Xu Que was astonished. The spate of events just happened today. It was totally unexpected that the disciples from the Celestial Sect had already received word of the incident. On top of that, they were already discussing about the incident.
Before he even entered the town, the town already knew about him!
Not bad, not bad. This is a good omen!
Xu Que's heart of vanity was filled with contentment and his face inevitably broke into a smile.
Since he wasn't really in a rush, he might as well eavesdrop on them. He leaned against the wall, acting like he was waiting for someone, lifted his ears and sneakily listened to the Celestial Sect disciple's conversation.
"It's been said that this great man's name is famous throughout the east continent and our Sect Leader is very afraid of him."
"Can it really be? Where does the man came from?"
"Heard that his name is Duan Jiu De."
"That's right. This afternoon, when the Sunset Faction came to our Sect to find the leader, we were guarding the gates. When we saw the Sect Leader hearing the three words 'Duan Jiu De', his face looked very shocked and he even addressed him as Senior Duan. Think about it. If even our Sect Leader addressed him as 'Senior', wouldn't that person be insanely strong?"
"What? Could it be that the person that we offended was a disciple of that Senior Duan? Th-this could be bad!"
"Damn it. I've asked the Sunset Faction disciple about it since I am more familiar with him. I've heard from him that the person we've offended is indeed that Senior Duan's disciple. He can't be wrong."
...
"Ding! Congratulations to host 'Xu Que' for successfully subtly acting tough. The reward is 10 act tough points!" Xu Que's mind suddenly sounded with the system beep amidst the conversation.
He became startled for a bit.
What the hell. This counts as successfully acting tough?
Looks like the requirement for acting tough is to simply witness or hear my reputation being discussed by others.
However, the conversation has let Xu Que understood what was happening to a small extent.
It turned out that those two Sunset Faction Disciples who escaped today are spreading word by mouth.
At the time when Elder Liu and others mistook him for being Duan Jiu De's disciple, the rest of them witnessed the situation. When the two of them fled, they immediately reported this information to their Faction. Therefore, stirring up the current false rumors.
Of course, Xu Que didn't wish to clarify the situation for them. His eye lit up and a big opportunity to act tough was right in front of him again.
"Duan Jiu De. The man that even the Celestial Sect Leader calls senior is believed to be my master? Haha! I'd be letting you all down if I don't make use of this situation to my advantage."
Xu Que let out a slight grin and quickly left to purchase the supplies.
...
At the same time, inside Celestial Sect's discussion hall, several faction elders including the Celestial Sect leader were all seated and were in a midst of discussion.
Their topic was still related to Xu Que but they were in actuality discussing about Duan Jiu De.
"This is no small matter. Senior Duan has an odd temperament and his reputation... Cough... Everyone is very clear of it. Supposedly, we've come to injure and hurt his disciple, according to his temper, I am afraid that the consequences will be dire." One of the faction's Elder spoke while stroking his beard.
"Damn. You Fierce Flame Faction people had no losses from your side. Of course you all would say that. A few disciples from our Sunset Faction were injured and two Golden Core Stage Elders were killed. If we let this matter slide, how do you expect our Sunset Faction to stand in the Fire Country in the future?"
"That's right. Us Fire Cloud Faction had many casualties as well. We definitely cannot let the matter rest."
"That kid is extremely vicious. How can we just drop it like that? Please, Sect Leader Zhang, handle the situation on our behalf."
"Sect Leader Zhang, please call the shots!" At the time, the members and Elders of the several factions stood up, faced a middle-aged man who was seated, and bowed to him as respect. They invited him to step forth.
The middle-aged man was wearing a white satin python robe. His appearance was dazzling and he emitted a powerful and prestigious aura. Here is the Sect Leader of Celestial Sect, Zhang Dan Shan!
Zhang Dan Shan was already at the Infant Transformation stage for many years and had cultivated to the Infant Transformation Stage level 5. Although he was one level below the Fire Country's emperor, his strength was still one to behold.
The fact that the Celestial Sect was able to influence all the other Faction as subordinates was naturally because of his boundless, majestic powers.
Creasing his dense eyebrows, he felt that the current matter was not easily resolved.
