Chapter 72: 69 Choice

69 Choice

The flames burned up the grass and trees in the courtyard, leaving only cold winds coming from all directions.

The group of youths stood dazed in the cold wind, hardly believing their own ears.

Those Dharma Artifacts on the tray, aren't they... ours?

Wang Cheng opened his mouth, but Pei Shoujing moved and pressed him down.

Wang Cheng could not care about things like his cousin's delicate hands touching his skin at this moment; he only felt his mind was in complete Chaos: here, this Sword Guest, all of this seemed different from what he had imagined.

The group of youths was also suspicious, until that gray-haired girl really began picking and choosing on the tray, and they confirmed that some things were not a misunderstanding on their part.

Although shocked and angry, no one spoke up to question, and for a moment there was dead silence.

The gray-haired girl finished picking, took a cyan sword, and said, "Just this one."

The moment she picked it up, the sword body twisted, turning into countless thin vines that tangled and underwent Growth, like withered wood meeting Spring Pillar of State, full of vitality.

Zhuangnian could no longer endure it and shouted loudly, "This is my Zhuang family's Qingteng Sword! Put it down quickly!"

The gray-haired girl Mingjing was shaken by his Momentum, and the sword in her hand lowered a few inches, but those vines continued to coil incessantly, even winding onto her fingers.

The white-haired person looked at her happily and said, "Do you like it?"

The gray-haired girl said timidly, "I like it, but..."

The white-haired person said gently, "It's good that you like it. If you like it, take it. If someone questions you, how will you answer?"

The gray-haired girl said blankly, "I... should say..."

The white-haired person said, "You can say: 'What yours or mine? Open your dog eyes and look, who does the sword recognize?'"

Even though Zhuangnian knew he shouldn't provoke the Sword Guest and knew he was like an ant, it concerned his family's treasure, so even though he was covered in sweat, he raised his voice and said, "Your Excellency, I know you are powerful, but you cannot be unreasonable, right? This is clearly a Dharma Artifact passed down in my family; in my great-grandfather's hands, it once had ten thousand green vines and shook all directions! You cannot just rob us by force, can you?"

The veins on his forehead bulged, and it seemed he would rush up to snatch the sword back the next second, but he never dared to take a step.

"You..." Suddenly, he turned his head and said to the other youths, "Look, this is daylight robbery. He robbed mine, wouldn't he rob yours too?"

No one echoed him. In the hearts of the youths, besides fear, there was a bit of relief—fortunately, he took the Zhuang family's Qingteng Sword, so he wouldn't take ours.

The white-haired person seemed not to see Zhuangnian's shouting and continued to ask Mingjing kindly, "Is picking one enough?"

Mingjing whispered, "Enough, I only feel close to this one."

The white-haired person nodded and said, "Great, you've found your own direction." With a casual wave, he rolled all the Dharma Artifacts into his sleeve.

The crowd felt as if they had fallen into hell, dumbfounded, thinking only:

He actually wants them all!

A few youths could no longer hold back and opened their mouths to shout, when they heard someone say, "Don't make noise!"

The one speaking was actually the ten-year-old Pei Renhu.

This little fat boy actually had his face tightened, looking as serious as a pedantic middle-aged Confucian scholar, and said loudly, "Don't make noise, what if you disturb the lord?"

The crowd was stunned by his accusation.

Pei Renhu argued with conviction, saying, "There is a proper order of status in the world; the inferior must follow the superior, it is a heavenly principle. Here, the Sword Guest lord is the superior. Life and death, giving and taking, all belong to him. We just need to be content and obedient. Do you still want to resist? Step back, step back!"

When Pei Shoujing heard the words "proper order of status," her pupils shrank slightly, and she looked at the white-haired person, but her position only allowed her to see the person's white hair, unable to see the expression clearly. Of course, seeing it clearly would be useless; the white-haired person had almost no expression.

Wang Cheng thought: This kid has some cunning and can keep his cool, unlike those few idiots. He knows that together they cannot beat the Sword Guest, so what else can they do but obediently lose wealth to avoid disaster? Making a racket and shouting, if they can't get the things back, they might just provoke the Sword Guest and end up losing both wealth and life.

He is surely using a delaying tactic, right? It wouldn't be that someone actually thinks this way from the heart, would it?

The white-haired person stood up abruptly, his white hair hanging down naturally, then blown slightly by the wind, Drifting.

Mingjing, who was standing respectfully by his side, suddenly stepped back, the Qingteng Sword in her hand hanging down limply.

"Proper order of status, life and death, giving and taking—well said." He paced slowly, coming before the crowd. He was tall, and these young boys and girls had not yet grown up, so they were all shrunk into the Shadow by his figure, blocking out the Sunlight.

