Everyone seated in the city tavern was a vicious-looking strongman.
Some of them rested their feet on chairs and swore vile curses. Others took swig after swig on alcohol, their arms wrapped around not-too-willing women.
Ye Zichen’s sudden appearance seemed to disturb their revelry. The instant he stepped inside, he sensed everyone’s gazes land on him.
“It seems the people of the Divine Mountains aren’t too friendly!” Ye Zichen murmured to himself, then nodded at them and silently took a few steps backward.
However, practically without Ye Zichen noticing it, someone closed the door to the tavern.
A few rogues with wicked grins stood by the doorway. “Yet another lost little lamb.”
The man sitting in the very center of the room, a tattooed, bald-headed man smiled a toothy, sinister grin. His companions, none of whom looked like good people, burst into laughter.
The bald, tattooed man leeringly walked up to Ye Zichen, emanating waves of pressure that bore down on Ye Zichen.
A sky supreme.
That baldy was at least a sky-supreme-level expert.
“Hey brother, you must be tired from traveling,” said the baldy. Then he turned away from Ye Zichen and shouted into the bar, “Set a place for him!”
A middle-aged man who’d been sitting at the same table as the baldy got up and immediately headed towards the kitchen. The bald man then pounded Ye Zichen on the shoulder.
“Come on, join me.”
“Alright.” Ye Zichen glanced calmly at the baldy and followed him with no objections. Then, as everyone else in the bar watched him, he sat down calmly.
Ye Zichen wanted to retreat earlier, but that was just because he didn’t want to make trouble for himself.
Still, if trouble came looking for him, he had the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. What did he have to be afraid of?
Ye Zichen’s sharp gaze took in the bald man, but he simply smiled and disregarded it.
“Little brother, did you just arrive in the God Realm?” asked the baldy as his companion laid a table setting for Ye Zichen. The baldy even personally poured Ye Zichen a cup of wine.
“That’s right. I’ve only been here for a few hours,” said Ye Zichen between sips of alcohol.
He’d assumed that the wine up on the Divine Mountains would be more fragrant than in the Lower Lands, but as soon as the wine touched his tongue, Ye Zichen discovered that it was extremely low-quality. It was inferior to the wine below.
He set his wineglass aside, and when the bald man tried to pour him another glass, he stopped him.
“No need; keep the rest for yourselves.”
“So, Little Brother, you think you’re too good for the alcohol coarse men such as ourselves drink?” The bald man frowned.
“It is a bit hard to stomach,” said Ye Zichen without beating around the bush. “I’m afraid this type of booze is only fit for feeding livestock.”
Ye Zichen hurriedly laughed. “Everyone, don’t take offense. I’ve always said whatever’s on my mind; it’s not targeted at you. Actually, what I wanted to say was, not even livestock would want to drink…aiya, look at my stupid mouth….”
He flashed an apologetic smile, but the tavern’s customers’ expressions had already grown unfriendly.
An ambiguous light flashed through the bald man’s eyes, but he gestured for the others to keep quiet and laughed straightforwardly.
“Since you don’t like we humble folks’ wine, we won’t press the matter. From the look of things, you must be tired from your long journey. Eat up!”
“Then I’ll just go right ahead.”
The food they were eating was actually rather ordinary; dried strips of beef that had been in storage for who knows how long. When you put them in your mouth, you had to chew and chew and chew before you could break them. There were also a few platters of ordinary side dishes. If Ye Zichen weren’t in the mood to keep up his act, he couldn’t have even been bothered to lift his chopsticks.”
Eating this was worse than just eating stomach-filling medicines from the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.
After about an hour, Ye Zichen patted his full belly and burped.
“So, little brother, have you had enough to eat?” For all this time, the others in the tavern didn’t so much as touch their chopsticks. They just watched as Ye Zichen ate, looking rather happy as they did so. Once he put down his chopsticks, everyone else forced in on him. Their ill intentions were so clear, even a moron would notice them.
Yet Ye Zichen nevertheless enjoyed pretending not to notice. He turned to the baldy and smiled amiably. “I had a good meal. Thank you so much for your kindness. It seems like the God Realm is better than where I used to live.”
“So are you saying that you used to be surrounded by rather unfriendly people?” the bald man chuckled.
“Oh yes, I won’t hide it from you; I just got here from the Lower Lands. The Lower Lands have a group called the Axe Gang. I don’t know if you know this, but they do all sorts of terrible things. Burning, pillaging, killing, stealing, they do it all! Down Below, I worried day and night about how best to escape their demonic clutches!” Ye Zichen’s expression was desolate; he looked like someone who’d been through a lot of suffering.
Every ascender hailed from the Lower Lands, and Axe Gang had been quite some time. When he brought up the gang, it was only natural that the others in the tavern recognized its name.
“You’re right, little brother. Down in the Lower Lands, there’s nothing the Axe Gang won’t sink to.”
“Just thinking about them makes me angry!” said Ye Zichen, his face a mask of righteous indignance. He cupped his fist at the bald man and said, “Forget it. I’ve already ascended to the Divine Mountains, no need to worry about them anymore. I’ve already eaten my fill, so I won’t disturb your party any longer. Let’s part ways here.”
However, before Ye Zichen could get up, two third-stage earth supremes appeared behind him and pressed down on his shoulders. They glared out of the corner of their eyes.
In his heart, Ye Zichen laughed, but on the outside, he feigned confusion. “This…”
“Don’t be nervous, little bro. We don’t mean you any harm,” said the baldy with a calm smile. Soon, however, his smile grew cold. He tapped his finger on the tabletop and said, “However, as you can see, we’re struggling to get by up here in the God Realm. Just now, you ate and drank quite a bit of our supplies, so…shouldn’t you give a little something back?”
“It…. that wasn’t free?” Ye Zichen arched his brows.”
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch, don’t you think?” The bald man snorted. “Although we rather hit it off, and I have no desire to trouble you over one meal, I can’t speak for my companions.”
Instantly, everyone in the tavern rose to their feet, and countless presences locked onto Ye Zichen.
I just arrived in the God Realm and already I ran into this, tch tch. Ye Zichen thought to himself, then feigned helplessness and indignation. “Then…. Tell me, boss, how much money do I owe you?”
