The young man chuckled and said, "Come on, sir, don't be so serious. I was just joking around just now — it's not like I actually meant to scold you. Alright, alright, I need to go into this shop to pick up a few things. Would you mind stepping aside?"
These seemingly ordinary words seemed to carry some inexplicable magic. The leading guard captain hesitated for a moment, then actually shifted to the side, allowing the man and woman to walk into the shop.
The other City Lord's Manor guards all stared at their captain with peculiar expressions. They wanted to ask what was going on but didn't dare make a fuss, each one brimming with confusion.
"What the hell?!" Not far away, in a teahouse, the Dao Source Third Stage cultivator responsible for surveillance of the Qingyang Pavilion sprang to his feet, hastily sending his Divine Sense toward the guard captain to demand, "What's wrong with you?"
"Lord Jia!" The guard captain's expression turned solemn the moment he heard the telepathic transmission.
"Didn't I tell you not to let anyone inside? You dare defy my orders? You've got some nerve!"
"I let someone in?" The guard captain was startled upon hearing this, but it didn't take long for him to recall what he had just done. In an instant, cold sweat drenched his forehead and his face went pale. "How could I let someone in…"
Just moments ago, something strange had happened. Though his mind had been clear, he found himself utterly unable to resist that young man's words. He had simply stepped aside on his own, letting the young man walk straight into the Qingyang Pavilion.
If Lord Jia hadn't sent the transmission, he probably wouldn't have even remembered.
"Soul attack!" Lord Jia took one look at the captain's complexion and immediately realized that the man had clearly been hit by some kind of soul secret technique, which had forced him to act against his will.
"Lord Jia, what should we do now? Should I take people in and drag that fellow out?" the guard captain whispered.
"No rush. This person seems quite formidable. Besides, we don't know what he's here for — maybe he really did just come to shop. Let's wait and see first," Lord Jia replied.
"Yes, sir!"
Inside the shop, Yang Kai and Zhang Ruoxi looked around and found that the store was truly tiny, with very few goods on display. They were arranged haphazardly and their value wasn't much to speak of.
Near the counter sat two shop assistants, both of low cultivation. At the moment, they wore faces full of misery, looking as though they had suffered a bereavement. They kept glancing outside at the guard troops, muttering unconsciously, "It's over, it's over, we're done for. Who knows what trouble the shopkeeper got herself into this time — we're finished!"
These two assistants' nerves seemed stretched to the breaking point. When Yang Kai and Zhang Ruoxi walked in, they didn't even notice.
Yang Kai glanced at them but didn't bother with them. Instead, he looked toward the back of the shop and headed straight for the rear courtyard.
He passed through a corridor and arrived at a small garden-like area. Before the innermost room, Yang Kai stopped and gently knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" A woman's voice suddenly came from inside. It sounded extremely weary and haggard, as though the speaker hadn't rested properly in days.
Yang Kai said in a deep voice, "A customer."
The woman inside was silent for a moment, then said, "The shop is having some trouble recently and is temporarily closed. Please come back another time, sir."
Yang Kai couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I've traveled all the way from the Southern Domain just to buy something, and you're telling me to go back?"
"The Southern Domain…" A startled cry came from inside, followed by a gust of wind. The door creaked open, and a haggard-looking young woman suddenly appeared before Yang Kai.
She appeared to be in her late twenties, dressed neatly and properly. While her looks weren't exactly striking, they were certainly pleasant enough to be pleasing to the eye.
However, something troubling must have happened to her recently. Her eyes were threaded with faint traces of red, the sockets slightly sunken. Yet those beautiful eyes were remarkably bright as they studied Yang Kai intently, as though she were trying to see right through him.
"You… you're really from the Southern Domain?" the young woman asked nervously.
Yang Kai nodded. "That's right."
With a single glance, he could tell that she was only at the Dao Source Second Stage realm, and her aura seemed somewhat unstable. She possessed the cultivation of a Second Stage cultivator, but she definitely couldn't bring to bear the strength that level should afford.
Whether this was due to a lack of diligence in her cultivation or some gone-wrong mishap, he couldn't tell.
"Do you have any proof?" the young woman asked, still unconvinced.
Yang Kai smiled faintly and produced his Qingyang Gold Token, flashing it before her eyes.
The young woman's beautiful eyes lit up instantly. The faint trace of wariness vanished all at once, as though she had found a long-lost relative. The tension in her expression immediately eased, and she stepped to one side. "Come inside and talk."
Yang Kai nodded and brought Zhang Ruoxi inside.
The young woman still peered outside warily to make sure no one was lurking nearby before closing the door. She then waved her hands, casting seal after seal to secure the room.
Only after she had finished did Yang Kai look at her with a grim expression and ask, "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into? You're acting as though you're under siege. And what's with all those people surrounding your door?"
The young woman didn't answer Yang Kai's question right away. Instead, she solemnly produced a token from her spatial ring and presented it to him with both hands.
The token looked identical to Yang Kai's Qingyang Gold Token, except his was gold while hers was bronze — symbolizing a difference in rank and status.
Although Yang Kai didn't know much about the hierarchy of Qingyang Temple's disciple tokens, he could make a reasonable guess at this point. Gold was likely the highest grade, with silver below it, and bronze after that. Between the two of them lay a gap of two full ranks.