Chapter 7:
-----
The trio navigated the winding spiritual ley lines of Heiyun City until they arrived before a structure carved from Spirit-Wood and Black Jade.
The "Pavilion of Cloud Rest." It stood apart from the mortal clamor, exuding an aura of quiet luxury that separated the cultivators from the ants.
Xiao Ding adjusted his robes and took the lead, stepping across the threshold.
"Welcome, esteemed Daoists."
The receptionist, a woman whose cultivation rippled at the peak of the Chaos Essence Realm, glided forward.
She wore a dress of crimson silk that hugged her curves, her eyes sharp enough to weigh a man's soul and his purse in a single glance.
Seeing the bearing of the three guests, her professional smile deepened into genuine warmth.
"Arrangement for three High-Grade Courtyards," Xiao Ding commanded, his voice carrying the faint, habitual arrogance of an Elder.
"And prepare a table of your spirit-chef's finest delicacies. We require sustenance within the half-hour."
"At once, senior." The woman bowed slightly, sensing the density of Xiao Ding's aura. She turned and gestured to the shadows.
"Xiao Ling."
A young girl, perhaps fifteen years of age, stepped out from behind a screen.
She was dressed in robes of pale green cotton, simple yet elegant, like a lotus blooming in a muddy pond.
The receptionist produced three tokens carved from obsidian and handed them to Xiao Ding with both hands.
"Sir, these tokens grant access to the Heaven-Tier courtyards. They control the isolation formations.
Once activated, even the spiritual sense of a Chaos Lord cannot penetrate your privacy." She gestured to the girl.
"Xiao Ling will serve as your personal attendant."
Xiao Ling stepped forward and bowed, her movements fluid. "Please, seniors. Follow this servant."
Her voice was soft, possessing an ethereal clarity that chimed like a bell in a quiet valley.
Shen Xuan followed, but his golden-purple eyes narrowed by a fraction.
When he looked at Xiao Ling, a strange resonance hummed in his blood. It was faint, nearly imperceptible, but to a being who had slept for a billion years, even a whisper felt like a scream.
Familiarity.
As they walked through the winding corridors, Xiao Ding suddenly halted. He turned to Shen Xuan, his eyes scanning the tattered, ancient robes that hung loosely on the boy's frame.
"Young Master Shen... perhaps it is time to acquire new vestments? Your current attire carries the dust of... a long journey."
Shen Xuan paused.
He looked down at his sleeves, worn thin by the passage of eons. He shook his head slowly.
"The fabric of my era has rotted," he murmured. "Very well. A change is necessary."
"Miss," Xiao Ding turned to the girl, "guide the Young Master to the finest garment pavilion in the district. Spare no expense."
Xiao Ling blinked, then nodded obediently. "As you command."
"Young Master," Xiao Ding handed over a card made of shimmering green jade, pulsing with chaotic energy.
"This holds the funds of the Hall. Do not hesitate to use it."
Shen Xuan took the card without a word, his expression indifferent, and turned to follow the girl.
The garment district of Heiyun City was a riot of color and spiritual fluctuation. Cultivators bartered for armors made of beast hide, while noble scions flaunted fans made of spirit-bone.
Shen Xuan and Xiao Ling walked through the throng.
They were a study in contrasts. The girl was delicate and reserved; the boy was a walking abyss. Even in rags, Shen Xuan's silvery-white hair flowed like moonlight, and his eyes held the cold, detached arrogance of a god walking through a pen of livestock.
The crowd parted instinctively, driven by a primal fear they could not name.
"Sir, this is the 'Celestial Silk Pavilion,'" Xiao Ling said softly, gesturing to a towering three-story shop.
"You will find what you need here."
Shen Xuan entered. The air inside was cool, regulated by formations.
He moved through the racks with efficient disinterest. Within minutes, he selected three sets of robes woven from Ice-Silkworm thread and Void-Cotton. Simple. Durable. regal.
At the counter.
"The total is three hundred and forty-five Heaven Crystals, Excellency," the clerk said, his hands trembling slightly under Shen Xuan's gaze.
Shen Xuan didn't even glance at the jade card.
To him, the currency of this era was nothing more than colored gravel.
He flicked the card onto the counter with the casual indifference of an Emperor tossing a bone to a starving hound.
Transaction complete, he swept the clothes into his ring.
He turned to leave, only to pause.
By the entrance, Xiao Ling was backed against a display case.
A young man in gaudy gold robes stood over her, a sneer plastered across his face.
He leaned in close, invading her space, his hand reaching out to touch a lock of her hair.
Shen Xuan didn't sigh.
He didn't frown. He simply spoke.
"Miss Ling. We are finished. Let us return."
Xiao Ling looked up, relief flooding her eyes. She moved to step around the man.
"Stand still, brat," the young man, Ji Yu, snarled.
He stepped into Shen Xuan's path, blocking the exit. "Did your mother birth you without eyes? You walk as if you own the street, but you are nothing more than a pet for this servant girl."
The air in the shop froze.
Shen Xuan stopped. He didn't turn his body. He only turned his head. His golden-purple eyes locked onto Ji Yu.
For a split second, the bully felt the weight of a billion years of stagnant blood crashing down on his soul.
The air tasted of rust and old graves.
"Repeat the word 'Mother'," Shen Xuan whispered.
