think they would see a genius with a unique physique was truly unexpected.
"What are the special traits of this body?" one of the experts could no longer stay quiet and asked the question that all wanted to know.
"I don't know," the noble-born who had spoken before said while shaking his head, disappointing everyone, but he did continue. "He managed to go from being a mere mortal to being someone at the ninth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank within half a year. He is also much stronger than any average expert on the same level, and his Qi is denser – he has more Qi than others of the same stage, so he is capable of challenging those of a higher rank."
The experts were baffled when they heard this. Six months to reach the ninth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank? Stronger than average cultivators on the same layer? Denser Qi and more of it? This was simply a heavenly blessed physique. As long as Xue Wei did not die young, he would without a doubt become the next glorious Primordial Beast Hunter within Heping Kingdom.
The young master also paled. He understood that the value of such a genius far outstripped even his own value, and he could not help but feel inferior for the first time in his life.
"Well, I am honored to meet such a genius today," he finally managed to squeeze out the words, attempting to be polite, but he knew that it was impossible.
"Spare the chatter, I know you don't feel honored," Xue Wei sighed. "Anyway, we have no more to discuss with one another. We are here to find an inn for the next week's time, and not to make enemies or friends. Let us just pretend that today never happened."
The young master felt partly grateful for the fact that Xue Wei was not going to pursue the matter further, but he was also filled with blazing jealousy and an unreconciled heart. He could not accept that he had lost face in front of everyone in Inner City.
The conversation between the two groups had gone on for a short period of time, but many had stopped close by to see what had happened. Everything the young master was involved in was always entertaining for the common noble, but this time he had truly dropped a stone on his own foot.
Not only had he failed in acquisition of a beauty, but he had also managed to lose a great amount of face. Although no one dared to tell him that to his face, everyone knew it, and they would be gossiping about it for the following year.
Xue Wei wasted no more time as he strode past the tables filled with people and into the restaurant. The group of nobles from Tiankong City were first stumped by his actions, but they quickly scrambled to follow him.
As the group of fifty youngsters entered the restaurant, the entrance got incredibly crowded, but instead of shooing them out, the manager hurried to greet them politely.
"Young masters and misses, please, please, follow me into the inn!" he said as he was rubbing his hands. This manager had long since heard about the drama that was unfolding outside the restaurant and had listened in on everything that had been said.
He had heard that Xue Wei was Xiao Lei’s nephew, which alone gave him special treatment, but to have a special physique on top of that made him a truly important guest.
"We would like to rent some rooms," Xue Wei said as he looked at the innkeeper. "We are fifty-three experts, seventeen women, and thirty-six men. Please arrange our lodgings so that women and men do not share a room, that is if you do not have enough for us to have individual rooms," Xue Wei requested.
"That is no problem; we have five rooms with space for five that can easily hold twenty-five of you young men. Then you can have another five twin rooms, for the other ten, and finally a single room for the final guy."
"For the girls, we can also provide three of our five-man rooms, and then one twin room. That way all of you will not be alone in the rooms, as I can imagine it is unnerving to be all alone when you are new to the city. You have to decide on one guy to be alone though," the manager of the inn was lightning fast in planning who could go where, and no one questioned him.
"That sounds great," Xue Wei agreed readily without asking the others for permission and then he withdrew ten gold coins.
Although ten gold coins was an astronomical figure, it was just barely enough to cover the rent for a week for fifty-three experts within the Inner City of the capital. This, of course, included breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
"Xue Wei, you take the individual room," all of the youngsters said in unison, "take it, so we do not interrupt your cultivation."
The truth was that many of them still feared him, but after seeing him step up to help them in the situation they had been in before, they did feel much more comfortable around him.
Receiving the keys, everyone split up into the groups they had agreed upon before, and then the manager led them up a set of stairs that were right next to the counter, to the first, second, and third floor.
The inn was a beautiful building that had five floors and a cellar. The cellar was where all the wines and food were stored. The ground floor consisted of the kitchen and the restaurant, while the first, second, and third floor housed the rooms for the inn.
The fourth floor was where the offices and rooms for the staff to live in were located. It was a beautiful building, painted red and golden. It was made from some sort of heavy wooden material and seemed as sturdy as if it was built from stone.
Everyone eventually settled into their rooms. The first floor held the five-man rooms, while the second floor had the twin rooms, and the third floor held the single room for Xue Wei. It was also the floor with the best view of all the rooms belonging to the inn, allowing for one to have a great view over the skyline of the inner city.