Four young maidservants followed the girl wearing a green dress. Each maid carried a musical
instrument. One brought a Chinese dulcimer, and another had a four-stringed Chinese lute; one maid
had a Chinese zither, while another held an erhu, which was a Chinese two-stringed musical
instrument that was usually held in the lap and played with a bow.
"Please call me Coco, my honorable guests," Coco uttered softly as she bowed politely in greeting.
The soft-spoken girl in green, Coco, wore her long, ebony hair loose, and it fell on her bare alabaster
shoulders. She had wide eyes that sparkled and she resembled a pure flower fairy.
This was Zen's first visit to this sort of place. Smiling, Nory waved his hand, gestured in Coco's
direction and requested, "May we hear Miss Coco's lovely singing voice please?"
Nodding in acknowledgment, Coco stepped back, repositioned a chair, and sat demurely. Then she
accepted the four-stringed Chinese lute from one of the maidservants and began singing a light song.
Her voice was like a nightingale's voice, modestly melodious, echoing in the private box and the ears of
her contented listeners.
Several waiters served food and wine as they listened. Zen sighed in his heart. Although the Golden
Wind Restaurant was pricey, the quality of service, food, and recreation offered made it worth it.
Before Coco finished singing, a rough voice of an interrupter came from the doorway.
"Are you kidding me? Yesterday, you wouldn't sing for me Coco. You told me that you had a sore
throat, but, here you are, singing for them?" A large man in a black robe sauntered in, followed by a
few men who were also dressed in black robes. They were all inner disciples of the Cloud Sect.
Standing next to the big man was a waiter bowing and apologizing.
Scrunching up her brows in disgust, Coco stopped singing, and stated, "Mr. Hong, yesterday I had a
sore throat. Now, I have other guests. If you want to hear me sing, you will need to wait for another
day!"
"Yes, Mr. Hong, Coco has guests already today. If you would come with me, please, we have other
good singers," remarked the waiter while he bowed deeply in front of Bush Hong.
"Fuck you!" Bush Hong shouted angrily as he kicked the waiter to the ground and demanded, "Who
gives a shit about the damn guests? I am a guest too, and I demand that Coco sings for me, now!"
roared Bush, while glaring at Zen and the other guests. As he noted they were all wearing white robes,
he sneered, "They are only a few outer disciples." He paused briefly and said to Zen and the others,
"You guys don't mind if Coco sings for me, right?"
No one enjoyed losing face in such a public way. Nory and Sean frowned. They didn't want to give in,
but, these were the Cloud Sect inner disciples. Regardless of which peak they were in, Nory and Sean
didn't think they could beat them.
Zen poured a goblet of wine and sipped it, slowly. The wine was delicate with an enjoyable taste. After
finishing his glass, Zen declared, "Don't you know the order? We were here first, and you were second.
Therefore, if you want to hear Coco sing, you will have to choose another day."
Originally, Bush and his fellow inner disciples thought the outer disciples would be pliant. After all, the
outer disciples always gave in to the inner disciples. Zen's reaction shocked them.
Guffawing, Bush retorted, "You were here first? That's bullshit! How about you talk to my fist about who
was here first!"
Zen scowled, pointed to the door and commanded, "It looks like there is nothing to discuss, so, get out
of my sight!"
'Get out?' Bush and his fellow disciples were astounded and doubted their hearing.
Why was this outer disciple daring to be so arrogant to inner disciples?
"Boy, you're in trouble now," stated Bush coldly while cracking his knuckles as though he would use his
fists, and then life vitality was unleashed from his navel. The overwhelming amount of energy was so
significant that it lifted Coco's hair.
"Oh, am I? You are the second person to threaten me today, but, you are crap compared to the first
one," said Zen sneering. He haphazardly tossed his goblet on the table, and as it spun on the table,
Zen vacated his seat.
No one saw Zen move, and he was in front of Bush before anyone saw him.
"Smack!"
The sound of Zen's hand as he slapped Bush across the face reverberated in the room.
It took a moment before Bush realized that he'd been slapped. His face flushed in anger, and he moved
to retaliate.
"Smack!"
Came the sound and sting as Zen slapped Bush again.
"What? I'm going to kill you!" cried Bush.
"Slap!"
A third slap stopped Bush's words in his throat.