The sound was not loud, but it vibrated in the teeth of everyone present. "And I will grant you the mercy of a quick death."
Ji Yu blinked, then laughed. It was a harsh, ugly sound. "Hmph. Now you are deaf as well? I said, neither your mother gave you eyes, nor did she give you ears! She must have been a blind wretch to birth a..."
Pfft.
Space itself seemed to fold.
There was no movement.
No drawing of a blade. No flash of a technique.
There was only the sudden, wet sound of organic matter bursting.
Ji Yu's scream was delayed. His brain could not process that where his right eye had been, there was now only a shimmering needle of chaotic energy.
Blood sprayed across the fine silks on display.
"Ahhh... Ahhhhhh!"
Ji Yu collapsed, clutching his face, his howl tearing through the silence of the shop.
It did not stop.
The air twisted again.
Pop.
The left eye exploded.
Shen Xuan watched the ruined eyeballs roll across the floor. He smiled. It was a smile devoid of warmth, terrifying in its innocence.
"Did you receive your retribution so quickly?" he asked softly. "The Dao is efficient."
The surrounding crowd fell into a deathly silence. They had seen nothing. No hand seals. No weapon. Just a boy standing still, and a man blinded by the air itself.
"You bastard...!" Ji Yu screamed, blood streaming down his cheeks like crimson tears.
"Take this! Die for me!"
Overwhelmed by pain and madness, Ji Yu condensed his chaotic energy into a glowing palm strike, aiming blindly at where he remembered Shen Xuan standing.
Bang.
The spiritual palm dissipated inches from Shen Xuan's face, erased by an invisible barrier.
Shen Xuan didn't flinch. "The Dao is a mirror," he murmured, his voice echoing in the terrified silence. "You looked at me with filth in your eyes, so the Dao took them. Do not blame me. Blame the universe for permitting your existence."
"Ahhh... Protector Gui! Where are you?! Kill him! Kill him for me!" Ji Yu thrashed on the floor, calling out to his guardian.
"A mere rat has a protector?" Shen Xuan laughed, a low sound that chilled the bone.
....
In the center of the city, at the Tea Pavilion.
An old man paused, his teacup halfway to his lips. He frowned, looking toward the market district.
"What is it, Brother Gui?" Another elder, dressed in the vermilion robes of the City Lord, asked.
"Something has happened to the Young Master," Protector Gui growled. His figure blurred and vanished into the void.
The City Lord, Hei, sat silent for a moment. Then, sensing the disturbance, he stood and vanished as well.
Inside the Celestial Silk Pavilion.
Blood splattered Shen Xuan's long silver hair, dying the ends crimson. He seemed amused by the contrast.
He sat on a nearby velvet couch, crossing his legs, and waited amidst the carnage and the stench of iron.
The air above the shop rippled like water. Two figures descended.
"Wait... is that not City Lord Hei?" someone in the crowd whispered, their voice trembling.
"It is! And the other... that aura... terrifying!"
Inside, Protector Gui landed beside the thrashing Ji Yu.
"Young Master?" Gui's voice shook with suppressed rage.
"Uncle Gui... you finally came!" Hearing the familiar voice, Ji Yu crawled across the floor, leaving a trail of blood. "Uncle, help! My eyes! They are gone! This bastard destroyed my eyes!"
Protector Gui looked up. He saw Shen Xuan sitting on the couch, playing with the green jade card, looking utterly bored.
The surrounding crowd cowered, but this boy... this boy looked at him as if he were looking at a dead tree.
"You are his protector?" Shen Xuan asked, not bothering to look up from the card.
"Are you the one who mutilated my Young Master?" Protector Gui asked, his killing intent flooding the shop, cracking the floorboards.
He hesitated to strike immediately; he could not see through the boy's cultivation.
"Uncle Gui! Why are you talking to him? Kill him! Tear his eyes out and give them to me!" Ji Yu shrieked.
Shen Xuan leaned back, the blood-spattered hair framing his face like a halo of death.
"A Chaos Lord?" He tilted his head, finally looking Gui in the eye.
"In my era, men with your meager talent were not protectors. They were the ones who cleaned the stables of the Shen Clan."
He stood up, his eyes flashing with golden-purple light.
"Tell me, slave... do you still feel the itch of the slave seal on your soul?"
The crowd gasped.
"Insanity! He insults a Chaos Lord?"
"He is seeking death!"
"Does he have a death wish?"
Shen Xuan ignored the ants.
"Protector Gui. Your cultivation was forcefully raised. A slave seal sits in your Spirit Sea, drinking your potential. How pathetic. If I were you, I would have ended my own existence rather than endure such humiliation."
Protector Gui's face turned the color of liver. The secret of his seal was his deepest shame.
"You... a mere whelp... how dare you!"
BOOM.
The shop's foundations groaned. Protector Gui's aura exploded, turning the air into a solid wall of pressure. He didn't just punch; he threw the weight of his entire twisted Dao at the boy.
"Die!"
The fist, glowing with lethal energy, flew toward Shen Xuan's face. The force was enough to turn a mountain to dust.
Shen Xuan stood his ground. He did not blink.
He did not move.
Just as the fist was about to touch the fabric of his robe...
BANG!
A deafening sound tore through the reality of the shop, crushing the attack into nothingness.
"Who is that?!" Protector Gui shouted, recoiling in shock as he stared at the figure that had materialized from thin air.