Duan Jiu De was such an infamous name and was already a household name during Zhang Dan Shan's younger days. They had even met one another before.
He was aware of Senior Duan's frightening prowess. Senior Duan hasn't appeared in the East Continent for around a hundred years but suddenly, a youngster popped out of nowhere and claimed to be his disciple. This caused Zhang Dan Shan to be somewhat suspicious.
However, he had heard that the youngster was carrying many types of rare treasures, able to shrink the ground to escape from the Original Infant Stage Elder. He was capable of putting a spell around Pan Shan Village, was of Core Bearing Stage, and single-handedly killed over ten cultivators. Among the fallen cultivators were many Golden Core Stage elders.
As if now, Zhang Dan Shan erased any thoughts of doubt and was convinced that the youngster was definitely Duan Jiu De's disciple.
Looking at the big picture, only that senior's disciple would have such powers. Also, their behaviours were too similar. For example, the tendency of stealing treasures and having no qualms about killing someone.
After pondering for some time, Zhang Dan Shan looked at the seated members of those smaller Factions and finally spoke.
"The matter is indeed a big one. Most of you may have heard of Senior Duan's past achievements and today, his disciple has come to us. By right, we should pay our due respects to him. However, it is clear that his intentions here aren't anything noble. He has pilfered one of the Celestial Sect's small treasure house and also endangered the lives of the disciples of the various Factions. We will not let this matter slide, unless he gives us a good reason to."
Zhang Dan Shan slightly paused and continued, "How about this, everyone of you may stay at the Celestial Sect for now. I will find someone to get that youngster over here tomorrow. If he is willing to render to his mistakes and apologise, we shall let this matter rest."
Is just apologising enough?
Under normal circumstances, no one present would agree with that.
Anyhow, since it was a suggestion directly from Zhang Dan Shan, nobody opposed to the idea. All of them nodded. They then proceeded to bow out of respect and agreed at the same time, "We will let Sect Leader Zhang handle the entire situation."
After all, they were all merely a small faction. The heated argument just a moment ago could be rooted to their egoistic natures.
If he were to order them kill Duan Jiu De's disciple, none of them will dare to do it even if there were a hundred of them.
The suggestion by Zhang Dan Shan was equivalent to giving those small Factions a way out. They had no reason to not take it.
However, just as everybody thought that the matter will be solved, an unapproving voice could be heard.
"Sect Leader, the old lady here doesn't approve."
An old woman stood up and exclaimed.
The Celestial Sect Elder who wanted to kill Xu Que personally before was also the master of Tang Xue Rou— Sun Jue Li.
"Elder Sun, any reasons for objecting?" Zhang Dan Shan briefly looked at her, creased his eyebrows and asked her in an enthusiastic tone.
The old woman coldly replied, "That little scoundrel has so much blood on his hands. How could we let him off this easily? Also, he may not be Duan Jiu De's disciple after all, since he has yet to prove his identity. Previously, I saw him once and he impersonated the Prince Consort of Fire Country. He could be a liar. Even if we really killed him, if Duan Jiu De finds us, we could definitely reason out with him."
As her voice subsided, everybody's face started to show weird expressions.
They didn't have doubts on Xu Que's identity. Instead, they were utterly convinced that he was Duan Jiu De's disciple.
Impersonation. Wasn't this something Duan Jiu De loved to do? For his disciple to have this same hobby was very fitting.
Zhang Dan Shan weaved his hands and said, "Whether he is Senior Duan's disciple or not, we will know when he comes tomorrow to the Sect. When tomorrow comes, order someone to go to Pan Shan village and invite him over. That is all."
After finishing, his figure gradually faded and like water drops landing on paper, his figure slowly blurred and ultimately disappeared from the discussion room.
This remarkable ability had been witnessed by everyone too many times before and they weren't surprised.
They understood what Zhang Dan Shan meant by his last sentence.
How that youngster will be dealt with tomorrow depended on whether he is actually Duan Jiu De's disciple or not.
If he is, he definitely can't be killed.
If not, there would be no need for words. He will absolutely die by the hands of the Celestial Sect.