Behind Bush, the inner disciples were poised to jump into the fight.
Before any of them could unleash their life vitality, they were each punched in the chest.
While Zen's punch seemed weak, it was, in fact, mighty because Zen used demonic life energy.
Flying backward, the wind knocked out of the guys, and they slammed into the delicate second-floor
guard rail before crashing to the floor in the hall.
With a blast of air, Zen was in front of Bush once again.
Bush was dazed and unaware that his comrades were outside the room on the floor. He exploded,
"Beat him, brothers! Tear these outer disciples to shreds!"
Zen, Nory, and Sean smiled mockingly at Bush.
When there was no movement, Bush looked behind him. When he saw his posse was gone, his face
darkened, and he finally realized that he'd run into a tough character.
Clearly, he was a bit late in realizing.
"Do you need assistance to leave, or can you find the exit on your own?" asked Zen in an icy voice.
"I, I. But, you, you..." stammered Bush.
"Thud!"
Came the sound of Zen's foot slamming into Bush's. The impact threw Bush back and down the stairs.
Sitting back down, Zen went to pour some wine, but the waiter snatched up the decanter and poured
the wine, as he hastily said, "Sir, please, allow me, this is my job, here you go!"
Other employees of the Golden Wind Restaurant were happy that Zen beat Bush and his colleagues.
The small group of inner disciples was at the Golden Wind Restaurant often, which would be fine, if
they kept to themselves, but, they liked to stir up trouble every time.
No one dared go against them until Zen taught them a lesson.
The waiters and Coco doubted Zen could take them.
Having lived in the imperial capital for a long time, they met many disciples from the Cloud Sect, and
they were well aware of the gap in strength between inner and outer disciples from the Cloud Sect.
But, this outer disciple today?
He trounced multiple inner disciples...
How did he do that?
As puzzling as it was, they didn't dare ask Zen. It didn't really matter anyway. Zen had taught Bush and
his associates a lesson. The staff believed Bush and his friends would be more polite in the future.
Sitting there and watching the whole thing, were Zen's friends, looking even more shocked.
They had seen Zen defeat nature creatures.
Not long ago, at Drizzle Peak, they had watched as Zen won battles against several of the Vulture
Peak disciples, and then defeated Jesse Liu, a disciple at nature level.
But, it was difficult for Zen to defeat Jesse.
And just now, Zen had trounced several inner disciples.
The inner disciples were all nature level, but, were so weak next to Zen.
Had Zen's strength increased so much, over a few days?
Nory and Sean exchanged a glance of astonishment between each other.
How could Zen have improved his strength at such a drastic rate?
In fact, even though Zen had been half a step into nature level, the development of his strength wasn't
as fast as Nory and Sean imagined.
Zen had changed purple life energy into demonic life energy.
Since there was a large gap between the second tiered method of Purple Light Fist and Heavenly Ogre
Fist which was a tier five method, it led to Zen's fantastic power.
Deep inside, Nory and Sean envied Zen because they were slower in improving, compared to Zen.
After Coco sang a few more songs, Zen and his friends were full and ready to leave.
After paying for the wine and food, Zen gave a tip of two cubic crystals to Coco.
However, Coco refused and said, "Sir, that's generous of you, but, I can't accept it."
Zen nodded, remaining quiet. Coco might be ill-fated to work there, but Zen wasn't her savior.
Stepping out of the Golden Wind Restaurant, the three noticed it was time for them to be returning to
the Cloud Sect.
Nory and Sean headed towards the Sect while Zen walked away in the opposite direction.
There was something Zen needed to do before he returned to the Cloud Sect.
Even though all disciples were eager to attain points, Zen wanted to rescue Yan, so, he was more
eager than anyone else at the Cloud Sect.
Cubic crystals were exchanged for points at the Cloud Sect.
It took two million cubic crystals to equal one million points.
Having just recently learned of a new manner to earn cubic crystals, Zen was excited to try it.
After a few inquiries, Zen arrived at the imperial capital's largest mart.
Along the path were a variety of shops, including the Cloud Pill Shop, the Wonder Drug Shop, and one
bearing the name, Treasure Room.
Zen wandered around the market looking at the many shops. Finally, he stopped in front of a large
shop with a sign bearing the name Weapon Pavilion.
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