After he passed though dozens of small villages, Pef finally arrived at decently-sized town, if less than a tenth the size of the Cloud City in the Middle Heavens. If not for the prevallence of Emperor realm and higher cultivators all over the place, as well as the lack of mortals, Pef could swear this was a fairly poor Province from a realm below.

As per standard Legion procedure, he was mildly disguised, with red hair, and had his cultivation realm concealed as a mere Silver Realm, strong enough not to attract trouble, yet low enough to pass as a lucky Ascension. Tier 9s were still viewed as powerful nobility, serving as Governors and army leaders, or in a large city as clan elders. What was certain, he only detected 2 Bronze Realm cultivators in his entire scan range, and nothing higher.

'So, cultivation is still hard...even here.' Pef concluded as he began to peruse the market wares, while also logging all easily intercepted conversations, trying to create a better picture of the land.

The Creation River trip had indeed increased his Dao comprehension by a large degree, but that didn't really impact his real cultivation, only adding a single Star. As for resources, he had enough in his storage rings to not be poor, but most of his stuff was either inside the glove compartment, or the Sever Color Pagoda or the Tier 12 bottle. And all three items were lost.

'You still have me!' the Heart Ruler exclaimed, trying to cheer him up.

'I don't want to sell you for food, dear sword' Pef grumbled as he examined several strange pastries and dumplings. Would they sell him the recipes?

'We could rob someone...' the Icefire proposed in a slightly careless voice.

'We don't have any enemies here! Robbing innocents is not cool.' Pef answered in a dismissive tone.

"Make way for this young master! Move away dirty scum!" loud Words flew by, scaterring the low realm cultivators like chickens before a mighty eagle.

Pef wasn't affected, or even interested in the usual display of poor civility. He examined a particular pastry with full focus, and thus only realized the problem when a house guard broke his fist when trying to punch him out of the way. As if a Tier 5 guard could hurt him.

"Go away!" he muttered, still mostly focused on the intriguing pastry. Why did they use red beans and rice together? And inside, some kind of wild boar meat, plus lettuce and salsa sauce...was this a burrito? Or at least a failed prototype.

"Arrest him! Or even better, chop off his limbs and abolish his cultivation." a cruel voice spoke from a few meters away.

Pef returned the pastry back on the stand, and turned around, taking in the situation. A Golden Immortal was in the process of waving his long pike towards his legs, while a teenage-looking boy was puffing with a red face. The boy was also in Tier 5, making the whole situation quite comical.

With a modest qi pulse, he restrained everyone in the attacking party, then he advanced next to the young master and poked his forehead, crushing his meager mental defenses and reading his mind. Who even kept a thousand young women in a basement to play with, then kill in various cruel ways?

'At least we found an enemy...' the Icefire flame muttered apologetically.

'Violence is always the answer.' the Heart Ruler claimed victoriously.

'We shall see.' Pef answered in a sad voice.

Still dragging the young master and his guards after him, Pef began walking slowly towards the respective family mansion, while still observing the market wares with curious eyes. As this kind of show was possibly rare in the city, a large crowd formed around the group, all eager the observe the incoming fireworks from dead-close distance.

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"The creepy boy may have found his match!"

"The Heavens have eyes!"

"Who do you think this red-haired man is?"

"Obviously new in town. Immortals don't grow up like cabbage."

"Maybe a mercenary. He wears that metal armor..."

As soon as the mansion came into view, more guards began to react and try to rescue their young master, only to become unwilling pavement brushes like the group before. The street was quite clean in Pef's wake, as he arrived in front of the gate and gently toppled it down with a simple push.

"Courting death! Let the young master go!" an old man yelled, proving he also had a Tier 7 cultivation realm.

With a frown, Pef soul spiked the elder into unconsciousness and poked his forehead to read his mind. So the elders did know about this boy abusing people...

"Clan head, come out!" Pef demanded in a mild voice, with golden Words spreading out in a light cone. And if the entire mansion vanished like petals in a storm, it was not a coincidence either.

Truth was, it took great degree of control to only target the house itself, and exclude the living beings inside, but for the purpose of this visit Pef was willing to make an effort.

A wrinkly man dressed in long purple robes flew forward, followed by dozens of other clan members, who appeared a bit inconvenienced by the lack of a house around them.

"This brave hero, what is your problem with my distinguished clan?" the clan head asked in a honeyed voice.

"This boy wanted to cut my limbs and abolish my cultivation. He also tortures and kills young women for fun. I am not happy with that." Pef replied in a clear voice, letting the crowd hear the crux of the matter.

"...Ah, we may have been lax with our education. Certainly some kind of compensation could be made?" the purple-dressed man asked in a submissive tone.

"Exactly. I'm willing to hear your terms, clan head." Pef said in a careless tone, while a Void clone moved forward to rescue the remaining women from the basement, and brought them next to Pef in a few seconds.

Shouts for justice and vengeance emerged from the crowd, as some people even recognized their relatives among the rescued victims.

The man glared at the crowd, then looked behind at his destroyed mansion, finding a lack of accomodation for more serious negotiations. "Perhaps, we could move to an inn nearby?"

"I won't be staying long. Just make your offer, clan head." Pef declined with a small shrug.

"You give me no face, young hero. But you are still only in Silver Realm. Everyone, attack!" the clan head yelled, urging his guards and elders to strike at Pef from three sides.

'Leave the rings intact.' Pef whispered as the Icefire came out, freezing and burning the entire household at the same time.

'Of course, Master. I'll even give this guy his face.' Icefire replied cheekily.

A huge cold pyre engulfed the attackers, while Pef made sure to protect the bystanders with a medium protection array.

In a minute, the matter was settled in cold terms, and Pef simply turned away and returned to the city market, a bit richer.

It is said that once the cold fire vanished, someone digging for wealth among the ruins found the intact face of the clan head, still distorted in an anguished scream.