"Mingjing, did you hear that?" He asked this without looking back at the gray-haired girl, "As long as one becomes a Sword Guest, as long as one is powerful, one can do anything. Take everything they have, and they will still take the initiative to explain for us."

His words seemed to be laughing, but the laughter carried endless chill.

Pei Renhu only felt something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out where the problem was. He was too young, had only read books, and had never experienced real events, so he was only bewildered.

He only felt a weight on his head, a large hand pressing on his crown, and the voice said, "Look, what do these wealthy families teach their children? The weak bow their heads and accept their fate, the strong do whatever they want, for example, like this—"

Speaking to this point, a youth nearby widened his eyes, suddenly lost focus, and fell down.

"Or like this—"

Another young girl fell to the ground with a thud, like a puppet with cut strings.

"Like this, like this..."

One by one, the young boys and girls fell down, lying on the ground, life or death unknown. Only Pei Renhu was pressed in place, trembling all over.

At this moment, all the classics and all the rites he had learned were forgotten, leaving only the most primitive fear. He couldn't even think to ask why: why, when they were already so obedient, was the Sword Guest still not satisfied and still wanted their lives?

"And you—"

"Wait!"

A crisp female voice came: "Your Excellency, he doesn't know any better, please spare him once. He is my younger brother."

At this moment, Pei Renhu suddenly burst into tears and sobbed, "Sister!"

Pei Shoujing stepped forward a few paces and pleaded, "Sword Guest, Your Excellency, he is only eleven years old and is a fool. What he said is not actually what he thinks; it's all just what his father said, he is just parroting. He has no thoughts of his own, he just likes to shout loudly. We were all like this when we were young. Please, for the sake of his youth and ignorance, spare him once."

Wang Cheng gave a start and wanted to echo his cousin, but his tongue was a bit stiff and he couldn't make a sound, only making a few gurgling noises while nodding.

The white-haired person turned his head slowly, pressing on the little fat boy's head, and said, "Oh, you say he is talking nonsense. Although I am powerful, I cannot do whatever I want?"

Pei Shoujing shook her head and said, "I also have no thoughts, I am also a foolish child. I only ask you to let him go."

The white-haired person said, "Mingjing, what do you say?"

The gray-haired girl hesitated for a moment and nodded.

The white-haired person shook his head and said, "You also have no thoughts of your own. You are all so foolish. Fine, I can let him go, but you must trade yourself for it."

Pei Shoujing said, "Me?"

The white-haired person said, "You come with me, I want you to do one thing. If you don't come, I will take him." He rubbed the little fat boy's hair, "Actually, I was looking for you from the beginning. But looking at it daily, you are still pleasing to the eye, and I am soft-hearted, wanting to let you go. Now make a choice yourself. You, or him."

Wang Cheng's heart sank; he keenly sensed that this matter was definitely extremely dangerous, perhaps even a dead end with no hope of survival. He regretted coming here all the more, having intended to flatter a powerhouse, never expecting that this person had harbored such malice from the very beginning.

It was not hard to imagine that when they, as youths, delivered themselves to his door, that Sword Guest must have been laughing inside, thinking that some fools had actually delivered themselves along with their wealth, and there were even unexpected gains.

At this moment, he had no other thoughts; he only wished that he could retreat unscathed, and if possible, that his cousin could also live.

He said in a trembling, low voice, "Cousin, do not agree. You are only a cousin from the clan, not... not a biological brother."

The white-haired person looked at him and said, "Originally, you could have too. But you actually boasted that you wanted to be an Ancient Sword Guest. Fine, I will give you a chance, let you live, and see if you truly have that ability."

Only then did Wang Cheng realize that the so-called "giving a chance" was not about giving him any fortuitous encounter, but merely sparing his life, and this was a stroke of good luck unique to him.

Did the others not even have their lives?

A thought even popped into his mind: could it be that his few families had offended this person in the past, and he had returned to take revenge after becoming a Sword Guest?

It was not impossible; as local gentry, they had offended quite a few people. Although it was impossible to have directly offended a Sword Guest, what about before this Sword Guest became a Sword Guest?

He turned his head to look at Pei Shoujing, once again using his eyes to warn her not to do anything foolish.

The white-haired person said, "How is it? What is your decision?"

Pei Shoujing lowered her head and said, "I..."

Wang Cheng's heart rose to his throat.

"How could I—just wait for death!"

She raised her head high, shouting, and charged straight forward; her hand brushed across the brocade bag at her waist, and silver light flashed!

Authority Sword—unsheathed!