Sage continued to move closer to get a better look. After staring for far too long he was pretty sure it was her. Unless of course she had a double or a twin. Zhu Jiao, his fiance. The one he didn’t really want, but had been tasked to take by his Ancestor. She was dressed up like a dockworker. With trousers, long sleeved shirt, vest, and a headband. It looked like she was playing around pretending to be a commoner man moving boxes for work.
The only problem was that she was far too beautiful to get away with such a thing. Even wrapping up her chest and wearing baggy clothing weren’t enough to hide the girl’s curves. The dirt and concealers on her face were also not enough to hide the sharp beauty of her features. Instead of looking like a common man, she just looked like a princess splashed with mud. Among the large crowd of mercenaries and civilians, there were a few near Zhu Jiao that were remaining extra vigilant and staying at a set distance from her rather than just yelling at the Yi Yang Group and their guards.
Seems she truly is a troublemaker, and someone important. That aunt of hers cares enough to give her bodyguards.
Zhu Jiao was glaring at the Yi Yang Group guards, letting the crowd behind her vent some of their anger. Then she pointed at the building, “The people are no longer fooled by your fake face. You use friends and family as a tool to blackmail others. It is time for your dastardly deeds to be brought to light, evil doers. Ten Copper City can no longer harbor such villains!”
There was more jeering from the crowd and the civilians in the crowd even took out some vegetables and started throwing them at the Yi Yang Group’s building. Sage almost laughed at that move. How did she convince the people to do that? Normally, non-cultivators would take great lengths not to come into open conflict with others. They chose to live normal lives and for the most part the cultivators left them alone. Only if they directly antagonized them would a cultivator take action. Otherwise, they might suffer reprisal from other cultivators. Those regular people could be their friends or relatives, and if cultivators were allowed to harm or kill them without limit that meant their own family might be next. It was an unspoken rule.
This situation where a mob of regular people were throwing food at the Yi Yang Group was extremely rare. Zhu Jiao must have quite some influence if she could get all these regular people to directly oppose a powerful group full of cultivators. Just then, Yi Yang Group’s front doors opened up. A woman wearing a veil stepped out, walking with long purposeful strides. To her back and sides were large heavily armored men carrying spears twice their heights. She was dressed in a provocative fashion, wearing a skin tight black silk bodysuit. She was completely covered from the neck down, only her face and hands exposed, but because of how tight the suit was it left little to the imagination.
That said, she wore a second layer of partially transparent white silk scarves and veils all over her body. When she stood still they fall perfectly in place to make her seem to be wearing a modest dress. On the other hand, when she moved they waved and flowed around, giving glimpses of her body. The combination of the two layers made it so nobody could get a good look at anything, but only mere flashes of her. The new woman walked out towards the crowd with an angry look on her face. When she neared the front of the compound the big metal gate swung open and she met eyes with Zhu Jiao. The woman’s face was hidden by a veil, but her eyes almost seemed to bug out.
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“Zhu Jiao! You dirty, rotten, hussy! How dare you come here to my home and cause trouble!”
Zhu Jiao had an impish smile on her face when the other woman came outside, but after that initial exclamation, the woman from the Yi Yang Group started cursing and cussing. She insulted Zhu Jiao’s family to the ninth generation, then she started on every bit of clothing she’d ever seen Zhu Jiao wear, and even every hairstyle she’d ever had.
Zhu Jiao had been very amused when the woman first walked out, but the more inane and specific the curses became, the more her smile turned into a sneer. Zhu Jiao took a step forward and her fingers moved into the shape of claws.
“Yue Xiaoqing! You three legged blue toad! Your Yi Yang Group has gone too far! Its time for you bunch of villains to get what you deserve. There’s far too many witnesses that can attest to your crimes. You can’t just silence them all this time. We all know you’ve been brainwashing children to influence their families!”
Sage thought about the insulting name and figured these two must have met many times before. Yue Xiaoqing, the girl from the Yi Yang Group seemed to visibly turn red with anger from the name Zhu Jiao called her. Yue means moon, and Xiaoqing is Little Blue. The beautiful goddess of the moon, Chang E, in some legends was cursed to take the form of a three legged toad to ruin her beauty. Yue Xiaoqing and Zhu Jiao started arguing back and forth, ignoring the crowd for the moment and spouting variations of their first insults. Yue Xiaoqing seemed to hate the strange connection that ended up with her being called a three legged blue toad. Zhu Jiao on the other hand, was infuriated at how Yue Xiaoqing would pick out small details of her appearance from the past and criticize her choices.
“Guo Guo! That’s the sound you make, Little Toad. Spending a fortune on pretty clothes won’t cover up your croaking!”
“You’re always wearing a different costume because you’re too unfashionable! Those shoes you wore to Xiong Min’s wedding were atrocious! Oh, and Yu Yuhan’s birthday party. That dress you had on did not match with your jewelry in the least.”
The two women were staring daggers at each other and it was only when one of the men in the crowd coughed loudly did Zhu Jiao realize what she was doing. The anger immediately left her face and she put on her heroic look from before. Crossing her arms and putting on her impish smile, “Go back inside, Blue Toad and bring out your Boss. The anger of the people cannot be appeased by the likes of you. Hurry up, or we’ll make sure nobody from the Yi Yang Group will leave here alive!”
When she said this, the many mercenaries and rogue cultivators in the crowd stepped forward. With a rough count, there were nearly two hundred of them, which put the fifty guards of the Yi Yang Group in a tough position. Certainly, they had powerful cultivators in the Yi Yang Group that weren’t part of the guard team, but did they have 150 of them? Time passed and more vegetables were thrown. Yue Xiaoqing had already went back inside and nobody came out again. The crowd drew their weapons and gathered their Qi, but just as the assault was about to begin they were interrupted. A low thunder came from afar, and the crowd looked to the sky. Seeing no clouds they were confused until the streets were suddenly filled with brightly armored soldiers. The thunder was the sound of their disciplined march.
Each of the soldiers wore a bright copper helmet, breastplate, and shield. Each of them stamped with the emblem of Ten Copper City. The City Lord! Those three words spread through the crowd like a wave while the thousand soldiers came from every direction. Soon enough they were all surrounded and Zhu Jiao had a sour look on her face. She looked like a child having a tantrum, glaring at the carriage that was coming up from the back of the army’s ranks. The soldiers parted to each side and let the ornate carriage through. When it reached the front, a pair of exquisitely dressed footment opened the door. A thin man with almost dainty sensibilities stepped out. He wore billowing silk clothing with heavily embroidered, everything, and far too much jewelry.
“Now now, what is going on here?”